All Roads Lead Author to Atenas

From Foreign Friends to Flushing Habits, Topics are Endless By Howler Staff

Mary Martin Mason was born under a nomadic star, leading her to grow up with several families, to cross many borders, and ultimately, to retire in Costa Rica. Residing there in the small mountain town of Atenas, she delights in letting each day unfold into a variety of adventures and misadventures.

As a contributing writer for the Mango Musings blog, Mason regularly reflects about her experiences as a long-term guest in a foreign land. A sample musing, “Wiping Off and Out in Central America,” appears after this article.

Some days she feels that at long last she has found sanctuary, but at other times, she finds the experience to be as turbulent as a violent chop on an ocean voyage.

Mason’s recently released ebook, Casa de Doloros pays homage to Costa Rica as a host country that wryly welcomes expats like herself.

The author’s previously published books are The Miracle Seekers, Designing Rituals in Adoption, and Out of the Shadows: Birthfathers’ Stories. She was an award-winning columnist for The Southwest Journal in Minneapolis.Before retiring, Mason served as the Executive Director of MN ADOPT, a non-profit organization with the mission of finding homes for Minnesota foster children. She was also formerly a high school English teacher in Houston, Japan and Minnesota.

Casa de Doloros

Casa de Doloros is set in a fictitious town in Costa Rica. The characters and plot are also completely fictional, although inspired by a host of personalities who have counterintuitively chosen to retire and reinvent themselves in a foreign land. The story centers around a cast of expats living in a cluster of run-down apartments called Casa de Doloros, named for the voluptuous owner.

Doloros has had myriad husbands of various nationalities, all of whom have added to the construction and upkeep of her modest empire. Her current love is a Venezuelan, who Doloros follows back to his homeland besieged by revolution. She leaves her business in the hands of some of the occupants, but while she's away, another coup percolates at home to take control of her beloved Casa de Doloros.

Here’s what local readers are saying about Casa de Doloros:

This clever and entertaining read will take you to an imaginary town in Central America that you suspect exists outside the mind of the author. A tour of fantasy, reality with a pinch of snark. Totally enjoyable! — Jodie Cook

Interested in taking a trip to magical Costa Rica without a passport? Ever thought about or dreamed of moving to Costa Rica? Here's your chance to read a deftly witty, very irreverent, and delightfully fun tale about the strange sorts of folks who move to this colorful land. Casa de Doloros by Mary Mason poignantly captures the immigration craze of international expats like herself to the very popular Central American nation of Costa Rica. Add in a splash of Venezuelan revolution and a dash of magical realism and you have a story that will captivate you from cover to cover. — Shannon Farley

Some days she feels that at long last she has found sanctuary.