The Good & the Bad About Living in Guanacaste

Costaricabill

holy smokes.. I am one of those

“central valley-ites” :D:D

anything above 80 and I get a little bothered. where I live it never goes above 80 and the evenings are never below 60..

the mountains of heredia.. a real paradise.

but to each his own.. as they say

I spent some time in tamarindo and jaco, herradura, quepos Manuel antonio, santa theresa.. and its too hot for me..

the heat is what gives me pause to try out Nicaragua

the frogs are the size of small melons and everything seems to grow triple in those areas.. pesky mosquitos

and personally.. those damn monkeys pooping and throwing poop is not too nice. 🙂

and no damn KITKATS..:x:x:x

a buddy has a nice home in jaco.. we left a few days and forgot to activate his air conditioners and when we returned mold already started growing on the ceilings from the humidity

[quote=”costaricabill”][quote=”Scott”]It all depends on the location, a serious problem can be lack of water in some areas.

This is NOT always due to a lack of rain – although Guanacaste does get less – it’s often due to bad water management.

And if you are one of those Gringos that can’t live without air conditioning, you will pay a steep price to be comfortable in Guanacaste.

Hope that helps.

Scott

[/quote]

KW
Scott is spot on with his water comments. A lot of Asadas have plenty of water but they lack the infrastructure to deliver it to all areas under their control.
Perhaps if you were a bit more specific about what area(s) you are considering, someone may have real experience to share with you.
Scott’s AC comment is subject to additional conversation and analysis. At face value, he is correct “if you are one of those Gringos that can’t live without air conditioning”.
However if your home is located in a area where it gets a good breeze, especially a good ocean breeze, then it is possible to learn to live without. Before moving to CR I lived my entire life in Houston and Tampa, definitely two of the areas where AC is needed. My wife and i returned from the US on 2-November last year and as I sit writing this, 500 meters from the beach in Samara, we have yet to turn on one of our AC units since we arrived back home. Think about that, we went the entire “summer season” without any AC, day or night.
So you can learn to do without if you have the advantage of a good breeze. And one more advantage is I sleep so much better with fresh air!
I always get a chuckle from the “central valley-ites” that immediately and perpetually harp on the need for AC at the beach. It really would be better if they just said their preference is the cooler altitudes and locations, based on their lifestyles and experience.
[/quote]

[quote=”Kwhite1″][quote=”Scott”]It all depends on the location, a serious problem can be lack of water in some areas.

This is NOT always due to a lack of rain – although Guanacaste does get less – it’s often due to bad water management.

And if you are one of those Gringos that can’t live without air conditioning, you will pay a steep price to be comfortable in Guanacaste.

Hope that helps.

Scott

[/quote]

Thanks Scott, another question, you may or may not know the answer. Is there a student residency or visa provision when my daughter is enrolled in school? Would that help in helping us obtain rentista status?

I am not of retirement age, so I do not get US government checks on a monthly basis, I can prove income of $2500 USD monthly through my company I own in the US. I didn’t know if having my daughter enrolled in school would help or does that become irrelevant.[/quote]

The rentista status requires a large cash deposit and projected monthly draw of $2500/month to obtain that residency status. I don’t believe they will accept future monthly earnings from employment/business ownership as a provision for applying under that status. You might also want to check into what the required CAJA paymemts (now required) will be as they seemed to have been increased quite a bit since you last looked into CR residency.

The tax increases are only going to get worse. As with all governments out there they have all now engaged in the big money grab from those of us that have worked, saved, planned, and supported the “system” to pay those that have done nothing more than expanded the pool of takers now overwhelming our society. It’s not going to be pretty!

[quote=”Kwhite1″]Mr. Bill, looking at the Flamingo area and 10-15 KM north or south. I an from Tampa, have a house in Ft. Myers and currently way inland Belize (about 10 miles from Guatemala) , a/c is nice, but if there is a breeze I can manage. I installed a/c in my rental here is Belize, don’t get the sea breeze 90 miles from the coast!![/quote]

KWhite –
There are quite a few areas and developments in that area that offer elevated building areas close to the ocean that I am confident get a good breeze. Again, perhaps someone that lives in that area can chip in with personal experience.
I can, from my personal experience, tell you that it is quite a bit hotter and drier in that area as compared to Samara and AC may be more of a requirement there than here. I am up that way (between Tamarindo and Brasalito) on a weekly basis overseeing a project for a US investment entity, and that area generally starts getting rain several weeks after it starts here at home in Samara, and conversely, the rain up there stops several weeks before it does here. So the “dry season (aka “hot season”) is 1-2 months longer even though it is only 50-60 miles up the coast.
I can tell you that when I am at the project and down in the lower part of the land, it is much hotter than when I am at the beach areas or on the elevated parts of the property where the breeze is quite constant.
The other thing that may benefit Samara is that we are a south facing beach, and the prevailing daily winds seem to come from the south. Of course, this is probably more the cause of the land heating up, the air rising and the sea breeze being “sucked in” to replace the rising air. Being from Tampa, I’m sure you understand what I am talking about. The difference here is that the land seems to warm up quicker in the morning and the sea breeze starts around 8-9am, whereas in Tampa it generally doesn’t start until after noon.
In the evenings here, the seawater temps are higher than the land temps, so we get just the opposite effect than during the day – the breeze comes from the mountains between here and Nicoya toward the ocean, and it is a cool, dry breeze for the most part. The warmest parts of the day seem to be when the ocean and land temps are at par, and the breeze just stops. That is usually between 4 and 7 in the morning, and 5 and 7 in the evening. Without the breeze, it does hinge on the uncomfortable side, but a ceiling fan or box fan on the floor takes care of the problem.
Hope that helps,
crb

I forgot to add…

The new CAJA amount for rentista residency is $442 a month if under age 55 and $252 a month if over age 55.

Jessica