charliedoggett.net
And now we welcome the new year. Full of things that have never been.
Rainer Maria Rilke
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| Where some of the Cubans slept at the Costa Rica Immigration, Penas Blanca. Most are away from the border in tent camps or old school buildings. The cans are for donations to their cause. |
Well, sort of. I traveled (Wed 30 Dec) with Walter Ramirez and others to Penas Blanca where thousands of Cuban refugees are in refugee camps near this border with Nicaragua. While the Costa Rica government has spent about $2 million housing and feeding the refugees trying to get to the United States by land, Nicaragua refuses to allow them passage in transit by bus through their country. Costa Rica plans to fly them to El Salvador to continue their bus journey through Mexico but wants them to pay for their own flight cost. And today I learned that the U.S. Congress is finally doing something by offering to help with the cost of the flights (pretty low cost for 15 minute flight).
Okay, the reason we were there is the 90-day Visa Renewal Trip to the border which happens to be a famous or notorious border crossing now. Otherwise, our visa renewal went quickly and smoothly and we actually got back before dark, the first time in my four trips. Hoping this is my last of such trips. If I need to renew it again in March I will plan a trip to see Granada and some of the good bird-watching national parks in Nicaragua. Or I just may do that anyway! 🙂
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| Melvin, 2nd from left, our Nica Helper in the process & Walter in white hat. Plus my traveling companions, 1 Canadian & 6 U.S. Expats. At Penas Blanca, Costa Rica border crossing to Nicaragua. |
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| Rio Corobici where we stop for breakfast and lunch enroute. |
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alphabetized for your easy reference. Please advise if you find that some blogs no longer exist.
Biolley Buzz bcrcoffee.com
Bunky Bartlett http://www.bestofcostarica.org
Carole Connolly http://carolejeanscostaricacapers.com
Claudia Leon http://photoleraclaudinha.smugmug.com/
http://straightline-cmkl.blogspot.com/
Charlie Doggett http://costaricadecisionprocess.blogspot.com/
De La Pura Vida Costa Rica delapuravida.com
Dennis Easters/Pure Life Development http://www.atenasrealestate.cr/index.php/blog
Diane Miskell http://dianascostaricablog.blogspot.com
Going Like Sixty http://goinglikesixty.com
Julie and Rick in Costa Rica http://julieandrickincostarica.blogspot.com/
Marietta Arce http://marisundays.wordpress.com
Mi Chunche michunche.com
Nadine Hays Pisani happierthanabillionaire.com
New Life in Costa Rica http://www.anewlifeincostarica.com/nuevo_vida/
Paul Furlong motorcycle blog http://eyeneo.com/
Pura Vida Mommy puravidamommy.blogspot.com
Rubiatica rubiatica.blogspot.com
Shannon Farley http://enchanting-costarica.com/
Somewhere In Costa Rica http://somewhereincostarica.com
Su Espacio http://www.suespacioatenas.blogspot.com/
The Real Costa Rica blog.therealcostarica.com
The Very Worst Missionary theveryworstmissionary.com
The View From Here theviewfromherecr.blogspot.com
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http://www.ticotimes.net/2015/12/25/photos-christmas-2015
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| Tico Times photos – this of the lighting of tree at Children’s Hospital |
AND MY DAY AFTER CHRISTMAS?
And the crazy thing is that it is during this windy, sometimes dusty period that we have the most tourists and snowbirds trying to get away from cold weather up north. I think I’ve decided I like the rainy season (Jul-Oct) or “green season” better and it’s two shoulder periods (May-Jun & Oct-Nov) which have very little rain but are greener and more pleasant. So for the next 3 months or so we put up with wind, dust and snow birds! Then tranquility begins again! 🙂
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| Christmas Morning Breakfast View |
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| My tamales came from La Coope Supermercado, 2 to a package, 2 meals. |
Here’s a recipe for making Costa Rica Christmas Tamales. (Mine didn’t have as many vegetables.)
And to watch them being made, see this YouTube video of a family making them.
I’m sure the homemade ones are better than the ones I got at the Supermercado, but to be honest, I did not care for them. Mine had very few veggies and only a small piece of pork. The cornmeal and lard wrapping is what I don’t like.To much fat and cholesterol and not that tasty. I had to add sauce. These tamales are not part of my tradition unless I find better tasting ones! And maybe a healthier version?
