J.D. Moyer

sci-fi author, beatmaker

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Working Abroad Experiment Wrap-Up Part II — Financial Results

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On July 21

In Lifestyle Experiments, Travel

Spend money thataway!

We’ve been back from our Costa Rica “workation” for three weeks as of today.  It has taken that long for me to feel like life in Oakland (blessedly temperate with very few biting bugs, but much farther from the beach) is “normal.”

Hindsight continues to clarify the experience.  As beautiful as it was, and as friendly as everyone we met in the Puerto Viejo area was, I didn’t fall in love with Costa Rica.  It’s not really a matter of why or why not — it just didn’t click the way some other places I’ve visited have for me (Parma, in Italy, for example — or the north shore of Oahu).

You can’t predict what parts of the world you’ll fall in love with.  Hopefully your home is one of them.  To find the others … beyond randomly going places, I’m not sure how to go about it.  I don’t think a guide book can tell you.  Maybe the best way to improve your odds is to follow a lead … some picture or story or traditional food or factual detail or potential project that sparks your interest and that resonates emotionally.  If I gain more insight into that process, I’ll be sure to share it.

Still, I immensely enjoyed parts of the workation, and even the hard parts weren’t that bad.  I have zero regrets about the experiment, and we plan on going on similar adventures in different places (with a few tweaks to the game plan).

How Much Did It Cost?

One of the objectives of the experiment was to go on a longer trip without breaking the bank.  Until I sat down with a spreadsheet, I didn’t know how much damage our bank accounts had actually taken.  During the trip I was focused on making sure we had a enough cash for day-to-day needs; I wasn’t paying attention to the big financial picture at all.

Spent some money here (well-spent).

Gross expenses for the three of us (myself, Kia, and our toddler daughter) were $7033 for the entire six weeks.  The top four expense categories, from most to least expensive, were 1) flights, 2) rental houses, 3) eating out, and 4) groceries.  Those four categories came to about $6000, and the remaining grand was taken up by hotel, taxi, bicycles, bus tickets, laundry, ecotourism, gifts, childcare, clothing, exit fees, bank fees, and other expenses.

Of course, if we had stayed in Oakland, we’d have spent money in many of those categories over the same six week period.  Looking at average monthly expenditures in January through April of 2010, I calculated that we saved money in the following areas, comparing workation costs to “life in Oakland” costs.

  • Childcare: $2163 saved (we’re looking forward to public school)
  • Groceries: $1605 saved (see below)
  • Eating out: $495 saved (even though we ate out way more)
  • Gasoline and bridge tolls: $258 saved (we biked everywhere)
  • PG&E bill: $40 saved (our renter used less gas and electricity than we would have)

In addition to saving money in these categories, we had an additional $1100 in rental income from renting our place out.  That amount is below market in our area, but since we were renting to someone we knew and trusted (and found easily — no searching or interviewing required), it was a win-win situation.

During our workation I had income from music royalties, Loöq Records, and my database development freelance work.  Working conditions weren’t always ideal (lack of childcare and proper desk space), and I didn’t feel like working as often, so billable hours were down.  I calculated about $1700 in “lost” billable consulting fees for myself — work that probably would have gotten completed, delivered, and billed if I’d been at home.  That’s over the full six weeks.  Kia worked less as well, though I’m not sure what her numbers are (or if she wants to share them with the entire world).

Taking everything into consideration (gross expenses, money saved, additional income, changes in regular income), I calculated that the six week workation cost me $2357, or about $400 a week.  Slightly better tactics (renting one house instead of two, eating out less, and arranging better working conditions for ourselves) probably could have gotten that number down to about $300/week.

Depending on a number of factors, spending $2357 for six weeks in a different part of the world (during which you still need to complete and deliver a fair amount of work) might sound like a lot, or not very much.  To me it seems like a fairly good deal, though it wasn’t as inexpensive as I had hoped.

I think I’ve spent about that much (or a bit more) on many two-week vacations.  It’s an interesting comparison — two-week vacation vs. six-week workation.  The longer your trip, the more certain costs are amortized over longer chunks of time.  Flights you pay for just once (unless you hop around during your trip), and monthly rental costs are often almost the same as weekly rental costs (especially during low season).

The longer workation offered the experience of actually living somewhere else, and of completely breaking with (as opposed to just getting a break from) my daily routine.  I’m glad we did it, and I think, going forward, it will probably be our preferred choice over the whirlwind vacation.

Bank Fees and Credit Cards

It cost us $3-5 in ATM fees, plus about 3% of the actual withdrawal every time we withdrew cash.  I’m not sure which fees were Banco de Costa Rica and which ones where Chase, but they both got their share.  What a drag.  I wish there was a way around this (besides bringing massive amounts of cash into the country — no thanks).  Is there a way to use foreign ATM’s and avoid the fees?  If you know of one, please let me know.

