I have often commented in this and my other blog about the happiness of Costa Ricans compared to others around the world, particularly the U.S.  A “high well-being-low carbon economy” is the aim for scoring well on the so-called “Happy Planet Index” that is published by the New Economics Foundation.  A description of the aim of the index can be found along the lines of the following statement by the NEF: “By stripping the economy back to its meaningful outputs (lives of varying length and happiness) and the ultimate inputs (the Earth’s finite resources) the HPI is the definitive efficiency measure. It provides a clear guide to what ultimately matters to us - our well-being in terms of long, happy and meaningful lives - and what matters for the planet - our rate of resource consumption”  And guess what country tops the list of 143 measured by the index?…..that’s right, Costa Rica.  Actually Latin American countries fared well overall as nine of the top ten nations were located there.  The U.S., however, did not do so well.  In fact, it placed 114 out of 143, mainly due to its high rate of per capita consumption and massive ecological footprint.  The index measures performance in three areas: high life satisfaction, high life expectancy and one-planet living (which basically measures a country’s ecological footprint in terms of resource consumption and carbon emission).  In terms of the latest index, the Happy Planet Index 2.0, Costa Ricans report the highest life satisfaction in the world, have the second-highest average life expectancy of the Americas (second only to Canada) and have an ecological footprint that means that the country only narrowly fails to achieve the goal of ‘one-planet living’: consuming its fair share of the Earth’s natural resources.

Dan Buettner, author of the book The Blue Zones, has traveled the globe searching for places where people live the longest.  He has identified a handful of such locations, one of which is the Nicoya Peninsula of Costa Rica, which boasts an extraordinary number of people who reach and exceed the age of 100.  Recently an article in La Nación addressed the same issue, stating that there are now 937 Costa Rican centenarians.  This is an astonishing 300% increase over the number recorded in 2000, when there were only 231 registered centenarians.  It is projected by the year 2050 there will be some 8,000 persons in Costa Rica to reach this milestone.  Two centenarians were featured in the story, both Guanacastecos, the area with the highest longevity of Costa Rica.  One of them is Graciela Flores Orozco, born October 26th, 1907 in Nicoya.  She is a mother of ten and has lived on the Nicoya peninsula all of her life. She claims that her diet is primarily responsible for her longevity.  A diet which consists of yuca, tiquizque, milk, chicken, and tortillas.  On his web site and in his book Buettner divulges the secrets of longevity in the world’s Blue Zones.  Diet certainly plays a major role, but it is the overall lifestyle that people lead in these areas that really makes the difference.  It is a lifestyle filled with cherished activities, lots of time sharing with family and friends, a strong commitment to spirituality and lots of healthy non-processed foods.  

Read More About The Blue Zones

Well I am used to hearing about surfers getting attacked by sharks, although it is a rarity for such an event to occur in Costa Rica.  It is more likely to happen to you in Northern California or Australia.  But this one got my attention, surfer gets attacked by crocodile?  I thought crocodiles were fresh water creatures.  It happened on September 19th, 2008 in Playa Hermosa, which is just down the road from Jaco and one of Costa Rica’s best surfing beaches.  The victim was 13-year old Dakota Kilbride.  The crocodile was well-known to folks in the area as the nine-foot crocodile with part of his tail missing.  They had even given him a name, Juancho.  The croc grabbed Dakota on his right knee.  The youth had to have numerous surgeries and therapy. And believe it or not, he is back in the ocean enjoying his passion for surfing once again.  The truth is that it is not uncommon at all to find crocs in the ocean, especially near river mouths.   One area that is especially dangerous in this regard is Bochinche, near the mouth of the river Tárcoles in the cantón of Garabito (where Jaco and Hermosa are also located).  It is well established the crocs are much more aggressive during the rainy months like September, October and November.  The reason because this is mating season for the animals.  What is Dakota’s advice for surfers and swimmers?  Well, if you see a croc, get out of the water.  Sometimes great wisdom comes to us painfully.

Link to Article in La Nación

Australian motivator, Nick Vujicic, recently gave a talk to Costa Rica’s national tream, La Selección.  The talk centered on the topic of fear being the worst posible disability.  And why does Nick have particular authority to talk on such a subject?  Well, maybe because he was born without arms or legs.  Nick said that he never seeks compassion, but only to convey the realization that all is possible with faith combined with hard work.  His message for the team was a simple one and that is unless you give 100% to whatever it is you’re trying to do, be it football, or any other life endeavor, you will not succeed.  According to the article in La Nación, Nick’s message definitely got through to the team.  Yeah, to me too!

