I'm not on vacation

I posted the picture above on Facebook and a lot of my friends kept saying, "Enjoy your vacation."

I don't consider myself to be on vacation. I'm living here in Costa Rica for three months. I live just like the locals. I go to the farmer's market just like they do. I eat the same food, and I cook my own meals. I ride the bus when I want to go somewhere.

I do eat out some, but not much. When I'm eating out here, the food is about half the price as in the US and the prices shown on the menu include the tax and tip.

I don't do the tourist things much. Maybe because I lived here for six months before and I did a lot of the tourist things then.

The picture at the top of the page may look like I'm being a tourist. It was shot last week when I was sitting on the beach waiting for the car to be repaired. So I wasn't being a tourist. I was being a local, and doing what locals do, getting chores done.

I caught a ride (three hours down the mountain to the beach from where I am at 5,000 feet). The guy was going to the area to pay taxes on some property he owned in the area and he was getting some work done on his car at a shop there that had some better equipment than was available locally.

A great place to have lunch

Even though the picture looks like it's a great place to relax and have lunch while the car was being repaired, you have to remember that this is Costa Rica. Sometimes things work and sometimes they don't.

In this case, the electricity was out for the whole beach area. We enjoyed the view at the restaurant sitting outside in the shade. Finally, after about an hour the restaurant gave up on the power coming back on and they closed. We didn't get to eat, but it was a relaxing way to wait while the car was being repaired. In Costa Rica you just relax, go with the flow, and don't get upset.

When I leave here I will get my motorhome out of storage and go camp in the North Carolina Mountains. Some people would call that a vacation too. I enjoy the cool mountain air (up at 5,000 feet), I hike to waterfalls, and I enjoy spending time around the campfire with other RVers.

In both Costa Rica and when I'm living in my RV I have plenty of uninterrupted time to work. Whether I'm writing another book, working on creating YouTube videos, or working on a website, I need uninterrupted time to be really productive. That's what I get with the RV and traveling lifestyle (as long as I don't try to be a tourist).

All of this for $500 a month

The $500 rent includes cable TV, WiFi, electricity, and all utilities. I doubt if the electricity would be much anyway. The houses here don't have heat or air conditioning. The temperature stays near the mid-70s day and night year round.

Here's a view of the kitchen.

In the above kitchen view you can see part of the bedroom and part of the living room.

In the picture below, you can see the living room and look out onto the large balcony.

Bottom line: I don't consider myself to be on vacation, I'm just working. But maybe I am on vacation.