Want a new dress? Cash preferred.

One bright spot was our CapitalOne Venture card — a new credit card we got just for this trip.  No foreign transaction fees at all, no annual fee (with our version — there’s also one with a fee and more rewards points), plus rewards points that can be used for travel or other stuff.  I wish we could have used the credit card in more places, but lots of places in Costa Rica only take cash, and many places (including hotels) that do take credit cards add a steep transaction fee.

A different credit card, one that I only used at only two restaurants at Costa Rica, ended up with some fraudulent charges on it, and had to be closed.  Chase took care of the problem with minimum hassle, but I’m glad I used a credit card instead of a debit card at those places (even though I’m not sure that the problem occurred at either restaurant).

On Groceries and Bicycles

Farmer’s market in Puerto Viejo

You may have noticed that we saved a lot of money on groceries — about $1600 over six weeks, or $267/week.  There are a number of reasons for these savings:

  1. We were eating out more.
  2. Food was less expensive.
  3. We were eating conventionally grown food instead of organic food.
  4. We were eating primarily local foods, and almost no imported foods (imported foods are an order-of-magnitude more expensive in Costa Rica).
  5. We generally drank beer instead of wine.
  6. Everything we bought, we had to carry home on our bicycles.

The last point is the most interesting.  We bought (and therefore ate) less food, simply because it was difficult to lug it around.  It made us think twice about our regular style of shopping at home — making gigantic trips to the grocery store and filling up the whole trunk of the car.  We also lost less food to spoilage (despite a flaky refrigerator).  It was more of a European village style of shopping: figure out what you want to eat that day, then walk or bike to the market and buy it.  Less efficient, but also fresher and less expensive.  We’re trying to emulate the same model now that we’re home, and so far the results are good — less money spent on food with no drop in quality (and nobody is going hungry).

Working Abroad Experiment Wrap-up, Part I — What We Did Right and What We Did Wrong

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On June 30

In Lifestyle Experiments, Travel

A young friend from the Iguana Verde Center.

Today is the last day of our Costa Rica “workation“; right now we’re at The Hemingway Inn in San Jose (CR) and we fly back to San Francisco tomorrow.  Six weeks flew by — at least that’s how it feels now (at times, time crawled at a snail’s pace).  Six weeks was certainly long enough to feel like we were truly living, and working, somewhere else.

Was the Trip a “Success”?

Kia and I had pretty similar goals going into this trip, and our two-year-old daughter was along for the ride.  Here is the short list of what Kia and I hoped to get out of the experience:

  • Perform a test … does “workationing” (a longer stay in another country, working remotely at least part of the time) work for us?
  • Be out less money than we would on a regular vacation.
  • Change things up; experience living in a new place; break out of our Oakland routines.
  • Have a good time, enjoy the foreign country we’re visiting.
  • Be creatively inspired; do creative work.
  • Do paid consulting work; meet client expectations; don’t fall behind on obligations/work responsibilities.
  • Meet new people and make new friends.
  • Avoid the boredom and aimlessness both of us have often experienced on longer vacations (no matter how beautiful the location).

Our daughter didn’t have “goals” for the trip, but it was important to us that she enjoy the experience as well, and grow from it.

File under "what we did right"

The short answer to the “success” question is yes, absolutely.  We performed the experiment, we got work done, we met new people and made new friends, we had some incredibly fun times, we totally broke out of our regular routines, we experienced creative inspiration, we avoided boredom, and we didn’t break the bank.  That said, there were some difficult elements, as follows:

  • We only had sporadic childcare, and this made working difficult.  It was rare that either of us got a clean three or four hour block of uninterrupted time, the kind that enables a person to get into a groove and experience deep concentration.  We had to work in fits and starts, and hour here and an hour there.  Having two of our daughter’s grandparents around for part of the trip was a huge help, as was Sylvia, a new friend who also did some babysitting.  Still, there wasn’t enough time to work.
  • The Puerto Viejo area is home to multitudinous hordes of insects that want to eat you for supper, including mosquitoes, sand fleas, and biting flies.  Some people get used to this, or cease to care, or stop having reactions to the bites.  Some people, but not us.  We suffered.  Mosquito nets helped somewhat, but I had a terrible reaction to neurotoxic DEET spray, and I actually preferred the insect bites to the sharply fragrant stench of citronella.  I would have tried Avon Skin-So-Soft in a second if I could have found some.
  • Internet speed and reliability has a long way to go in the Puerto Viejo area.  I realize this is true for many parts of the United States as well, but the slowness and drop-outs were frustrating when we were trying to deliver projects, check email, download files, etc.  It wouldn’t have been an issue if we were just on vacation, but it made workationing difficult.  I no longer buy into the false “first-world/third-world” dichotomy (see Hans Rosling’s TED talk for more on that), but there is progress to be made in Costa Rican internet service.
  • Tesla Rose, our two-year-old daughter, was bored and frustrated at times, and sometimes acted out.  When she had enough to do, and had friends and grandparents to play with, she did really well, but at other times she complained about missing her Oakland friends, threw more than one glass on the ground, and often exclaimed “I’m getting bited!”

