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| So ends another day in Atenas, Costa Rica! |
The whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders; where morning dawns, where evening fades, you call forth songs of joy. -Psalm 65:8 NIV
Two New Birds & Balcony Shots
This afternoon I photographed birds from my front balcony for the first time. Got two repeats, Great Kiskadee and Scarlet Tanager but also two new ones, Blue-gray Tanager (you can see in aviary at Nashville Zoo Unseen New World) and tried again to photograph one of the several flocks of parakeets that fly over very fast every afternoon. Nearly impossible to photograph, but here’s a fuzzy image!
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| Blue-gray Tanager at Hacienda La Jacaranda, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Someday maybe a good photo of these regular flyovers. |
Today I was given an old and worn (like me) leather & wood rocker for my balcony like some of the other residents have. Now I don’t have to take one of my other chairs out for morning coffee and some evening sits. It is on the front balcony which is larger. The back balcony is the second photo and is longer but narrow with bamboo next to it and lots of other trees closer, making it the better bird photo spot. Also have a clothes line there, but usually use the rack on front balcony for the afternoon sun. In Costa Rica an electric clothes dryer is a rarity. We have sunshine every day, even in the rainy season!
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| Rocking Chair for the retired old man! My front balcony. |
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| Back Balcony where most birds are photographed. |
Today after Spanish Class I tried a different super market, Maxi-Pali, which is a longer walk but has some things The Coopeatenas doesn’t and has cheaper prices on a few items. They also stock some Walmart house brand products, so guess who probably owns them? It is kind of like it was in the states, I’ll now probably use both some, but the closest is the easiest, so we will see. Also ate at another new restaurant for me that does not have a web presence and I just wrote the first review on Trip Advisor, so nothing to link to now, but that link is to my list of reviews and Olivera will be up in a day or so. It is Pizza Olivera, on the square or Central Park and they deliver, so I will probably use the delivery when Kevin is here. It was very good pizza I thought. I got a personal size Supreme and a liter tropical juice drink for $5. I will return! Like most restaurants here, the dining area is covered open air with views of whatever, this time Central Park with old men on benches, children running and playing, and a teen rolling slowly by on a skate board. Just an ordinary little farming town with lots of happy people! 🙂 It is still fun to be here and to be walking everywhere!
And oh yes, this morning after class I said “yes” to my first volunteer opportunity. I will be helping at the gringo-sponsored Annual Chili Cookoff and fiesta as a fund-raiser for the local children’s home. Some 3,000 people are expected. Don’t know yet what I will do.
Tomorrow is bus to San Jose and my appointment at the U.S. Embassy – hopefully getting the last document needed for my residential application. Never a dull moment yet! But I’m resting tonight!
Blessings to all who take the time to read all my ramblings! I’ll work on making this shorter! Promise!
Relaxing Day in Atenas
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| Central Park Atenas |
I slept late and after breakfast walked to town for some items the Cooperative Super Mercado doesn’t have like a USB Cable extension and small wastebasket for my office, plus for the kitchen a paring knife, measuring cup and cutting board. Little towns have lots of little shops, so you just go around town looking and asking and sure enough I found everything I needed in three different shops and got to walk through our Central Park (at right) in the process. Then I grabbed three items at the Super Mercado and a lunch to go at Restaurante El Mejor Climate and then stayed home all afternoon, catching up on several things. Was planning a fruit plate for dinner, but a neighbor invited me for pasta with sausage and came back in later for a little saucer of fresh Papaya, Mango and Strawberries, a nice ending to a nice day!
And oh yes! I did get my appointment with the Social Security Office at the U.S. Embassy for Thursday morning which will be by bus this time! They were very nice on phone and told me where to get off the bus from Atenas to have the shortest and thus cheapest taxi ride to the embassy. So Spanish class tomorrow and then another San Jose bureaucracy adventure Thursday. 🙂 The fun never stops!
Plus, this afternoon I found the Costa Rica Classical Music Station, 96.7 FM, in case you are ever looking for it! I love it when a plan starts coming together! 🙂
As a daily walker through Atenas now, I have some locals who recognize me and we greet at each passing. This morning I walked by the house where an old man is usually sitting in the yard and we greet, but I didn’t notice him. He hollered “Hola” at me and I responded with “Buenos Dias!” A really friendly small town. And I daily pass houses with various tropical flowers like this Hibiscus I snapped with my phone this morning walking home.
