Social Networking in Atenas

I want to apologize for being on the lazy side and not writing, but we have been having a LOT of visitors visiting our lovely little part of paradise. We have also my father in law visiting for the past two months. So we have been getting out a whole lot more and exploring the country. Once things settle down, I will be writing more posts. 

But in the mean time I am honored to share blog posts from some good friends of mine like Jen Jen and today I am sharing from my dear friend Pat over at "Mi Chunche" (http://www.michunche.com) 

With that, I am am glad to introduce my friend Pat and her post "Social Networking in Atenas."

Social Networking in Atenas

When we moved to Atenas, I found our little town lacked an interactive resource for sharing community information. There is a monthly newsletter published in English, and a telephone directory (yellow and white pages) that is sent out by email to most of the Expats in the area. But what was really needed was a place for folks to share information about the Atenas area.
Those of you that know me, know I’ve always been into data processing in some form or another, so it was a natural step for me to try and find a solution. Since we have been using Facebook for a few years to keeps tabs on everyone, and stay in touch with what’s happening in the lives of our family and friends, I thought Facebook could be a workable solution for Atenas residents.

So, about a year ago, I created a Facebook group called Atenas Costa Rica Info and it took off like wildfire. We now have 235 members and folks are sharing everything from the latest lost puppy to where to buy the best seafood. Let me tell you, social networking is very much alive and well here in Costa Rica! I love the info that is being shared. Some folks post links to personal blog posts, while others share nature photos and videos. There are constant discussions on the things like the best place for a pizza, or a hamburger, or where to get a small engine repaired.

A natural spin off to this group was the second Facebook group I created called Atenas Costa Rica Classifieds. This group is a place to list items for sale, in search of items, garage/contents sales, apartment/condo/house rentals, real estate, businesses, restaurants, products and services, job postings, etc. So far, this group has 129 members, with more joining all the time.

As time has passed, I found Facebook is extremely limited because it is not a searchable database. It is designed for social networking. This past June, I created a new forum for the Atenas community to provide the features lacking in Facebook. The forums give us a place to discuss organized topics. It supports multiple categories, polling on topics, private messaging, and many more features. It is searchable, so folks can always go back and find old topics. This doesn’t replace the Facebook group, it just supplements it. Here is a link to the forums at Atenas Costa Rica Info Forums

It has been fun for me to manage the Facebook groups and the forums. They don’t take a lot of time. They pretty much take care of themselves and I’ve only had to ban a couple of spammers. The positive feedback from the Atenas community has been overwhelming. It’s nice to have my efforts appreciated, and I’m happy to be involved like this in our community.

If you are interested in the Atenas Costa Rica Community, join our groups.

Seven Reasons Not to Become an Expat

We love living the expat life. The following is from "Adventures in Expat Land" and is a great post for anyone thinking of being an expat. We are living the dream, so can you, you just need to make it possible to do so. Where there is a will, there is a way. As in our case, having God on your side and it being His will also helps a lot. 

 

Oh, the picture is me standing up at the crater at Poas Volcano. There is a lot to see and do here, you just got to do it.

So please enjoy the following post... 

Seven Reasons Not to Become an Expat

 

Many people harbor a secret dream of trading in their current life to become an expat. Making a break and moving abroad.

 

Not surprisingly, the frequency of such dreams tends to spike after you return from a wonderful vacation overseas.

 

Who doesn’t know someone who has sighed and murmured, ‘What I wouldn’t give to live in such an amazing place like Provence/Rome/Tahiti/fill-in-the-blank?’

 

But before you decide to chuck it all and head for a new life overseas, you might want to consider what’s really going on.

 

Here are my top seven reasons NOT to become an expat: 

 

1. You’re ready for the ‘easy’ life. Sorry, for most of us, it doesn’t exist. If you live in Fairbanks Alaska or Aberdeen Scotland, I totally get how too many hard winters might drive you to a warmer locale. Why do you think we refer to Americans and Canadians who head south in winter ‘snow birds’?

Maybe you’ve bought into the idea that life in a tropical paradise is everything you’ll ever want: relaxing, rejuvenating, stress-free. Or you want to move to a quaint country village with the idea of living life at a slower pace. Admirable goals. But behind the easy going facade of most places, the day to day reality can be quite different. What you thought was relaxing might actually turn out to be boring; what you once considered a leisurely pace may be more of a snail’s pace.
Life is rarely what it seems. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have all of the people who thought it would be great to own a bar/restaurant/bed-and-breakfast only to learn it really meant long hours, hard work, miniscule profits, rare days off, getting up early, staying up late, making beds, cleaning bathrooms, and so on. 

