When the Expat Life Gets Boring ... Write a Book!

Well, writing a new book worked for me anyway: Make Money Now Copywriting in Your Spare Time: Earn While You Learn Copywriting on Textbroker

I like to keep busy and usually the finca is calling out to me with its many tasks such as whacking the weeds, managing the compost, making progress on the cabina, patching a few potholes in the road, etc. During the rainy season, however, there is more downtime during the afternoon rains and you can only browse the news, check on friends in FB and so on before you decide to either hibernate or find some new challenge.

My First eBook

Writing work on both Textbroker and for my other clients had ebbed recently, but it made sense to keep writing and write I did. I've always wanted to self-publish a book and my experience with copywriting has been so rewarding that it made sense to write about that.

The book writing, first draft anyway, went pretty smoothly. It seemed there were more things I wanted to say to my readers than my fingers could keep up with. Pretty soon I was looking at a dozen chapters and 50 pages of info. It finally grew to over 80 pages and 18 chapters.

Where it bogs down, which you know if you have ever written something lengthy, is in the second and third passes, trying to get the formatting and images right and fighting off that nagging feeling that your book will fail.

Despite a nagging doubt or two, however, I had a superb time plugging away on it during my spare time plus figuring out how to get it published on Kindle properly. My next task was to create a paperback version, which I've almost completed on Createspace, an on-demand hard copy publisher that is actually owned by Amazon. It surprised me how much work that actually was and I'm convinced that for the next book I will reverse the process. Paperback first, then the eBook. So, keep a sharp eye out for the hardcopy version (and second editions) in the coming weeks and months ahead.

Of course, writing the book is one thing but selling it is quite another as it requires a lengthy period of self-promotion, which is my Achilles heel, but therein lies another engaging challenge to while away the remaining weeks of the "emerald season" here in La Zona Sur when the fog rolls in and the rain drops fall.

I'm very grateful for a lifestyle that allows for me to pursue such endeavors as book and copy writing. I couldn't do it without you Costa Rica!

Pura vida!!

8 Ways to Get Your Holiday Goodies into Costa Rica Easily or Safely

My post about how to receive packages in Costa Rica while avoiding having them snagged by Customs, which requires a trip to San José and a couple hours of bureacratic SNAFU to retrieve said package, continues to be one of my more popular articles.

Still, I often get asked the question: "Just how do you get stuff shipped into Costa Rica?"

Attack of the Drones - CC-SA-3.0

Unfortunately, Amazon drone delivery does not seem to be on the horizon anytime soon.

So, to supplement the original article, here is a list (probably incomplete) on the various methods that I've either used or have learned second-hand from others who have found them to be successful.

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!

===== Original article =====
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:

Which Lifestyle Would Cost Our Family Less - Oregon or Costa Rica? - Part 1: Taxes

Gringo expats decide to retire in Costa Rica for a wide variety of reasons. Topping many expats' lists of desirable advantages would be maintaining their living standard at a lower cost or enjoying a higher standard of living for the same cost. That goes for adventurous, frugal younger expats as well as older expats such as myself stretching their retirement dollars.

Costa Rica can certainly offer terrific savings, especially in the areas of health care and housing. Many other daily expenses, however - automobiles being the most egregious example - are higher than what most norteamericanos are accustomed to. Depending on your financial status, lifestyle choices, goals and ability to adjust, the comparative financial equations we all go through at some point before moving here will each have their highs and lows.

Taking Stock of Expat Living Expenses

One Constant Is That Things Change

As we approach a new phase in which our own income will shift to primarily U.S. Social Security, our calculations are changing. In fact, just in terms of cost of living, we find that it may actually be cheaper for us to reside in our previous home state of Oregon. I'm not going into all the gory details of that calculation, but this two-part article does hit the high points. Hopefully, it provides additional food for thought to those considering moving to Costa Rica

The 7 Harbingers of Summer in the Southern Costa Rica Mountains

Whenever I mention that "summer" is coming to Costa Rica to non-expat friends, they often look puzzled. They are thinking that we share the same summer season with North America since we are above the equator, and technically they are right. However, the tropical Trade Winds pick up this time of year and they are what divide our seasons into wet and dry.

Our summer in this part of Costa Rica runs from mid-December until the middle of April when the trades begin to weaken again. Northern Pacific provinces have longer summers and the Caribbean's seasonal changes are less distinct, but roughly reversed from ours.

Right now, it's a densely overcast, drizzly day with intermittent showers, so you'd never guess that summer is just around the corner (we hope). But, there are plenty of other signs that say, yes, the arrival of La Zona Sur's summer is imminent.

Coffee Season

Coffee cherries ready to pick

Coffee up here in the mountains is harvested later than in the lowlands and right now we are in the thick of the harvest. That means that around the corner of any country road you are liable to have delays due to farmers' trucks loading or unloading their bursting sacks of red coffee cherries. The crop this year is a bumper and the price is high too, so most of them are smiling big.

Our neighbor unloading at the recibidora

 We love coffee season, not only because it signifies summer's arrival, but because the neighborhood comes alive with the activities of the harvest and there are new arrivals, the pickers, who add a bit more color to our already colorful world. Since the neighbors are out and about more, it's also a great time to stop and chat.