At 5:45 PM yesterday, José Angel Roque, walked out of the Juan Santamaría onto Costa Rican soil for the first time.  The Minister of Public Security granted his request for refugee status.  Roque was found to have been involved in the collection of signatures for a petition against the communist government in Cuba.  Because others that had been involved in this operation, known as “Proyecto Varela,” were persecuted, imprisoned or simply disappeared, Roque was found to have valid cause to be granted status as a refugee.  This all occurred back in 1998.  As described in my post yesterday, Roque has been living in the airport since December 4, 2008, a total of 53 days.  Roque plans to live with his cousin and pursue work in his trade as an electronic technician.  Ironically, Roque’s previous work has been in aviation, so he may end up back at the airport, again!  Roque stated that he was ready to begin a new life in Costa Rica and expressed thanks to those in this country who had supported him in his plight for freedom.

Since December 4th of 2008 José Angel Roque, a 40-year old Cuban man, has been living in a small room in the Juan Santamaría Airport, ala Tom Hanks in the hit movie, The Terminal.  Roque is an electrician by trade and came to Costa Rica to escape political oppression in his native country.  He vows that if he returns, he will immediately be imprisoned.  So why is his case not a perfect one for “refugio status?”  Well problem is that he tried to enter the country illegally using fake papers that presented him as being from El Salvador.  He was thus denied the status and his case is in limbo, so he has been living in the airport ever since.  His first petition for refugee status was officially denied on January 13th, but he has the right to appeal the decision.  He says that he will.  Roque told Tico Times reporters in an interview that he had heard of the 2004 Steven Spielberg film, The Terminal, but has never actually seen it.  He has been sleeping in a makeshift bed that he assembled from airport chairs (again, ala Hanks in the movie).  His food has been the same meals that you get served on flights…..not too appetizing!  He has relatives in San Jose, but is not allowed to contact them and he has no access to telephone.  Immigration Director, Mario Zamora, states that there is nothing he can do at this point because technically Roque has not yet set foot on Costa Rican soil.  Until then the Immigration department can neither deport him nor transfer him to another location.  Instead, Zamora states that Roque is the responsibility of the airline, in this case, TACA.  TACA states that normally when a person presents improper or falsified papers, they are immediately transferred back to their home country, but in this case Roque prevented that by filing a habeas corpus petition with the Supreme Court, which temporarily halted any attempt to deport him.  So Roque waits.  Some ticos who heard of his story have helped him with clothes, snacks and books.  Roque has every intent to ultimately be allowed to remain in Costa Rica.

It is estimated that in Guatemala 16 persons are assassinated each day and three are women.  Many are the victims of domestic violence.   There are many graves that are unmarked since no one claimed the body.  Now a Guatemalan artist by the name of Regina Galindo has created a startling performance that serves to remind people of the feminicide that has taken place in her home country.  It seems that somehow Galindo was able to retrieve hair from unmarked graves of women assassinated in Guatemala.  She has cleaned the hair carefully and now she and six ticas here in Costa Rica, as part of the performance, will have extensions done with the hair of these deceased females.  The name of the performance, justifiably, is Extension and took place this past Tuesday at the Teor/etica here in San Jose, Costa Rica before a rapt audience that sat silent and focused as the performer made the extensions.  The women will wear the extensions for one month.   Most in the audience agreed that the performance made its point against feminicide in Guatemala, or any place in the world for that matter.

Link to Article in La Nación

The title poses an important question: is it really possible to achieve the much coveted and sought after status of legal resident of Costa Rica?  From my perspective, it may be easier to win the Pulitzer Prize!  Let me tell you my story.

I came here in the year 2001 on a business deal.  That deal took two years from start to finish.  During that time I was traveling to Costa Rica monthly for anywhere from one to two weeks each trip.  Towards the end of this project, I got the idea to start another business, Package Costa Rica.  However, during the first year of its existence I was still maintaining a home in the states and traveling back and forth from there to Costa Rica monthly.  It never really occurred to me to establish residency and, in fact, some misinformed ex pats even went so far as to advise against it. Not pursuing residency is a mistake.  There are many advantages to being a resident, not to mention the greatest one of all, which is actually being legally present here.  Others include being part of the CAJA medical system, being able to access services like telephone, cell phone, bank account, loan, etc. under your own name and not a "friend" or corporation.  And the luxury of not having to leave the country every three months for three days to have your passport stamped, even thought this is a great way to see our neighboring countries of Nicaragua and Panama (and for the more daring, Colombia). 

