Christmas in Costa Rica - 2020

This is our ninth Christmas spent in Costa Rica and our second Christmas at our house in Grecia. We our now experiencing the dry season with nice strong trade winds, mostly blue skies and nice warm temperatures in the afternoons. Nighttimes are cool (61F!) so easy sleeping.

Because of Covid-19, most public seasonal activities have been cancelled. The Grecia park has been reopened and decorated for the holidays, so people can enjoy that - following protocols of course. The park and the cathedral are the heart of Grecia and this is true of all Costa Rican towns.

The municipality has created a Santa convoy and they have been driving around the different neighbourhoods all week, throwing candy out to the kids. Today we ended up at the tail end of one of them while out and about.

We don’t put up a Christmas tree or decorations but every year we have our driftwood tree with lights (made by our friend Pete) and a little lighted polar bear (came with our house) outside. Some of our neighbours put on elaborate displays. 

It seems to be orchid flowering season, as least for some of my orchids. My epidendrum stamfordianum produced an amazing display this year.

And a couple of other different species have put out inflorescences (flower stalks) so I look forward to enjoying their flowers.

Mature coffee beans (aka red cherries) are presently being harvested through to about March. And the sugar cane is flowering now. The flowers are a beautiful pale pink mauve shade and the undulating, waving fields of sugar cane are beautiful.

Flor Maria, our housekeeper once every two weeks, created this gorgeous flower display for us this week. She used flowers that grow all around our house. She has a florist’s eye and this was a lovely surprise for us. 

To all my friends/readers of my blog - we wish you the very best for this holiday season. 2020 has been a tough year for so many. Please - wear your masks and wash your hands. Keep your distance. I believe that 2021 will be much better.

Here’s a little painting I did of a Christmas Brahman calf. Thanks to Beeche Brahmans, Costa Rica, for letting me use their photo as a reference.

(Click on photos to enlarge).

Christmas Morning 2017 - Costa Rica

After breakfast this morning, I went for my walk - which I try to do every second day. Usually I walk up through Barrio Jesus. The sidewalk parallels ruta 3 which, if I kept on walking for about 58 km, would take me to Playa Doña Ana on the Pacific Coast.

Today I decided to take photos of some things I saw on this Christmas morning’s non-ambitious walk.

First, fortification with Rompope, Costa Rica’s traditional egg nog. This one has rum in it:

It was cool overnight, dropping to 65F/18.3C. It had warmed up by the time I started out, with beautiful blue skies, fresh breeze and dry air. Enjoy the photos! I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like (a Tropical) Christmas

Christmas Day will be here soon. Our small "tree" is made of driftwood from the Jaco beaches, arranged in the shape of a pine tree and lit with sparkle lights. It sits in one of our windows so people on the road can see it. I also hung some lights on our hedge and a bit of ornamentation on our fence.

 

Another sure sign of Christmas in Costa Rica is the appearance of Rompope (although I think I have seen it on the stores shelves at other times of the year).

Notice it contains 4% alcohol and 100% milk .... I guess we are getting 104% of Rompope.

Rompope is an eggnog-like drink made with milk, eggs and vanilla flavoring. It is a traditional drink in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Belize and Puebla Mexico.

There are many recipes on the internet if you want to try making your own rompope. Cheers!

 

Christmas in Costa Rica - 2014

Another busy Christmas has come and gone and soon it will be New Year's Eve and a brand new year will be ushered in.

This year, we once again participated in the Angel Tree program. We selected two "angels" from the tree and bought each one a gift. Our angels were a two year old girl and a nine year old boy. I enjoyed buying the presents that they had asked for. I believe there were around 350 children who received gifts and had a great time at the party where Santa made an appearance and handed out all the presents. We have to thank all the volunteers who help make it happen.

Our Angel gifts.

For Christmas decorations, I hung our usual twinkle lights on the hedge. I have a new decoration this year - a tree made from driftwood and decorated with more twinkle lights. It was made by our friend, neighbor and fellow artist, Pete Snyder. He collects the driftwood from the beaches around Jaco and fashions them into trees.