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.

====
 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.

My Truck, Wounds Healed, Has a Happy Homecoming Today

Update Nov.2014: See How This Truck Turned Out in The End.

I told my wife this morning that today was going to be my lucky day, I just felt it:

• Over a week ago, I'd sold my big GMC truck, but 4 attempts to get the SINPE wire transfer to my bank had failed even after two trips to my bank to straighten things out. But, I thought sure that today it would go through, and it did.

My truck after its ravine roll, in sad shape indeed

• I needed the money today to finish paying for the repair of my pitiful '88 Mitsubishi truck that rolled down a ravine back in March. I was hoping it would finally be done today. It was!

• Even luckier, after picking up the truck, I had a balance owing, so I went to my bank to withdraw funds and when I came out, we ran into an old friend and her daughter and while we were chatting at length, my body shop guy showed up, so I didn't have to make an extra trip to pay him off.

• Our new 4Mbps Internet service started today, for the same price as the old.

• Not least of all, in the morning, I finished two small kitchen appliance repairs that actually worked! 

  The new truck cab is excellent. Pictures below the fold ...

My Suicidal Costa Rica Pickup's Despair Evaporates

Update Nov.2014: See How This Truck Turned Out in The End.

You may have forgotten about my trashed Mitsubishi pick-up. Sometimes, even I forget about it now and then. After all, it's been over five months since we discovered it had rolled down a 200 ft. ravine into the creek, whether by accident or through malice we'll never know.

Motor re-mounted in the old, but re-painted bare chassis

After I determined that, despite outward appearances, it was still drivable (sorry, no video of me tooling around the neighborhood in my "new" convertible), I called my body shop man, Deiner, up to the house to take a look. He was quite confident that it was salvageable and the hunt began for a new cab from the north of Costa Rica into Panama. 

Yet Another Side Project on Our Busy Costa Rica Finca

Another of my part-time side projects this year has been the construction of a small rancho down by our quebrada (creek) in the midst of our modest banana crop at the edge of our equally modest coffee "plantation." The platform is just to one side of where my small truck landed when it rolled down the ravine, the precise cause of which is still shrouded in mystery.

Rancho platform's steel frame

As I prefer to do, I make the floor foundation and frame from concrete and steel, which I presume will weather the humidity and bugs if no other part of the building will. The remainder will be built from wood, the same way I constructed my sister's house, but in a different style, since this is a rancho.

Platform from other end of garden

The main difficulty with the frame was that I didn't want to go to the expense of running a 220V line to this location and my generator is not big enough to serve up my welder with enough juice to weld on location.

Spring Boxing Camp for Tropical Birds Wanting to Sharpen Their Bills

It all started thanks to one bird, a persistent, some might say obsessive, harmless looking gray tanager with a bone to pick with an apparent rival. Daily, without fail, he challenged the gray-blue intruder of the same species with sharp-billed pecks and flamboyant, rising displays of fluttering wings and stinging, knife-edged cries that let his foe know he was anything but welcome. Meanwhile, his mate, perched on a nearby bamboo orchid gazed in admiration at his fearlessness.

Our fearless hero and founder of our local avian training camp

This was no ordinary foe he faced, however. To his frustrated surprise, this other bird seemed to know all his tricks, all his moves. Every peck was matched precisely, every display duplicated as if to mock our gray-blue hero. Still, he would not abate, he would not back down in the face of his opponent's impudence and bad manners.

Of course, little did his feeble bird-brain realize that he would not, could not, overcome his challenger for it was none other than himself. Or, rather, his refection in our mirrored window!

What Is Our Carbon Footprint in Costa Rica? Wish I Knew

Our Electric Bill - Should I be sad or glad?

As usually happens when I receive our monthly electricity bill, I feel a combination of consternation and satisfaction. Consternation because the bill is high, but satisfaction that our total kilowatt-hours for the month are a fraction of what we consumed in the States. The reason the bill is so high is simply because electricity is expensive in Costa Rica despite most of it coming from hydro or other renewable sources. On average, we pay about 26 US cents per KwH, compared to about 9 cents when we were in Oregon.

Calculating our Household Carbon Footprint

Anyway, the cost of electricity is beside the point. What I really wanted to know was if our apparent lower energy usage meant our carbon footprint was low enough that we might even be approaching carbon neutrality. In my dreams, right?

I chose three carbon footprint calculators off the first page of a Google search and ran each one. Not surprisingly I guess, there is almost no correlation by results between the three. Here's the final tally from the first one, hosted by The Nature Conservancy:

Nature Conservancy Calculator - Result for our 4-person household

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. 

ExpatFocus.com Interview of Yours Truly on Expat Life in Costa Rica

Book Review: Becoming an Expat Costa Rica by Shannon Enete

Shannon Enete has started off an exciting and expanding series of country-specific expat guides with one on her own adopted country Costa Rica. It's unlike other books of its genre in the breadth of topics it covers and details about what you are likely to deal with during and after your move to the Land of Eternal Spring.