Tesla Rose and the Dellinger girls doing their best to get us kicked out of Casa de Carol (great food -- recommended)

These difficult elements were easily outweighed, at least in my view, by the positive highlights of the trip, including:

  • Going to the beach two, three, or even four times a day to play in the waves, kick the soccer ball around, build sand castles, and admire the tropical Caribbean view.
  • Being in close proximity to Costa Rican flora and fauna; hearing and seeing howler monkeys, sloths, agouti, iguanas, giant blue morphos, etc.
  • Seeing old friends and meeting new friends, including a fellow workationing family, The Dellingers, from Virginia.  Tesla Rose got along great with their daughters Eli and Annika, and we had some excellent times at the beach, eating out, and seeing the local sights.
  • Good food!  Restaurant food was always at least decent, and several times exceptional (and this is coming from two Oakland food snobs).  Basic food quality is great too — for example, regular eggs from the local market in our area rivaled super expensive organic eggs from free-range pastured chickens in California.
  • Seeing Tesla Rose get braver, stronger, wordier, etc. — she grew up a lot during the trip.  Kia has done a full post on this.

What We Did Right, What We Did Wrong

Will we do it again?  Will we take another workation?  Yes, absolutely.  And there are some things we’ve learned from our first foray into this area.

What We Did Right

  • We chose a place where we knew somebody (Eric Haller) who was already living there.
  • We chose a place where rent and other prices were reasonable (or at least cheaper than U.S. prices), and we went during low season.
  • We chose places to live with internet.
  • We chose an area that’s easy and enjoyable to navigate via walking and biking.
  • We chose an incredibly beautiful location.
  • We chose a place where Kia speaks the language, and where Tesla Rose and I could get by with our Spanglish.
  • We maintained a generally positive attitude, even in the face of difficulty.
  • We were outgoing and met new people (Kia and Tesla Rose were especially good at this)
  • We heeded local advice regarding area to watch out for (in terms of crime) and managed to avoid trouble.
  • When we found that the original house we rented wasn’t ideal, we moved.
  • We rented out our place in Oakland to someone we knew, which both eased our minds about our house, and also relieved some financial pressure.

The excellent little preschool in the jungle we would have loved to send Tesla Rose to (unfortunately, they were full up)

What We Did Wrong

  • We ignored the advice of our local friend, and rented a jungle house separated from the main road by a long, hilly, rocky, often muddy trail.
  • We rented a place, sight-unseen, for the entire six weeks; we should have rented a place for just the first week and gained more local knowledge before committing.
  • We chose a place with lots of biting bugs, and didn’t have a good strategy for how to avoid getting eaten alive.
  • We didn’t choose a low-crime area (even though this decision turned out not to have consequences, the constant tales of gangs of machete-wielding youths kept us a little on edge).
  • We didn’t plan, or find, an independent activity for Tesla Rose.  Going to the local preschool, even part-time, would have been fun for her and would have made working easier for us.
  • We didn’t arrange enough childcare for the “crunch periods” (Kia had a couple of intense deadlines for her motion-graphics work).
  • We came in needing faster and more reliable internet service than was currently available in our area.
  • We didn’t choose places with enough desk space.
  • We packed much too heavily, bringing warm clothes we didn’t need, and a car seat we only used once.
  • We didn’t bring enough of certain clothing items.  Some things we planned to get when we arrived in Puerto Viejo, but discovered those items were either unavailable or very expensive.

Overall, the experience was positive, with some glitches.  Some of the glitches were major, but most were avoidable.

I think we’ll enjoy our home in Oakland more than ever for awhile.  I could see trying another workation sometime this winter, or maybe we’ll go somewhere cold next summer.  We have friends and/or family in Switzerland, France, Norway, The Netherlands, and Argentina.  We’re also curious about Iceland, Denmark, Chile, Peru, Japan, and New Zealand.  A number of U.S. and Canadian cities are on the short list too.

If you have recently gone on a working vacation, or are planning one, I’d love to hear about it — please comment below.

Working Abroad Adventure: Weeks 3 and 4

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On June 21

In Lifestyle Experiments, Travel

Path to the beach at the Caracola Hotel.

I can’t believe there are only ten days left in our 6-week working abroad adventure — the time has zipped by (for the most part — it has also crawled along at times).  We’re in the home stretch of an experiment in which we rented out our house in Oakland, rented a house in the coastal jungle of Costa Rica (near Puerto Viejo), and brought our work with us.  We wanted an extended change of scenery without breaking the bank, and we wanted to experience a new place without dying of boredom or sinking into a sea of listlessness.  I acknowledge that boredom and listlessness are not everyone’s experience of extended vacations, and also that not everybody is going to get the “workation” concept (and it has had its ups and downs) but for us it has worked pretty well.  Later, once I’ve had a chance to run the numbers, I’ll share what the trip looked like financially, and also share some thoughts about what we did right and what we did wrong.  But for now I’ll just bring you up to date on the last couple of weeks.

