First Year of Owning a Vehicle in Costa Rica - Vehicle Inspection

In Costa Rica, vehicle inspection is handled by a government agency generally referred to as "Riteve". As it seems, the inspection procedure turns out to be far more rigorous than we ever encountered in Canada. I expect the same is true for the U.S. For older vehicles, inspection can be an annual event.

The procedure involves not only checking exhaust emissions, tire tread wear, break lining wear, headlight alignment, do the blinkers work, but also checking under the hood, under the body, can the horn actually "honk", etc. What was different, at least compared to our past experience in Canada, was a bone rattling dynamic testing of the brakes.

The procedure is a step by step drive through procedure and you do the driving. You are expected to follow instructions in a very noisy environment. Unless you are absolutely fluent in Spanish or luckily get a Riteve technician who is fluent in English then you could have a problem. Normally, the whole procedure should take about 15 to 20 minutes.

In the absence of fluency, then for a nominal fee you should consider hiring a local mechanic to take your vehicle to Riteve, do the drive through, and report back to you on any deficiencies found by Riteve. Riteve does provide a report card (in Spanish). 

In December 2017, we purchased a used low mileage 2006 Subaru Forrester. Part of our due diligence dictated that we confirm it had passed on its last due date (and it had). The next due date was recent. We went online to Riteve and got an appointment. This was easily done (in English) HERE.

We FAILED! Riteve had four observations:

(1) Rear tires with mild tread wear but not requiring attention at the present time (not serious).

(2) One clouded headlight cover burned by the sun but not requiring attention at the present time (not serious).

(3) A "sunscreen adhesive" on the rear window but not requiring attention at the present time (not serious).

(4) One low beam headlight considered to be too low - a serious problem ("grave" in Spanish). FAILURE - NEEDS FIXING!

The "sunscreen adhesive" was actually a small "Baby On Board" sticker applied by the previous owner. We could easily scrape it off but decided to leave it in place. What bad guys would attack a vehicle if they thought a baby was on board? Possibly a naive thought - and not necessarily a good message for first responders.

We were given an initial three week deadline to return to Riteve and show that the low beam headlight problem had been fixed. We did so, but not before going through some hoops. 

First, we unsuccessfully looked for any advertised local service which could provide headlight alignment. Second, we turned to Facebook only to be advised by many that any competent mechanic could do the job. Not knowing who "any competent mechanic" might be, we went to an auto repair shop which had previously fixed a problem we had with vehicle air conditioning. They were very competent but not in the business of aligning headlights. They directed us to a shop which specialized in automotive electrical systems. While busy with other work, one person in that shop stepped aside, quickly checked the alignment of both headlights, fixed the one which was misaligned - and declined to accept any payment for the service - Taller Electromecánico y Baterías Bull.

We returned to Riteve and were cleared almost immediately when we got to the headlight testing station. But our exit was delayed because there were vehicles in the line ahead of us which seemed to be having some issues.

Eyes on Costa Rica - Update / October 12, 2018

Visits to this blog have now been recorded from 3740 towns, cities and other places located in 124 countries throughout the world. The most recent countries are Oman in Western Asia, Equatorial Guinea in Africa, and Zambia, also in Africa. Each is highlighted on the map below. While the vast majority of visits come from Canada, the U.S. and Costa Rica itself, it is clear that people from many other countries and many other places have their eyes on Costa Rica.

On the map, red dots (many of which are buried under other red dots) indicate places from where visits have occurred since September 29, 2016. Visits recorded before that date are not shown on the map.

In any given month, the number of countries from which visits to this blog are received is highly variable. The following chart identifies countries for the month of September 2018.

My video of "Landing at Juan Santamaría Airport, Costa Rica" has continued to attract interest not only through this blog where the video was first posted on August 26, 2017 but also directly through YouTube independently of the posting. In the first five to six months after the posting, the video was viewed about 1100 times. That number has now climbed to over 2590 views.

September Weather, 2018

A weather summary for the month of September in Hacienda El Paseo/Grecia during the period from the beginning of April to the end of September appears below.

