What’s all the buzz about Costa Rica?

Not long ago, an L.A. Times columnist wrote an article about mailing addresses in Costa Rica.  Although a few streets in larger towns here are numbered and called calles (running north/south) or avenidas (running east/west), most locations are described in relation to landmarks, current or former.  For “old-timers,” a direction like “300 meters east of Bar Victor” makes perfect sense and they know the exact location (even if they don’t, they’ll often give you directions to get there anyway!).  What makes this so confusing for a “newcomer” is that there is no Bar Victor anymore.  It may have closed, been re-named, burned down or been torn down years ago, yet it is still used as a reference point.  Recently, I was making plans to meet someone in Bello Horizonte, Escazú.   I had to laugh when we finally decided where we would meet … at the mango tree!  After umpteen years, the road just grew up around the tree and it has become a charming, colorful reference point.  Ya gotta love it!  (The address for this home is “de la esquina sur de la iglesia calle Viquez, 100 m. al este, casa esquinera, mano derecha, con verjas azules.”  No kidding.)

For the first five years in Costa Rica, I rode the bus.  I enjoyed it – it was cheap and easy and I didn’t have to worry about traffic.  When bus routes didn’t go where I wanted to go, I would take a cab – often riding with neighborhood piratas (unlicensed cab drivers).  After much mental hemming and hawing, weighing the pluses (going where and when I wanted to go some place) and minuses (waiting in pouring rain for buses or taxis that seemed to evaporate at the first raindrop) and changing jobs (to one requiring a car), I decided to buy a car.  Here’s how I did it: I put gas in the tank of a friend’s car and he drove me around and we visited used car lots – they are everywhere (replacing the coffee fields, I think) and can pop up overnight.  I finally landed on exactly the car I wanted and had my friend’s trustworthy mechanic look it over while I checked out the car’s history online via the VIN (vehicle identification number).  The mechanic made a deal with the used car dealer to fix everything that needed fixing and the dealer covered those costs (must have had a nice profit margin built into the price I’d been quoted before the dealer spoke with the mechanic).  In Costa Rica, you have a 30 day guarantee on your used car (by law).  According to the person who sold me my car, this guarantee does not cover electrical systems, CD players, etc.  The car dealer did whatever paper work was necessary to transfer title and have the car licensed (a lawyer was involved and this was included in the purchase price).  The seller also took the car to Riteve for its compulsory safety inspection.  I would not have bought the car without it being inspected and approved by Riteve.  (Each year cars must be inspected.  Once a car has passed inspection, the owner receives a sticker to display in the windshield of their car.  The inspection costs around $20.)  Prior to closing on my car, I spoke with a representative of INS (Costa Rica’s insurance company) so the car would be insured the moment I started driving it.  The insurance representative referred to a chart created by INS (according to make, model and year of car) to determine the cost of insurance.  I went with the best coverage and it was quite expensive relative to the cost of other things in Costa Rica.  (Cars are valued at about double what they are in the US.)  Each year between early November and the end of December, car owners must pay a marchamo.  The marchamo provides very basic insurance and gives cars the “right of circulation” on the roads.  Marchamo payments can be made online, at designated banks or at INS offices.  The fee is determined by the year and type of car.  After paying the marchamo, you are given a sticker to put in the wind shield by your Riteve sticker.  Then you are good to go!  A few tips:  Don’t worry about shopping around for the best deal in gas – prices are regulated by the government.  And when you park and see someone wearing an orange vest wandering around, you are to give this person a few hundred colones when you return to your car – they’ve been “guarding” it for you!  If you burn up your engine and have to replace it (talking from unfortunate experience here), a lawyer will need to do paperwork so the new VIN gets changed in the registro (national registry).  Riteve will give you the necessary papers to file the first time you go for an inspection after changing a motor.  You can probably do this change ahead of time with an attorney, but I didn’t realize I needed to do anything.  Fortunately, I had all papers involved in the purchase of the motor with me when I went to Riteve.  Hopefully, this “new motor” information is something you will never need to know.

If the garbage truck always passes late in the morning, it will pass early the one day you don’t have your trash out early.  In fact, it will pass as you are in the process of cleaning out the litter box, the results of which were to go in the trash.

