Category: Uncategorized

Posted on

My Best Helps in Moving to CR

Helps not necessarily in order of priority:

  1. ARCR 2-Day Seminar  and their “countdown” checklist of what to do by number of months, weeks, and days before move.
  2. ARCR website and magazine El Residente  is there to help you. 
  3. Christopher Howard Live in Costa Rica Tour  and his website/blog   (Feature photo above is of his tour group I was with, 2014) and note that his tour includes the ARCR 2-Day Seminar that answers all your questions.
  4. Retire for Less in Costa Rica  website and newsletter and also their
    On Healthcare Tour after I moved here – very helpful to me!

    “Healthcare Tour” is excellent and I highly recommend.

  5. Checking out many other websites, books, organizations, though the above were the most helpful for me personally
  6. Securing a Costa Rica Attorney BEFORE the move really helped me! I did it through ARCR but there are other sources.
  7. Starting the Residency Requirements while still in the states makes it easier to get the needed apostille legal documents BEFORE the move and your attorney here will help you with what to get before leaving states.
  8. Make several visits here BEFORE you move, getting acquainted with places to live, people, and your options, and always rent before you buy!
  9. Starting Spanish classes BEFORE the move and continuing here. You can live here without the Spanish language, but you will then always be an outsider, a foreigner and life will be more difficult than the difficulty of learning the language. I’m still struggling, but locals appreciate my efforts.
  10. Getting acquainted with local expats who came here before you. Their experience is always helpful even if their situation is different.
  11. And when zeroing in on a town or community, join any expat groups or Facebook groups there to learn more from the expats now doing it! In Atenas we have Atenas CR Info Facebook Group which you have to join for free to read the posts and answers to questions (like all FB Groups). It is at:   https://www.facebook.com/groups/atenascostaricainfo/about/

A few people like the organization and its magazine International Living. I did not like them nor find them helpful to me. They were more about getting my money – that was my personal experience. And I question their motives for promoting certain countries, places, etc. But you may want to check them out.

After 4 months in an apartment, I found this rent house on hillside overlooking Atenas Central. Love it – walk to town!

And for the final decision, follow both your heart and your head, but most important is to follow your heart! Where do you want to be? Doing what?

For me, Costa Rica is true   ¡Pura Vida¡   

Charlie – Retired in Costa Rica!

Posted on

A Weekly Blog Post?

A Change in the Blog . . .

I am thinking about a purpose and need for this blog, my goals, and what the 20 to 100 actual readers per day want to see here.  (Tell me!)

As I re-evaluate the blog I see it in danger of becoming a personal journal, more about me than my original purpose of “How to Retire in Costa Rica” or now about “Being Retired in Costa Rica.” My retirement hobbies of travel, birding and photography don’t speak to all, but that’s a given.

Beginning this coming weekend, my new “trial approach” is to post only one weekly, quality article on Friday, Saturday or Sunday (flexible day).  I will seek to:

  1. Use fewer/better photos with a gallery link for those wanting more.

  2. Try for shorter, easier to read posts. This is already too long!   🙂

  3. Try to include some “inspiration” though not always my purpose.

  4. Try to improve my photography so one photo says it all!

Please Give Your Input  —  Reader Survey

Use the Comments box below or email saying:

  • Keel-billed Toucan on my Terrace

    What subjects you would like me to include?

  • What you think of a weekly approach?
  • Do you read this for information or photos?
  • Are your interests (1) Retirement in CR?  (2) Costa Rica in general?  (3) Nature photography?  (4) Travel?  (5) Birding?   or  (6) Keeping up with me?

If your prefer a private message click Contact on top menu to email me.

 ¡Pura Vida!

Posted on

Weird Drums of Pipes & Pots

Just another one of the unusual things I see in Central Park Alajuela. Yesterday this guy was drumming away on his psychedelic apparatus in the park for tips. A quick snap of it  on my way to the bus station. He looks and acts more like a young American, but some young Ticos try to be that way.

¡Pura Vida!

