Hearing Doctor Appointment

A couple of weeks ago we drove to Escazú for an appointment with my hearing doctor, Dr. Natalie Goldgewicht Davidovich. Because of Covid-19, we had not been able to see her for a couple of years. I suspected my hearing aids needed to be recalibrated due to further loss of hearing. Or, as Lance said to Dr. Davidovich at this appointment: “she can’t hear!”.

I remember my grandmother and grandfather on my mother’s side both wore old fashioned hearing aids … the battery pack was the size the size of a deck of cards that they wore in a pocket on their clothes. So I suppose this is where I inherited the hearing loss from because it doesn’t relate to anything else in my life. Hearing aids today are totally different, very sophisticated.

The drive there was uneventful until we reached the Centro Commercial mall on Avenida Escazú. We mistakenly drove down into a dark, private underground parking lot and eventually reached a gate which wouldn’t open without a pass card. I think that was my fault …. I said “oh yeah, turn left here”. Lance had to back up in the dark along the curved and upwardly sloped driveway. It was tricky and he did a good job. We then drove into the public lot and went to my appointment.

Sure enough, the audiogram showed further loss. The hearing aids I have are Signia Pure Charge&Go. They were not inexpensive but well worth it. I have an app on my iPad and my phone that lets me control the sound levels and I can choose where sounds are coming from. For instance, in a noisy environment such as a restaurant I can adjust them so I can better hear the person sitting in front of me and not all the other diners. And mine are also hooked up to Bluetooth so I can listen to videos on my iPad or movies on our TV directly into my ears.

So that was done for another year and we headed for Auto Mercado in Santa Ana for some high end grocery shopping. 

Driving home, we saw a downed power pole on Hwy. 1 at the turnoff to Grecia. The turnoff itself was blocked by another downed pole so we had to detour back to Hwy. 1 north and get to our house via Sarchi.

We made a dashcam movie of the drive, except for the portion of driving from Sarchi to our house, because we previously did that and you can see in on my YouTube channel.

Dim Sum in Sarchi, Alajuela, Grecia!

I had read good reviews about Bar Restaurante Sabor Oriental in Sarchi, a town about a 20 minute drive from our house in San Roque de Grecia. So we decided to drive there and try it out for ourselves.

Map of our drive:

When I looked at their menu on line, I discovered that they served dim sum, one of our favourite traditional Chinese meals. All prices indicated are in Costa Rican colones.

We ordered the ha koa, the siu mai, the lao won bao and the empanadas chino al vapor (steamed not fried), aka gyoza.

The traditional drink to have with dim sum is tea but we opted for frosty cold Imperial beers.

When the food arrived, I was so busy eating it that I forgot to take pictures but did remember at the last moment and so here we have a photo of two of the items we ordered:

The dim sum was excellent. We will definitely be going back here for dim sum. It’s so much closer then driving to the Asian restaurants in San José.

We made a dash cam video of our drive to Sarchi:

Click on images to enlarge.

Lunch - Restaurante La Finca, Sarchi

Last week we drove to Sarchi to have lunch at Restaurante La Finca. Sarchi is only 13km from our house but the drive takes about 25 or so minutes because the road - Ruta 118 - is very twisty and hilly most of the way.

Watch for the huge traditionally painted oxcart wheel and the restaurant’s sign. You make a right turn down a narrow laneway and to a parking area. There was a fellow there directing traffic - remember to tip him when you leave. We usually give them 500 colones. There is a butterfly farm close to La Finca but it is apparently temporarily closed.

You will be greeted at the entrance and shown to a table that you select. Staff are friendly and there is a nice view. The restaurant is open air so there is always a breeze.

Lance ordered a beer and I had a margarita. My lunch choice was camarón mediano al gusto (medium shrimp to taste - garlic for me). It came with a salad, roasted vegetables, a garlic dip for the shrimp and pureed potatoes. It was very good.

I wasn't able to get a good photo of Lance's choice - corvina en salsa de hongos (corvina with mushroom sauce) - but I had a taste and it too was very good.

