Lilting Notes & Interesting Folks!

As I walked through Central Park after Spanish Class this morning, headed for the hardware store , I heard beautiful music in the air (like bells), not sure where it was coming from. Then on a corner opposite the park I discover this man playing his xylophone or marimba and the music made me feel happy! Atenas is such a simple and happy place with surprises around every corner!

Just making music on the sidewalk outside the Me Gusta Shop

Around the corner, at his usual spot, a fruit & veggie vendor.
Only 2 blocks from the Central Market, his biggest competition.
Though there is another guy at the next corner.  🙂
Nearer the market and the hardware store, my destination.

Yes, in Atenas some guys still
come to town on their horse.
Small town Costa Rica!
And watch where you step!

I also discovered the CATUCA today, but I will tell about it another day!  🙂  

MEDICAL INSURANCE
And oh yeah, I forgot to say that beginning March 20 I have Costa Rica Private Health Insurance which will last a year and hopefully by then I will have my CAJA or government insurance after I get my Pensionado Residency. One step at a time! And timing was good because my Medigap Policy was going up in price next month, like double! I’ll be cancelling it now! Medical costs is one area where I really do save money living here instead of the states – big savings! The only drawback on my private insurance here is that they won’t cover preexisting conditions for a year. But the government plan will  and for a lot less money! This time next year I will be on it.

A Colorful Day!

Colorful Dress Shop in Alajuela


Yalile came at 8 AM today to clean my apartment, my first time for a maid. I have scheduled her for every two weeks now. I’m pretty clean but she probably does more than me with dusting furniture, cleaning the floor and the bathrooms & kitchen. It makes me feel cleaner now.  🙂 The standard rate here is 2,000  colones per hour or $4. So for $8 I get 2 hours of cleaning! Spic and span clean! It is such a good deal I might even consider going weekly when I’m in town. But I’m not ready to give her a key yet, maybe in the future. Plus she is already helping me with my Spanish and I with her English learning. When you have to communicate is when you really learn a language!

After she left, I went to Alajuela again, which I always love and it is always a colorful place! I don’t think I will ever tire of walking around Alajuela! Especially with a camera! Just phone pix again. I’m tempted to take my camera bag and good cameras, but then you just call attention to yourself and its sometimes harder to do candid shots. I still don’t photograph many people which I’m afraid will be considered rude. But occasionally catch a candid like the umbrella guy below.

Methodist Church at the Alajuela Central Park
Made more colorful by the guy losing his umbrella to the wind!
A Fruit Stand on nearly every block in Alajuela.
Move Over South Beach! We have Art Deco too! In Alajuela Central. 
I finally found and ate at the raved-about Jalapenos Restaurant.
It is good and better prices than Tacontendo from yesterday,
but just Tex Mex food by a transplanted New Yorker serving mostly expats. 

“The purest and most thoughtful minds are those which love color the most.” 
― John Ruskin, The Stones of Venice

“I have led a pretty colorful life.”
Corey Feldman