Eyes on Costa Rica and Weather Records - December and Year 2020

 During December, visits to this blog were received from the following 19 countries:

For all years, the total number of identified countries from which visits have been received remains at 130.

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

As if a switch had been thrown, December 4 marked the beginning of the dry season. There was a hiccup with heavy rain on December 30 but otherwise sunny and partly cloudy skies prevailed. Temperature averages in December were pretty much like those in previous years.

For the year as a whole, rainfall was the real story. A brief summary for the entire year in the area where we live is as follows:

However, as the following graph illustrates, the amount and timing of rainfall in 2020 was significantly different from that in 2018 and 2019.

The patterns of rainfall in 2018 and 2019 were about the same - the monthly amounts following a distinct "M"-shaped curve each with a significant dip in the middle of the dry season. The dip is characteristic of a mini-summer or "verano" which typically occurs in the middle of the Costa Rican rainy season. In contrast, there was no such dip in 2020.

There were more rainy days in 2020 (185 days) than in 2018 (151 days) or 2019 (142 days) and the total amount of rainfall in 2020 (116.1 inches, 2949 mm) was greater than in 2018 (78.54 inches, 1995 mm) or 2019 (64.14 inches, 1629 mm). But this pales in comparison to the amount of rainfall encountered by friends who live in the southern zone of Costa Rica and who recorded over 320 inches (8218 mm) of rain in 2020.

Whether 2020 was an aberration or an indication of climate change events which are on the way remains to be seen.

(Click on any image to enlarge)

A New Year - 2019

Happy New Year to everyone. I hope your Christmas, Hanukkah, Three Kings Day, Winter Solstice, St. Lucia Day and Kwanzaa holidays are enjoyed with family and friends and lots of good food (have I missed any holidays here?).

May 31, 2019, will mark our 8th year living in Costa Rica. The time has flown by and we still love living here. We are now in the dry or “summer” season (verano) and experiencing the strong trade winds known at this time of year as the Christmas winds or vientos Navideños. We did not experience them so much at our little house in Atenas because we were surrounded by trees and down low on the mountain. Here at our house in Hacienda el Paseo, we are much more exposed. I have to watch that my orchids are getting enough water as they dry out so fast. It’s all sunshine and blue, blue skies. This is also the time of year for tourists and the children are out of school until early February. They have another mid-year holiday from July 1 to 13.

Here is a video I made of the enormous Guanacaste tree on a property near us blowing in the strong winds. This tree loses all its leaves during the dry season and you can see that it is on its way to becoming bare.

If you get a message that “full screen is unavailable - learn more” - don’t “learn more”. Just click HERE and carry on.

I have never cooked a holiday dinner and this year was no exception. We joined friends at the San José Marriott Hotel for Christmas brunch - excellent. Lots of Costa Rican dishes.

There are four gate guards that work at our complex, on different shifts during 24 hours, plus a pet rooster. The guards are always friendly and helpful. As a thank you gift for them, I made cookies and they each got a 5 mil note (roughly $10 USD). The rooster received a bag of deluxe chicken feed. Lance saw him chowing down on it, so it was a hit.

There are five ridges around our town of Grecia leading up to Poas volcano. I don’t know all their names but last week we drove up El Cajón ridge. The views are stunning. These photos show the amazing vistas and all the coffee fincas.

From our house to yours, best wishes for the new year.

New Tires

When we bought our Subaru almost a year ago, we knew that the rear tires would need replacing some time within the coming year. That “some time” came this week.

I had been shopping at the Maxi Pali store next to the Grecia mall and when I returned to the car, I saw that the left rear tire was flat. I know how to change a tire, but I couldn’t even lift the spare out of the wheel well. And who wants to change a tire anyway.

What to do, what to do. I called Lance and he suggested flagging down a red taxi and having the driver change the tire. This isn’t at all unusal here. Once we had an absolutely dead battery on a borrowed vehicle and Jorge came and removed the battery, took it to a shop he knew, and returned it the next day in working order.

So I waited until a taxi was dropping off a passenger and showed the driver my flat. He had it off and the spare on in ten minutes. I paid him for his time and efforts. He told me to drive directly to a gas station because the spare needed a bit of air. I did this, but the gas guy misunderstood me and also put air in the flat. Later that same day, we took our car to Llantas Algosa Ltda to have the flat looked at but it was holding air and they couldn’t find a problem with it. So it went back on and the spare came off.

The thought was that somebody had let the air out of the tire in the parking lot - this happens in tourist areas especially - and then they would offer to “help” and then steal something. Really highly unlikely in the Maxi Pali lot because there is a guard but I suppose it could happen.

I had to go out again the following day to Super Rosvil, parked, bought my groceries, returned to the vehicle and, yes, the tire was flat again. This time, three Rosvil managers came out to help me and the tire was changed in super fast time. They wouldn’t take any money and I must write and thank Super Rosvil for their employees’ immediate help.

Back to Llantas Algosa Ltda. The tire could not be repaired so we bought two new ones. Highly recommend Llantas Algosa - their speciality is tires, installation, alignment, etc. They have some high tech computer equipment for the alignments. Comfortable waiting room also. Nice people. The first time we were there they charged 1,000 colones to switch the tires (about $1.60 USD). 

Final cost for two new tires, plus installation, etc. - 76,000 colones ($122.00 USD).

September Weather, 2018

A weather summary for the month of September in Hacienda El Paseo/Grecia during the period from the beginning of April to the end of September appears below.

In Costa Rica, September falls in the middle of the rainy or "green" season and is generally marked by more days with rain and lower daily high temperatures. On rainy days, at least in the area where we live, a day often (but not always) begins with a sunny morning. Around 11 am to 1 pm clouds begin to drift in holding the high temperature down. Then the rain starts and will typically continue for two or three hours.

The number of rainy days in September this year was the most we have encountered in any single month since moving to Hacienda El Paseo. Even though we were not here during earlier months (January, February, March), it is safe to say that there was no month which would have had more rainy days than September. The earlier months were all in the Costa Rican “dry” season.

The current rainy or green season should continue until late November or early December. Then begins the next dry season.