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[quote=”vmc”]One week from TODAY (Saturday the 28th.)we’ll be on the ground and headed for our new home…….We’re all pretty pumped…..can’t wait to got on that beach![/quote]
Apart from the humanoid obstacles to a future fruitful life in Costa Rica are the natural ones: volcanoes & earthquakes. The former spout off meaningfully every few decades; the latter hundreds of times a year [mostly unfelt, except for seismographs]. Fortunately the big ones are fairly rare. May is the 102d anniversary month of the destruction of Cartago. A book about it is free as PDF, web, or kindle at http://archive.org/details/cartagoearthquak00fern. Ironically, the newly completed Palace of Justice, funded by Andrew Carnegie as earthquake proof, was totally destroyed. It is interesting reading.
It’s all due to the arguments between the Cocos Plate and the Caribbean Plate. “Whaddaya gonna do?” So says my cousin in San Francisco who lives atop the San Andreas Fault. As if future pensionados don’t have enough other cuitas.[quote=”Scott”]In March 2011 while trying to rob a taxi at gunpoint José Andrey Quesada Cubillo accidentally shot his accomplice in the head killing him instantly. [/quote]
Natural Selection in action. Quesada Cubillo must be a Darwinist.
[quote=”DavidCMurray”] What was calm water yesterday can be dangerous today and calm again tomorrow.
[/quote]Make that hours, not days, depending on tide stage and wind strength/direction.
[quote=”maravilla”]maybe it should be called Head, Shoulders, & Back![/quote]
who knows, maybe these unique algae might be a commercially viable source of omega-3s, biofuels, or a dengue cure.
Surely there’s SOMETHING along these lines among the CR biodiversity.:!:[quote=”bogino”]Well…my story is slightly different but still a story that demonstrates kindness and goodwill:
[/quote]
Various CR forums sometimes seem to be filled with negative experiences – but there is an equal number of positives as well; and first impressions are important. In my case, I first came to CR as a visiting professor at UNA. My “book learning” Spanish was clearly inadequate for really integrating into daily life, and several Ticos took turns finding a place to live, introducing us to merchants, taking us on family trips to the beach, etc. etc. I never forgot these many kindnesses and, good deeds being self-perpetuating (hopefully!), I tried to repay any Ticos I encountered in the U.S. with similar help. While, in my opinion the quality of living in CR has diminished since the ’80s, most Ticos themselves are still simpatico y agradable.[quote=”daboss06″]Hello all,
Can somebody please tell me from experience if there is any SCUBA diving on Costa Rica’s Caribbean Sea coast? And if so,
are there reefs? Any operators with a compressor and dive boats? I have been diving on the Pacific coast, would like to check out the Caribbean side, thanks![/quote]There used to be a decent reef at the park in Cahuita – but haven’t returned there in years. You would be better off going to the islands off Belize, or especially Glover’s Reef. As a whole, Carib reefs are inferior to Pacific ones.
PEH[quote=”guru”]
While I have not yet left the US, I plan to leave. I would like to sever my (tax) relationship with the US government but that is not possible without becoming a full citizen of another country AND denouncing ones US citizenship. You can leave but they want your tax money (or in the least all the paperwork) no matter where you go.
Welcome to the Hotel IRS:
“You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave”[quote=”KirstenGK”]Hello,
Can someone tell me where to find flower and herb seeds? I am in Atenas.[/quote]There’s a group than can give you the answer: crgardening@yahoogroups.com
Falling out of favor? I don’t think so.
http://www.teletica.com/misscostarica2011/#general_console
Pura Vida:shock:On a Saturday morning with no imminent chores, I started thinking about crime in Costa Rica and how it causes some degree of anxiety in current and future visitors and residents [me included]. So I did a bit of web searching, and came up with some interesting statistics [acknowledging that statistics can show what you want them to show].
For Costa Rica, the homcide rate was 8.5 per 100,000 people in 2007 [the most recent year shown]. The source is:
http://www.gunpolicy.org/firearms/region/costa-rica [under Gun Death?number of homicides, any method]
My comparison is to U.S. cities with populations over 250,000, for the year 2009, for “murder and non-negligent manslaughter”. The source is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_cities_by_crime_rate. The numbers, given as ‘per 1000’ were extrapolated to ‘per 100,000. So, these cities in 2009 had a higher murder rate than Costa Rica in 2007:
Albuquerque, Atlanta, Baltimore, Buffalo, Chicago, Cincinnati,Columbus,Dallas, Fresno,Greensboro(NC), Houston, Indianapolis, Jacksonville(FL), Kansas City, Long Beach(CA), Louisville(KY), Memphis, Miami, Milwaukee, Nashville, New Orleans, Newark, Oakland(CA), Oklahoma City, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Stockton(CA), Toledo, Tulsa, WashingtonDC.
Some surprises:
–the most dangerous U.S. city is New Orleans (52 per 100,000)
–New York (6) is less dangerous than Costa Rica (8.5)
I suspect for 2009 Costa Rica might be a bit higher, mostly because of the uptick in drug violence, but still, it’s preferable than many urban areas in the U.S. Is there any major point? No, but information for the curious.[quote=”Scott”] “What has been missing, he says, is a countervailing economic force that measures the value of leaving a forest or other ecosystem intact.”
[/quote]The same is true of coral reefs and mangrove forests, of which Costa Rica was formerly well endowed, but now diminishing rapidly.
The value of just 1km or coral reef can be up to $1.2 million (http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/blue_planet/coasts/coral_reefs/coral_facts/), and that’s just the beginning of the real value: http://www.wri.org/publication/content/7853.
The same is true for mangroves: their value in Mexico, for example, is $37,500 per hectare PER YEAR, and more today than in 2008 (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080721173757.htm). And how do you put a dollar value on aesthetics? Or for that matter, their importance in flood mitigation?
The ultimate explanation is population, and too much of it.
[quote=”DavidCMurray”]Sounds great, pharge. Just one question: When does the democracy and peace begin?[/quote]
AAAAAHAHAHAHAHA – you’ll have to ask a Native American [what we used to call ‘Indians’]
pharg[quote=”sprite”]
BOTH parties have been bought by the banking cartel and BOTH parties do the bidding of that interest.[/quote]In Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love – they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.
-Harry Lime, The Third Man [not factually accurate, but a great quote]
Now, for Switzerland, substitute USA and for clock, substitute Congress.I consistently find it both amusing and discouraging that these soliloquies by U.S. senators and congressmen are mostly played out to an empty chamber, and strictly for publicity with the folks back home. There is a reason the camera never strays to see who’s listening – they’re not there! (except for, in this example, a short-haired spectacled woman grabbing some papers and leaving, a stenographer, and 7 officers of the chamber). Tax dollars in action.:(:x
PHARG[quote=”DavidCMurray”][quote=”maravilla”]i don’t think Liberia is a port town. at least not the last time i looked.[/quote]
Global warming with rising ocean levels, maravilla. Liberia might not be seaside today, but given time . . .[/quote]
Something like 5 miilion years ago [give or take a million] Costa Rica was the bottom of a shallow sea. In another few million, it will be again. Then Liberia will be shoreline and there may be a port there. But the shipping agents will be different.:wink:
