Immigration status resolved…We’re flying out of the country…Check out our year ago photo!!!

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This mom and her calf are our neighbors in this gated community of Roco Verde.

“Sightings from the Veranda in Costa Rica”

Great Kiskadees visit each day.

We knew we’d have an immigration issue to resolve once we’d decided to stay in Costa Rica until we fly to Miami, where we’ll spend one night to then board a 30-night cruise to South America on Thanksgiving Day, November 23, 2017. 

Costa Rica allows US citizens 90 days in their country. The best solution for us based on the strict requirements for a visa extension, leaving the country and coming back in seemed like the best solution. However, we’d research other options while in the country.

Thus, we had to decide which country to visit for two nights, staying in a hotel not too far from the airport and yet in an excellent location to ensure we’d take advantage of the situation and have a great time.

Rooster in the neighborhood with several hens and chicks.

With October 31st, our fifth anniversary of traveling the world on the horizon, this short two-night “get-away” could easily be considered an opportunity to celebrate this special date. This won’t be the first time we booked a few nights away for our annual event.

When we flew from Nevada to Costa Rica on August 1st, immigration requires an exiting flight within 90 days. So at that time, we picked a “cheap” flying on the 89th day to Managua, Nicaragua, never sure we’d use it if we found other immigration options where we’d be able to extend the 90 days.

After considerable research, our best option was to use that flight we’d already booked to Managua, book a two-night stay in a hotel in Managua, and return to Atenas.

Last Saturday, there was a carnival at Supermercado Coopeatenas.

In addition, it was time to book the flight to Miami on November 22nd. Unfortunately, with all that’s tragically transpired in Florida this past week, it could be difficult, if not impossible, to book a flight to Miami the day before Thanksgiving.

We got to work. We research all our options using the links for Expedia and Hotels.com on our site simultaneously on each of our computers. We often find varying prices for flights and hotels when researching using our laptops, based on cookies that may have been set on previous searches. (Sometimes it pays to delete the cookies, and other times it does not).

Here’s what we found and subsequently booked (includes fares for both of us):

October 28, 2017 – US $128.70 (CRC 74,358) – Flight (nonstop) from San Jose Costa Rica to Managua Nicaragua
October 28, 2017 – US $199.84 (CRC 115,460) – Hotel – (Two nights including complimentary breakfast)) – Real Intercontinental Hotel Managua at MetroCenter Mall
October 30, 2017 – US $179.42 (CRC 103,662) Flight (nonstop) from Managua Nicaragua to San Jose Costa Rica
November 22, 2017 – US $246.42 (CRC 142,372) – Flight (nonstop) from San Jose Costa Rica to Miami, Florida (We’d already booked the hotel in Miami for one night some time ago).

Adults and kids were having a good time at the carnival.

We’re thrilled with the hotel and its pricing for this five-star property in Managua and also the fact it’s located in a popular upscale mall. Undoubtedly, there will be plenty of great restaurants and enough to see over the two-night stay. 

We are equally pleased with the pricing on the flight to Miami in November, primarily based on the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, which often results in pumped-up airline pricing. 

Sure, meeting the immigration requirement of leaving Costa Rica will cost us a total of US $507.96 (CRC 293,479) plus meals and taxis estimated at another US $200 (CRC 115,552), but we’re OK with this. It was better than the alternative and provided us with a mini-vacation for our fifth anniversary in yet another country.

Baskets of food were being raffled for charity.

Suppose we hadn’t extended our stay in Costa Rica to accommodate the upcoming 30-night cruise on November 23rd. In that case, we’d have had to spend 25 extra days in Florida, which would have cost us a lot more than we’re paying for this outstanding villa and the two flights and hotel in Nicaragua. 

Today, a very cloudy and overcast day, we’re staying in, making a great dinner with enough for three nights while we’ll continue to research plans. The hummingbirds are going nuts over the sugar water, and we’re as content as we could be.

May your day bring you contentment as well.

Photo from one year ago today, September 14, 2016:

Big Buffalo was not happy to see Tom again, coming out of the water to show his displeasure. (He’d quickly went out of the water when he saw Tom standing up by the cabana at our villa). As soon as Tom sat back down, he backed up into the water and sat back down. This occurred several times. We have more photos here!

Life in Costa Rica…What’s the rainy season really like?…Keeping it simple…

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This Giant Tortoise is located at the Zoo Ave location, although not indigenous to Costa Rica. We suspect the facility imported some of its wildlife to attract more visitors to its rehab facility.

“Sightings from the Veranda in Costa Rica”

Tom took this photo this morning at 6:00 am.  It may not clear this morning as it does most mornings.

It’s no exaggeration to state it rains every day right now in the central valley of Costa Rica. Nevertheless, most mornings start bright and sunny with a few rare exceptions, like today, when there’s a heavy cloud cover, as there was early when Tom took the above photo from the veranda.


But now, at 10:30 am, the sun is shining through a fine layer of a white and gray overcast sky. Here’s a chart with the average rainfall for Atenas throughout the year:

Blue Parrot is checking out her surroundings.

As shown in this graph, we are approaching the rainiest month of October, with rain declining in November during our last few weeks in the country. Of course, we knew our stay in Atenas, Costa Rica, would transpire during the rainy season. But, unlike typical tourists, it’s not as if we can plan our “vacations” avoiding inclement weather.

For us, as world travelers without a home, for the majority of the time, we move along to the following location regardless of the seasons and the potential for the kind of weather we may not enjoy, except for avoiding freezing and snowy winter weather.

Of course, there are exceptions to that as well. For example, we’ll be in Antarctica in January (it’s summer season) when ships can’t enter the massive continent and its seas during the colder, more frozen winter months.  Although the weather may be more tolerable during the summer months, it will still be out and frozen. More on that later.

A Peacock on a stroll through the park.

A few of our readers have asked how we manage to live in the Central Valley during the rainy season. As odd as this may seem, it’s not bothering us a bit. On the contrary, we love the fact that this lush green valley is nourished by the frequent rains, keeping its rainforest abundant with vegetation for its wildlife.