2. You expect to replicate your current life, and just add travel. Not going to happen. Oh sure, depending on where you move, you may be able to achieve a similar lifestyle. And for the lucky few, you may find a higher quality of life than you left behind. But for many, perhaps most, their way of life changes quite a bit. So if you dream of moving overseas and still living exactly as you do now, doing exactly the same activities, you may be disappointed.
What seems like a ‘must have, must do’ in one culture may not even be an option in another.  Which means recognizing that you probably have to leave behind your former way of life. 

3. You’re unhappy with your life. Whether it’s your never-satisfied boss in your demanding drudge of a job, your inability to stomach one more day of carpooling through bumper-to-bumper traffic, or your irritating next-door neighbor that has put you over the edge, it probably isn’t enough to justify turning your world upside down, packing up and moving halfway around the world to start over. Not if you expect everything to magically straighten itself out.
Running away sounds good in theory, but rarely works in real life. Regardless of the origin of that famous quote (Buddhism? Confucius? Buckaroo Bonzai?) it’s absolutely true: no matter where you go, there you are. 

4. You can live cheaply and save a ton of money. Perhaps in some places. But more than likely, this won’t be the case. In some areas, costs are considerably higher than ‘back home,’ or the taxes are more onerous.
For those places where the cost of living really is significantly lower, then you need to ask yourself why that’s the case. You may find that things are cheaper, but the selection is poor. Or local jobs pay significantly less than you’d hoped.
Maybe you’re hoping you can choose the right place abroad to make more money doing the same type of job you’re currently doing. Possibly. Just remember that when salaries and wages are higher, there’s usually a good reason: the weather is atrocious part/some/all of the year, rental/sales options on property may be limited, there’s a lack of decent schools, traffic is horrendous, the air and/or water quality are iffy, it’s challenging/boring/dangerous to live there. There’s some reason why employers have to pay more, other than out of the goodness of their hearts.
Oh, and if average earnings are high, you can bet that costs for available consumer and other goods are higher, too. Funny how the marketplace works like that. 

5. Let’s just go, we’ll find work once we’re there. Maybe. But maybe not. I recognize that some expats have the luxury of being able to work anywhere in the world. (And for many of them, the caveat is ‘as long as the internet connection holds up’, which may prove to be a little dicey.)
For others, they figure it will be easier to approach employment agencies, contact companies, apply for positions and get interviews if they are actually there. That may well be true. But for every expat-to-be who has taken this tactic and succeeded, there are another dozen who run out of time, money or patience and head home.
Keep in mind that it isn’t always easy to get approval to work in a foreign country, let alone find actual work. That nasty credit crisis that has wracked the economies of so many countries is global. Companies in many countries have cut back hiring or been forced to lay off employees.
And those companies that have traditionally employed lots of expats? Many have cut back on expat packages – forcing current expats to choose between converting to ‘local hire’ status and losing some of their previous benefits and allowances for such things as housing, school and transportation costs or being let go. 

6. It’ll be just like it was on vacation. No, it won’t. Not to say that it might not be great, but you can’t expect to replicate the carefree relaxation of vacation because it isn’t vacation. By definition a vacation is an escape from everyday life; if this is your new daily life, it isn’t always going to seem vacation-like.
When you’re soaking up the rays poolside at that great rental property in Tuscany, shuttling by Vespa into town for casual dinners of handmade pasta and a carafe of the local red wine, it’s easy to assume you could live like that all the time. Until you find out that riding a scooter the 3 miles into town isn’t fun mid-winter with howling frigid winds, and the darn thing only seems to work on alternating weekdays anyway.
Or that you don’t become best friends with your neighbors because they’re too busy farming the land or working in town to hang out with you, let alone spend hours helping you improve your language skills.
When you were on vacation, you never had to worry about fixing the leaky water heater or maintaining the yard or garden or paying the confusing tax bill or trying to find a reputable local contractor to help with the repairs and renovations you find yourself knee-deep in. 

7. It sounds like fun, so why not try it? Well, yes and no. It can be fun. And exciting, educational, eye-opening, energizing, amazing.
It can also be uprooting, disruptive, alienating, challenging, lonely and just plain hard work.
Much has been written about the transitional phases of dealing with expat life. Labels differ according to various experts, but essentially the stages are:

• honeymoon: everything’s so new and exciting!
• disillusion: why do they do it this way? back home we always/never…, why is everything so hard?
• bottoming out: feeling anything from moody to irritable to withdrawn to unhappy to angry to mildly depressed, and occasionally worse
• acceptance: it is what it is so I’d better make peace with it, learning to appreciate the differences, looking for the positives and not dwelling on the negatives
• flourishing: embracing what makes your expat home unique, making the most of what it has to offer, building a life that is engaging and satisfying and rewarding

