John Pestotnik

Catching Up With Buddy (by John)

For those of you who read an earlier blog post by Cindy you may remember that early on during the COVID-19 crisis we became foster (or as we like to say, “forester”) parents to a corn plant (Dracaena Fragrans) named Buddy. Buddy’s proud papa is a neighbor in our apartment complex, John H. John lives in the apartment opposite ours across the pool deck. John is from Tampa, Florida but is setting up an office in Costa Rica and is supposed to spend about 75% of his time here. When COVID-19 started to heat up he returned to Tampa for the foreseeable future and left us in charge of his beloved Buddy.

As Cindy noted in her earlier blog post, we have been providing John with daily or near daily updates as to what Buddy is up to via WhatsApp. Cindy included a couple of our Buddy posts in her post. I thought I would share the entire series from day one through yesterday (6 weeks). Please note: Buddy came to us faceless but developed a face and a personality soon after his arrival. Enjoy his story!

MY WAR (By Richard Pestotnik)

With Veteran’s Day coming up and with the passing of my 94-year old dad, Richard (Dick) Pestotnik, this week (10/30/2019), we thought it only appropriate to share his written account of his WWII experience. This writing is from many years ago. He typed it all by hand and I later scanned the typed pages to create an electronic version. His story fits nicely into the theme of our blog, remember it’s an adventure. This was his great adventure, seeing the world and the war as an 18-year old from Boone, Iowa. – John

Tortuguero Trip – Day Dos (by John)

As described in our past few blog entries the first day of our short Tortuguero getaway was an activity-filled 24 hours of new experiences. Our day two itinerary was a little less hectic but included some new experiences as well. Waking up in our screened-in, porch-like cabin in the jungle was extremely pleasant. Per usual, I woke up early but atypically to to the smells and sounds of the jungle. The howler monkeys were accommodatingly quiet most of the night but were now rather animated. I decided to get up and venture down the elevated walkway in search of a pre-six a.m. cup of coffee.

Tortuguero Jungle Cruise (by John)

In our last episode the dynamic duo had just checked into their cabin in the rain forest. In this episode they undertake two equally dangerous endeavors – the all-inclusive buffet lunch and a jungle cruise into the depths of the tributaries of Tortuguero National Park. The former was actually a perfectly adequate, by Costa Rican culinary standards, buffet lunch. Self-serve water, juice de jour and coffee provided hydration for our upcoming sit-in-a-boat excursion. Lunch, like every meal, included rice and beans along with typical buffet fare – salad of sorts, bread, veggies and two meat dishes. Our lunch dessert for day one was Tres Leches Cake.

Mid-Century Simple (by John)

Our apartments in Escazú came equipped with a mystery device shown in the photo below. I have no idea what it is but when I plugged it in and turned it on I discovered a very pleasant side effect. It expelled a broad exhaust plume that provided a cooling effect. I assume that the gas expelled is non-toxic because there is no warning label (and in Costa Rica they apply labels quite liberally as Cindy mentioned in a previous blog). Just to be safe I opened the sliding doors to our balcony deck to allow the exhaust a way out of our apartment. By playing with its controls I discovered a setting that dispersed the exhaust in a back and forth motion across the room. There was something quite comfortable about the sensation produced. For some reason it took me back to my childhood and afternoons at my grandmother’s house.

Home Sweet Escazú (by John)

We moved to Costa Rica from the U.S. 7 weeks ago. For the next year or so we are living in Escazú (San Rafael de Escazú) while we have a house built in a development called Bellazo near Nosara. Escazú is a suburb of the Costa Rican capital city, San José. Escazú is called the Beverly Hills of Costa Rica (also called the city of witches). We have decided to live without a car while living in the city but will need to purchase a 4 wheel drive when we relocate to Nosara.

Technología – Can’t live with it… pass the beer nuts (by John)

My post title is adapted from a Cheers episode. A classic Norm quote from season 8 was, “Women. You can’t live with them…pass the beer nuts.” Somehow I find it quite fitting with respect to our move to Costa Rica. I can’t imagine making the move without technology but, at the same time, it has been the source of “muy” frustration. I spent countless hours prior to our move researching various technologies related primarily to televisión, teléfono and música. Some of the research payed off. Some did not.

Tildes Matter (by John)

I have lived virtually my entire life, personally and professionally, in a state of tilde indifference. The tilde key on every keyboard I’ve ever owned is still in pristine condition. Since moving to Costa Rica, however, I am beginning to move farther to the left (side of the keyboard) and am becoming somewhat pro-tilde. So much so that I spent an embarrassing amount of time this afternoon trying to coax my laptop keyboard to expel a tilde over the letter “n”. When at long last I achieved success it was difficult to coñtain my eñthusiasm.

Back to School! (Cindy & John)

Today was our first day of school (Spanish language school that is). We are taking group lessons 2 days per week at Spanish School for Residents and Expats. We used to take “first day of school” pictures of our kids when they were young, so we thought we would do the same.

The Adventure Begins … (by John)

Cindy and I officially retired at COB on Friday July 26, 2019. On Saturday we moved out of our Columbia, SC apartment. On Sunday we were on our way to Costa Rica. We are two, non-Spanish speakers from Iowa, who have been married for 36 years. I have been working in Columbia,SC for the past three years and have maintained an apartment there. Cindy lived and worked in West Des Moines, Iowa until we sold our home of 24 years there in May. Cindy then moved to Columbia with me. We sold nearly all of our possessions, including cars, furniture, etc., bringing to Costa Rica only what we could fit in our suitcases.