Yesterday, Friday the 13th, we got unexpected news. Osa Conservation went into lockdown. Because of the Coronavirus pandemic. It meant that everybody had one day to choose whether to work and be confined to Piro station until the end of April, or to work from home. … More Not just the cat got sick
A friend recently asked us how did we find the organizations in which we will be volunteering in Costa Rica, which triggered us to write this blog. Here are some of the strategies that we tried and how they worked for us. … More How to find volunteering opportunities in nature conservation
Last summer in Spain, we found out that our cat has diabetes. We had to learn new stuff: how to measure her glucose level on a daily basis, how to administer insulin, and where to get all the materials we need for it. Most importantly, we learned the implications for our Costa Rica plans. … More The cat got diabetes, or how good planning can not beat the universe
Yesterday, I realized that in terms of planning and work, taking a one-year sabbatical in another country is similar to migrating to that country. You need a visa, a bank account, a place or places to stay, decide what to do with your home/sell it/cancel the rent, a car, and perhaps some more. The past week, one of the things we were not so successful in was finding a bank to open an account. Having an account here would greatly facilitate large payments for buying a car, paying the rent, or making a deposit. … More Opening a bank account
Oh my! Here we go! One of our criteria to select the destination for our sabbatical was that we could bring our furballs with us. So, despite most of our family and friends think we have finally lost our mind, we are taking them with us. Yes, we are aware that the flight is 12 … More Pets to Costa Rica
Before summer holidays, we still had more than six months to go before 2020. Almost seven months if we took the day of the flight. It all still felt comfortably distanced from the here and now. Within the blink of a summer’s eye, it feels completely different now. Yesterday we received potential tenants for our … More It’s official, we are getting nervous
The road from San José to Nosara It takes almost 5 hours to drive from San José to Nosara. The first part of the road is really good -asphalted and well indicated- until one needs to deviate to Sámara and Nosara. The last 60 km of the trip is a dirt road full of potholes, … More The scouting trip (III). Nosara
First stop in the scouting trip: Puerto Viejo, in the caribbean coast of Costa Rica. Of the four destinations shorlisted, this is the one for which we have more doubts. On the positive side, Puerto Viejo is surrounded by a national park (Cahuita) and a protected area (Gandoca-Manzanillo); has access to one of the best … More The scouting trip (II). Puerto Viejo
The to do list- 8 months before The Reboot your life book by Allen et al, suggest a list of to do´s for 8 months before the start of the sabbatical related to planning an educational sabbatical, organising work, financing the sabbatical and preparing the house. Our highlights of that list were the following: Apply … More To do 8 months before: the scouting trip and other to do’s
About a year before the starting date of the sabbatical, there are a number of things that one can start doing in preparation for the sabbatical. Our one year-before to-do list includes the following items: Prepare the wish list with all the things that we ideally like to do during the sabbatical Brainstorm with partner … More To do one year before
THE FLIP FLOP LIFE 