One movie plot Hollywood has never tired of using is the Bad Neighbors or Neighbors from Hell theme. You know the story: Couple finds dream home, couple meets neighbors, neighbors turn out to be loud or obnoxious or crazy or psychotic or any combo of the four. Years ago I […]
Don Mateo
94 posts
About a year ago, I was riding my bicycle in the foothills above where I live when I arrived at a small town with a banner strung across the road that read: COMUNIDAD UNIDO CONTRALAHAMPA RATAATRAPADA-RATALINCHADA. Translated: Community united against the criminal world. Bad guy (Rat) caught- Bad guy lynched. […]
Last week, in the Cerro del Muerte mountains, there was a tragic accident with a bittersweet ending. The tragedy—a young pre-school teacher traveling home after a full day of teaching—lost her life when the car she was driving went off an embankment and plunged some fifty meters down the mountainside. […]
The word my Tica wife’s family often uses to describe her mother is ‘roble,’ meaning an oak tree. She recently turned 93, or maybe 94, no one is sure, and no birth certificate exists. She was born in the Osa Peninsula almost a century ago, when it was even more […]
Every year, millions of tourists visit Costa Rica to enjoy the beaches, mountains, volcanoes, and of course, the amazing assortment of wildlife. Monkeys, sloths, tapirs, jaguars, pumas, toucans, scarlet macaws, and so much more all contribute to making this small country a wonderland of fauna. Less known, but equally prevalent, […]
One topic that never lacks for opinions is the quality of drivers on the road in Costa Rica. Twenty-five years ago, Teletica, the top viewed channel in CR, posed a daily yes/no survey question to its viewers. One day the question was: Are Costa Ricans good drivers? Ninety-six percent said […]
What do you think of when you hear the word luxury? Sleeping wrapped in satin sheets? Sipping Dom Perignon while soaking in a bubble bath? Shopping online while enjoying the view from your enclosed climate-controlled living room? My friend Tara has her own question: Does the word luxury even belong […]
On the shore of Golfo Dulce in the Osa Peninsula, in a tiny town called Rincon, sits an abandoned helicopter. It is the last moldering remnant of what was once a major logging operation. The company was called Osa Productos Forestales (OSF). They bought 45,000 hectares–about a quarter of the […]
You find yourself in Costa Rica, wanting to hang around a while, but you need money. You begin looking for that great online job you sometimes see offered. Big money, short hours, minimal effort required. You search Flexjobs and Facebook, scan Tiktok and Reels and you find the one (of […]
The word, the word, have you heard the word? The word is ‘Referendum’. Our populist president, Rodrigo Chaves, had proposed that numerous issues facing the country be put to a national vote. This referendum even had a name: Ley Jaguar. Among the changes that were to be put to a […]