Study the Verbs

Buenos Dias, Familia de Blog.

Lately, I haven't been writing due to a combination of circumstances that would be very boring to list, so instead, let us contemplate the beauty of the Blue Morpho.

Let us review our Spanish conjugations, and be at peace with all 18 of them.

Let us contemplate the ineffable, and see if we might eff it after all.   (Hat Tip to Douglas Adams)

Above all, let us listen, groove, shake, bounce, and strut to the mighty sounds of South Aftica's Laura Mvula.

Although she is not Costa Rican and has no Costa Rican ties to my knowledge, I ran across the video while relaxing in San Jose, CR, so there you go.  Beautiful things can happen when you're tranquilo.  (But still, study the verbs.)

Pura Vida!

A New Year's Faux Pas

Happy New Butt Hole!

There is a critical difference in the Spanish words "Ano" and "Año."

All the best to you and yours!

Feliz Navidad - A New Christmas Story from Expats in Costa Rica

'Twas the night before Christmas and down at the beach

Not a creature was stirring, not a mall within reach.

No stockings were hung and nobody cared

To see old Saint Nick sporting swimwear.

The children all grown and gone on with their lives,

While we are perfecting our backflipping dives.

Your Mum in her bikini and I in my shorts

Just settled in for an evening of sports.

When out on the ocean there arose such a clatter

I grabbed my binoculars to see what's the matter

On top of the table I jumped in a flash

To see if some dummies got into a crash.

The moon on the crest of the new breaking waves

Reminded me of drinks I started to crave

When what to my wondering eye should appear

But a well-balanced tray with delicious cold beer.

I grabbled a new bottle of Imperial

Happy to know there is plenty for all.

Mum hooted and hollered and smacked my butt -

Feliz Navidad! and Feliz Coconuts!

5 Social Faux Pas Every Expat in Costa Rica Can Avoid

People are more or less the same wherever you go.

We remember different foods from our childhoods, but most of us love our Grandmothers.

We like different music; but the generation before usually despises the next one's favorite.

Everybody likes a barbecue!

Humans are social animals - we want to connect, belong, have a purpose, and have our basic human dignity recognized, and we meet those needs through culture.

That said, culture is a social construct and what might seem innocuous to a visitor from the USA may be regarded as uncouth by our Costa Rican hosts.

Here's what you need to know to avoid the most common social faux pas…

Tastes like chicken.

Expats in Costa Rica: This Bathroom Is Inhabited, Please

This is Pipa.

She’s a teeny tiny "house" gecko, and she lives in the bathroom at our cabina.

You can’t really tell from the photo, but she’s about as long as a toothpick, and as big around as 3 toothpicks put together.

Pipa was my nurse and companion today while Montezuma took his revenge.

Wave after wave of nausea caused me to retch helplessly into the sink.

Luckily, I could reach it from the seated position.

Pipa looked on sympathetically from the shower, her tiny reptile eyes warm with compassion.

“I’m so sorry, Pipa,” I said. “I didn’t mean to barge in here and trash the place.”

"No te preocupes, hermana," she said.  "Mierda sucede."

(Don't worry, sister.  Shit happens.)