Expatriate Archive Centre

Recently, the Expatriate Archive Centre (EAC) in The Hague, Netherlands, invited me to join their Blog Archiving Project. They believed my Costa Rican blog would be an important resource for researchers and academics and, therefore, a valuable addition to their archives.

Needless to say, I was very flattered that they found my blog and asked if I would agree to be a part of their project and of course I said yes.

The Expatriate Archive Centre is a home for expat life stories. They collect and preserve life stories of expatriates worldwide for future research. Although they are located in The Hague, their outreach is worldwide. Their collection includes documents about lives of people far away from home. They have over 130 family archives dating back to the late 19th century.

You can find more information on their Blog Archiving Project on their website here: https://xpatarchive.com/initiatives/eac-blog-archive/. It is quite interesting reading about this project.

So there you have it - I write my little stories about our life here in Costa Rica and now they will be archived! Quite amazing.

Club Aleman de Costa Rica - Expo Fair

This past weekend - November 16 and 17, 2019 - the Club Aleman de Costa Rica (German Club of Costa Rica) held an expo fair at the National Convention Center in Alajuela.

Fifty plus companies were exhibiting - offering food, drink and crafts of German origin. In addition, there was an exhibition of services related to the economy and cultural exchange between Germany and Costa Rica. As an aside, there are many different clubs in Costa Rica for the expat - Canadian, USA, British, Dutch and Italian as examples.

We had been wanting to see the convention center so decided to go. Freeway traffic on this Sunday was good - but it can be a nightmare during the week. 

The grounds are beautifully landscaped:

These beauties are Dietes iridioides. The flowers last just one day:

One of the booths:

Too early for beer but you could get it:

There were booths selling chocolate, coffee, Christmas ornaments, sausages on buns, and all sorts of products - we decided on pretzels with spicy mustard. When I saw a fellow selling smoked fish, I had to stop. Here is his card:

It was trout he had smoked and it looked really tasty. So we bought trout, cream cheese with spinach and smoked trout mixed in, and a very nice green sauce to go on the fish. The sauce is made with honey, mustard, spinach, dill and balsamic vinegar. 

Not inexpensive but some things in life are worth a little splurge. Bruno lives in Escazu and he said if we wanted to get more, give him a call and we can visit him at his house. I guess that is where he does the smoking.

Eyes on Costa Rica and Weather Records - October, 2019

In October, visits to this blog were received from the following 14 countries:

The following is a summary of  weather for the month of October in the area where we live:

As expected, the rainy season continued in October. While there was at least some rain on most days, there were only 3 days without measurable rain. However, the total amount was less than that in September which had 9 days without measurable rain.

High and low temperatures were generally within the norm for October. However, it should be noted that these temperatures are measured in a truly shaded area of the property. There is no direct sunlight and reflected sunlight is minimal. On our patio which is partially shaded and where we spend a lot of our time, daily highs occasionally can be 5 to 10 degrees (°F) more than in the truly shaded area.

Nevertheless, higher temperatures on the patio are typically accompanied by significantly lower humidities than those in the truly shaded area. The result, if the measured temperature is 80 degrees or more, is a "feels like" temperature comfortably less than the measured temperature.

Asparagus, the Feria and the Soda

I’ve been on the hunt for fresh asparagus. Some expats have said they have found it at their ferias so we decided to see if anyone at our Grecia feria was carrying it today.

First order of the day - breakfast. We went to El Restaurante Griego, a soda run by a father, a mother and their son. It’s 100 m. north of the Peri Mercado and right on a corner. It is very popular with Costa Ricans, so one gets a taste of daily Costa Rican life. Another plus is that it opens early in the morning. The food is very good, typical soda food, and the prices so reasonable. While we were there, a lot of take out orders were being called in.

But I think what really makes this restaurant are the owners. They are so friendly and personable and you will be greeted with a handshake on arrival and  the usual pleasantries are exchanged - how are you? Fine, thank you. And you? All is good. But it is in Spanish: ¿Como estas? Bien, gracias. ¿y usted? Todo bien. The owner has some English. It’s our favourite soda.

Here’s the menu (photo by Brian Cordoba on Google Maps):

I had the omelette and gallo pinto, but I asked for just a small portion of the pinto. Lance had two eggs and gallo pinto but his serving was huge, took up half the plate. Impossible to finish in one go so we asked for take away (para llevar) and you can see below how much was left. It will feed the both of us tomorrow morning, with bacon and eggs. Our tradition is to have bacon, eggs and waffles on Sundays. We’ll skip the waffles this time.

Off to the feria. I so enjoy going to these weekly markets. Grecia’s is open on Friday from noon to 8pm and on Saturday from 4am to 1pm. Closed the rest of the week. First stop was a stand selling leather goods, purses, etc. Lance bought a new belt. Then we wandered around searching for asparagus - but nobody was carrying it. You can buy just about anything here - meats, breads, all manner of tropical fruits and vegetables, clothing, dairy products, sodas (the eating places) and so on. Plus it’s such a lively setting. We enjoy interacting with the sellers, some of whom speak English.

Here is what we purchased - red peppers, green beans, sixteen eggs and tamales. Two tamales tied together are called a piña.