You can never fault the portion sizes here - they are always generous and we never have room for dessert. So if you are in Sarchi, stop here for lunch or dinner. During the tourist season, tour buses bring visitors here for a stop at the souvenir shop next to the oxcart wheel and then to the restaurant for lunch.

Click on image to enlarge.

Available at Last! The Road Trip to Arenal Videos!

Last year I gave Lance a car cam for his birthday. We decided to try it out on a road trip and we  chose Arenal volcano as our destination. I made reservations at the Arenal Manoa Resort Hotel and Hot Springs.

Caveat: There are seven different videos posted. YouTube won’t accept individual videos longer then 15 minutes (without going through an administrative process) so we broke up all the videos into less then 15 minute segments. Also, most of them are of driving on the roads to and from Arenal - so some may find them boring. Others who have never been to Costa Rica might find them very interesting. You decide.

This trip we remembered to bring Kermit with us and he was very happy.

I have added photos of Manoa resort after the final video - #7.

Maps of our routes going to Arenal Manoa Resort and returning home are as follows:

_____________________________________________________

Video #1 is of us leaving our house and starting out to Arenal Manoa Resort. We drive over the stone bridge (puente de piedra) which is where our neighbourhood got its name from.

Video #2 - we are on highway 1 (aka Interamerican or Pan American Highway) headed towards San Ramon.

Video #3 - After San Ramon, rain starting, heavy cloud/fog and twisty roads.

Video #4 - We are now driving on highway 702 to La Fortuna. Notice the narrow bridge - “ceda” means yield.

Video #5 - We are at the Arenal Manoa Resort Hotel, returning from a day trip we took the second day. Part of the road was being repaired.

Video #6 - Heading home on highway 4 and then highway 35 south.

Video #7 - Highway 118, through Sarchi and the outskirts of our town, Grecia.

————————————————————————————————

Lance outside on our casita’s patio.

The casitas are very private.

Kermit had never seen a jacuzzi before.

The clouds parted from around Arenal volcano just long enough for us to have a good view from our casita.

Breakfast was included - excellent.

 

The pool with swim up bar.

Pizza! made to order right by the pool. Thin crust - the best. Note that the cook and the server are wearing face masks.

Random photos from around the hotel grounds:

This was a great road trip, albeit with a few driving challenges - rain, cloud, fog and twisting roads. La Fortuna is a super place for tourists to visit - there is so much for them to do.

Click on images to enlarge.

Else Kientzler Botanical Gardens

Recently we visited the Else Kientzler Botanical Gardens, near the town of Sarchi. Before reaching the gardens, we passed by what seemed like acres of greenhouses. This is Innovaplant  a company that grows all sorts of ornamental plants that are shipped around the world. They also have a laboratory for developing new species of plants.

We were the only visitors at the time we were there - I imagine because it is the off season and we went during the week. So we had the entire place to ourselves and could stroll around at our own pace. Admittance fees are modest. Apparently you can have a guided tour and there is also a restaurant for lunch. This is a popular place to hold a wedding and we saw tents being taken down from a recent one. The venue is beautiful of course.

We didn’t go on all the trails because some were not suited to our footwear. Perhaps we’ll visit again and see what we missed the first time. So many species of plants/trees and everything is marked with it’s name. Highly recommend these gardens - gorgeous.

Sarchi, Costa Rica

Earlier this week, we decided to take a morning drive to Sarchi - 12.1 kms from our house in Hacienda El Paseo, Puenta de Piedra, Grecia.

Sarchi is the capital city of the canton of Valverde Vega in Alajuela province and is 1000 m/3000 ft above sea level. It’s a beautiful drive through winding, climbing roads surrounded by coffee fields. Sarchi is a key artisan town famous for woodworking - wooden bowls, folding rocking chairs of wood and leather (we have one at our house), furniture of all kinds. This is where the carretas (oxcarts) are elaborately painted by hand and for which Sarchi and Costa Rica are famous. The oxcarts were originally used to haul coffee and other goods from the highlands of the central valley down to the Pacific ports.

