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ARCR’s English Language Magazine May / June 2020 $3.95 Free for members Published by ARCR Administración S.A. Apdo. 1191-1007 Centro Colón San José, Costa Rica (www.arcr.cr) El Residente FIFTY YEARS AGO IN COSTA RICA Also in this issue: Corona and Family Distance Physical Activity at Home To Surf or Not to Surf… The Corona Virus Test IS IT TIME... TO RENEW YOUR MEMBERSHIP? You've done all the basics, bank account, driver license, residency, so “What more can ARCR do for me?” DISCOUNTS AUTOMATIC on after-life services Caja payments, billed to your credit card. FREE membership card DISCOUNTED for discounts with group insurance participating merchants. plans for health, homes, and vehicles. FREE REDUCED help and advice rates for the for cedula renewal ARCR and driver license seminars. RELIABLE renewal. FREE up to date information El Residente about changes to magazine delivered to Costa Rican law via your email box. email, Facebook, and El Residente. Take advantage of all the personalized services you get from someone you know and trust, RENEW YOUR MEMBERSHIP TODAY! Tel.: 2220-0055 / Email: [email protected] May / June 2020 Contents Editor's Note Across the Board ARCR Board of Directors 4 Fifty Years Ago in Costa Rica OVID-19 has certainly drastically affected our Steve Johnson 6 world, personally and in general. El Residente Senior Living in Costa Rica is no exception, as will be evidenced by this 12 issue. Our sincere thanks go out to those who were able Katya De Luisa C to contribute to the magazine. On The High Sea Christine Monteith 13 Unfortunately, this issue will not be printed or available On The Grid in hard copy – it will only be distributed electronically. Ivo Henfling 15 We regret that, but at the present time there are no printing services available. Out and About 18 Mitzi Stark We believe that social distancing is important to protect From the Embassies not only the staff of ARCR, but also our valued members. US and UK Embassies 22 So, until such time as the government removes the A Day in the Life social distancing recommendations, El Residente will Allen Dickinson 24 continue to serve ARCR members as best we can; we Physical Activity at Home 26 remain available via email. If you have any questions or suggestions, please send them to [email protected] Wild Side Ryan Piercy 28 The staff of El Residente are all healthy and staying Design Wise safe. We sincerely hope that all our members are also Shelagh Duncan 30 enjoying good health and their free time during the current “house arrest” conditions. Paradise, We Have a Problem Tony Johnson 33 Club Corner 37 Business Directory 39 Check our blog on our Facebook site. Contact Information Published by: ARCR Administration Email: [email protected] Managing Director: Rómulo Pacheco Editor-in-Chief: Allen Dickinson This magazine has been published every two months since 1995 as the Associate Editor: Bob Brashears official communications media of ARCR Administration. Our organization Graphic Design: Eduardo González provides service to thousands of foreigners who have chosen Costa Rica Advertising graphics: Eduardo González to reside for short periods or for permanent residence. Office hours: Monday - Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Since 1984 we have been offering reliable services, information and Main office, Av 14, Calle 42, San José, Costa Rica advocacy to Costa Rica’s foreign residents. We have the experience San José: (506) 2220-0055, (506) 4052-4052 and ability to help you with your residency application, immigration, WhatsApp: 8935-2444 business and financial management, real estate purchases and rentals, Mailing address: P.O. Box 1191-1007 Centro Colón, property management, insurance, pet importation and much more. San José, Costa Rica If you wish to place an ad in El Residente, please contact the Advertising Advertising and and Publicity desk in the ARCR Administration Office or at the email Publicity: [email protected] address listed in the masthead. Goods & services offered are paid Insurance Office: [email protected] advertisements. Neither ARCR Administration nor El Residente research General information: [email protected] the companies and take no responsibility for the quality of such goods Caja account info: [email protected] and services. Some articles published in El Residente may have been Residency info: [email protected] written by non-professionals. El Residente attempts to check all facts Facebook page: www.facebook.com/ARCR123 included, but takes no responsibility for their accuracy. ARCR Forums: www.forums.arcr.net ARCR Webpage: www.arcr.cr Cover Photo: Stock Photo El Residente 4 Across the Board Notes and News from the Board of Directors The big news, and what is in the forefront