Life is Easier by the Beach

Soon after my last post we decided to move away from our house in the jungle (Casa El Jardin), and rent one of the Caracola Hotel beach houses for the remainder of our stay.  We met Issac, the manager of the Caracola (via another local friend — Matt Grinnell); Issac offered us a very good “low-season” rate for the beach house.  By that point we’d had our fill of jungle living, and jumped at the chance to move to the beach.

Don’t get me wrong, the jungle house was “as advertised”; incredibly beautiful, a giant colorful garden, fast (if somewhat unreliable) internet, and intimate proximity to nature.  The downsides were 1) the mosquitoes were pretty bad, 2) the sheer number, mass, and intensity of insect life in the jungle can be overwhelming to a temperate-zone city dweller, and 3) it was exhausting biking up and down the long, muddy, hilly, slippery-stone covered road (made more difficult with our toddler in the bike seat) every time we wanted to go the beach, buy food, or take our laundry to the lavandería.  Our favorite place to hang out, we discovered, was at the beach in front of the Caracola Hotel; the gentle waves were perfect for Tesla Rose.

One of the bugs up in the jungle house.

As an aside, for those of you who have tried to get me to drop four grand on a mountain bike so we can get our muddy trail thrills on (Dan Pardi), let me recommend navigating the steep downhill stretches of Margarita Road on an old fixie with one bent wheel, with your toddler attached, carrying a bag of groceries (including eggs), while it’s raining, with brakes at about 20% capacity.  Now that’s thrilling.

In any case, life near the beach is good.  When we want to get our feet wet we just walk about a hundred feet and hop in the water.  Usually we hit the beach about three times a day; maybe a little soccer in the early morning (before it gets too hot), a quick dip in the afternoon, and usually a long visit in the early evening to enjoy the sunset.  Somehow the sky and the water take on almost the same color; the light is stunning.

Dog running on the beach.

The Two-Dimensional Town

The topographical arrangement of the Puerto Viejo area is line-like; the vast majority of businesses and destinations (including the beaches) are along a single road.  One side effect of this configuration is that whenever you go out, you’re likely to run into everyone you know (unless they’re home in bed).  You’ll either see them on the road, going one way or the other, or you’ll see them hanging out somewhere; maybe at Cocles Beach, or Caribe del Sol, or Caribeans.

This line-like arrangement seems to spill over into the social realm as well; all people here are connected; everyone knows everyone (and has an opinion about everyone); there is nowhere to hide and there are no secrets.  In other words, it’s like small towns everywhere.

On another layer, there are the busloads of backpackers and tourists that come through every day; people are constantly shuttled in and shuttled out.  That includes us, of course, but our longer stay puts us in a slightly different category.  We’ve been here long enough to get friendly greetings, or at least nods of recognition, from many of the locals.  We’re getting to know the place, and the people.

The little school in the jungle.

We’ve entertained the idea of coming back for a longer stint.  We even looked at a little school in the jungle where Tesla Rose could go.  The school was charming; a beautiful location and warm and friendly staff who obviously knew what they were doing.  Get this — tuition is $100.  A year.  The average wage here is only $2 or $3 an hour — that’s why (some) of the prices are so low.  But it’s those jaw-dropping comparisons — the cost of preschool here vs. the cost of preschool in the Bay Area — that really make you think twice about where you live and why.

Invite The Family

We invited the whole family to visit us during our workation, and two family members took us up on the offer.  My mom, a reluctant adventurer (she complains about all the risks of traveling, and then goes and does it anyway), and Kia’s dad (who is fluent in Spanish and has traveled a great deal in Central and South America) both came to visit (at different times).  For each of them it was vacation (as opposed to workation) and both grandparents enjoyed their visits.  It was great having them here, both to enjoy time together as a (larger) family, and also for the extra help with Tesla Rose.  Having enough time to actually work has been a consistent challenge.

with Nana Ina

On Crime, and Swords

Our friend Eric Haller carries a sheathed machete with him at all times.  He claims its a deterrent; so a would-be miscreant will “pick the other guy.”  As a fellow ex-Dungeons & Dragons player, I’m dubious — I think the guy just likes carrying a sword around (and he’s finally found a place where that’s socially acceptable).  But there is crime in the Puerto Viejo area.  At least, that’s what everyone tells you.

At Art Cafe, not worried about crime.

