Monday Sept. 15 was Independence Day in Costa Rica

Beauty and Chaos in Costa Rica

Those two words describe Costa Rica.

Costa Rica doesn't have an army, but as you can see from the picture at the top of the page, it has a colorful air force that's always patrolling the skies.

Trying to get anything done here takes forever. The good part for me is that I'm not usually trying to get anything done, so I don't have to deal with the bureaucracy.

It can take an hour or two (literally) to get anything done when you go to a bank. But the only time I have to go to a bank is to use one of the ATMs, which are outside in the lobby, and there's never a line.

I can walk up to an ATM, get some cash for the farmer's market, in a matter of seconds.

Most of the vendors at the farmer's market take only cash. A few will take a credit card, but not many.

Except at the farmer's market, I use a credit card for everything I purchase. The card I use doesn't charge an international transaction fee, plus I get airline miles for all of my purchases.

More examples of things moving slowly

• If you want to buy or sell a car, you have to hire an attorney to do the paperwork. It's not legal, and you can't get the car registered if you don't use an attorney.

• When two cars are involved in a wreck, the police and both insurance company agents must arrive before anyone can move the cars. If the cars are blocking the road, traffic could be backed up for hours.

No one gets in a hurry here for anything. If you are always rushing to get things done, you will go batty here.

My landlord has a sofa at an upholstery shop to get it recovered. Every week, the guy says that he will have it ready the following week. This has been going on for ten months.

But you can't beat the beauty here

The colorful birds, lush jungle vegetation, beautiful beaches, and waterfalls here are spectacular. I also love the friendly people and the fact that most fruits and veggies are picked fresh every day, year-round.

What's happening back on planet Earth?

I don't know because even though I have a TV in my apartment, I haven't turned it on in almost a year.

I do keep up with a little news and watch some college football games on the internet, but I have no interest in any network TV programs.

Bottom line: Since I'm not watching TV, it frees up a lot of time, and it keeps me from the constant hassles and worries that the sky is falling.