Eyes on Costa Rica and Weather Records - May 2021 / Covid-19 Update

 During May, visits to this blog were received from the following 11 countries:

Senegal in West Africa is a new country. With Senegal, the total number of countries and non-independent jurisdictions from which visits have been received has risen to 133. Of this number, 13 are non-independent jurisdictions such as Greenland, Hong Kong, Puerto Rico, etc. The visit from Senegal originated from the capital city of Dakar.

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

Apart from observing that the rainfall in May was less than that in May of the previous 3 years, there is not much to be said. Overall, temperatures were more or less normal.

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Covid-19 Update

The following table updates the information which appeared in my blog posted on May 9:

The death rate in Costa Rica is unchanged. That in Canada has dropped. That in the U.S. has risen by a marginal amount.

In April - May, there was a significant surge in reported Covid-19 cases in Costa Rica. Although I am in no position to say this with any certainty, I can point to "Semana Santa" (Easter Week) as being the possible culprit. Each year during this week, there are a variety of cultural activities which can bring people together. Also, there is motivation for thousands to travel to the beaches, mingle, and have a good time. In the absence of masks or appropriate social distancing, a surge was not unpredictable. 

Despite the surge, the death rate in Costa Rica has remained the same - suggesting again that if you are going to catch the virus you might be better off catching it in Costa Rica rather than Canada or the U.S.

Canada is somewhat anomalous. On a per capita basis, it has far fewer reported cases than either Costa Rica or the U.S. Yet, it has the highest death rate.

If you want to see how some other country is doing in comparison to those listed, then visit the website of Worldometer. Numbers for populations, reported cases and reported deaths can be obtained from that site. All that is then needed is some simple math to calculate the percentage death rate for the other country and the death rate in that country compared to Costa Rica.

Click on images to enlarge.

Flor de Itabo/Yucca Flower

Here are photos of some flowers I bought at our our feria last Friday:

 

These are the flowers of the yucca plant (Yucca guatemalensis), also known at Itabo. This is not the same as the yuca. So pretty and delicate - and edible! The yucca flowers and fruits around Easter time (Semana Santa) so that is why we see them in our markets at this time of year. I bought my bunch for 1,000 colones (about $2.00) from Ricardo Cortez Castro, the gentleman who sells his handmade miniature oxcarts at the feria and around Atenas.

Marcial Artavia, who makes and sells his terrific sausages at the feria (Sperone Italian Sausage) saw me walking around with them and called me over. He showed me how to pick the flowers off the stems and told me how he cooks them. They can be used in soups and omlettes or just sauteed in olive oil with salt and pepper.

Here is what I ended up doing: I boiled a few potatoes and added about a cup of the flowers towards the end, then drained them. I chopped the potatoes into cubes. Sautéd an onion and some garlic. When those were done, in went chopped tomatoes, achiote paste, boullion, and Lizano sauce. I also added a couple of Marcial's sausages. Then I tossed in the cooked potato cubes and flowers. It was very good.

 

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The Eleventh Month

April, 2012, marks our eleventh month experiencing fabulous Costa Rica. May 31st will be our one year anniversary. We love it here so much.

We moved here in the green season, have experienced the dry season and are now moving into the green season once more. This week brought several thunderstorms in the afternoon and desperately needed rain. We unplug the electronics when the lightning starts and sit outside and enjoy the free show. Genny goes into her Thunder Closet of course, but I think she is a bit more relaxed about the storms then when we first arrived.

Last week, we lost our internet and satellite connections and were incommunicado and without computer access and TV entertainment for about five days. Even the house phone handset's batteries died but we were able to find a new bundled pack at a great little shop in the enclosed market area in Atenas Centro. I'm sorry I don't know the name of the place but they sell jewelry, watch batteries, etc. It's near the butcher shops. They can weld eyeglasses back together if you break the side pieces (happened to us).  It's a Mum and Pop operation I think. They even hooked the battery pack wires up to the gizmo that snaps into the phone handset.

We think Cabletica turned our service off by mistake when they were working at a house across from us. Thanks goes to our landlady in Boston and Andrew at ReMax in Atenas for helping us with getting the account number and the right phone numbers to call at Cabletica - it took a while to get through the menu choices to the English option. Anyway, if it ever happens again we'll be able to call them right away and get back on line fast.

We used an internet cafe in Atenas to check our mail, and also enjoyed a breakfast at Kay's Gringo Postres while using their service. Lesson: chill out, find a temporary solution and all will be back to normal before long. It was a great opportunity to read in the hammock without distractions.

We are being serenaded by so many birds right now - it must be the breeding and nesting season. Our mango tree is loaded with mangoes and I think we'll be enjoying them before long. I've picked a couple of tomatoes from our plants and have some sweet peppers ripening. As an experiment, I planted what I hope are melon seeds and they have sent runners everywhere and putting out flowers. The orange tree is full of oranges.

I bought my first ever snorkel, mask and fins because I really want to snorkel in the ocean. Was fortunate to be able to practice in a friend's pool:

This week is also Semana Santa - Easter Holy Week - everything is shut down tight on April 5 and 6. Ley Seca is the "dry law" when the sale of alcohol is prohibited from dusk on April 4th to dawn on April 7th. I'm sure everyone stocks up ahead of time!