Besides the usual topics you see in travel guides regarding the basic necessities of life such as water, food and transportation plus historical, cultural and geographical data, Ms. Enete gets down and dirty with the many details involved in actually living here. Her topics cut a wide swath:

• Finding the ideal location within Costa Rica
• Moving your stuff here
• Renting versus buying a place to live
• Software for communication and daily life
• The Costa Rica legal system
• Applying for residency (or not)
• Going about setting up a business
• Access to healthcare
• ... and much more

 If it sounds like you might feel bogged down in the midst of Becoming an Expat Costa Rica's many details, never fear. Ms. Enete has an engaging, light, enthusiastic style of writing that makes for easy reading and absorption of material.

Five Years After Cyclone Alma Community Rebuilds Bridge - Update Sept 2013

Back in March of this year, I wrote the post below about work finally starting on a local bridge that had been destroyed by flooding during the Pacific cyclone Alma. After the piers were finished, there was a several month hiatus in work as everyone awaited the municipality to finish the custom supports and cable connections.

San Ramon Norte bridge supports being installed

At last, a few weeks ago, they delivered those items and work has re-commenced. The metal came unpainted, so our neighbor Luis, went around asking for donations for paint from the neighbors, which he got. We hope the paint adds several more years of life to the bridge. 

We are really looking forward to the bridge being completed as it provides another exit, a shortcut to San Ramon Norte/Sur and means the municipality can then start refurbing our half-kilometer road with new rock. It hasn't been worked on since we paid for the last refurbishment five years ago.


3/8/2013 Post:

Cyclone Alma slamming into C.A.

May 29-30, 2008, Costa Rica and Nicaragua were hit by a rare Pacific cyclone, Alma. It was the most eastern reach of any Pacific cyclone in history. The storm was quickly downgraded to a tropical storm as it hit the shore, but left up to 15 inches of rain, carried winds of 55 knots, damaged over a thousand homes in Costa Rica, and took out over one hundred roads and bridges, including several in our immediate area.

The salvaged foot bridge

One of those bridges, crossing the San Ramón River, just a couple of kilometers below us, was completely destroyed. It was a sm
all suspension bridge that could hold just one car - with its side mirrors folded in - but it was a vital link in our neighborhood. It saved several kilometers of driving for residents on both banks of the river.

What was left of that bridge was salvaged to make a foot bridge, so the neighbors could at least reach the bus line on the highway on the other side, which runs from higher communities into central Pérez Zeledón. Since the storm five years ago, our neighbor, Luis, has been doggedly working with the municipality and other government officials to replace it. Designs and money promises came and went, expectations ebbed and flowed until, finally, after 5 years, a new bridge is in progress.

My Humble Entries for Capture the Color 2013 from Our Neighborhood in Costa Rica

The folks at Travel Supermarket have another Capture the Color contest this year (Honestly? First I've heard of it) and after being nominated by Chasing the Donkey blog to participate, I hereby with humility submit these:

Red

Blue

Green

Yellow

White

Below the fold, are a couple of alternates and my five blog nominations ...

What Else the Wife Is Up To in Costa Rica - Painted Rock Fish and Bracelets

A Blue Rock Fish

"Your wife is way more awesome than you are! :) " was a recent FB comment to me from a friend of ours in Costa Rica.

That was in reply to my posting of Tamara's latest mosaic, the sign in San Ramon Norte. With friends like that ... !

Well, what can I say, it's true actually and here's more proof.




Currently, she has something like a hundred of these painted rocks she made, all sizes, all colors. The kitchen table is usually covered with the latest batch in progress.

We hauled about 40 kilos of rocks from our last trip to the beach Monday.

Seriously, they look way cooler in real-life than my pictures fail to do in transmitting art into life.

She often paints both sides in such a way that when you flip it over a slightly different fish or sea creature emerges from the same rock.

Los Gollos – Costa Rican Oddball Bachelors - Tico Humor

Peculiar Stories with a Peculiar Slant

Need a good horse laugh?

Source: Public Domain via Pixabay

Garrison Keillor's Lake Wobegon, known for its oddball characters, has nothing on real life in the countryside of Costa Rica. Odd ducks abound in the many villages. The blithe stories of their peculiarities flourish, are embellished, and eventually become the stuff of local legends shared amongst neighbors whenever a good laugh is wanted.

Some of the best of these stories in our village are these few knee-slappers about a pair of brothers who live across the valley. They're as good re-told as they were the first time.

Ticos possess a dryly askew sense of humor that is often difficult for gringos to grasp. If your head makes a quizzical tilt as you read these anecdotes, that's Tico humor seeping into your brain.

The Brothers Nicknamed Gollos

Nearly every Tico, especially males, must have a nickname. It's an unwritten cultural law. The brothers who are the subjects in these anecdotes have the nickname "Los Gollos" (go-yos). The moniker has no meaning in Spanish, but it's what a local child squealed at them when they first came to town from another part of Costa Rica. The name stuck to them like cooked pasta hurled at a wall. I'm sure many locals never knew or have forgotten their real names.

Since they are farmers, the stories, as you might expect, center around farming life. Let's start off with their pigs.