News
On the Waterfront
According to the spin in AM Costa Rica, this will be the Chinchilla Administrations ‘defining moment,’ much as the CAFTA/TLC trade agreement was for President Oscar Arias. It’s so early in her administration that I can’t say this will be THE defining moment, but it is certainly important. For those of us who are old
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Recent Posts
Here is the latest from usexpatcostarica.com
Vacation
Back in the USA Pt 2
I spent the first few days with my friends Steve and Frances Stizzo in my old hometown of Roseville. Steve and I go back to when I was still in high school and he was in JUNIOR high. We’ve played together off and on ever since, sometimes in bands together for years at a time.
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Osa Peninsula and Golfo Dulce
If you look at a map of Costa Rica, and pay attention to the Pacific Coastline, you’ll see two very large peninsulas jutting out from the mainland, each with it’s own bay. The larger of the two is Peninsula Nicoya, and the smaller the Osa Peninsula. Osa is much less visited than its big brother
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Tortuguero National Park
Although visitors can only reach Tortuguero National Park by airplane or boat, it is still the third most visited national park in Costa Rica. Located in the remote northeastern part of Costa Rica, in Limón Province of northeastern Costa Rica, the park’s amazing biological diversity attracts visitors from all parts of the world. Among its
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La Fortuna and Tabacon Hot Springs
The amiable town of La Fortuna de San Carlos, usually called just ‘La Fortuna,’ owes its existence to the ever restless Arenal volcano in more than one way. On the 29th day of July in 1968, the volcano erupted in a very big way. For three consecutive days it disgorged gas, rock and ash, leaving
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Entertainment
Updates! Updates! Updates! It’s been more than 4 months since we started this blog, and we’ve put up nearly 300 posts on all kinds of topics, from Volcanoes to street vendors to residency procedures and more than I care to list. Nothing stays static and we’ll try to catch you up on a few things since the original
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Miss Costa Rica, 2010 Unbeknown to all the Gringos I met last night while I was out carousing, the Miss Costa Rica (Universe) pageant was happening. How they neglected to select me as a judge will remain a mystery to everyone, but the show must go on, and go on it did. I did a little research on the
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Relocation
Back to the USA Oh, to be in the Sacramento valley in August, the scent of eggs frying on sidewalks… Despite the baking heat and the fact that I don’t have a car, I am going back for a visit to my old stomping grounds in the middle of August. The occasion is a reunion of a band I
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A Trip to the Doctor Expats in Costa Rica have a number of options when it comes to medical care. The most direct (and expensive) option is to just go to a private hospital or clinic. Prices will be lower than in the USA but they aren’t dirt cheap. Another option is to get private insurance through INS. I can’t
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Learn Spanish
The Spanish Inquisition Part 3 I need to re-emphasize that I am NOT a native speaker and I am not truly fluent. But as a student I am passing along some things that I learned that may help YOU learn Spanish. Verbs: This is where Spanish is trickiest. You can do it wrong and still be understood, assuming what you
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The Spanish Inquisition (learning the language, Pt. 2) In part 1, we took a look at a few general aspects of the effort to learn Spanish. Here in part 2 we’ll take a look at the language itself and some things that might help to get a grasp of the language. These are things I found helpful and I hope they may be
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