The Adventure of Retirement - The First Years of This Great Adventure

A Canadian couples account of retirement including in their earlier blogs, an account of their first excursions to South and Central America (Ecuador, Costa Rica and Panama). Eventually after two years of travelling in these countries and the US, they decided to put down roots on Vancouver Island. This is their own truthful account of their travels and what they have experienced during and since their retirement in 2013.

Saturday 19 July 2014

First Month in Panama

Panam City Skyline Looking East

It was around 1pm on the afternoon of June 30th, when we arrived at the Airport in Liberia, Costa Rica to check in for our flight back to Panama. It was hot, very hot. Looking at the skies above, It seemed like they were taking on that stormy look which was not that surprising as the rainy season should have started two months ago.

We checked in and had our bags weighed and found that we had three hours to wait for our flight. After walking around the limited outlets inside having cleared security we sat down in Players Bar to watch one of the games being played in the FIFA World Cup.

With slightly less than two hours before departure, we sat patiently waiting for the aircraft to arrive. We were due to depart at 4:05pm. By 4pm, there was still no aircraft at the gate. We thought this strange because we have always been used to boarding around 20 minutes before takeoff.

There were a few people sitting around eyeing each other up then all of a sudden the fellow who had checked our baggage in hours before appeared in the departure lounge and opened a gate for us. He pointed to a lone door down a passageway which we would have to go through to begin boarding.

Wow, I thought, we aren't going down the ramp like we normally do. What's going on? The door at the end of the corridor opened to the outside of the building. The clerk beckoned to us to come to the open door.

No....This can't be happening to US!

Once outside, we saw a small 12 seater Cessna sat on the tarmac but this wasn't....couldn't be our aircraft I thought to myself. As I glanced upwards towards the sky while navigating the steps to the asphalt parking area I could see the skies taking on a distinctly ugly look. Much worse than when we had first arrived. The clouds were darkening and a few droplets of rain began to fall.

Thank God, I thought as I saw some people alighting from the aircraft on the tarmac. It's not ours, but where's our plane? At the bottom of the metal stairs the Captain of the Cessna that just landed turned and made a gesture to us to suggest we go around him to the other side of the aircraft. Yep! It's ours I thought. Just what someone who doesn't particularly care for flying needs!

After climbing the steps into the aircraft, all eleven passengers sat in our seats watching the pilot do his visual checks along with the first officer who was sat in the right hand seat.

The rain was now falling steadily on the pilot's windshield. There were no walls or door separating the pilot and first officer from the passengers. We were just one big happy family all sat together enjoying what for some of us was a "first" in our avionic travel experiences. This felt like the aircraft I used to skydive from many years ago, only slightly larger I thought to myself as we eyed the pilot going through his check list.

Seated immediately behind the pilot, one young tall blond American fellow probably around 6' 6" in his mid 20's said in a loud voice to the people sat on his right, "you ever flown in one of these?". "No!" the guy answered. "Well, this will be an experience you will never forget. I can guarantee that. I live in Southern Costa Rica and I fly in these all the time so I know", and with that he placed his expensive stereo headset on his head, leaned back, closed his eyes and listened to his music on his iPod.

There were a few snickers from the remaining travellers then dead silence as the roar of the engine and the revs increased to full power. Did I say "engine?"...yes ONE ENGINE, which did not altogether enthral me.

Feeling around beneath my seat as the aircraft moved forward towards the runway, I found no sign of a parachute or a life jacket or barf bag.

I glanced at Donna. She seemed oblivious to my thoughts and was OK with it so, I relaxed and took in the pitter-patter of the rain on the pilot's windshield.

Racing down the runway the aircraft bouncing around on noticeably great suspension, all of a sudden the bouncing stopped and one knew one was finally airborne. The flight took 45 minutes. We skirted some of the thicker rising cumulus clouds on the way, so the overall flight was smooth. Very pleasant and relaxed I thought to myself as the wheels touched Terra Firma. I really enjoyed it.

The Approach to San Jose International Airport, Cost Rica. If you look closely, you can see the runway ahead in the middle of the pilot's window

Now at at San Jose International airport, we grabbed our luggage quickly as we had been delayed at the Liberia airport. We knew we did not have that long before the connecting flight to Panama departed.

We arrived at the check-in and showed the lady our tickets. She told us they were closing the gate as the passengers were boarding. Then she realized we had already checked in while in Liberia, so she quickly frog-marched us along the airport terminal and pointed to the security area.