Pete's driftwood tree.

Our friends, Diane and John, invited us to their house on December 21 for Christmas dinner with turkey and all the fixings. Great food and great friends.

Cocktails before dinner at Diane and John's house.

 

The following day saw us heading to a Christmas party at our neighbor's house. These same super neighbors served us another Christmas dinner on December 25th. It was a sit down dinner, served outside by the pool. All the tables were beautifully decorated. There was turkey, a ham, all kinds of different side dishes, yummy desserts.

Merry Christmas from us, Diana and Lance!

It's so amazing to be celebrating Christmas in a tropical country. It is something I wish everyone could experience at least once.

Feliz Navidad, everyone.

 

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Pete's Driftwood Christmas Trees

Our neighbor, Pete, can create just about anything out of anything. This Christmas season, he is making driftwood Christmas trees, complete with white or colored lights (your choice).

He finds the driftwood on the Pacific beaches of Costa Rica, cuts them to size, mounts them and adds the lights. The one I have is size small, but you can get bigger sizes if you want.

Close up of the driftwood.

Here is what my driftwood tree looks like - moving through the light sequences.

The tree looks really great at night. For me, this is very special - it's made by our neighbor and using Costa Rican wood.

 

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Christmas in Costa Rica

I bought a bag of flour in Atenas last week and just today noticed that it has a picture of Santa and one of his reindeer on the bag, as well as Feliz Navidad.

Christmas comes early in Costa Rica!

 

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Christmas in Atenas, Costa Rica

This will be our second Christmas in Costa Rica and in Atenas. I find the holiday season here a whole lot less hectic than it seemed to be in Canada, even though we had cut back a lot on all the shopping madness during the last few years we lived there.

This year in Atenas, we were fortunate to be asked to participate in a cookie exchange put on by our neighbours Rose Mary and Tony. We came home with nine dozen different kinds of cookies and I never thought we would be able to use them all. Guess what ... they were all gone within two weeks and it wasn't because we gave any away as gifts.

The cookie exchange table.

My contribution was Nanaimo bars, originally created in the lovely city of Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada. I'm making more tomorrow to give as Christmas gifts to our taxi drivers.

This coming weekend, the Festival of Lights happens in Atenas with the parade on Saturday starting around 6:00 pm. Just go to the park and you will see it. There will be venders in the park selling food,  and, my favorite, light sticks!

Also, Music Atenas is putting on concerts:

This year, we hung lights from our hedge and I also made luminaries from paper bags - so easy. Buy largish size paper bags from your local mercado, add some sand/soil from your garden in the bottom of the bags, roll the tops of the bags down about two times, place tea lights in the sand and light them. Instant and cheap decorations that look good! You can also cut some small designs in the sides of the bags and, instead of using tea lights, small LED lights could be strung through the bags. Of course, this would not work in rainy climates.

Here is a picture of my luminaries:

Atenas Festival de la Luz

The yearly Atenas Festival of the Lights was held on Saturday, December 17. This is part of the Christmas celebrations.

We went with two other couples and scored a table at Gelly's restaurant, newly renovated and beside the central park. We were right on the parade route and our server said we were welcome to occupy the table for the whole evening. As is usual in Costa Rica, the restaurant was open on three sides. The early evening was balmy and breezy, perfect for a parade.

We all ordered one of the specials on offer -  one or two burritos with greens, or lasagna with greens, and this included soda or iced tea. Then we had to try their gelato - lots of flavors and very good. Couldn't resist having lattes, capachinos and espresso and it was the strongest, most intense espresso I have ever had. The amount in the small espresso cup was more than enough for me. Lance loved it - I think he had about three and, hence, didn't fall asleep until about three (a.m.)  Final total for six people with plenty to eat and drink: 15,000 colones or $30 CAD, and that included a tip.

The two burrito option.

