Shopping trip to Golfito

Wow, I can't believe it's been over a month since we've blogged about anything! I apologize to our faithful followers and I have been duly chastised by more than one of you. It's not that we don't have anything to share, we've just been busy! I've been purposely holding off, because I've been trying to get the house in shape to take some photos of our beautiful place and share them with you. We have been taking our time (after all we are retired) and trying to find a space for everything has presented some challenges.

This week we had an opportunity to go with our good friends, Maritza and Vinicio, to Golfito and check out the Duty Free Zone. This is where the old United Fruit Company's headquarters used to be. When they pulled out of Costa Rica, it practically shut down the town, and the local economy was collapsing. The government saved the town, by declaring it a duty free port with shopping restrictions. Golfito is a great place to buy small and large appliances, tires, tools, clothes, cosmetics, housewares, etc.

Instead of just helping the merchants selling the merchandise, the government setup a clever way to help hotel and restaurant owners too. If you want to shop in Golfito, you have to present yourself, with your cédula (national identity card,) or passport, to the office of Ministry of the Hacienda (Treasury) ONE DAY BEFORE you want to shop. The Treasury representative will enter your information into their system and give you a TAC (Tarjeta de Autorización de Compras (Authorization to Purchase.)) This is actually a sheet of paper that looks like a ledger. It lists your name, cedula (or passport,) and the amount you are allowed to buy for the current semester.

Today, residents are allowed to buy up to $1000* of imported merchandise, duty free, once a semester, January 1st to June 30th and July 1st to December 31st. In our particular case, we didn't take advantage of our $1000 allowance during the first semester, so it automatically rolled over to the second semester and each of us were given a TAC with an allowance of $2000. The allowance expires at the end of the year, but come January the allowance of $1000 for the first semester will become available again.

Note: This annual allowance has been changed. The new allowance is ¢1,696.000 per person. With today's rate of excange (21-Sep-2017), that is about $2,900 USD per year.

We decided we needed to take 2 vehicles so we would have enough storage space for our purchases. So, this past Wednesday, we followed Maritza and Vinicio on a long 5 hour drive, all the way down the Pacific coast, close to Panama. The drive is beautiful, with ocean views through the tropical jungle. Maritza, had made hotel reservations for us at a nice little place on the gulf that they have been going to for 15 years. The hotel is called Mar y Luna and it will become our hotel of choice the next time we make this trip

We checked into the hotel, then we drove over to the Duty Free Zone to get our TAC's and check prices on some of the things we wanted to buy. It reminded me of some the of the outlet malls in the States, but all of the stores were crowded with shoppers and very narrow aisles. We found a small LCD TV for our bedroom and a new gas dryer to replace the one we brought down with us from the States. The old dryer is giving us some problems with the igniter, in spite of John's best efforts to get it working right. The dryer is about 14 years old, so we've gotten our money's worth out of it and it's time to replace it.

After price shopping, we went back to the hotel for some dinner and then I got online to look at product ratings. I also compared the Golfito prices to U.S. prices. It turns out the prices are better than the U.S. on some things. The LCD TV was $20 less and the dryer was $150 less. Keep in mind that in addition to the items being duty free, they are also exempt from any sales tax. The TV and dryer we priced are also name brands, Sony and G.E, and they both have great product reviews.

Thursday, after breakfast, we went back to do our actual shopping. It's a very interesting process. As you go from store to store buying, they take your TAC and record the invoice number and amount spent. You can take your purchases with you, or you can leave them for pick up after you've finished with all your shopping. There are porters with dollies available for hire to help you get all the stuff to check out. The porters charge $2 to take something directly from one store to check out, or you can hire a porter for 3½ hours and he will follow you from store to store for $5. Not a bad deal.

When we were ready to check out, we hired a porter and he took everything to a check out lane that looks something like a TSA line at the airport. We loaded all our stuff (yes, we did buy a bunch of other goodies) onto the belt rollers and when it was our turn, we gave our TAC to the agent with all of our receipts. He validated everything and verified we had not exceeded our allowance. When he gave us the green light and we hired another porter to take everything (except the dryer) to our car for another $3. The dryer was delivered to a cargo company to be transported to us here in Atenas. They charge 3% of the purchase price, plus $32, as delivery fee. The dryer is supposed to be delivered to us sometime this afternoon.

We didn't even come close to using ONE of our TAC allowances. Unfortunately, you only get one shot at the check out line and you have to turn in your TAC. I thought of somethings we should have bought after we loaded the car, but now we have to wait a minimum of 22 days before we can have another TAC issued. I don't think we will be going back anytime soon, but it is nice to know what is available in Golfito.

Friday morning, we had breakfast at the hotel again, then we started the long drive back to Atenas. We got home around 1 P.M. yesterday, to find a couple of very happy dogs. This was the first trip we've taken away from home in over a year. We had a friend stay here while we were gone. He looked after "da boyz" and took care of things while we were gone. It was fun to get away for a few days.
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Sedona and my "Man in the Maze"

On our recent road trip to the Grand Canyon we spent a day in Sedona, Arizona, taking in the amazing rock formations and visiting some of the shops. In one shop, The Humiovi, a "Man in the Maze" pendant caught John's eye. We went in and talked to the shopkeeper about it and found this piece was created by the Native American artist from the Hopi Tribe, Calvin Peterson.

