Eyes on Costa Rica and Weather Records - February 2022 / Covid-19 Update

During February, visits to this blog were received from the following 9 countries:

The number is down from the same period last year. I have no way of knowing, but I would not be surprised if it is somehow connected with the current situation in the Ukraine. Many who might otherwise contemplate a visit or a move to Costa Rica may now have other priorities.

The total number of countries and non-independent jurisdictions from which visits have been received remains at 134. Of this number, 13 are non-independent jurisdictions such as the Isle of Man, Hong Kong, Puerto Rico, etc.

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

February 2022 had cooler overnight lows and hotter daytime highs than February 2021. The average low was about 2.6 °F (1.4 °C) cooler. The average high was about 1.3 °F (0.6 °C) hotter.

As is characteristic of February during the dry season, there was no rain. Also, many days were accompanied by fairly strong trade winds. These two factors when combined with a barren property of land under development led to numerous dust storms day after day. The dust went everywhere both inside and outside our house and presumably will continue to do so long as the trade winds continue or until the property is more fully developed. The following is a satellite view (annotated in yellow) showing the location of the house relative to the property:

The yellow star indicates where on March 6 Lance and I drove onto the property and took the following ground level photo (looking west to east):

It may be noted that the yellow star in the satellite view is adjacent to a green area. But, that is not so anymore. Subsequent to whenever the satellite view was taken, that area has also been filled with brown dirt and graded just like the rest of the development.

The name "Condominio Corteza" in the satellite view caught our attention and led Lance and I to a web page of Fusion Inmobiliaracr. Amongst other things, the web page shows a planned layout of roads, lots and costs of building a home. The plan is ambitious and will hopefully come to fruition sooner rather than later. We do not want another season of dust storms like the present. The advertised costs of buying a lot and building may come as an eye opener to some who live in Canada and the USA (and maybe elsewhere).

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Covid-19 Update

The following table updates information which appeared in my blog entry posted on February 6, 2022:

It appears that the Omnicron variant with its lower mortality rate has now taken full hold in Costa Rica. Once again, it seems that if you are inclined to catch any version of Covid-19, then you may have a better chance of survival in Costa Rica.

Overall, the death rate in Costa Rica is down 0.09% since my last post. It is unchanged in Canada and up 0.02% in the U.S.

If you want to see how some other country is doing in comparison to Costa Rica, 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.

If you want more up to date information and statistics on the situation in Costa Rica, including various locales in Costa Rica, then the web site of the Costa Rican Ministry of Health ("Ministerio de Salud") is a good source. If you do not understand Spanish, then you should enable translation features on your web browser if they are available.

Click on images to enlarge.

Christmas in Costa Rica - 2020

This is our ninth Christmas spent in Costa Rica and our second Christmas at our house in Grecia. We our now experiencing the dry season with nice strong trade winds, mostly blue skies and nice warm temperatures in the afternoons. Nighttimes are cool (61F!) so easy sleeping.

Because of Covid-19, most public seasonal activities have been cancelled. The Grecia park has been reopened and decorated for the holidays, so people can enjoy that - following protocols of course. The park and the cathedral are the heart of Grecia and this is true of all Costa Rican towns.

The municipality has created a Santa convoy and they have been driving around the different neighbourhoods all week, throwing candy out to the kids. Today we ended up at the tail end of one of them while out and about.

We don’t put up a Christmas tree or decorations but every year we have our driftwood tree with lights (made by our friend Pete) and a little lighted polar bear (came with our house) outside. Some of our neighbours put on elaborate displays. 

It seems to be orchid flowering season, as least for some of my orchids. My epidendrum stamfordianum produced an amazing display this year.

And a couple of other different species have put out inflorescences (flower stalks) so I look forward to enjoying their flowers.

Mature coffee beans (aka red cherries) are presently being harvested through to about March. And the sugar cane is flowering now. The flowers are a beautiful pale pink mauve shade and the undulating, waving fields of sugar cane are beautiful.

Flor Maria, our housekeeper once every two weeks, created this gorgeous flower display for us this week. She used flowers that grow all around our house. She has a florist’s eye and this was a lovely surprise for us. 

To all my friends/readers of my blog - we wish you the very best for this holiday season. 2020 has been a tough year for so many. Please - wear your masks and wash your hands. Keep your distance. I believe that 2021 will be much better.

Here’s a little painting I did of a Christmas Brahman calf. Thanks to Beeche Brahmans, Costa Rica, for letting me use their photo as a reference.

(Click on photos to enlarge).

The Sounds of Costa Rica

We have been experiencing very strong trade winds lately. It is quite dry, with no rain since October. This is normal .. we are in the dry season (also the tourist season). The bougainvillea never stops blooming, no matter what time of year. Some trees have dropped all their leaves with the drought, not unlike trees dropping their leaves in the fall in northern climes.

Our mango tree is flowering and has some small fruit on it. Our neighbour's mango tree, on the other hand, is loaded with ready to pick fruit. Our mango tree is about a month behind.

With the strong winds come all sorts of sounds. The winds blowing through the palm trees, which bend easily. The sound of dead palm leaves falling to the ground ... and you don't want to be underneath one when it falls - the part that was attached to the tree is really heavy.

I can hear our neighbour's wind chimes sending notes down the hill to us. There is a constant rustling from flowers, trees, hedges, tropical plants.

This is a good time of year for hanging laundry out on the line ... it dries in no time and I can hear the sound of clothes flapping in the wind.

Quite frequently, a very strong wind pushes through and our wooden wind chime really sings a song. I have my hanging orchids secured with locking clips so they can't blow away. All the orchids need to be checked daily to make sure they haven't dried out from the strong winds. Here is one of my phals still in bloom and swinging happily in the tropical breezes (winds!).

 

 

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