Posted on

Tortuguero Photo Gallery

My usual next step after a series of blog posts on a Costa Rica lodge visit is to post in my GALLERY another TRIPS sub-gallery on that particular visit and here it is:

2019 Feb 9-13–Tortuguero Turtle Beach Lodge   or click image:

2019-02-19

“To Travel is to Live”

– Hans Christian Andersen

 

¡Pura Vida!

Posted on

OTHER WILDLIFE – Tortuguero

And there were more! A wetland rainforest like Tortuguero has many animals and this is just a sampling from the River Otter to the Spider Monkey – a lot more than just my birds! To keep it simple I’ll use the auto-slideshow today, randomly presented and the name of each animal appears at the bottom of photo. This is part of the beauty of Tortuguero National Park – enjoy!

OTHER WILDLIFE – Tortuguero

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

“A forest’s beauty lies with its inhabitants.” 
― Anthony T. Hincks

See my 2019 Tortuguero Turtle Beach Lodge Visit Gallery for more on this exciting rainforest trip!

Or the Turtle Beach Lodge hotel website

Or my photo book on 3 visits to TORTUGUERO, The Amazon of Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

Posted on

BIRDS at Tortuguero

This is not all the birds seen but the ones with a halfway decent photo, 28 photos here of 24 species – 2 shots of the Boat-billed Heron since one is mother with chick and other the nest-guarding father, two of the White-crowned Parrot because the images are so different, two of Mealy Parrot front & back, and separate male & female shots of the Grackle. My only “lifer” or first-time-seen bird was the Agami Heron and he was at night meaning not a real good photo. Now that my Costa Rica Birds Gallery is up to 301 species, it is getting harder to find a new species I haven’t already photographed, but thus far every trip in 4 years has had at least one!  🙂  We saw several American Pygmy Kingfishers sleeping on the night tour, but none of my photos are good.

Since my first trip to Tortuguero in 2010 on the Caravan Tour I have liked the rainforest/Amazon atmosphere of living on the water and what I’ve always thought was a lot of birds. Nine years later I have discovered several places with more birds and better food in the lodge, but I still like Tortuguero and will return again someday.  I’ll do a lodge post later and compare the two lodges I’ve stayed in here.

I’m sharing the photos in a gallery format rather than the auto-slide show because you can see the image larger when you click on it or at same time start a manual slideshow. Also hover your mouse pointer over an image to see the bird’s name. Photos are being shown in random order.

BIRDS at Tortuguero

In order to see birds it is necessary to become part of the silence.

~Robert Lynd

 

See my 2019 Tortuguero Turtle Beach Lodge Visit Gallery for more on this exciting rainforest trip!

Or the Turtle Beach Lodge hotel website

Or my photo book on 3 visits to TORTUGUERO, The Amazon of Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

Posted on

Butterflies & Flower Enroute

I have so many photos, it is late, and I am tired. So I’m just sharing the butterfly and flower photos made at our breakfast stop in Guapiles this morning. The lodge and the whole National Park is wonderful, but I can’t start showing it tonight. Here’s some color on the way to the jungle!  🙂

Butterflies & Flowers in Guapiles

See my 2019 Tortuguero Turtle Beach Lodge Visit Gallery for more on this exciting rainforest trip!

Or the Turtle Beach Lodge hotel website

Or my photo book on 3 visits to TORTUGUERO, The Amazon of Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

Posted on

Bicycle Friendly

Bikers by my house

You who live in cities and counties around the world with bicycle paths and bike lanes in the streets and roads can be thankful! Much of the world is still slow making bicycle transportation safe, including Costa Rica.

When I first moved here at the end of 2014 one of my initial goals was to buy a bicycle since I had already decided to live without a car. It only took one day of walking through Atenas for me to realize with such narrow streets and wild traffic, it simply would not be safe for this old man to ride a bike around town. (Not to mention the difficulty of several steep hills.) So I chose to be a walker with taxis and buses for longer trips.