I think every single person we’ve met has warned us about crime in one way or another.  This is the beach where you will get mugged at sunset.  This is the stretch of road where machete-wielding youths will rob you blind.  Let’s write down the serial number of the bike you are buying so that when it gets stolen you’ll have some record of purchase.  The manager of our jungle house insisted that we should be locking up the open kitchen every time we leave the house (the kitchen area closed up like a wooden cube with heavy, medieval-style hanging doors) or thieves would come take everything — our blender, our plates — everything!  We ignored his warnings, and nobody stole our blender.  In fact, we haven’t yet experienced or witnessed any crime at all (with one exception — see below).

My ideas about crime in the Puerto Viejo area are as follows:

  1. The crime rate is not particularly high — certainly not any higher than Oakland.
  2. Residents are very concerned about crime; one reason is that any crime is a huge threat to the main industry (tourism).
  3. People look out for each other and feel responsible for each other (and thus warn about crime).
  4. Tourists are the main targets, especially drunk, obnoxious tourists (there is some sense perhaps, among the locals, that these types have it coming).
  5. Crime is highly localized — just like anywhere else.  There are areas that are quite dangerous to hang out in at various times.  Visually, these areas don’t look seedy or dangerous or rough — they look like an idyllic stretch of beach or a meandering coastal road.

The last point is the most important.  I think it generally is important to heed the warnings of the locals.  They may be overcautious, but they know what’s up.  If I saw a Japanese tourist wandering around West & MacArthur, with a three thousand dollar camera hanging from their neck, I might direct them a few blocks northwest towards the Temescal District.  The Temescal area used to be a pretty rough area itself, ten years ago, but now it’s a thriving, relatively low-crime commercial district.  But West & MacArthur, just a few blocks away, is a fine place to buy drugs.  A quick check of a statistical crime map of Oakland confirms this suspicion.

Armed with a rapier, yet somehow … not intimidating.

So, the real question — if I lived here, would I carry a sword?  Hell yes! I mean, why not?  In Oakland, if you carry a sword and try to defend yourself from getting mugged, you will just get shot.  But guns are uncommon here.  The muggings we’ve been warned about are either at “machete point” or via beating by fist.  In both cases, a sharp blade could be a real deterrent.

But I don’t think I would opt for a machete.  With a rapier, I could utilize my fencing training (don’t laugh — I ranked in the top ten of all Bay Area youth fencers in one tournament).  On the other hand, while a rapier might have inspired fear in 17th Century Italy, it might appear to be a bit foppish these days.  Putting parry-ripostes and double-disengages aside, a katana, with its historical reputation as a decapitating device, would probably be a better bet.  I would love to draw a samurai sword against a machete-wielding mugger and see the look on his face.  You want a sword fight?  Bring it on.

I did have a run in with a motorcycle gang.  I was bicycling up Margarita Road towards the jungle house, my laptop slung over my shoulder in a red grocery bag, when a guy ran by me, at full speed, with a look in his eyes that can only be described as abject terror.  Up ahead, a man had gotten off of his motorcycle and was hacking at something, or somebody, with a machete.  These weren’t little chops — they were full overhead swings.  Was somebody being chopped to pieces?  The something turned out to be a bicycle.  I watched, with equal parts trepidation and fascination, as the man picked up the mangled bike and hurled it over a nearby fence.  He saw me, and glared.

Giving me stink-eye the whole time, the man sheathed his machete and got back on his motorcycle.  Farther ahead, toward the top of a hill, another man waited on an idling motorcycle.  The guy closer to me looked mean, and the bicycle chopping made me question his sanity.

I considered my options.  If I turned and biked away, he could easily overtake me and cut me down with his blade.  It did seem in my favor that the blade was sheathed.  His beef had been with the other guy, and the hapless bicycle, right?  Still, he looked dangerous.  I ultimately opted to bike by slowly and say “Hola.”  The man grunted in response, and he and his friend rode off.

Later, riding back home from the jungle house (I’d ridden up there to use the fast internet), I encountered the guy I’d seen running away, along with his friend, retrieving his worse-for-wear (sliced tire, shredded seat) bicycle from the brush.  I wasn’t sure what to say, but I felt a need to say something since I’d obviously been a witness to at least part of the drama.  I settled on something like “That guy was loco!”

“I’m gonna keeel him,” said mangled bicycle man.  “I’m gonna cut him up good.”

“Okay!” I said.  I added “Motorcycle gangs!” with a shrug, as in “You never know what those kooky motorcycle gangs are gonna do,” and pedaled on my way.

Update: I got the scoop from Eric H. on the reason for this altercation; it was a case of mistaken identity.

Wall-climbing lizard.

Physical Costs and Benefits

Living in tropics can be rough on your body.  Even though the risks of malaria and dengue are very low, the mosquito bites are still a drag.  I’ve lost some muscle mass — I’m generally too tired from bike-riding to want to do any kind of strength training.  On some days I’ve suffered a general malaise and mild tourista — no doubt my body adjusting to foreign (for me) strains of microbes.  The water is Costa Rica is generally considered “drinkable” by U.S. standards, but we’ve felt better since running it through a Brita filter.  We’re probably consuming more pesticides than usual, considering we’re making zero effort to eat organically, and we’re also doing other things that are probably horrible for us, like using aluminum cookware.