Since we didn’t have a car (although we’re doing another five-day rental starting tomorrow) after the rental car fiasco in San Jose last Monday, we’ve had to re-do our thinking about how we’ll spend our remaining days in this country.

We’ve decided to arrange the five-day rental a few times each month since it too is pricey at the US $34.95 (CRC 20,111) per day (including all fees and insurance), thanks to the arrangements made Aad and Marian, the property managers. 

The identity of every bird wasn’t always posted at the various habitats.

Even at the above prices, we still don’t want to spend the monthly rates this high daily rate would dictate. It would ultimately prove to be more than we’ve paid for a rental or taxis anywhere in the world. 

When travelers mention how “cheap” it is to visit Costa Rica, they may be misled by such statements.  As with any country, the resorts, the hotels, the tours, the restaurants, and such expenditures like rental cars, maybe much more expensive than one might anticipate.

Another unknown species.

Also, when considering some of the expenses for a week or two, it may not seem to be high compared to our many months spent in one location. For example, a one-month rental through Aad’s contact would be US $1,049 (CRC 603,630), which is a lot to us for one month.  

A typical tourist renting a car for one week may not even flinch over US $245 (CRC 140,981) for the seven days. But, here again, it’s all relative. The thought of us spending US $3,949 (CRC 2,272,387) for our entire 113 days in Costa Rica leaves us reeling. It’s just not worth that much expenditure, especially with the expenses we’re facing in the next few months. 

I believe this is a Lollipop flower, commonly found in Hawaii and other tropical climates.

One could practically purchase a used car in Costa Rica for US $4,000 (CRC 2,301,734), which one of our friends/readers suggested. But, we have no interest in finding a car, buying it, paying for insurance (very pricey here), and eventually selling it, let alone any maintenance required in the interim.

We always remember our motto, “Wafting Through Our Worldwide Travels with Ease, Joy, and Simplicity,” which we’d defy if we decided to purchase a vehicle for this short 113-day stay or even a stay of a year or more if that was the case.

In other words, “keeping it simple” easily fits into our realm of existence as we continue to travel the world. Of course, at times, it’s more complicated with circumstances we can’t avoid. Still, for the times we can control our environment, the less extra work we create in our lives, the better opportunity we have for happiness and fulfillment.

We hope your day brings you happiness and fulfillment.


Photo from one year ago today, September 3, 2016:

There’s nothing like spotting an adorable calf on a walk in the neighborhood in Sumbersari, Bali. For more photos, please click here.

After five years of experience…Even we can be fooled!…Car rental warnings….More Atenas Farmers Market photos…Stunning sighting from the veranda…

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A farmer with several coolers of homemade sausage cooked us a sampling of his Italian sausage, which we have trouble finding in many countries. After tasting the delicious, perfectly seasoned sausages, we purchased six packages to use for our next batch of low-carb pizza.

“Sightings from the Veranda in Costa Rica”

From this website: “The owl butterflies, the genus Caligo, are known for their huge eyespots, which resemble owls‘ eyes. They are found in the rain forests and secondary forests of Mexico, Central and South America. Owl butterflies are enormous, 65–200 mm (2.6–7.9 in), and fly only a few meters at a time, so avian predators have little difficulty in following them to their settling place. However, the butterflies preferentially fly at dusk, when few avian predators are around. Therefore, the Latin name may refer to their active periods; caligo means darkness.”   
This morning’s sighting of this Owl Butterfly sent us both to the moon with sheer delight! Can you imagine the magic of this amazing creature with spots that appear to be eyes resembling an owl to keep predators away? Wow!
After tasting the above Italian Sausages, as shown above, we purchased six packages from the farmer.

When we spotted this butterfly on the front veranda this morning, I couldn’t grab the camera quickly enough. Tom witnessed it flying, but by the time I grabbed the camera, it had landed in this spot by the sliding glass door.

The small but fun-filled Atenas Farmers Market.

We’ll be sharing more photos of butterflies over these upcoming months in Costa Rica due to the fact we’ve seen more butterflies here than in any other part of the world. So please check back for future stories.

There are plants for sale along with produce and handmade goods.

Speaking of our remaining 85 days in Costa Rica, yesterday’s experience at the car rental facility in San Jose will be emblazoned in our minds forever. Never once in the past five years of world travel, having rented cars for approximately 50% of the time, have we ever had such an outrageously awful experience.

Sure, we anticipated the US $9 (CRC 5,169) a day rate (included all taxes) would never end up at that rate when we went to pick up the car. In addition, we anticipated add-on charges for our age which were listed at US $5 (CRC 2,871) per day, per person. But even at the US $19 (CRC 10,912), we could live with that with both of us able to drive. 

We were impressed with the elaborate displays.

In many countries, we’ve rented cars for around US $600 (CRC 344,574) to $700 (402,003) for a monthly rate which we’ve always felt has been fair. But, the discovery we made after our taxi ride from Atenas to the Europcar facility (franchise owned) next door to the Walmart store in San Jose, where we planned to pick up a few items after getting the car, threw us for a loop.

Huge bananas picked in giant bunches caught the eye of many shoppers.

It all started fine when the rep behind the counter began processing our booked rental, asking for our passports, driver’s licenses, US address, etc. Of course, we’d brought along the printed documents with our confirmation number and pertinent information to ensure nothing would infringe upon our getting the decent rate we’d derived online at our usual rentalcars.com, a reputable company.

Belts, wallets, and other leather goods.

And, we’ve used Europcar at least 10 times over these years, expecting they’d honor the online pricing without gouging us. But, after finding they were franchise operations and subject to any peculiar laws in a country (so they say), we were shocked over the “bait and switch” tactic we were presented.

Local farmers and butchers have a wide array of beef, pork, and poultry for sale.

Aad has warned us about “bait and switch” type rental situations frequently occurring in Costa Rica, the reason why we’d chosen to do the five-day rental through his regular guy from “Thrifty.” Having used Europcar many times over these past years, we didn’t anticipate any problems.

