The REAL Costa Rica Blog

Costa Rica Residency Renewal – Revisited

Last year, I blogged about the process of renewing my residency. Those interested can read the posts here and here. For no good (logical) reason that I can see, renewals are for one year only and even though I did not GET my residency card until 4 months after the ...

Bad News for Drivers in San José

Last year, the Ministerio de Obras Públicas (MOPT or as North Americans might call it, the Transportation Department) made a rule that drivers could not enter San Jose on certain days of the week, dependent upon the last digit of their license plate. For numbers 1-2 it was Monday, 2-3 ...

Email from Readers

Good day faithful readers. Here is another addition of “My Readers Write” Here you will find a few emails asking questions not covered in The REAL Costa Rica or this Blog.... or maybe they are but there is some other twist that I think might be of interest. As some of ...

Swine Flu Arrives in Costa Rica

Costa Rica has confirmed two cases of Swine Flu. The infected parties are a 21 year old woman and a 29 year old man, both returned recently from trips to Mexico. Costa Rica receives daily flights from Mexico. The woman traveled with 92 others on her flight home. Both persons ...

Dodged a Bullet Thanks to a Kind Transit Official

Car owners every year must have their cars inspected. This is done by a private company, Reteve. Information here. There are locations all over Costa Rica and you must call first to make an appointment. The month of expiration is equal to the last digit on your license plate. Mine ...

Le Grand Cirque Comes to Costa Rica

I am always a bit suspicious of publicity that compares its product to some world renowned version of that same product. In this case, Le Grand Cirque has been billed as "The Next Generation of Cirque du Soleil", the world famous circus from Montreal Canada. To be fair, the actual ...

This is Really Irritating!

I get a lot of email as you might imagine. The vast majority (well over 99%) of the comments are positive and pleasant. On occasion though, I get a comment that really frosts my Twinkie. This happened last night and I responded... but then I stewed about it all night! The ...

The New Driving Laws in Costa Rica

A lot of people are surprised to learn that it is perfectly legal to drink and drive in Costa Rica. It's true! However, the law also states that you cannot drive while drunk. That means that means that you as a driver are depending on the guy who is drinking ...

The Costa Rica Blues Fest

When I left Chicago almost a decade ago, I knew the stuff that I would not miss (snow, cold, weeks with no sunshine, snow, cold, snow, etc.) and the things I would miss (grand kids, children, friends, Fall, Chicago Fest, Spring, the Blues and the Chicago Blues Fest, etc.). Well ...

Coming to Costa Rica? Do You Like Cheap Fares?

I realize the audience for this post may be a bit smaller, but here it is anyway. Did you see it? Frontier Airlines ran an ad during the Superbowl that may interest you if you live near or can get to, Denver, Colorado (all flights specials originate there). Price Denver to San Jose, ...