Will Citizenship Add Coolness to My Already Astonishing Life in Costa Rica?

I've been arguing with myself for over a year about pursuing citizenship here in Costa Rica. I've put in the time, which is 7 years, why not get something for it?

 

There are a lot of benefits, such as drastically lower health ins. premiums (like so low they fall into my budgetary noise), a free 10-year cedula, easier banking, ability to leave CR and return at will and return of my $200 residency security deposit.

I've also been told by those who have gone this path before that many everyday transactions that involve use of ID become somehow easier because you are no longer a foreign contaminant in the eyes of Ticos, especially those that control various process gateways. Doors open that swung with difficulty before and the wheels of bureaucracy in general suddenly present less friction if you are perceived as "normal." Those benefits are rather intangible to me at the moment.

And, of course, one mustn't overly discount the "coolness" factor of having dual citizenship and that inoffensive passport when visiting certain places disagreeable to the latest U.S. meddling around the world.

One drawback that I was hung up on for a while was the name change thing.

Squeezing Colossal Returns from Your Retirement Kitty in Costa Rica

Update: It has been almost a year since we opened our Costa Rica CDs. After nearly perfect stability in the U$D exchange rate for a couple of years, the Costa Rica Colon depreciated this year about 3%. Given that our CDs average approx. 11% return, we are still 8% ahead this year and expect to renew the shorter term certificates. 

Our confidence has also been increased in CoopeNae after a recent meeting for investors that we attended (or maybe it was the delicious shrimp, shishkebab and Argentinian wine served afterwards? :) ). For example, they have the highest growth rate among credit unions here and better liquidity than the national banks!

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I've been aware of the enormous interest rates on savings in Costa Rica since we moved here, but until recently was unable to take full advantage of them because spare cash was tied up in other things and, I must admit, the big returns made me gun shy. I mean, there has to be a catch right? Yes, there is a catch, but looking back over our 7 years residing here, with the absolute clarity that 20-20 hindsight provides, I wish we'd taken the plunge sooner.

Typical CD Rates in Costa Rica for Colones Deposits

As you can see from the chart at the right, phenomenal rates can be had on Certificates of Deposit denominated in Colones. Rates for U$D deposits are dramatically less, but much higher than in the U.S., up to 3.5%.

For deposit amounts in five figures or higher, you can actually negotiate slightly higher rates as well. We were able to get 12% with a quarterly payout of interest on one CD.

The highest rates are not universal. These quoted at the right are from a local credit union. Bank CDs yield 2 or 3 points lower and National Banks even lower. The latter provide something like the FDIC insurance coverage enjoyed in the States however.

Which brings us to why you might not want to invest in such CDs:

Feliz Día De Mamá in Costa Rica

August 15th is Mother's Day in Costa Rica. Here they celebrate it with style.

Unlike Father's Day, which is synchronized with the same day in the U.S., mothers in Costa Rica get their own special day, which falls on August 15th regardless of the day of the week. Costa Rica is unique in the world for celebrating Mom's Day on that date, which you can see on the map below signifying on which day per country mothers are celebrated across the globe.

Days around the world on which mothers are honored

Costa Rica Mother's Day is a bona fide national holiday, which means many stores, the banks and government offices including the post office are closed.


To help celebrate, I offer up these lyrics from "Gracias Mamá:"

Thank you Mother, for praying for me each night
Thank you Mother for being with me if I am sick
Thank you Mother for consoling me with your kisses
Even though you are not here with me, you are not far
You have given me and I will give you love eternally.

Can Going to the Dentist in Costa Rica Actually Be Fun?

I'm not sure I could ever say that going to the dentist anywhere could be fun as in large round wooden containers of primates kind of fun. Just having to go to town in the middle of my day for the appointment is annoying in itself.

Compared to trips to the dentist in the States, however, I'll take the Costa Rica variety of dental care any day over that. First of all, all the equipment here is identical to that in the States and the education level and experience of the dentists are likewise.

The requisite cleaning, painless, quick, ends with  a smile

There are several more reasons, however, why I prefer dentistry here:

• Most Costa Rica dentists, it seems to me, are women. I can't tell you why, but I prefer female hands groping around in my mouth better than larger male digits. The women have a lighter touch. By the way, I made that assertion about the high ratio of female to male dentists to a female dentist and she thought not, but at least in La Zona Sur I see a lot more "Dra." signs than "Dr." signs.
• There are no pesky hygienists. 80% of the time, I visit a dentist to get a cleaning and the dentist does it herself. I've been to three (and I like them all, btw) and it is always the dentist doing the cleaning. One time there was an assistant who did just about nothing but run out to answer the phone or fetch supplies. The dentists here do it all.
• It takes far less time. Having the dentist do the cleaning means there is no downtime as in the States when the hygienist finishes and you wait for the dentist to give you another exam. Also, they are faster about it. Some use ultrasonic, some use hand tools to scrape the plaque, all have polishers, but they are not endlessly scraping and scraping the way U.S. hygienists do it.

Eliminating the Worry of Shipping Your Car to Costa Rica

Are ready for an extended stay or retirement to the Land of Eternal Spring and have already decided you prefer to enjoy the freedom and convenience of driving your own vehicle while living in Costa Rica?

Buy a Car Inside Costa Rica or Bring Your Own?

Always check the tire quality!

We'll assume you already hashed out the pros and cons of vehicle ownership in Costa Rica. The next question is whether it’s wiser to buy a vehicle in-country or ship your current vehicle from North America. From my experience, if I had to do it over again, I’d bring in my own car without hesitation.

Why? Well, if you add up all the costs including shipping and import fees, you probably come out about even, but you’ll have one overriding advantage, which is complete confidence in your vehicle. That is something not available when purchasing a used car in Costa Rica.

When Rainy Season Arrives, We Head to the Beach!

How to Beat the Heat at the Beach

As you have probably surmised, we are not mega-fans of tropical heat when it hits the 90s. That's why we chose to build our home in Costa Rica at 4,000 ft. elevation where temps range between the mid-60s to mid-70s most of the year. When we feel the need to "visit the Tropics", it's only an hour's drive to some of our favorite beaches. 

Trash collection run on a favorite Costa Rica beach

One in particular, which we discovered recently, was the subject of our visit last weekend. It's close, small, uncrowded and has a classic tropical island look with leaning palms and reaching almond trees with plenty of sand framed by broken rocks. The nearby restaurant is high, wide and open. It's tourist prices there, but the food is not the usual gallo pinto based plate and it comes with a trio of small (non-begging) dogs that have the run of the place. One of them escorted us on the beach, happily showing us the way.

Hike to The Top of Our Finca in Costa Rica to See The El Santo Statue

 

The San Isidro de El General statue is no more as of June 2, 2015 after taking a direct lightning strike

The blog post below is from 2011 when we took a hike up the back of our property to gaze at the famous San Isidro de El General statue known locally as "El Santo." It was not, as many gringos believe, a statue of Jesus, though one could easily make that association when first seeing it. 

Yesterday, we had an averagely intense lightning storm and unfortunately, El Santo took a direct hit. Obviously, the frame was made of steel, which made the perfect lightning rod for that strike. Given how high and exposed the statue base is, it is something of a wonder that this never happened before in the 36 years it was standing. The outer shell was fiberglass, so naturally that disintegrated instantly.

Tal luego El Santo! We will miss you and we hope this emminent landmark will soon be replaced. If they get around to it within the next 10 years, that would be "soon" in Costa Rica time.

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 2011:
I'm a Type A, to-do list kind of guy. I endlessly make lists, often on some tiny scrap of paper. They get tucked away in the wallet or left on a counter. I'm lucky if I get to half the stuff on any particular list. Then, there are all the background mental lists of things to do "someday" that are talked about in a wistful tone of voice, but usually don't make the quasi-realism stage of pen on paper.  