On the other hand, I’m tanner, leaner, and fitter than I’ve been in a long time.  The challenges to my immune system will probably serve me well in the long run.  In terms of both health and safety, most parts of Costa Rica fall into the “reasonable risk” category, at least in my book.  I don’t want to be the type of person that avoids entire countries and cultures because there is a very small chance of getting a horrible disease (like Chagas), or getting machete chopped, or eating a few extra doses of pesticides.  Life is rough on your body.  Life is, indeed, a terminal disease.

Will We Do It Again?

Yes, definitely.  Workationing is a blast.  Now that we’ve done it once, we have some good ideas for how to improve the experience.  I’ll get into those in detail in the wrap-up post.

Why hello there big beetle.

Bananas at the farmer’s market.

with Grandpa at the beach.

Working Abroad Adventure: Week Two-And-A-Half

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On June 5

In Lifestyle Experiments, Travel

A view from the beach, which could benefit from a two degree rotation in Photoshop.

I’m in the midst of a six week “working abroad adventure.”  The idea: rent a house in the jungle on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica, and attempt to do and deliver all our work remotely (Kia is a motion graphics artist, I co-run Loöq Records, do freelance database consulting work, and write fiction).  Why?  To change things up a bit, to break up our normal routines, and to experience a change of scenery and culture.  It’s a “workation”; a vacation without the giant financial hit, and without the risk of boredom from too much beach and hammock time.  If it’s not already obvious, we both like our work — this is not some version of Tim Ferriss’s 4-Hour Workweek (though we were inspired by his book).

The Good News

The girls.

I’m happy to report that approximately two weeks into our trip, we’re getting some work done, and appreciating the natural and cultural gifts that this beautiful part of Costa Rica has to offer.  Every day we take a trip down to the beach; we tend to hang out on an idyllic stretch in front of the Caracola Hotel with calm water and tidepools teeming with life.  We feast on fresh mango and papaya, local grass-fed beef, fish caught hours ago in the Caribbean, and drink the best coffee I have ever tasted (with extra-healthful Costa Rican milk).  At night we listen to the sound of rain on our roof, and in the morning are awakened by the sounds of howler monkeys, toucans, and parrots.  On clear nights we look up at a sky densely packed with stars, and during one evening walk encountered a living Christmas tree, a giant black silhouette lit up by lightening bugs, blinking on-and-off.

Mentally, I feel awake, alive, and engaged.  Emotionally, I feel powerful love for my wife and daughter, and more closeness with my parents, brother, in-laws, and extended family.  I feel love and appreciation for my friends even though I’m far away from most of them.  In the broadest scope of my life, I feel like I have expanded the realm of what is possible and doable.

Have there been hard times?  Definitely, and I’ll go into those, but I wanted to start with the positive.  I’m glad we decided to go on this adventure; I don’t regret the decision.

The Client

In my last post I mentioned my choice to not inform all my clients that I would be temporarily relocating to a house in the jungle on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica.  One client had requested a face-to-face meeting, and I wasn’t sure how to handle the request.  Turns out the problem went away; I had already informed another person at the organization about my trip (and then promptly forgotten).  I haven’t had a single complaint about my unilateral decision to work remotely for six weeks.  I imagine some of them are withholding judgment for the moment; can J.D. get the job done from anywhere?  If so, no problem.

But Can I Get The Job Done?

Brain coral.

My productive output has suffered a precipitous drop, by any measure.  We have childcare a few hours a day, at most (from my mom, who decided to visit us here and rented a place down the road, or from a local babysitter we met recently who Tesla Rose fell in love with).  The rest of the time we trade off, or do activities as a family.  We both try to work efficiently during the times our daughter is being cared for, or sleeping, but there is no shortage of distractions.  If we try to work in the evening we get attacked by mosquitoes (we’re only really safe in bed — under the mosquito net).  We’ve also had a number of internet and power outages that bring our work to a screeching halt.  There’s also the temptation to go the beach instead of working, or just lie in a hammock and read a book.

Despite these challenges, we’re getting some work done.  This aspect is harder than I expected, but not harder than I should have expected.  I knew most of the variables going in.  The key for me is setting a few clear, achievable goals for each day.

Fixing the Internet

Sometime into our second week, our internet went down.  If you read my previous post, you’ll know that our only connection to digital civilization, our clients, Skype, etc. was a mysterious ethernet cable, encased in a plastic tube, disappearing into the jungle.  Three days of biking down our rocky road to the Art Cafe several kilometers away was proving inconvenient (though it’s a great place to work — beautiful women serve you delicious fruit drinks while you bask in the wi-fi).  Finally, I decided to investigate, and followed the cable across our yard and through a dense tropical thicket.  The cable snaked upward through the trees, eventually joining some power cables and crossing the road towards our neighbor’s place.  From my vantage point amidst the palms I could only see a large Bob Marley flag, and a high, densely-constructed wooden gate.

