charliedoggett.net
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| I almost never go out without a cap. Here’s my collection! |
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| Similarly I never go out without sunglasses. And my collection of those, |
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| Cap & Sunglasses I wear every day when I walk to town. Here on a table in Soda while I drink coffee. Atenas, Costa Rica |
And you might be interested that I have caps and sunglasses of many colors to go with my many colors of T-shirts! 🙂 I’m a fashionista gringo! ¡Soy un gringo consciente de la moda!
Nearly three years ago I started this blog to publicly discuss and seek guidance in what I then called my “Costa Rica Decision Process.” I just went back and read one of those early posts that really sums up my 16 reasons for leaving the U.S. and choosing Costa Rica for retirement written on June 28, 2014:
Click the above title and read the reasons I listed three years ago and you have my answer for today! Oh sure, I could add some things I’ve learned since that make it even better and some things that are more negative than in that list, but overall it sums up pretty well why I came and why I stay. And the list is totally mine, not from some website on retiring in Costa Rica. And yes, I’m really glad I did it! No regrets and I expect to stay here the rest of my life.
A few readers of this blog have written with specific questions and contact me when they come here to check it out. I am happy to help! Nothing in it for me. I’m retired and not selling services. 🙂
Now, I have wondered at what point we get too many Americans, Canadians and Europeans here!? There are a few “Ugly Americans” (Remember the 1960’s book?) already here and they are the ones constantly complaining about something that is not right here in their eyes. When an earlier neighbor was complaining about the relaxed atmosphere and infrastructure and said, “You know how these people are!” I thought to myself, “You need to go back to the states.” In three months he did. This culture and atmosphere is not for everyone! So check it out thoroughly for a good while before you decide to move here! But be sure that many of us love it here!
And for more reasons, just go back and read all the entries in this blog or see my Costa Rica Photo Gallery that I call: Charlie Doggett’s COSTA RICA and you will visually see why I love it here!
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| About noon I take boat from here to “wet landing” (barefoot through surf) in the little village of Drake Bay. Then a taxi with a Canadian family who were in another hotel, going to the Drake Bay Airport (photos below). Then less than an hour flight to San Jose Airport in Alajuela and my personal taxi prescheduled to take me home where I ordered pizza delivered, started laundry and a few other chores before collapsing! |
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| Drake Bay Airport Terminal, Ticket Office & Gift Shop Drake Bay, Costa Rica |
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| Bording Gate, complete with attendant & fire extinguisher! Drake Bay, Costa Rica |
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| Drake Bay Airport Drake Bay, Costa Rica |
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| The Thrill of the Cockpit Drake Bay, Costa Rica |
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| Goodbye Drake Bay, a bay off the Pacific Ocean at Corcovado Park Drake Bay, Costa Rica |
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| Crossing the Mountains to San Jose in 45 minutes! (All day on bus) Talamanca Mountains, Costa Rica |
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| Main Terminal, San Jose Airport – But Sansa has its own little terminal. Alajuela, Costa Rica |
My TRIPS Photo Gallery on this Drake Bay Trip
TWO WEB ARTICLES ABOUT MY PHOTOGRAPHY HOBBY & LATEST BOOK:
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| http://www.greentiquehotels.com/ |
NEXT WEEK:
Then Monday morning I plan to take off for Corcovado National Park (largest rainforest preserve in Central America) & Drake Bay for 6 days of nature adventure & photography. I will have three trips into the park and one to an island out in this bay of the Pacific. I’m ready!
And I’m staying in what looks like a really nice lodge, Aguila de Osa Rainforest Lodge with all meals included and all trips/guides pre-scheduled. This is going to be one of my better trips! 🙂 Boat & hiking in the rainforest, explore a little tropical island, snorkle in the Pacific, and hopefully photograph a lot of birds! 🙂 I fly down.
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| http://www.aguiladeosa.com/ |
One of the books I’m reading now is turning out to be a bit biographical at times. It is Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain. As a child all the way through high school and into college, I was definitely an introvert, just check my old Myers-Briggs personality test scores! And it was considered something like a disease by some people who wanted to help me come out of my shell.
But in college I was remade by Southern Baptists into an outgoing, extroverted personality. After all, that was the only way to be a dynamic or witnessing Christian and unfortunately is still the expectation of most evangelical Christians, their churches, and of course their leaders. So, I really wanted to become a good Christian and serve, and that meant being an extrovert. And I was for most of my adult life. It was necessary to keep my jobs working for Baptists! (Some who knew me as a youth minister or leadership consultant will have trouble believing this!) But as I neared and entered retirement I began to move back to how I was born, an introvert, and moving to Costa Rica has given me the opportunity to be myself maybe more than ever before. I’m very happy here as an introvert!
Now, don’t worry. I have friends and socialize, just not as much as some here who can’t stand spending a half a day alone, while in contrast I have to schedule such! And prefer to travel alone! I’m only a fourth of the way through this book, but enjoying it! Then I will be ready for another adventure or mystery story! I’m reading more here than in many years before. Guess why?
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| Red Ginger flower My Garden, Atenas, Costa Rica |
Count it a coincidence that my ex-wife’s nickname was “Ginger.” She died last summer of cancer in Gatesville, Texas. And that she too was chromatically colorful in her own way. 🙂