One of those  latter items was to trek up through the forest above our property to the ridge crest to see what I could see. That short trek, however always took a back seat to the farm chores, writing and other projects. 

Top of our local world. The El Santo statue to stage left.

I was pretty sure what I'd find. We once slogged up to a nearby ridge on a neighbor’s property for the view. Also, we'd been to the top of Las Piedras (The Rocks) during our 2009 New Year's hike up the crack between the big rocks on our northern side. Still, I wanted to know if the imagined trail up to the ridge really was a shortcut or not. And could we see Pérez Zeledón's famous El Santo statue from there.

As luck would have it, a couple of weeks ago our neighbor on the other side of the big rocks, Kim, cut a crude path with the help of a couple of workers exactly on that line I'd wanted to pass over to the ridge top. Their property has a corner that touches ours up there, and she was checking some existing survey markers and adding a couple new ones.



 A couple of weeks after that, we took full advantage of their efforts to finally make that hike up the steep slope. Machete in hand, I led the way, widening the path as we went.

Costa Rica's Freelance Parking Attendants - Las Vigías

One of the more subtle cultural aspects of living in Costa Rica is the Vigía, or the "lookout". In the U.S., if we had them, we'd probably call them freelance parking attendants. Initially, I found these guys - haven't seen a female vigía yet - a bit annoying. "Do I really need someone to help me park, put a piece of cardboard on my window, and then hit me up for a tip?", I thought.

It didn't take long, however, for me to come to appreciate their services. Parking spaces in town are scarce, tiny and awkwardly positioned. It's a real time saver to have someone wave you into an empty space, stop traffic when you're backing out, and watch your car while you're shopping. All for a mere 100 colones (20 cents). 

Each vigía has his own territory, which usually consists of a single city block. They are there typically 10 to 12 hours a day. Pictured above is our favorite vigía, Luis, who works the block orthogonal to the street on which Sean's old school is located. Luis has a quick and easy smile and loves to joke around. My sister  introduced him to the fist bump one day, so we have added that to our greeting ritual. I am happy to hand this guy his tip, and he has no problem if I'm out of change some days ... mañana I'll get it to him.

Luis has a very good street to work as you can see. It is always filled with cars. This abnormally wide street is right next to the core downtown not-free parking zone, so it's a popular location. 

Not all vigías are so diligent and friendly as Luis. On the street in front of San Isidroś farmer's market, there was a change of vigías about a year ago. The new guy, how shall I put it, ... sucks. He is not helpful, but he is right there in your face with his hand out as soon as he sees you heading to your car to leave. I stopped  parking on that street hoping to starve him out. He eventually disappeared, thank goodness. 

There is one other vigía we regularly see on a busy cross-street in the middle of a busy commercial area. He has his work cut out for him. The street is narrow and parking requires some deft handling of the car. He will guide you into your spot, but more importantly he stops traffic when you are trying to thread the needle backing out. 

The watchman aspect is not so vital down here where street crime is rare, but I suppose in a place like San José that aspect could be important. I'd think, however, that in SJ you would have to wonder if you needed a vigía for the vigía, etc. Up in SJ I've had obviously drug-crazed kids try to panhandle 100 colones off me as I headed back to my car. They weren't there when I parked, and had done absolutely nada with regards to watching over my car. At least they didn't break into it, so perhaps I should give them a tip for that!

The Final Fun Steps to the First Taste of Our Own Homegrown Costa Rica Coffee

When we last left our nascent organic coffee small-time sodbusters, we had picked our first real harvest of beans from the 3rd year plot of about 200 plants, of which about 20% are doing really well and the others so-so. This is the follow-up to the first round of post-processing after removing the surrounding cherry, fermenting off the slimy second layer and letting the beans have a good sunbath until dry.