Land crab (far from ocean) in front of our jungle house. Trying to slice our internet cable?

I shared the results of my reconnaissance with Kia, as well as my plan to regain our connectivity.  I would attach the cable directly to my laptop, type in the router address directly into my browser, hack into the administrative control page, and then do a remote reboot.  That’s what I do at home when the internet doesn’t work — I reboot the modem and the router — it seemed worth a try in any case.  My plan worked up to a point, I did in fact navigate my way to the user and password prompt for the router.  I typed in numerous iterations of admin, user, bob, marley, jah, one, reggae, nation, love, etc. … all to no avail.

Kia eventually took a more down-to-earth approach, going next door and introducing herself to the neighbor, a Tico woman renting the place.  The nice lady let Kia enter her home and turn her power strip off, and then on.  Internet service restored.

Out of the Frying Pan …

One morning I woke up with a headache, feeling weak and utterly lacking in energy.  I recovered quickly enough with coffee, water, some vitamins, and breakfast, and wrote off the episode to mild dehydration and overexertion.  Two days later I experienced the same symptoms, combined with drowsiness, foggy-headedness, sluggishness of limb, irritability, and a dry cough.  Do you suspect malaria?  Some of the symptoms match.  It crossed my mind too, but the incubation period for malaria is quite long, and the disease is rare in Costa Rica except near banana plantations.  I think what I experienced was DEET toxicity, especially considering that the onset of symptoms in both cases occurred within six hours of applying a repellent cream containing DEET directly to my skin.  I’m fully recovered now, but it was a nasty experience.

I generally try to avoid applying poison directly onto my skin, but the mosquitoes really love my blood (as does the Red Cross, but at least they don’t inject me with an itch-inducing digestive enzyme right after they withdraw my O positive).  I had over 100 itchy, red bumps, mostly on my feet, calves, and forearms, before I resorted to DEET.

Turns out DEET is a potent neurotoxin, and can cause genetic damage.  Severe cases of poisoning can result in disorientation, incoherence, tremors, seizures, respiratory failure, delusions of grandiosity, and death.  We’ll never use it again.  Currently I’m experimenting with an herbal alternative; a strongly brewed local peppermint tea spritzed directly onto exposed skin — it seems to be working so far — no new bites yet.  Update: not only does the mint tea spritz not work to repel mosquitoes, the mosquitoes added insult to injury by landing in our open saucepan of mint tea, apparently to lay their eggs.

As a side note, it’s possible my regular intake of the local Pilsen brew might have something to do with my attractiveness to the bloodsuckers.

What we really need around here is one of Nathan Myhrvold’s mosquito lasers (or click here for the full TED talk — fascinating).

Leaps and Bounds

Our two year old daughter Tesla Rose is enjoying life in the jungle.  She loves looking at the lizards, frogs, monkeys, butterflies, and birds, and for some reason the mosquitoes don’t like her (maybe because she doesn’t drink beer, or maybe it’s that she never stops moving).

In front of Pirripli market.

The locals kids here are really independent.  It’s not uncommon to see a little kid, three or four years old, walking alone on the road to run an errand.  Our daughter is picking up some of that can-do attitude, and is learning to swim (or at least splash around) in the ocean (when we arrived she was terrified of the surf — she didn’t want to be put down anywhere near even the smallest of waves).  She’s also lost her fear of dogs (she used to hide behind momma’s leg when approached by a friendly Labrador; now she will calmly put her shoes on next to a dozing Pit Bull).  I think and hope she’ll remember the time we’re spending in Costa Rica, with all the novel sights and sounds.

The Big Picture

Off to the lavandería.

We’re slowly getting it together.  We have a house, two bicycles (one in need of repair), internet (that works most of the time), and a babysitter.  We buy our groceries at the Pirripli market, and get our laundry done by a friendly Jamaican woman down the street (Bet-El lavandería).  We’ve enjoyed delicious meals at Jungle Love, Bread & Chocolate, and Soda Johana.  Tomorrow morning we’re going to visit the Jaguar Rescue Center and get a closer look at some of the wildlife.

Is the working abroad experiment working?  I’m not sure yet.  Life is physically harder than I’m used to, but I’m fitter than I’ve been in years (and not quite as pale).  There have been moments of extreme stress, but at least as many sublime experiences.

It might have been a better choice, at least for me personally, to have arranged a break from my consulting work and just focused on my creative work.  But if I’d done that, I might be worried about money, considering this is such a long trip.  On that point, I think I’ll need hindsight for clarity.

Gecko!

