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How did you end up in CR?

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camaromom
  10/25/2014 21:09 EST

I would love for some of you who are currently living in CR to share how you ended up relocating to CR, what things you like most about it, and what things you miss most about where you lived before. Anyone willing to share? :)

AliceOlson
  11/17/2014 10:17 EST

During the first Gulf War, we thought ourselves to be 10 years from retirement and, feeling in a small minority of US opponents of that war, we decided we'd start looking at retirement as our long-wished-for opportunity to live outside the US for some part of our lives. Oscar Arias, then former President of CR and a Nobel Laureate came to the US to speak with opinion leaders about the war and my sister had an opportunity to hear him. She was much impressed, called us and said, "I had an experience today that was akin to what it must have been like to be in the presence of Mahatma Ghandi or Martin Luther Kind. The man filled the room with his spiritual and moral presence." We thought, "The country that would elect such a man President, that's where we want to go." We immediately began reading about Costa Rica and were enticed by the things that bring many here: no military, constitutional guarantee of health care for all, 96% literacy rate . . .

Over the years, we've come to see the reality behind all that and to think less romantically about Oscar Arias, but back then (early '90's) we started traveling here for vacations to see if we might want to live here. In the airport, awaiting a return trip home after one such vacation, a guy in line with us said, "Don't buy anything 'til you've been to Nosara." Some friends in the US called us for advice about where they might spend a couple of weeks at beach in Costa Rica and we sent them ahead to Nosara. They rented for two weeks, stayed for four months and bought the place. We came down the next Christmas, found the only home we could afford to buy in the Nosara beach area, and we bought it.

Over the years, we remodeled that little box of a house into something we'd want to live in, and by 2000, we were coming for a month or two at a time as my husband began cutting down his work schedule and, as I was in education, I had extended times for travel (two weeks at Christmas, three weeks in the summer, a week at Spring Break).

We have found a wonderful community here in Nosara and we imagine living here for the rest of our lives. We sold the house because it was simply too much to keep up, and we bought the condo that our friends were ready to give up by then (they were now in their 90's and decided to return to the US). We're building a small house in the hills where it is cooler, quieter and more private -- but we will keep the beach condo for guests, home exchange and as rental property.

We know that we were lucky to get into the real estate market before it skyrocketed. We think we couldn't afford to buy in Nosara now -- at least not something as nice as either our condo or our new little house will be. But we think there are other places in Costa Rica that remain affordable and that may actually offer a better climate that Guanacaste does -- the last three months of the dry season are not to our liking. But we don't think we could find a community like this one anywhere else, so we're staying here and are happy to do it.

We do find it expensive to live here. Our roads are terrible so the car takes an awful beating -- new tires every 20,000 miles, new shocks every year, endless small repairs needed. Grocery costs are not unlike New York and eating out is rare for us. We don't like being so far away from family, but we do get back to the States at least once each year.

For all those years we owned a house here while still living in the US, we came only to Costa Rica when we had time to travel. Now that we are retired (fully, about four years ago), we find that all the world wants to come to Costa Rica and we can arrange home exchanges that let us travel in a way we could not otherwise afford. We have spent a month in Spain and another in South Africa on home exchanges, as well as weeks in Paris, Ireland, Estes Park, Colorado, Manhattan and more. It is so much cheaper to travel when you can do your own cooking and don't have to pay for hotels or rentals at your destination. We consider this one of the major benefits of our having chosen Costa Rica for our retirement.

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gcrtexas4
  11/17/2014 12:24 EST

While I am not coming to Costa Rica for political reasons, I can say that I will not miss the extremists who vilify anyone who does not agree with them. Everyone is being labeled - liberal (currently a dirty word), tea-partiers, extreme left/right etc. I'm tired of it. I am looking forward to pursuing new areas to hike photograph, learning about other cultures and having the option of living more economically - and, yes, I am willing to live more like a TICO without a car until I can save money for one.

Kohl
  11/17/2014 12:34 EST

More TICOS own better/ newer cars than expats...

reneeabc123
  11/17/2014 19:35 EST

But don't you think it is a minority of theTicos that have the nice cars? I see a lot of Ticos running around in older or beat up cars too. I agree that the expats are not driving the expensive cars for sure.

reneeabc123
  11/17/2014 19:45 EST

To Alice - Wow. Glad all is working out for you. Where did you decide to build a house in the cooler area of CR? What town ? Just wondering because we will be in the process of looking for a place to buy or build too. We are still exploring and getting a feeling for each area.
Thanks for sharing your story with us.

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Kohl
  11/18/2014 06:50 EST

Renee, I think it depends on where you live, what type of vehicles you see.

ILuvCR
  11/18/2014 07:30 EST

Well I believe the 1 % rules prevail here, the U.S. you name it.

The top 1% have 80+ % of the wealth. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

I read once that the bottom 10 % of the people in C.R. earn less than $300 per month, yet it's the "happiest" country on the planet!

Pura Vida!

gcrtexas4
  11/18/2014 09:25 EST

I've always wondered how they gauge that happiness. For some it is job satisfaction and others might say family or recreational time. A very subjective subject. I don't see how a survey is going to accurately determine happiness. I am not sure I can even gauge my own some days.

ILuvCR
  11/18/2014 11:05 EST

Well, if you're looking around and aren't noticing how happy most Ticos are, look harder!

Kohl
  11/18/2014 13:40 EST

Not long ago, I read that that people are the happiest ‘the greener it is’ as it is here, especially in the rainy season.
This was not on website about Costa Rica, but in the world in general.

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lhammond14
  11/19/2014 10:47 EST

Went to language school for 6 mo when I was 19 yrs old. Then for 4 mo when I was 40. Then met Tico family and have stayed with them for 10 more trips.

Got married and my husband has come with me 4 times. Now he will be starting language school for 7 wk intensive course in Jan 2015.

In Sept this year I put in for our pensionado papers. After we return to U.S. at end of Feb 2015, will probably be putting up house for sale in U.S.

Last trip we discovered Grecia and fell in love with it. Hoping to find nice rental there next yr.

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