Our cleaning lady, Ligia, had all sorts of ideas for us about different methods of initial coffee processing and volunteered her food mill for removing the final hard shell around the beans. She processes about 5 cajuelas of her own coffee each year (over 100 lbs of raw cherries), so she knows of what she speaks.

Ligia at the food mill

So, after one morning's cleaning, she and Tamara took our small sack of dried beans down to her house to remove the outer shells.

Please Help Costa Rica PC Rescue Ship 20 Desktop PCs

This is the last PC rescue post on A Dull Roar as I have started a separate blog dedicated to this project to get used PCs into the homes of needy Costa Rican families who can't afford one on their own.

That new blog is Costa Rica PC Rescue. It's pretty skimpy so far, just a single post, but it explains the mission and how it all works today.

I realize we barely finished the first official contribution campaign for PC spare parts and already here is another request for help. This second campaign is in response to opportunity knocking, however. A contributor to the first fundraiser let me know that he has 20 later model Dell desktop machines that were originally destined for Guatemala except that the red tape was too big a hurdle. He has offered those PCs to us if we pay the shipping costs.

The shipper I always use, Lomaser.com, has offered to ship these at their cheapest (highest volume) rate and waive the agency fee. That's a $175 in-kind donation right there. The remainder is $300 and is the goal of this fundraiser.

Think of it this way, it is only $15 per PC shipped to us, all duties, taxes, customs fees already paid. All that remains for me to do is to load them with an OS and applications and make sure they are in good order before donating them.

We can make a lot of poor families, schools and libraries happy with this shipment. Can you help us reach our modest goal? The smallest of donations is hugely appreciated, you can count on that.

Here is the link for making donations: Kapipal Help Ship 20 PCs to Costa Rica

Thanks for spreading the word!

Costa Rica Cedula Renewal the Second Time Around - A Pleasant Surprise

Do You Hear What I Hear?

Sometime around the end of 2013, I started to faintly hear a giant sucking sound, which I soon identified as an impending residency cedula renewal event fast approaching. 

That giant sucking sound of cedula renewal

If you've followed this blog for long, you may recall that we had completed our first renewal the middle of last summer, which makes it appear that Dec. should have been way too early to fret about renewal again. For all the bloody details, read about that first renewal, but the takeaway was that it consumed far more time than it should have, turned out all-right in the end, but left us a short window to the next renewal.

The Very First Time Through the Maze

In hindsight, our first renewal difficulty was rooted in our out-of-the-mainstream initial residency application and the procedural swamp that characterized Costa Rica's immigration process back in 2008.

The 2014 Huelga - Teachers Strike Enters 3rd 4th Week in Costa Rica

Update: June 2: The strike is all but over now. This afternoon the unions accepted an accord that apparently came from the government, but was delivered by the Catholic Church. The Education Ministry (MEP) will continue the provisional pay system until the permanent payroll systems is repaired.

As part of the agreement, the teachers maintained their regular vacation schedule, which means the schools can't use the usual two-week vacation in July to make up for the 4+ weeks that classes were canceled.

The week long Easter school break came later than usual this year, April 13th through the 20th. It's a nice break for us secularists near enough to the first trimester exams that Sean can do a little prep in between playing video games. However, exams never quite got going upon his return. Within two weeks, starting May 5th, all of Costa Rica's public school teachers went on strike and we are entering the 3rd week of no school now.

Teachers demonstrating in San José

Costa Rica is no stranger to strikes, especially by public employees, but this one has been the biggest one in the six years we've been here and is having a wide reaching effect.

A Late Birthday Gift or the Start of a Great Birthday Month?

Among my siblings, we have a tradition that we don't just celebrate each others' birth-days, but rather the birthday month. It's not so much a gesture of generosity as much as it is a nod to our shared tendency to procrastinate. Even we seem to be able to remember to send a card or gift if we have that extra 30 days to do it! Thus, I consider what happened this morning as an extension of my own birthday even though the actual date was yesterday, the 23rd.

Chocolate cake with vanilla icing.