The legend of the "Man in the Maze" helps us understand the meaning of life. The maze depicts experiences and choices we make in our journey through life. It illustrates the search for balance - physical, social, mental and spiritual. In the middle of the maze are found a person's dreams and goals. Legend says when we reach the center, the sun god is there to greet us, bless us and pass us into the next world.

We didn't buy the piece at first. We just continued to stroll on down the street, taking in more of the sights. For some reason, we were pulled back to the pendant in the window. We finally decided we had to buy it and I'm so glad we did. I know this will quickly become one of my favorite pieces of jewelry.
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Grand Canyon Road Trip - June, 2011

We scheduled a quick road trip to the Grand Canyon to scratch one more item off our bucket list before the move to Costa Rica. We drove out west from Houston and visited a number of places in New Mexico and Arizona. I sure am glad we live in a humid climate now and we are moving to a humid climate next month. We both suffered with sinus and nasal problems the entire trip. We got so tired of hearing, "But, it's a dry heat." I'll tell you what they can do with that "dry heat."

Here'a a slide show of some of the photos we took. (Hint: You can click on the slideshow to enlarge to full screen.)
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Star Gazing

We are taking a break for a week and going to the Annual Texas Star Party in the Davis Mountains of West Texas, just north of Big Bend. This will be our 3rd year to join with hundreds of other amatur astronomers to do a little star gazing in North America's darkest skies.

We'll be pitching our tent under our favorite tree and camping for the week. The ranch where we stay has a huge ranch house where they serve "all you can eat" lunches and dinners for a very reasonable price. We usually fix a light breakfast and make coffee Tico style with our Costa Rican Chorreador de Cafe in the mornings. Afternoons are spent relaxing with a good book and taking long naps. This year's party is in June so it may be warmer than we're used to. The last two trips have been in early May and even though the daytime temperatures get pretty hot, the nighttime temperatures are usually cool enough for a light jacket.

The TSP now sets up a wireless network which provides internet access all over the ranch, so we'll try and post some photos later during the week. Cell phone service is another matter. There are a couple of spots on the ranch where you can actually pick up cell phone reception if you stand real still. It's really funny to watch folks walking around pointing their cell phones at nothing, looking for signal bars. We're just going to take our Vonage V-Phone (small USB device that plugs in to laptop and gives us full access to our home phone) with us for regular telephone reception.

We've all become slaves to technology in one way or another.

¡Pura Vida!

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Balderdash!

The other day, I saw some Tiger Repellant Spray on sale at the hardware store. I bought it and brought it home. Later, I sprayed it all over my back yard. Ever since then, there have been zero tigers in my Houston, TX., back yard. This proves that the Tiger Spray is an effective repellant of tigers.

An Old Story

Last week, there was an episode of the Oprah Winfrey Show dealing with autism. Oprah's guest brought up the topic of infants and the Measles, Mumps & Rubella (MMR) vaccine. The drift of the show was that there are sufficient grounds for worry about the MMR vaccine causing autism that parents should not allow their children to receive this vaccine.

Looking into the available, professional, published literature, from a large number of trustworthy and peer-reviewed sources, this fear appears to be scientifically groundless.

There are many amateurs and lawyers out in the world that are doggedly pursuing this issue but none that I can find have any proper science on their side.

Measles, mumps and rubella are all serious childhood illnesses. Fear of MMR, creating a wave of parents refusing the inoculation, caused an outbreak of rubella in the U.K. this summer that had multiple fatalities. It doesn’t seem like the risk of getting these diseases is outweighed by any evidence of MMR dangers – in fact, there is “no contest.”

HOWEVER …

I do take issue with the preservative still used in a few vaccines that might be injected into your children (and you.) The chemical in question is usually called thimerosal which is (unbelievably) the scientific name for Merthiolate – the antiseptic banned from over-the-counter uses in 1990. Thimerosal was formerly used in the MMR vaccine and there was some inconclusive investigation that it was thimerosal, and not the MMR vaccine, that was causing autism. After looking into this angle, I’m going to say, “Probably not,” but I sure don’t like thimerosal for other reasons.

As you can see from the following link, the U.S. government has pretty much decided that thimerosal is safe and not that bad; but, then they’ve simultaneously pushed to have it removed from most children’s vaccines. Huh?

http://www.fda.gov/cber/vaccine/thimerosal.htm

I’m going with my own interpretation. Thimerosal is a super-poisonous mercury salt. Mercury is bad in your system. Nobody REALLY knows what mercury might trigger nor do they know what human conditions or weaknesses might be particularly susceptible to mercury’s actions. So, a). bad shit; b). unknown dangers; c). give it to infants?

Nah.

Bottom line -- I’m not concerned about the MMR vaccine, as long as it is a modern batch that does not contain thimerosal.

And, I’m going to ask any doctor about to inject flu vaccine or hepatitis vaccines to certify that they do not contain thimerosal (many of those still do.)

