The Great Furniture Escapade

In the first month of our residency here, we had 4 pieces of furniture: 3 molded plastic outdoor chairs and a bed. We bought the chairs last January when we were living here at the house. I only stayed for a month and M stayed for almost 3 months. The kitchen was not installed and we had a temporary kitchen on the downstairs terrace.

We hustled up some of the leftover construction materials: concrete blocks, broken pieces of Densglas (a type of wall board), sawhorse. With a single burner gas ring connected to a propane tank, the refrigerator in the "pilar" (the laundry room which is the door on the right side of the photo) and in the pilar there is a huge triple sink with running cold water. We were set. It was like camping semi indoors. We cooked lots of different dishes on that one gas ring. It took some advance planning and most meals were "casados" and delicious.

Well, now that we are living here full-time, (I have to admit that it doesn't quite feel real yet

for me. I kinda feel that I'm on an extended vacation.) 3 plastic chairs and a bed does not a comfortable home make. We are hesitant to buy too much furniture at this time. In February, the entire house will be repainted, inside and out. (That is a story for another day.) And as much as we have outfitted the chairs with seat cushions and pillows, I was getting tired of eating off my lap day in and day out.

During the day, the chairs were on the upstairs deck. Sometimes, we would eat outside in the evening. However, with all the rain each night, we'd bring the chairs inside. Then if we wanted to sit on the downstairs terrace, we'd haul them down.

Also, sitting with my Powerbook on my lap for hours at a time was straining my back. With a few handy concrete blocks, the same piece of Densglas from the temporary kitchen, and some cloth that I brought, I created a workspace with a million dollar view. Now I tell M that, "I'm going to the office."

Factory made furniture in Costa Rica is expensive. A few stores at "La Frontera" have furniture. We felt that it was poorly made and the style of the furniture is not to our taste (very glitzy.) There are a couple of very good woodworkers locally that make bedframes, chairs, tables etc. Our bed was made by the man who custom-built our kitchen and bathroom cabinets. He charges a fair price for his good work. However, it can take a couple of months for a piece. The artisans here work on very thin budgets. They don't keep a lot of wood in their inventory. The process is: you choose a design for your piece, pay a deposit, the worker buys the wood. Then the wood needs to dry for a month or so at the workshop before the item is built. Handmade furniture is a not an "instant gratification."

Enter Craigslist Costa Rica, it looks just like any Craigslist in your area except the homepage is in Spanish. Most of the listings are located in and around San José and many of the sellers are Ex-pats. There are a couple of similar websites like OLX.com which tends to have more Tico sellers. Prices on Craigslist are often in US dollars. Person to person transactions are sometimes in US dollars. Costa Ricans that work or are friends with US Americans will accept US dollars as payment. You may notice that I specified US Americans. The Costa Ricans consider themselves Americans. Which they are. They are Central Americans. Once we understood that we always say that we are from the US and not from "America."

M was cruising the listings on Craigslist and saw a wicker dining set with 4 chairs and a glass table top. It was reasonably priced and he contacted the seller. The seller who was American had purchased the house furnished and was selling off some of the pieces. However, the seller was in Escazú and that is a 6 hour drive from our house. Yes, you read that right... a 6 hour drive one way. We were making this rather impetuous decision to drive 6 hours to purchase furniture on the basis of a couple of photos on the internet. I have to say that I was a little wary. As a REALTOR, I know that photos do not always portray reality.

We jump in the car at 7 am on Monday and enjoy a fairly traffic-free jaunt up to Escazú. We had a short stop in Quepos at the Pali, a supermarket that is owned by Walmart. All I ever see of Quepos is the highway and the Pali. Maybe next trip, we will detour to the coast. As we approached the Central Valley where San José is located, the wind was blowing hard. Which is not unusual, it is a high plateau that stretches from east to west. The air currents move from the Caribbean across the plateau to the Pacific. That Monday, there was a huge cold front moving across the Caribbean and the winds where reported up to 60 mph. Would it be a good idea to travel with an object strapped to the top of the car in that kind of wind?

We arrive at the seller's house. She is an artist that also hosts "pop up" dinners. Her home had a dozen or so dining sets. She served us a deliciously strong turmeric ginger iced tea. The wicker set shows a little wear and tear, however, the chairs are comfortable and the table is sturdy. We decided to buy it. Then, the real work began.

It took us 3 hours to pack up the car. Fortunately, we had lots of bubble wrap left over from our packing to wrap up the glass table top. The real challenge was figuring out how to get the 4 chairs and table top inside the car. M had contacted the seller in advance for some measurements. We were determined to make this work. In the end, it did. The ingenious part was the placement of the glass table top. After we strapped the wicker base of the table to the roof, we hung the table top on the straps that passed through the cabin of the car. The top rested reasonably securely in the sling. Though we were a little concerned that if we had to brake sharply that the top would come flying forward and decapitate us. But what the heck! No risk, no reward.

We stayed the night at Ester's Place a "home stay" that M had found when he was in Esacú for his dental work. It was only a block from the seller's house. We were able to pull the car inside the gate and park halfway in the garage. We felt secure that the table would still be on top of the car in the morning. Up early on Tuesday to get out of dodge before the wind picked up. It sprinkled a little rain, however, no wind. And back home in 6 hours. Every piece of furniture arrived intact and is now comfortably resting in our living room. Last night, we enjoyed a great meal with our first dinner guests Leslie and Dave. And I'm so happy not to be eating off my lap.