The   Bella  Blog

Hope you are all doing well. Have you been, wondering where I've Been? The answer is, nowhere, yet. But, I have been working on a couple of exciting projects. 1. First project is - a "Jammin" trip to Morocco Morocco Jammin 2022 The Morocco Grand Tour An 11 day group trip to Morocco which we are planning for Sept 2022 The trip is to 5 cities, as well as an overnight stay @ a luxury camp in the Sahara Desert More to follow - *If you are interested please drop me an email and I

We (Lavanson, Verdette and I) finally felt it was safe enough to venture out and make a visit to Jaco, where Lavanson's brother (Charles) lives. Jaco is about an hour and 15 mins from Escazú. Charles moved to a new condo about 6 months ago and we had not yet had an opportunity to see it. We spent 7 relaxing days there and had the opportunity to enjoy some of the beaches, meet up with some friends and also sample some of the restaurants. Sadly during Covid, many businesses, (i

In an effort to begin moving around Costa Rica again (on a limited basis) we have been researching some of the restaurants in the area. All are following social distancing guidelines and are open air locations In today's video review Located - Just 20 minutes from San José! Located in the beautiful mountains of Escazú, San José's upscale suburb. In a farmhouse setting you can experience an authentic traditional Costa Rican ambience. The Views are Awesome!!! #thatbellalife #b

It's no secret --- Costa Rica is NOT known for it's cuisine! I have nothing against rice and beans, and after living here for 5 yrs, I've certainly had my share. Gallo pinto is fine (gallo pinto is a mix of beans, rice, Salsa Lizano, chopped onion, chopped red bell pepper, and chopped cilantro. Usually served alongside a fried egg, ripe plantains, white cheese and homemade tortillas or a piece of toast). Casados are fine too (casados are always offered at sodas (a local resta

Just a quick post to say that the wrap up for our 4 day trip to Tamamrindo has been uploaded to Youtube Please check it out if you haven't already #thatbellalife #tamarindocostarica #blackexpatsabroad #blackincostarica #blackexpatslivinglifeabroad

Here are links for the last 2 days of our trip to Tamarindo Don't miss the gorgeous SUNSET on day 3 #thatbellalife #blackexpatsabroad #blackandretiredincostarica tamarindocostarica #blackexpatslivinglifeabroad

LIVE in The Clubhouse Monday March 8. Please join us. Let me know if you need an invite or if any men would like to participate. Remember you need to have an iPhone. #thatbellalife #blackincostarica #blackexpatsabroad #retiredblackexpatsabroad #retiredblackexpatsincostarica #blackexpatsdatingabroad

Video only #thatbellalife #blackexpatsabroad #blackandretiredincostarica tamarindocostarica #blackexpatslivinglifeabroad

I'm a few days early as the official date is December 1st. That is the national holiday in celebration of Army Abolition Day. This is Costa Rica's 1st annual celebration. President Carlos Alvarado signed the law on May 20, 2020 and established the new holiday. Since it is a 3 day holiday, I decided to post on Sunday. On December 1, 1948, President José Figueres Ferrer of Costa Rica abolished the military of Costa Rica after achieving victory in the civil war that year. The bu

In case you were wondering... Stay Tuned #thatbellalife #BlackExpatsAbroad #BlackExpatsInCostaRica #BlackAndRetiredInCostaRica #BlackHairCareInCostaRica

Today is September 15th It's Costa Rica Independence Day Some of you may remember this video, which we posted back in 2018 on our old vimeo channel. Now that we have moved from Grecia, it's fun to look back on those days, so, from time to time I'll upload one of the old videos and repost it to our new Youtube channel -- and you can also view it here. I think this will be helpful to our newer subscribers -- and for those of you who have been around for a while, you might like

**This is an opinion piece on r a c e - you can choose to stop now and not read further. Sometimes a girl just gotta get it off her chest. I doubt that today's topic is being covered by the media, and then again, why would it be? So far as I can tell there are no "official" statistics. The topic is about the rapidly increasing number of black people who are researching, exploring and actively making plans to exit the United States!!! Black people in America have been trying

I shared this video on one of my Facebook groups but thought you all might enjoy it as well. The TOPIC -- HOUSING - Where should we live? This is always a HUGE decision as we discussed in the real estate series. I think the decision is also complicated by the fact that Costa Rica is different from the US in many ways. First - It's not connected by "freeways" - as we know them in the US - "freeways" that take you up and down and across the country with well lit signs and offra

We're back with an update on which property we chose! It was a difficult decision but we finally made up our minds. In the video below we will discuss the pros and cons of each location which led up to our final decision. While we were in the selection process I thought this might also be a good time to educate people on exactly how real estate works in Costa Rica as it is different in so many ways from real estate in the states, and I figured...you all just might want to kno

Since we have put our move to Mexico on indefinite hold, it's time to find a new home in Costa Rica! I've found at least one positive result of the Corona Virus, and that is - it's a pretty good time to look for a new place to live if you are interested in a good deal on a rental. Since there will be a new normal once we are lifted from quarantine, people will more than likely not be doing as much travel. And in a country like Cosat Rica where... Tourism has been one of the f

HAPPY 70th BIRTHDAY!! We celebrated both of our birthdays on my birthday. Since things have loosened up a bit, we went out to dinner with a couple of friends. Lavanson & I each had a slice of cake with candles. He had the "happy" candles, I had the ones that said "birthday." “In a world where we overcomplicate things, sometimes there are moments that are stand-alone that still bring smiles.” OK I did the research and 70 is the new 50 or at least the new 60!!! Health-wise, old

1 - Rona Virus Update I think we are actually in week 8 now and Costa Rica has begun to lift the restrictions a bit. Our virus #s stand at about 725 cases and 6 deaths. Among the changes, many stores and restaurants were allowed to re open eff 5/1 - with special "capacity" restrictions, the 7pm curfew still stands and United Airlines began making limited flights to and from CR. Citizens and legal residents are now allowed to return home. We were in town yesterday to do our g

What a week this has been. Who can remember what life was like before we had to stay 6 ft away from each other, wash our hands a gazillion times a day, sanitize everything and stay sequesterd in our homes? Here's the latest news from Costa Rica - We started using an online delivery service for our fruits and veggies. They make deliveries on Fridays. We don't have Uber eats or any of those other fancy delivery services here in our area but this will cut down (somewhat) on our

Yesterday we received a message from the State Dept Come home. Now. That was the message from the State Department, which announced that U.S. citizens abroad should either return home or stay where they are as the coronavirus pandemic grows. The department raised its global travel advisory to Level 4, the top warning level, which is usually reserved for nations with war zones or beset by serious disruptions. The announcement is a recommendation, not a requirement, and many of

A quick weekend update. For those of you NOT on FB, here is a pic of the sweet potatoes from our recent harvest - YAY. These are U.S style sweet potatoes (yams), which we don't get here in Costa Rica. We grew them in our yard and this is our 2nd harvest. The first one netted only a few very tiny potatoes. At this time, (along with editing the video from yesterday and writing this blog post), I am also cooking some of the potatoes to make a sweet potato loaf (similar to zucchi