of applications at this time. Processing is scheduled to everyone’s mind, is COVID-19. The virus has resume when the full staff returns, which presently caused major disruptions in business and personal is anticipated to be May 17. activities all over the world; everything, from the ARCR and the Board of Directors will notify national governments on down have gone into members of any changes as they occur, and a sort of hibernation and many businesses have as soon as we are able to we will return to full come virtually to a standstill until the crisis passes. operation. Please be patient during this trying How much longer that will take is unknown. time, and remain diligent in following all the ARCR is no exception. As everyone should know by recommended directions for social distancing, now, as a precaution to protect not only our members, hygiene, quarantine, and driving restrictions. We but to also the office staff and administration, we have will all come through this. closed our office to walk-in traffic. STIMULUS CHECKS Some members have That does not mean that ARCR services are not reported that when they inquired to the IRS available. They are, but at a reduced level. Members about their payments they were told, “According can still contact the office via telephone, Facebook, to information that we have on file, we can not email, and WhatsApp (see the masthead of this determine your eligibility for a payment at this time.” magazine for the appropriate contact information). When the US Embassy was asked for assistance via Business hours are from 8:30 to 4:30 weekdays, email, the following message was received, “The and we ask that inquiries be limited to important embassy can not help in this matter, contact the matters. And please, be patient as many of the staff IRS.” If you have questions about your US stimulus are working from home. check payment, go to this site: https://www.irs.gov/ The good news is that, at the time of this writing, coronavirus/get-my-payment-frequently-asked- none of the office staff, Board of Directors, or questions. Administration have become victims of the Coronavirus. To our knowledge, neither have any ARCR members. Also in the good news category is that Costa Rica has the lowest number of fatalities from the disease worldwide, and has received kudos from the United Nations and the World Health Organization for its efforts. Obviously, Costa Rica is the right place to be now, and will be in the future. We salute our members here for their wise decision. For those persons whose applications for residency were in process when COVID-19 struck, Costa Rica Immigration is presently “closed” with a skeleton staff handling only important border and ARCR Board of Directors: entry matters – NO work is being done on residency From the left, back row, Earl Tomlinson, Allen Dickinson, Bob Brashears, Terry Renfer , Terry Wise. Front row, Mel Goldberg, Linda Leake, Martha Rollins. To ship from HERE to HERE call SHIP TO COSTA RICA [email protected] Partial or Full containers directly door to door from Canada and USA to Costa Rica. We pickup palletized shipments all over the USA Cars - Boats - Motorcycles - Quads - ATV's - Equipment - Lumber - Prefab Homes. Moving back to the USA? We do that too! We are logistics consultants. Toll free: 1-866-245-6923 • Phone: (506) 2431-1234 • Fax: (506) 2258-7123 El Residente 6 TitleFifty articleYears Ago in Costa Rica by Steveby Johnson name Title text Yes, We Have No Bananas n late November of 1968 I arrived in the village Golfito. Laurel and Golfito were connected by a of La Cuesta, my Peace Corps assignment for thin, hatched, red line, indicating it was a railroad the next two years. Before my arrival, I knew line of some sort. The dot on the map for Golfito Inothing about the area except what I could find in was a little bigger and bolder than the dots for the Encyclopaedia Britannica, which wasn’t much. the other towns and villages, (plus, the letters for In the atlas, as I remember, Costa Rica was yellow, Golfito were a little bigger), so I guessed it must be Panama pink, and Nicaragua green. I could see a pretty important place. that La Cuesta was located in the Pacific lowlands I went to the “C” volume of Britannica where I found of Costa Rica, less than a mile from the border the entry about Costa Rica and learned that Golfito with Panama to the east, and situated about equal was a banana port for the United Fruit Company, as distance between the Pan American Highway to the well as the economic and commercial hub of the area. north and a place called Laurel to the south. About It went on to say that this part of Costa Rica was low 15 miles to the west, on the coast, was a town called and flat, hot and humid, and it rained about 160 inches 7 May / June 2020 a year.