Refrigerated cases with traditional and uncommon cuts of meat.

Here’s the prices we’d have had to pay, had we taken the tiny car yesterday:

1. the US $9 daily rate, plus the US $5 (CRC 2,871) for one driver over 64 years old (Tom) PLUS…an additional US $44.95 (CRC 25,814) per day for insurance (we already have insurance through our credit cards and a separate liability policy) for a total of US $58.95 per day (CRC 33,854) for a total for US $5,070 (CRC 2,911,444) for our remaining days in Costa Rica.
2.  Plus, they wanted a letter from our bank stating we have sufficient funds to pay for the car in the event of an accident (what the heck was the US $44.95 (CRC 25,814) per day supposed to be for?
3.  Plus, they required a US $9,000 (CRC 5,168,610) deposit!!!

Specialty flavored sea salts.  We purchased a similar item in Tasmania, smokey Himalayan salt which we continue to use and enjoy.

Why in the world would we pay any of this? But, of course, none of these above three would send us walking out the door in a huff, which I did, this time, not so much Tom. Yep, I was the “overly grumpy” traveler this time, appalled by this unbelievable trickery. 

I couldn’t resist buying one of these containers of two dozen quail eggs.

Sure, if someone were renting a car for a one-week holiday, it wouldn’t seem so bad, but still, they’d required the outrageous deposit! Who’d be willing to put a US $9,000 (CRC 5,168,610) deposit on a credit card?  Not us!

Over a period of a few days, I boiled these tiny quail eggs and had them in my taco salad. They’re tiny and fun to pop in one’s mouth for a tasty treat.

We left…no car…as frustrated as I’ve ever been in our years of world travel.  We walked across the road to the Walmart store, our yellow Costco bag in hand with a shortlist of items we needed to find, some of which we did find and others we did not.

For illustration purposes, I placed one large regular chicken egg atop the boiled, peeled quail eggs. About four quail eggs are comparable to one chicken egg.  I ate all 24 of them over a period of three days. Tom didn’t care for them, although they taste almost identical to a regular egg.

Until tomorrow, folks, when we share the story of what transpired at the pharmacy at Walmart that left me with a dilemma for which there’s no logical solution. However, by the time we paid for our few items, we were both in a better state of mind, and we found a taxi outside the store that drove us back to Atenas. 

Since Tom’s been eating fruit, we purchased this watermelon which he hadn’t eaten since we left Minnesota. So today, I used this cauliflower as an ingredient in my favorite meal; Chicken Sausage and Cauliflower Bake. Could you email me this amazing recipe?

Round trip taxi fares from Atenas to San Jose?  The total came to US $54.83 (CRC 31,485), which actually wasn’t as much as we’d expected. That was one pricey trip t0 Walmart!

We used these small purple onions in taco salad over these past few days.

No one ever said it was ever easy. So we’ll be back with more.

Photo from one year ago today, August 29, 2016:

Final photos of Chalong Beach in Phuket, Thailand, are preparing to depart on September 1, 2016. For more final photos, please click here.

Trip to the dentist in Curribatat…Good toll roads…GPS issues…

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Tom, walking toward the dental clinic. It didn’t seem to be in a great neighborhood with bars on windows and doors, but we felt comfortable.

“Sightings from the Veranda in Costa Rica”

We couldn’t see the eclipse of the sun here in Costa Rica, but we sure had a lovely sunset.

We’re never thrilled with the necessity of visiting a dentist. Who is? I suppose, in a way, we use our world travels as an excuse to postpone dental appointments based on the inconvenience of finding an English-speaking dentist and finding a clinic we find suitable. No doubt, it’s undoubtedly a case of avoidance in one way or another.

When we made plans to stay in Costa Rica for over three months, we knew we’d have a hard time coming up with an excellent excuse to avoid going to a dentist when this country is known for its good dental care at reasonable prices. So what reason would we have now?  None.

Shortly after we arrived three weeks ago today, we made our appointments with a dental clinic with nine highly trained and qualified dentists, most of whom were trained in the US and recommended by our property manager, Marian.

Two of the dentists contemplating a patient’s treatment.

Many foreigners travel from the US and other countries to have their dental work done at prices as low as one-third the cost in the US. This makes sense for seniors on fixed incomes, especially when flights are reasonable from the US to Costa Rica, along with affordable hotel rates and costs for meals.

No more than a minute after we arrived (early, of course) at the Costa Rica Dental Clinic Lab found at this site, we felt comfortable and at ease that we had come to the right place. 

We met an American from Texas who was completing an entire mouth restoration, priced at US $50,000 (CRC 28,823,500) for which he was paying only US $15,000 (CRC 8,647,050) at the Costa Rica Dental Clinic Lab. He’d been flying back and forth over the past many months to have the massive amount of work done and was thrilled with the quality work and competent dentists.

This is the dentist who did a fine job on my filling and cleaning.  I’ve always dreaded dental appointments but did fine without numbing injections.

A short while later, we met a woman from Maryland, US, who’d also been flying back and forth to have considerable work done at reasonable prices. In each case, the “tourists” enjoyed their time in Costa Rica whenever they returned for more dental work. This made sense to us.

The last time we had our teeth cleaned was on July 30, 2015, as shown in this post, for which we were content with the results. The pricing and details are described at the above link.

While in Maui for six weeks, we’d booked cleaning appointments for November 4, 2014, for both of us. Once we arrived at the facility, Tom felt surprisingly uncomfortable. Something just wasn’t right.  They’d moved our appointments around, requiring a long wait.  We canceled, unwilling to wait for the extended period, especially when Tom was so hesitant. See here for details.

This is the lovely Geovanna, who works with patients in the office, appointments, and billing and makes arrangements for hotels and transportation.

Later Tom had the abscessed tooth situation in Fiji in November 2015, requiring treatment on two separate occasions which resulted in the necessity of the tooth eventually being pulled in New Zealand in early 2016.  As a result of all of the above, we hadn’t had our teeth cleaned in 25 months, and it was long overdue. 