Leaf-cutter ants (click for video)

Working Abroad Adventure: Week 2

By

On May 26

In Lifestyle Experiments, Metaprogramming, Travel

This particular neighbor is, fortunately, a vegan.

When I last left the dear reader I was in a black mood, heading to the storage shed to fetch a machete.  A thought had entered my mind; the remedy to my grumpiness was in doing something I could only do here in the jungle.  I roamed our large yard, filled with towering tropical plants, gigantic flowers, and insects as big as my hand, until I found what I was looking for — a fallen green coconut.  I hacked at my victim with abandon.  My sword was dull and my foe was tough; only a series of full-strength overhead blows removed the outer shell.  I pierced the inner fruit with a smaller knife and was shocked by the loud popping noise and spray of liquid.  I poured the coconut water over ice and shared it with Kia (Tesla Rose declined).  Slightly sweet, a little sour, and refreshing.

Big bug.

Soon after the air cooled and it began to rain.  With the change in temperature, all three of us felt a sense of relief.  Things weren’t so bad.  We had food and a roof over our heads.  We were in tropical paradise.  The mosquitoes were letting up a bit, and our problems were starting to feel solvable.

Manufacturing Happiness

Happiness comes in two flavors — the kind you feel when you get what you want, and the kind you make up when you don’t.  Psychologists, with their clever tests, have determined that the two varieties are indistinguishable in quality (you can tell I’ve been watching TED videos — I actually logged on to watch the penultimate episode of LOST, but discovered the joys of Hulu don’t extend to Costa Rica).

If you, like me, are only semi (and not fully) enlightened, you’ll sometimes forget you know the trick of manufacturing happiness in spite of your circumstances.  Bug-bitten, hot, foggy-headed, bike-less, in an unfamiliar place, with only the wire-from-the-jungle connecting me to civilization, I briefly forgot that the secret to happiness is (more or less) deciding to be happy.  That, and doing whatever you can to influence your own fate.  Of course it’s not an instantaneous switch, but I’m convinced the greater part of happiness is intention.

We've got wheels!

The next morning — Sunday — we walked to Eric Haller’s house. He made us delicious coffee — incredibly smooth — and we took a taxi into Puerto Viejo. We stopped at Gallo’s bike shop on Eric’s recommendation and bought a used mountain bike for 40,000 colones (about US$75) and attached Tesla Rose’s “iBert” bike seat. Gallo’s place only had one bike for sale, so we rented a beater for the day — transportation problem half solved!

While buying the bike, we ran into our old friend Matt Grinnell who we’d known in San Francisco, back in the dot-com boom days.  Turns out he’s been living twenty minutes up the road for the last three years.  We picked up some Toña beer (not great, but better than the watery Imperial) and stopped by the beautiful beachside Caracola Hotel (managed by a friend of Matt).

On the beach, with warm water on my feet, a cool breeze on my face, and a beer in my hand, I suddenly lost my need to synthesize happiness.

Actually Working?

The concept for this experiment was to work abroad, as opposed to “go on vacation.”  Kia and I both brought work (and deadlines) with us.  With no childcare, productivity is currently on the low side.  A good chunk of time is also dedicated to learning how to feel comfortable in the tropics (three or four cool showers a day, at least until we adjust, endless applying of various creams/repellents/antihistamines, arranging the fan to drive off the most mosquitoes, etc.).  I’m really selling this, aren’t I?  On the other hand there has been no shortage of sublime encounters with the local fauna; four types of lizards, two types of frogs, the howler monkeys (still only heard, but hearing them is thrilling), and of course the giant insects, which include enormous blue butterflies, 1000-watt lightening bugs, and the above-pictured Godzilla roach.  I’m especially excited for Tesla Rose — it’s not everyday that a city kid needs to coax a large frog to leave their bedroom before going to bed.

Ribbit.

We are getting some work done and delivered though, and that in itself is kind of a thrill.  I’m getting paid, from the jungle.  Take that, cubicle man.

I shouldn’t boast though, because my creative output has taken a hit.  I’ve been prioritizing my time and willpower towards the needs of my clients, and also just getting basic stuff dealt with (buying food, buying a bike — as of today we have two).  No fiction writing and no music composition for at least a week now, and I’m feeling it.  I hope to give you some good news on that front by my next post.

The Mind-Blowing Bit

As I sit here in my hammock, looking out at the black night and listening to the rain and the din of a million insects, I’m shocked by how easy it was to “change it up a bit.”  It was only a couple months ago that we decided to temporarily relocate to Costa Rica, almost on a whim.  It makes we wonder what else I should just decide to do (on a whim).  I realize that not everyone has the flexibility to do their work remotely, but are you taking advantage of whatever flexibility you do have?  For the most part, I wasn’t.

Possible Glitch

So … a client just emailed requesting a face-to-face meeting.  They don’t know I’m in Costa Rica for the next five weeks or so.  Not quite sure how I’m going to handle this …

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