These stages have been identified and discussed precisely because most people tend to go through them. Maybe not in exactly the same sequence or for the same amount of time. It may take one person six months to work their way through the phases,  another a year, someone else longer.
So in light of all this, would I still recommend becoming an expat? That depends.
IF you can:

• let go of the fantasy of the seven reasons I’ve listed above;
• conduct the necessary research about the potential places you’re seriously considering both to evaluate and then to prepare;
• carry out the personal soul-searching about your motivations and whether you’re truly ready, willing AND able to embrace the roller coaster of change coming your way;
• commit to riding out the tough times with a sense of humor or zen-like acceptance (and preferably both);
• realize that you will likely have to give up some of the old (the familiarity of your routine, the closeness of existing friendships, seeing family as often as you may like, etc.) in order to pave the way for the new;
• understand that it may not be forever, but just a phase in your life;
• and you STILL feel a sense of excitement and wonder at seeing life through the lens of another country and culture…

Then welcome to Expat Land!

Source = http://www.adventuresinexpatland.com/wp/2011/03/26/seven-reasons-not-to-become-an-expat/

I’m living in a 3rd world country?

I wanted to post the following from our friend JenJen. She is also a new expat and this was such a great article. What people do not understand is that Costa Rica is not a 3rd world country. It is an up and coming or developing country. 

 

JenJen runs her blog CostaRicaChica and this is where I read this great article. 

 

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I’m living in a 3rd world country?

 

Well, of course the culture is different here, I mean, I’m in a foreign country, right?  And as some people would remind me…  I’m in a 3^rd world country (thanks, Mom).  But it’s true.  Well, technically, “3^rd world country” is a bit of an outdated term, I guess these days Costa Rica would be more classified as an “underdeveloped country”, but even that is hard to fathom when you think of the world class hospitals throughout the country and cities like Escazu (American-style shopping & restaurants).  I like to think of Costa Rica as more of a “developing country”.  In any case, one of the reasons we picked Grecia as the town to start out in, is because it is a small, local town – I haven’t seen any tourism here, and it just seems to be more real and authentic to the local customs and way of living.  I really have not even been here a full month yet, but here’s my observations thus far…

The people here are amazing.  When we see someone while walking by on the street in the morning, we say “Buenos Dias” (good morning) or “Buenos” (short for “buenos dias”), and they always respond in kind and with a smile.  It is known, that if we do not do this, we may appear as “frightened/leery/anxious American tourists”.  Also we learned to not say “Hola” (Hi) as a greeting, unless we’re prepared to sit down and have a nice long chat.  “Buenos” (or “Buenas” in afternoon/evening) is more of a greeting to say in passing, or we can also say “Adios” – which to us Americans means “good bye” – but here it is used in passing, like “hello & good bye” (I don’t want to sit and chat, but wanted to acknowledge you).  It’s little nuances like this that we have learned already, and I’m sure there are TONS more…
After meeting someone for the first time, the next time we meet, they greet me with a kiss on the cheek (just one kiss, on the right cheek). This is the custom here, and seems so endearing to me.  It’s just more personal than a hug, you know?  Even teenagers and little kids do it – it’s so sweet.  I truly love that I’ve been greeted like this already, and I have greeted (or said goodbye) to people with a kiss already.   Here I am with a model I hired, demonstrating the kiss on the right cheek (said model would not keep his hands off my hips, I do NOT think that’s part of the local custom here…).

The babies and children here – are very well behaved.  NEVER have I heard a screaming tantrum in a store, or in public.   In the park, kids play together well and run around, like normal, and have fun, but it never gets out of control (amazingly enough).  I’m not sure what the differences are exactly – but somehow the Costa Rican people raise their kids to be more respectful, from a very early age.  One friend told me he thinks one reason is because they hold their babies facing out (to see the world), instead of facing inwards…  Food for thought.

There are dogs everywhere here – roaming freely (some are owned, and some are not, but they all seem to roam freely).  At first it is hard to get used to, and I felt so bad for all them…  but now am coming to realize that it is a good life for them – simple and free and they are happy.  And they all seem to get fed, trust me.  They know to get off the road when a car is coming.  As our pal Richard says “the only dead dogs you see on the side of the road are dumb ones” (NOTE:  we haven’t seen ANY).  And we have not seen any aggressive dogs either.  On our hikes we encounter many dogs, but they just usually come up to within 10 feet of us, maybe do a little “soft barking”, and then let us walk by…   I’ve never felt fearful of a dog at all here.