Yesterday morning after picking up the rental car at the outdoor cafe at the grocery store, Supermercado Coopeatenas, promptly at 10:00 am as Aad had arranged for us for a total of five days. Although we were a little surprised by the US $1250 (CRC 720,588) deposit required, the paperwork went quickly and smoothly. 

It seemed like a huge deposit for a five-day rental. However, with our appointments set in Curribadat for 1:00 pm, we accepted the terms and paid the US $167.50 (CRC 96,559) plus the deposit.

The dental office has a pleasant modern decor.

In no time at all, we were on our way, paper copies of directions in hand plus GPS directions on my phone using the SIM card. I don’t know if this has ever happened to any of our readers, but once we were within a few miles of our destination, the GPS kept changing, telling us to go another way, after another, and then another.

Poor Tom was driving and trying to stay calm. I’d say, “Turn left here! No, turn right in two kilometers at Calle 42!  No, turn right in 400 meters! No, make a u-turn now!” Later we discovered that google maps had an error regarding the clinic, showing it has two locations when it only has one. Most likely, that contributed to the crazy directions.

Oh, good grief, I don’t know how he maintained his cool while I went helter-skelter with the directions. The paper map was useless.  Finally, 30 minutes later than we expected to arrive, we found the dental clinic. Good thing we’d left as early as we did for the 1:00 pm appointments.

Geovanna stays busy ensuring each patient’s dental experience is top-notch.

In any case, the dentists were great, speaking excellent English.  The receptionist and dental assistant, Geovanna, was fabulous; warm, friendly, and inviting. The clinic was impeccably clean and organized, and from the two patients we spoke to, we were totally at ease.

I had one filling repaired, and both of us had our teeth cleaned with better results than either of us had ever experienced, even in the US. The total bill for both was US $250 (CRC 144,118), certainly much less than it would have been in the US or many other countries.

The drive back to Atenas was easy, and once we returned to our gated community, we drove up the mountains to see the many areas we’d been curious to see which were too steep to walk. This area is lovely, more than we’d expected from our comfy world in the exquisite villa overlooking the valley.

We ran into lots of traffic on the return drive.  Curridabat is close to the capital city of San Jose.

Today, as soon as we’re done uploading today’s post, we’re off to the market to get the remaining ingredients needed for tonight’s meal, Low Carb Chicken Pot Pie (please email me if you’d like the recipe), a favorite of ours and, to purchase groceries we’ll need for the balance of the week.

Tomorrow, after posting and weather permitting, we’ll be heading to an exciting and popular tourist venue. We’ll be back with more new photos.

Have a fabulous day!

Photo from one year ago today, August 22, 2016:

We took this photo at a local resort in Phuket. The placement of hands, Mudras, 
as gestures in Buddhism is explained here. For more details from that day’s post,
please click here.

We rented a car for the remaining period in Costa Rica…Until November 22, 2017…

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I’ve been anxious to get photos of unusual frogs in Costa Rica, especially the colorful species. But that will have to wait until we get out soon. We’ve yet to see a colorful frog at the villa. But, this plain frog attached to Henry’s left rear bumper satisfied me for now. Check out those toes!

“Sightings from the Veranda In Costa Rica”

The clouds that roll in each day create many gorgeous scenes.

We awoke this morning to one of those special days with the most perfect weather we’ve experienced in a very long time. The sky is clear, scattered with a few white pillowy clouds. Most likely by early afternoon, it will cloud over and rain as always.

There’s a balmy breeze rustling through the rainforest of over 100 species of indigenous trees. The temperature hovers close to 75F, 24C. Although the humidity is a high 86% right now, the comfort factor is not only bearable, it’s enticing and pleasurable. 

“They,” say that Costa Rica has the most perfect weather in the world and today, more than any day since we arrived over two weeks ago, further exemplifies this fact. It couldn’t be more to our liking.

The only aspect of our stay thus far that has been disappointing has been feeling a being a bit stranded with only a taxi driver at our disposal. At anywhere from US $15 (CRC 8665) to US $20 (CRC 11,553) each time we go to the village (a 10-minute drive plus the cost of waiting time for the driver), we found ourselves avoiding any long distances knowing the price would be pretty high. 

It’s always tricky taking photos from a moving car, especially when we’re sensitive about opening the window while we’re in air-conditioned comfort. 

This puts a damper on our desire of getting out to explore and taking photos while being able to stop at our leisure or quickly turn around when an ideal photo op is in sight. Tom’s is the best driver in accommodating my photo taking.

Besides, it doesn’t make sense to pay US $15 (CRC 8655) each time we realize we need a single item we forgot to purchase or a recipe pops into mind that requires a return to the market for ingredients. 

In many parts of the world, such a taxi ride might be only a few dollars making those single item outings worthwhile. In Australia, we had easy public transportation which isn’t as prevalent here.

But, adding a premium of US $15 (CRC 8655) or more to every few items purchased significantly throws off our food budget. So, we knew we needed to make a change and proceed to rent a vehicle for our remaining time in Costa Rica.

Typical shop along the road into the village.

No doubt we’ve become a bit spoiled after the nine weeks in the US with the red SUV in Minnesota and the little white car in Nevada, able to head out at any time we chose. Taxi fares in either state would have been prohibitive as they were in Australia.

At times, while in Minnesota, we wished we’d had a second vehicle but the cost of renting two cars was impractical. So for a short period, we borrowed a truck belonging to son Greg’s that helped in a pinch but we knew he needed to use and we didn’t keep it long. 

While in Nevada, Tom was content to stay at son Richard’s home in air-conditioned comfort while I flitted around to shop, visit sister Susan and even embark on a few sightseeing missions on my own.  It worked well.

