Simple Things I Took For Granted in the U.S.

Some people would say I think too much. That might be true.

Today I've been thinking about how different life is without a few simple things -- luxuries, really -- that I never fully appreciated when they were part of the fabric of my everyday life. Things like...

Bathtubs. In a little more than a week, it will be a full five months since I’ve had a bath. True, I’ve taken lots and lots of deliciously hot showers here in Costa Rica. It is also true that before coming here I was far more likely to choose a quick shower over a long soak in my fancy jetted tub. All that is about to change – at least for the three or four months we’ll be back in Arizona, at any rate.

Comfy Sofas. For reasons I don’t understand, upholstered furniture here is hard. Really hard. While that firmness may be better for one’s musculoskeletal system, it’s impossible to kick back and relax on it.

Touchy-feely Shopping. It's a fact. U.S. gringos have learned the joys of self-service shopping. We like to walk down the aisle and browse at features, color, texture, price, unbothered by helpful employees, because, let's face it, they're usually not even there when you need them. While there are plenty of stores in Costa Rica where you can touch and feel at your own leisure - grocery, clothing and fabric stores, for example - forget that kind of shopping in pharmacies and hardware stores, where the products are typically maintained on shelves behind a service counter. Want aspirin? Just ask. Want #10 wood screws. Just ask. That takes a bit of getting used to.

A local pulperia (corner store)

Broad Product Choices (and at Competitive Prices). Another fact is that U.S. gringos have learned to expect choices. Lots and lots of choices. And truth be told, I'm not sure that touchy-feely shopping is all that important here because product choices are very limited compared to the U.S. About that aspirin? Your choice is probably limited to one or two brands, and it’s likely that the store you’re at may only offer one of them. Same with certain specialty products, like a dehumidifier. We looked for one when our granddaughter was visiting and found only two stores offering them – both in San Jose. The price was twice the cost of what it sells for in the U.S. because, in addition to shipping and import duties, which can add from 30% to 75% to the price of imported goods, they simply don't sell as many here. And here, like anywhere else, sales volume has a direct correlation to price.

The ferretería (hardware store) we pass on the way to el centro.

Big Box Stores. The simple truth is I miss Costco, Home Depot, Lowes -- and even Walmart. 'nough said.


I could go on, but the point is clear. I have no choice but to plead guilty to taking for granted many basic elements of life in the U.S. -- elements that I now know are not widespread beyond our borders. Fortunately, it's only a matter of time before the new ways will become second-nature and the old will seem as foreign as these things feel right now.

For the short term, though, I'm focused on my homecoming plan. Right after a long, leisurely bath, I plan to stretch out on the sofa while I watch the 10 o'clock news. Then in the morning, I’ll be off to Costco, Home Depot, Lowes -- and dare I say it? -- Walmart!

Pura Vida

Wrapping Up Lose Ends

Winged Visitors

We've started hanging plaintains on the clothesline on our balcony for the birds & butterflies and have been rewarded with some amazing visitors.




While the blue-grey tanagers are a bit skittish and rarely pose for pictures, the moths and butterflies are quite the opposite. When they find a good food source, they settle in and sometimes stay for hours - oblivious to camera flashes and movement around them.



The wings on the Caligo (owl) eurilochus butterfly below measure a good 4" from top to bottom and has a wingspan that approaches 7"!

Clearly, they must love plantains almost as much as I do!





Farewells at the Feria



Today we made our last trip to the feria before we leave for the States. As we made our rounds, we said goodbye to the vendors who have come to think of us part of their regular Saturday morning clientèle.

There's the college student who, along with her mother & brother, sells chicken. She studies English in Alajuela and next year plans to start at the university. She knows our order by heart - 1 kilo of bonless skinless chicken breassts. Today we surprised her by taking home a whole chicken. It is hot soup weather, after all!

Then there is the young married couple from whom we usually buy papaya and a few vegetables. On this particular morning, he was at his post in the produce booth, while she offered some of her homemade pastries in another. She told us today that they lived in New Jersey for about 10 years. "The U.S. is nice, but our country is our country," she explained with an apologetic shrug. We bought a pineapple braid from her and promised to get with them when we return so that her husband and mi esponso can share stories about fishing off the coast of New Jersey.

Last, but far from least, there's the butcher from whom we buy our beef products. He wears a hook prosthesis on one arm - we presume the result of an unfortunate meat-cutting accident. His son works in the business with him. Neither of them speak a lick of English, but they both seem to look forward to seeing us each week, always greeting us with a big smile and warm welcome. When we told him we were leaving for a few months, he tossed a package of spicy chorizo in with our order and said, "de la feria." As always, he also dropped two small bags of homemade candy into to the bag, as well.