I haven’t seen any homeless people here in Grecia.  I’m sure they are here??  But I, at least, haven’t seen any thus far (San Jose is a different story).
It’s rare to see trash anywhere.  It’s so clean here!   And I never really see people picking trash up, either (although I’m sure they must).  I think people here are just more clean and respectful of their environment.
If someone comes up to you trying to sell you something (happens sometimes in the park) – it’s better to not give an affirmative “no” or “no, thanks” but instead say “otro dia” (maybe another day)…  For some reason saying a point blank “NO” is almost rude or offensive AND it is hard for them to accept, so they don’t go away, they keep asking you again.  It’s like they can’t take “no” for an answer.  We have learned to say “otro dia” from our friend (thanks, Lair!), and it works well.
Pedestrians do NOT have the right of way here.  You really need to watch out for yourself while walking around in town and crossing roads, etc.  Sometimes, we do find a car driver will slow down and wave us through, but this is definitely the exception here.  As long as you know this, it’s not a problem.
Costa Ricans appear to be very hard working.  I have not met anyone who is lazy here.  While walking around, we always see people working in their yards or gardens;  sweeping or mopping their tiled patio’s; doing laundry and hanging it out to dry (dryers are rare here, most people hang their wash on lines or even bushes(!) to dry).
There is barbed wire and fences and gates everywhere here.  That, along with the dogs, does seem to deter petty theft, but I also think it’s “just how it is” here.  Like in Dallas, Texas – everyone seems to have a fenced in backyard.  I thought that was weird when I moved there from Wisconsin – in Wisconsin no one has a fenced in backyard.  So, again, once you get used to it, it’s no big deal.

barbed wire…

Fences and gates surround most houses here.

The local people (called “tico’s”) are really and truly genuinely NICE people.  We run into people all the time – on the bus, in the stores, at soda’s (café’s) and at the pharmacy (when I tripped & fell on my face and totally scraped my knee up).  Our first time coming home from town on the bus, we were nervous about knowing when to get off, and this sweet lady just seemed to sense our nervousness and started talking to us.  She knew English (pretty darn well!) and she tried to help us, asking where we lived, etc.  So nice!  Most of the time if you ask the locals if they know any English – they will say “oh no…  just a little English”, etc. – but it’s not true!  They start talking and they carry on the whole conversation with us in English!  They are very modest.  When we go in soda’s (always good, by the way) – we always start by greeting in Spanish, and trying to say what we want in Spanish, and it seems like as soon as they know we are making an EFFORT to talk in Spanish, they are so helpful and sweet, and help us with the words and then they start saying stuff in English, which is even more helpful!  It really amazes me – because here we are – foreign people (“gringo’s”) – living in their land – and they are totally kind and gracious to us!  Not sure the same can be said about some people in the U.S….
When one of my aunt’s first found out I was moving to Costa Rica, she was worried about me standing out with my fair features and said “well I hope she’s getting contacts and dying her hair!”…  which I found funny and sweet, but of course had not even considered.  Well, we found her fear to be totally unfounded.  The people here are really so courteous and nice, and it appears that they truly LIKE gringo’s (or at least they like us…  or maybe they’re just scared of my hubby.).  Here’s a picture from the bus we were on the other day…  you can see Costa Ricans look mainly just like us (at least from the back).  Although I guess Greg & I do kind of stand out (Greg being tall and me getting blonder by the day).  Ah, well…

That’s all for now folks!

Peace! — JenJen

25 Sure Signs You Are Becoming Accustomed to Life in Rural Costa Rica

I saw this and had to post it to our blog.

We live in Atenas and it is pretty rural.

It ain't the sticks, but the population is not very high and most people work in the agricultural arena
Please feel free to add your “Sure Signs” in the comments section below. Pura vida!

25 Sure Signs You Are Becoming Accustomed to Life in Rural Costa Rica

1. You were never considered a “morning person,” but now you don’t even require an alarm clock; the sun beaming into your bedroom window and the birds chirping wake you up quite consistently. And they require no electricity (see Sure Sign #2).

2. You stop assuming water and electricity are available every day. Instead, when you wake up, you switch on the light and faucet to see if either or both are working. You learn to keep an extra bottle of water (or five) handy.

3. Butterflies are a part of your bedroom decor. Not the plastic or fabric kind; the flying, fluttering, living kind.

4. When you see a few ants floating in your tea, you don’t dump the tea; you spoon the ants out and keep drinking.

5. You take your rain jacket or an umbrella everywhere. Even when the sun is shining.

6. You stop cursing the rain and are actually grateful for it. It is, after all, the reason much of Costa Rica is such a gorgeous green.

