Costa Rica - Translation: The Rich Coast. Now We Know Why

This Iguana dropped by the poolside eager to get in on the action of sharing a cut pineapple. This is NOT an animal you would put your fingers close to the mouth of by all accounts and boy, can they run. 

We have been in Costa Rica for one month now.  The weather has been good although the rainy season is supposed to have begun.  We have seen the clouds building in the afternoon. I had anticipated prolonged periods of rainfall but as of now that has not been the case but, when it does rain albeit for an hour, the rain is unbelievably heavy.  

The picture below was taken from our hallway window facing east at 4:50 am. This is when the choruses of birds start their song.....forget trying to sleep then.     

We stayed fairly local for the first week.  Getting used to driving and having to have 15 pairs of eyes all going at once to avoid sudden moves by kids, motorcyclists and drivers launching themselves into the street but I have got used to what I call the suicide mob after a while.  

The first week, we visited Tamarindo, a touristy town about 20 minutes south of Playa Flamingo to pick up our SUV.  It was a nice town - too many tourists for my liking (us being two of them), but the beaches are really nice and there are many of them up and down the pacific coastline.  

I made a promise to myself when we arrived in Tamarindo as we stepped onto the beach not to look at any of the beach vendors plying their wares to all that would listen.

Unfortunately my eyes inadvertently strayed just enough to capture one eager lady's attention.  She was selling hand made necklaces and earrings and I made THE fatal error.  I engaged her in conversation saying to her "cuánto para este"? (how much for this) in order to try out my newly learned Spanish sentence of the day 

That was it.  I felt like a Captain going down with his sinking ship as swarms of vendors appeared out of no-where - I felt like meat ready for the slaughter - Game on!  

The girl was a good negotiator.  She parried my every objection which was not surprising as she had heard them thousands of times before.  

I recalled while negotiating with her that it was almost the same as when I took up fencing to learn Epee, foil and Sabre at the Army School of Physical Training in Aldershot in the UK many years ago.  A thrust here, a parry there, a dodge and a weave, a quick comeback as you try to catch your opponent off guard.  It went on for quite a while. In the end, I was exhausted and needed a beer, so I dropped my guard -   My loss.    

I wished I had employed her in our office in Calgary as a Realtor® selling listings that were hard to move I thought to myself.  She would have been a great asset.    

Initially, she started at $25 per set (necklace and earrings) and after putting my now retired real estate negotiating skills to work, I managed to get her to agree to one set of jewelry for $10.  Excellent......I thought.   

After agreeing the price, she moved in for the kill and sprung it on me like a true professional.........."$10 per set, BUT only if you buy three sets" she said eyeing me ever so intensely.  She's going for the close I thought myself reaching into my pocket.      

Carefully counting out $30, and licking my wounds at the same time, I glanced over at Donna sitting there pan-faced and wide eyed looking at me as if to say.....hey Mr negotiator...what now!  

She smiled THAT smile - you know the one I mean guys! Knowing she had just become the proud owner of three sets of very nice hand made necklaces and matching earrings and that she had not said a word.  Life in the fast lane eh!

After the Tamarindo trip, we decided to go walkabout (in the SUV) so we headed off to Lake Arenal and la Fortuna, a four hour drive along mediocre roads towards the higher and cooler upper forested and volcanic areas for a couple of days.  

This is the view from our Cabina pictured below.  This is taken sitting on the patio

This area has a man made lake (Arenal) which is about 30kms long and supplies much of the power (70%) to Costa Rica in general.  

We stayed at a hotel with cabanas (small cabins).  The grounds were gorgeous and at $80 a night I thought not a bad price.  Two Queen sized beds, a TV, wifi and a couple of chairs out on the porch, plus a nice restaurant and bar in the main building looking right up at Arenal Volcano which you see above.  The volcano is of course dormant now although plumes of steam emanating out from the top of the volcano can be seen occasionally under certain weather conditions. 

Our Cabana for two nights.  

  

As we were checking in, one of the staff drew my attention to a very large and regal looking beetle.  It had Donna squirming and making all sorts of noises that could hardly be called Canadian speak.  "Eeeeew, Eeeew", was her reaction.    