If you read our Facebook page, then you know it was a remarkable 60th birthday for me. It started off with a scrumptious pancake and fresh fruit breakfast, time spent on a couple of personal projects, the planting of birthday trees and a wonderful social gathering of nearby friends and neighbors. In the midst of all that was a full double rainbow and an intensely luminous sunset.

Sunset par excellence

This morning was business as usual, a quick coffee and getting Sean off to school and planning to take our car to the mechanic. From the downstairs patio, I heard some shuffling in the living room and saw that Tamara was trying to herd not one but two hummingbirds who had mistakenly flown through the open front door.

Contributing Factors to Alcoholism in Business Travelers and Expats

Stress, anxiety, loneliness and homesickness coupled with the ever present bar or pub are just a few key factors which cause some business travelers and expats alike to develop alcoholism. As someone who has extensively traveled for both work and pleasure throughout the world, I can fully attest to the reality of these pressures.  

 

The Risky Side of Traveling Business Assignments

Traveling for business, be it for short or long term, is not as great as it may seem. Let’s face it, going across the continent on extended flights means achy muscles, swollen ankles and jet lag. If you’re in a new environment where the local language is completely foreign to you, you’ll encounter a real life “Lost in Translation” experience. And of course, if you have a family back home, mixed emotions of loneliness, sadness or guilt may likely occur. 

Find Your Way Around Costa Rica or Anywhere with Avenza's Geo-PDF Reader

OK, I admit I was first attracted to this Geospatial PDF stuff because 1) it’s geeky and 2) it’s free, free, free. Well, at least two frees, one for the Avenza PDF Maps app itself and another “free” for it being an Android app (it works as well for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch version 5), so I can use it on my generic tablet.

Sample Geo-PDF map of W. Costa Rica

The reader is a terrific way for travelers to explore new terrain and share their finds with others. If you are an expat in a country where good maps are hard to find or expensive, or you like to get off the beaten path, Geospatial PDF is a boon.

  

What’s Geospatial PDF you say? Glad you asked. Wikipedia describes it thusly: 

“… a set of geospatial extensions to the Portable Document Format (PDF) that relate a region in the document page to a region in physical space …”  Plus a bunch of über-geeky junk about metadata, ISO 32000, blah, blah, blah.

Firm ranks Costa Rica amongst safest countries in Latin America

Firm ranks Costa Rica amongst safest countries in Latin America (via http://insidecostarica.com)

March 25th, 2014 (InsideCostaRica.com) Consulting firm, FTI Consulting has published its 2014 Latin America Security Index, ranking Costa Rica as the safest country in Central America and one of the safest countries in the whole of Latin America.  …

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The Rolled Truck Emerges, Its Future Unknown

My hapless '88 Mitsubishi pickup, which suffered a 200 foot roll into a ravine on the finca (under mysterious circumstances), was pulled out of the creek last week with a backhoe.



During the summer months, backhoes are in demand, fixing roads, cleaning up slides from the rainy season and loading dump trucks. This one belongs to a neighbor who has a small gravel, lastre, road equipment business down in San Ramón Sur. He's the guy with the backpack, not the operator. 

Interview: Pérez Zeledon’s New Legislator from Partido Acción Ciudana in Costa Rica

This past week, I interviewed Dr. Marvin Aténcio Delgado at his home about his plans after winning a legislative seat for Partido Acción Ciudadana (PAC) in Costa Rica’s National Assembly from the canton of Pérez Zeledón. We discussed his political background, his reasons for switching parties in 2000, what PAC’s goals are and the effect on his family’s life as they relocate to San José.

Pres. candidate Luis Guillermo Solís center. Dr. Atencio far right.

Discouraged by the PLN, Dr. Aténcio Turns to PAC

Despite a busy, successful career as both a medical doctor and civil lawyer, Dr. Aténcio has maintained a keen interest in politics that he adopted from his politically active father while growing up in Volcán de Buenos Aires.

