The Importance of Having Contacts in Costa Rica

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We have made quite a few Costa Rican friends here and they are always available when we need help.

Minor is a bilingual retired EMT who now works for a Canadian company here. He has helped us with medical appointments at our hospital as our translator. He also helped us out during our last move. He arranged for a transport truck to help us move from Puente de Puedra to San Roque de Grecia, where we now live.

Alex is one of our taxi drivers when our car is out of commission. Recently we were parked at Super Rosvil grocery and our vehicle would not start - new battery was dead. Two strangers stopped to help. They gave us a boost but it still would not turn over. I WhatsApp’d Alex and 15 minutes later he showed up in his red taxi and got the car started. We drove straight home and let the car run for 15 minutes, as per his instructions. We continued driving the car as it continued to start and run.

The same thing happened again just the other day. Parked in downtown Grecia - battery dead. Lance flagged down a taxi and the driver got it going with a boost. Home we went. By the way, the taxi drivers are great for boosts and changing flat tires. I once had two Super Rosvil managers change a tire for me. They just came out of the store and did it.

We contacted our mechanic Josué. He recently installed the new battery. He picked up our Subaru at our house and took it to his shop. Turns out it was an electrical problem draining the battery. There were some other problems which he is now fixing and hopefully we will have our car back today. It’s not a new vehicle so problems can be expected.

There’s also Coco, a tow truck driver we know. I can WhatsApp him anytime if we need a tow.

Costa Ricans are great sources of information also. Alex referred us to Josué. Minor found Coco for us. They are wonderful friends. I once had a nice lady (bilingual) come up to me at our Ebais clinic. She offered her help when I saw the nurse and told me to call her any time.

Off Topic

As mentioned in my last blog post (April 2025) we have been having heavy rains. A storm that blew through the other day was fierce. Strong winds were blowing the rain sideways.  It resulted in this heavy mud floating down our laneway onto part of our patio and in front of our garage.

Our landlord Luis arranged for Toño and his helper to clean it up for us, which they did in short order.

Turns out the mucky mess is from a vacant lot next to us that is being developed and there is a lot of dirt piled up. Luis’ uncle lives near us and he is keeping an eye on the lot. Luis lives in Guanacaste (northern Costa Rica).

Driving To Grecia From Our New Home in San Roque de Grecia, Costa Rica

On Sunday May 22nd, we needed to drive to MaxiPali in Grecia to exchange (we thought) a Durabrand coffee maker that we had purchased the previous day. When we got it home, neither of us could open the lid of the pot and we could hear something rattling around inside. We thought it was defective.

We told the guard at the store what we needed to do and eventually a manager type guy came to help us. He couldn’t get the lid off either. The guard, smarter than all three of us, soon had it removed. Turns out the pot is actually a carafe with a sealer type lid that keeps the coffee hot for a long time, unlike a glass pot. The lid just needed to be turned left. But I swear that wasn’t obvious! We couldn’t make it happen and the instruction booklet didn’t address this subject.

The rattling noise was a coffee measuring spoon. “Soy estúpida” I said, which got a laugh.

Here is the carafe:

Since it was a lovely sunny morning, we decided to video our drive to MaxiPali, then Super Rosvil for a few groceries and home, using our car cam. It being Sunday, the Spandex Brigade were out in force and some of them are crazy. Super Rosvil is owned 100% by Costa Ricans and I frequently shop there.

This is the route from our house to MaxiPali:

In the video, I mention CoopeVictoria. It is an agro-industrial cooperative that was established in 1943 in the canton of Grecia. Their sugar cane processing facility is not too far from our house. Recently there was a lot of sugar cane harvesting occurring and tractor after tractor were arriving at the plant to unload their cane. I took this photo of a tractor and cane trailer that we were driving behind.

I also mention Serví-Frio, a heating, ventilation and air conditioning shop just up from our house. Their sign on calle Carbonal is our marker to turn into the laneway leading down to our house.

Here is the video:

Note: The date/time stamp on the video is incorrect. The correct date is May 22, 2022.

Click on images to enlarge.

San Ramón, Macaroni and Cheese and a Thunderstorm - Costa Rica

On Tuesday of this week, we had occasion to drive to the town of San Ramón, about 32 km away from our town of Grecia. It was a beautiful morning with clear views of the lovely countryside - hectares of coffee plants growing in neatly laid out rows on the rolling hills and dales and clear views of the beautiful countryside. There are lots of interesting towns to explore in the central valley.

Back home, clouds began gathering in the afternoon and we had an impressive thunderstorm. A made a video of it:

Our Cat likes to lie on top of our car during rain storms.