7. You schedule outdoor activities some time between 6 AM and 1 PM.

8. Instead of squashing the creepy crawlies you find in your house, you either let them be, chase them outside, or capture and release them. Advanced move: You lean in for a closer look to see what new creatures you are sharing your home with.

9. You put meetings on hold to see what species of bird is singing outside the office.

10. You stop wearing moisturizer. All of that moisture in the air is doing a damn good (and free) job of keeping your skin hydrated.

11. Your decision about what to wear involves this rule: If there are no visible stains on an article of clothing and you don’t cringe when smelling it, it’s clean.

12. You stop gripping the seat, door, or dash every time you get in any type of transportation. Or you at least lessen your grip a bit.

13. When you wake up to an unknown insect crawling on your arm, you don’t shriek; you brush it off and go back to sleep.

14. You stop buying all your fruit from the store and start pulling it from the trees.

15. You stop expecting people to show up “on time” and you switch your internal clock to Tico Time. If you really need someone to meet you at a specific time, you tell them a time earlier than your actual meeting time.

16. You have more bug bites than freckles.

17. You always have rice ready.

18. When you are out on a jog and hear a low, barking sound, you don’t look around on the ground for a dog; you look up in the trees for the howler monkeys.

19. You wash your clothes at least two days in advance of when you need them to account for the time it will take for them to dry.

20. Your front door is wide open most hours of the day. So are all of your windows. Advanced move: you live in a house where some doors and windows don’t have glass or screens or any way to *close* them.

21. You accept that seat numbers and bus tickets are not equivalent to the amount of people you can fit on the bus. You can always fit one more person on the bus.

22. You are that one more person trying to fit on the bus.

23. You have mastered the art of standing in the aisle of the bus. Advanced move: you have mastered sleeping while standing in the aisle of the bus.

24. When you go to a soda for a meal, you don’t ask for a menu; you ask what they have in their kitchen today.

25. You give – and follow – directions that include neither exact addresses nor street names, but instead involve descriptions of parks, colors of buildings, and that store over there.


This post is dedicated to anyone who has lived, worked, or played in rural Costa Rica. A special thanks to my Hojancha ohana – Charlotte, Anais, Jessica, Lara, Hanna, Maria, Bram, Guillaume, FX, Teniko, DJ, Marcus, and Scott – who have contributed (intentionally or otherwise!) to the creation of this list.
Originally posted -- http://sunnyamfitzgerald.com/2013/07/03/25-sure-signs-you-are-becoming-accustomed-to-life-in-rural-costa-rica-2/

Our First Boarder Run - Nicaragua

 Last weekend we made our first boarder run. We need to do this every 90 days till we are able to put in for residency (which is another blog post in and of itself)

We heard about a great tour to Rio Indo Lodge (http://www.therioindiolodge.com) 

It was an incredible adventure and one we will not forget, if ever. Yea, that memorable.

I want to share what Tracye wrote about our trip, she does a great job of nailing it. 

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I am posting pictures of the beautiful very remote jungle lodge we flew to today, had lunch, returned home and are good to go for another 90.

Let's just say it was an adventure! I have never ridden in a plane that small, a lot of praying there and back was going on. 

We landed deep in the jungles of Nicaragua on a remote air strip about a mile off the Caribbean coast.

This is the lobby of the Rio Indio Lodge. This place is nice!

There are raised walkways all over because the lodge is in the middle of a rain forest.

 

 The Rio Indio Lodge

When we arrived we were greeted by military with armed machine guns; the guys were nice though, (thankfully). Once we were stamped in, we walked a nice trail to our waiting boat to be taken to the lodge up river. The only way in our out was by plane or boat. I am not kidding when I say reeeemote.

We arrived at the lodge after the short boat ride and it truly was an oasis in the midst of some of the wildest habitat I have ever been in. Beautiful just does not quite describe it. We were served coffee and a light snack then walked around the property...amazing. We saw poison dart frogs sitting on stumps; walk on the water lizards, a howler monkey sleeping way up in the canopy, and gorgeous birds.

A poison arrow frog, there were a lot of them on the forest floor.

This is a lizard that when it is scared, it can run across the water. 

We did not get to see the 19 foot gator that hangs out at the dock waiting for fish to be thrown to him...maybe next time.

After our tour of the lodge we were served an amazing lunch of fish, rice, veggies and salads. We had to hurry a tad as the weather was becoming questionable, so after lunch we loaded up on the boat and headed back to the airport.

We get back to the airport (a strip of pavement in the middle of dense jungle and a small building). We go into to get our passports stamped and pay our fees) uh ..oops somebody changed the rules and it is going to cost everyone an extra $20.00 US to leave (NO ONE had it) … It was a tad unnerving as we stood there watching the armed guys shaking their head no, they will not take CR money…only dollars and no one has any. At this point I am wondering…how deep the doo doo is gonna get … I was a tad nervous.

