Hanging Out With Retired Canadians

We live in a 25-unit condo building with a shared pool, lounge and BBQ area. There seem to be only a few units with long term owners, some must be uninhabited and a few are vacation rentals, which means that various groups cycle through the pool area for differing lengths of time. Some come for only a week, others come for longer stays of 2 to 4 weeks.

One couple, Colleen and Doug, are retired and from Canada. They have owned a unit in the building for seven years, but are in the process of selling. They are lovely to chat with and have been the source of very helpful information when we have questions like, “How does recycling work here?” or “Is it really going to get hotter?” or “Where do you go for….?” Whenever we are stumped about something, we quickly conclude that we could just ask Colleen and Doug. They know everything.

Despite a couple of exceptions, like the nice family with a little boy and baby from Portland, Maine and the family that is here now with two teenage girls from Minnesota, the people that cycle through the vacation rentals are almost entirely Canadian retirees. We have talked about ice fishing, ice hockey, lake houses and the snow storm that forced Toronto to a halt last week. Thankfully, they are almost always grandparents, so seem to be pretty tolerant of how loud Matt and the boys can be when they play “King of the Ledge,” which is basically a pool wrestling game with a whole lot of yelling.

Our initial conversations with new arrivals now follow a familiar pattern. We discover they are from Ottawa…or Manitoba…or Toronto…or Ontario. I watch as their eyebrows raise when we tell them we are living here for five months and that the boys are going to school for a semester. They always ask why and we reply with some variation of our mid-life crisis explanation. Most say how great it is that we are doing this with our children now, that they wished they had done something like this. Others want to know how we’ve managed it. Yes, I really quit my job. They are all surprised. It’s an interesting feeling to be the source of such amazement.

Often after the first conversation or two, one of the couples will ask me if we have eaten at this restaurant or that. I tell them what’s good that I know about and warn them off of a couple of others. I always tell them to eat breakfast at Breaking Bread, my favorite breakfast spot in town. One couple that arrived about week ago has been more inquisitive than others and always catch me with a question or two when we see them at the pool. It feels good to be helpful, since so many like Colleen and Doug helped us. Yesterday, I was in the deep end of the pool pretty far away from where two retired Canadian couples were sitting and chatting. Their voices carried more across the water than I think they realized. I almost burst out laughing when I heard one woman reply to the other, “Oh, you should ask Trina. She knows everything.”

So, after only two months in Costa Rica, I know now everything. Good to know.