Yesterday we had to go to the US embassy in San Jose. Usually that would mean spending the night in San jose then coming back the following day about a 6-7 hour trip one way. Well the good news is a new highway from the city is now open and lets off at the beach in-between Jaco and  Puntarenas.

The road is by far the nicest highway in Costa Rica now. It passes through amazing views of valleys jungle and rolling hills. There’s double lanes so passing those slow semi trucks is no problem.  There are quite a few toll booths that you have to pass by, about 4 so it costs 5-6 dollars one way. Well worth the hour and half travel time save.

It use to take 2-3 hours drive from the fairy but now in one hour you’re in the city. For us locals it sure makes life more convenient. We can now do our bulk shopping and take care of things that can only be done in the city and be back the same day.  

Good job Costa!

So yesterday I drove 4 1/2 hours one way to the town of Nicoya to do my first automobile safety check or Riteve RTV(REVISIÓN TÉCNICA). Bare in mind that most of the drive is on bumpy dirt roads. This was my second trip there this month because on my first visit my 2008 truck  failed due to  bad bearings.

 In some states in the US all vehicles are required to pass a safety inspection. Hawaii is one of them. In the US you can pretty much go to any gas station and get your sticker in 15 minutes provided your car is passable. Here in Costa Rica the hoops you have to jump through blew me away.  There are many things you can get away with a simple bribe but this is not one

So here is my short tutorial on how it works.
1. First you have to call and make an appointment in advance.

2. upon arrival you go into the office and present your expired Riteve certificate, car  papers, ID( if you’re a foreigner your passport)and  pay about 10,000 Colones($20.00)  then drive to the back of the line. Tip: don’t make your appt on Monday at the end of the month because this is the most crowded

3. The building you drive through looks similar to a car wash slightly longer with four stations that you stop at for various inspections with a person manning each one.

4. Station A. They check  all your lights, tint(no front or back tint allowed), horn, wipers, quick look under the hood, tire tread(your treads need about 4-5mm minimum, smog emission, spare tire, and inside the car you must have a kit that includes jack, jumpers, reflective  triangles  and vest.

5. Station B. You roll your front tires then your back tires over a metal plate thing that checks your alignment.

6. Station C. You roll your front tires on rollers that spin your tires individually to check  your brakes for strength and evenness. You then roll your back tires and have to demonstrate your e-brake and foot brake.

7. Final Station D The pit. You then drive over a pit where a person with a flashlight and microphone inspects the under carriage of your  vehicle for any potential hazards such as over rust, loose bearings, loose stearing components or oil leaks.

8.  You then exit the building park and wait inline at a booth where all the information is fed to a computer. If all goes well, the  man in the booth hands you your papers with your new Riteve sticker. In the event you fail the man will hand you a paper with details in Spanish of  what you need to fix.

9. You have 30 days to fix what did not pass. After you get whatever fixed, you have to make another appointment pay 5,000 Colones($10.00) for your return inspection. If its within the 30 days they will only inspect what did not pass, you still have to wait in line. Whew! Hey small price to pay to live in paradise

 Pura Vida! Shakacostarica
Mo’e

Hello again, In this blog i want to talk a little about the rainy/wet season and what to expect vacationing durfing different times of the year. The rainy season. Ive already talked about why i love the rainy season in an earlier blog so now ill expand on a few things. The beginning of the rainy season is around mid April, basically thats when you can expect your first rain. The rains start off subtle and build intensity over the months so there is usually still pleny of sunshine. When the first decent rains hit you can expect 2 things. First is more humidity, it take about 6-8 weeks for the trees to fill in with leaves, the under ground water table to begin to rise, and for the temperature and land to to cool off. 

 The next thing impossible to miss is the Tajalin invasion. After first rains a species of purple and orange crabs comes down from the mountains and they get EVERYWHERE. I personally think they are funny and entertaining, but they can get anywhere and its not uncommon for unsuspecting tourists to return home to find they brought back 1 or two in a suitcase. The worst part is they hang out on the roads and especially at night there are so many its impossible for vehicles to avoid them. After a couple of weeks they start to fade away and by june you hardly ever see any.

 Usually around the end of June or July we get an Indian summer for 2-4 weeks. This is one of the nicest times of the year because its nice and cool, the vegetation is at its lushest, and the beaches are quiet. Usually there is plenty of vacancy so showing up without reservations is not a problem.  Smaller less used roads begin to get bad and many of the routes can become impassible. All the roads become rougher so travel times slow down.  They dont fix or redo the roads until december-January when the rains stop.

  September-October-November usually has consistent rains in the afternoons and evenings. From my experience about 40-50 percent of the days will still have scattered showers or sunshine in the morning to afternoon, and the rest will be overcast with occasional down pours.

 Activities that can be more enjoyable during the wet season include: 1. Quading because of no dust. 2. Visiting waterfalls and swimming holes  because of the obvious. 3. Surfing because the rainy season provides more swell and overcast skys reducing sun burns. 4. boat Fishing, cooler waters oct-dec can the most abuntant game like yellow fin, wahoo, amber jack and mahi mahi.

Well thats just some of the things off the top of my head.
Pura Vida
Mo’e