In the meantime more people are riding bikes to work everywhere in Costa Rica and thus organizations and individuals are promoting bike-safety and bike-friendliness for car drivers as does this sign in Alajuela put up by the county government. It will be slow, especially the finding of space for bike paths and bike lanes, but I believe it will start happening rapidly here since autos are so expensive and so many people already ride bikes.

WEBSITE INFORMATION ABOUT BICYCLES IN COSTA RICA

¡Pura Vida!

Posted on

Maquenque The Book is Published

Maquenque Book
Click image to Preview free online.

Or go to the book in my Bookstore at:

http://www.blurb.com/b/9282399-maquenque-ecolodge

A New Favorite Lodge

I hesitate to rank or say there is only one favorite birding lodge, but this is in the top 3 or 4 best easily based on both the number of birds I photographed (53+) and the new birds I photographed for the first time or “lifers” of which there were these 7:

This is also one of the best or easiest places in Costa Rica (the whole world?) to get close photos of the King Vulture. My previous photos were made through a spotting scope, so I was thrilled to have Sergio pick me up at the lodge and take me to his blind on a nearby bluff where the King Vultures hangout and from his blind that he calls a “hide” I was about 20 to 30 feet from King Vultures.

Plus the lodge guides are excellent birding guides and found birds I would never have found on my own plus on the night hike I got a photo of the rare Red-webbed Tree Frog which is on the cover of my book. The DIY trails are excellent also for birding where I got several birds on my own.

The food is very good with excellent wait staff and by planning ahead nearly a year I got one of the 4 Tree Houses as my Treehouse Room for the week – an unbelievably unique experience which yielded all the Howler Monkey photos in my gallery (by climbing up 55 steps to my room). Or see my entire “Trip Gallery” 2019 Maquenque Ecolodge.

And check out the lodge website: Maquenque Ecolodge   a true experience in nature! I highly recommend it for all nature lovers and especially for birders! Just be aware that it is not near anything familiar, a 4-hour drive from my house in Atenas to a river on the Nicaragua border.

¡Pura Vida!

Posted on

The Penalty of Too Much Sun

And Mostly When a Child

20181223_101136-A-WEB

is what the Dermatologist says about the cause of skin cancer. But he also says if I continue to get too much sun it will make it worse, so my two wide-brim hats and 60 SPF Sunscreen, called El Protector Solar here or informally  protección de sol.  I dislike it but when I know I will be in the sun much, I use the sunscreen now and wear my big hat everytime I go out!

SKIN CANCER SURGERY ON MY FACE THIS TIME

The only other skin cancer removed was from my arm a month or two ago and it was comparatively easy with a lot more skin on the arm. Sorry if the photo below grosses you out, but I was really surprised at how much this facial growth had grown with this big of a scar or “more than 15 stitches” said the doctor, though I counted more like 20 or 21 in the photo. My eye is partially swollen and partially closed but it will get back to normal soon. I went back to the doctor the day after surgery (Wed) and he changed the bandage which I will permanently remove Thursday. Air helps healing. And he prescribed a cream I put on it twice a day for at least two weeks when I see him again for a checkup, after my next photography trip of course!   🙂   I have to keep my priorities straight you know!

MOHS SURGERY

It was Mohs surgery Tuesday which the link describes or basically it is a pathologist there with the surgeon doing biopsies on every bit removed until there is no sign of cancer. With this he is now more certain he got all the cancer and didn’t remove too much “good skin” which is more limited on the face. He was prepared to graft a piece of skin from my cheek if necessary, but thankfully it was not. And in two weeks or so I will be back to normal with a noticeable scar on my face. No problem! Just call me “Scarface.”   🙂

That’s Life!     –    ¡Así es la vida!

¡Pura Vida!

 

And tomorrow I will go back to sharing more from my great trip to Maquenque Eco Lodge!    (Link is to the Gallery)

And oh yeah, that sunset photo above is one I made at Arenal Volcano National Park. After all, this article is mostly about the sun!   🙂