No, Don't touch said the gentleman showing us.  They do bite.  No chance of that I thought

This is hard to believe, but the horns on these beetles can be sold locally for 10,000 colones (about $20 a pair).  This was told to me by our cleaner today, as she saw me putting together this blog.  They evidently make earrings out of the horns.  Rather them than me.  What a waste of a wonderful beetle.    

During our two days just outside La Fortuna, we decided to take in the La Fortuna Waterfall.  This involved a trip down 472 steps into a canyon deep below.  At the top, there were signs stating that people who had a bad heart condition or high blood pressure should probably not attempt this decent.  I was a little worried that after her total knee replacement two years ago, that Donna may not make it, but she was confident so we set off. 

I made a quick Video of the waterfall.  It can be found

By Clicking Here

Needless to say, she made it just fine and never flinched on the way back up to the top of the gorge

When we arrived back at the vehicle, we were soaked in sweat.  The humidity was overwhelming, even this far inland so we thought we would pay the $27 each and spend some time at the natural hot springs a few hundred meters from our hotel.  

This is water from close to the volcano and it comes right out of the ground, heated volcanically and is between 90F and 105F - a very comfortable temperature.  The colour of the water you see below, is not enhanced in any way and there is no chlorine in the water and no smells of sulphur.  It is all natural minerals.  We spent four hours there.  It was serene and very quiet.  

What we really enjoyed about the pools were that they were all different temperatures and there were no sulphur smells to the water.  

Later on that week, our friends Kathy and Brad arrived from Ontario.  We spent a great week with them.  We headed back up to Lake Arenal with them after spending a couple of days around the local area here in Flamingo.    

The week seemed to fly by and no sooner they had arrived, it was almost time to leave.  We had planned earlier on in the week that we/they could not leave until we had tried our hand at some sport fishing in the Ocean.  

After some looking around on the internet it seemed that the going rate for a reasonable boat was about $500 for a half day.  The company we contacted were offering their normal trips of $450 for a half day.  Knowing it was the low season, we managed to negotiate a half day trip for $380.  

We were picked up at the apartment at 6:45 am and two minutes later, we were stepping onto a small boat for the trip out to the fishing boat.  We were greeted by the smiling face of Warner, the Tico Captain and his two helpers who would bait the lines and watch the rods while we were on the move.

Five minutes later, we had caught some small bait fish for later which were placed into a cooler.  Warner used the fish finder to set course and off we went.  

It wasn't long before the first rod bent down and we saw Mahi-Mahi, jumping at the back of the boat - a sign we had one on the hook.  

Donna and Kathy holding their first Mahi-Mahi which the locals call Dorado.  

The Mahi Mahi come in all sorts of colours, blue, green, yellows and more.  

The crew filleted all the fish on the boat and kept it on ice.

Yours truly with a small Tuna but boy, did it taste good.  Just like Beef.  

During the next few hours between us, we caught 20 Mahi-Mahi, one small Tuna and then as we were heading back towards shore, the Captain decided we should cut the engines and instead of trolling, drop lines to the bottom of the ocean some 130 feet below us.  

If we had caught any Marlin (black, blue or striped), they are considered endangered species and are strictly catch and release fish which we would have had to put back.  

I am sure you all want to see what happened next. - The catch of the day, and a delighted Brad Ellis, just 15 hours before he and Kathy jumped on the aircraft and headed home to Toronto.     

Click Here to view What Happened Next

Well, after all that excitement, we headed back to the shoreline and gave the crew a half of the biggie and half of the Mahi-Mahi we had caught and Brad and I tipped them $40 between them for their efforts for the day.  They all left happy.......

It has been a busy month for sure.  We have some great adventures.  We have looked at some real estate which is mostly overpriced and just sitting.  

There's lots of it for sale.  Everywhere you look, there are Se Vende signs.  I am sure that prices will adjust downwards over the next few years.  It has too.  These prices are the way they are because of the people who paid too much in the height of the real estate boom here are trying to get their money or some of it back after the crash they experienced here.  

There's just too much on the market here.  The local Realtors® (mostly Americans and Canadians) are saying prices will go up, but from my point of view, there's just too much listed to make that plausible in the immediate future.

