The Bella Blog

May 20, 2020
4 min

Why We left the US - Looking Back

Note - WARNING -This is an opinion post. If you are currently satisfied/happy with the situation in the states you might want to pass up reading this post. One reason that I am writing this post today is because lately, I have been deluged with incoming requests from people in the states, begging for help as to how to "get out" of the US! I'm serious! Since I moderate and administer at least 3 different sites on FB I am getting their desperate pleas! I think the constant 24/

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The Bella Blog

May 12, 2020
2 min

Looking for a New Home in Costa Rica

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

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The Bella Blog

May 9, 2020
2 min

Two Month Rona Costa Rica Update

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

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Shelter in Place - Day 10 -The New Normal

The Bella Blog

Mar 20, 2020
3 min

Shelter in Place - Day 10 -The New Normal

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

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The Bella Blog

Feb 24, 2020
2 min

Mardi Gras Costa Rica Style

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

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The Bella Blog

Jan 21, 2020
1 min

Black Girls CAN Learn to Salsa!

Can you Salsa? I have to admit it. I can not! I posted this on Facebook today but for those of you who do not have FB here's what I said. Sunday we took ourselves over to Sarchi (next little city over from Grecia) to "Viejillos" a bar, restaurant/discoteque (I didn't know discoteques were still around 😉) For those not familiar, Viejjillos is a HUGE place and every Sunday they have dancing with a live band, from 1-6pm. People of all ages come to dance. It was my 2nd time goin

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Looking Back at Four Years of Living in Costa Rica

The Bella Blog

Jan 20, 2020
2 min

Looking Back at Four Years of Living in Costa Rica

YAY!!! I have finally completed our look back/4 year Costa Rica wrap up video!!! Or, I guess I should say, vide-O's -- as it turns out that I had to split the original video into 2 parts. In the end, a 1 hour video was just a little too much for my poor laptop to process. Even with the 2 video split, part 2 took half the day and all night to upload! Yes my friends, those are some of the joys of video making and uploading in Costa Rica!!! I will keep that in mind for future u

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The Bella Blog

Jan 2, 2020
2 min

It's been one whole year!

Happy New Year Everyone! Just a quick check-in to wish each of you the very best for the the new year! Hope you all have something special to look forward to. Celebrating Our One Year "That Bella Life" Blogoversary/Vlogoversary!! Yep, that's right, how time flies. This time last year I was putting the final touches on this website and preparing to launch! The website will remain the same but as I do every year, I am redesigning our videos a bit including some changes to our i

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The day we sat down to dinner with a member of the Ku Klux Klan, in Grecia, Costa Rica?

The Bella Blog

Dec 19, 2019
3 min

The day we sat down to dinner with a member of the Ku Klux Klan, in Grecia, Costa Rica?

Let's see, where did I leave off? Last I posted, I was giving you the rundown on the interesting week we had, and I left off with Feria Friday. Well, on Sunday we were invited to La Terraza B&B to attend a birthday party and to meet a "special guest" writer who was visiting from the states. We love going to La Terraza. It's a beautiful place and we always have a lot of fun. The food is great and we meet some very interesting people. So of course, we were excited to go. As we

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The Bella Blog

Dec 16, 2019
2 min

Better Days Ahead

Although we had a pretty frustrating several days last week, the end of the week turned out to be much, much better. Thursday was an absolutely gorgeous day. I even hung some clothes out on the line to dry in the Costa Rica sun. Really! I mean who gets to have such a beautiful view? I am always in awe of the beauty here. On Friday, I also picked up our homemade holiday tamales! Yum! Tamale Making - A time-honored and delicious holiday tradition in Costa Rica. For generations,

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Wanna Watch US TV Channels in Costa Rica?

The Bella Blog

Dec 14, 2019
4 min

Wanna Watch US TV Channels in Costa Rica?

Costa Rica is one of the most popular relocation spots for US expats, however you may not be able to watch all of your favorite TV shows! Things have changed a bit since we arrived 4 years ago. When we originally subscribed to Tigo, a local cable provider, they offered a package which included a decent # of US channels including 10 HBO channels as well as several CNN channels, (MSNBC was never part of the any package option). I generally watch CNN/MSNBC for the debates. I no

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The Bella Blog

Sep 29, 2019
1 min

It's Time to Get Your Travel On!

If not now? When? #expatlife #expatdivas #thatbellalife #blackexpats #blackexpatsabroad #blackincostarica #blackbabyboomerabroad

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The Bella Blog

Jan 28, 2019
1 min

Learning Spanish the Fun & Easy Way

Before we moved to Costa Rica, we began preparing to learn Spanish. Although, you can get by here (at least in most of the bigger cities) without being fluent, you will probably enjoy yourself more and have less frustrations, if you can speak some Spanish. At least enough to understand how to shop, take the bus and ask for directions. We met Jesse Feliz in Puerto Viejo in 2015 while on our Costa Rica due diligence tour (we met her very close to the location of the Ghetto Girl

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