May 31, 2020 - Nine Years in Costa Rica!

From this (2007) in Cloverdale, British Columbia, Canada:

To this (2011) - Playa Doña Ana, Alajuela, Costa Rica:

Which location would you choose?

On May 31, 2011, we arrived in Costa Rica. I was working on this crossword puzzle on the airplane and kept it as a souvenir.

We have lived here for nine years and have never regretted our decision to move to Costa Rica. We’ve made lots of friends, both Costa Rican and expats from all over the world. Everything is so good - the weather, the Costa Ricans, the beauty of the countryside - my list would be endless.

To move to a foreign country sight unseen is a challenge, but a good one. We have learned so much - although our Spanish is, shall we say, una pequeña cantidad de español. But we try which is what counts. We did a lot of on line research once we decided to take this leap in life. And joined many, many expat groups. We recently received our permanent residency status.

Don’t live your life in a rut!

Cabbage Rolls, Rainbows, Haircuts and COVID-19 - Costa Rica

Here is an update on the coronavirus in Costa Rica as of Saturday, May 23, 2020, https://ticotimes.net/2020/05/23/coronavirus-in-costa-rica-7-new-cases-7-more-recoveries.

We are still on driving restrictions. We cannot drive on Fridays or Sundays (determined by the last numeral on our vehicle’s licence plate). No car travel at all between 10:00 pm and 5:00 am during the week and between 7:00 pm to 5:00 am on the weekends. The repercussions of not following these restrictions can be severe - heavy fines and removal of your licence plates to name two. Beaches have opened but only between the hours of 5:00 am to 8:00 am - I believe this is primarily for the benefit of surfers (world class) - and of course with everyone following the usual protocols for keeping distance, etc.

A well known landmark restaurant in Atenas - Kay’s Café Pequeña Polonia (previously Kay’s Gringo Postres) - has reopened with limited hours and takeaway. They have a free lending library. Since we needed new reading material and were craving cabbage rolls, I put in an order and we drove there last week and picked them up, plus some new books. One order had dill sauce and the other tomato sauce and the orders included mashed potatoes, pickled beets, and cucumbers and onions. The portions are really large (two rolls each) so we got four meals out of the one order. Here’s the dill sauce version:

It’s really important right now to support all your local businesses. This is a very difficult time for them and many have closed, some permanently. 

We haven’t been going to barbers or beauty parlours and Lance really needed a head shave. He has a set of clippers so I volunteered to do the deed. Turns out I’m pretty good at it.

Tools of my trade:

Here’s Lance ready for the clippers and pretty relaxed.

The one thing I stupidly did not do was take an “after” photo - but the buzz cut came out so well that Lance has said I can do it again.

We found face masks at Compre Bien in Grecia. This one is washable and made here in Costa Rica. We are using them when in shops or around groups of people.

We saw a double rainbow from our house the other day - very rare. Isn’t that tree amazing? It’s the Guanacaste tree I mentioned in a recent post and it’s absolutely enormous.

I have a couple of orchids blooming:

So that’s about what is going on with us during this awful virus time. We are happy to be in this little country. Costa Rica is doing an excellent job of controlling, tracking and treating. Citizens are taking the recommendations and restrictions seriously for the most part.

Kermit is wearing his mask. Are you?

Eyes on Costa Rica and Weather Records - April 2020

During April, visits to this blog were received from the following 16 countries:

At some time in April, the total number of visits to this blog since November 2012 exceeded a threshold of 40,000. These visits came from over 4000 different towns, cities and other places throughout the world including over 1900 places in the USA and over 500 places in Canada.

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

The rainy or "green" season has begun. For the first three months of the year and until April 12^th there were only 3 days with measurable rain. During the remaining part of the month, there were 10 days.

There is a very large Guanacaste tree across the property from our yard. During the dry season, it loses all its leaves:

Then, the leaves start to come back as they did towards the end of April this year:

Now (early May), it is in full bloom:

The Guanacaste tree is the national tree of Costa Rica.

We Now Have Permanent Residency in Costa Rica

Just over a year ago, we finally applied for permanent residency status. We could have done it after living here for three years with legal residency - either pensionado, rentista or investor. We had pensionado status. We were just lazy in getting it started.

