Home › Forums › Costa Rica Living Forum › Costa Rica, Paradise Lost?
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May 14, 2007 at 12:00 am #183485mjzouchaMember
We visited Costa Rica about 4 years ago and fell in love. Since then we have been doing research and planned on buying a condo that we could live in for several months a year. Part of our research has been getting and reading the Tico Times. It seems that each week the reports of terribly negative things have us thinking twice about buying property there. Let’s see, crime has risen to alarming rates and it seems now it’s not just petty theft to worry about, but armed robbery, beatings, etc. The government not having any controls over developers damaging the eco systems, raw sewage being dumped into the Pacific Ocean, over building and developing without having road systems to support all the people. These are just a few of the concerns that are frankly scaring us more than just a little. I guess we are just needing some positive feedback to offset all the negative that we have been getting. Thanks.
May 14, 2007 at 8:53 am #183486harlonrichardsMemberyes yes yes.. please stay in the US.. we already have too many damn gringos moving here.. making things more expensive
May 14, 2007 at 10:04 am #183487*LotusMemberIt does seem that this new Administration is addressing these issues as Costa Rica grows exponentially. Look at the South where local government put a moratorium on building and the added police etc…With growth will come more crime and most of this crime is in and around the “cities”.
May 14, 2007 at 10:53 am #183488DavidCMurrayParticipantHelp me understand . . .
Are the anecdotal reports you’ve read in the Tico Times about “. . . terribly negative things . . .” reports of incidents in Costa Rica, the United States, or just where? If you have been under the misapprehension that Costa Rica is perfect and that there are no problems, economic, political, social, or environmental, then someone has been deluding someone. Of course there are problems here, problems in every sector of the society. Of what country cannot that be said?
I think the question you should ask is whether the things that matter most to you and your family are better here than elsewhere. If things look better where you are, stay; if things look better here, come on down. We’ll make a place for you.
May 14, 2007 at 11:40 am #183489scottbensonMemberMaybe you are not cut out to be in Costa Rica?
Many people want to point at the negative aspects of Costa Rica, they tend to try to compair to their own enviroment! This is a incorrect process because CR is not Kansas!
Maybe they do this because they are afraid of living in a different culture?
Maybe they would not fit into the life style of the Ticos?Maybe you should just visit and not worry about moving for retirement?
Personally I just came back from Yuma AZ, I would never think about retiring there! I think the crime rate is much higher in AZ than in CR and could not belive that anyone would retire in a Mobile home versus a tico home in CR.
Can you belive that people would think about spending $40,000 for a roll away home?
May 14, 2007 at 1:57 pm #183490bradbardMemberOver 2,000,000 citizens in US jail
US citizen held without trial in solitary confinement for five years, prevented from seeing his attorneys, imprisoned and tortured
“There are more than 45 million U.S. citizens without health insurance, and even more with health coverage that they consider inadequate.” http://www.forbes.com/business/2006/10/25/health-medical-tourism-biz-cx_1026oxford.html
The President of the USA condones the rendering and torture of other people after promising to help eliminate torture
“One in six children lives in poverty in America.” http://www.savethechildren.org/programs/us-literacy-and-nutrition/
The President of the USA has shredded our Constitution, authorized mass murder of US troops & Iraqi, men, women & children by means of both conventional weapons and nuclear weapons (depleted uranium) AKA weapons of mass destruction, he is destroying the US economy, the US middle class and helping to dismantle the US manufacturing sector plus, he and his cohorts have been a part of the most hideous crime ever committed on US soil – 9/11
“The number of antidepressants prescribed annually for children under aged 19: 11,000,000 http://www.chaada.org/Page3.html
I know where I would prefer to live…
May 14, 2007 at 2:10 pm #183491maravillaMemberIt’s a nutbin without walls. Those are all the reasons I can’t live in the US anymore.
May 14, 2007 at 2:11 pm #183492DavidCMurrayParticipantInteresting points all, bradbard. What do you suppose would be the incidence of prescription of antidepressants if everyone had prescription drug coverage??
May 14, 2007 at 2:31 pm #183493mjzouchaMemberOkay, Okay, you’re all right. We lost focus I guess. Yes, we know that no place is perfect, but we were letting a few negatives muddy our thinking. We will still come and stay this winter and see for ourselves but I appreciate all the passion coming through these messages about Costa Rica. That says something right there and it’s exactly the kick in the butt we needed. Thanks. Harlon, do you want us to look you up?
May 14, 2007 at 2:37 pm #183494rf2crParticipantTo all Gringos planning to move to Costa Rica – if your plan is to take your present lifestyle to Costa Rica, don’t go!
You can’t have your Condo resorts, golf courses, fancy hotels, malls, swimming pools etc. without having an effect on the ecosystem and the society. There are plenty of resort towns around the world, don’t turn the whole of Costa Rica into one and then complain that it isn’t the paradise you remember it being. We Gringos are bringing changes, we are the ones that should be adapting to the wonderful lifestyle that Costa Rica is; not taking what we want from it and “never mind the consequences”.May 14, 2007 at 2:59 pm #183495maravillaMember100% of the population would be drugged!!!
May 14, 2007 at 3:19 pm #183496spriteMemberI am moving to Costa Rica with a very clear idea of just what kind of life style to expect. I will live quietly on my land in a new but not ostentatious house. I look forward to routines which will include nothing more spectacular than shopping for food, walking with my dogs, surfing the internet, gardening and spending some time getting to know the neighbors. I will be escaping the traffic, crowding, insane and unsustainable consumption, crass displays of wealth, crime and general noise that is present in all U.S. cities and especially in Miami.
I am sure there are a lot of U.S. citizens who buy vacation homes here. Resorts are the same everywhere in the world and they will expect the same here wherever they buy. They will build it and bend it that way as much as possible and the attending crime and other negatives will surely follow. They have done and seem to be doing that to Guanacaste and the Central Pacific coast. I sure hope they don’t drag that vision to the Central valley.May 14, 2007 at 11:34 pm #183497AlfredMemberCosta Rica is not paradise lost. You just have to approach your expectations in a realistic way. We fell in love with Costa Rica, and we too have gotten upset by some of the things we have read or seen recently. We want it to be an undiscovered paradise made just for us exclusively. Such is not the case. Costa Rica is like all other places on earth. It is inhabited by people. For the most part fine and wonderful people. But the few that are bad, make the headlines and cause us distress.
If you look at Costa Rica through your own eyes and not rose colored glasses, you will be able to determine for yourselves whether or not you will want to spend the rest of your lives there.
The more time you can spend there, the clearer your answers should get.May 15, 2007 at 12:11 am #183498RoarkMemberYour credibility is lost when you accuse the Bush administration for playing a “part of the most hideous crime ever committed on US soil-9/11.
Do you really think the Bush administration played a role in 9/11?
May 15, 2007 at 12:25 am #183499maravillaMemberThey let it happen. They were warned by a CIA op named Robert Baer. He had intel that was credible. He went to the prez and nobody listened. Baer resigned in disgust. Ever hear of the burning of the Reichstag?
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