Giving us a hurry up gesture with both hands, she disappeared. We were through security and arrived at the gate as the last people were being processed...whew, just in time.

No sooner had we taken off, the stewards and stewardesses came by offering hot sandwiches and free drinks. Donna had a wine and I enjoyed a Scotch.....all totally free. Copa Airlines does a great job of looking after their passengers, not nickel and diming the passengers like most of the other airlines do today.

Donna was sat three rows forward in a window seat. I was in an aisle seat. I was just about to take a sip of my Scotch, when the aircraft lurched violently to the right and must have dropped a long way as the hand holding my Scotch all of a sudden was way above my head as high as it would go. Then, my scotch slammed against the tray again, then back up, then down onto the table once more. The aircraft lurched violently to the left this time. I thought I saw it bend slightly in the middle section. It was VERY SCARY.

To say there were some expletives emanating from some of the passengers mouths would be an understatement as the aircraft jolted us back and forth. People had drinks strewn everywhere, down their clothing, on their seats and even in the aisle.

The Pilot's voice came loud and clear over the speaker system and in a noticeably urgent voice he ordered the refreshments closed immediately and the stewards to return to their seats.

I glance over to my immediate right. In the same row on the opposite side of the aisle there were three children all smiling and laughing.....How could they? I thought to myself. I glance behind them where mom and dad were sitting. They were from Florida in the US returning after a vacation in Costa Rica.

The husband's head was buried deep into his hands and he was as white as a sheet. His wife snickered quietly as she shot a glance my way.

I offered him a drink of my water saying "hey buddy, are you all right?". He nodded his head side to side in a kind of NO gesture - picked his head out of his hands, looked directly at me and with a very white face and wide eyes he replied "I think I just shat". His wife immediately burst into laughter and I followed suit. He seemed not to be amused.

We were about 15 minutes out of Panama City when this all took place. Then, as quick as it began, there was nothing. We were flying very smoothly once more.

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Before we knew it we were safely on the ground. We went through immigration, picked up our bags and proceeded to Customs.

The Hotel shuttle bus pulled up and we got in and were whisked away. It was around 8:30 pm. It was very dark, hot and humid.

We were lucky enough to get a room right by the pool. After a quick glass of wine at the outdoor bar, we sat at a table next to a bunch of "Brits" who must have just arrived in Panama.

They were obviously not on the same body clock yet as they had just ordered a massive meal and it was close to 9:30 pm. It started to rain. We left the shelter of the covered sitting area and jumped into the pool to cool down.

The following morning, the owner of a company called Roadrunner (a Canadian) met us promptly at our hotel as arranged and conveyed us the hours journey to Nuevo Gorgona where we met up with Frank, an American who owns and runs a restaurant and bar with his Panamanian wife Dilcia. The cost of the ride was $100.

He gave us directions to our new home for the next two months. He said, Dilcia was already at the house and would meet us there. Neil, the driver/owner drove us to the house.

The house was a vivid yellow (amarillo) house that would look really strange in Canada but it fit in with all the other wild colours of homes here. It was a three bedroom bungalow with a nice pool. It has air conditioning in all bedrooms and there is a TV and sound system oh and a dishwasher that uses no electricity at all..........Me!

The home is fully equipped and owned by a couple from St. Albert, Alberta, Canada who will eventually retire to Panama in a couple of years. We met one of the owners Brian, when he came to Calgary a few months before. He was very accommodating and has bent over backwards to help us out, even renting us his own SUV while we were in Panama.

We had Frank and Dilcia over for a swim one evening. We got to talking and not long after it was pitch black, so we decided to invite them to stay for supper.

We put a tenderloin on the charcoal BBQ and cooked it slowly. It was delicious. The whole loin cost us just $24. It was not quite as large as the tenderloins we get at Costco in the US or Canada as the cows are not as large or as fat and the Chateaubriand part of the loin (the real thick piece at the end) is not on any of the tenderloins.

Frank and Dilcia. Frank is Ex US Army and has lived here for years and married to Dilcia for 35 years.

Brian's home, the one we rented for two months and are staying in now.

The pool has been like manna from heaven. We use it three or four times a day.

Our first week was relatively quiet. We have driven around Gorgona and Coronado to get a flavour of the place. We have decided that Gorgona is not for us, but we have decided that maybe Coronado, or the Decamaron or JW Marriot development a little further west of Coronado might be more our style.

