charliedoggett.net
 |
| Farmer bringing sugarcane to market while I am walking up the hill to my Spanish class. |
Note: I just added another fallen fruit photo to my March 7 Trodden Under Foot post, if interested. It is the Star Apple or Cainito, a purple fruit the size of an apple or orange and it fell right here in our apartments.
 |
| Sign in Su Espacio bano as in most toilets anywhere in Costa Rica. |
Not nasty! Just practical! Anyone who has managed a septic tank understands or maybe you know someone who uses large wads of toilet paper that stop up even sewer lines. Stopped up plumbing is no fun! And I think most of the drain pipes here are smaller. So practicality trumps most sensitivities. Plus the bathroom trash cans (one by each toilet) all have lids and I keep a spray-can of Lysol by mine. No big deal anymore! But if you visit from the states, prepare yourself for this Tico custom. 🙂
 |
| The sign you will find in my apartment bathrooms. |
 |
| At Farmers’ Market you buy your toilet paper from this enterprising couple. Many public restrooms have no paper, so most women keep some in their purse. But all restrooms provide a covered wastebasket for your used paper. 🙂 |
In the Super Mercado many Central American made and branded toilet papers are available and sometimes you can get Scott Tissue, the only recognizable brand for North Americans. It costs about a dollar for one roll of 1,000 squares. (cheaper in large packages.) I’ve compared Scott and Nevax (a Costa Rica brand) and they are about the same quality and price and I’m moving toward supporting local products in when I can.
Or for something a little more spiritual, see my post in my “His Spirit” Blog titled: God, Teach me how to walk barefoot!
 |
| New business card ordered from Vistaprint with new PO Box & Phone |
NEW BUSINESS CARD EXPLAINED
The palm tree business card I did before leaving Tennessee was nice but it did not have my phone number and that is what I need to share the most here! Plus the PO Box mailing address on it was for the apartment’s mail box. I receive the mail addressed to it, eventually. It is slowed by the additional layer of apartment office manager. Now that I have my own PO Box and a phone number, it was time to get a business card I can use here in Costa Rica. Note the two addresses. The first is mailing address, a box at the Atenas Post Office. The second is called the physical address. With no street signs, house numbers or other physical addresses, one needs landmarks. This is the shorter version of my description. I sometimes add “300 meters north of the blinking light on Ruta 3.” The card has a stock design again which is quicker and easier than working with my photos. Simple and utilitarian!
And if you wonder why Atenas is listed twice in mail address; well, because that is how the PO told me to write it. One is the canton and the other is the town or pueblo. Plus you will notice that Alajuela (the province) is listed first which is the way they said to do it. And the postal code is in front of the country name! Why do we Americans think everyone should do things the way we do? Plus remember that in Spanish, adjectives follow nouns. So this address order is very logical in the Spanish language and culture.
PREPARING FOR A “VISA RUN”
Next Wednesday I am joining a few other expats with Walter, a local tour guide and driver. He is driving us to the Nicaragua border where we cross over and then return into Costa Rica to get another 90 day Visa stamped in our passports. Because I am an official applicant for residency with a document to prove it, I don’t have to do this to stay in the country. BUT, to use my TN Drivers License to drive a car, including getting a rental car, I must have a current Visa. (My current one expires March 24.) Like in the states, one government office does not coordinate with another one. What does Immigration know about Motor Vehicles and visa versa? So they each have different requirements.
Fortunately Immigration now allows you to do it in one day where formerly you had to stay out of the country for 72 hours or 3 days. I would have done it as a vacation, but this one day trip is quicker, easier, and less expensive with all I have happening right now. We leave from the Central Park Church at 5:30 AM and will be back in Atenas by 5:30 PM. That includes stops for breakfast, lunch and Liberia to purchase an exit tax and a bus ticket from Costa Rica to Nicaragua. (Oh! A beautiful Oropendola just flew by! Camera never ready!) Well, the bus ticket is required when they let us back into Costa Rica for 90 days to prove we will be leaving within 90 days. Working the system! Probably about a $30 cost, better than an airline ticket.
Plus I have to get U.S. dollars to pay Walter and the Nicaragua entrance fees. Crazy! It is how they stay ahead of the fluctuating currency rate. But the whole day and three months of Visa will cost only about $200 USD unless I want to buy something in the duty-free shop (not). Worth it for me and I look forward to getting my first rent car here which will make the sight-seeing trips with Kevin a whole lot easier and we will get to see and do more than my usual walking, bus and taxi.