We’re committed to a five-day car rental starting on Monday, August 21st, which Aad the property manager arranged for us. At 10:00 am we’ll take the taxi into Atenas to pick up the car at the cafe at SuperMercado Coopeatena and then head out of town to our dentist appointment at 1:00 pm. We’ll have plenty of time for sightseeing and photo taking along the way.

Typical house in the gated neighborhood.

Last night after 10:00 pm, while a bit bleary-eyed and tired, I decided to check prices one more time for rental cars from our favorite site, rentalcars.com which we’ve used since the onset of our travel. 

I was shocked when I saw the low prices which included all of the taxes and fees, to discover we could rent a car beginning on Monday, August 28th for US $783 (CRC 440,762) for the remaining 87 days in Costa Rica (at that point) which totaled US $9.10 (CRC 5257) a day. I had checked pricing a few days earlier and it was twice this amount. I asked Tom to verify the details with me. Was I too tired to access this carefully? He was wide awake and concurred with the pricing, dates, and conditions.

We quickly booked the car and paid the fee. The rental car company, Europcar, is one we’ve used approximately 60% of the times we’ve rented cars and never had any type of issues. This time, as always, we read all the terms and conditions of the rental.

Europcar require a US $1,500 (CRC 866,505) deposit which might be off-putting to some renters and, included in the above price is a surcharge of US $150 (CRC 86,651), for drivers over 64 years of age, at US $5 (CRC 2888) per day for a maximum of the US $150 (CRC 86,651), for the entire period). 

We couldn’t tell if this is a house or a business based on the sign on the front wall. 

We’re OK with these conditions, especially when the contract stipulates that all other fees and taxes are included in the base rate of US $633 (CRC 365,665). The surcharge for the senior factor might also be off-putting to some renters but for us, the grand total most appealing and, the fact that we’ll be getting a car with AC and automatic transmission ideal for driving on all the hills and mountains in Costa Rica.

We’ve been warned about “bait and switch” type car rentals in Costa Rica but with this familiar website and Europcar which we’ve used so often, we feel safe. In the worst case, if we discover we’ve been defrauded or misrepresented in some manner, we won’t take the car and/or take it up with the credit card company. We shall see what transpires and report back here.

We’re both excited at the prospect of being able to get around on our own for the weekdays next week and from there on, from August 28th until November 22nd.

Today, we’re staying in again working on financial stuff.  But now, with a solution on the horizon enabling us to explore our surroundings and take many photos we can share, we’re content to wait it out until Monday morning when we’ll once again have wheels and “be on the road.”

Happy day to all!

Photo from one year ago today, August 16, 2016:

These are 400 million-year-old fossils seen at the Phuket Seashell Museum. For more photos, please click here.

Limitations…Living within our means…Not always easy…

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View from the chaise lounges of the pool, the Jacuzzi to the left, and beyond it, the cold plunge pool. Nice.

“Sightings from the Veranda in Costa Rica” 

Even the entrance to this property is stunning, as taken from the veranda on a cloudy day.

It’s been raining almost every day. We knew when we booked this property during the rainy season, but we decided with as much “work” as we had to do while here, it wouldn’t matter to us so much.

Besides, the likelihood of finding a reputable rental car facility was iffy from what we’d read online and heard from our landlord Aad. Hence, we decided to rent a car periodically (via Aad’s contacts), which we’ll be doing one week from tomorrow for five days.  We’re waiting for the quote and will post it here.

We realized that if we’d paid the premium prices for a decent car for over three months, it would be sitting in the driveway most days due to the rainy days. So it wouldn’t make sense to go sightseeing on these mountainous roads during rainstorms which occur by noon almost every day.

We noticed the times it starts raining since we attempt to use the pool each day, but often I don’t get done uploading the post until almost noon, and by then, the sun is gone with thunderstorms and lightning surrounding us, not a good time to go into the water.

Neither of us cares to go sightseeing in the rain when we can avoid it. Thus, when we have the rental car next week, we’ll try to get out in the mornings, and a few of our posts may be uploaded later in the day. We’ll let you know when and if this occurs.

On Monday, the 21st, the first day we’ll have the car Aad will have arranged for us. In addition, we both have dentist appointments at a distant location at 1:00 pm, giving us ample time to post before heading out.

Pretty plants and trees are scattered throughout the grounds, which Ulysses keeps perfectly maintained.

This past Friday, we’d intended to go to the weekly Farmers Market in the village at 1:00 pm based on times stated in an online ad we’d seen that said it started at 6:00 am and ended at 6:00 pm. 

Well, as it turned out, Marian, Aad’s wife, informed us that the Farmers Market closes at 1:00 pm. So thus, we canceled the taxi driver with a plan to go next Friday, the 25th, when we could go on our own in the rental car, taking our time to mosey around and take plenty of photos.

Many tourists rent cars in Costa Rica without incident. But, there’s a big difference in renting a car for a week or two instead of three and a half months. The agencies tend to give us the least desirable vehicles based on the extended period and the reasonable prices we’ve received online.  Generally, this is fine with us when we’re saving vast sums of money over extended periods. 

In this case, it just didn’t work out, so we’re somewhat stranded in the interim. However, we always strive to live within our means, especially with the pricey Antarctica cruise in five months which we’ll pay off in full by October 16th, in a mere two months.

Our “belts are tightened” during this period to prepare for this significant outlay of cash. Recently, we had a cost of almost US $10,000 (CRC 5,761,850) for our extended stay here in Costa Rica for this fine property. With a strict budget to follow and much upcoming in the future, we live as modestly as we can. 

A careless world traveler could efficiently run through money so fast they’d quickly put an end to their travels. So for us, we carefully manage every dollar we spend to ensure we can continue until we physically can’t go on any longer, not when we “run out of money.” 

The driveway pavers are laid to perfection.

We live off of our fixed monthly income comparable to that of most retirees. Yet, living as comfortably as we often do (with a few exceptions here and there), we must continue to be frugal. That means few expensive professional tours, dining out at a minimum (my diet dictates this more than money), no needless shopping, planning and cooking our meals, and above all, not being wasteful. 

