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Today’s Alajuela Adventures

I travel by bus to our province’s capital every week or two, mainly for Aerocasillas & Walmart. Here’s today’s story with phone pix:

Iglesia Bautista 1946, Alajuela
I got the 9 AM bus to Alajuela ($1.43) and it got there in 30 minutes, the fastest time yet! Walking from the Alajuela bus terminal to Aerocasillas, as always, I saw for the first time the Baptist Church of Alajuela. I have walked by it before without noticing the small “Iglesia Bautista 1946” sign. It was started when I was just 6 years old! I know it is the date because we don’t use house numbers here! It is behind and overshadowed by the Alajuela Cathedral pictured in my January 15 post. 

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!

Then around the corner from Aerocasillas are two of my favorite landmarks and the cab stand:

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!
Maybe I’ll show a photo of the Walmart sometime, but it is just a big box! Today I walked across the street from Walmart to a new modern strip center with several nice restaurants. I chose Mexican, Taconteinto. It was very good and very expensive!
Then another cab back to the bus station where I just barely caught it as leaving and packed full. The first time I have had to stand all the way to Atenas, well, nearly all the way. Between La Garita and Atenas our bus broke down and we all had to stand on the side of the road at a partly covered bus stop for 20+ minutes waiting for a replacement bus to pick us up. We were all patient. “These things happen!” People don’t get bent out of shape when things go wrong here. Everyone just visited or used their cell phones. And 20-30 minutes for a replacement bus is actually pretty quick!
Waiting for a replacement bus on the western edge of La Garita. 

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The Humble and The Proud

Atenas Correos (Post Office)

Atenas Banco Nacional

Both the post office and this particular bank are government owned and operated. (There are some private banks and courier services in Costa Rica.) But the contrast in these two government businesses is great in my opinion.

My service was quicker, simpler, and more friendly in the humble post office, an old building on a side street between small businesses. My PO Box was secured in less than 15 minutes while the friendly clerk helped other customers who came in. He even showed me how the envelopes should be addressed as I demostrated yesterday. And he smiled!

On the same day (Tuesday) I spent two hours at the bank (after an hour of preparation and taking an attorney and a stack of documents with me). There were few smiles and many demands. I was scheduled to be trained today in using my account but that was postponed until Monday because Ricardo, who does the training in English, had to substitute for a cashier out sick. But the proud building is new, modern and beautiful! It is located on the square or central park opposite the old catholic church, easy to find, and at the center of the town’s activity. Money rules here too! I already like the Post Office better!  But I need both!   🙂
Whoever exalts himself will be humbled,  
and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.    
Jesus in Matthew 23:12
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2 Month Anniversary: Bank Account & PO Box

Boyero Monument
A National Monument to the early years work of oxcarts and their drivers
It is on the old highway from San Jose to the beaches where many saw it
as they entered Atenas, home of the Annual April Atenas Oxcart Parade.
Expect oxcart photos in April!  🙂

I arrived in Atenas on December 24, 2014, two months ago today! I celebrated in two ways:

  1. I OPENED A BANK ACCOUNT at Banco Nacional to include a debit card and electronic banking. I get my debit card and electronic account connection tomorrow along with training in how to use both (“bring your laptop”). Neat! Never got training in the states! It took nearly two hours at the bank, my local lawyer with me, stacks of paperwork, plus I still have to provide proof of income which I was not told earlier. 
  2. I GOT A P.O. BOX at the Atenas Post Office which I now prefer you to use instead of the one I gave before arriving. It was the apartment’s PO Box and works, but the apartment management has to deliver mail to me which could be another delay :-)!  Below is the exact way the Post Office asks that you address letters to me. So you understand the strange order and double-Atenas: Atenas is a pueblo (small town) in the Canton of Atenas, in the District of Atenas, in the Province of Alajuela in the country of Costa Rica. And yes, they say put the postal code BEFORE the country name of Costa Rica. Mail did get to me with the other address form, so don’t worry. And I prefer that you not use the Miami address since letters are costing me $1.50 each and I have to travel to Alajuela (the city) to pick them up. And packages via Miami require an invoice to declare the customs value (or you send me a scan of invoice). I’m not sure yet how Customs and the Post Office work together here, but I will find out! Others do get packages via Post Office. The Miami address is perfect for my internet orders which may be the primary use and for some other U.S. businesses. The U.S. Post Office now has one international postage stamp (round) that costs $1.10 for any country in the world for most letter weights. Letters can arrive in one week or four weeks, who knows why?  UPS or FedEx packages will have to go to the Miami address for now until I learn how to get them locally. Here’s my new postal mail address: 
Sr. Charlie Doggett   (The P.O. put that “Senor” in front of my name! 🙂
Apdo. 441-4013
Alajuela, Atenas, Atenas
20501 COSTA RICA
How’s that for an anniversary celebration? I forgot to take my phone this morning, so no photo of bank or post office yet, but I may add those tomorrow, as both buildings are revealing. 
And if you didn’t get MY PHONE NUMBER from an earlier post, it is still 011-506-8410-9916 with the 011 getting you out of the U.S., 506 the country code, and though some instructions say use a cell phone code, don’t – it is just the first four digits of the number. The above # should work. 
Well, not as pretty tonight as all the bird photos, but that is life!

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Last 4 Tarcoles Birds

You can see all the birds in my Tarcoles Gallery or wait until the last week of March when I’ll be at Tarcoles again with Kevin this time. Enjoy these then I’ll go back to blogging about life in Atenas.

White Ibis
Tarcoles River, Costa Rica

Brown Pelican
Tarcoles River, Costa Rica

Green Heron
Tarcoles River, Costa Rica
Northern Jacana
Tarcoles River, Costa Rica
“The bird of paradise alights only upon the hand that does not grasp.”
John Berry
My Trip Advisor Review of this trip with photos!