Isn’t it amazing how little we know about things, even in 2007?

Have a pleasant day.

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So much for starry nights...

The Texas Star Party (TSP) was a great idea, but Mother Nature didn't want to cooperate. We had some great skies the night we arrived, but the clouds and rain moved in on Monday. Wednesday found us still dry inside our tent, but the grounds were getting pretty muddy. The weather prediction showed no relief in sight for a week so we took advantage of a brief break in the rain to pack up our gear and hit the road. We left the TSP looking for drier climes and settled on a cave. Actually, we drove to New Mexico Wednesday afternoon and went to see Carlsbad Caverns on Thursday morning. Carlsbad claims they have 350 days of sunshine a year, we just happened to get there on one of the other 15 days. Lucky us, but we didn't see a drop of rain in the caverns.

Here are a couple of the photos John took inside the cavern.

We took a leisurely pace on our way back home, stopping in Fredericksburg and San Antonio for some good food and a little shopping. Needless to say, the dogs were sure happy to see us pull in the driveway Saturday afternoon.

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The stars at night, are big and bright, deep in the heart of Texas

Star Gazing in West Texas...

We are on vacation, headed to the Davis Mountains and the darkest skies in North America. We will be joining hundreds of other star gazers at the annual Texas Star Party where amature astronomers gather to spend the nights looking at celestial objects in the night sky.

We'll be pitching our tent and camping for the week. These photos are from last year but we'll post more when we get back.

Now, all together, sing....

The stars at night, are big and bright,
deep in the heart of Texas,
The prairie sky is wide and high,
deep in the heart of Texas.
The sage in bloom is like perfume,
deep in the heart of Texas,
Reminds me of, the one I love,
deep in the heart of Texas.

The coyotes wail, along the trail,
deep in the heart of Texas,
The rabbits rush, around the brush,
deep in the heart of Texas.
The cowboys cry, "Ki-yip-pee-yi,"
deep in the heart of Texas,
The dogies bawl, and bawl and bawl,
deep in the heart of Texas.

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A Busy Weekend...

We left Trogon Lodge Friday morning and took a leisurely drive back toward San Jose so that John could make his appointment with the Audiologist in the afternoon. We found state-of-the-art hearing aids cost half of what they cost in the States! John went ahead and placed an order that we will pick-up on Monday. Friday night Marco and Carolina took us to dinner at a wonderful resort near Alajuela called Xandari. We managed to get a table on the open balcony with a fabulous view of the Central Valley.

Saturday we went shopping with Maritza for souvenirs and took a drive up to Zarcero (dairy country) for lunch. While we were there we took some of the topiary photos you see here. Sunday we spent some time in the central park of Alajuela and then we went for a drive with Vinicio & Maritza stopping for dinner along the way. After dinner we went to meet Maritza neice's husband, Minor, who just happens to be a builder. We took a look at his portfolio and discussed what it will take to build our house in Costa Rica. At first we would like to build a detached garage with a studio apartment upstairs that we can live in while the actual house is being built. Minor is going to work up a proposal for us so that we'll have an idea of what it will take to make this happen.
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Altitude 2300', Latitude 84.27.728 W, Longitude 9.59.275 N

We had an uneventful flight down to Costa Rica yesterday. Once we arrived we picked up a rental SUV and a Garmin GPS with maps of Costa Rica. This morning we went up to our lot in Atenas and using GPS we were able to plot our exact location as follows: Altitude 2300', Latitude 84.27.728 North, Longitude 9.59.275 West. The exact altitude may be a little off, but its as close as we can calculate with the tools we have.

Costa Rica has a very interesting way of giving directions and addresses. Most streets don't have names and you almost never see house numbers. All addresses are given in measurements from known landmarks. So, using the Tico method our address will be something like this:

100M Este de la Escuela Fatima

Costado Oeste de la Plaza de Futbol

El Cajon de Atenas, Costa Rica

Once the house is constructed we will have a south easterly vista of the surrounding hilltops.

After our visit to Atenas, we took a drive to the Pacific coast to see Playa Jaco. Along the way, we stopped at the Rio Tarcoles to see the crocks.

Playa Jaco turned out to be a big disappointment from the beach it was many years ago. Now it's a dirty little tourist trap with lots of grandious plans to build big hotels, golf courses and condos for the tourist industry.

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February Trip

We are headed back to Costa Rica on February 5th to handle the title transfer on the property we bought in Atenas.

We recently found out a company called SmartWays has teamed up with Garmin to provide GPS navigation in Costa Rica. We plan to test their system while we are there. If it provides decent routing, we will see how we can license the software for our own Garmin StreetPilot.

We plan to visit some of the local nurseies to see about planting fruit and shade trees while we are there. We are in the middle of the dry season, so we may have to wait until the rains pick up again in April or May. It'll be nice to have the trees in the ground and producing fruit by the time we build the house.

This trip will be longer than our last visit, so I'll have time to show John some of the other areas of Costa Rica he didn't get a chance to see last time. We'll be headed home on Valentine's Day.
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