Fortunately the owner of the lodge had ridden back with us to see us off and was able to convince the guards after about 20 minutes if discussion to accept our CR money as payment since no one was informed about this “increase” in fees….oh and FYI Saturday and Sunday’s will cost you a dollar to get into Nicaragua and 70 to get out.

We were finally done and began boarding the tiny plane. I was relieved to be on the plane and not standing in a remote airstrip wondering how I was going get out. The ride home was a tad bumpy (storm clouds) but all in all it was a fun trip…quite the adventure and we now have this 90 days done!

Pura Vida

The Wet Season is Here

From around April 15 to Nov 15 is the rainy season here in Costa Rica.

See, Costa Rica's weather is kind of on the backwards side than that of the US. When it is our "summer" it is Costa Rica's "winter" and the US Winter is Costa Rica's Summer.

But here in Costa Rica they really do not call it winter and summer, it is wet season and dry season.

So we are now officially in the wet season and everyday around 2:00 PM the clouds roll in and it starts to rain. And when it rains, boy does it rain. I thought that Texas thunderstorms were bad, but not like here, especially when the thunder and lightning kicks in.

 

 The rain coming down as we are standing in our
car port area. Got your ark ready?

 

When it rains it dumps here

 Now when it starts raining, it gets pretty loud on our metal roof. Our little yourkie Onni, does not like the rain storms at all. The noise on the roof bothers her, but it is the thunder that really freaks here out.

She gets all shakey and starts panting as she stresses out. 

I was reading about something called the "Thunder Jacket" and how it works. It calms the dog down because they are being held really tight by the jacket. 

I have noticed that when it starts to rain, I hold Onni tight and she calms down. 

Now that I know that, I have come up with a thunder jacket of my own... "The Onni Roll"

I have a thin blanket that I roll Onni up like you would a new born baby. She loves it and instantly calms down once she is in it all snug as a bug. 

Onni in her "Onni Roll"

We love hearing the rain on the roof. It is a peaceful sound. We are also glad that it just lasts a few hours a day too. Otherwise we would have to build an ark of our own. 

The Stomach Crud

Yep, I have been down and out with stomach crud. I have not been able to do much except feel cruddy.

MONDAY - For the past few days I have not been up to snuff. I went to the doctor and she has me on meds for stomach flu of sorts.

I am not feeling nauseous or anything, just bad gas / abdominal cramps.  And yes, I have had my appendix out a long time ago.

It does not hurt, but I have some major gurgling going on.

It is hard sitting in my chair and working. I also find it hard to concentrate on what I need to do because it is rumbling so bad.

WEDNESDAY - Sorry there was no communication yesterday, I was down and out for the count in bed. Seems the stomach crud had gotten me big time.

To be honest I have been expecting something like this. New country, new food, new diseases, etc. The body just has to get used to things and build up immunities. From what I understand a lot of the expats who move here experience some sort of stomach crud one time or another within the first year of being in country.

I slept most of the day even though I tried to work from bed, exhaustion won out and I just crashed most of the day.

This morning I am doing better. Made some rice portage and some herbal tea. Although I am not a huge fan of rice portage, I am eating it.

Hmmmmm... I wonder if this would be better if I put it through the blender and made something like a rice milk smoothie. I am not into "eating" right now and this first spoonful just sat in my mouth.

I will keep folks posted on my Facebook...   https://www.facebook.com/RayGano

KEEP ALERT - SUPER BIG ANNOUNCEMENT THIS FRIDAY!

This Friday I hope to have a HUGE announcement. That is if this stupid crud has not gotten the best of me and still kicks my rear end.

Yesterday I was trying to work in bed with the laptop, but I was to exhausted to do anything but sleep. I am feeling a little better today and I hope that this feeling better lasts. For the past few days I have felt good in the morning and then around 1:00ish I start winding down really fast.

So I am trying to get this PZ News Watch done here quickly so that I can attend to the other work that is pressing so that I can make a big announcement this Friday.

Please keep me in prayer so that I kick this bug here quickly. I hate being sick, it's a drag.

Thanks for being there for us and thank you for all the prayers and notes of encouragement.

The Atenas Ox Cart Parade

Many years ago the President of Costa Rica ruled that to get with the times and to give Costa Rica a place in the world, Costa Rica needed to have some sort of cash crop. He decided that it was going to be Coffee. But not just any coffee, Arabica coffee was the only thing that Costa Rica could grow.

He gave land grants to people willing to grow coffee, tax breaks, etc. For a dictator, this was a pretty forward thinking thing to do.