Up until the year 2000, Dr. Aténcio supported the Partido Liberación Nacional (PLN), the current ruling party. Like many Costa Ricans, he became disillusioned by the PLN’s propensity for corruption and a focus on the needs of the middle and upper classes to the detriment of Costa Rica’s poorer citizens. 

As one of three rotating directors of the hospital in San Isidro de El General, which serves the entire Southern Zone of Costa Rica, Dr. Aténcio is well acquainted with the everyday challenges of Costa Rica’s poorest citizens. Daily he deals with the deficiencies of Costa Rica’s social programs including the country’s universal health care system, colloquially known as the Caja.

In 2005, Dr. Aténcio felt he could contribute to political change by running for a diputado seat in Pérez Zeledón under PAC. In a field of 16 candidates, he missed filling a potential fifth seat by only 500 votes. This election cycle, he won handily with the help of PAC’s presidential candidate Luis Guillermo Solís with whom he closely campaigned in San Isidro.

Our Second Trip to Costa Rica's Caribbean Coast - Part 3 - Cahuita National Park

Part 1 is here
Part 2 is here

It's about time I wrapped this up, eh? Been busy with paid writing gigs, what can I tell you? The final highlight of our trip was visiting Cahuita National Park, which we completely bypassed on our first trip to the Caribbean coast (also a three-parter).

Barry, Tamara, Kim on the park's beach trail

Again, our tour guides were 10DegreesAbove's photographer and blogger, Barry and Kim, respectively. They showed us the "secret" 2nd entrance to the park, which is in the town of Cahuita itself. The first entrance charges a fixed fee, whereas the one the locals use only asks for a donation; whatever you want to give. I paid 10 mil ($20) for the five of us.

Near the entrance is the restroom and outdoor showers. There's a small beach there that looks like a great place to hang without going into the park itself. The weather was very warm, but there was a pleasant breeze off the sea and ample shade on the generously wide path. The several kilometer-long trail traces the shoreline. Further up the trail, a worker was using a blower to clear the leaves on the ground so it was all sand beneath our feet.

Sean at the far end of the trail

It wasn't long before we heard Howler monkeys (congos) and then spotted a few Capuchin monkeys in some nearby trees. Halfway into the walk we passed over several elevated walkways constructed entirely of recycled plastic boards. They're meant to keep your feet dry during the wetter months, but there had been little rain for weeks.

Near the walkways, we spotted a couple of Morpho butterflies quite unlike the ones we have around our mountain home on the Pacific side. These had only a thin line of black on their wing edges. The blue color was so brightly luminescent that photos just show a washed out grey glow.

Our Second Trip to Costa Rica's Caribbean Coast - Part 2 - 4-Blogger Dinner

The Sunday following our arrival at 10 Degrees Above, we were set to all go together to see a children's parade in Limón, which was part of the city's two weeks of Gran Carnaval every October. Well, we ended up with a lovely tour of Limón with our guides Kim and Barry, but no parade. We asked several citizens where the parade was to be, received various answers as you'd expect in Costa Rica, but none of the directions put us in the path of any parade, let alone one of children. Oh well.

We did, however, stumble across a baseball game at the downtown stadium. One of our few regrets when moving here is that baseball does not garner the enthusiasm in Costa Rica that it does in, say, Nicaragua. I had heard that there exists a small league in Costa Rica with a short season but had never been to a game. 

I boosted myself over the concrete wall by pulling myself up on the cyclone fencing and, indeed, two teams in uniforms were playing. We headed to the entrance where we paid 1 mil ($2) each for admission and watched a couple of innings. 

Pitch coming in, Siquirres batting. Can you see the ball? Click to enlarge.

 The final innnings, as it turned out, of the first game of a double header. The visiting team from nearby Siquirres scored three runs to come from behind and win the game. Although the Siquirres team had matching uniforms, the local team had uniforms from perhaps half a dozen different teams, so I'm not sure if this was an official game or not, but the play, pitching and hitting were very much AA-quality at least.