Blog - Page 281 of 377 - Retired in Costa Rica

October 10, 2017

The Bribri Indigenous Creation Story

This was my homework for Spanish Class, so you will have to go to my Spanish Blog and read it in very simple Spanish!

October 9, 2017

How & Where are MLB Baseballs Made?

Ever Wonder How and Where MLB Baseballs are made? Watch this fun video:

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Or if that button doesn’t work, use this link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=4&v=ddWRAcbg7Fk

Now those cheap minor league baseballs are made in China by machines, but the good ones for MLB games are made or sewn by hand in the Rawlings Factory in Turrialba, Costa Rica. Yep! That’s the

town south of San Jose I traveled to recently by bus to spend 5 days at Rancho Naturalista photographing birds. But I just recently learned that the best baseballs in the world are made there. Its also near the most active volcano in Costa Rica, also named Turrialba.

And What is the Irony of This for Costa Rica? Click and read this interesting article about how the best baseballs in the world are made in a sports-minded country that does not include baseball as one of its major sports. Oh well. Life is full of ironies! As in most of the world, futbol (the real name for soccer) rules with debatable rankings after that for volleyball, surfing, basketball, and then maybe baseball. Interesting for the country where the best baseballs are made! 🙂

Or read this article about the factory in Turrialba and learn how dangerous sewing can be!

Workers on Lunch Break at Rawlings Baseball Factory
Turrialba, Costa Rica

A bigger irony is that in this NY Times article about The Poor Sewing for Millionaires.

Or maybe even the biggest irony is that the poor man sewing baseballs a low wages is happier than most of the millionaire ballplayers! 🙂 ¡Pura Vida!

And oh yes, a fun aside for this former Tennessean is that the leather is tanned in Tennessee! 🙂

-o-

I am no longer encouraging people to retire in Costa Rica because I think there are already too many North Americans living here, many trying to “Americanize” or change the charming, slow, relaxed culture of this small, simple, peaceful nation. But since I know some of my readers are considering a move here for retirement or otherwise, I share another positive article from Christopher:

12 Reasons it is Now Easier than ever to Relocate to Costa Rica. And though I seriously don’t want many more Americans down here, I will gladly advise by friends and readers which starts with advising you to take one of the relocation tours and join the ARCR, Association of Residents of Costa Rica and attend their seminar, which is much better than what International Living offers. Christopher’s “Live in Costa Rica Tour” includes the seminar.

October 8, 2017

Rufous-tailed Hummingbird

Rufous-tailed Hummingbird

Waiting for his turn at the feeder in my garden

on a cloudy, rainy day in

Atenas, Costa Rica

A family of these Rufous-tailed Hummingbirds have taken over my two feeders, meaning I watch them literally every morning at breakfast, nice, but . . . also meaning I do not see other varieties of hummingbirds like I used to. I do still get a wide variety of other kinds of birds in the trees.

See my Costa Rica Birds photo gallery.

Sports News:

Costa Rica qualified for the International Futbol Event in Russia by tying Honduras last night.
Costa Rica will have 522 persons running in the Chicago Marathon, 3rd largest group from Latin America after Mexico & Brazil and more than some European countries!

October 7, 2017

Rose-throated Becard

Rose-throated Becard female
In my garden, Atenas, Costa Rica

This is my first sighting of this particular bird, a breakfast treat off my terrace. Not super photos because of shooting between leaves, but fun! And I thank Yeral Jiménez Porras for identifying it by the technical name of Hembra de Pachyramphus aglaiae. “Hembra” is Spanish for “female” in the birding world. The common Spanish name is: El anambé degollado He identified it for me in just minutes after I posted these photos on the CR Facebook group Asociación Ornitológica de Costa Rica.

See all my Costa Rica Birds photo gallery.