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| Hibiscus in Atenas |
The infrastructure is not great here, like a lot of small farming towns everywhere, but it is the people and relaxed, simple, happy spirit that makes Atenas a good choice! Plus the good weather helps too! Pura Vida! The new name for my website! Over the next year or so it will be transforming more I expect.
Two More Birds Tonight!
This was my first sighting ever of a Saltator, while I’ve seen many Great Kiskadees and Social Flycatchers, I wanted to include it tonight because I believe it is the larger Kiskadee as opposed to the look-a-like smaller Social Flycatcher shown last night or the night before. Both were photographed from my back balcony. I love it!
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| Greyish Saltator |
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| Great Kiskadee |
The Autopista del Sol to San Jose
Well, I splurged today and hired a private driver to drive me to San Jose for my residential paperwork appointment and to sign up for medical insurance. Part of the way we drove on the Autopista del Sol (official site), or the newest, access-controlled highway from San Jose to the Pacific Beaches. See also a Nosara Surfer’s Report on the Highway. Here’s three phone photos, then I’ll tell you about the experience in the big city.
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| Out our way is beautiful scenery driving up the central valley. |
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| Further from the city is only 2 or 3 lanes, but . . . |
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| In and near the city are 6 and 8 lanes, toll plazas, and bumper to bumper in rush hour. |
I have a wonderful attorney, Jose Pablo Carter Herrera, the son of another attorney with the Association of Residents of Costa Rica, a service organization for expats living in the country. I’m still waiting for an Apostille on my proof of income which Social Security in the states refused to help me with. The embassy here is supposed to do it easily, but it didn’t happen today! The only unfriendly, unhelpful place I’ve been in Costa Rica is the U.S. Embassy. I wasn’t too surprised that they wanted me to make an appointment but they would not let me make it even though I was there standing at the guard station. The correct procedure is to do it over a certain phone number between 8 AM and 11:30 AM, no exceptions! So me and my driver wasted time there. (The embassy in The Gambia was just as haughty and difficult to work with, but you have to work with them!)
The good thing I did not expect was I got my application for health insurance started and within the next week or so I will receive a call from the doctor to schedule my physical for the insurance company. I’m covered by my Medigap Policy for the first 90 days or until March 24. My Pricose agent, Juan Colero, says I will easily have it secured by or before then. It usually takes about 5 weeks after the physical. So I wait for the doc’s call on this. Then pay a whole year’s premium at once, then after a $300 deductible, 90% of everything is paid. It costs less than my Medigap and Rx insurance in the states. But when my residency is finalized I get the even cheaper government medical service if I wish.
Tomorrow I will dutifully call the correct embassy number during the correct hours and hopefully get an appointment fairly soon. Jose can’t file my residency application until I get this last legal document. Then it will take from 5 months to more than a year, depending on which bureaucrat is assigned my application in the Immigration Office. It is all part of the laid back life of Tico-land and I will not worry about it after I have done my part. The private insurance can go on indefinitely and I could decide I like it better than the Caja or government health plan – we will wait and see. But government medicine and a long-term Visa are the reasons I’m applying for residency.
After back around 1:00 I had lunch at a new place for me, La Trilla Restaurante. I compared their Casado con Pollo with La Carretta’s and it was very similar, though they add a piece of cheese and some black bean dip and chips. I also drank another Guanabana drink, this time con leche. Muy bien! Now back to my birds! 🙂 And my study of Spanish!
P.S.
Someone asked about the inside of the apartments. During the first two weeks I linked to a photo gallery of the downstairs apartment #4. I have a smaller gallery of my upstairs apartment, since much is the same, all built-ins, granite counters in kitchen, carved doors etc. But anyway, here are the links to the Inside Apartments Galleries:
I’ll figure out how to photograph the balconies soon. They are not super grand inside, but more than adequate for me. When my boxes get here, they might get clutter or crowded. 🙂
Internet Friends, Church, Funeral Procession, Gringo Brunch and Pura Vida!
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| Funeral Procession in Atenas, Costa Rica |
Another eventful morning! Yesterday I was contacted my a couple from Minnesota who are in Atenas for two weeks as a base for exploring. They came across this blog and asked to get together for coffee or a meal and how to get to the church I reported on last Sunday. So we met for the 8 AM service at Iglesia Biblica Atenas and after the all-Spanish worship walked the 7 blocks or so to Kay’s Gringo Postres, where everyone eating there was a gringo. It was a very nice American-style breakfast buffet with great omelets and all the trimmings plus lots of fruit and even a peach cobbler. Yum, yum!
