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.

    _________________________________________

 

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.