Tag: triathlon

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New Neighborhood Swimming Pool

Complete with Racing Lanes, It opened this morning for an event.
I think it is a private club promoting triathlons, but no sure.
Atenas, Costa Rica

See my March 6 post on the construction of this commercial facility, complete with sign describing the purpose of it. I think the early morning event here was a small triathlon for primary school children, probably to promote the facility and gain membership. My neighbor walked by between 7:30 and 8:00 this morning seeing a couple of hundred parents and children here and then later saw the children running through town. I missed the activity but cellphone photoed the pool that I walk past every day on my way to town. There is a high interest in health and sports here, though not a lot can afford a private club, if that is what it is. 

Triathlon “Motivational Quote”
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Commercialism Creeping In!

Construction has begun in a large vacant lot behind one high school.
And they cut down at least 8 large trees! Sob, sob! Sign enlsrged below.
Atenas, Costa Rica

Basically a Membership Health Club focused on Triathlon Athletes
 It appears to be mainly a large swimming pool and track for running and bicycles.
Atenas, Costa Rica
We have other public and private parks/gyms/pools in town but this looks like it will be the nicest and of course the newest! The title “Academia Just4Fun” in English sounds like a chain of businesses and maybe North American with that English name. I expect to learn more in time. It is only about 400 – 500 meters from my house.

CULTURAL RAMBLING:
We are slowly becoming more than a sleepy little farm town, good or bad. At least there are no typical U.S. fast food places yet! Welllll . . . Atenas does have a POPS Ice Cream Parlor which is owned by Pops Costa Rica, but it is something like a franchise from General Mills USA and modeled after the Pops Ice Cream Parlors in Virginia, but locally owned like the franchised McDonald’s in the bigger cities (and tourist towns) of Costa Rica.

My observation is that Fried Chicken and Ice Cream are possibly the two top comfort foods in Costa Rica and it interested me to see that all the stand-alone McDonald’s in San Jose and Alajuela have two separate windows and lines for nothing but their soft-serve ice cream! And there is nearly always two ice cream lines waiting from around 9:30 or 10:00 in the morning when they quit serving much breakfast. Ice Cream Rules! Although there are a lot of KFC’s in the cities, they have more competition than McDonald’s with many Latin American Fried Chicken (el pollo frito) franchises. There are major fried chicken chains from Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Mexico. So the Colonel has to work harder here!  🙂   And yes, the traditionally thin Costa Rican (Tico/Tica) is beginning to get heavier, though not as fat as North Americans. And the popularity of hamburgers (hamburguesas) is growing with several local Tico restaurants having them! And they are good! And pizza is following!

See also my general Atenas photo gallery, People & Fiestas,  Public Art & Graffiti Atenas, and/or my Flora & Forests Walking in Atenas photo galleries. I live in a very nice little coffee farming town in the Central Valley, 45 minutes to an hour from the capital that I am afraid is getting too popular with expats from the north. Too many gringos can destroy the local culture. Especially some from the states who try to make everything be “like America.” If you want that, stay there! 🙂