October 6, 2017

Torch Ginger or El bastón de emperador . . . . . . . . . . . . . . + Nothing Escaped Nate

Torch Ginger or El bastón de emperador
My Garden, Atenas, Costa Rica

Torch Ginger or El bastón de emperador
As seen from the street in front of my house
Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica

And don’t you love the Spanish name for this flower? El bastón de emperador translates to “The Emperor’s Staff.” This particular one was a gift from my gardener. The first one I got and paid for died because it was in my busy flower bed and did not get enough sun like this gets in the front yard. Note that I have 3 flowers at different stages, bud, small flower and large flower. It is one of my favorite tropical flowers and I have wanted one since I moved here. They are hard to find with most nurseries (viveros) not having any in stock. But my gardener Cristian knows where to find things! 🙂 Like when I wanted the Maraca plant (Shampoo Ginger) none of the nurseries had one, so his partner Alfredo got mine from his uncle’s yard! Wow! They are more than gardners. They are good friends!

And in spite of the horrible weather we have been having, I still have flowers blooming! 🙂

UPDATE ON TROPICAL STORM NATE IN COSTA RICA

Schools have been closed since Wednesday and most government offices. Everything was closed yesterday (Thursday) the main day it hit us with medium high winds and very heavy rain, closing many more roads including parts of the two main highways to Atenas because of mudslides. The saddest was a mudslide just on the edge of Atenas that killed a little boy and destroyed many houses. He was the only death in Atenas. For all of Costa Rica, Nicaragua & Honduras I heard this morning that 23 were killed and 27 missing. The major causes of death are drowning and buried by mudslides, though some in auto accidents. Here is a locally produced slideshow video of rescue and cleanup efforts. Or the usual live video from Weather.com. And the Tico Times Article in English.

If this is just a “tropical storm,” think how bad it will be as a hurricane, which is what it is becoming tonight (Friday) when it hits Cancun, Mexico and moves on to the U.S. Gulf Coast, possibly New Orleans by Sunday morning. This could be a “biggie!”

Costa Rica is directly to the left of the word RAIN

In Atenas everyone stayed home yesterday (Thursday) with strong winds and heavy rain all day and all night. Today we are getting a little sunshine and I walked to town. It is interesting that all hills, cliffs, dirt walls have lots of water coming out at the bottom. A hill near my house has so much water coming out that it is literally a little creek pouring down to the street drainage ditch. Government and schools are still closed, but banks and most businesses open and we had the regular Friday morning Feria or Farmer’s Market. So almost back to normal with a few trees down and spotty electrical outages. But me and my house are good on all counts! I can even make this blog post, meaning internet works! That’s a big deal here! Here are some more photos and videos of Nate Hitting Costa Rica from Tico Times.

October 5, 2017

Costa Rica’s Hurricane headed for New Orleans.

First, an apology for the email recipients of this blog since the Google Map did not stay embed in the yesterday post as an email, but you can see it on the blog online. I think it more clearly shows the difference in location of Costa Rica and Puerto Rica for those still not sure.

The rain just won’t stop!

Now about our constant rain in Costa Rica through the weekend with flash flooding and mild winds. It started off the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica near Tortuguero, one of my fave places to visit, as a tropical depression. As it built up speed it slowly moved north hitting our neighbors Nicaragua first, then Honduras with much more wind than we have and more rain, constant rain, which means lots of flash flooding. It is up there now, maybe at Honduras, gaining speed and strength to become Hurricane Nate by the time it hits Cancun, Mexico. Then it continues to strengthen over the weekend, heading directly for New Orleans by Sunday, but of course can affect Texas to the Florida Panhandle.

The weather people say it may stay just a Category 1 or 2 hurricane which is not as bad as the more recent hurricanes. But this is unusual to have one start as a tropical depression off the coast of Costa Rica! First to my knowledge. Since the 1800’s we have simply not had hurricanes here. Climate change is real!

Here’s a cool video on Weather.com about the hurricane that started in Costa Rica, headed to New Orleans.

Here’s NPR’s tracking of Nate.

And a good video showing some of the lowland flooding in Costa Rica Click the Video Arrow on image to see one of our San Jose TV station’s (7) video of flooding in Cartago, south San Jose, and parts of Guanacaste.

