Saturday Morning in Atenas

This is Semana Santa (Easter Week) in Costa Rica and stores were closed on Thursday afternoon and Good Friday. Atenas is a "dry" canton on Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Monday so stocking up ahead of time is recommended.

We went into Atenas this morning to have breakfast. The mercados were open, as well as the Central Market, but our usual breakfast spots were closed. However, Las Tres Hermanas (The Three Sisters) was open. This is a small soda in the central market, across from the taxi stands.

Every time we eat there, I think, "This is the real Costa Rica". For a total of 4,000 colones ($8.00 CAD), we had two plates heaped with food plus two fruit drinks. They have an array of choices laid out, and you just ask for what you want. I used to have to point, but now I can almost ask for everything in Spanish. Today I chose a cas drink, black beans, pork with a yummy gravy, corn tortillas, a cauliflower, carrot and green bean salad and a piece of the local white cheese, browned in a pan the way I like it. This food will hold a body together right through until tomorrow.

It was just great sitting there with lovely, warm breezes blowing in through the open doors, watching the activity outside in our little town and really feeling that we are a part of this community.

After breakfast, we did a bit of grocery shopping in El Canario, where I do most of my grocery shopping and then back home via taxi. El Canario (The Canary) is right beside the taxi stands. There's a butcher counter at the back ... this is where I am learning some useful Spanish. They are so cheerful and laugh at my mistakes, then help me with the right words.

 

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Eyes on Costa Rica - Blog on My Blog

It is interesting to track the places where people are who visit my blog. I expect many are planning a vacation or a move to Costa Rica, or are friends and acquaintances curious about how we are doing.

Since last November when I started keeping track, there have been “visits” from 45 different countries. The majority have come from Canada, the United States, and Costa Rica. But, a respectable number have come from Europe and Asia.

The Asian countries include Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Malaysia, the Philippines, the Russian Federation (partly Asian), Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates.

The following is tongue-in-cheek:

Now, back to the United States. So far, there have been visits from many different places in 41 states, and one visit from “Washington / District of Columbia”. The visit from Washington was strange. Lance happened to be online at the time. Notations of individual page views were showing up on the computer screen in rapid sequence - almost as if each page was being analyzed electronically - but not read by a real person.

My conspiracy theory: Maybe there are clandestine powers who monitor Internet traffic and get curious when they detect traffic going from a blog like my own, or any other blog, to places around the world which include places like “Phnom Penh / Cambodia”, “Taoyuan / China”, “Moscow City / Russia”, “Dubai / United Arab Emirates”, etc. The powers that be might wonder what common interest all these people have to attract them to my blog. Does their interest pose a threat? Or, is their interest benign? Intelligence Analyst strategy: have a computer do a forensic analysis of the blog’s content. If the computer finds no red flags, then that’s the end of the matter. Otherwise, have a real person look at the blog page by page - spending a lot more time on each page than the time which was spent on the strange visit from Washington, D.C.

_________________________

Life in Costa Rica can be interesting on many levels.

 

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Sunset Tonight

The sun sets fast in the tropics. This picture was taken at about 6:15 pm our time and now it is almost totally dark.

 

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A Dumb Day

It all started out rather well - we were going into Atenas to have breakfast, use the ATM, and pick up a few groceries. Also, this weekend a fiesta is going on in Atenas to benefit the Hogar de Ancianos (old folks home). I was planning on participating in the art show in the park but dropped out because the two paintings I was going to display are simply not finished to my satisfaction and I cannot display something for sale that is incomplete and that I am not happy with.

Mario, one of our taxi drivers, picked us up and dropped us off at the Banco de Costa Rica, where I discovered I did not have my bank card. Called Mario and he drove us back home, I picked up my bank card, and we were delivered once again to BCR.

Then we went to El Balcón del Café y Bistro (Balcony Cafe and Bistro) - I couldn't find a web page but you can read terrific reviews on Trip Advisor. I ordered the Americano breakfast (because it comes with a big plate of fresh fruit and other yummies) and Lance ordered the Tico breakfast. We have had lunch here too and I remember the soup was delicious. There didn't seem to be much going on in the park at this time, so we got our groceries and taxied home ....

... where I found out I was missing my cell phone. Lance called my cell number and Mario answered! I had left my cell in his taxi. Not too long later, he drove up to our house with my cell and he did not want to accept any colones but I finally managed to pay him. After all, he was burning up gas coming to our house.

I once left my camera in his taxi, and he returned it the next day. He must think I am kind of ditzy. I was certainly ditzy today. On the taxi ride home, I saw an animal transport truck with two oxen in it and a carreta (ox cart), so I think we probably missed out on the festivities. But by the time we got home, I didn't want to go back into town and do anything else.

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Old Cats, Old Dogs, Old Shoes

Well, we really don't know how old Scruffy is but he behaves like a mature dog. Genny is definitely old and I think those shoes are also.

Scruffy spreads his time between all the neighbors. Genny was having her afternoon nap.

 

 

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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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How I Spent My Sunday Afternoon

 

 

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