Most of the houses in Coronado are in a gated community, occupied by Panamanians and Ex Pats together. It has a nice feel to it but the roads within the community are pretty bad. It is certainly not like living in Canada or the US.

We have met up with a lady real estate representative. Sarah is single and is from Vancouver BC. She built up her own property management company in Whistler BC and has evidently done well for herself here in Panama where she has lived for eight years. In some ways, she reminds me of Joanne, one of the Realtors who used to work for us back in Calgary.

She enjoys what she does so we decided to give her our business as long as she feels she is up for the challenge. She did so that was it. Decision made.

Sarah and Donna in Sarah's back yard

Sarah's pool in her yard

Her back yard from her covered porch - Heaven on Earth. Just what we are looking for

The front of Sarah's home in Coronado

We contacted Sarah through Donna's efforts on the computer. Sarah showed us property and although we have not found our niche property yet, we are hopeful we will eventually. We have come close a couple of times but we want to wait until we are paid out on the sale of our home in Mesquite which we sold while in Costa Rica. When we return, we will rent until we find the exact right home with a pool. We are both on side with this.

On the ninth day, we took a drive into Panama City back to Tocumen airport as we wanted to do a dry run so we could pick up our friends Jerry and Liane when they arrive to stay with us for five weeks on July 25th.

Panama City Skyline is very attractive. It is a sophisticated downtown core and looks every bit as nice as Calgary or her sister city Denver in the US. The buildings are almost futuristic which is really nice as the skyscrapers reach high into the sky overlooking the Pacific Ocean. It has a definite Miami feel to it. It is a very crowded city. The traffic is a bit of a problem but it's like any other city. More people, more traffic. That's life

We have made friends with a couple here that we met on one of the Facebook Groups we belong to who have an apartment on the 51st floor of one of the skyscraper condo units. They have owned it for a number of years. They already have their Pensionado Visa's that allow them to live here permanently.

Chris and Dick arrived from California the same day we did. They intend to stay for two months to see if they seriously want to reside here permanently. They have shipped all their belongings so it looks like that will happen.

The apartment they own in Panama City has a gorgeous view of the bay leading to the Panama Canal and the city skyline. It would have from 51 floors up.

Next week, we will drive back into Panama City to stay at one of Sarah's apartments for five nights so we can be at the airport first thing to meet Jerry and Liane as they would have been flying all night arriving at 8:00am.

The next four days we will spend travelling around the city to see some of the gorgeous buildings and architecture that exist here. We will take in the old City at Casco Viejo (pronounced Casco Vieho) that is lined with really nice restaurants and must be seen they say, by day and at night. There is no reason to drive a car in Panama City as taxis are really inexpensive being $2 - $5 for rides around the city so we have been told.

This beautiful Osprey comes and sits on the electric pole outside our home here every morning and evening.

We have enjoyed some good food here too. One day, while watching the final of the world Cup Soccer, a gentleman who is a local fisherman walked into the local pub/restaurant La Ruina owned by Frank and Dilcia and asked if anyone would like some lagostinos (Giant Shrimp). He said they were fresh off the boat this morning. Frank asked me and I asked the fisherman how much he was selling them for. He said $6 lb. He had 8 lb and if I wanted them it was all or nothing. I jumped the the chance.

He jumped into the SUV I was driving and pointed down the road towards the ocean. We arrived at the fishing huts and his wife pulled out a huge bucket of shrimp. I had never seen shrimp this large in my life. She weighed them out. There was 8.5 lbs which amounted to 50 shrimp.

I paid him and he placed them into a bag for me and we returned to the bar where he enjoyed a cold beer. He also told me, I could get fresh Red Snapper or fish from him for $2.50 per lb any day of the week except the weekends. Below is a picture of the lagostino I brought from him.

The red background is a full sized cutting board with brown paper laid over the top

To give some perspective. I have large hands and these Lagostinos filled my hand, every one of them.

Here is a great recipe below. I re-created it once I had eaten it several times in Ecuador, South America

My Camarones (Shrimp Soup) Try it. You will never forget it.

Donna's Sister Carol and Brother-In-Law Ib who had visited us in Costa Rica for a couple of weeks had just had a garage sale at their home in Calgary before they left. Among the piles of stuff they came across was a shrimping tool. It peels and de-veins shrimp in one go. The package had never been opened so they brought it with them to Costa Rica and gave it to us as a gift.

All I have to say to them is thank you guys. It is a tool worth having and one I will keep by my side forever. It must have cost all of $2 originally but it is the best most practical tool I have used in a long time.