Here’s a photo of me the only other time I was in Nicaragua. We stepped off the boat from our Rio Frio Jungle Cruise to snap photos by this pitiful welcome sign with an armed guard standing nearby. I doubt the visa run Wednesday will be as exciting, but you never know!
 |
| On the Nicaragua side of the Rio Frio Jungle Cruise, 2010. |
 |
| Maybe Blue & White Swallow, Bank Swallow, or even a Martin. Not sure. |
Hundreds of swallows fly over every day and all around the apartments, very fast! I’ve never been able to catch one in my camera, though this is one of my best efforts. We also have Keel-billed Toucans fly over occasionally, usually in pairs and very fast! No photos! Same with the Montezuma Oropendola! And parrots and parakeet flocks which are often even higher in sky. None of these birds ever land in the trees around us.
 |
| Iglesia Bautista 1946, Alajuela |
 |
| Aerocasillas Alajuela Office |
From the bus station to Aerocasillas (the blue sign on gray building) is an 11 block walk or as they say here, “about 1100 meters” or actually “oncecientos metres.” Today I had one letter, a check from the sale of my dining room table and chairs, finally! So worth the trip! Then this afternoon when I got home I received notice via email that a package will be ready for me to pick up tomorrow. Grrr! Maybe I go tomorrow or maybe next week! ! It is the replacement blades for my electric razor that I couldn’t find here. Oh well! Another adventure!
 |
| Church of the Agony, Alajuela |
 |
| La Bohemia Rock Bar across the street from Church of the Agony |
 |
| Cab Stand at Church of the Agony – $3 to Walmart – All official taxis are red! |
 |
| Waiting for a replacement bus on the western edge of La Garita. |
 |
| White Ibis Tarcoles River, Costa Rica |
 |
| Brown Pelican Tarcoles River, Costa Rica |
 |
| Green Heron Tarcoles River, Costa Rica |
 |
| Northern Jacana Tarcoles River, Costa Rica |
I’ve been photographing birds in Costa Rica since January 2009 and have a special gallery of Costa Rica Birds, with more than 100 species presented alphabetically by English name.
 |
| Palms and a Tour Boat like the one we were on |
In case you are tired of birds, here’s some trees! But I do have more bird photos to share if nothing exciting happens around home the next few days. 🙂 Here are 5 trees photographed from our boat and I’m sorry I haven’t researched the proper names of any except the one already photographed in Atenas. I just like looking at trees regardless what they are called! 🙂 Always, you can click a photo to see it larger.
 |
| The shapes, the designs, the colors, the strength, all awe me! |
 |
| Pink Trumpet Tree or Roble de Sabana See earlier posts: one from balcony and one up close. It seems to be this month’s blooming tree, like Poro last month. |
 |
| Lone Wolf! |
 |
| “Umbrella Tree” said our guide. Look close for cow under it on left, avoiding the sun. |
My Trip Advisor Review of this trip with photos!
 |
| Billed as a “Crocodile Tour” but we saw more than 20 species of birds too! Yeah, that’s me! See, Costa Rica hasn’t changed me much! |
I have a photo gallery with at least one photo of each of the 20+ birds and animals photographed in my PBase Gallery. Here are four more of those for the blog readers.
 |
| My new friend Barry in the photo op sign at Jose’s Crocodile Tour. He did one of me in this too! The tour guys get closer than this to crocs. |
 |
| Belted Kingfisher Tarcoles River, Costa Rica |
 |
| Little Blue Heron Tarcoles River, Costa Rica |
Maybe some more from Tarcoles tomorrow, or to see now hit this link to my PBase Gallery.
 |
| West End 3rd floor landing balcony, La Muchacha & door to my apartment. |
 |
| Carved from one piece of wood, dated 2004. |
 |
| Looks like sun worshipping to me! |
 |
| You hardly notice it when you walk up the hill. |
 |
| One view of our apartments while walking back from town. Far from a retirement home! |
Though the government talked in 2010 about creating “Jubilado Communities” like Retirement Communities in the states, it never materialized with most Ticos preferring to retire in place, stay a part of the total community and their extended family, says an article in La Nacion, the primary Spanish language newspaper here.
Of course there are North Americans who bought up property to create many gated communities of retired North Americans here, even in Atenas. I’m trying to avoid that. My apartments are gated for security, but we are not all gringo, not all retired, and not all old. I love the mix of peoples, ages, incomes, nationalities and the 300 meter walk to a real town! It is better than a retirement community! At least for me. We have two young couples who go to work daily, a couple of older working people, an unwed young mother with a 2-year old, a community of teenagers next door (New Summit Academy), and all ages of snowbirds. Who knows who will move in when the snowbirds go home in April and May for their summer? We are surrounded by Tico houses plus a church and shopping within walking distance! It is a good balance.