We'll miss our Saturday morning routine while we're away. We'll miss the papaya and pinaapple and plantains. But we'll also miss the people who have welcomed us into their community and made us feel right at home.

Patron Saint Fiesta



This is also the weekend during which Palmares celebrates its patron saint with a street fair. Actually, the fiesta opened last Sunday, but the activities will kick into high-gear today.




Yesterday we ate lunch (a delicious gallo de picodillo) in the church social hall. Today we're headed back to try the lomo relleno (stuffed pork loin), which one of the volunteers was proud to show us while we were there. Full from our picodillo, we promised to return to try it luego.



This promises to be a busy, but fun week. We decided this morning to take one more trip to San Jose before heading home. Then there is one more doctor's visit to review the results of our routine bloodwork, prescriptions to fill, about a dozen little errands to run, and, of course, friends to say goodbye to. With luck, there will also be time for at least one more message from Costa Rica.

Pura Vida

The Flip Side of the Coin

As we prepare to leave Costa Rica for a few months to arrange for a long-term relocation to this beautiful country, it occurs to me that this would be a good time to introduce a little counter-balance to the glowing praise we have so generously dished out.

Over the past months, I have formed the opinion that the only thing backward about Costa Rica is the infrastructure. Certainly the people are anything but backwards!

For the most part, Ticos are well-educated, with a 95.9% literacy rate. They benefit from a constitution that affords them freedoms and protections very similar to those we enjoy in the U.S. And they understand those rights – especially as they pertain to employment, healthcare, land ownership, and renter/landlord relationships. They understand and utilize as many of the current high-tech gadgets they can afford. Some own luxury appliances like dishwashers and refrigerators with ice-machines.

They understand the importance of learning English. Many high-school students enroll in multi-lingual studies. Parents want their little ones to learn English early. Grade-school children show off their fledgling English skills as we pass them on the street or in the grocery store or at the feria. Adults enroll in English classes. And almost everyone who speaks even a little English clutches every opportunity to practice!

Ticos also recognize the opportunities that tourism presents to them personally and to the country's economy. I've probably met more people enrolled in tourism programs at the University of Costa Rica than any other course of study.

Costa Ricans are not a backward people, for sure. The infrastructure is quite another matter.

I have spoken lightly of pot holes and crumbling sidewalks. These are, indeed, a problem both for safety and continued economic progress.

As in the States, bridges are aging and in a mountainous country, riddled with deep gorges that carry the runoff from tropical rains to the ocean, bridge failures can be both tragic and economically problematic. Modern services like city water, electricity, and Internet waft on and off seemingly at will. At home, keeping candles and a few gallons of water on hand can get one through the outages easily enough, but I can only imagine the challenges that businesses face – especially small businesses.



The battle of the bugs must be fought every single day. I know that spiders are not technically “bugs” but to me if it’s creepy and crawly it bugs me! So I’ll lump them all together for purposes of this discussion.

In case you didn't already know it, let me tell you... spiders are very industrious creatures. Webs form just about everywhere over night. I try to maintain a live and let live attitude, reminding myself that they make dinner out of the other creepy crawlies. But if they cross my threshold, they’re gonners! And I’ve killed my fair share.

Ants are a bigger problem. Not just because they don’t respect the three-second rule (you know, the one that says that if a cookie hits the floor and is retrieved in 3 second, it’s not really dirty ;)

Seriously, every crumb, drip or splash has to be cleaned up immediately, because failure to do so will result in a near-instantaneous convergence of armies of several different species of ants. And these guys bite!

As it turns out, I have a sensitivity to one or more of the ant species that share our apartment. And, it also turns out, that some of the bites I had attributed to mosquitoes and/or spiders were in fact from ants. I saw the proof with my own eyes yesterday. Today I have 2-inch welts around tiny red scabs where they took their bites.

On a more serious note, crime is a real and growing problem. Yesterday, President Obama included Costa Rica in the black list of countries with a serious drug trafficking problem. Almost daily, I read reports and complaints from expats; some are just plain worried, other downright afraid, some have become victims of burglaries at one time or another. Every once in a while the papers carry stories about foreigners who have been murdered. Most of the offenses are drug related.

Like in the U.S., anyone here can become a victim of crime. Here, like there, few places remain where one can walk down the street at night without keeping a watchful eye out for suspicious activity. And in both countries there are places where a mid-afternoon stroll might be likened to a game of Russian roulette.

So it would seem that the old real estate adage – location, location, location – is as important here as it is back in the States.

