A New Life In Costa Rica

Friday the 13th Earthquake

We felt significant shaking at our house outside San Ramon de Alajuela, Costa Rica around 3:22PM. You could feel it roll through. It rolled then it shook. My computer monitor wiggled. Bill yelled from the front of the house, I was in the back. He said the screen door was rattling. Walls shook but nothing fell. Our little dog was outside. She didn't like it and ran in circles barking.

I haven't been able to find anything on the USGS website yet. I reported that I felt it. Lots of twittering about it and a notice from La Nacion that yes, indeed we had a strong quake but nothing with the magnitude yet. Must've been a good one as we had a 4.7 on Monday that went un-noticed.

More when I know more! How exciting. We don't get scared around here, we get excited.

Campeonato Nacional de Motocross

The hills around out house get plenty of action. This past weekend the 2009  Motocross National Championship was held outside San Ramon de Alajuela. The races were run above the town of Santiago. We got to go to the motocross races without leaving our home. Bill sat on the front porch with binoculars while I snapped pics with my tripod.

There is no reason to post my photos from the afternoon when you can see excellent shots on this site,  puromotor.com .

We hear the riders practicing on the hill off and on throughout the week. Most weekends we can count on a few riders for at least a couple of hours. It could be worse. We're thankful it's not horrible karaoke music until all hours of the night. I can deal with motocross in daylight hours.

Apparently motocross has a big following in Costa Rica. Riders come from all over. Who knew? Sorry but I really hadn't thought about it. If racing is your thing you'll be happy to know with a simple google search I learned motor sports are alive and doing well in Costa Rica.

Here are a couple of other sites for motocross fans.

TicoCross.net and Motorclubcr.com 

Surfs up!

Billabong ISA World Surf Championship is happening right now! I just checked out the live feed. High speed internet is great. For a local perspective on things check out my blog buddies site from Hermosa beach. I'm getting pumped listening to Teri tunes and looking at her photos.

It's official, another week of vacation

YEAH!!!! I could hardly believe what I read this morning in AM Costa Rica until I confirmed the news with La Nacion. No info on the department of education website (yet) but apparently it's true, public school children are being given an extra week for their mid-year vacation this year due to the swine flu. I can't wait to tell Callsita when she gets up.

We've been trying to figure out what we really wanted to do for the rest of the week knowing our days were numbered. Looks like we may be able to do both the beach and the hot springs now.

YIPPEE!!! I'm so excited I want to wake her up to tell her!!! Better to let her sleep as we've got plans for today already.

Crrrunch!

 

A restaurant we've visited a couple of times in San Carlos became a drive-thru early Thursday morning. The driver of a semi hit another car and drove right through the restaurant completely wiping it out. From what we understand the brakes on the semi failed. That's an understatement. Thank goodness the owner of the restaurant did not live in the back as is the case with many small sodas or she would certainly no longer be with us. Two did lose their lives. Check your brakes folks! Rumor has it the truck didn't pass it's annual inspection due to unsafe brakes. Last year near Aguas Zarcas another semi lost his brakes and killed either five or seven people depending on who you talk to.

 

Look how the roof was raised.

 

I snapped this shot as we left town. They'd managed to remove the semi. Not much left of the building.