Estimated Reading Time: 3 Minutes In the United States, Daylight Savings Time (DST) 2014 is on Sunday, March Nine and in most European countries on March 30. In Costa Rica, Daylight Savings Time was used for the first time in the summer of 1979, once in 1980 (from February until May), and in 1991 from…
A Costa Rica real estate client asked me to write about medicinal herbs in Costa Rica. This, fortunately, comes pretty easy to me. That’s because my dad, together with his partner, Hendrik Stins, opened La Buena Hierba in 1986. This was the first real medicinal herb store in Costa Rica, although you could find medicinal…
Estimated Reading Time: 6 Minutes So, we’ve completed 98% of our home improvement project. Friends say that this is the Tico way of finishing things. Honestly, I think it happens everywhere. But allow me to tell you all about it, so you can learn from my mistakes. We have finished the business with my contractor…
Estimated Reading Time: 8 Minutes I’m sure you now want to learn more about the remodeled result of our home. We went through a long and detailed process, but we’re all happy with the remodeled result. We bought our new property in Costa Rica at a price that allowed us to afford all of the…
A car accident is never fun nor is it ever convenient. One Saturday a couple of months ago my husband was driving through Barrio Mexico, going to a Little Theatre Group rehearsal. He stopped at a stop sign as required and was thinking about whether he should go straight or turn right (he wasn’t familiar…
Estimated Reading Time: 7 Minutes I have now learned to watch my pants because I was stung by a scorpion. On occasion, the relevance of an event or experience needs to be related while it is fresh in one’s mind. Therefore, I’m taking a brief detour in this blog from writing about our home improvement…
Atenas expats always enjoy the Annual Atenas Charity Chili Cook Off. Are you a great cook? Do you like to eat? Do you have a great Chili recipe that’s been in your family for over a century? Are you ready to have some fun? Even if you don’t live in Atenas, you should join the…
Estimated Reading Time: 5 Minutes I had to paint my car red. That’s the color of the taxis in Costa Rica. But there was a reason. The business was dead. Picturesque Capitola, a seaside village in California, my hometown for twenty years, was abuzz with summer tourists. My seafoam green XJ8 Jaguar was parked outside…
We have to pick the best contractor estimate. Selecting the contractor with the best quotation is never an easy task. But for us, it was a very simple process of selection by default. I was always dubious regarding Builder #1’s enthusiasm to quote for a second time despite his agreement to do so. So, I…
Yes, we have mosquitoes in Costa Rica, lots of them! And also plenty of rodents, like cockroaches, ants and even fleas! Brooke Bishop, our Grecia expert real estate agent, went the extra mile as usual. She took care of the pest control or fumigation as we call it in Costa Rica, for an absentee buyer.…
Estimated Reading Time: 6 Minutes Does my Costa Rican wife beat me? Mine doesn’t, but I know a couple of guys in Costa Rica who get beat up by their Costa Rican wives. And the women get away with it. Marrying is so easy, especially when you’re in love with a beautiful woman. But divorcing…
Estimated Reading Time: 5 Minutes Let me tell you about my first living experiences in Costa Rica, right after I purchased my coffee farm in 1993. The day after closing, I went down to set “things” up. I inherited a peon that I let stay on the job till I decided what I was going…
Estimated Reading Time: 5 Minutes Like you don’t know how to do your laundry, right? Well, the best way to do your laundry in Costa Rica is to hire a maid and have her do it. I have written lots of blogs about the difference in culture between back home and Costa Rica and I…
Let’s talk about cultural differences today. I’m going to spend this blog on small items of note and a few observations. Some of it similar to the culture we are used to being part of in North America. Some of it is a derivative of the Spanish influence and, while I am no expert, some…
Estimated Reading Time: 7 Minutes Online shopping is now becoming a routine for most. My past three blogs discussed shopping in Costa Rica. Let me now spend a bit of time on online shopping. About what happens when you decide to give up looking for that special something. Or if you believe it is easier…
Estimated Reading Time: 8 Minutes Have you ever tried to do your own dishwasher installation in Costa Rica? Ralph did! Ralph and Gloria have lived in Costa Rica in the nineties and moved to Florida. Now, they miss Costa Rica a lot. Ralph loves to read Ivo’s blog every week Ralph has some great stories…