We aren't convinced by any means that it would be a good time to buy just yet.  We haven't seen enough of the country yet to be ready to make that leap of faith and, we are not inclined to make a move on anything at the moment, at least until we have seen the lie of the land over a period of time.  

Food, gas and electricity in Costa Rica is more expensive than in the US and Panama, and with less that one month to go in nature's paradise which is very definitely gorgeous and full of animals and birds you would never find anywhere else in the world, we are still leaning towards Panama for our eventual retirement area but that's not to say Costa Rica is off our list. It is not.  We have yet to see Panama.    

If it doesn't work out in Panama, then it's back to the drawing board and maybe a re-think about Costa Rica, maybe Belize or Honduras will be next on the list.  Who knows?  

I have also been told many times here that Guatemala is very inexpensive to live in and that there are some really nice places there too, but when Donna and I studied the map of Guatemala, it seemed very remote along the northern side.  Not a lot of roads to speak of.  It might be nice to visit, but that's about it from our point of view.  For the moment, we will keep our options open.  

Below is Brads "catch of the day".  A Red Snapper that was thought to be between 35 and 40 lbs....and it was delicious.    

Brad Ellis with his catch of the week, month, year, maybe even his life.

I just got to hold the fish Brad caught but boy did it feel good.

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Unfortunately, in everyone's life, there's always a cloud looming on the horizon.  Well this day came for me on Sunday May 25, 2014.

In Memory Of My Dad

On a sad note, the day after the fishing expedition photos above, my Brother called me from his home in Spain to say that on May 25, my Dad had taken a fall and had been placed in an induced coma and on life support.  The doctors had informed my Sister and Mum that Dad would never recover from this as as he had massive bleeding into the brain.  

They removed the life support, and my dad passed away minutes later. He would have been 85 years old Nov 27.  
I will miss you Dad, but you will never be forgotten.  

Rest in Peace.
Ken

  

The night after my Dad passed away, I was sitting on the veranda contemplating his life when one of the many electrical storms we see almost every night began.  As I set my camera to take this photo, I could imagine Dad's voice saying - Go for it guys! and don't look back.  Life is too short.

...............And the adventure continues. 

Calgary - Mesquite - Costa Rica

The two of us, very happy the day before we departed on our Central America trip to finally find a place we can put down some roots for the foreseeable future.

It was March 24th when we pulled out of Calgary.  We had enjoyed a 2 ½ month house-sitting stint at Donna's sister and brother-in-law's home in Parkland.  

The time we spent there enabled us to catch up with our accountant, have our annual medicals, renew prescriptions and generally catch up on administrative stuff.  Most of all, it provided us the time to visit with all our sons and daughter, their spouses and all of the grandchildren.  It was good to see them all again. 

With a fully loaded truck, we headed back to the lower 49th and then south to Nevada.  We craved the sun after the unusually frigid and snowy winter we had experienced in Calgary.  

The thermometer was recording a temperature of 87 F/30C as we pulled into Mesquite. What more could we wish for? Time to visit the grocery store, grab a few things to tide us over until the following day, then sit on the patio and enjoy a Gin and Tonic myself and a glass of cold white wine for Donna.  Aghhhh!  This is the life we told each other.  We had now been retired almost 10 months…..

Over the next few weeks, It was time to clean up after winter around the yard and re-plant some items that had perished during the frost of last November.

The trees, cactus and plants were all beginning to flower now.

Our Paloverde trees resplendent in their yellow (amarillo) flowers

Our two Chitalpa trees have gorgeous pink blooms now and will last right through the summer

Golden, yellow and red Lantana starting to flourish in the warmer sunny weather

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Apr 28.  Jerry and Liane turned up on our doorstep sporting their new Razor.  An ideal vehicle to go discovering the Mohave desert on.  These guys are amazing.  They purchased a 18 wheeler and both drove truck all over the states for a few years living in the small cab at the back with their two small dogs.  Now happily semi-retired in Mesquite, they have become good friends of ours as have many others.  They still drive the huge buses, taking people on tours etc., for a local company here......but just on a part-time basis.

