Don Mateo

Passenger rail travel in Costa Rica has been around since the late 19th century. The first functioning railroads connected the Port of Limon with San Jose and were used mainly for transporting freight. The railways from Limón to San Jose and San Jose to Puntarenas became operational for passenger travel […]

Last weekend I took a Costa Rican road trip: Perez Zeledon to Dominical, Dominical to Quepos, Quepos to La Palma de Puerto Jimenez and back. The total drive time for the initial trip was four and a half hours. The most difficult stretch now is the first 35 kilometers, starting […]

When I first made the move from the northern US to the tropics, it took my immune system a while to adjust. In my first four years south of the Tropic of Cancer (two in the US Virgin Islands, two here in Costa Rica), I contracted cases of undulant fever, […]

For the third time in my thirty plus years in Costa Rica, I was a victim of property theft. It happened two days before the new year. Two items were stolen– a four burner Atlas gas plantilla and the half empty tank of gas attached. These were kept outside, on […]

When I go to the beach, part of my routine is a strenuous jungle hike every morning. While the distance covered is only about 3 kilometers (a bit less than 2 miles) round trip, the walk features no level terrain. From the moment I step out of the apartment and […]

When I was very young, January the 2nd was the saddest day of the year. The Christmas tree was stripped bare of its ornaments and colorful lights and left by the curb to be picked up and converted to mulch and compost. The party was over and everybody had to […]

One of the classic New Year’s songs for our part of the world is called ‘El Año Viejo’. If you have your radio tuned to any local stations during the holidays, there is a good possibility that you will hear it. The best-known version was done in the 1950s by […]

The Municipal Council of Quepos recently got a jump on the rest of Costa Rica with their unanimous decision to officially ban the use of noise-producing fireworks during the end of year festivities. There is currently a proposed law pending to make this a permanent ban on the national level, […]

I am currently building a collection of reusable shopping bags, courtesy of my local supermarket. The bags are said to have a shelf life of about 200 uses, but I wouldn’t know, because every time I go to the store, I forget to bring one of the dozens I have […]

About five percent of the world suffer from anosmia– having no sense of smell. Everyone has likely experienced this at least once on a temporary basis when hit with a severe cold or sinus infection. One of the main side effects of covid as well, is loss of the sense […]