I beheaded the shrimp then peeled them and de-veined all 50 of these lagostinos with that tool. It was a breeze. You know what they say.....You don't know what you have lost until you don't have it anymore.

Next week we will meet with the Abogado (Lawyer), a Panamanian with dual Canadian Citizenship who returned to Panama after 15 years in Canada. He will begin the processing of our applications for our Pensionado Visas for permanent residence in Panama.

While in Panama City we will take a trip to the Panama Canal and watch the massive ships go through the locks that lift these ships over the mountains from both the Atlantic/Caribbean and Pacific Sides of Panama saving them thousands of miles of shipping and tons of fuel. It should be fun. There is a considerable expansion of the canal going on at the moment to increase the number of ships they can process as it takes about 24 hours once the ships reach the entrances for them to be processed and taken through the canal to the other side.

There's lots of stuff to see, and we cannot see it all this visit but we will have plenty of time once we have our pensionado Visas ensuring we can live here for the rest of our lives if we wish to. If we don't, we can come and go as many times as we would like and stay as long as we like.

After our visit to the City, it will be be back to the house to continue our great adventure until the four of us fly back to Las Vegas on September 1.

Is it hot here. You Bet. It is also very humid. Yesterday it was 91 F but it felt like 107 with the humidity. Many Canadians and American Ex Pats find it difficult to come to terms with those temperatures. Those who cannot head for the hills in places such as El Valle, Boquete and Altos Del Maria where it is cooler and wetter in general but one does eventually get used to the heat and humidity.

However, that being said, It's a must to have a swimming pool if you purchase a single family home here. We have been using the pool 3 or 4 times a day and often, we are in the pool for an hour or more each time. No need for a heater. The sun heats the water to what we would call luke-warm. In fact, it comes out of the cold water taps almost luke-warm anyway and it stays like that all year around as the temperatures never change.

Below is a link to what it looks like at the time of writing this blog. Click here: Weather in Panama

Panama IS a fascinating and relatively inexpensive country. it is diverse but we have noticed that there are two levels of income earners here. The very wealthy or those who are not poor but not well off either. There does not seem to be a middle class of people here.

Another thing that is hard to get over is the amount of garbage lying around. People seem oblivious to garbage. Garbage collection is infrequent and the birds and animals pull the garbage bags to pieces littering everywhere. It's a big problem and one that could be solved so easily by education and fines but the Panamanian authorities don't seem to worry about it. It's a hard thing to get over, but it is only a fraction of the big picture. Many Ex Pats feel the same but overall, they can offset the garbage with the benefits of living here.

Well. It's time once more to close on this portion of our blog but we will have more pictures and a few more stories to come at the end of month two in five weeks time.

Stay safe everyone........./and the adventure continues.

Thursday 26 June 2014

Our Last Month In Costa Rica

This Capuchin Monkey appeared along with

six or seven others while we were

having breakfast at our hotel

Since leaving the US April 30th, May has passed us by and here we are nearing the end of June with only a few days left before we depart for Panama after our two month fact finding trip to Costa Rica.

Donna's sister Carol and her husband Ib decided to take us up on our offer to put them up in Costa Rica. They arrived June 11. They were here for two weeks and they were looking forward to the visit as they had never been to this part of the world before.

Our plan while they were here was to let them relax and take in the local scene for the first couple of days, then we would take a half day fishing trip out on the Pacific to try to beat Brad's catch of the 35 - 40 lb Red Snapper almost three weeks earlier when he and his wife Kathy (Donna's childhood friend) visited us here from Toronto. It would be nice to beat that catch but we weren't going to bet on it. The Video of the Red Snapper catch was in our last Blog.

As usual, a lady picked us up at the apartment and took us to the dock where we jumped into a dinghy and headed out to the fishing boat.

A good hour later and no fish. We thought oh oh, this is not going to be as good as the last time, but "never say never" I thought to myself. There's still hours left to put that right.

Shortly after, I managed to pull in a Tuna weighing around 17lb. Tuna is an incredibly dense and therefore a very heavy fish but oh so tasty. Donna followed my catch up with a Mahi-Mahi (Dorado), shortly afterwards. Things were starting to look up.

Just after that, Carol and Ib managed to catch a fish each, but the guys on the boat kept saying "bait fish", so they unhooked them and placed them both into a cooler for later on.