Donna, Jerry (sporting his cast) and Liane outside our home in Mesquite with their newly purchased Razor.

Prior to us leaving Jerry and Liane took a bunch of us out for supper at the local Wolf Creek Golf Club which was a very nice gesture.  Everyone had a nice time.  It would be the last opportunity for us to get together with some of our friends prior to our departure for Costa Rica as we will not see them again, until September and some even later on.

Dave and Barbara our wonderful next door neighbours, Donna, Liane and Jack (more about him later in the total eclipse of the moon section).

We had decided to place our home on the US Zillow real estate site that allows by-owner properties as well as all those on the MLS.  We would list it on the MLS of course later on in September if it was not sold, but in the meantime, we could handle any calls we got to show before we left for Costa Rica.  The details and pictures are listed here.  To date, we have shown it to three people from Salt Lake City, one from Medicine Hat and one couple from Bend, Oregon. HTTP://tinyurl.com/l4xqwgp 

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Apr 14/15 Then came something I was really looking forward too.  A total lunar eclipse. Last year we had enjoyed a solar eclipse in Mesquite.  Donna not being a night owl was off to bed before the moon got it's socks on but I waited until 10:58 pm and right on time, the eclipse began.  

I took my tripod and cameras to my neighbour Jack's house across the street to view this wonderful phenomena.  His wife Michelle was also in the prone position under the covers so we stayed up with a few glasses of wine and some beer until 1:00am watching the eclipse take place. The picture below tells a thousand words. 

My Cameras did not do this event justice because of my lack of skill in difficult lighting conditions that limited what I took, but my friend Jack, had cleverly hooked up his laptop to his big screen TV and then through his wi-fi, tapped into the NASA site which streamed the pictures taken with an extremely high resolution multi-million dollar camera right onto his big screen TV.  

Why re-invent the wheel? I thought to myself, so what you see above, is a photograph I took off Jack's TV with my camera but not directly at the moon.  A good night was had by the star-gazers.  One that will reoccur every six months for the next two years in Mesquite, Nevada. 

Apr 28 How quickly time flies!  This date crept up on us and before we knew it, we had the suitcases on the bed and were feverishly working out what to take and what to leave behind.  T's, sandals, sun screen, Deet, binoculars, two cameras, hard Cheese …..the list went on......and on.........and on.

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Then, It was time.  Time to say goodbye to our friends in Mesquite and head out destined for.....

April 29. We made our way to Las Vegas with our two friends Jerry and Liane.  They would come down with us in our truck and stay overnight in Vegas.  The following day, Liane would drive the truck back to Mesquite. They had business in Las Vegas the following day (Jerry was having a cast removed from his leg having just had an ankle replacement).  The timing worked out great for everyone, and so we all booked into Sam's Town Casino for the overnight stay.  

Our wake-up call arrived at 3:00 am.  We needed to be at the airport and check in with COPA airlines for the flight to Panama. Liane kindly drove us to the airport.  

At 4:05 am we bid her goodbye and headed for the check-in counter.  "see you in three months" we said to Liane as we all gave each other a "group hug".  Liane and Jerry would be joining us in Panama for the month of August.  We could not be more pleased. 

 Our arrival in Panama brought on another surprise.  Once we had deplaned, we were directed to immigration.  There, everyone who was not already pre-screened was welcomed, photographed and finger-printed.  Panama is right on top of things in terms of prevention of crime we thought.

The line up for Immigration at Tocumen Airport, Panama City, Panama.

Donna negotiating her way through to the Immigration In Panama City, International Airport at Tocumen where everyone is photographed and finger-printed like it or not.

We were met at Tocumen airport, Panama by the smiling face of Terry Newman - a Vancouver Realtor® who had recently moved to Panama full time within the last few months.  

Terry accompanied us to what would be our accommodation for the night at Hotel Aeropuerto Riande.  We set our luggage down and quickly headed to the outdoor bar for a much needed cold beer.  

It was hot and quite humid when we arrived but it was very pleasant once we had sat down instead of wrestling with luggage.  

"I can take this" Donna announced smiling at me from across the table.  That's a huge plus I thought to myself.  A nod of approval is always good, even if we had barely been outside the airport area yet.  

