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Swan Lake is Coming Again to Costa Rica

September 29th, 2018

… and I am delighted to say that we have just gotten our tickets!

Even better is that it is coming to The Teatro Nacional, a showplace theater if ever there was one.

This ballet is certainly one of the greatest ever written, and the music is beyond compare.

Whether you are living here in Costa Rica or will be here on vacation for the dates November 9-11, 2018, this is well worth your time.

Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 



 

Hungry? Hate Traffic? Try Uber Eats Costa Rica

July 9th, 2018

A few weeks ago I decided to give a try to Uber Eats.  This is an offshoot of Uber, the ride sharing folks that I use often for convenience, security, pricing, and pleasant drivers!

Uber Eats will pick up your food from  a ton of restaurants and deliver them directly to your door (or your car or ????) for about $2.25. However if you use the code at the end of this post, your first order is free.

To use them, it is best to download their Uber Eats app from the App Store or from the Play Store. Signup and login are pretty simple and once done you will be presented with a long list of dining options, sorted by type of food.

Interested?  Read on….

Continue reading »

Two of Many Crawly Things in Costa Rica

May 29th, 2018

I get a number of emails from people concerned about the large assortment of bugs, bichos, and various creepy crawly things found here. Millipedes and centipedes are near the top of the list, though snakes  always rank number one. Cucarachas (cockroaches) too are popular ! So when I came across this video posted to one of the Costa Rica user groups, I thought that I might share!

While you can watch this video right here in this blog post but it is much better to watch it in a new window/tab by clicking here.  You will then get the full view.

Enjoy!

Costa Rica Attracts Some Strange People!

February 3rd, 2018

I long ago gave up watching ANY US news station. If it’s not outright fake news, it is so heavily biased either to the point of view of the network or the reporter to make it all but useless. They are ALL guilty.  <end rant/>

Enter the BBC! I get all BBC channels (and there are a TON) on my Internet TV or the news is always available via browser BBC News. With few exceptions it’s my only source of real news.

As any ex-pat living here knows… Costa Rica attracts some truly strange dudes (and dudettes!).  This BBC video gives an excellent example of these… um… people.  In the video there is  a link if you wish to watch the original documentary. Enjoy… and by all means, share below with others who is your favorite personality.  Me?  I like the toilet lady!

 

 




Medical Care and Options Part 2

April 13th, 2016

MedSymThe purpose of this post is twofold.

First, I want to thank the many readers who communicated with me after my last post, part of which discussed what I had learned from my cancer treatments.  I cannot begin to express how much I appreciate the numerous comments and best wishes I received via email, phone calls, and comments from the various ex-pat groups on Facebook.  Thank you so much!  As an update, I have completed all the treatments (last week), and now I wait.  The doctors are very optimistic and tell me that they believe I have beaten this thing.  Feels great.  I will now take various tests about every 90-120 days to confirm their positive prognosis. Again… thanks to all.  Very unexpected but very appreciated.

As for part 2, from the questions I received, it seems I need to clarify some of the info in my past post. Interested?  Read on! Continue reading »

Medical Care and Options in Costa Rica

March 27th, 2016

I was  diagnosed with cancer last year.

While I thought I had a pretty deep knowledge of medical care both private and public (my wife has been with Calderon Guardia hospital, the second largest CAJA hospital in CR, for 34 years), it turns out I was wrong.  In this post I will share some information on health care in this country and the stuff I have learned.

Medical care in Costa Rica is of interest to not only ex-pats living here or wannabe ex-pats with plans to live here…  but to the many thousands of tourists who visit Costa Rica every year for what is known as medical tourism. Medical tourism we can define as people who visit Costa Rica with the express intent of having various medical procedures done here with the expectation that those procedures may be far less expensive than those same services performed in their home country.  In general, those are realistic expectations, but things are changing.  Over the past several years, medical institutions here have learned the medical tourism is big business and they have responded as expected. There are basically two options here for receiving medical care.  Private (aka for profit) and public (aka the CAJA or socialized medicine). If this topic is of interest, please read on… Continue reading »

Organ Donation in Costa Rica… Oh… and Grab a Kleenex.

January 24th, 2016

I thought that I might share this short video. The content of course crosses international boundaries, but the idea is to get you thinking,

[youtube]https://youtu.be/WJDraYkrpdY[/youtube]

Donating your organs is possible in Costa Rica.  Theoretically you can do it via your residency card or drivers license.  Your might be able to do it through your attorney.  Sound vague? Welcome to Costa Roca

Also… There seems to be some conflict though as it is unclear who owns your body after death.  You or your survivors.

Anyway, by all means think about donating organs.  It’s a good thing.

Using a GPS and Waze in Costa Rica

December 3rd, 2014

gpssatFor the longest time, I have wanted to blog about the use of GPS devices in Costa Rica. I actually asked and received some GPS maps from companies (located in Costa Rica) to test on my Garmin Nuvi. These are pretty much the same maps available online and when you rent a GPS at car rental  agencies in Costa Rica. For tourists especially, a GPS can be pretty handy as this country is well known to have no street names nor addresses. Pretty daunting for many travelers. Anyway, I tested several, and all worked adequately, especially for location hotels and common tourist destinations, they did not work so well once you got off major highways.  In fact, I found it to be common for at least two of the maps to cheerfully tell me to “turn right” from where I was driving on the Pan American Highway!  Only problem? I was between exits!

Another more personal issue was that NONE of them showed MY street… like the one where I lived.  If I entered my GPS coordinates, it happily took me to the street running behind my home and suggested I enter my driveway via my neighbor’s living room. In fact, the entire subdivision where my wife’s daughter lives (for three years now) shows as empty farm field.

It was then that I decided to write this article covering not only GPS systems in general but Waze as well as that is the future of GPS.  Interested?  Read on… Continue reading »

Costa Ricans – What makes Ticos Tick? Culture Shock and Cultural Adjustment

November 30th, 2014

crdanceWhen I first came to Costa Rica (hard to believe that it was back in the past century… late ’90s!) there were two groups of ex-pats here. A few took the time to really learn the language and the culture… others, (maybe most),  not so much. This has changed greatly and for the better.  More and more people with whom I come in contact not only have learned to communicate in Spanish, they are taking more time to learn the “why things are the way they are” part of ex-pat life.

Living here can be a real challenge, and while I cover the language and the culture shock stuff as part of my tours, in the early days, not a lot of people took me seriously.  The Internet portrays a very different place than the REAL Costa Rica.  Not bad necessarily… just different. Interested in this topic?  Read on… Continue reading »

Thanksgiving in Costa Rica – 2014

November 26th, 2014

tgThe ultimate in laziness for a blogger is to reprint an olde post.  OK… Here is a re-print plus maybe a bit new. Check prices!  They may have changed.

Trying to find a good and comprehensive list of restaurants that offer a good Thanksgiving feast in Costa Rica is difficult.  Several sites and user groups offer a few, but nothing really complete.  Hotels often offer Thanksgiving Dinner… quality can GREATLY vary.  Interested in this topic? Read on!

Continue reading »