Here’s a website that offers you the opportunity to vote on your favorite cow in the artistic parade grazing in the parks in San José.  The page shows the artists’ names, the titles of the pieces and photos of the cows.  If you aren’t fortunate enough to be able to see these beautiful bovines in person, you can enjoy them vicariously by viewing this page.  Here’s the link: http://www.msj.co.cr/cowparade/votacion/votacion_vacas.asp

Costa Rica’s reputation for excellent, affordable health care is no longer a well-kept secret.  Each day, Juan Santa Maria International Airport welcomes tourists flocking here for elective surgeries.  Several doctors and private clinics offer plastic surgery, lasik eye procedures, dental work and complete physicals to foreigners, as well as Costa Ricans.  Physicians, hospitals, clinics and health care professionals are expanding their practices to cater to this burgeoning medical tourism.  English speaking care providers are easily available.  Costa Rican hospitals and clinics meet or exceed standards found in well-respected hospitals and clinics located in the U.S. or Canada.  Well known for its eco-tourism, what is driving this new phenomenon?   Why are people flocking to Costa Rica for treatments available in their home countries?  In a word: cost.  Not only are procedures less expensive here, but the private recovery facilities are luxurious and relatively inexpensive.  This makes Costa Rica an appealing alternative when undergoing dental work, cosmetic surgery, eye surgery, etc.  Compared to U.S. costs, an individual can come to Costa Rica for medical care, relax in beautiful, tropical surroundings during recuperation and fly back home with money in their pocket – sometimes for less than half the cost they would have paid in their home town.  It is not uncommon to see women browsing, laughing and enjoying themselves in a shopping center or restaurant with bandages wrapped under their chins and over the tops of their heads, obviously face lift recipients.  (I am aware of one facility – and there are undoubtedly others – that offers door to door service for a flat fee of less than $10,000 for a complete face lift.)  During recovery, “patients” can enjoy day tours of Costa Rica, bask by a pool or hot tub while watching cloud formations over distant mountains, dine on tasty food prepared in an on-site kitchen and return to their homes refreshed and looking and feeling younger and healthier.  Wouldn’t recovering from a root canal or liposuction be more tolerable in lush, tropical surroundings?  (For the perfect recovery facility, check this out.)

I just returned from a trip to the grocery store.  On the way, I passed one of the many roadside vendors selling freshly picked produce.  This vendor’s pick-up truck – loaded to over flowing with vegetables – was too much to resist.  I stopped and bought 4 cantaloupe, 2 large avocados, 10 huge tomatoes and 8 mangos for ………. eight dollars!  I’ll make guacamole, for sure, but what to do with the tomatoes is up for grabs.  Pico de gallo, pasta sauce or gazpacho? 

While driving on the road from Santa Barbara to San Joaquín yesterday afternoon, traffic suddenly ground to a crawl – there were horses everywhere and they were oblivious to the cars sharing the road with them.  Occasionally, they would go to the side of the road so cars could pass by in one direction.  As my car was creeping along, a horse passed on the right hand side – rather startling!  Costa Rican horses are smaller than those commonly seen in the US and they prance and throw their legs out as they high step.  Watching them from the rear was interesting and comical – their legs don’t go straight up and down and look like they are flailing … from the rear perspective.  It seems that the horses go through a lot of unnecessary motions to get where they are going, but that’s the style here.  One of the horses – probably a donkey – in the “parade” was about waist high and being ridden by a woman whose feet nearly touched the ground.  It had no problem keeping up with the others, but it didn’t prance like them.  Passing by the main church in San Joaquín I saw a large number (hundreds) of horses, riders and spectators.  I don’t know what the event was and I was tempted to park and take some photos, but it was HOT and I wanted to get home.  Now, I wish I’d have stopped, of course.  These “surprises” are what makes Costa Rica fun and interesting.  (If you’re a horse person and looking for a ranch of your own, check out this property in San Rafael, Heredia.)

 
Photo of corteza amarillo taken March 29, 2008 in a park in San Joaquín de Flores, Heredia.  Note:  No leaves, just blossoms!  (Photo courtesy of Jose Valerio.)

Once the resurrection re-enactment is completed, bells ring and there is a final procession including priests in colorful robes, marchers and floats adorned with beautiful floral arrangements.  Children on the floats throw flowers to the crowd of bystanders.  Thus ends another Semana Santa in Costa Rica.