While the three of us enjoyed a beer among the palm trees, Terry shared some of her experiences with us that she had learnt so far which was a great help.  She had owned a property here for years, then she departed for the hours drive back to her place in Altos Del Maria.  Thank you so much Terry.  We will meet again when we return to Panama in two months time.  

The hotel beds were very comfortable and we slept well.  Up at 6am the following morning.  We ate a good breakfast and left for the airport for our flight to Costa Rica.

Regarding the processing of passengers for flights - they do it differently down here.  Yes, that's for sure, but after looking critically at the way they conduct their lineups at the airport, I now see why.  

May 1.  The lineup for the ticketing was a mild shock.  We were directed to a zig-zagging line of posts where probably two or three hundred people were stood in front of us.  the lineup was for every Copa airlines flight out of Tocumen.  Everyone in the same line (unless you were flying business class).

As time ran down, one of the people processing the line would announce that people for a certain flight that was leaving in say 15 minutes could come to the front of the ticket lines (jump the lineup effectively) and then, everyone else slowly eased forward as they gave up their place in the line to go to the front.  At first this seemed unfair, but after further examination it made perfect sense. Here's why!  

Everyone lines up, and are ticketed in the order they arrived in the line, except for the people who have to catch a flight that is leaving imminently.  As time gets closer to their departure, someone calls out the flight numbers and the people on those flights only, leapfrog to the front of the queue.  That way, no-one misses their flight.

The way this is done avoids having empty airline ticketing wickets open for flights where there are few people flying and having an employee sat behind that desk doing nothing while other employees worked feverishly trying to get everyone though in the allocated time on the busier flights.  This way, all ticketing agents were working all of the time, and there was maximum productivity.  

Yes, it definitely made sense once you looked at it from the airline's point of view.  No-one was phased by it.  Everyone accepted it and everyone caught their flights.

The flight to Liberia was uneventful and only took an hour and seven minutes.  We were picked up at Liberia airport by a company called Eco trans and driven to Playa Flamingo, an hour from the airport.  

First impressions were good.  The roads were OK, it seemed fairly clean.  It was more brown than I had imagined, but we knew, we were arriving right at the beginning of the rainy season when it would all change to a lush green everywhere.  It had not rained since December in Guanacaste we were told. 

Linda Wilks

Linda Wilks a former Calgary RE/MAX Realtor® with whom we worked with for over ten years spends six months a year in Costa Rica.  Linda was instrumental in arranging for our accommodation and transportation from the airport.

At our time of arrival, Linda was in San Jose at a concert featuring Sir Paul McCartney with her daughter (another Calgary Realtor®) however, Linda being Linda, had taken the trouble to go and buy some food to tide us over for the first day.  

One thing is for sure.  You could be in no better hands than those of Linda if you are considering a trip down to the Playa Flamingo area of Costa Rica.  

Linda both sells and handles leases on property in the province or region of Guanacaste.

This is our apartment for the next two months.

The view from our Condo looking East

A night shot from the balcony of our Condo over the hills and the bay to the south.

This is the view we look out on from our living, dining and both bedrooms looking SW across Playa Flamingo.

We arrived at the condo and were welcomed by a local lady who showed us around.  

At the time of writing this It is 87 degrees outside and 115% humidity and rising at 7:30 am.  Some people love the temperature here but some may find this humidity excessive and because of that, a fair number of US and Canadian Ex Pats who come here to live here tend to live up in the mountains or the central valley area and around Lake Arenal which we will visit over the course of the next few weeks.  They don't need air conditioning or heating in that location.  It's a pleasant temperature all year round. 

Donna arranged for a rental vehicle, a small Hyundai car for $208 a week, including mandatory insurance.  It was delivered to our condo the same day.  Now we have lots of options to investigate some other items such as;

• where to shop for groceries
• the cost of ATV rentals
• how much to rent a seadoo and two seater boats
• the cost of deep sea fishing and horseback riding.
• the best way to the beach
• donde es el mercado de pescado porfavor? (where is the fish market please?)

Ultimately, we will swap the vehicle for a more substantial 4X4 SUV next week so we can be a bit more ambitious on our trips.

