This is a common sight in Costa Rica. You are stopped behind a bus or a truck, the light changes, they take off and you choke. Exhaust fumes make it pretty much impossible to drive with your windows open. Diesel is cheap and an engine that lives on diesel lives forever. A very popular choice here.
Years ago, I heard that diesel was a cleaner fuel than gasoline. I just googled it and it appears to be true… Intellectually, I can accept that. Tactilely, I find it impossible. How can something that leaves you covered in a thin film of greasy soot leave the air cleaner than something you can’t even see??? Another of life’s little mysteries. They are starting to pile up.
Last year, we converted our Rav4 to propane, something I’d never heard of till we got here. In our little hatchback compartment, there is a huge propane tank, like on your grill only horizontal and black. Better for the earth and cheaper to run, yes. But you can no longer recline the back seats and there’s very little room left for luggage and groceries. Sacrificing for the common good and all that.
Hal says it gives him a warm fuzzy feeling to know he is helping the environment. Right. I know he’s all gushy about saving money. Propane is cheaper here; the conversion ($1,250) has already paid for itself. And we still have the regular gas tank which comes in handy on a trip. In the land of few gas stations, two tanks is a big plus.
So on long trips, I guess, half the time we are not polluting at all and the other half we are polluting twice as much. At least if you’re behind me, you’ll never know…
Is that YOU driving and taking photos? Great post. When I go to San Jose, I want to wear a mask! It’s horrid.
I’ve heard about the propane conversion thing, but I have one question: What about the ‘KABOOM!’ factor? What if you get rear-ended? Wouldn’t your tank of propane then become a serious health risk? Or is there some reason this would be no riskier than your gas tank? One of my friends is terrified of her gas grill, referring to it as “Krakatoa-waiting-to-happen” and insists that it be kept on the far side of the patio. Maybe her paranoia has rubbed off on me.
Chris, maybe Sally needs a big bumpersticker for the back of the car that reads, ‘CUIDADO – EXPLOSIVOS A BORDO – NO CHOQUE’, in huge red letters. That should make the ticos keep their distance, don’t you think?
wpm
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as far as I know diesel is NOT a cleaner fuel than gasoline, I was surprise to know for example that in certain states you need to drive a semitruck to buy diesel (Michigan, where Mrs Wolfie is from , for example)
on the other hand, a diesel engine is not normally the pathetic “toxic fumes factory” that you see in many buses, that is simply because of NON EXISTENT maintenance (over say 20/30 years), you guessed it, its not suposed to be like that, we simply let the engine collapse and then we have these sort of debacles (like the roads etc) 🙂
Kudos on the propane conversion. It’s great that propane is cheaper there. Maybe the government subsidises it as a cooking fuel.
Just to put this out there, any deisel engine can be pretty easily coverted to run on vegetable oil, used oil even. My sister has done it, her car now can run on either fuel, depending on what is available.
I’ve seen that alot of the four wheel drive vehicles in Costa Rica are deisel, so we’re planning on going the french fry route when we make our move to Manuel Antonio, BTW, your car will leave a trail of french fry aroma in its wake, far better then the greasy deisel fumes. “mmmmmmmmm that car smelled like papas fritas AND is part of the solution………..”
Teri – I wasn’t actually driving at the time. I was still stopped… maybe coasting a little, letting the bus and the fumes get WAY ahead of me!
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Chris, I worried about the Kaboom factor too. But it’s not like a gas grill gas tank. It’s a 1/4″ steel thing. The whole car could probably be crushed and this would still be intact. I don’t let anyone smoke in my car anymore. It only came up once: I said, “sure, go ahead.” She lit the match and the whole kaboom factor came into my head FAST. She tossed it…
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Paul, good idea! I had to look up choque… great word. I’m going to use it in a sentence today. “Morgan, if you do that one more time, I will choque you!”
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Wolfie, I didn’t think about it, but of course it’s gotta be so much smoke because of no maintenance! and, yeah, how could diesel be less polluting than gasoline? that makes no sense at all… see mark’s post below: vegetable oil, that’s the ticket!!!
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Tom, Hal says we save $20/tank with propane. That’s pretty significant. I have no idea about the subsidy… would not be surprised.
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Thanks, Mark! Yes, a nice papas fritas smell coming from the back of all buses… there’s an idea!!! That’s going in the book. Of course, there’s a book. Are you my Mark Goldstein from Key West? I just heard from someone that you all are moving here… let me know next time you are coming down, we’ll meet up!
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Pura vida.
I have read some of your comments concerning real estate over the years. The cold truth is that there is a worldwide real estate meltdown taking place. Even Britain, which has seen enormous growth and has limited land available has come to a grinding halt, except for London which is likely to soon follow. British speculators have lost their shirts in the second home market. The escalating and out of control violence that is taking place in Costa Rica is becoming wellknown. All the protestations and glitz talk can no longer cover up the dark truth. The real estate speculation taking place is just par for the course. I am very sad about this because I appreciate the great natural beauty Costa Rica still has.
I am hoping the meltdown will happen before Costa Rica is totally dug up…
Actually I am counting on two things
a) major meltdown (in progress and hopefully ongoing for a while in the US) , simply because I intend to buy a house there in the next 6-12 months
b) major appreciation in a different area of CR, I am right now priced out of the whole Pacific coast, I think of the other one who is MUCH more beautiful yet cheap……no international airport there yet……..but there is one already built……before LIR became international it existed for a LONG time as a regional airport….it didnt take a lot to make it international and thats when everything went crazy