Ken's Tuna catch. We asked the guys to just cut of the head and tail and gut it and we would take care of the rest. They normally filet the fish but we wanted to have Tuna Steaks which were absolutely delicious.

Donna with her catch of the day - a nice Mahi-Mahi (Dorado) we had filleted and took back to the apartment

Carol lost one larger fish off her line. We don't know how big it was. She was winding it in but alas, it finally escaped the freezer and frying pan.

About 15 minutes later, one of the rods bent as we were deep fishing. My turn - The crew set me up in the seat and slipped the rod into the holder between my legs to stabilize the rod as I wound it in. Oh my goodness I thought. THIS IS A BIG FISH!

After about 7 minutes of trying to reel in the monster fish, I was exhausted. I had little strength left to hold onto the rod. Whatever was on the end was enormous very heavy yet it seemed to me like I was pulling in a dead weight........until that is, it decided to fight back. I watched as the reel of line run back out.

I'm a strong guy, but I could hardly hang on any longer and then all of a sudden the line went slack. I reeled in about 200 feet of line. The hook was missing but the line was not snapped. Whatever was there was now long gone. Now I know how Carol felt.

Moments later there was another fish on the other rod. Ib sat into the captains chair and started to haul it in. It took about seven minutes to show but when it did......WOW. I have never seen such a large fish in close proximity. Click below to see what he had on the end.

Catch Of A Lifetime

We were all "pumped" after coming off the boat, especially after releasing this enormous creature back into the wild as it was a protected species. We believe it was around 150 - 200 lb in weight and between seven and eight foot long. If you viewed the video above you will have seen for yourself. It was a nurse shark.

I must tell you. Ericka, the lady who owns and runs the fishing boats was very pleasant and her crew that we used captained by Warner Sigura were excellent - the nicest of people who bent over backwards to make you feel comfortable.

In case you ever come here. Ericka's contact information is below. The web site is www.flamingosportfishing.com Ericka's phone number is 506 8389 5962 (for English). She speaks fluent English. Thank you guys. It was a blast.

About four days before we left I received a phone call from Ericka. She wanted to give me a T shirt. She met me in the parking lot of our apartment and handed me a nice blue T shirt and a beautifully carved wood figure of a hammerhead shark. She told me this was for the both of us. She said they had really enjoyed their time with us. How sweet is that! Thank you Ericka, Warner and the crew. I won't forget any of you. If we return, you WILL be getting a call for another adventure.

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Up until this point, we had seen very little of the countryside south of Playa Flamingo except for a short trip to a lazy surfing village called Samara a few weeks earlier, so we planned a trip further south to Puntarenas, a port city and from there we would head further south to Quepos and beyond on the southern Pacific coast.

Puntarenas was not what we expected. The approach to the centre is not really pleasant. It's small, but we were hungry so the four of us decided to park the vehicle and grab lunch. The cafe was very small and wide open due to the heat, the big screen TV was on and the FIFA World Cup matches were in progress. All we needed now was a cold beer and some food.

Ib and I ordered the sopa de pescado del Mar (fish soup of the ocean). The girls ordered Hamburger and fries. One is often cautious about eating in these hole-in-the-wall places but when the food arrived it was absolutely delicious. We ate up while watching the World Cup and when finished, we left after thanking the waitress and telling her the food was "Bueno".

Being a member of dedicated groups on Facebook sometimes has it's advantages (and sometimes not). We had many ideas sent to us by Ex-Pats and locals who live in Costa Rica. They suggested places to visit and absolute MUST SEE locations such as Parque National Manuel Antonio just south or Quepos. We were told we would see Parrots, Macaws, Monkeys, Armadillos and Sloths to name just a few of the animals. This really appealed to us.

Driving towards the park area, the skies darkened and the rain came with a vengeance so much so that we could hardly see through the window when the vehicle was in motion.

As the rains poured in true Tico style (the word Tico is a friendly and polite reference to native Costa Ricans who call themselves Ticos).

I did notice one or two individuals actually riding bicycles in this horrendous downpour, with just shorts and a singlet on. As I drove by them, It reminded me of the tune raindrops keep falling on my head that I saw when Robert Redford and Paul Newman rode their bicycles in the rain in the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid many years before.

As we neared Quepos, we passed through mile after mile of coconut plantations with coconut palms lined up perfectly - literally tens of thousands of palms tree each about 30 feet high.

It was getting on and dusk would soon be upon us so we checked into a hotel just outside the park. It was very comfortable. The rooms were offered at $105 per night, reduced from $150 as it was low season.