A huge benefit of spending 2018 and part of 2019 in Africa is that it enables us to recover from the high expenses of the three upcoming cruises, all occurring by January 23, 2018. 

When we leave Costa Rica on November 22nd, we’ll fly to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, for one night, after which we’ll be embarking on a 30-night back-to-back cruise to South America, finally ending in Buenos Aires, where we’ll stay 31 plus one night, as mentioned in a post of a few days ago, as shown here.

In a 78-night period beginning on November 23, 2017 (Thanksgiving Day in the US) and ending on February 8, 2018, we’ll be cruising for 47-nights.  The remaining nights we’ll be living in Buenos Aires as mentioned above.  Here again, we’ll have a long stretch where we won’t cook a single meal or make a bed.

Once we arrive in South Africa on or about February 9, 2018, we’ll begin to “lick our wounds” and once again be shopping, cooking, and taking care of our day-to-day lives on our own. A cleaner will come once or twice weekly while living in Marloth Park, comparable to here in Costa Rica, the delightful Isabel.

Gorgeous blooming plants.

That’s not to say we won’t have some significant expenses while in Africa with all we plan to do while there, leaving South Africa every three months (visa requirement) for one type of expedition or another that we’ll book once we arrive and settle in.

We’re in a constant state of flux, a state of being we both find exciting and adventurous, definitely not for everyone. However, most humans tend to find great comfort in gaining familiarity with their surroundings and creating a place to call home. 

Perhaps we nomadic humans in this world are more like the wildlife. We tend to go where the going is fruitful, where the going is exciting, continually on the move for the next adventure. So stay tuned, fellow travelers, fellow readers. Much more is yet to come.

Photo from one year ago today, August 13, 2016:

In the 1980’s I stayed in Phuket, Thailand, for a few weeks (before Tom, whom I met in 1991), splitting the time between two gorgeous resorts on the beach. Living in a vacation home in a resort town proved to be an entirely different experience when the front yards of many homes looked like this in the neighborhood of the lovely house we rented. This is the life of world travel, not always dreamy and gorgeous. For more details, please click here.

More than we expected…Costa Rica dream property…Already unpacked and settled in…

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Tom is as content as he could be at La Perla de Atenas

Last night around 9:30 pm, we arrived at La Perla de Atenas (The Pearl of Atenas), our vacation home for the next 3½  months. Our mouths were agape in sheer wonder. 

The bed and bedding in the master bedroom are very comfortable. More interior photos are coming soon.

How did we get so lucky to have landed this exquisite home after making friends with owners Bev and Sam in Kauai?  We met the lovely couple at a Full Moon Party and who later invited us to their stunning property in Kauai for dinner and again for their monthly “movie nights.” 

In most cases, we stay in vacation homes with water views. But, the valley and mountain views in Atenas are all we need right now.  

As it turned out, Bev and Sam were in the process of purchasing this Costa Rica property while we were there, later spending enormous time and funds to update it to its currently blissful state of being. 

The massive grounds are landscaped and maintained to perfection.

At the time, we had no intentions of revisiting Central America when we’d already spent 2½ months living in Belize and visiting Costa Rica, Panama, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Guatemala via three cruises in 2013. With so much world left to see, none of these countries struck us as high on our list at this point.

However, when we booked the Antarctica cruise upcoming in January, everything changed.  We needed to work our way toward South America. A stop along the way in Costa Rica might be perfect. And, from our perspective thus far, we were right.

We’ll be spending many hours bird watching from this location, and at the National Park, we’ll soon visit.

Yesterday’s two flights were relatively easy, including immigration and customs, when we arrived in Costa Rica. The layover in Houston was short. The only delay was getting onto the flight when United’s (duh!) cleaning people had to vacuum the plane’s interior a second time when the supervisor wasn’t happy with how it had been done after the last flight. We waited in line no less than 30 minutes in the hot, steamy tube.

Lush vegetation and greenery on the grounds surround us in the mountains, hills, and valleys. We’re located at an elevation of approximately 4000 feet (1219 meters).

Finally, we were on our way and the three hours whizzed by.  After we’d collected our luggage, our property manager Aad was waiting for us, holding a sign with our names. It took 35 minutes from Juan Santamaría International Airport to La Perla.  

Although it was only a 13-hour travel day from Las Vegas, Nevada to Atenas, Costa Rica, no doubt we were a little pooped.  Even today, after a decent six hours of sleep in the very comfortable bed, we’re still a little sluggish.

It looks like we won’t have trouble finding grass-fed beef in Costa Rica if these skinny cattle are any indication. The meat from grass-fed cows is tough but so much healthier. We’re less inclined to purchase steaks instead of focusing on ground beef and slowing cooking cuts.

This morning after perusing the stunning views and reveling in the sounds of birds, roosters, and cows, we unpacked everything, hanging our clothes in the two walk-in closets and ample drawer space in the master suite.

Our suitcases are now tucked away in one of the other bedrooms. The only other task on today’s agenda is a trip to the phone store to purchase a SIM card and the local market, which Aad pointed out last night as being behind the gas station. 

With thick cushions to use for these chairs, we’ll undoubtedly get our daily dose of Vitamin D.

Once we become more familiar with local markets, we have no doubt we’ll find most of which we’ll need to enjoy cooking in the modern kitchen. For today, we might go for “easy” and buy some already roasted chickens if they’re available.

We’ll be taking many photos of our breathtaking surroundings and share them tomorrow. Enjoy your day!

Photo from one year ago today, August 2, 2016:

Although we were in Phuket this time last year, we were nearly finished posting the final photos of our Vietnam and Cambodia tour via the Mekong River. Camera in my hand while Tom carried our little insulated bag with chilled bottled water as we exited the boat for a time. For more photos, please click here.

Oh, oh, stuff happens… I dinged the rental car!… See below for damage… Seven days and counting…

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This is the separation of the fender that transpired from the “ding.”

I’ve never claimed to be a good driver. Overall, I’m OK on the highway, paying strict attention to my driving. But, I’m a nightmare in a parking lot, parking ramp, or other such areas where there are posts or obstacles of any type.

