Tag: Uncategorized

First to Fourth Place Winners of Casual Conversation Liceo de Atenas, Costa Rica

Winner of the Formal Speech Contest Liceo de Atenas, Costa Rica

One of the students delivering her speech before us judges. Liceo de Atenas, Costa Rica

Recognition of the Blind Student who participated in the speeches. Liceo de Atenas, Costa Rica

Pulling Judge Charlie into the festival picture frame Liceo de Atenas, Costa Rica

For the second day in a row this was a delightful experience with some of the nicest people I have met or worked with anywhere in the world! We had fun and though all could not win first place, all the kids were winners! And they do English better than I do Spanish! Being old is my excuse!  🙂

Golden-hooded Tanager Celeste Mountain Lodge, Bijagua, Costa Rica

Clay-colored Thrush Celeste Mountain Lodge, Bijagua, Costa Rica The National Bird of Costa Rica

Great Kiskadee Celeste Mountain Lodge, Bijagua, Costa Rica

Barred Antshrike Female Celeste Mountain Lodge, Bijagua, Costa Rica

Kiskadee, White-ringed or Social Flycatcher Celeste Mountain Lodge, Bijagua, Costa Rica

Blue & Gold Tanager Celeste Mountain Lodge, Bijagua, Costa Rica

Sepia-capped Flycatcher Maybe Celeste Mountain Lodge, Bijagua, Costa Rica

Yellow-faced Grassquit Celeste Mountain Lodge, Bijagua, Costa Rica

Passerini’s Tanager Female Celeste Mountain Lodge, Bijagua, Costa Rica

Passerini’s Tanager Male Celeste Mountain Lodge, Bijagua, Costa Rica

Black-cheeked Woodpecker Celeste Mountain Lodge, Bijagua, Costa Rica

Yellow-throated Euphonia Celeste Mountain Lodge, Bijagua, Costa Rica

Rufous-tailed Hummingbird Celeste Mountain Lodge, Bijagua, Costa Rica

I saw several other birds and a couple of others I got bad photos of, but these are the ones I’m willing to share!

Therefore I will go a week without making posts since I can’t post photos from my Kindle and don’t know how from phone. Then a lot of catching up with parade tomorrow and 5-day trip to Caribe Friday. Be back the 20th! When computer is suppose to be ready. ?

I will be checking email.

Here’s a new article I just read on a website that has heretofore not been very helpful, but this article is true even if incomplete:  5 Things You Should Know Before Moving to CR
 http://www.expatfocus.com/c/aid=1849/articles/costa-rica/5-things-you-should-know-before-moving-to-costa-rica/%5dhere%5b/url/  It seems to address someone who wants to work here rather than retire here. HERE’S MY SUMMARY:

1. The laid-back culture is really different from the USA and requires an adjustment!
2. The cost of living is not cheaper here unless you choose to live simpler than in states. 
3. Import Taxes are very high, making cars very expensive. Otherwise buy local!
4. Commuting to and from the city of San Jose is expensive and stressful unless you do it by bus. Reconsider if you plan to drive in and out for work!
5. Working here can be legally complicated unless you work online. See a local lawyer first.

And my more practical suggestions for a retiree that I’ve listed before:

• ARCR (Association of Residents of Costa Rica) I joined early on and they have by for been the most helpful with moving, residency preparation, medical, legal and lots of every day practical stuff plus they have a monthly newsletter/magazine with helpful articles. And maybe best of all is their monthly 2-day seminar on living in Costa Rica that I consider almost a requirement for moving here.
• Some kind of relocation tour – there are several – Though the leader is a rather arrogant know-it-all, I found the Living in Costa Rica Tour to be very helpful and it included the ARCR Seminar above
• 10 Qualities of Successful Expats I got from someone else’s blog 
• And on that same blog, 17 Reasons You Should Not Move to Costa Rica  being practical!
• And a similar list from International Living Magazine: Are You Cut Out for the Expat Life?

• Some of my early reasons for considering a move to Costa Rica
• More reasoning in my Costa Rica Decision Process  But really, you need to read the whole first year’s worth of blogs to get the whole picture of what I did and why I moved to Costa Rica
• Some initial nitty gritty questions answered by me

I’m having computer problems and difficulty getting the computer help I’ve paid for but will be back writing more soon. Can’t get to my photos to post any. But I am fine and staying busy with two more trips to Alajuela this week, one for Walmart and one today to visit Escate Animal ZooAve today. A report soon on that. Tomorrow morning the residents of the apartments have a meeting with the attorney of the family that owns the apartments, so we are hoping for the best. I have looked at another rental possibility, but hoping to stay where I am.

More later.   -Charlie

My initial thinking was either Panama or Costa Rica as a retirement home and at first I focused on Panama, my most recent visit. The InternationalLiving site and products were the first ones promising I could live very nicely on my social security check or $1,500 a month in most Latin American countries. Then I found both Panama and Costa Rica sites saying something similarly. My hope were up! I can live a tropical life and have money left to travel to the other countries I don’t live in and all over the one I live in. I subscribed to the InternationalLiving Magazine, which I now would not advise, though I’ve only received one issue. Actually, there is good information, but that organization is pushing buying property and I will definitely rent for many reasons I’ll list later. They also have a free InternationalLiving Postcard (daily email) which has some good stories of people who have retired in many different places around the world, but focused on Latin America which is good for me, but again they are selling something in each email. So I’m learning from these but peeved at the way they keep asking for my money.

The first focus on PANAMA led me to these sites with various amounts of help:

Panama City from Cruise Ship in Canal, Photo by Charlie

So I started searching for COSTA RICA information and found much more:

“Blue Jeans Frog: in Tortuguero by Charlie