Hi all, I see many questions from people considering moving to Costa Rica. Since I made the same move, not to retire but to start another chapter in my life, maybe I can help.
I'm 50, originally Canadian though I lived 1/2 my adult life in the US, with a year in Hong Kong and a year in Latin America.
I 1st visited Costa Rica in 1981, returned and married a Costa Rican in 1982 and promptly took her "up north" as she says.
We returned faithfully every year to visit her/our family, and as our family grew (we now have 3 daughters, ages 20, 17 and 11) I had a one month snapshot every year of Costa Rica Culture, and watched how my North American daughters acted and looked at life compared to their cousins of the same age in Costa Rica, could see education levels, moral attitudes, etc.
And the more I saw, the more I wanted to see my daughters grow up as Costa Ricans, IN Costa Rica, but hadn't decided "when".
I was in Mexico (actually spent a year in all Central America) researching the Latin American real estate market when 911 happened, and watching the news, I knew it was a turning point in US history, things would never be the same...and "time to go". So shortly after 911, we made the mover here to Peaceful, Happy Costa Rica "forever".
We can not even imagine leaving Costa Rica, and after 8/9 years here, frankly I think it's the best place in the world.
One comment: You really have no idea what it does to the cultural "soul" of a Country's people when they have had no concept of an army or a military for over 50 years. Truly changes the way people interact with each other and approach problems. And one result is, Costa Rica is unique in the world, in that is has "no enemies". I live 4 blocks from the personal residence of President Oscar Arias, ( an amazing President imo) and drive by his house daily, (normal upper middle class looking home) and he has no "secret service" of military security around his house, just one local San Jose police car.
Amazing...Think about that sense of peace while you are sitting in your home "up north".
On a business note, I've lived and owned (and still own) property in several places in Costa Rica, the Beach's, remote locations in the Mountains, the capital city of San Jose. If you follow some basic rules, Real Estate is a great investment, safer then $ in the bank, and with the "crisis" affecting the globe, I think the best place for my $.
So my business here is Real Estate Development and Land/Agriculture Business Consulting, and working as a consultant to "new developers" so they don't make the typical "Gringo in Paradise" mistakes with their 1st projects.
So I enjoy a much lower taxation, make actually very good $ by typical NA standards, and my cost of living is about 40% of what it was up north.
I guess you can tell I Love Costa Rica.
But that's me.. and you're not me. Maybe things that I adapted to, things that I like, are things you could/would not.
But imagine if you turned out to love this Country and it's people as much as I.
Costa Rica is not for everyone, and you definitely need a sense of humor and patience in learning any new culture.
The folks I see that are NOT Happy here have an interesting concept that Costa Rica is supposed to adapt to THEM :-)
So feel free to ask me anything that comes to mind, happy to help, or email me at [email protected]
Raymond
I'm 50, originally Canadian though I lived 1/2 my adult life in the US, with a year in Hong Kong and a year in Latin America.
I 1st visited Costa Rica in 1981, returned and married a Costa Rican in 1982 and promptly took her "up north" as she says.
We returned faithfully every year to visit her/our family, and as our family grew (we now have 3 daughters, ages 20, 17 and 11) I had a one month snapshot every year of Costa Rica Culture, and watched how my North American daughters acted and looked at life compared to their cousins of the same age in Costa Rica, could see education levels, moral attitudes, etc.
And the more I saw, the more I wanted to see my daughters grow up as Costa Ricans, IN Costa Rica, but hadn't decided "when".
I was in Mexico (actually spent a year in all Central America) researching the Latin American real estate market when 911 happened, and watching the news, I knew it was a turning point in US history, things would never be the same...and "time to go". So shortly after 911, we made the mover here to Peaceful, Happy Costa Rica "forever".
We can not even imagine leaving Costa Rica, and after 8/9 years here, frankly I think it's the best place in the world.
One comment: You really have no idea what it does to the cultural "soul" of a Country's people when they have had no concept of an army or a military for over 50 years. Truly changes the way people interact with each other and approach problems. And one result is, Costa Rica is unique in the world, in that is has "no enemies". I live 4 blocks from the personal residence of President Oscar Arias, ( an amazing President imo) and drive by his house daily, (normal upper middle class looking home) and he has no "secret service" of military security around his house, just one local San Jose police car.
Amazing...Think about that sense of peace while you are sitting in your home "up north".
On a business note, I've lived and owned (and still own) property in several places in Costa Rica, the Beach's, remote locations in the Mountains, the capital city of San Jose. If you follow some basic rules, Real Estate is a great investment, safer then $ in the bank, and with the "crisis" affecting the globe, I think the best place for my $.
So my business here is Real Estate Development and Land/Agriculture Business Consulting, and working as a consultant to "new developers" so they don't make the typical "Gringo in Paradise" mistakes with their 1st projects.
So I enjoy a much lower taxation, make actually very good $ by typical NA standards, and my cost of living is about 40% of what it was up north.
I guess you can tell I Love Costa Rica.
But that's me.. and you're not me. Maybe things that I adapted to, things that I like, are things you could/would not.
But imagine if you turned out to love this Country and it's people as much as I.
Costa Rica is not for everyone, and you definitely need a sense of humor and patience in learning any new culture.
The folks I see that are NOT Happy here have an interesting concept that Costa Rica is supposed to adapt to THEM :-)
So feel free to ask me anything that comes to mind, happy to help, or email me at [email protected]
Raymond