While towns like Palmares, Zarcero, and Sarchi are not immune from crime, falling victim of anything more than petty theft in one of these towns would be a rare exception. By contrast, gringos who choose to live in the capital city of San Jose or in beach communities or in upscale, gates gringo enclaves face very real safety issues on a daily basis.

Presidenta Laura Chinchilla appears to be taking the problem seriously. It remains to be seen, however, if she can mobilize the rest of the government to enact solutions.


So why choose to live here, many would surely ask? Good question. One that I have asked myself dozens of time. Perhaps the answer is because we can.

We can live here because we have the willingness to live with spiders, ants and other annoying creatures.

We can live here because we can prepare ourselves for those times when modern conveniences fail.

We can live here because we don’t mind (and actually prefer) using public transportation, relieving us of the stress of driving with crazy drivers on insane roads.

We can live here because we have the Internet (most of the time) and can maintain contact with the people we love at home.

We can live here because we can live in a small, quiet, relatively safe town with Tico neighbors who have welcomed us as part of their community -- neighbors who keep a watchful eye for us and do their part to ensure our safety and happiness.

We can live here because here we -- like everyone else, no matter how rich or poor -- have access to good medical care...unlike in the United States.

And most importantly, we want to live here because we have the psychological makeup that makes us love how the experience has opened our eyes and our hearts to new people and experiences.

Pura Vida

Independence Day Celebration

For nearly 300 years, the countries that now comprise Central America were Spanish colonies. To the frustration of the Conquistadors who occupied the region, the people of Costa Rica proved unwilling subjects. While the indigenous people of Costa Rica suffered great losses both in battle and from diseases brought by their invaders, the roots of pacifism run deep in these proud people, who often simply retreated into the forest rather than become slaves.

In 1821, Costa Rica was part of the Kingdom of Guatemala, along with Nicaragua and the rest of Central America. On September 15th of that year, Spain relinquished its hold on the region and granted the entire kingdom independence. Without roads connecting the colonies, the government in Guatemala dispatched runners with torches to carry the news to the outlying regions. It took a full month for the runners to traverse the dense terrain and finally reach Cartago, the territorial capital of Costa Rica at the time.

Ironically, although the country's independence is roundly celebrated these days, the news was met with little more than a shrug back in 1821, primarily because Costa Ricans never accepted subugation in the first place!

Now, almost two hundred years later, the country’s independence is celebrated with a re-enactment of the events of 1821. Torch runners set off from Guatemala for Costa Rica and the other Central Americans countries who share the same Independence Day. As the torch runners reach critical road junctions, they are met by other runners, whose torches are lit by flames carried from the original torch. And so it continues until every school in every canton of every province has received a torch runner honoring the country’s independence. The first runner dispatched from Guatemala to Costa Rica will continue his journey until he reaches Cartago, where the torch will be received by Presidenta Laura Chinchilla.

Concurrent to the torch running that commemorates the 1821 dispatch, the celebration gets an early kick-off with concerts in the park and lots of flag waving.

We stumbled upon our first encounter with one of these concerts this past week when we crossed through the park en route to the bank. The picture above is of a high-school (collegio) girl singing on the bandstand in the center of Parque Central. What a joy she was to hear - certainly would be a contender on the Costa Rican versions of America's Got Talent or American Idol! With many errands yet to be run, we couldn't linger to watch the performances that followed, but we did get a snapshot of these girls waiting their turn to perform.



On the eve of Independence Day, Ticos will gather in the park to sing the country’s national anthem. Then early on September 15h (we’ve heard that it starts at 5:30 a.m.!), school children, dressed in traditional garb and carrying Costa Rica’s tri-color flag will parade through town, accompanied by marching bands.

[As I write this post, the high school band can be heard rehearsing for the event right across the street from our apartment.]

This year will be our first opportunity to witness and take part in the celebration. One thing we have learned in our nearly five months in Costa Rica, is that Ticos know how to throw a good party. Expect more reports as the festivities unfold.


Pura Vida

Bimbo Bread

I'm thinking the Bimbo Bread people have the whole thing figured out pretty accurately.

To be sure, Bimbo Bread is clearly a staple here in Costa Rica. And they are major sponsors of the all-important fútbol team - a fact that no doubt earns the company extra points in every Tico heart.

I read about Bimbo Bread online a while back. An expat was asking where to buy good bread -- not Bimbo Bread, he emphasized. I naively assumed he intentionally chose his words to communicate his opinion that "smart folks" don't willingly buy pasty white bread.