In my 50 plus years of driving, I’ve probably caused a dozen or more “dings” in parking lots, some more serious than others. Why?  I don’t know. Perhaps my judgment as to how close I am to obstacles is impeded in some manner by my depth perception.

There’s no doubt that at some point, I’ll give up driving may be earlier than some seniors. But, in countries where we have a rental car, it’s been nice to give Tom a break from sitting in the car waiting for me while I shop. He despises shopping, but he’s an excellent driver.

Also, it’s good to give him time alone while I head out to shop for groceries. I can easily spend a few hours dawdling in a larger market when I’m not familiar with the inventory placement.  Learning a grocery store each time we move can take several trips.

The little white rental car after I’d caused the ding in the left front bumper.

In the smaller markets such as Belize, Kenya, Fiji, and others, I’d be done shopping in less than 10 minutes with only three or four aisles. We anticipate more of these types of markets in the future.

But it wasn’t at a market that I dinged the white rental car yesterday. I entered a parking spot at an assisted living facility not far from where my sister Susan currently lives. I was investigating the prospect of her moving into such a facility sometime in the near future.

As I pulled into a shaded parking spot, I thought I was paying attention. However, a square post was located at the end of the space defining the position of two spaces and acting as a support for the shaded overhead canopy. I barely tapped the post.

I tapped it so lightly; I wasn’t even going to look at it, figuring I hadn’t done a thing to the vehicle. When I decided I’d better take a look, with the utmost angst, I realized I had displaced a portion of the left front bumper which appears to have become disconnected from its joining points. 

The pea-sized bit of paint came off the car.

I tried to push it back in place with my hands to no avail. It needed a rubber mallet or some other type of device to put it back in place.  When I arrived at Susan’s an hour later, I couldn’t get my fender bender out of my mind. How could I be so careless?

I also wondered how the bumper could feel so soft and more like tin or plastic than the metal on cars made years ago. I had no idea it was so soft and pliable, seemingly responding to even the slightest ding.

Today, I’ll call the credit card company on which we charged the rental car. We have rental car insurance that covers such incidents. Hopefully, that will work out, or we’ll be paying for the repairs out of pocket, and there’s no doubt the rental car company will gouge us. Once we know what transpires, we’ll report back here.

So it goes…stuff happens. In the realm of things, it’s a minor incident. As we always say, if we have our health and we’re safe, we have no reason to complain. 

It doesn’t appear to be that much damage, but who knows how it will go.

When I returned to Henderson around 4:00 pm, I was a little apprehensive about telling Tom what I’d done. The minute I walked in the door, he asked me what was wrong based on the look on my face.

In his usual style, he wasn’t angry at me for my carelessness and reassured me not to stress about it. At no time, we were our usual cheerful selves, enjoying the evening with a good meal shared with Richard as we began to wind down our final week in the USA.

By the way, right now, after 10:00 am, it’s overcast and rainy at a cool 75F (24C). Go figure.

May you have a stress-free day!

Photo from one year ago today, July 25, 2016:

Kong, our fabulous tour guide with Viking Cruise Line, took this photo of Tom and a tarantula served at dinner.  He didn’t eat it. I would have tried it, but it was batter fried.  For more photos, please click here.

Final Expenses for six weeks in Minnesota…Tomorrow, we’re off to Las Vegas!…Busy day!…

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Tom, Tammy, and Vincent last night when we all said goodbye.

Here we are, posting late again today. This morning we had our hands full packing, running out to Goodwill, and making a stop at Target for a few last-minute items. 

While preparing today’s post and our final expenses, we decided to include our living costs during these six weeks and how much we spent on replacing our wardrobes in their entirety.

Vincent’s teeth were hurting a little after the morning’s visit to the orthodontist. But, he enjoyed his meal (I forgot to take a photo), his chocolate milk, and time afternoon and evening with us.

Over these past years of world travel, we’ve found it impossible to find proper sizes and clothing suitable for us when we felt a need to replace certain items along the way. I’m not an easy fit with my above-average height, long legs and arms, and clothes for Tom are equally challenging to find for various reasons.

We’ve found clothing purchased in many countries to be less durable at the prices we’re prepared to pay. Even in Australia, with their modern stores, the cost of many items was two to three times higher than a similar product in the US.

Tammy and Vincent at Avenida with us last night for dinner.

As a result of this visit, we’ve decided we’ll stick to buying clothes in the US, especially when we’re hoping to return for a visit every two years. With our recent purchases, we have no doubt our items will last until 2019.

When considering that we’ve spent $2,062.79 for both of us for all of our new clothing and shoes, replacing almost every single item, that translates to only $1031.40 for each of the two years at a total of $515.70 for each of us per year. That’s very reasonable.

 Expense   US Dollar 
 Hotel – 42 nights    $                  4,494.00
 Flight + Bags-Seattle to MPS  $                     478.20
 Rental Car    $                  1,758.00
 Fuel   $                     390.16
 Clothing to restock luggage   $                  2,062.79
 Restaurants   $                  1,502.29
 Grocery   $                     294.13
 Pharmacy, luggage, misc.  $                  1,983.68
 Laundry, tips for hotel staff   $                     368.94
 Total   $               13,332.19
 Avg Daily Cost    $                     317.43

Of course, everything we purchased was a bargain when Macy’s was practically “giving away” quality, name-brand items during several sales. Add a trip to the Albertville Factory Outlet Mall, and we replaced everything. 

Another expense listed on today’s final costs as shown here as “pharmacy, luggage, toiletries, misc.” included hundreds of dollars I’d spent for expensive probiotics that I will continue to take over the next six months and the replacement of expired and dwindling supplies of toiletries, cosmetics, and over-the-counter emergency medications. It all added up quickly.

These types of expenses will continue to be necessary when we return to the US. With the high cost of shipping items to us, we’ve decided to wait to make purchases if at all possible. Although, at times, we’ll have no choice but to continue to ship items we may urgently need, such as a replacement laptop and other digital equipment we unable to find outside the US that suits our needs.