At this stage, we were just 197 Kms or 120 miles or roughly two and a half hours drive south to the western border of Panama.

The number of different coloured birds we saw during our travels was truly amazing, but getting good pictures of them was very difficult. We did manage to snap off the odd one as shown below.

We saw many different types and colours of birds and butterflies and all sorts of different creatures in our two months

One of the highlights of our trip was when we were all sat at breakfast when a troop of Capuchin monkeys came right into the tree located on the patio close to our table. The pictures are all ours taken as we sat waiting for breakfast.

Our pool at the hotel close to the park

We enjoyed our two nights at the hotel and spent some time in the pool as it was very hot and humid. The food was great but a little on the expensive side. More about that later.

The picture to the left is of our pool at the hotel. It was in a gorgeous setting. The rooms were all air- conditioned and set into a jungle type environment with so many plants, we could never name each one. The rooms were configured as side by side duplexes with adjoining verandas. We had no complaints about the hotel at all and would definitely return there.

Our trip to Manuel Antonio Park was a different matter. Let's say it was uneventful. We had been told by people on some Facebook groups that it was "heaven on earth" where the "jungle meets the ocean" which to be fair was true, so we were looking forward to going in.

We each paid $10 to get into the park and very quickly found that all there was to do was walk along an uneven roughly graded gravel road in temperatures that were unbelievably hot and with the high humidity level it was quite uncomfortable. One had to ensure we all drank lots of water.

Everyone we passed was dripping wet with sweat (perspiration for the ladies) from the tops of their shoulders downwards. We did see a Sloth, a large Spider and hundreds of other tourists but that's about it.

There were lots of Tico's plying their trade offering to take us into the park to guide us and to show us wildlife of all types......at a cost of course. We decided to go it alone.

We walked by many tourists that had paid their money to these guides and clearly, the guides were telling them about the forest and the trees but no Monkeys, Toucans, Parrots or wildlife could be seen from the roadside.

The forest was so thick, no-one was able to leave the roadway. It was disappointing in fact, being perfectly honest we thought it was a total tourist trap. We stopped to talk to one American who thought he had been "thoroughly ripped off"....his words not mine.

The park did have a very attractive beach however, where hundreds of tourists donned bathing costumes to swim in the warm ocean in order to cool down from the very hot and humid day we were experiencing.

While they were gone, ring-tailed racoons who obviously made this their daily task were cleaning up on lunch packs and food left open and out by those in the water. These animals don't miss much at all. They can spot an unattended backpack miles away.

Ringtail Racoon

Get Out of Here You Clever Little Animals!

We went to another beach just around the corner but there was a sign saying do not swim here a large Crocodile had been spotted in the shallow pacific waters just before we had arrived. Needless to say, we complied with the request - No argument there.

It is a well documented fact that Crocodiles are moving away from the fresh water areas into the shallow parts of the ocean as that's where the tourists are. I shudder at that thought.

On the return journey, we decided to Visit Costa Rica's highest Volcano, Volcan Irazu. To get there, we had to drive right through Costa Rica's capital city San Jose located in what is commonly referred to as the Central Valley area.

Let me tell you. The drive through San Jose was definitely not for the squeamish. The traffic was awful and there seemed to be no driving pattern to follow AT ALL. Couple that with the fact we did not know where we were going and with people coming at us from all directions on motorcycles, it was let's say interesting. But we did make it without a scratch.

The trip to the Volcano started in San Jose, and we began the climb in the SUV on the flanks of a mountainside about 15 minutes after leaving the City behind.

It was now we realized the value of our Garmin Navigation system. Donna had downloaded the map of Costa Rica before we left Nevada and it came in handy in many ways at it also has an altimeter on it.

We started up a very steep road that seemed to be taking us to the Volcano. By this time Donna had discovered that the Navigation system had the altimeter built-in. I asked her the altitude because it felt higher than normal. 5500' above sea level was the reply.

The road was getting steadily steeper as we drove onwards, and it was not long before we were not looking up at the clouds forming but we were on the side of a steep road looking down on the clouds.

Views of the very fertile soils and fields of produce on our
Way up the slopes of the mountain leading to the volcano

As we continued our ascent in the SUV, we passed what appeared to be paddy fields of rice (arroz), then the landscape changed to a rich dark fertile soil - obviously volcanic in nature. We also saw evidence of thousands of rows of what appeared to be onions (cebollas) growing on the terraced fields.