As is our custom, we always use a lawyer for anything relating to our residency and we have always used Romulo Pacheco at the Association of Residents of Costa Rica (ARCR). It was very easy - we initially met with Romulo, signed some documents, paid all the necessary fees then went home and let his staff deal with everything. Just over a year later, we were contacted by ARCR -  both of us had been approved. An appointment was set up to meet with one of the legal staff and he took us to the main post office in San José. This is where the last of the processing was completed. A small fee paid for the actual cedulas (ID cards), stamping of documents, photos taken and so on and we were done!

On April 27 of this year, we picked up our new cards.

Why have permanent residency? Here are some reasons:

•  you only have to be in Costa Rica one day a year to maintain this residency
•  you can now work in Costa Rica
•  you can own a company and receive income from it 
•  renewing your status is easy compared to renewing temporary status (not as much paperwork involved and not as expensive)

But I think the best reason is that it demonstrates a commitment to this country that so graciously permits us to live here.

Coronavirus, Gallo Pinto and Costa Rica

We are now under new driving restrictions, curfew hours and so on - a relaxation of the stricter requirements imposed during Semana Santa (Easter Week). This Tico Times article explains the latest requirements to help the country deal with COVID-19.

Another Tico Times article from today has the current information on the coronavirus stats in this country. 

We cannot drive on Fridays and Sundays but this is no real hardship (our licence plates end in 9). We can attend dental and doctor appointments, go to drug stores, the hospital/clinics and grocery stores. Yesterday I had a dental appointment in the late afternoon. Lance was waiting for me in our car - he brings a book to read. If the appointment is going to be a long one, he drops me off and I take a taxi home. As we pulled away from the curb after my appointment, we realized we had a flat front tire. Curses.

I went off to the parada de taxi (taxi stand) not far from us to see if one of the drivers would change the tire for us. They do this all the time. One driver agreed to help after he checked with his dispatcher. Meanwhile, Lance was doing just fine as two young men had already volunteered to change the tire. This is Costa Rica - somebody is always ready with a helping hand. I’ve had a flat tire when on my own and experienced the same thing.

They observed that the spare was a bit soft and needed air and to drive to a gas station right away to get that done. One of them advised us to buy a stronger jack. We were ready to go in ten minutes! Nobody would take any payment and when we persisted, were told to give it to the taxi driver as he may have missed a fare helping us out.

We decided to buy two new tires and went to our local tire shop today. We had bought two tires from them a year and a half ago and the two that needed replacing came with the car when we bought it. We considered this an essential trip. The shop was practicing the recommended precautions - hand gel, face coverings, keep your distance. They had fresh, strong, hot coffee too!

Back home, I decided to make gallo pinto - Costa Rica’s famed rice and beans - a national dish. It is called gallo pinto (spotted rooster) because the black beans and white rice resemble the speckled appearance of a rooster. I turned to my trusty Costa Rican cookbook:

I see that I bought it in August, 2011 - a couple of months after we moved here.

Here’s part of  the recipe:

I used ghee (clarified butter) and achiote when sautéing the bell pepper, onion, and garlic. I bought the achiote from a vendor at our Grecia feria (farmers’ market) and the ghee is a Costa Rican product.

I cooked the rice in our rice cooker. For the black beans, I cheated a bit and bought canned:

The brand name Goya is an interesting one. I see their products here in Costa Rica and have no hesitation in purchasing them.

Here is my final version of gallo pinto. I love cilantro so used lots of it. Lance was my taste tester and pronounced my pinto “very good”. That’s high praise because he is a fan of gallo and rates every restaurant that serves it. So now we have a delicious addition to our morning eggs.

Covid-19, Costa Rica - Update

After not being able to drive our vehicle since Monday, April 6, because of Covid-19 control measures during Semana Santa (Holy Week/Easter), today we had no restrictions except a curfew of 5:00 pm. Restrictive days are based on the last number of our placa (licence plate).