If you do not know,Costa Rica is a mountainous country. and I means some pretty big mountains.  The only way for the farmers to get their coffee beans to the local markets was to go over these mountains and then down to the coast.

How did they do this? Yep, you probably guessed by the title of the blog, by oxcart.

The oxcart has a long history here in Costa Rica and has evolved into a  National Labor Symbol. In fact it became official when it was designated the National Labor Symbol on March 22, 1988.

Living in Atenas there are coffee growers all over.

My neighbor across the street last year alone harvested about 2500 lbs of coffee.

My friend Gabriel and his family is blazing the organic trail out at El Toledo Coffee plantation.

And everywhere you go, you see people growing coffee in their own yards. Talk about a prolific plant.

Ever year the people of Atenas holds their Ox Cart Parade. Some of these are sponsored, but a lot are truly working ox carts that still go up and down the mountains here to haul the coffee down the mountains.

So this is a tradition that is embedded in the culture. You see the pride in the ox cart drivers. They work hard at painting their carts, taking care of the oxen and proudly walk in the parade every year.

This is Costa Rica and it was so neat to be part of this event and see it first hand.

Friday is Feria Day!

It is Friday and Friday means Feria!

What is the Feria?

Feria is Spanish for Fair, but in this case it stands for the market or farmers market,

It is on Fridays where all the farmers, produce people, bakers, cheese makers, fish mongers and butchers come and sell their goods. AT a very reasonable price I might add.

If you are someone who loves fresh fruits and vegitables, then this is the place for you.

What Makes Atenas Different?

Atenas, the city where we live,  was named the most friendliest climate in all the world by National Geographic. We literally live in perpetual springtime 365 days of the year.

Because it is perpetual spring, we have a LOT of fruits and veggitables that grow year around, where in the U.S. they only grow during the spring time.

We have papaya, pineapple, mango, passion fruit and many sorts of citrus. Interestingly enough, we do not have the comon yellow lemon down here. For some reason, it does not grow here.

Here I am checking out some Star Fruit - yea, it grows here.

One of the neat things about feria day is that you get to see friends. Today we ran into John & Pat. In fact we pulled up the same time they did. We caught up on how each other are doing checked some things out together, then we got to business of shopping for that coming week's food.

 

Here we have apple bananas, yep, they have a apple taste. I personally think they have more of a berry taste. No matter what, they are great tasting. Once you have tried a tree ripened banana, you will never eat a store ripened again.

 El Toledo Coffee - I have to say some of the best coffee in the world. I just opened a bag of light roast and the flavors are out of this world. I never knew coffee could be this good. IF you come down for a visit, we will take you to El Toledo. You will fall in love with the coffee as well.

 These long brown things are Yucca. You eat them like you would potatoes. The are really good and in most restaurants, when you think you have potatoes, you are actually eating yucca.

Yes, the watermelon is that red. In fact a deep ruby red and they are really sweet to.

This is the stall where I buy my mangos. They have a pretty good selection. The key is to buy some fully ripe, some not so ripe and then some that need time to mature. This way you can have mango everyday like Tracye and I do for our breakfast fruit salad. 

Yep, one of the advantages of living where it is always springtime. Incredible fruit and veggies.

 

Visited the El Toledo Coffee Farm

We had some mutal friends that were visiting John Price and Gary Kah and they had the time and wanted to come up and visit with Tracye and I.

Over the weekend we showed them around Atenas and took them out to lunch at the Guanecaste Cafe.

While they were here, we mentioned the incredible coffee tour up at El Toledo. So they jumped on it and made plans to go visit and asked me to come along as well.

Teresa & Terry our wonderful friends from the states

It was a blast to go up to El Toledo again. See when we were doing our recon, our friends took us there and it was an incredible time. This is a place that everytime you go, you learn something new.

Gabriel is third generation coffee farmer on their families farm.

 

Gabriel really takes the time to educate the visitors about what it takes to grow organic coffee. The family are still learning daily little tips and tricks to grow a better healthier coffee bean. But not only that, to allow nature to really be part of the process.

 

Here Gabriel is talking about how they extract the bean with using less water and doing it in a more environmentaly friendly way. because they see their farm as an investment in the future, they are taking the time to care about the farm's health as well as their own health as well.

 

Gabriel's Wife is telling the visitors about the differnt roast types as well as educating us about the different flavors each roast will give. This was amazing to taste side by side the different roasts that the El Toledo Coffee Farm has. The lighter roast has more of a citrus flavor where the dark roast has a more earthy flavor. 

Here she is using a typical Costa Rican "Sock" to make coffee. They put coffee in the sock an pour hot water over the grounds and catch it in the pitcher.