On the way we picked up a group of Americans from Indiana looking for an American-style breakfast and just took them with us. We are all friends here! And it was fun getting a new friend from my blog meaning someone is reading it! 🙂
Two blocks from Kay’s we passed this small funeral procession, my first here.
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| First sighting of the Funeral Procession in Atenas January 11, 2015. |
There were no noisy sirens, hired cops clearing the way, just a family walking behind the hearse (station wagon) with its lights on and flowers on top. Since it was approaching midday, several walked with umbrellas for protection from the heat. Behind them was maybe 5 or 6 cars following with their lights on, of course moving at a walk pace. Along the street locals stop what they are doing in respect to the deceased like we did in the old days in the states. It was solemn and respectful. Another new cultural experience today.
Tomorrow’s adventure is a trip to San Jose to see my local lawyer. I’m splurging and hiring a driver rather than the uncertainty of when the bus would get me there. Next time will be by bus. Pura vida continues in the happiest place on earth in the town with the best weather on earth! I am truly blessed! And then new friends pop up from my blog today! Wow! Pura Vida!
First Four Back Porch Birds
Couldn’t wait until tomorrow! Posting just before I go to bed Friday night. All were photographed from my smaller balcony on the back side of the apartment. It is likely to be one of my main bird-watching spots. I have seen parrots and toucans flying over, but not close enough to photograph. All four of these are common in this part of the world and I have photographed before. Click image to see a larger version. I just checked my Birds of Costa Rica Checklist and two of these are new sightings for me and three are first-time photos. Progress! I will be adding my checklist to a webpage soon. I have now seen more than 100 birds in Costa Rica and photographed more than 70! And in my photo gallery Central/South America Birds I have more than 100 photos. I will create a separate Costa Rica Birds and Other Animals gallery one of these days.
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| Gray-capped Flycatcher |
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| Red-billed Pigeon |
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| Scarlet Tanager |
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| Social Flycatcher |
My Balcony View
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| Panorama View from My Third Floor Balcony Click for Larger Image The turquoise rectangle far left is our tennis courts. Pool is behind tree right of center and between those two tin roofs, the owner’s house and “The Rancho” that might become a restaurant. |
I’m liking my new apartment on the third floor, especially the two balconies! This is the view from my front balcony where I drank coffee this morning before another bus trip to Alajuela where I picked up my file box and about 6 or 7 letters including Christmas Cards from a few of you.
This is basically the same view as from my first floor apartment, just from a little more height AND I took three photos and combined them in Photoshop Elements as a panorama. You are looking over a little farming town of 8,000 people surrounded by coffee farms and several gringo housing developments. We have enough gringos, so please don’t move here! 🙂
Late this afternoon I stood on my smaller back balcony which is closer to several trees and a row of bamboo. I photographed 4 different species of birds. Finally! I’ve been too busy and in the wrong place up until now. I’ll share those photos tomorrow in a separate post.
Today I also explored some more shops in town including a hardware/electrical store and a little shop with scads of cheap items from China. Fun!
Watch for the birds tomorrow.
Praying Mantis Sends Me Upstairs
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| Praying Mantis on my downstairs apartment tile floor this morning. I had a lot more insects downstairs with no screens and close to the ground. |
As I finished breakfast this morning, ready to move into Apartment 3, I looked down at my living room floor and found this lovely Praying Mantis praying for me as I make the move up to my “penthouse” apartment on the third floor. As you can see, now that I’m living a simpler life, it doesn’t take much to thrill me! Last week it was a walking leaf and today a walking twig. Tomorrow will surely have another serendipity! 🙂 And I’ll try to photograph my new view tonight or tomorrow morning. Right now is the hot afternoon and we face west. And yes I prefer the 80’s over Nashville’s single digit temperatures! It is nice to live in shorts and T-shirt! But then tonight I will sleep with windows open and maybe use a blanket. -Charlie
Su Espacio -Your Space
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| Su Espacio is located in that corner building by the white pickup. It is across the street from our only gas station in town which is part of the largest Super Mercado, Coopeatenas – an important intersection for me! |
The Spanish words Su Espacio mean “Your Space” in English and is the name of the community center where I had my second Spanish lesson today, located in the building pictured above across from the closest super market for me and the only gas station in town also owned by the super market. Like in small-towns in the States, there are sometimes monopolies by one person or company, though Coopeatenas is technically a cooperative owned by local farmers.
