Hola from Costa Rica

[cardude]

We are here for a month checking things out for a possible move. Here are a few pictures of the rental and the beach about a 7 minute walk from the house.

The house we are staying in is pretty over the top, with a crazy swim up bar and huge rancho with outdoor kitchen. We stayed up late last night with our friends breaking in the rancho drinking mucho Imperials while the kids swam around. Our friends live here full time and have three kids our kids ages, so we are trying to see how they are doing and going to decide whether we want to move here for a year or so. We are here for a month, but may stretch that to two. We still have not sold the house in Texas, and if we don't do that we can't move down here anyway so it may be a moot point.

Surfing today. Hope the waves are not too big since I'm out of practice (and not in my best shape physically either). Wish me luck Nords!

Looking out towards the surf.

Our crazy nine year old. Check out the pool and rancho below. That's where the bar/kitchen is. Very cool.

Beach shade.....

View of the surf from the balcony. Nice view!

 

[Leonidas]

Looks sweet. Hope you guys are having a good time. How did you find the rental?

 

[Moemg]

Wow , what a place ! Enjoy !

 

[DangerMouse]

Nice house. So have you had any nibbles on the house in Texas at all or is the market dead at your end of the market?

 

[bltkmt]

Looks awesome...what a wonderful dream. Let us know how it goes?

 

[Bestwifeever]

Wow--if the dominoes fall in place and you decide to move there, consider yourself the official Costa Rica innkeeper for e-r.org.

Cuando una puerta se cierra, otra puerta se abre. Or something like that.

 

[SarahW]

Looks great, Cardude! What a beautiful place.

 

[simple girl]

What a great place! Let us know what you find out about living in Costa Rica.

 

[donheff]

What is the cost to rent a place like that?

 

[Nords]

Surfing today. Hope the waves are not too big since I'm out of practice (and not in my best shape physically either). Wish me luck Nords!

Eh, it'll be like riding a bicycle. And for a real workout, maybe you can borrow a stand-up paddleboard?

 

[Texas Proud]

I used to work with someone from CR a long time ago... she said it was a stable gvmt and very friendly to US folks...

But I think it is a lot poorer than Panama which is another destination that seems to be on people's radar...

 

[e86s54]

I have a family member who has lived in likely the area you are in (Pacific coast in the likely north of Jaco). I have been many times and rented houses like the one you are in. Makes for a nice vacation...in the dry months, weather is almost guarantied 90s and sunny.

People are nice, fresh water (very important) and somewhat stable government, no real taxes.

Personally I love CR for a month or less, then I start going a little nuts. Living there (in a beach area) out of the question. There is the beach, the tourists , the locals and whatever supports them...that's about it. My brother has witnessed many who moved to the beach house to "retire" and turned local. Doing business is frustrating (3rd world type of frustrations). I suggest you stay there longer (and not on a $1000+ per week rental). Then discover the true reality that is CR. Then you'll know for sure.

E86S54

 

[cardude]

Personally I love CR for a month or less, then I start going a little nuts. Living there (in a beach area) out of the question. There is the beach, the tourists , the locals and whatever supports them...that's about it. My brother has witnessed many who moved to the beach house to "retire" and turned local. Doing business is frustrating (3rd world type of frustrations). I suggest you stay there longer (and not on a $1000+ per week rental). Then discover the true reality that is CR. Then you'll know for sure.

Yeah, we haven't decided to move here for sure yet. We are here for a month checking things out like the school, long term rentals and opportunities to make some income. We have friends here who want us to move down here but so far all we have done is drink mucho cervezas. I'm not going to rush into this.

Eh, it'll be like riding a bicycle. And for a real workout, maybe you can borrow a stand-up paddleboard

I did OK the first time out-- definitely was not the biggest kook in the water which made me feel good. Today the surf was VAS and I just hung out with the wife and kids at the beach.

What is the cost to rent a place like that?