Imagine our surprise to learn upon arrival that the biggest bread company in the country markets "Bimbo" brand bread products. According to Wikipedia, Grupo Bimbo "biggest Mexican food corporation and the largest bakery in the world[2] with brands in Latin America, Europe, China, United States, Canada and Puerto Rico." Apparently, its holdings include Entenman's and Thomas, as well as other products we know and love back in the States.

Maybe so, but apparently our food preferences comprise a small minority here. Bimbo doesn't seem to offer a true whole grain bread in the Costa Rica supermarkets, leaving us to find alternatives to the Costa Rica version of Wonder Bread - and the brown version bread makers would like us to believe is super nutritious.

Corn tortillas are made from whole corn that has been soaked in lime to soften the hull before before being ground into masa. This makes it a healthy choice that has to rank right up there with loaf bread made from freshly ground wheat berries. While corn tortillas offer the added benefit of being an excellent source of calcium thanks to the lime soak, they leave a lot to be desired when building a tuna salad sandwich!

Wheat tortillas provide a functional, if not gastronomically perfect, substitute when used as a roll up. But where's the fiber?!?!

And of course, there are the loaves of crusty, long, white bread from the panadería, (bakery). While they definitely have more tooth than Bimbo Bread and make a good sandwich, they still fall short in the nutrition department.

For months we've dealt with the problem by trying to teach ours taste buds to expect something other than a sandwich at lunch, while secretly lusting after an occasional slice of chewy, homemade, whole grain bread! To that end, it would seem that we will have to bring along our grain mill and hope to locate a source for wheat berries.

Failing that? All I can say with certainty is that if we can adjust to a new culture and learn a new language, live every day without the close companionship of our friends and family at home, we surely can learn to live without a routine diet of American-style sandwiches. That and a vow to continue to give pasty white bread a wide berth in the supermarket.

Pura Vida

Pura Vida! The Real Treasure of Costa Rica

I saw a reference to an article in the AARP magazine about great places to retire. Atenas, a nearby town here in Costa Rica, was included so I decided to check out the article online. Here’s the link in case you’d like to read it yourself.

http://www.aarp.org/home-garden/livable-communities/info-07-2010/best-places-retire-costa-rica-central-valley.html

(Sorry I can't give you an active link. I'm sure it's a user error deficiency and not the fault of Blogger.)

I, for one, came away with mixed feelings.

Atenas is, indeed, a lovely little town. And I know a number of expats who love living there. What bothered me about the article was the implication that life in Costa Rica is a walk in the park. All sunshine, great hospitals, shopping and unparalleled biodiversity.

Anyone who has read more than one of my blog posts knows by now how much we love Costa Rica. But life here takes effort – which, if we are to be perfectly honest, is one of its attractions for us.

To paraphrase what another expat said recently, even the well-heeled gringos who come to live here eventually have to drive on pot-hole pocked roads – or in our case, negotiate sidewalks that are so seriously undermined by erosion that they promise to break into pieces without warning – and sometimes do! And whether you drive or walk you have to deal with some of the worst drivers on the planet!

I could go on, but previous posts have covered many of the challenges expats and Tico nationals, alike, face living in a developing country.

My point here is that, for the sake of making a buck, the media often portrays retirement life, whether it’s in a U.S. “active retirement community” or in a foreign country, as easy, glamorous, and idyllic by telling only half the story.
It truly is a shame, in my opinion, because Costa Rica is a rich, complex nation, as measured in ways that matter far more than the great deal you can get on real estate (not so great as a few years ago, by the way) or whether you can hire a housekeeper for a song (not actually true and the employment laws will devour you if you fail to do it the right way).

I’m talking about the people, who value family, friendship, education, health, peace, each other, and Pura Vida above all else.

For sure, the country has its problems. As mentioned above, the infrastructure, education system, law enforcement… you name it… it all needs more attention than the available colones will support. Earthquakes shake things up with surprising regularity. Floods chase families from their homes.

But when you turn on the morning news (or watch it in a soda now and then the way we do), you see a sign language translator in a little box at the bottom of the screen. When I was waiting to see a doctor at the local clinic the other day, a nurse came out and gave instructions on breast self-exams to the women waiting with me. The bus driver on our route stopped yesterday to give mi esposo a ride up the last 300 feet of steep grade – at no charge – just to be nice.

The real treasure of Costa Rica is that it oozes an enlightenment that is too often lacking in more developed nations. It is this I wish that the media would spend a little more time selling.

Maybe, as a result, fewer people would leave after a short time, disillusioned that they failed to find paradise, when in fact they failed to recognize it when they saw it.

Pura Vida