“Your Space” could also be the theme for my first bus ride yesterday. I walked the 8 or 9 blocks to the bus terminal in Atenas and waited in line for the Alajuela Bus. It was packed with people standing. The 25 to 30 mile ride cost about $1.50 with multiple stops along the highway with people getting on and off. In the city of Alajuela, second largest city in Costa Rica and home of the San Jose International Airport, I get off at their bus terminal in central district and catch a taxi ($2) to Aero Casillas to deliver my last paperwork to make my Miami address work here. It was a notarized form from the U.S. Post Office saying I give Aero Casillas permission to receive and deliver U.S. Mail. One package and two letters are still in Customs waiting for this document before they will release the items. Thus I could not pick them up yesterday. A very nice clerk, the only one to speak English, said she would email me when the mail was released and ready for pickup, possibly by Friday. So I may make another bus trip soon! While in town I took a taxi ($2 again) to Walmart where I ate lunch and checked out the store aisle by aisle. It is pretty much the way I remember it from the August visit. I bought only 4 items: 2 cereals, a big towel, and ice cream on a stick, plus lunch in their cafeteria with typical Tico food. I had fish, rice and guacamole! Weird combo, I know!
After class this morning, I walked back to the apartment first so I could use my bathroom. The water line to Atenas from Grecia is broken, so no water in town meaning public bathrooms don’t work like the one at Su Espacio! Our apartments have a deep well and pump, so we always have water except from 10 PM to 4 AM when they let the pump cool off. Then I walked back up the hill to town to look at a house for rent and eat lunch. La Trilla (my plan) was closed with no water as was Antano. But fortunately the owners of La Caretta have a friend that stores water and they were still operating. I had a chicken casado (plate lunch) and met a couple from Iowa – snow birds! I then went by Coopeatenas and got three cardboard boxes for my move upstairs tomorrow. My friends from the August trip, Mark and Tina are moving to Panama tomorrow to try out that country for four months. I’m getting their 3rd floor end unit with better view, more air flow, more privacy, screens on windows, two balconies and no millipedes! 🙂 I’m literally and figuratively moving up in the apartments! And some of Phons family members are getting my downstairs apartment tomorrow night.
So I am packing the rest of today, plus friends are picking up me, Mark and Tina for Wednesday night church. I had quit going on Wednesday night in the States, but will start again here since that is the English service each week. I’ll normally walk, but Mark and Tina wanted to be picked up because they are going to finish their yard sale at the church. Me and some of the apartment neighbors have already bought a lot of their stuff. I got the printer, desk chair, bath mats and plastic coat hangers, all at garage sale prices! I let the ladies have the kitchen stuff. The younger couple from Switzerland was so excited to find the muffin tin. It is funny to watch American and European expats function in this culture!
In addition to learning basic Spanish, I’m learning local ways to say things. Only older people still say Buenos Dias, Buenas Tardes, and Buenas Noches. Most just say “Buenas” regardless what time of day it is. So I’m learning to do that. When asked how you are (Como esta usted) and you are just “so so,” as we say in English, you say “mas o menos” which is how Rudy the caretaker answered me today. That is opposed to saying “bien” (good) or “muy bien” (very good). And the teenager on the bus yesterday saw a friend, did a fist bump and said “mae” which is like “hey dude.” This is fun! And everyone is very friendly here, maybe like small towns everywhere. A good place to be and no regular tourists because we don’t have tourist sights here.
For those few, if any, readers who live in Atenas or are familiar with it, I should add that the rental house I looked at today is where the famous Kay of “Kay’s Gringo Postres” lives and I got to meet her and her husband Tom. They have been here 7 years, but health issues have caused them to move back to the states near their son in Phoenix which is why the house is about to be available. It was a fun visit and would be a good deal financially and space-wise, but simply not as nice as the apartments. So we will see what happens. A younger couple from Texas bought their restaurant and still operate it under the same name. I haven’t eaten there yet because it is a further walk, but I will soon! Well, got to start packing!