We had a blast that night. Watched the sun set and the activities in the park across from us. There were people selling fresh cooked BBQ, cotton candy, light sticks and so on. The parade started a bit late (natch) but who cares. It was December 17th and here we were sitting in a fantastic tropical setting in a wonderful small town and being part of everything around us.

Our view of the central park, dusk, before the parade started.

Lance surprised me with a gift of a star shaped light stick that he bought from a vendor! He knows I like that wacky stuff and it was a great hit, and not only with me but with one of our dinner companions (unnamed).

The parade consisted of different lighted floats and school marching bands. There were bands from Atenas, Orotina, Esparza and more. They were all being judged too - the judges' stand was very close to us. The kids in these marching bands are just incredible. We live close to a private school that has a marching band and when a festival is near, these kids practice hard and still do their schoolwork.

One of the floats

All the bands were great - some were small, some were bigger - but they all had their own flair, their own costumes and they all deserved a ribbon. In between the floats and the bands we saw Santa Claus (several times); Mary holding Baby Jesus and riding on a very calm horse led by Joseph and followed by the Wise Men; people throwing candies into the crowds .....

We all agreed that the very best marching band was an eclectric group that seemed to meld hip hop with ... I don't know what ... but when they set off fireworks from the ends of the glockenspiels (is that what those are?) the crowds went crazy.

Some of the bands featured drummers twirling those big, huge drums (bass drums?) around and around by the straps during part of their march.

The big finale at the end of the evening was the fireworks display, set off at the side of the Catholic church which thankfully did not burn down. A good time was had by all!

Very Busy

Into our seventh month and we have been incredibility busy socially. We are so fortunate to have many wonderful friends and making more all the time. We feel privileged to be invited into their homes and sharing meals and good times.

Enjoyed Beach Day on Monday - how could one not enjoy it. Lots of waves to body surf in, good food, good friends. I'm going to have to get some more bathing suits. Going to the beach a couple of times a month is such a great idea - we get the best of both worlds living in the Atenas area and visiting Playa Dona Ana.

See the cart in the photo? The fellow sitting in the shade operates his little business making granizados -  he shaves ice off a big block, puts it into a cup, adds powdered milk (if you want it), more ice, condensed milk and then covers the whole thing in flavored syrup - they are SO good. Cost: 1 mil (1000 colones), or about 2 Canadian dollars. I hope he is at Playa Dona Ana every time we are. Granizados can also be had at the Atenas park.

I'm still looking for a pipa guy - the vendor takes a young coconut (pipa) from iced water, machetes off the top, sticks a straw through the flesh and there you have it - a refreshing drink. I think there is a vendor in the park - just haven't found him yet.

Jose, one of our gardeners, dropped by last Saturday and we gave him his Christmas bonus. We sat around and had coffee and practiced our Spanish with him. He showed me how to better prepare pineapple tops for planting. I wasn't removing enough of the lower leaves.

We had a large bunch of bananas that were ready to be picked and he showed us how to do that too. His first method was to just punch through the pseudo stem, then he pulled one completely over with his arms. We fetched him a saw - much better. Jose has arms like a weight lifter. So he sawed the whole banana plant down and then it was an easy matter to cut off the banana bunch.

Our first tropical Christmas is only ten days away. I draped a strand of lights over the lime tree stump and that is our Christmas tree.

 I so do not miss the craziness of a modern Canadian Christmas - all that endless mall shopping for stuff nobody needs, all that money spent, people making themselves crazy preparing too much food. It used to be simpler and that is how we want our Costa Rican Christmases to be - more meaningful and involving people, not products. Of course, it must also involve good food! but that doesn't mean I have to prepare it. Lots of businesses out there do it better than I can and we're helping to support the local economy.

You Know You'll Never Wear It Down There

Here's a picture of three items of clothing that are not coming with us. It took me a while to admit that they will never be worn again by me. The bright blue dress is what I wore to my niece's wedding - it has a fabulous embroidered jacket that I might, just might, take with me. The jacket could be worn with a cami and straight legged black pants. It looks sort of tropical.