HOW IT IS EFFECTING ATENAS (where I live)
Atenas is a mountain town and I live on a hill overlooking other hills, so we don’t get the lowland flash flooding, though some of our streets have some flash flooding and maybe the yards of some lower level houses.

It has been raining a lot all week, but starting yesterday morning (Wed) the heavier rain and winds started from Nate and have not stopped day and night! It is still raining and predicted to through the weekend. My power went out around midnight last night and was not repaired until about 11 this morning. Other than that, I’m fine and just staying in out of the rain. I plan to visit some more nearby interesting towns like I did Palmares the other day, but not until after the rain slows down! 🙂 Next week will probably be a more normal rainy season week with afternoon showers (I hope!).

October 4, 2017

Still Confusing Costa Rica & Puerto Rico?

Puerto Rico is in the Eastern Caribbean Sea and I (Costa Rica) am between the Southwestern Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. It is 1,290 miles (2,000+ kilometers) from our San Jose Airport or a more than 5 hour flight. It takes half as long to get to Miami or Houston or Dallas by plane. Above is a Google Map giving directions from San Jose, Costa Rica to San Juan, Puerto Rico. And the “Juan Santamaria” is just the name of our main airport near our capital city of San Jose.

The best explanation map I’ve found online won’t let me copy it, but here is the link:
http://www.distancefromto.net/distance-from-costa-rica-to-puerto-rico

It is very easy for North Americans to get the two places confused because they sound a lot alike, Puerto Rico and Costa Rica, and they are both tropical with beautiful beaches. But believe me, there is a huge difference beyond that!

And I appreciate the prayers and the thankfulness that I am okay. It is rainy season, but no hurricanes or earthquakes hitting us now. We are getting extra rain because of a tropical depression off the coast of Nicaragua & Honduras that is headed north toward the states (TX to FL panhandle) as Hurricane Nate. Unusual for one to start near us but possible. Learn more about it at:
https://weather.com/storms/hurricane/news/tropical-depression-sixteen-tropical-storm-nate-caribbean-gulf-of-mexico

And here is another map showing ALL of Latin America and all our relationships.

Hoping this will humble my friends in the States.
See how you are just one part of the Americas?
And more countries speak Spanish than English.

Pura Vida from COSTA RICA in Central America, 1,290 miles from Puerto Rico! 🙂

October 3, 2017

Remembering the People Who Died in Las Vegas

I cried during Anderson Cooper’s interview of the doctor from a small town in Tennessee whose nurse/husband saved her life during the massacre. He was more than a hero, but also a very special person in his community and family, as were many others killed and wounded, along with many living heros who saved lives. I like Anderson’s idea of helping us remember the ones who died instead of the killer. That kind of history could accomplish some good things in this world.

October 3, 2017

“I want to touch snow!”

In our conversational English club at the high school yesterday I continued to work on getting them to talk – in English that is! Like most teens, they chatter a lot to each other, but in Spanish! One way is to ask a question and go around the room with their individual answers, in English of course! So . . .

One question yesterday was “What do you want to do in the USA when you get there?” One boy answered:

“I want to touch snow.”

Remember, these kids have lived their entire lives in a tropical country that does not have snow. They have never seen nor felt it! They will have a good chance to in January in Virginia. 🙂 Another boy, almost copying him, said “I want to do a snowman.” That gave us an opportunity to talk about “do, make or build” as verbs and how used in the states. This is challenging! But fun! 🙂 And I hope a little bit of help to them! They will get more out of their student exchange trip if they can speak some in English.

October 2, 2017August 6, 2018

Caribbean Signs

OOPS! I found this old post never posted. It was the least important of all the photos I made on my September trip to the South Caribbean, Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo de Talamanca. The day I walked into town by way of the beach, I found many colorful signs in Puerto Viejo and put together this little collection. Remember, all businesses in Puerto Viejo are locally owned “Mom & Pop” business with no chain hotels or restaurants there. Signs in no particular order. Last one best! 🙂 The simple tourism on the Caribbean coast reminds me of going to Panama City Florida in the early 1950’s.