We got it for $2300 per month including all utilities. He has it advertised for $1400 per week but the rental market is a little soft right now and he knows our friends down here so we got it cheaper. Plus staying the entire month helped.

Victory at Sea conditions but good shelling........

Into the jungle!

 

[GoodSense]

Awesome pictures!

Looks like a great time! I was in CR in March/April of this year and I loved it. Living there is another story, of course. I think I'd have a really hard time settling down because there is so much to see.

Where in the CR are you? Near Tamarindo? Jaco? Santa Teresa?

 

[cardude]

We are in Nosara at Playa Guiones.

http://www.nosarasurfcam.com/webcam.html


I should be surfing right now but I'm being lazy and drinking beer with my esposa. We are getting ready to lose power so I gotta go.....

 

[e86s54]

Cardude,

Nosara...I knew it! My brother ran the hotel on the north point of beach. I was there in Jan and the place was really run down now Doesn't look like he's finished the "Hand of God"

Some nice homes to rent and I'm sure the building boom is softening now that the real estate bubble in the US has burst. They were still trying to flog houses like yours for $800k, but I can't see it at half the price.

I love Nosara...but the dust gets to you after a while (not to mention the road in). Have you taken the boys ATVing in the hills in behind? Unbelievable how far back (and up) the development has reached.

You likely have been to La Dolce Vita for dinner...great food!

E86S54

 

[cardude]

<H1>Nosara...I knew it! My brother ran the hotel on the north point of beach. I was there in Jan and the place was really run down now Doesn't look like he's finished the "Hand of God"

Some nice homes to rent and I'm sure the building boom is softening now that the real estate bubble in the US has burst. They were still trying to flog houses like yours for $800k, but I can't see it at half the price.

I love Nosara...but the dust gets to you after a while (not to mention the road in). Have you taken the boys ATVing in the hills in behind? Unbelievable how far back (and up) the development has reached.

You likely have been to La Dolce Vita for dinner...great food!

</H1>

Ahhh, you obviously know the place well. Which hotel did your brother run? And what's up with that perpetually unfinished "hand of God" hotel? There is definitely some craziness down here. lol

The guy was trying to sell this house last year for 700K, and now he will take 550K or so furnished. I'm with you-- still way too much.

As a matter of fact we just rented quads today and my oldest and I are going blasting up the back hills tomorrow am. The dust was terrible today, and we forgot our MC goggles we wear back home so the dust was killing our eyes. My DW had a dust beard when we got back to the house today. She was not impressed. Also going to check out that defunct "casino" that the Russian dude was trying to build way up the mountain. Have you ever seen that? More craziness but a great view!

My parents are flying in on Thursday and La Dolce Vida is the first place I'm taking them. Love the wood fired pizzas and the lobster ravioli. It's my favorite restaurant here. So cool...........

We took a quad ride to the waterfalls today. Pretty interesting, except for the leeches that got all over us. Check out the pics........

Dusty Baby! Need some goggles!

Waterfalls. Our kids and our Tico friend Tonde and his kid Anthony.

Me and the kids swiming in the leech pool! Nice!

From the top of the falls. Some local Tico kids were diving in to this small pool from about 20 feet up the side of the rocks. Crazy.

My rock climbing DW. What a trooper!

 

[Dreamer]

Wow, what an experience for your family. Even if you don't end up staying, you will have a lifetime of memories.

 

[Kroeran]

all of what I might say is second hand...so weight accordingly - I have never been to Central America myself

a few years back I became obsessed with Panama, reading up on it and hanging out on the Americans in Panama forum - I was fascinated by the possibility of being able to live well on $600 per month.

listening carefully to the old hands there, guys that had been in Panama for upwards of twenty years, I came to a certain conclusions about the place.

for myself, I figured out that Mexico and Central America generally were too rough at the edges for DW. Between my dad's stories from working for Interpol and her dad's stories from the military intelligence world, about how things can go very wrong without a net, we are just too paranoid. It would be different if I had a different sort of spouse...someone who didn't think of the great outdoors as "the space between the front door and the taxi. " (Metropolitan Life reference)

Anyway, I think the key to Central America is to enjoy nature and the lower cost of living while having as small a financial footprint as possible, because any sort of trouble you will get into or if something is stolen or if your dog is killed at the groomer, there is no recourse, and the lawyers and police are more likely to victimize you than help you. Don't move any bank accounts down there and just take the cash you need from bank machines.