Tammy’s tacos looked terrific with the blue corn taco shells in the metal holders, rice, and beans on the side.  We’ve noticed how significant portions are in the US as compared to other countries.

As an example, a few days ago, our portable Doxie scanner died while I was scanning all the receipts we’d accumulated here in Minnesota. Today, I’ll order a new scanner and have it shipped to our mailing service in Nevada for pick-up while we’re there, along with several other items included in today’s total expenses (in an attempt to keep our baggage weight under control from MSP to LAS).

This morning we completed our packing, weighed our bags, and headed out to a nearby Goodwill store to drop off our old clothes and shoes. In the afternoon, we’ll take off to say goodbye to more family members.

With all but the third checked bag already packed and weighed, tomorrow morning won’t be stressful, especially when we’ll leave the hotel two hours before our flight. Tom, the proverbial early bird, prefers to arrive long before necessary, and I go along willingly (without complaint) to avoid adding to his usual “travel day” stress.

Tom ordered his usual sweet and sour chicken without peppers.

In almost every case, once we settle at a restaurant in the airport to wait for our flight, I’m usually happy we arrived early, allowing me additional time to complete the day’s post in the event I wasn’t able to upload it before we left our accommodations.

Yesterday, we spent the afternoon with grandson Vincent. We met up with Tammy for dinner at our favorite Avenida, an Asian/Mexican fusion restaurant not far from the hotel where we dined on many occasions. The four of us had a pleasant dinner while I took today’s included photos.

I ordered my usual chopped salad minus corn, minus beans, and minus tortilla strips with a side of shredded beef and sour cream. As always, it was delicious.

We’ll be back tomorrow with our final Minnesota post, and then, on Saturday, we’ll be checking in from Henderson, Nevada. I received a weather warning on my phone in the past hour stating, “Excessive Heat Warning” for tomorrow in Las Vegas, Nevada, with highs expected at 114F, 46C, 4 degrees lower than the recent all-time high of 118F, 48C. Oh, boy! 

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Photo from one year ago today, July 6, 2016:

This, dear readers, so much bespoke Vietnam in today’s world. For more Vietnam photos, please click here.

We’re in Minnesota after a 12-hour travel day! …All is good!…Our hotel and rental car…

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As a former owner of this model, Tom is thrilled with this new Ford Explorer. We couldn’t believe all the technology in this rental car, more than any we’ve seen throughout the world. As it turned out, we rented this car for the full six weeks for only $50 more than a tiny economy car from this site:  www.rentalcars.com.

It was 8:30 pm by the time we checked into the hotel. We were renting the SUV for an extended period required two separate contracts; one for one month and another for the additional two weeks. So, of course, this took twice as long as usual.

The lounge area is in the entry to the hotel.

Between the airport in Seattle and again in Minneapolis, my FitBit easily hit 10,000 steps from walking through the lengthy terminals. The easy three-hour flight landed by 6:30 pm. 

Another lounge area in the hotel.

It took a while to make our way to the rental car area at the Minneapolis airport. Everything had changed since the last time we were there five years ago. It had changed so much; we hardly recognized any area. 

There’s a small shop in the hotel where guests can purchase beverages and snacks.

Once we arrived at the Country Inn & Suites hotel, we were pleasantly surprised. Our discounted corporate rate at $107 a night was a far cry from the average rates of over $200 a night for most hotels. 

TV and fake fireplace in the lounge where most days I’ll prepare the daily post.

With breakfast, free WiFi, and taxes included, it was the best possible price we could expect for a six-week stay. But, of course, the convenient location was also a factor in choosing this facility.

Complimentary breakfast is available from 7:00 am to 10:00 am daily.  This morning we had eggs and sausage.

By the time we brought in our bags, it was fast approaching 9:00 pm, and we decided to walk next door to Grizzly’s Wood-Fired Grill for dinner. Unfortunately, with the two-hour time difference, we weren’t as hungry as we could have been. 

We continue to avoid fruit, bread, and baked goods.

Also, Grizzly’s is the location for the upcoming Meet & Greet on June 9th for our Minnesota readers, for which we continue to receive RSVPs (please send us a message if you’d like to attend), and we wanted to check it out firsthand. So, after a good dinner and service, we were content with the decision to have our event at that location.

There are two workstations in the business center.

At the moment, we are visiting Tom’s sister Patty at a local nursing home where she’s recuperating from recent surgery. Soon, we’ll leave and head to Tom’s brother Jerome’s home in Coon Rapids. 

Jerome is Tom’s older brother with whom we’ve stayed in close touch over these past years. He’s blind with a talking computer and has enjoyed “listening” to our posts over these past years. Each day, Tom removes all the photos from the day’s post and sends them to Jerry by email. We’re so looking forward to seeing him as well.

Prices for hotels in Minneapolis are very high, comparable to many other larger US cities. Therefore, we opted for a corporate rate on this fairly modest hotel conveniently located for visiting family and friends.  Its clean, friendly, and fulfills our needs during the six weeks in Minnesota.

Today at 5:00 pm, we’re heading to dinner at my son Greg’s home (wife Camille), where we’ll see three of our darling grandchildren. The excitement of seeing those we love with more yet to see is indescribable. 

Over these next weeks, we’ll spend most of our free time with family and friends, filling our hearts with love and more wonderful memories. But, as we mentioned in an earlier post, we won’t turn each day’s post into a family album. Instead, we’ll continue to seek lovely scenery, wildlife, and many of the highlights in the Minneapolis area.

Complimentary coffee and tea are available throughout the day and night.

Tomorrow, we’ll return with more photos from the Butchart Garden in Victoria. Have a safe and meaningful Memorial Day weekend.

Photo  from one year ago today, May 27, 2016:

Here we were wearing saris standing at the foot of the steps at the Pulaki Temple in Singaraja in Bali.  For more photos, please click here.