Category: Places

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Rainy Day in the Mountains

After a Tico breakfast at Casita del Cafe outside Atenas with a beautiful vista we drove up into the mountains with hopes of seeing Poas Volcano and the waterfalls of La Paz. Well, as we drove higher the rain increased and at the gate of Poas National Park we were told we could enter for $15 but we would not be able to see the volcano. So we turned around and headed for La Paz Waterfall Gardens where it was raining has hard but we could see most of the sights. Ponchos and a lot of dampness accompanied our tour of the gardens. But we did see quite a bit! And chose not to eat in the expensive La Paz tourist restaurants, instead driving to La Garita for lunch at Arroz Mango. Then home for sitting in sunny Atenas on my terrace until a little Mexican dinner at Donde Bocha Antojeria. An adventurous day!

I will try to label the animals the waterfall later. I guess it was as good of a way to spend an active day in the rain as we could find. I don’t expect any more rain until possibly a little at Tortuguero. It is the dry season, but the high cloud forests and the lowland tropical coastal rainforests can have some rain year around. Not a drop in Atenas!   🙂   Follow Reagan’s Blog for his view of the visit here!
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Triquitraque or Flamevine Finally Blooming

Finally my concrete wall made pretty! Triquitraque or Flamevine

The triquitraque or flamevine I had planted 7 months ago started out with a burst of growth and then just quit and never bloomed much. So Jean-Luc suggested I feed them since the construction site soil was not particularly rich and I thus added a fertilizer, sort of a 12-12-12 from the La Coope Farm Store. Wow! what a difference it made! They grew and got greener and are now just starting to bloom. I think there will be more, but I’m sharing what I have now and I’m pleased! It kind of makes up for the Porterweed not blooming now. Both attract hummingbirds.

From above the flamevine contrasts nicely with the blue plumbago below.
I love it when a plan comes together!   🙂
And just in time for the visit here by Reagan Frazier from Nashville.
Photographed here on his camera on my terrace overlooking Atenas.
Thanks to Reagan for snapping this photo of me at the San Jose Airport!
I promise to give a warm welcome to anyone who comes to visit. Pura Vida!

Reagan arrived yesterday afternoon and today we took it easy, walking around Atenas Central a little and eating a typical Tico lunch or “Casado.” Tomorrow we start with a Tico Breakfast with a beautiful view at Casita del Cafe and then drive to Poas Volcano and the La Paz waterfalls so he can feel like a real tourist!  🙂   Follow Reagan’s Blog for his view of the visit here!

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Palm Tanager

Palm Tanager
In my cecropia or yagrumo Tree
These first two shots were made at lunch today on my terrace while the
weaker 3rd photo made at breakfast yesterday was almost my only shot!
When you keep trying there will be a better shot eventually! Hopefully!
Palm Tanager
In my terrace cecropia or yagrumo tree.
Different shots show different aspects of a bird.
Palm Tanager Makes a Good Landing!
I love to catch a bird landing or taking off!
These are on my terrace rail at breakfast. Not best light for photo.
I make my identification with app and 2 books, my best call, not 100%!
Made the day before the top two shots. Click for larger image. 

This is in the family of the more common Blue-gray Tanager that I’ve photographed many times and the book says has a similar song. This is my first time to photograph these guys.

My Costa Rica Birds Photo Gallery   OR   All My Costa Rica Photo Galleries


Those little nimble musicians of the air, that warble forth their curious ditties, with which nature hath furnished them to the shame of art.  ~Izaak Walton

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New Terrace Table & Chairs

I asked my landlord if I could have new cushions or cushion covers for the 4 large, clunky chairs with the large glass-topped table where I eat most meals. He agreed that they were very worn, dirty and some with broken zipper and Velcro tabs. So he said he would get one of his workers to find a seamstress to make new ones! (That’s the Tico way!) I go on the healthcare tour for 3 days and return to find a brand new table and chairs! I suspect it was cheaper to get this smaller, lighter-weight set than get new cushions if even available. So I have something brand new and fresh for my guest coming a week from Tuesday! And I like it! Even the smaller size!

There are a lot of advantages to renting! New furniture is one!  🙂
It makes the terrace look larger!
And looks good from inside too! I like it better than the old one!
Fresh and airy! New and clean!
I’m ready for Reagan now!
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San Ramon, Costa Rica

This is the second post for today, Saturday, about the town separate from the healthcare tour.

San Ramon is higher in the mountains than Atenas, meaning
it gets much colder and rains more. It rained this morning & in 50’s.

San Ramon’s beautiful Catholic Church facing the Central Park,
like every town in Costa Rica.

They also have a boyero or oxcart driver monument like Atenas.
I like our Atenas metal one better. This one is on church grounds.
Like every town’s Central Park, you will find children playing, old people talking,
teens texting, talking or smooching, and a generally happy, tranquil place.
There is a band-shell for musical programs.