In Costa Rica, September falls in the middle of the rainy or "green" season and is generally marked by more days with rain and lower daily high temperatures. On rainy days, at least in the area where we live, a day often (but not always) begins with a sunny morning. Around 11 am to 1 pm clouds begin to drift in holding the high temperature down. Then the rain starts and will typically continue for two or three hours.

The number of rainy days in September this year was the most we have encountered in any single month since moving to Hacienda El Paseo. Even though we were not here during earlier months (January, February, March), it is safe to say that there was no month which would have had more rainy days than September. The earlier months were all in the Costa Rican “dry” season.

The current rainy or green season should continue until late November or early December. Then begins the next dry season.

Kyo Gallery, Arlington, Virginia, U.S.A.

My cattle and equine art work is now represented by Kyo Gallery, Arlington,Virginia. They have an actual gallery and also promote artists virtually, which is where I am situated.

You can see my work here and also explore around looking at other artists’ work. 

I also have an art web site.

In the meantime, here’s a sample of my work:

Independence Day, Grecia, Costa Rica

Today, September 15, 2018, marks 197 years of independence from Spain for Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Savador and Honduras. It is an official national holiday, with festivities beginning on September 14th all over Costa Rica. You can read everything about this holiday on Costa Rica Guides.

When we lived in Atenas, we usually went to the celebrations. Now that we live in Grecia, we decided to see what this town has to offer in the way of celebrations. It was a perfect day for being in town and the park. First we had breakfast at Cafe Delicias. For a little under 10,000 colones total, we both had large breakfasts, including fruit drinks. Lance’s selection ended with a warm piece of french style toast, with whipping cream on top and a side of strawberries. He generously shared it with me. Highly recommend Cafe Delicias.

Then we walked over to the park and the festivities had already started. We listened to a couple of speeches, then watched the start of the parade arriving. First came the police cars and ambulances, with sirens blaring. Next up were the Grecia bomberos (fire department), some sports teams, a school - it was getting hot in the sun so we decided to head back to our car. We walked along the crowded parade route and saw the many school bands lined up waiting to go. I took some photos and here they are.

The setup for the VIP’s, where speeches were given:

Chairs decorated in Costa Rican colours:


The bomberos:

Crowds in front of the church:



I think this was a bank’s mascot:

Many, many school bands and dance groups:

How cute is this kid - I don’t know if they were supposed to be elves or ... ? Anyway, they danced and marched.

Weather for the month of August, 2018

A weather summary for the month of August in Hacienda El Paseo/Grecia during the period from the beginning of April to the end of August appears below.

There is not much to observe. Where we live, daytime high temperatures over about 80°F (26.7°C) are usually accompanied by relatively low humidities. Often, the result is a comfortable "feels like" temperature which is less than the actual air temperature. This was the case on the one day in August when the temperature reached 90°F (32.2°C).

In contrast, overnight lows which tend to occur around the time of sunrise are typically accompanied by relatively high humidities. The result as in the case of 62°F (16.7°C) on one August day can be very chilly and feel colder than it actually is - but at worst dictates nothing more than a warm sweater or jacket.

There were fewer days with measurable rainfall in August than in July, but the total amount in August was greater. The final week was characterized by clouds, overcast and drizzling rain on several days - reminiscent of typical winter days in Vancouver, Canada from where we came.

Car Wash and Breakfast

Last weekend, we took our vehicle to autolavado El Rápido for cleaning and detailing. They do a very good job - takes about 45 minutes. Everything is scrubbed inside and out - even the tires were black and shiny. They gave us  this little trash bag for the car:

El Rápido is just down the road from the Tribunales de Justica (Courts of Justice):

Then it was time for breakfast. We headed for Arte Latte - one of the few restaurants here that are open early for breakfast, except for the sodas. This is a really nice place to have a meal or one of their specialty coffees.

I ordered an omelette and a fresh fruit drink:

Our vehicle was parked on one of the streets next to Grecia’s red metal church, Nuestra Senora de la Mercedes:

A really nice park surrounds the church so we ambled around it:

The park is well used. Family and friends meet there, sit on the benches, talk, people watch. It’s much larger then the Atenas park.