Home › Forums › Costa Rica Living Forum › After months…finally here
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March 29, 2007 at 12:00 am #182368debMember
After investigating,reading forums,etc for about a year my family finally arrived. Even though I have been here only about 1 month I am beginning to wonder if I belong here. On my 2nd day here my husband & I (in broad daylight) were robbed at knifepoint in Downtown San Jose!! My husband arrived prior to myself & sons and purchased a home from a realtor who is not on Scott’s “approved” list. LISTEN TO SCOTT…..I won’t mention any names but we bought the realtor’s home and let’s just say she was not completely honest. It’s funny how different one appears when they want your money and then after the fact…..Anyway,….my sons are in a nearby private school (bi-lingual)..by the way..if any one person at a school here can say one word of English, does it make the school bi-lingual? Also…we thought the public transportation system was so wonderful we thought we would not need a car. Unless I missed something, in order to go from La Uruca (around Hospital Mexico) to Santa Ana one must first take a bus to downtown San Jose, find a Santa Ana bus (somewhere) & then come back to go to Santa Ana??????? So far the one good thing I have discovered is the cheap Costa Rican beer………seriously, if I don’t laugh I will cry. And I’ve done that too….
March 29, 2007 at 2:32 am #182369AndrewKeymasterThere’s not much I can do about you getting robbed and I am delighted that you are all OK but there is something we can do about unscrupulous real estate sales people so if you would PLEASE email me privately (https://www.welovecostarica.com/public/department6.cfm) with more details and I would be happy to contact the parties involved to get their official comments.
Would you please help us to try and put a stop to this? Would you help me do that?
Let’s name some names and see what they say to the 7,000+ VIP Members of WeLoveCostaRica.com and I’ll ask the attorneys I recommend what they think…
The bus system here is amazing and amazingly cheap but having said that, La Uruca is not an area that I would like to spend much time in …
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comMarch 29, 2007 at 9:56 am #182370harlonrichardsMemberthe same thing happened to me a few months back in san jose.. 2 yoooths lol pulled a knife and tried to rob me.. but fortunetly they also met my little friend from austria.. no shots were fired but it was I who took thier stuff
i would not try this at home
on another note.. you need to rent here in different areas BEFORE you buy.. and stay away from san jose.. its the arm pit of costa rica..
harlon
March 29, 2007 at 11:29 am #182371*LotusMemberHang in there Deb!
March 29, 2007 at 12:46 pm #182372scottbensonMemberjajaja.. I think reality is setting in!
I do kind of take offence of the comment of San jose though. My wife grew up there and I knew san jose before I knew the rest of CR. People are friendly there and I have walked my mothers dogs all over San Jose with out any problems. You can get robbed any where in CR even in the country so don’t think this is just a problem in San Jose.
March 29, 2007 at 1:11 pm #182373DavidCMurrayParticipantNor is it a problem unique to Costa Rica. Read your local (U.S.) newspaper.
March 29, 2007 at 3:16 pm #182374terrycookMemberHi, Terry Cook here. I had my pocket picked in San Jose but it was really my own falt. I had it in my back pocket which everyone tell you not to do. A money belt of front pocket is the only way to go. Also I never carry much cash or wear flashy jewelery. I stayed in the Coca Cola area which is suppose to be really not good but did not have a problem even weeks at a time. Local bar a block from the hotel and just kept my eyes and head clear.
As for the bus system it is not easy to learn but I finally got the hang of it…although not mastered by any means. It is cheap and easy and if you speak Spanish (which I do not do very well at all) you can get around easily. There are bus maps showing the different routes and the various bus stations. The most confusing thing for me is you have to know which bus station to go to in order to go where you want to go….or know the route and where it will stop.
I am on my way back to stay for good. Hang in there..I too did not really like San jose too much but there is a whole lot of good places out thereMarch 29, 2007 at 4:01 pm #182375harlonrichardsMemberhola scott
didnt mean to offend you.. this has been my experience living here in costa rica.. i guess it depends on a lot of factors.. i have lived in 6 different areas since moving here..san jose is the worse.. all renting of course.. i have been robbed in all of the places.. non violent but robbed. breaking into my apartment.. breaking into my car.. etc.. this also includes escazu.. i finally got my residency here and also i carry a weapon.. of which i am trained in using.. i will never be a victim ever again..
i grew up on the mean south side of chicago so its not that im a driving miss daisy type of guy..
things are changing here .. and its NOT everyone.. all in all its no worse than NYC or chicago…
I love costa rica by the way.. the weather and women..
harlon
ps. its like the admin scott he is such a pura vida guy lol
PPS. take away the weather here and its women and I would be gone in 60 seconds flat
March 29, 2007 at 7:46 pm #182376maravillaMembersorry you got robbed, deb. that had to be upsetting.
last night on the flight from san jose to atlanta, a man sitting across the aisle from me asked the man sitting next to him how he liked costa rica, to which he replied, he would never ever under any circumstances go back there. of course the other guy wanted to know what had happened that would make him say that so the middle-aged porky gentlemen explained that he had been in san jose one evening and two guys help him up. that’s terrible, exclaimed the other passenger. and the victim said, “yeah, man, those guys stole my $5000 Rolex and a $5000 gold chain I had on around my neck.” it was all I could do to keep from leaning over and telling him what a moron he was, but i held my tongue because he had yet another tale to tell. when asked where else he had gone besides san jose, he replied that he had gone to Jaco and met a really beautiful woman (hooker came to mind when i heard that) and he said when he woke up in the middle of the night she was gone and so was all the money in his wallet. some people should be given an IQ test before they are allowed to leave the US. But if he had walked downtown in any urban area wearing ten grand in flashy goods, the same thing would’ve happened.
March 29, 2007 at 9:31 pm #182377debMemberI realize no place is perfect and intended in no way to state San Jose was an awful place. Many areas in downtown have a lot of character and are quite charming. We simply wandered into the wrong area of town…wrong place at the wrong time. I had left good ole Peoria, IL and crime was on the rise in parts of that city….one young girl was grabbed and molested on the way to grade school!!!! No place is all good, nor is any place all bad. By the way, we still go downtown but now we know exactly where we are are are much more aware ……
March 29, 2007 at 9:44 pm #182378AndrewKeymasterHow do you find them maravilla? This is quite hilarious really … “some people should be given an IQ test before they are allowed to leave the US.”
Haa!
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comMarch 29, 2007 at 10:52 pm #182379kimyoa650MemberIs a gun license required to carry? How hard is it to get one?
Thanks.
March 29, 2007 at 11:38 pm #182380*LotusMemberLOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
March 29, 2007 at 11:46 pm #182381maravillaMemberYou don’t have to look very far to find “them” — they’re everywhere and this bloke just happened to be sitting in the same row on the airplane and babbling at 120db so the whole plane heard his tales of woe. Frankly, I’m glad he won’t be going back to Costa Rica.
March 30, 2007 at 1:09 am #182382AndrewKeymasterPlease see
Scott Oliver
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