...Little Hacks and Unusual Flowers...

ISSUE #943: March 19-26, 2023

2023-03-26

Brian Timmons, Newsletter Author
Brian Timmons

Dear friends,

When I started Residencias Los Jardines, I started writing a weekly newsletter -determined to tell all the good, bad, and the ugly. I knew some readers would be interested in the construction process. I expected others might be interested in the lifestyle of two people who had decided to live outside the box. For others, the adventures of Lita, the parrot and the cat took on an entertainment saga all its own.

Residencias Los Jardines is finished. We periodically have re-sales and rental availability. Some readers may be interested in this information.

Brian Timmons
Developer / Property manager
Residencias Los Jardines

Web: https://residenciaslosjardines.com
Emails: info@residenciaslosjardines.com
ResidenciasPropertyManagement@gmail.com

Market activity
sales & rentals

Sales: Los Jardines: Unit #116

Rentals:
Los Jardines: Nothing available
Paradisus: Nothing available

Residencias Los Jardines
property management, rentals & re-sales

FOR SALE
Unit #116: $ 179,000 / See Unit

FOR RENT
Unit #126: $ 625 mo. / Jr. One Bdrm. with cover terrace / See Unit

For sale

Total Area (Sq Ft): 1290
Total area (Sq M): 120
Bedrooms: 2
Bathrooms: 2
Floor(s): 1
Type: Semi-Attached
Furnished: Yes

This 1,290 sf single floor home includes a 300 sf front terrace plus parking for one car and a separate, secure storage locker. It is and end unit and therefore attached on only one side by a 6 inch cement demising (common) wall, which prevents sound transfer.

For rent
Our Lives

What Happened This Week

Weather: Sunny this past week, possible showers today and tomorrow, and sunny for the balance of the week... temp. range 65--85... beatiful.

Stories

Hacks: Some of these solutions are so simple and should have been done years ago... but they weren't... some are abvious / one, not so obvious

1. Rain water drainage grate: Originally the round grate sat in a cement depression. However, frequently it would get out of place when swepped or... so it was ineffective at keeping leaves and debris from entering the drainage system and eventually clogging the drain... solution was to add spikes / extensions so it is more likely to stay in place.

2. Drip Edge: For years the rain would fall on the tile hand rail and drain down the side of the wall leaving dark stains. It was ugly. Pressure washing it during the dry season helped but it usually had to be repainted and during 6 mo. of the year, the stain looked uglly. Solution: using industrial adhesive, glue a plastic dry wall edge "U" edge cover to force the rain water away from the wall and allowing it to drip free.. It works beautifully...

3. Light Standard: At night we have lights shinning up into the trees... it is esthetic and adds some safety in the garden areas which would otherwise be dark. To shield the lights, we used 8" plastic pipe, set on the ground and place glass panels on the top to protect from the rain. The tubes were always askew as were the glass coverings. Solution: Using a steel shank, affix the tube to a steel post and using left over material for the heat exchanger, shape and affix with zip ties. Simple, easy, durable.

Unusual Flowers: I have never seen either of these; they are rare... not exactly "century" flowers but 10 or 20 year flowers... Traverlers Palm (fan palm) a large yellow flower is forming.

Hemp Plant... We have a number of them..they are striking to look at... but in this one... notice the very large bud forming... I am told that after it flowers, the plant will die.

Nice views to wake up to... 365 days of the year:

Rancho: Final varnishing will be completed this week --no, it was not done...

Accidents: Hardly a week goes buy without seeing one....this past week, we saw two within a 100 feet of each other on Lindora Blvd... both had just happened... one involved two motor cycles... one bike went down right in front of us /// 100 ft further, two cars had collided... no one hurt in either

The Log Jamb Shifts: But does not break. Yep... no break throughs this week...

San Bosco: I am told there is some interest but no one has shown me the inside of their pocket book... no further deveelopment on this.

La Trinidad: The would be buyer has offered the squatter $1,500 to move. The squatter said he would but needed time to find a place... we all wait... in the meantime, he lives for free holding up the sale... we continue to wait for the squatter to be evicted...

Barrio Escalante: The "judge" reviewing the foreclosure process has called the two parties together for May 25... There is no request for more information. We do not know what the reason or agenda is... speculation is that it is just a delaying tactic... maybe the judge hasn't read the existing material... who knows... is this progress???? mmmm

Toronto: This information is now summarized and synthsized... I am just double checking it for completeness and accuracy... Since I do know what possible legitimate reason they can proffer for not paying, I do not really know how to present the info... so I summarized their deposits and the significant portions of emails... April 29

Bank: After waiting 45 min. for a BAC person to attend to me, I left... Only to return another day to try and resolve it. Separately, it has taken three attempts to get the bank to get my email correct... I have no proof yet that it has been corrected... just incredibly incompetent. And the current error is even Spanish spelling...

Hot Water: After multiple effors we solved the hot water heater problem. Two older units had worked and then failed, we bought a new unit... it kept shutting down... we returned it to the factory... it worked fine (of course) but it did not... we had another new unit..we swapped that in... it too, shut down seconds after igniting... adjusted it, worked... and then stopped working... all this is over a period of 6 weeks or so... the tenants are getting frustrated as are we... we swap the second new one out, put in another old one, and it works perfectly... Gilberto takes a close look at our two new ones trying to understand... it seems that the problem was a factory error... the sensor / ignightors were not set up right... it would ignite and another sensor would tell it to shut down it was too hot... by adjusting the sensor, both new ones seem to work... but who would have thought that two new units were both bad?????