The red sequined dress was bought to wear to a New Year's Eve party many years ago. I just love the way it shimmers. I also have a pair of silver sequined shoes to go with it. The whole outfit is outrageous.

And the navy suit - my husband gave it to me for Christmas one year. It is beautifully made and tailored. It even has a gold chain stitched around the hem of the jacket to help it hang straight. I wore it and wore it and wore it - timeless. That's the suit I was wearing in Reno one year when I won a whack of moola on a slot machine that gave me a Royal Flush.

It's A Lot of Work to Downsize

Scanning, shredding, photographing, wrapping, storing, selling, donating ..... wow, it seemed so easy collecting so much over the years but not so simple paring down. Plus, I'm doing several paintings for upcoming shows - www.dianamiskell.com - so trying to fit that in, get to the gym every day as per my usual schedule and just keep on with our life as we know it now!

My brain is in Costa Rica ..... thank goodness it is winter here, so I don't have gardening guilt. In Costa Rica, it is even quite warm during the day in the Central Valley at this time of year. Apparently, all the school kids have the month of January off - it seems to be their "summer" holiday - and Christmas was a big celebration. One thing I am looking forward to is seeing all the different festivals.

Back to reality - I'm almost finished scanning the first photo album. Still haven't had any responses to my requests for scanning slides - folks?

Who Dunnit?

This has absolutely nothing to do with moving to Costa Rica, but it's good for a laugh. The three pictures below show what I found in our dining room when I came home today. My husband says he didn't do it, so that leaves our cat Genny (you can see her head in one of the photos) or the cat that is not ours, but moved in anyway.

Froggy was a gift from a good friend of mine a few Christmases ago - he keeps breaking his legs and this will be the third time he needs surgery. He spends the summers in the garden and comes indoors for the winter. Always has a smile on his froggy face and forever paddles through life on his lilypad.

West Coast Christmas

It's only a week until Christmas! Not sure if we will get snow this year here in Cloverdale - most years we don't but there have been a few winters where we were digging out the laneway.

I'm feeding the wild birds with suet and black sunflower seeds and I don't cut back any bushes/plants in the fall that have seeds on them because the birds go for them also.

I found a couple of strings of lights that missed going to the fellow who bought our Christmas stuff. I phoned and left a message for him but didn't hear back, so a string of pretty blue lights are hanging in our dining room window. That is about it for Christmas decorations this year.

Stopped in this morning at West Coast Select www.westcoastselect.ca, Canada's best selection of wild Pacific smoked salmon and seafood products. Their retail store (with wholesale prices) is located here in Cloverdale and it's the only place where I buy seafood. Drooled over huge stuffed clams, bought Pacific halibut cakes and two packages of lox for us, smoked salmon and tins of lobster, Pacific salmon and crab pate for friends. They also had big chunks of hot smoked tuna for sale ...... we are spoiled on the west coast.

So tonight's dinner will be the smoked salmon on crepes. Now, I need to look into restaurants serving Christmas dinner .....

Just Slogging Along and Downsizing

The more stuff I take to the various charity shops, the more stuff I seem to find in the house. All our Christmas items are on Craigs List and I've had a few calls but no buyers. It's a real deal: $100 will get you a 6 foot tree with stand and carrying bag, tree and outdoor LED lights, ornaments for the tree that are really nice, a bag of wrapping paper and gift bags, and assorted decorations for table tops. One of my favorites is a fabric white swan with a wreath around his neck.

Genny the cat has been spending inordinate amounts of time at her vet. Routine blood tests before her dental cleaning showed a UT infection and blood in her urine. Antibiotics have cleared up the infection but the blood remains. This coming Friday she is booked for ultrasound and x-rays on bladder and kidneys to find out what might be going on. Could be a stone and that can be removed, but kidney problems are more difficult to treat. She is ten years old now and hardly sick a day in her life.

I spend a lot of time reading Costa Rican blogs and have started reading A.M. Costa Rica, an English language on-line newspaper. Their rainy season this year has been so bad. It should be ending soon, everyone hopes.