Our green/rainy season is a good time to travel around. The mornings are mostly sunny and warm, with rain falling later in the day (or not at all). Everything is lush and thick with growth. Since it’s the off season, there are not many tourists around. Not far from Sarchi itself, we stopped at Fabrica de Carretas Joaquin Chaverri, the oldest oxcart factory since 1903. This is a tourist site with many tour buses arriving every day during the dry season. We were the only ones there at our visit so it was nice to stroll around without the crowds.

I think Fabrica de Carretas have recently renovated their site, which was huge to begin with. They did a good job, with beautiful murals on the inside and outside. A mural artist was painting inside when we were there. The gift shop is very large, and the prices are reasonable for most things. Marked prices are in U.S. dollars but they will convert to colones if asked, as I did.  I drooled over the leather purses, gorgeous. There are beautiful handmade wooden items and we ended up buying a carved wooden sea turtle and a wooden key ring for our car keys. At the back there is a lovely garden. I think this is also  the area where you can see oxcarts being made and painted and there may also be a restaurant - we didn’t go back there this time.

Heading back home, we got roads mixed up a few times (few or no signs!) but it didn’t matter. We have all the time in the world to putter around.

Beautiful carved oxcart.

Painted oxcart.






Incredible details on the murals.


The light across the iguana is from the sun.

“Old Rockin’ Chair”

A lot of things have come with our new rental house in Grecia. One of them is a Costa Rican rocking chair:

It’s made of tooled leather and wood and is very comfortable (the bell came with the house too, but I’m not sure what it is used for). This rocking chair is so comfortable and I enjoy rocking in it with the mountain breezes blowing and admiring the incredible view. Here are some of the images tooled into the leather:

I don’t know where this rocker was made. It could have been in the town of Sarchi, a Costa Rican town famous for it’s elaborately painted oxcarts.

In any case, here is Louis Armstrong singing, just for you, “Old Rockin’ Chair”.

Grecia and Sarchi

Today our fellow Canuck friends took us to Grecia and Sarchi to check out these towns'  Ropa Americana stores. I found a nice pair of pale yellow Jones Wear cotton shorts and a soft Indian cotton camp shirt with grey, green, rose and yellow flower patterns. Cost was ¢2,000 each, about $8.00 CAD total.

Expats in Costa Rica know all about shopping at Ropa Americana - you never know what treasures will be unearthed.

We had lunch at Restaurante La Finca in Sarchi. The setting is lovely, overlooking hills of coffee plants. I ordered the three sauce sea bass and it was excellent. Portions are large and mine included rice and salad, plus I had two frutas mixtas (natural mixed fruit drinks) which I just can't get enough of.

Entrance to La Finca

View from our table

An afternoon thunderstorm started on the drive home and the air smelled so wonderful, earthy and warm.

We've Been Busy

The time just seems to fly by. Looking at my calendar, we met up with friends on January 20 and they drove us around to Grecia and Sarchi, towns we had not yet been to.

Grecia is a town I want to go back to and explore a bit more. It's the capital city of the canton of Grecia in the province of Alajuela (thank you, Wiki). We stopped and saw the church (Iglesia de la Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes) and the park. Wiki has a lot of good information on this church - very interesting.

Then on to Sarchi,  home of the world's largest oxcart (carreta), and famous for crafts and locally made furniture. We stopped at one of the tourist souvenir places - it even had a carreta with two oxen and a boyero (oxcart driver) so the tourists could take photos. Lance bought a map and, when paying for it with colones, was asked by a bus tourist, "What kind of money is that?" Ha! why, it's the currency of Costa Rica! and we use it all the time. Everything in this shop was priced in USD so I guess these tourists just get on and off the buses, visit the tourist places, pay in USD, and that's it.

We found a really good soda in Sarchi, where we had lunch. Across the street was an ice cream shop so we had to visit it, of course. I tried to order a bebida de frutas mixtas (mixed fruit drink) but ended up with a plate of mixed fruit. Oh well, I'll know better next time. It was still really good fruit.

It is so much fun exploring all the roads, seeing new towns and we are so fortunate to have such great friends.

Oxcart in Sarchi.

The church in Grecia.

Pizza Mangia in Sarchi - you must try this place. We ordered fish casados and an arroz plate.
Lance, Diana and the owner of Pizza Mangia.