San Ramon is quite a bit larger than Atenas with more businesses and traffic, something in-between Atenas and Alajuela. I do not like it as well as Atenas because of the weather (colder and wetter) and the more crowded conditions. They do have a University campus which is a plus and a couple of museums we don’t have, but I think I will stick with my more walkable small town. Both are very “Costa Rica” in nature with wonderfully friendly people. They have a few hundred expats living there where we have over a thousand in and around Atenas.

The other post today about healthcare tour has more photos of San Ramon and yesterday’s short post has photo of tour group in front of Mural on La Posada Hotel where I stayed.

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Friday of Healthcare Tour

Old Man Tree in Breakfast Room

A stop by CPI Spanish Immersion School in Heredia for one short lesson.

Visited the smaller public hospital in San Ramon.
Public hospitals aren’t as fancy and pretty as private,
but very clean and functional inside.

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Paul & Gloria’s view with a Poro Tree blooming. Now is time for Poro.
Lunch at home of Paul & Gloria Yeatman with guest speakers.

Visiting the San Ramon Feria or Farmers’ Market Friday afternoon.
Paul & Gloria emphasize this as a part of healthcare!

We also visited a small neighborhood clinic, farmacia, bank, community center, Red Cross which does all the emergency ambulances, a museum, and talked about insurance, the CAJA government healthcare, homecare provided by CAJA, and even a presentation by a volunteer organization encouraging us to volunteer. Whew! A full day! But very helpful. They were showing us what it is really like for medical care in a local community, in this case San Ramon. I will do a separate post on San Ramon and give my comparison to Atenas. This ended the Healthcare Tour at dinner time in San Ramon. I spent the night there and tried to post these photos but the little La Posada Hotel had very slow internet, so I saved them for today, Saturday and will purposefully do two posts. The next one with a few shots of San Ramon sans-healthcare!

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Our Healthcare Tour Group

Our group of 8 who have traveled together for two full days visiting many hospitals & similar facilities.
I’m the smiling guy behind the two ladies on the right, in white cap and blue sunglasses, under the toucan.
Thanks to Victor, our van driver, for making the photo!
Paul Yeatman, tour leader, is in blue cap and from Maryland.
Others from Canada, South Africa, Columbia, Minnesota, Florida, Oklahoma & me from Tennessee.
Paul and I are the only ones already living here. Others are preparing to move here.


The internet connection is very slow at my little La Posada Hotel in San Ramon, taking a long time to upload the one photo above. So I will save the several other photos I want to share for after I get home tomorrow, telling what we did. It was another good day with a lot seen and done. Tune in tomorrow for a report! And I have now seen San Ramon for the first time. Opinions tomorrow.

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San Jose Hospitals Today

Entering Hospital Mexico, the largest in Costa Rica
and a public hospital
MRI at Public Hospital Mexico

Hospital room at small boutique private hospital, Clinica Unibe.
We saw another similar one called Hospital Metropolintano.

In and out of the van at about 5 hospitals

Clinica Biblica, one of the two largest private hospitals along with CIMA.
We also visited Hospital Catolica, just a little smaller.

An absolutely wonderful Senior Adult Apartments with all levels of care,
great views, and near the second largest mall in Costa Rica.
Verdeza Apartamentos
I would love for this to be my final home before death! Great program!

More tomorrow as we head for San Ramon, a town a little larger than Atenas to visit more of the local healthcare facilities and hear more from Paul and Gloria Yeatman and eat lunch at their house.

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Healthcare Tour of Costa Rica

Wednesday & Thursday nights at Adventure Inn in San Jose
A small family-owned, non-chain hotel with good prices!
Adventure Inn San Jose

Because the tour starts at 7:30 in the morning from this hotel, I came the night before like probably most of the participants. Walter’s Tours and Taxis in Atenas takes me for visa renewals usually and so I used his services to get to this hotel today. Door to door friendly and efficient service at a reasonable price and I did not have to fight the San Jose traffic! Saturday morning they will pick me up in San Ramon where the tour finishes. To save money I may use the public bus in future but it seemed more of a hassle with a suitcase and changing buses in San Jose. Kind of nice to be chauffeured!

The tour that starts in the morning (I’m writing Wednesday night) is sponsored by Paul & Gloria Yeatman who do the blog/website/newsletter titled Retire for Less in Costa Rica. One of their posts tells about Healthcare in Costa Rica and this tour description.

Tomorrow night I will report on the first day of the tour, all in San Jose. So keep reading. I expect most of the participants to be people from the States and Canada who are considering retirement here. The Yeatman’s do this in conjunction with another guy who does a relocation tour of Costa Rica, different from the one I took. More about it later too. Tonight I rest, eat in hotel restaurant, do some computer work and play and read. It is fun to be away from home even when you live in a paradise! 🙂

A quote from the founder of my former clinic in Nashville
where caring people still struggle with the
broken American system.
It is good to now live in a country where healthcare and education are
more important than wealth and military. It makes a difference!