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Costa Rica: I want the REAL truth:
2006 Chrysler Town and country mini-van. V6 gasoline, automatic transmission.. $17,000 USD. On Ebay you can buy this car in better shape for $2700-$5000.
Wow is that your proof that cars are not old and expensive? They all look extensive to me and gasoline, automatic for CR?
Costa Rica: Telling the truth about Costa Rica:
Pros and cons of living in Costa Rica.
Remember that everything is from the perception of the individual therefore each one of us are telling the truth about living in Costa Rica from our perception....and this is mine after 23 years.
Pardon me that it is so long but I do not think to be clear it can be short, after all nothing is black or white.
I really love my Costarican husband and my Costarican life with my husband. I think that I like most Americans would've left Costa Rica behind years ago if it had not been for my husband and children with him.
Pros;
Tropical climate
fertile soils
Abundant amount of varieties of fruit trees
A vibrant ecosystem with almost no plagues of bugs but millions of different kinds of bugs.
perfect weather 12 months a year
Tico's are very friendly and helpful and apparently excepting and generous about our presence here
15% of Costarican lawyers are good people who really want to help you
Costarican food is really good!
Costarican farmers are able to make a living.
Most animals are still grass fed
You can get fresh milk delivered to your house every day
Banks pay up to 11% interest.
Property tax is low, there is no IRS or income tax.
Costa Rica produces 85% of their food supply.
Middle-class makes up 85% of the population in Costa Rica. making It is easy to make a middle-class living in Costa Rica if you run your own business. Most business are still mom and pop.
It's a tropical paradise that is a vacation in the making with mountain ranges that are so cool you need sweaters and beach ranges that are so beautiful. So much to explore and the harder it is to get there the more beautiful it is.
CR is relaxing, the people are overly relaxed and apparently under no stress.
German new imports have almost no tax put on them.
Families are very important and the baby is the boss of the house
Costarican people respect elderly and take care of them.
The country is small and Costarican people work together.
There is no standing army, CR is a country of peace and yet the people have been known to protect their own land from invaders
CR is a great place to raise children.
Clean water is available and abundant. They do not poison the water supply with fluoride. And do not recycle the poop Back into water.
I can go to any wealthy pharmacy (a poor one will not carry it) and buy my insulin(at half the price of what it cost in the US) with out a prescription. I can go the pharmacy were there is a doctor who can write me a prescription if I need one.
My meds are at least half the cost of the USA.
I do not participate in the caja and therefore my over all medical costs are much lower in Costa Rica.
Cons
Most Tico's will steal from you if given the chance but only on the small level but those little jabs hurt after a while. They even charge my Costarican husband more because he's married to a gringa.
Guaranteed you will get charged more for services, goods and import taxes, just about everything they can get away with
Costarican attorneys are 85% nice thieves that you will not suspect until it's too late
Most real estate agents will steal from the buyer as well as the seller.
The roads are not maintained at all and full of potholes and Costarican's will miss a pothole at risk of running you head on.
If it looks like on a map it'll take an hour to get there you can plan on it taking at least two hours
Most Costarican's were given their drivers license in a tamale therefore the roads are extremely dangerous
Most Costarican's see our accents and or our skin as a $ sign.
The bureaucracy in the government is out-of-control.
When you want to renew the registration on your car it takes a whole day at least. A drivers license whole day, immigration meeting all day, Tax all day.
They have environmental police that will come onto your property and fine you for cutting things that you didn't know where illegal to cut and possibly aren't even illegal to cut. It is a large piece of the Costarican government and extremely corrupt.
Banks are scary and have been known to not have funds on hand to give you your cash.
There is a property tax and a general tax on everything that you buy.
They have a 100% tax on all American new imports and the used stuff has high taxes as well.
If you have to live on CR wages it is almost impossible.
Earthquakes and mudslides are common.
There is an unpredictability in the grocery store, you really never know what is going to be available to buy.
The caja does not take care of the elderly people.
There are way too many cars on the road
Holidays are hard for me they're not celebrated the way they are in America and I miss my family.