And some more local Christmas decorations:
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| Maybe typical of governments, but the city hall had one of the few secular Christmas decoration in town plus their decorated tree in the park. This is a very contemporary tree with reindeer of all things! The “Municipal Building” is opposite one corner of Central Park. |
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| And the Catholic Church in center of town had this indoor nativity and an outdoor one with live people at certain times which I never caught. More homes have nativities. Jesus is more popular than Santa here! My nativity collection went fast at the silent auction earlier. |
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| Christmas Dinner with neighbors at Hotel Colinas del Sol nearby. |
There is never an excuse for being lonely here! In fact, I sometimes have to work at finding my needed solitude! 🙂
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| Merry Christmas from my Terrace where I added Poinsettias to a potted palm. A cell phone selfie. |
AND TONIGHT I DID WHAT I WAS TOO SICK TO DO LAST CHRISTMAS EVE! I went to the Christmas Eve Candlelight Service and Lord’s Supper at Iglesia Biblica:
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| It started with some from the Spanish congregation singing two Christmas Songs in Spanish. Beautiful! Then with the help of screens, we sang Christmas Carols, most with one verse in English & repeated in Spanish. Nice! In between the carols the English pastor read portions of the Christmas story from Luke. |
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| We ended with candle-lighting and singing of Silent Night. Then to fellowship hall for punch and Christmas Cookies plus visiting. I decided tonight to start attending regularly again, even though I still don’t care for praise bands or all the Wednesday night Bible studies (too complicated to explain). But I need the Christian fellowship! |
“It came without ribbons! It came without tags!
It came without packages, boxes or bags!
Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before!
‘Maybe Christmas’ he thought, ‘doesn’t come from a store…
Maybe Christmas perhaps… means a little bit more!'”
– Dr. Seuss
A STAR WARS Christmas Present . . .
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| Me and Jason with BB-8 at theater. |
One of my Spanish language helpers, Jason Quesada in Atenas, has so far not accepted payment by the hour, just lunches, etc. So for his Christmas gift, regalo de Navidad, I took him with me by bus to Alajuela to see his first ever Star Wars movie. Hard to imagine not having the background of 6 previous movies, but he enjoyed it and I guess the plot kind of stands alone with me giving him a little background on who some of the characters are and a little of what happened in the past.
The new theater is nicer than any I have been to in the States! I bought our tickets electronically with a credit card at kiosk out front not knowing what “Premier” meant, but I chose it because the sound tract was in English with Spanish subtitles. I’m not yet ready for the one with Spanish voices dubbed in.
VIP TREATMENT IN LUXURY!
Well we were both shocked! When we gave the ticket taker our tickets he did not point or give directions to our theater but personally escorted us to the Premier door and introduced us to a hostess.
We entered the VIP private lounge area with restaurant as well as usual movie snacks and luxurious seats around little tables and a bar with bar stools. We were given a menu with a great selection including alcoholic drinks and told we could take the menu to our seats and they would come take our order. Shucks! We had already gotten popcorn and cokes at the regular people snack stand in main lobby. So we decided we might eat lunch in the lounge after the movie.
Then our hostess led us up a short flight of stairs to the Premier Balcony with giant lounge chairs with electronic controls to lift the foot rest or lean back and a little fold out table for food in addition to the built-in drink holder. Wide aisles and lots of space for the recliners! She checked on us twice during the movie to see if we needed anything. Wow! I can’t wait to go back and order from my seat or eat lunch during a movie! But lunch in the lounge after the movie was great too! This is livin!
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| One little corner of the mall just outside the theater with one of about 6 3-story Christmas Trees. No shopping for me today. They have finished widening the street out front which helps traffic! The snow park is open outside and an amusement park is on the roof with a giant Ferris Wheel seen as you drive up. Amazing! It is the largest mall in Costa Rica and second largest in Central America. (One in Panama a tad larger.) |
See also Christianity Today’s online article titled: Why We Get Religious About ‘Star Wars’
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| A new sign just appeared alongside the road I walk to Roca Verde, Calle 8 |
The rough Google translation to English:
The trees are our friends, always await us in the same place.
ADECA
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| My kitchen window friend! |
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| A Hooded Mantis appeared in the dark at my last dinner at Rancho Naturalista No good photos possible |
But what was more entertaining was the group from Denmark on their first night at the lodge. They scrambled all over the dining terrace trying to get photos of this little guy! IN THE DARK! It was funny and of course none of my photos are good, but here’s the experience anyway!
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| They tried so hard they kept scaring the little bug around the terrace. Hope some of them got good photos! |
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| For about two minutes dinner was controlled by a Hooded Mantis |
“Costa Rica supports an enormous variety of wildlife, due in large part to its geographic position between the North and South American continents, its neotropical climate, and its wide variety of habitats. Costa Rica is home to more than 500,000 species, which represents nearly 4% of the total species estimated worldwide, making Costa Rica one of the 20 countries with the highest biodiversity in the world. Of these 500,000 species, a little more than 300,000 are insects.” ~WIKIPEDIA
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| Photo of one of the many Anthurium flowers growing at Rancho Naturalista, one of my fave get-a-ways now! I was so excited about all the new birds there that I failed to say much about the flowers which were beautiful! |