Internet: Two houses side by each complained of not having internet. Another open password router was intermittent. We check switch ports, they look o.k. but change anyway, after a day and a half of working, we are suspecting that some one hooked up a router incorrectly that was attracting the nearby signals to a black hole... We trace it back and can maybe identify but the person is now gone... mmmm... we adjust... who is going to pay the bill?????? The condo's job is to get the signal to the wall outlet... beyond that it is the user's responsibility...

Cars: The additional help has an old pickup... it was in for repairs. I let him use my Hyundai when sourcing my stuff... it died on the road... it did this once before when he ran it out of / or down too low on diesel... and clogged the filter and injectors... did this happen again??? don't know but had to have it towed to the mechanic... on the way back, my Volvo died on the road... I was able to get it started... I think in this case, it is a clogged fuel filter... I once knew a person who had five cars... they were all non-operable... people who discipline themselves to Uber/Didi or ???? are happier people.

News Items of the Week

Comments:

1. Rainy Season: It now has an "official" start date...

2. Want to Know What CR Exports? Read.

3. History of the San Jose to Limon: Road: this route is very problematic and prone to frequent landslides. It is being rebuilt by the Chinese who are hopelessly behind schedule. It normally takes 4 1/2 hrs to Limon on a good day...or longer in case of landslides or accidents.

1. Rainy season will begin in Costa Rica on April 23

MN foresees the impact of the El Niño phenomenon since July.

QCOSTARICA – Mark you calendar, in four weeks, on April 23, the rainy season will begin in Costa Rica, starting in the outh Pacific, as confirmed by the national weather service, the Instituto Meteorológico Nacional (IMN).

In the weeks following, by mid-May, the entire country will be in the rainy or “green” season.

In addition, the La Niña Phenomenon will end this month, the country will be in a neutral phase and the El Niño Phenomenon, which generates less rain in the Pacific and Central Valley, but more presence of downpours in the Caribbean, is expected to develop starting July.

Experts forecast 14-18 named storms, 7-9 hurricanes, and 2-4 major hurricanes for this year’s Atlantic hurricane season which officially begins on June 1, and ends on November 30.

Furthermore, if the impact of the El Niño phenomenon is greater, fewer hurricanes could be generated.

2. Medical devices, pineapples, and bananas were the most exported products from Costa Rica in 2022

25 March 2023 - At The Banks - BCCR.

QCOSTARICA – Medical devices and fresh tropical pineapples were the products most exported by Costa Rica in 2022, according to the annual data on Foreign Trade from the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INEC).

The total value of merchandise exported exceeded US$17 billion dollars, an increase of 14.08% of the previous year, meanwhile, imports were US$24 billion dollars, an increase of 11.19% compared to 2021 Ana Mercedes Acuña, Coordinator of the Economic Statistics Unit, explained that maritime transport represented the main means of importing and exporting goods, with 64% and 48% respectively.

The Ministra de Ciencia, Innovación, Tecnología y Telecomunicaciones (MICITT) – Ministry of Science, Innovation, Technology and Telecommunications – Paula Bogantes Zamora, attributes to her portfolio the success in attracting medical device manufacturing companies and, furthermore, as an excellent candidate to attract the pharmaceutical industry, “(…) Costa Rica has done a formidable job attracting medical device companies. Our next frontier is to attract pharmaceutical companies and the European Union is a very important player in this field”, said Bogantes during her virtual participation in the High Level Pharmaceutical Forum of the European Union (EU) and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC).

3. Carretera Braulio Carrillo

QCOSTARICA (PURA VIDA) The dream of crossing the Central Volcanic Mountain Range. The Braulio Carrillo Highway, the 64-kilometer highway to the city of Guápiles, of the Ruta 32, is an homage to the head of state who, at the end of the 1830s, visualized the route that was intended to be able to move towards the Caribbean crossing the forest and virgin jungle of Paso de la Palma and the Bajo de la Hondura.

The Braulio Carrillo sector of the Ruta 32. If you have been to and from Limon from the Central Valley, you most likely crossed this stretch of winding road.

The construction of 160 kilometers to link the Central Valley to the Caribbean coast by road took 20 years.

The road to Limón was considered a myth for 100 years and that was not easy to start.

If you arrived from Limón to Siquirres in a jeep, people believed that you had passed the car on a raft, that you had it in a parachute or something else, except that it arrived on its own wheels.

The feeling of incredulity was common, since the vision of the young Braulio Carrillo was never realized until decades later due to lack of economic interest, with the construction of the Ferrocarril al Atlántico in 1890.

During the administration of José Joaquín Trejos Fernández (1966-1970) a team of dreamers without international financing began to devise a “path to Limón”, which followed that of Carrillo’s ideas.

At that time, resources were scarce and although a large part of the project had been achieved, two modular bridges were missing to be able to cross the Pacuare and Chirripó rivers, and it was thanks to a national collection, led by La Nación, that the structures were brought from England in the 1970s.

Finally, the work was concluded to inaugurate it on March 28, 1987, by the Oscar Arias 1986-1990 administration, connecting San José with Limón, the main Caribbean port of Costa Rica, from where most of the merchandise enters and leaves the country.

The dream that Braulio Carrillo Colina devised in 1838 was accomplished.

Today it is one of the most scenic routes on the entire planet, it gives the possibility to cross an impressive Braulio Carrillo National Park, located Northside of Central Valley in the Central Volcanic Range, among the massifs of Póas and Irazú Volcanoes, a wonderful natural treasure includes Barva and Cacho Negro volcanoes, extending from Alto de la Palma at Northside of Moravia Canton, to the La Selva Protected Zone in Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui.

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