We took a ten kilometre drive out to the supermarket in the small car, no big deal but watch out if you make any mistakes around here.  People walk three abreast in the streets with their backs to the traffic, seemingly oblivious to the fact that there is a few thousand pounds of vehicle coming towards them at 60 Kilometres per hour and they aren't even looking.

The night before we rented the vehicle, we took a mile and a bit walk to the local store to buy groceries.  When we left the store the skies were jet black and I thought, oh oh, we are going to get really wet in a few minutes.

About a hundred yards down the road, we chanced upon a bar (+) with an outdoor patio (+) under a see-through plastic roof.  Time to get a beer I thought (+).  We had no sooner sat down when the skies opened and the rain came with a vengeance.  Rain like I have rarely experienced it before.
(-)  

We struck up a conversation with an Ex Pat American who has lived in Costa Rica for years.  He was building a guest house and a bar/restaurant around the corner.  He kindly called his buddy a local taxi driver.  No sooner had he put the phone down, the taxi appeared out of nowhere.  $2 for a taxi to our condo. Not bad.  The Americans Spanish was excellent.  

Later the following day, Linda dropped by to say hello after a long time no see.   We spent some time catching up on events in her and our lives since we last met in Calgary, enjoying a beer out on the balcony overlooking the ocean.

Linda then took us on our first safari.  To find out where everything was.  After dropping her daughter Kendra at Liberia airport, we headed for some great food shops and then to Playa Coco on the Pacific coast.  

Some of the trees were out in full bloom and I must say, the colours are like I have never seen before.

the vividness of these colours is unbelievable.

Petals falling from this gorgeous Amarillo (Yellow) Tree

Donna and Linda swimming in yellow blossoms and fragrance.

                  

Donna and yours truly stood among the fallen blossoms.

Oh, yes, it was not ALL work as you can see.

An Iguana crossing the road in front of our car.  Donna had to stop and get the shot.  It's about a foot and a half long from top to tail - a small one!

Some of the other flora, fauna and vistas we hope to see while in Costa Rica are below (not my photos but a good example of what we hope to see).

A True Costa Rican Sunset

I missed out the Crocodile pictures.  I am sure they will come all too soon.

The Costa Rican people are wonderful, polite and what we have seen of them, they would fall over backwards to help.  What more could guests of these people in this wonderful country want than that.  

No, this is not Calgary, Denver, New York or London and it  never will be.  But these countries are unique in themselves.  It's another challenge in life to go and learn to speak in another completely foreign language and learn to communicate with others who aren't like us.  Sometimes one feels awkward to be out of ones comfort zone, unable to communicate what we want.  

We experienced that yesterday when we went to get a SIM card for Donna's phone.  it took us a half hour and some patience and application but one by one, linking the words together slowly, we achieved exactly what we wanted.  Smiles all around, even from the lady who could not speak a word of English.  Objective - Learn three to five words a day and you will be surprised how fast you learn and once you learn how to conjugate the verbs all those lone words are suddenly linked up and you have a sentence.  

Many people are coming down with their children so they are  brought up bilingually, hence the preponderance of English/Spanish schools here.  What a great asset for children to grow up speaking more than their own mother-tongue and with the experience of a different lifestyle than the one they have been used too.  What a great opportunity.

That is why we are here.  Because at the end of the day, if we become infirm and are unlucky enough to have to spend the remaining years of our lives bed-ridden, these are the great memories that we will treasure and hang onto forever.  This is just a minuscule part of our world that most people never get to see.  Some don't want to, and that's fine too.  We respect that.  Some are afraid to venture out of their comfort zone but can enjoy the blogs of others who have.    

Finally, this of course is only the beginning of our adventure and as we obtain more life experiences and pictures, we will keep you all informed but needless to say, it will take us a little time to formulate and plan our trips to get those pictures to you but we are working on it.  

Because there is so much information potentially to put out, we thought we might send out a shorter blog more regularly, rather than having one that takes a so long to read so have a great summer everyone.  We will be back in a few weeks or a month with another update......and the adventure continues.  

Keep safe.  

Adiós amigos, hasta la próxima