COSTA RICA - Atenas - Dec 2011 - Jan 2012 - House Sitting



I’ve been slacking on writing about my trials and tribulations or also commonly referred to as my o- shits and hot damns.

Since I’m retired and as most retirees, on a limited income, I needed a way to supplement my travels.  I looked around and registered on some websites to do house sitting for people while they go on vacation.  After a few failed attempts of houses to sit not matching up with my availability dates I finally got one in Atenas, Costa Rica.  Some of you may be asking what house sitting is so simply put, it’s a lot like you take a vacation and ask your neighbor to keep an eye on your house while you’re gone.  There are a couple of differences with what I’m doing.  Mainly, these people aren’t my neighbors and you might even get paid for doing it.  For instance, if you had a house for me to sit and wanted me to do work around the house (lot of pets, big yard, landscaping, maintaining pool, etc) we could come to an agreement on payment.  For me the big downfall in that is you could also charge me for rent and utilities.  In my feeble mind I would rather do normal stuff around your house, like taking care of your pets, keeping your place clean and simple stuff like that, in exchange for living in your house for free.  If the owner wants more than I agree to, well, then we’ll start negotiating.