Anyway, I started the residency process in early 2006 using an attorney that was recommended by another attorney.  This guy told me he had "inside connections" that would help my residency to sail right through (like "grease through a goose" as we say back in South Carolina).  Well a year later and $950 poorer, he told me that his "inside connection" was now "outside" and could no longer help.  Seems that Costa Rica passed a ludicrous law that says that foreigners must present their papers in the U.S. at the Costa Rican consulate nearest their official place of residency.  This attorney told me we didn't have to worry about that because his guy on the inside would take the papers here anyway.  Well that didn't happen and I found myself back to square one a year after the process started and my papers weren't even officially accepted by Immigration, i.e., my status was still tourist (or perpetual tourist as we like to call ourselves).  Well I ran to another attorney (who again had been recommended).  He proceeded to tell me that the first attorney had done everything wrong and that I indeed could submit my papers here since I was doing it as an "inversionista" and owned a company registered here.  Well that was approximately one year ago and now I am being told that first I have to get a "visto bueno" that is basically the Immigration's declaration that it is allright to submit the papers here.  Further I am told that this process can take up to three months.  Once I receive the "visto bueno" and get a receipt that shows that my papers have been accepted, I no longer have to leave the country pending receipt of my cedula juridica (our "social security" number here in Costa Rica). 

This process has been exasperating and somewhat humiliating.  But there is nothing much I can do but follow the process with patience.  What advice can I give you?  Well there are probably better ways to obtain the residency.  I am not going to go into the technicalities of all that.  You can consult the Costa Rica Law website (all in English) for more detailed information of the differenct types of residency and the specific requirements for each of them.  You can also just marry a Tica.  If you go that route, make sure she is a pretty one and not just some crack addict offering her hand in marriage in order to score a month's supply of dope.  Actually I highly discourage marrying for residency since it is actually against the law and Immigration is cracking down on this (those who have gained residency this way may in fact lose it if the Immigration authorities catch on, which also means deportation and not being able to return for 10 years).  Also don't you even even consider buying a passport stamp rather than actually leaving the country for the required three days.  I know first-hand of a couple gringos that tried this and ended up spending a few weeks in Immigation Jail before being deported!  I also would probably have started by simply submitting the papers in Atlanta (the consulate nearest my gringo home in South Carolina) instead of trying to short-circuit this requirement and submit them directly in Costa Rica (even though I have been "advised" repeatedly that I can sbmit them here).  I would also be very careful in choosing counsel to assist you and do not pay them anything in advance.  You can pay their normal fees for helping you gather and officialize all the documents and then pay 1/2 of the agreed retainer when they successfully submit the documents and the balance when you actually receive your residency card.  All that said, I cannot wait to post to this blog that I am a legal resident of Costa Rica…..even though it may take a few days to recover from the party I will throw to celebrate the event!

For those of you desiring Costa Rica residency I say, suerte and Pura Vida!

The doctor made famous by Robin Williams in the beloved movie “Patch Adams” visited Costa Rica’s Hospital de Niños yesterday morning as reported by La Nacion.  Dr. Adams was very adamant about not drawing any media attention.  In fact Doctor Adams was not seeking an audience of anyone except the children.  Dr. Adams stated that his life’s mission was for medicine to be free and to terminate the capitalistic approach to delivery of medical services.  His main goal in visiting the country was to meet with officials to discuss acquiring funds for the construction of a medical clinic in Talamanca.  Adams visited some 25 children in the hospital’s cancer ward.  There were many smiles shared among the children as Adams carried on with the same antics that Robin’s displayed in the heartwarming movie. Adams danced with the children and tied all the doctors together to form a train and made the doctors imitate monkey faces to inspire laughter of the children.  I wish I could have been there as this man’s philosophy is the right one for a better world. There is definitely healing power in laughter.  Try it!

Link to La Nación Article (in Spanish): http://www.nacion.com/ln_ee/2008/mayo/07/aldea1526599.html

Small hailstones covered the ground surrounding Volcan Barva this past weekend.  Tourists visiting the area thought that it had actually snowed in Costa Rica.  However, meteorologists assured that the icy substance was not snow nor was it frost.  The altitude of Volcan Barva in Heredia is 2,906 kilometers (over 9,000 feet) and temperatures at the summit can get quite chilly. Evelyn Quiros (meteorologist with the Instituto Metereologico Nacional) confirmed that it was hail that resulted from the contrasting climates the area experiences with very warm and humid mornings whose hot air is displaced in the evenings with cold air of around 10 degrees Celsius.  These conditions favored the development of clouds that reach some 15 kilometers in altitude.  The water in the clouds at the altitude crystallizes and falls as ice, or hail as we call it back in the states.  Hail is not a frequent phenomenon here in Costa Rica.  However, I can remember a furious hailstorm in Heredia several years ago, but not at the altitudes of Barva. 

Link to article in La Nacion (in Spanish): http://www.nacion.com/ln_ee/2008/abril/10/pais1492649.html