 

Pedro The Rooster being photogenic.

I highly recomend coming to El Toledo. 

Check out their facebook at 

https://www.facebook.com/toledocoffeetour 

The Costa Rican Medical

Well we made it our first three days in our new home. We are loving Costa Rica.

It started Monday.

Tracye started to develop gas cramps. They were not bad at first but they were persistent.

Hmmmm... weird.

I gave her gas medicine and that did not work very much. I then gave her Alka Selzer.

That seemed to work for a bit and the bloaty feeling went away.

But then it came back again.

We tried different things though out the day. Some would help, some wouldn't.

The next day we were out shopping at Price Club, which is owned by Costco.

Let me say  this, it is just like shopping in the states. Pretty much the same layout, same stuff. Prices tend to be about the same on some stuff, some items more expensive and some stuff cheaper. Again, a typical Costco experience.

Like back home, there is a pharmacy in the store, except here it is called "Farmacia" (far-mah-see-ya).

So Tracye went and got some gas pills from there. She took a couple and it seemed to subside.

But it didn't last long.

Around 9:30 PM, Tracye started throwing up and getting bad stomach cramps.

About every 20 minutes to an hour she started throwing up and the stomach cramps were getting worse. She was in horrible pain.

We honestly thought that she caught some typical jungle bug because we are new to the country. You know, not used to the water or used to the food, that sort of thing. It is pretty common for "newbies" in country to go through this and this is what we really thought was going on.

Come morning time I loaded her up in the car and we went to the local doctor. Here in Atenas all the expats go to a doctor named "Dr Candy."

Yes, that is her real name and she is a great doctor too.

Tracye is in bad pain by now and Dr Candy is telling Tracye to calm down. She understands she is in pain, but she needs here to relax so that she can conduct a proper exam.

Dr Candy is poking her, asking if it hurts here or hurts there and if it does how bad on a scale from 1-10.

She is gently pushing on here and then she gets to the area where the appendix is located. She pushes down and Tracye kind of jerks. But then she releases quickly and Tracye really reacts.

Oh no.... I think to myself. This is not a good thing. See, I had my appendix out when I was in second grade and I got the huge ol' incision to show for it.

Dr Candy says " I think it is the appendix, but we can't be sure without an ultrasound and blood test. I need to send you to the hospital."

Dread.

This can not be happening, we are only in the country 6 days now.

She goes off and then comes back. She has written a referral and she is sending us off to CIMA, a hospital in Escazu. (Es-cah-zoo)

Now the positive.

CIMA is a brand new hospital and one of the most technically advanced hospitals in Costa Rica if not the world. Everyone speaks English and from what I understand, they are associated with the Houston Hospital system as well as  getting doctor interns from Baylor University.

We have heard a lot of positive things about CIMA from some of the other Americans living here and they all love it.

A Little About Costa Rican Medical

For those of you who do not know, Costa Rica is a neutral country like Switzerland. They got rid of their standing army back in the late 1930's early 1940's. They took that money and invested it into education and medical.

Today Costa Rica has a 96% literacy rate and some of the best medical in the world. They are on par and in a lot of cases even better than medical treatment in America.

It is also 2/3s cheaper.

What would have cost approximately $33,000.00 in the US, only cost $9500.00. We did not have the $$$ to do this and we thank God immensely for some friends down here who helped us get it paid. We need to pay them back ASAP for this, but we are very grateful that they were able

Now, you need to have cash or credit card or travelers insurance.

Here doctors and nurses salaries are capped. They make good money, but not on the same par as with doctors in America. The reason they do this is that they want people who are "called" to be doctors and nurses, not people just in it for the money.

If one goes into the medical profession, the state will pay for the schooling and I believe that the student pays it back by serving the country of Costa Rica. So you have to have a love for medicine and want to serve to be part of the medical field.

Remember when we were kids and one wanted to be a doctor or a nurse? Back then it was a prestigious job and one people looked up to. What happened to that ideal?

That is how the medical field is viewed down here. People are involved because they love it and it is their calling.

It makes a difference and it was noticed in how Tracye was treated and cared for.

Over all we were very impressed with the medical down here. We have heard from others as well they like it also.

Costa Rica is gaining in popularity in the "medical tourism" industry because their medical is so affordable and the technology is cutting edge.

We are going to be meeting with some insurance people in the near future so that if something like this happens, we are covered.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.

Finally, with our move and all our expenses we were not expecting this operation. If you would like to help with some of the cost, it would be hugely appreciated. We want to pay back our friends as quickly as possible and working hard to do so.

To help, please use the following URL ... http://tinyurl.com/Donate-to-Prophezine

Thank for being there and helping us.