Having health problems like cancer, heart disease or diabetes ect. it is hard to get a good doctor. there are much better doctors and facility's for these in the USA. I see my endocrinologist in Houston. The caja tried to kill me as they do with all chronically ill people. I know people with heart conditions that go to the USA for their treatments and emergencies. So if you have a chronic or life threatening disease you will have trouble getting the caja to pay for anything and will have a hard time finding good privet specialist. So unless you are perfectly healthy you will not benefit from the money you put into the caja.
There is much more on each side but I think I went far enough.
Costa Rica: living Costa Rica:
Yes, The cartels from Mexico started taking hold about six years ago. I think the police work with them. My husband was waiting to pay a back hoe on our property in Orotina and 3 mofia showed up and robbed him of six thousand dollars and a priceless gold medallion of a saint. My husband showed the police were one of them lived and they said it was his word against the thief's, a few months later the same man was arrested for another crime and he had the medallion on him. He is out of jail and the medallion has never been recovered. They are mostly found close to were people are looking for drugs... beaches, heavily populated cites... Never have seen them in the mountains. Rich Ticos have bullet proof cars, so YES.
Costa Rica: Entertaining in CR:
I was surprised by how load Ticos are and how late. I thought everyone was having a party. They all are making noise and no one complains! They do not have noise calls to the police. I think it would be hard to get them to listen if you wanted to complain.
Costa Rica: Lake Arenal Crime:
Citys are full of crime, rural areas are not. The center of Arenal might have crime but not any thing like San Jose or Alajuela. The rural areas do not! Your neighbor might steal your hangers and shoes, that happens everywhere. Arenal is mostly foreigners and has a lot of rural areas that no criminal is going to bother to go, Americans in Rural areas are not complaning about that kind of crime! Except on the Caribbean side.
Costa Rica: Proof of money conversion:
My father just saves his receipts from the bank. It is very important in CR to save all your receipts! If they told you in April to show proof I would save my bank receipts for proof!
Costa Rica: Real Estate Agent Recommendation:
We have used to find properties and sell them:
Alonzo Montero Chaves
8859-8558
He is the agent for Pollo Macho
Costa Rica: Planning to move to CR:
I love CR and have been investing in it for 23 years and now own a lot of land. CR has changed a lot in 23 years, if you are leaving America because of the corruption and draconian new laws than you are going to find some of the same problems here. I think if I had been thinking about security 23 years ago and not raw milk than I might have gone to Chile or Uruguay. It is too late for me to change paths now. Costa Ricans are Marxist and when we no longer have money the Ticos will no longer have use for us. Unfortunately many rich unfavorable people have come to CR and treated the Ticos poorly. Americans looked for drugs on the beaches, and so brought the Mafia to the beaches. 23 years ago drugs just passed threw CR but now they leave a good portion for the tourist. So realize first the Ticos do not really want us here and like the Mexicans in America are waiting their chance to take us out!
There is a great book called "Strategic Relocation" by Joel M Skousen. A must read before relocating.
As we look at the state of the world we want to be safe and have clean food to eat. My navy seal friend asked us "Were do you want to die?" My husband answered COSTA RICA. So we are strategically relocating inside of CR instead of going to clearly safer places.
This question brings clarity to all of those meaningless conversations about perpetual tourism or residency! The reality is that the same inflation that has taken down so many countries will take down CR and America and I do not Know who first but the signs are all there. Costa Ricas new president is a UN lover and he wants depopulation. So Though my CR family believe he is a savor his agenda 21 speeches are curdling my blood. So my God guild you to your new location and keep you safe!
Costa Rica: touring Costa Rica with 2 vehicles:
When you drive in they give your car a tourist visa for three months, then you can drive out and drive in again. We brought our moto in tow and each one of us brought one vehicle in. But you can only bring one in on a tourist visa per person. I have done this many times and had a car on a tourist visa for about a year and then they wanted the taxes so we paid bribes to trafficos instead.
Costa Rica: EX CONS FROM USA:
If you have a passport you can get into Costa Rica but you need to have a clean criminal record to get citizenship. But there are lots of ex-cons in the country!
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