So we decided to take advantage of PriceSmart’s (Latin America’s version of Costco) seniors only hours - 7:30 am to 8:30 am. We left home at 7:00 am and were at the Alajuela PriceSmart by 7:30 am. A very quick drive with minimal traffic. It was rather strange to see the almost empty roads. 

Hardly any vehicles in PriceSmart’s parking lot and no wait at all to get in. Carts are cleaned on entry and hand gel was available at the door. Staff were all wearing gloves and masks. This was the best shopping we’ve ever experienced at this store - no crowds at all (and they can be mega) - maybe six or so other senior shoppers. We breezed through our shopping list in no time. The usual - kitty litter, frozen berries, a big block of aged cheddar, mozzarella balls, olive oil, razor blades, a BBQ chicken, etc. - items that are sometimes hard to find in our usual groceries. Kitty litter is very pricy here and PriceSmart has the best price and it’s in bulk packaging so lasts a while. We also treated ourselves to a large box of Ferreo Rocher chocolates.

Checkout staff were protected behind plexiglass and wearing gloves and masks. We keep hand wipes in our vehicle so once we’ve loaded up our stash, we wipe down our hands. We have cleaning methods in place once we get home.

Starting tomorrow, the vehicle control measures have relaxed a bit until the end of the month. We can now drive from Monday, April 13 to Thursday, April 16, and also on Saturday, April 18. This continues until the end of April. Curfew is now from 7:00 pm to 5:00 am. We had cancelled dentist and doctor visits at the beginning of April. Today my dentist emailed me and said he can see me tomorrow so I took that appointment. Beaches, churches, parks, public gatherings, etc., are still off limits and being strictly enforced. Borders are closed.

Here is recent information from the Tico Times regarding our novel coronavirus figures: https://ticotimes.net/2020/04/11/costa-rica-confirms-health-measures-and-vehicular-restrictions-to-continue-all-month-coronavirus.

Totally unrelated to the virus and just to take a break from it all, here is a photo of one of my orchids presently flowering. It is of the Brassia genus and the flowers resemble spiders! It’s not the best of photos but the wind was blowing the very large basket around.

Eyes on Costa Rica and Weather Records - March 2020 / Covid-19

During March, visits to this blog were received from the following 19 countries:

There were no new countries and the overall total since November 2012 remains at 129 countries. 

Interestingly, the number of countries from which visits were received in March of last year was only 13. So, Covid-19 seems not to have deterred interest despite the fact that Costa Rican borders are totally blocked to the entry of people from foreign countries until at least April 30th.

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

The dry season continued with marginally higher average temperatures than February and no rain (at least none in our locale). There was one day with a record high for the year: 94°F (34.4°C). But, on most days, the high was below 90°F (32.2°C). On 16 of those days, the measured high was 88°F (31.1°C).

With regard to Covid-19 it may (or may not) be noteworthy that at this time of year the season is the "dry season". There is little or no rain in many parts of the country and it is not "cool" or "cold" as in many northern climes. Except for hot, humid temperatures on the coasts, the temperatures are comfortable or at least tolerable from a North American perspective (Canada or the USA).

With regard to Covid-19, it will be interesting to see whether tropical climates like that in Costa Rica mitigate the dangers. At the present time, on a per capita basis, Costa Rica in one aspect can seem to be doing significantly better than Canada or the USA. The population of Costa Rica (CR) is just over 5 million. That of Canada is about 7.4 x CR and that of the USA is about 65 x CR. From March 1 (the first case) and as of April 7, the Costa Rican Ministry of Health reported 483 confirmed cases with 2 fatalities, 24 recoveries, and 5,042 cases testing negative. Since March 26 and 27 when the number of new cases per day peaked at 30 on each day, the number of reported cases has been on a generally downward curve.

However, there is another aspect. Apart from being on a downward curve at the present time, the number of Covid tests so far in Costa Rica seems to be disproportionately lower than that in Canada and the USA. Roughly 0.1% of the population in Costa Rica has been tested. In Canada, the number appears to be close to 0.9%. In the USA the number appears to be just over 0.5%. If Costa Rica catches up with the number of tests relative to its population size, then its comparison with Canada and the USA may change significantly. That is, unless the tropical climate makes a difference.