Beds, Sofas and Clothing
All of these are difficult at best in Costa Rica.
When our things finally arrived from the States the bottom platform of the water bed didn't make it. Just as well. The bed is over 30 years old, needs some tender loving care and the bottom platform is merely stained dark walnut plywood.
Yesterday we had an appointment with the one of the town's custom furniture builders, Bruce. Bruce sold us our mahogany and leather rockers, made us teak pool furniture and fixed a broken side board on our bed. I trust him implicitly. He has all the pieces of the water bed and is restoring the finish and building the platform.
That's a thing in Costa Rica I love. You reuse, you fix, you keep what you have and treat it gently. Which leads us to the sofa situation. A few weeks ago we purchased a very pretty blue sofa sleeper, got it home and realized it was like putting doll house furniture in an adult sized big huge home. The sofa is perfect sized for the guest house, so it is going out there, replacing the easy chair set. Those chairs will be put in the bedrooms here in the house.
Our old sofa is heavy wood. Ancient, like twenty years old. Solid with some wear. Bruce has it too, restoring the finish and replacing the dry rotted webbing underneath. I'm going to shortly reupholster the still firm cushions. I'm excised because I'm planning on doing a batik quilted washable cover for the cushions and it's going to look amazing!
Today was a bit more challenging than yesterday's measuring, planning and having furniture taken to Bruce's shop. Today was me driving the nearly 3 hours to Puntarenas to pick up a package of clothing I ordered from a favorite retailer, Holy Clothing, back in mid Feb.I paid for three week air freight shipping and wasn't quite sure what would happen.
Since Jim is still in an orthopedic appliance he cannot drive. I have to do all the driving for the next month or so. It was 3 hours there, 3 hours back and we're both not quite well yet.
Usually I only order through Amazon now because Amazon collects the impuesto import duties right up front. I've had things delivered by Amazon to my mail box in just over a week. I knew I was taking a chance of the package ending up impounded and having to go pay the fees.
I've ordered from Holy Clothing before. In the States I've had some things overnight or in three days from the factory in India. That three week shipping to Costa Rica turned into nearly 3 months. I was very unhappy and DHL could not explain why it was 3 weeks at the Frankfurt Germany airport, or where it was. Finally last week I got notice on Friday that it was being held for impuesto in Puntarenas. I was on the verge of giving up and asking my credit card company to refund the money for non delivery.
This was an experiment. I wanted to see if it was even possible to get my Holy Clothing delivery here or would it be a disaster. I have to say with the amount of time it took, DHL's lack of response mixed with having to drive 3 hours when gas here costs 6 dollars a gallon mixed with the customs hassle that it was so not worth it.
Once I got to customs I had the print out the postmaster in Tamarindo had given me, but customs was demanding I give them an invoice? I never received an official invoice, and I could not pull up my email box on my cell phone to show them the ordering email.I almost didn't get the package. We opened up the package and there wasn't even an invoice, packing list or any paperwork inside.
What we finally did was I showed the customs inspector the company website and the prices and which items I had ordered. Turns out customs fees for women's clothing run 30% here!
It's impossible to get decent clothing here. It's buy in the States, live in cheap beach dresses you buy at the tourist places or pay big bucks at the few clothing stores here for low quality stuff. I was hoping I'd hit upon a good way to get well made clothing. Sadly it's not to be.
Once I paid the impuesto and got the package home it wasn't quite what I ordered. I got a top with black embroidery, but I'd ordered it in lavender with lavender embroidery. One of the dresses was right, but they also sent another version of the same dress instead of another top. A mistake all the way around.
I'm very disappointed in my clothing experience, but I'll live. At least they are all the right size. That went right.
When our things finally arrived from the States the bottom platform of the water bed didn't make it. Just as well. The bed is over 30 years old, needs some tender loving care and the bottom platform is merely stained dark walnut plywood.
Yesterday we had an appointment with the one of the town's custom furniture builders, Bruce. Bruce sold us our mahogany and leather rockers, made us teak pool furniture and fixed a broken side board on our bed. I trust him implicitly. He has all the pieces of the water bed and is restoring the finish and building the platform.
That's a thing in Costa Rica I love. You reuse, you fix, you keep what you have and treat it gently. Which leads us to the sofa situation. A few weeks ago we purchased a very pretty blue sofa sleeper, got it home and realized it was like putting doll house furniture in an adult sized big huge home. The sofa is perfect sized for the guest house, so it is going out there, replacing the easy chair set. Those chairs will be put in the bedrooms here in the house.
Our old sofa is heavy wood. Ancient, like twenty years old. Solid with some wear. Bruce has it too, restoring the finish and replacing the dry rotted webbing underneath. I'm going to shortly reupholster the still firm cushions. I'm excised because I'm planning on doing a batik quilted washable cover for the cushions and it's going to look amazing!
Today was a bit more challenging than yesterday's measuring, planning and having furniture taken to Bruce's shop. Today was me driving the nearly 3 hours to Puntarenas to pick up a package of clothing I ordered from a favorite retailer, Holy Clothing, back in mid Feb.I paid for three week air freight shipping and wasn't quite sure what would happen.
Since Jim is still in an orthopedic appliance he cannot drive. I have to do all the driving for the next month or so. It was 3 hours there, 3 hours back and we're both not quite well yet.
Usually I only order through Amazon now because Amazon collects the impuesto import duties right up front. I've had things delivered by Amazon to my mail box in just over a week. I knew I was taking a chance of the package ending up impounded and having to go pay the fees.
I've ordered from Holy Clothing before. In the States I've had some things overnight or in three days from the factory in India. That three week shipping to Costa Rica turned into nearly 3 months. I was very unhappy and DHL could not explain why it was 3 weeks at the Frankfurt Germany airport, or where it was. Finally last week I got notice on Friday that it was being held for impuesto in Puntarenas. I was on the verge of giving up and asking my credit card company to refund the money for non delivery.
This was an experiment. I wanted to see if it was even possible to get my Holy Clothing delivery here or would it be a disaster. I have to say with the amount of time it took, DHL's lack of response mixed with having to drive 3 hours when gas here costs 6 dollars a gallon mixed with the customs hassle that it was so not worth it.
Once I got to customs I had the print out the postmaster in Tamarindo had given me, but customs was demanding I give them an invoice? I never received an official invoice, and I could not pull up my email box on my cell phone to show them the ordering email.I almost didn't get the package. We opened up the package and there wasn't even an invoice, packing list or any paperwork inside.
What we finally did was I showed the customs inspector the company website and the prices and which items I had ordered. Turns out customs fees for women's clothing run 30% here!
It's impossible to get decent clothing here. It's buy in the States, live in cheap beach dresses you buy at the tourist places or pay big bucks at the few clothing stores here for low quality stuff. I was hoping I'd hit upon a good way to get well made clothing. Sadly it's not to be.
Once I paid the impuesto and got the package home it wasn't quite what I ordered. I got a top with black embroidery, but I'd ordered it in lavender with lavender embroidery. One of the dresses was right, but they also sent another version of the same dress instead of another top. A mistake all the way around.
I'm very disappointed in my clothing experience, but I'll live. At least they are all the right size. That went right.
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