The Garmin was now reading over 7000 feet and no sign of the road becoming less steep. We glanced out of the vehicle windows at the clouds below. The thermals were driving them upwards in huge white cells.

At 8000 feet we saw dozens of workers in the fields either harvesting or planting potatoes (papas) all working very hard bent over. Not easy work for sure.

A farmer rounding up his cows for milking at about 8000 feet

Looking upwards, we could see fields full of Friesian and what seemed to be Guernsey or Jersey cows grazing on the rich grasses growing this high up.

This part of the journey reminded me of when I would drive through the Swiss Alps with my kids when we lived in Germany. It was almost identical. Chalet style buildings and neatly manicured well kept farmyards and farms, proudly kept up by their owners. 9000 feet and still rising. Wow I thought, when is this road going to end?

The Garmin's altimeter now registered 10,000 feet. There was still no sign that road would end. Onwards and upwards I thought to myself. By this time the banter in the vehicle seemed to be getting much quieter as we drove on.

At just below 11,000 feet, glancing into the rear view mirror, I could see the last of the farms disappearing out of sight. Moments later, we spotted a lone hut in the distance.

We pulled up at the 20'X10' Casita where an old gentleman was sitting in the booth looking a bit lonely. He was evidently the Park Warden. He welcomed us with a broad and friendly smile, gave us a brochure each and informed us in Spanish that it was 5,500 Colones ($10) each to get into the park and 3,500 Colones to park the Vehicle. For the uninitiated the exchange rate was 550 Colones to one US dollar.

We paid the gentleman, and he pointed for us to proceed ahead which we did as we headed into the park. We parked the vehicle and the Garmin was now reading 11,200 feet.

As we were walking towards the lip of the Volcano along a short pathway, I and others were starting to feel lightheaded, and it stayed that way for me until we started down the mountainside again.

At the rim we glanced down at a spectacular site below us. The bottom of the volcano was roughly 1000 feet below. We could not actually see the bottom as it was too deep. The rim of the volcano was roughly circular and about 3,500 feet across.

Looking down towards the bottom of the volcano which could actually not quite see

Donna, sister Carol and Ib at the rim of the Irazu Volcano

This volcano had last erupted in 1965 and had caused a lot of damage as far away as San Jose about 20 km's away. We spent some time at the summit then got back into the vehicle and sped away.

At the hut, the warden asked us for our tickets and receipt back which we readily gave him. I quietly pondered the reasoning behind that move as we left and headed downhill. Donna thinks that they wanted to make sure everyone who was sold a ticket and entered the park was out of the park by the time they closed the gates. It made perfect sense when you think about it.

Donna, Ib and Carol posing on the way down from the volcano

an Iglesia (church) as we passed through one of the villages on our decent back towards San Jose

The Navigation system took us back through San Jose at around rush hour. Never again....that's all I will say on the matter. We drove onwards paying at each of the toll booths as we exited the city then back towards Puntarenas and the journey back to Flamingo.

It was starting to look like dusk was setting in when we arrived back in Puntarenas so we had no choice but to start looking for a hotel, as I did not relish the idea of driving here in the dark.

We arrived at a hotel which also had a marina. It was probably comparable with a two star with a swimming pool but it was located in a nice location so Donna went in to see if they had rooms. They had lots of them.

The view from our balcony as we arrived at the hotel in Puntarenas

I was getting tired from all the driving on the winding roadways and in no mood to argue the price - $75 a night. We took two rooms and after a dip in the pool in the dark, a couple of drinks and some chips, we were off to bed.

The next morning, we enjoyed breakfast beside the pool and got to see what it was like.

Breakfast at Tiffany's...Well maybe not, but a very pleasant location it was over looking the pool

No doubt, it was a gorgeous location. Better than the accommodation

There were some really nice boats moored at the hotel Marina

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We stayed pretty well locally after Carol and Ib departed until we left Costa Rica. We were tired and needed a rest from all the driving/travelling and it was time to pack the bags and get ready to head out.

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Since arriving two months ago, we have visited:

Tamarindo
Playa Del Coco
Lake Arenal area (twice)
The waterfall at la Fortuna (475 steps down and up)
Samara
Playa Flamingo and beaches south and north
Puntarenas
Atenas
San Jose
Quipos
Several National Parks
The Volcano Irazu
Manuel Antonio Park
Points south to within 200 Kms or 120 miles from Panama's western most border
Liberia area

The flora and fauna has been amazing. - (It will be difficult to find the diversity anywhere else except maybe in the more remote Jungles of Borneo in Malaysia).

