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.

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.