Cabbage Rolls, Rainbows, Haircuts and COVID-19 - Costa Rica

Here is an update on the coronavirus in Costa Rica as of Saturday, May 23, 2020, https://ticotimes.net/2020/05/23/coronavirus-in-costa-rica-7-new-cases-7-more-recoveries.

We are still on driving restrictions. We cannot drive on Fridays or Sundays (determined by the last numeral on our vehicle’s licence plate). No car travel at all between 10:00 pm and 5:00 am during the week and between 7:00 pm to 5:00 am on the weekends. The repercussions of not following these restrictions can be severe - heavy fines and removal of your licence plates to name two. Beaches have opened but only between the hours of 5:00 am to 8:00 am - I believe this is primarily for the benefit of surfers (world class) - and of course with everyone following the usual protocols for keeping distance, etc.

A well known landmark restaurant in Atenas - Kay’s Café Pequeña Polonia (previously Kay’s Gringo Postres) - has reopened with limited hours and takeaway. They have a free lending library. Since we needed new reading material and were craving cabbage rolls, I put in an order and we drove there last week and picked them up, plus some new books. One order had dill sauce and the other tomato sauce and the orders included mashed potatoes, pickled beets, and cucumbers and onions. The portions are really large (two rolls each) so we got four meals out of the one order. Here’s the dill sauce version:

It’s really important right now to support all your local businesses. This is a very difficult time for them and many have closed, some permanently. 

We haven’t been going to barbers or beauty parlours and Lance really needed a head shave. He has a set of clippers so I volunteered to do the deed. Turns out I’m pretty good at it.

Tools of my trade:

Here’s Lance ready for the clippers and pretty relaxed.

The one thing I stupidly did not do was take an “after” photo - but the buzz cut came out so well that Lance has said I can do it again.

We found face masks at Compre Bien in Grecia. This one is washable and made here in Costa Rica. We are using them when in shops or around groups of people.

We saw a double rainbow from our house the other day - very rare. Isn’t that tree amazing? It’s the Guanacaste tree I mentioned in a recent post and it’s absolutely enormous.

I have a couple of orchids blooming:

So that’s about what is going on with us during this awful virus time. We are happy to be in this little country. Costa Rica is doing an excellent job of controlling, tracking and treating. Citizens are taking the recommendations and restrictions seriously for the most part.

Kermit is wearing his mask. Are you?

Eyes on Costa Rica and Weather Records - April 2020

During April, visits to this blog were received from the following 16 countries:

At some time in April, the total number of visits to this blog since November 2012 exceeded a threshold of 40,000. These visits came from over 4000 different towns, cities and other places throughout the world including over 1900 places in the USA and over 500 places in Canada.

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

The rainy or "green" season has begun. For the first three months of the year and until April 12^th there were only 3 days with measurable rain. During the remaining part of the month, there were 10 days.

There is a very large Guanacaste tree across the property from our yard. During the dry season, it loses all its leaves:

Then, the leaves start to come back as they did towards the end of April this year:

Now (early May), it is in full bloom:

The Guanacaste tree is the national tree of Costa Rica.

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.