So now it's time to leave and also time to offer you our thoughts. We said in the about section of our blog right at the top right, we will give an honest opinion and not flower it up or exaggerate anything about any place we visit but tell it the way we see it. These are our combined impressions and no-one else's about Costa Rica. Others may disagree and of course we fully understand that we all have differing perceptions as to what is acceptable and what is not. So here goes.

Don't believe everything you are told or you read. Most of the documentation we have read is flowered up a bit for the reader, grossly exaggerated or outdated.
We found this to be true about Ecuador and it is no different here.
Costa Rica IS expensive - food is expensive, cars are horrendous prices, Electricity, air conditioning and gas is really expensive. More so in a majority of cases than Canada and double the prices of stuff in the USA.
Gas is more expensive than in Canada
The road system is poor to below average if compared to the US or Canada
Signage on roadways is not good. Some are completely overgrown by trees.
The Tico's are wonderfully friendly people.
You never have to worry about violence.
The fishing is fabulous.
There is lots of Real Estate to buy here. Too much actually. Why? because it is grossly overpriced. Many people purchased in the boom, then it crashed and they are still trying to get their properties sold for the prices THEY paid..........It's not going to happen, and if it does, it will take years to recover.
Some people are still buying here. I can guarantee that some of them are purchasing uninformed. That's what happens when you have no MLS or historical values to go by. That's what happens when buyers have no enforceable Agency Relationship between them and their Real Estate Representatives. That's what happens when there is little or no requirement of fiduciary (legal) obligations to you from your real estate person.
We had our teeth cleaning done in Huacas on Linda's advice. it was done by the dentist himself (no assistants) and he did the best teeth cleaning we ever had. Price $60 each. Not bad and thank you Linda.
The beaches are gorgeous
The surf is great if you like that stuff but it can be dangerous
Many of you have heard I am sure that you can live very comfortably on $1200 a month......NOT GOING TO HAPPEN unless you are prepared to live like a hermit or you buy a property for cash.

Would we be prepared to live in Costa Rica and lay out money on a piece of real estate? NO! Not in this present climate with prices are so high and infrastructure so poor.

Those who have read my blogs from the beginning will know how we felt about Ecuador. Was Costa Rica any better? Absolutely! 100% better and streets ahead of Ecuador. You just cannot compare the two.

Costa Rica IS a beautiful country. Of that there is no doubt. The Ticos are also very friendly and helpful and for that, we are enormously grateful. We are glad we came and happy with what we saw.

We sincerely thank the Costa Rican people for having us as guests in their country. Will we come again? Probably, but we will come as tourists not as people looking for a place to call home.

As a tourist we will view Costa Rica with a completely different set of eyes, not with critical eyes like we had on this journey and like we will have when we reach Panama in three days time. Viewing a place critically was vital to us if we were to make a judgement call as to whether we would like to live there permanently.

We have spoken to visitors who love everything about life here. We have asked them if they would move here permanently. Many would not - "it's a great place to visit but to live". We have heard that quite a few times Many Ex-Pats live here and are very happy with their lot. We have spoken to others who think exactly the same as us. Of course to quote the saying "there's always two sides to a coin" Therefore you will always have people who have differing views and opinions. Luckily once again, Donna and I are both on the same page.

Life goes on so, Panama, here we come for our next two month adventure. Our hopes are high that it will work out for the two walkabout pensioners.

In closing, we would like to say an enormous thank you to Linda Wilks who spent a great deal of time and energy showing us around, providing us with very useful information and taking us to various different places before she left for her other home in Nova Scotia. Linda will be back in November and will be very pleased to assist anyone who would like to investigate any vacation rentals. We can certainly put you in contact with Linda. Thank you Linda.

Memories Are Made Of This

Sunset From Playa Flamingo

Iguana Eating Some Pineapple At Our Poolside

We had gorgeous sunsets at Flamingo

Playa Flamingo Sunset

The tuna steaks we got off my tuna catch

View from the back windows of our apartment.

The view we have been blessed with for the past two months from the living room of our apartment.

Oh, those gorgeous blossoms in Playa Del Coco

The wonderful Malinchi Tree

Our friend Linda Wilks who showed us around a lot. We are very grateful to you Linda. If you need to contact Linda for vacation rentals - call us, and we will put you in contact with her.