Yesterday (Wednesday), we had banking to do in Grecia and some shopping. Banco National is adhering very well to Covid-19 protocols - hand washing station outside, must wear mask, keeping one’s distance, control of how many people in bank at one time, hand gel sprayed before entering, bank personnel wearing face shields. This morning, lineups were sparse so I got my business done quickly. Then we went to Compre Bien for some groceries. We like to shop at 100% owned Costa Rican businesses so we patronize this store and also Super Rosvil.

Compre Bien also has excellent Covid-19 protocols. I’ve noticed that more and more people are wearing masks/shields compared to a few weeks ago so the message is getting out. We don’t use plastic or fabric bags - just load our goods into the cart and take them to our vehicle where we pack everything into two cardboard boxes.

We were getting low on fruit so here is what I bought. Clockwise from left: papaya, bananas, cas (aka Costa Rican guava) and dragon fruit (pitaya).

Dragon fruit is one of my favourites. The ones we find here in Costa Rica have a gorgeous red interior:

We have a cas tree in our backyard but I’ve never seen any fruit. So today I thought I would try some. This is what the cas looks like cut open. It tasted very tart! So I’ll try using it to make a smoothie drink.

Earlier this week, I told Lance that I didn’t know what to make for dinner. He replied that we hadn’t had macaroni and cheese for a long time, one of his favourites. But it had to be his mother’s recipe so that is what I made:

The recipe is so easy: boil up some macaroni - and spread one-third of it in the bottom of a baking dish (I used to use a bean pot that worked really well). Then add a layer of sliced cheddar cheese, then more mac, another layer of cheese, rest of the macaroni and the rest of the cheese. Pour over one cup of milk. I added salt, pepper and dry mustard to the milk. Cover and bake at 350F for forty minutes, remove cover and bake another 30 minutes to get that nice cheesy crust on top. We refry the leftovers for another meal with a salad. It’s a recipe that you can adapt to your own tastes but we stay with the original family recipe.

Now, moving on to the wearing of face masks during these trying times. You absolutely must wear one when out in public. Thankfully, I am seeing more and more people wearing them around our town and those that do not are becoming less and less visible. We have both plastic shields and fabric masks. My black mask is pretty boring - I was thinking of painting toucans on it but then wasn’t sure about washing it after it had acrylic paint applied. So I came up with the idea of putting pins on it:

So right now, I have on my mask a Canadian flag pin and an art deco horse pin that I found at an antique store. I’m going to switch things around with Canadian Coast Guard pins, an B-1 bomber pin and whatever else I have in stock.

Covid-19, Costa Rica, and Other Musings

As of today - June 20, 2020 - the number of new cases of Covid-19 has risen to 69. The government immediately suspended the third phase reopening plans and we are now following restrictions that were implemented during Semana Santa (Easter Sunday). You can read about it in this issue of the Tico Times.

For us, our life goes on as normal. We just need to be aware of what days we cannot drive (Fridays and Sundays) and where we can drive to on other days. We are impressed with how Costa Rica has been and is handling this epidemic.

This past week, I had to pick up my prescriptions at our hospital’s farmacia (pharmacy). There was quite a long lineup leading from the entrance to the street and down along the sidewalk. Everyone observed distancing and most people were wearing masks. It was slow moving and I must have shuffled along for an hour. Nearing the entrance, the hospital employee who was keeping everyone in check and in the right lines asked me if I was over 65. Since I am, he wanted to move me to the Old Folks and Other Deserving Conditions lineup. I didn’t really want to move as my lineup was moving faster.

Well, as is often the case here, a Costa Rican decided to be my guardian. He patted me on the shoulder and moved me to the new lineup whether I wanted to be there or not! He let me go ahead of him - Costa Ricans are very polite, like Canadians (haha).  I apologized for my Spanish but we still managed a conversation of sorts. Yes, I live in Grecia in the Puente de Piedra area. He lives in the San Isidro area. I’m a Canadian. He drives a motorcycle. He yelled out to his friends in other lineups, “Poor English”! They all laughed. I thanked him for his help when I was leaving with my prescriptions. It is these day to day unexpected interactions with Costa Ricans that really enrich our living experience here.

On one of my Facebook Costa Rican expat groups, there was a discussion of how Covid-19 and isolation practices have seriously impacted some people’s lives. The people who are very outgoing seem to be hit the hardest. They are used to meeting friends, going to dances, socializing, meeting at restaurants and they understandably miss this.

Today (Saturday) has been overcast with some rain. Our Cat knows how to deal with it:

So, everyone, stay safe - wear your masks, practice social distancing and take good care of you and yours.

Grecia Feria

The feria (farmers’ market) in Grecia is much larger than the Atenas feria. We went there this morning and came home with this bounty:

Four pineapples, spinach, papaya, melon, mango, tomatoes and fresh flowers for our living room.

We needed cat kibble and a few other items so we stopped at Super Rosvil and picked up more fruit and some advocados:

Notice the beautiful bowl. It was created by Atenas resident David Mallette and is made of mango wood. It was a gift to us from our friend Leticia.