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. 

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Tarcoles Trees

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!

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More Tarcoles Pix

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.

Explanation of trashy, muddy banks of river: it was at low tide. We were near mouth of river where it empties into the Pacific Ocean. This is the same river that my neighbor from Spain is building a dam on, further inland of course. We nature lovers don’t like the dams, but it is one of very few in Costa Rica.

My Trip Advisor Review of this trip with photos!

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Tarcoles River

Great Blue Heron Catches Catfish for Lunch
Tarcoles River, Costa Rica

I was asked to take a friend of a friend birding today (Friday). I gave several choices and he chose Tarcoles River because of the closeness for a day trip (in his rent car). I have dozens of photos to show and will continue tomorrow. Above is a special one you don’t have the opportunity for very often, watching a bird catch a fish!

I’ll show two more tonight with more tomorrow:
Common Black Hawk in Flight, Tarcoles River, Costa Rica
Baby Iguana, Tarcoles River, Costa Rica

This is what I moved here for – just been too busy to do much yet. Expect much more in the future! Above is just 3 of 500 images made today.  🙂   Pura Vida!

My Trip Advisor Review of this trip with photos!

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La Muchacha

West End 3rd floor landing balcony, La Muchacha & door to my apartment.

In the dictionary, “muchacha” is just another Spanish word for girl, but in real life Costa Rica it is more; what the young men call a good-looking young lady, like “chick” in the states. My taxi driver in a barrio of San Jose whistled at a couple of teenage girls, looked at me, smiled, and said “Barrio’s Muchachas!” Well, we have one at Hacienda La Jacaranda too – at my front door!
“Muchacha” is what two-year old Matthaeus in the apartments calls the only statue in our building. It is a wood carving of a nude girl (sun worshipping?) that stands on the west end 3rd floor landing right across from my front door and and my neighbor’s door. Hmmmmm . . . you say! Well, it’s just art! Phons, the previous owner, loved nudes! (Has more around his house.) And I didn’t put it there! Wait until you see the paintings he put in my living room! But for now enjoy these photos of Matthaeus’ Muchacha! 🙂 Our wooden chick!
Carved from one piece of wood, dated 2004.

Looks like sun worshipping to me!

You hardly notice it when you walk up the hill.
Today I had lunch with a couple and their lady friend from New Jersey. Tomorrow I’m taking the retired man birding on the Tarcoles River. My first time to get that far away from Atenas for nature photography. I’m looking forward to it. Lots of birds tomorrow!

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Jubilado!

Jubilado is the most common word used here to name or describe a retired person (Jubilada for feminine). Even though there is a Spanish word that sounds more like our English “Retired” (retirarse), no one uses it here – always jubilado(a)! It comes from the root noun jubilo, “jubilation or joy,” and the corresponding adjective jubiloso(a), “jubilant, joyful.” And in the land of Pura Vida, what a great way to describe retirement! And it is becoming pure joy for me!

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.

Some believe in destiny, and some believe in fate
I believe that happiness is something we create
Line from Sugarland’s song 
“Something More”

Happy to be a Jubilado!
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Day of the Iguana! And Eating Report . . .

Spiny-tailed Iguana in Downtown Atenas

I’ve seen one on the apartment grounds, a female with a nest we think, but very skittish and never close enough to photograph. Today I saw this Spiny-tailed Iguana on the back side of ICE, the electric and cell phone company, on the base of their tower. It’s a cell phone image. There are three kinds of iguanas in Costa Rica, Green, Spiny-tailed, and Helmeted. On earlier trips I always saw mostly the Green Iguana and maybe a few spiny-tailed, but never a helmeted yet.

Eating Report . . .
And unrelated to the iguana, except it was on the same walk, I photographed my lunch plate at La Trocha del Boyero. My first time to eat there and I got a typical Tico lunch plate called a “Casado.” It is another one of the better restaurants that I will return to. They also have the reputation of “the best steak in town.” Maybe someday when I’m really hungry! You can get a casado like this for $4 in the little corner “Sodas” (Mom & Pop cafes) or about $5 at El Mejor Clima Restaurant. This nicer placed charged $8. But I got real china and a linen tablecloth! And a nice patio with many plants on a quiet street with just me and one other party at the time. And I read another chapter in the latest book.
Typical Costa Rican Lunch
Fried sea bass, onions, peppers, beans, rice, fried plantains, plantain fritters, and salad. 
La Trocha del Boyero, Atenas, Costa Rica
Covered Outdoor Patios are the most common style restaurant here.

And for Supper . . .

Since I’m on food, let me tell you about my “light” supper. When I buy fresh fruit now, it is usually too much to eat all fresh, so I cut up some and put in sandwich baggies in the freezer. Then; like tonight, I sometimes make a fresh fruit smoothie with some frozen fruits rather than ice cubes. Tonight’s was frozen pineapple, papaya, and strawberries with a not-frozen banana, a small container of yogurt, and some chilled guanabana drink for the liquid (I make this from the pulp of guanabanas and keep in frig as another drink choice along with a similar one from mango pulp). My supper smoothie all blended together to the texture of an icy milkshake and was really yummy! With that I ate a slice of watermelon and a little peanut butter sandwich on whole grain “fruit bread.” That’s like raisin bread with more than raisins and in the whole grain bread! Eating is fun here! And I am not losing weight! But I walk enough to not be gaining weight! 3.5 miles today, 5.5 yesterday! My phone measures mileage, along with being my camera, portable Kindle, calendar, and other neat tools. Life is good! Pura Vida!

“If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, 
it would be a merrier world.” 
― J.R.R. Tolkien