About Atenas

Atenas is located in the western Central Valley, a small rural town, and municipal seat for the Canton Atenas, which includes many outlying barrios and pueblos. It is located about 25 minutes from the airport on the road from Manolo's Junction with the Panamericana  to Orotina. 

Census 2000 put the population at over 29,000 persons, a healthy growth over the previous decade. The town is strongly religious, mostly Catholic, and is now served by 3 banks and 3 medium size food markets, and many small ones.

The main activity here is agriculture, and in fact the Central American School of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry (Escuela Centroamericana de Agricultura y Ganadería) is located in barrio Balsa. Mangoes, coffee, and sugar cane are three of the core crops.

We have all the necessary goods and services here, now that the new medical clinic is in final stages of completion.  There are reliable retailers and professionals for every need, and it will be my pleasure orient any of my new clients to the towns best resources, if asked.

Weather

I thought you'd never ask! Actually, we live in a tropical paradise here, as I used to imagine Eden must have been, although we have evolved beyond fig leaves to slacks or jeans and short-sleeve shirts. Usual temperature is between 75 and 85. We can't have all that greenery without rain, no, but at least in most parts of the year rain is predictable to certain times of the day.

In early invierno, the mornings dawn sunny and cheerful, with very little breeze, rain coming mid-afternoon, often in a short downpour. In July we even get veranillo, or little summer, which is often 7 to 10 days of sun and no rain. In later invierno, approaching the worst of the hurricane season on the Caribbean, all bets are off, and when we're under the effect of a hurricane, whose effects can stretch for hundreds of miles, it can rain steadily for days, soaking the ground. Thankfully this is rare.

But, hurricanes almost never hit Costa Rica, and I have never seen one hit her in the 18 years I have been here, although I understand that one affected the NE corner at Tortuguero in 1988. That is because the normal courses of hurricanes tend to veer clockwise

To summarize, here you need neither heater, air conditioner, or hurricane insurance. Window louvers and fans are your ticket to comfort. Oh yeah, and a roof and walls, which I hope you'll let me help with.

The best climate in the world?

Probably it was a former Bed and Breakfast owner here in earlier days who coined that phrase, given something his wife once commented. What is indisputable is that Atenas is a grand climate for people to live. 

Schools

In addition to public schools, there are 2 private grade schools in town, thru 6th grade, both offer english with all required subjects. 

For high school, only public education is offered in Atenas. La Garita, to the east, has one private high school. For you MBA aspirants, INCAE, Harvard affiliated business school, is located nearby in La Garita. There are no Costa Rican accredited colleges or universities in Atenas, but in Barrio Los Angeles there is a School for Field Studies CSDS, affiliated with a US university.

Restaurants

Atenas offers a lot of choices for food and socializing. There is a large array of Comida Tipica restaurants, many little diner-style countertop "sodas" offering Tipica again, but in a faster-food mode. There are three Pizza restaurants, one of which has recently broadened its menu to other cuisine. There is a Chinese restaurant on the park,  and a new hamburger place.  Additionally, many bars offer food, and some of it is quite good.

Kay's Gringa Pastries offer snacks and meals, as well, in the Gringo style, and breakfast from 7am, including french toast and biscuits and gravy. Try the delicious McKay breakfast sandwich, ¢1500. Mwa! Bottomless cup of Volio coffee, ¢500. And on Sundays, gringo soul food for lunch, like meat loaf or pork roast. Sinful regression you won't regret.

All the little sodas around the bus stop offer breakfast from about 6:30 on, and the girls make good gallo pinto, to which you can add an egg, sausage or bread, and hot coffee, of course. Try the fried farmer cheese, Queso Frito.

Don't be shy to order the unfamiliar local food. You'll find that in the right hands even tripe and tongue are tasty. Casado is a mixture of foods, based in rice and beans and trimmed with meat, picadillo (a hot potato salad), green or pasta salad, and sometimes an egg or a fried plantain. A roof over the tummy. 

Treats: Try the chicharrones. Go to Eddie's Monday night for huesitos. And ceviche, raw fish enzyme cooked in Lemon with cilantro and onion, is especially good in certain spots. Eat it with crackers.

Banks

Atenas has three banks, Banco Nacional, Banco de Costa Rica, and Banco Popular, all of them national banks. 

Shopping

I like to call local food shopping "modular". That is to say there is no real Supermarket where you can go to buy everything in one trip; that would be Alajuela. But you can buy almost everything now in Atenas by visiting the local food stores, and then supplementing them with the various stalls in the Mercado (butchers, vegetables, and fish) and the Farmer's Fair every Friday morning on the plaza (get there early) for fresh vegetables, meats, cheeses, condiments, and plants. Zarcero palmito cheese is available in the Fair most Fridays; look for the round rolls of cheese. The Zarcero is better than the rest of palmitos.

One of the bakeries is the one under the orange sign in the photo below. This one is across from the bus stop.

There are three household goods and appliance stores now, and two building supplies, and three agricultural supply stores. Goods and services have grown with the town.

You can get insurance here, do your legal business in Spanish, get your hair cut, get your car fixed and washed, and get your dog's shots. There are several internet access stores, and two have fast computers and connections and headsets for inexpensive international calls. One near the post office even has wi-fi and web cams.

Small town life

As you might expect, small town life in Costa Rica has many similarities to that in the States and Canada. Gossip is a very commonplace recreation. When you live in a small town, you will be commonly greeting folks you know with a handshake or air kiss as you go about your errands.

Costa Ricans, of course, have their own culture and attitudes, formed mainly I think by the small size of the country and the dominant religion, as well as the independence and sense of equality among the early settlers under the Spanish colonial system. I recommend buying a copy of "The Ticos" by the Biesanz family, who have written a very good, yet diplomatic, book explaining the differences in courtesy, business customs, comportment, etc. 

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  Larry@atenasrealty.com

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