So this means renting and not taking any nice jewelry or computer or musical equipment and furnishing with a rustic cottage approach.

This is all based on not actually spent any time there, so it is possible that I am totally off base.

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

Kroeran,

We think alike. I followed the same path as you and came to the same conclusions--specifically about Costa Rica and Panama. The jury is still out on Mexico.

 

[haha]

Kroeran,

We think alike. I followed the same path as you and came to the same conclusions--specifically about Costa Rica and Panama. The jury is still out on Mexico.

I first went to Costa Rica in 1973, and returned once more later. At the time I was still pretty good in Spanish. Although I like parts of South America and Mexico, my impressions of Costa Rica were for the most part negative. Some seemed to be various sorts of hustler, trying to sell me whatever. This seemed to be true of many Ticos in San José as well as many US expats there.

I didn't encounter or observe any crime. In addition to that plus, another one was that the city was not surrounded by very poor barrios, as many South American cities already were.

I visited an agricultural research station-can't remember what town it was near- somewhere east of San José still in the highlands. It was manned by high class people and was very interesting. I also met two expat seamen who lived in or around San José with their US expat wives, and in both cases used short wave communications to get their next berths. One couple operated a small coffee plantation and their coffee was excellent.

There seemed to be more than a healthy amount of boozing going on, as well as some innuendo and unhappiness about how the wives occupied themselves while the guys were away. I also met a very together group of Mennonites who ran several dairies around San José, and some who ranched up in Guanacaste. Our most enjoyable time was spent with an Afro-Costa Rican couple we met on a bus going down to Punta Arenas. They were from Puerto Limon on the Caribbean side.

Ticos drive just as wildly as most Latin Americans, and at the time at least perhaps worse than Mexicans.

My idea before spending sufficient time down there was to buy a plot in San José and make a beach head for a later retirement, but I dropped the idea after looking around enough. Some people told me that I might well return to find my plot already built and occupied by locals. Land was very cheap.

Right now I have a promotional minded relative who is doing residential development down there. Also a long ago girlfriend who is living there with an Australian property sales agent she picked up in Florida. The country seems to be turning into one big gated community.

Ha

 

[Kroeran]

the chatter on the Panama forum a couple of years ago was that Costa Rica had undergone a government change (from reasonable to more of a marxist type I think it was) and that things were declining and violent crime was increasing.

this may have been promotional propaganda on the part of the panama boosters.

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

I heard that CR was becoming increasingly unfriendly towards expats. On the Panama fora, there were people moving to Panama from CR.

 

[Kroeran]

Regarding Panama, If you have the stomach for it and a sense of adventure, especially if you have spanish, I believe you can purchase a nice place up in the mountains for lets say 100k (or even better, rent for $400 per month, and there used to be a 20 year tax holiday for new construction), and if you picked the right spot on the mountain, you had no heating or air conditioning expense, and you could generate electricity from a ram pump (water flowing from a well uphill from your house). And then, if you could prove $US 600 government pension income, you qualified under their retiree discount program. And there is more...they actually have american based hospitals with very cheap health insurance. Buying stuff like furniture and appliances is cheap as half the worlds goods pass by on the canal and they just have to haul a container off one of those passing ships once in a while.

The government finances itself from the canal, so they dont need to tax their residents much. Those are the positives.

 

[Kroeran]

I also met a very together group of Mennonites who ran several dairies around San José, and some who ranched up in Guanacaste.

my peoples!

now if only my mennonite grandfather had had the sense to emmigrate to Costa Rica instead of Saskatchewan!