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Since it is Christmas, I thought I would post a quickie while the kids are playing with Christmas toys. I am still in the US & my husband is checking a couple of areas there. We had read so many wonderful things about Atenas, but his first impression was it was “a dirty little town.” (sorry)Since it appeared so beautiful & wonderful via the internet it has made me wonder about Costa Rica in general. My husband has been in a beautiful hotel in San Jose & naturally life there is good …Please tell me all this hype about Costa Rica is for real.
Merry Christmas
“Hype” is “hype” and is rarely ‘real’.
Sounds like this is a decision that you need to make for yourself.
There have been many times where the wife or husband loved Costa Rica but their partner did not… Sounds like your husband prefers the city whereas you might prefer the country.
Costa Rica is not for everyone.
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comTo me, San Jose is one of the dirtiest and ugliest places I’ve ever been to on the planet. It is hard for me to think of life being really wonderful there, but all the small towns I’ve been to in Costa Rica were clean in comparison to similar towns in say, Mexico. My husband complains about the endless garbage in Costa Rica but I remind him that it’s cleaner than some american cities. You really need to check it out for yourself. If you judge another country by the standards you are used to in some lovely suburb of the US, you will probably be disappointed.
I think Maravilla says this very nicely, if you judge Costa Rica by a middle class suburb in the U.S. you may be very dissapointed. Or if you are looking for the quaintness of a country village in Europe ain’t gonna find it here! You are comparing apples with oranges. Most Gringos I know would not find the little towns of the central valley very livable or charming. Tico homes are all gated up and small and dark..not a lot of charm, but C.R. is so much more than buildings and that is what you must fall in love with. Atenas represents most small towns it is what it is, I just had lunch there 3 days ago and a great lunch at that served by warm and friendly people. Just wait till he gets to Jaco!Lol..You can find Gringo enclaves if you want Costa Ricas weather etc but want to live with Americanos they exist all over C.R., but it sounds like you and your family need to spend some time exploring this country and perhaps then understanding it a bit better.
Some things to remember about garbage:
1. It’s Christmas, and public works are pretty much shut down right now. Garbage does pile up during this and other holiday seasons.
2. There was A LOT more garbage on the ground in Costa Rican cities and towns 10 years ago and before. They have advanced tremendously in this area, as well as cleaning up the rivers around San Jose.
3. When I was a kid I remember all sort of garbage strewn across the ground all over the U.S., especially on highways. Remember the Indian with the tear rolling down his cheek? There have been great strides here since then, although go to any inner-city in the U.S. and you wouldn’t think so.
4. In my opinion problems of garbage explode with the growth of packaging technology. 30 years ago many food items sold in CR had natural wrapping – like banana leaves and corn husk. People routinely threw this out, and it was no big deal. With all the new paper and plastic packaging, they’ve had to change this culture, just as we did. Neither one of us are done.
If Costa Rica is your first destination in the developing world, you’ll be disappointed. If, however, you’ve been through other Central American countries, you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how much nicer CR is. You need to keep it in context.
The Costa Rican Shan-Gri-La is a fantasy. There are many things there that will challenge a typical Gringo’s sensibilities, but once you get beyond this you will also find a host of differences which are positive. You will then be in a position to see your own country in a different light, and your criteria of what is good and what is bad will change.
Thanks for your feedback about
Atenas. I later found out my husband had been no further than what he called “downtown,” therefore he was hardly in a position to judge. Plus,we all have our own tastes. He made some new friends who live in Santa Ana who say it is very nice. Any one familiar with that area? I am curious about one thing about Costa Rica….why are there so many gated communities? When my grandmother here in the US heard we were looking at a house there & learned it had, as she put it,”bars on the windows”& a high fence surrounding the property she stated it must be “in a dangerous area.” While I know petty crime is common, are the window grates partly decorative??I have to say one more thing (& Scott is not paying me). This forum has been more useful to me & my desire to learn about Costa Rica than all of the books put together!!!!!
Scott’s not paying anybody because nobody is paying me… Sob… Sigh! Nah! Only kidding. The site is paying it’s way…
There are so many gated communities in Costa Rica for the very same reason there are so many in any country, please see
Sorry to be a brute but if I were you, I wouldn’t listen to your husband’s opinion about Costa Rica any more 🙂 How can anyone (spouses included) give you their opinion of an area if they have never even been there?
I know Santa Ana very well and it is growing rapidly. You may also wish to search for “Santa Ana” on this site and you will find a few articles and a video of the area.
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comHi, I come from The Netherlands and years ago I had the “romantic idea” of having a farm and a nice house on it. Now I know better after living in several places in CR. To me bars are never decorative. Please read this:Posted Dec 27,2006 6:24 AM GringoTico
JulioScott,More importantly (much, much, much more), the trials and tribulations of maintaining security at a detached residential unit FAR outweigh any financial drawback of buying a condo.
I, and many others on this forum, have talked about this issue many times, but it’s very hard for us Gringos to accept it. It’s one of those things that you have to experience for yourself before you develop the extreme level of paranoia necessary to keep your material possessions from walking.
IMHO the most difficult cultural challenge for Gringos living in CR is the fact that you truly become a slave of your house. The best way to avoid a burglary is to ALWAYS have someone there. That means never leaving, or hiring a live-in caretaker. Please don’t make me rehash what happened to us. It’s too depressing. Just listen to me when I tell you that if I had gobs and gobs of money to pay for security, I would consider it once again. Short of that, we’ll be looking at condos and highly secure gated communities when the time comes. If the investment is slightly worse than a detached home not in a gated community, then that’s the price of freedom and tranquility. Cheap if you ask me.
Best regards, Bart
Reality vs. Hype can be a real eye opener. Rarely what is shown on the internet will be what it really is no matter where you go. My wife an I visited CR for the first time last year. We stayed in Alajuela city most of the time. Not exactly a tourist area. My wife’s first impression was “I don’t think I can live here.” After eight days I almost had to drag her back home! She did not want to leave after experiencing the friendliness of the Ticos and the relaxed life they have.
We went back this year with our two adult boys. After nine days in Costa Rica they did not want to go back to “civilization.”
It all comes down to a matter of perception ond perspective. We grew up in a more urban community and are willing to stand a little more than someone who maybe grew up in the suburbs.
Costa Rica is a wonderful place for some, and just too third world for others. You may have to put up with water shortages as we did in Manuel Antonio, bad roads and other inconveniences around the country.
But the Ticos themselves make up for any lack of comfort you may encounter.
My advice is to go there yourself and experience it firsthand. Meet as many Ticos as you can. My Spanish is not all that good (maybe my English as well) but they are willing to help and always treat you with courtesy. Enjoy the country for what it is, not what you wish it to be.Pura Vida!
Regarding security:
I have a home in the Heredia mountains. I have a caretaker, so someone is almost always there.
I have had my cars broken into twice in six years and I live in CR 4 to 8 month a year.
First I do not have bar on my windows. Second, I came to CR to get away from having a bunch of “things.” If you want to live the hyper-technology lifestyle with expensive flat panel TVs etc, then a condominium is for you. My acreage in the hills has a 2 acre meditation garden, river and over an ace of saint Augustine grass with a huge flower garden and producing coffee fields. That’s my wealth – the outside.
My home has some standard kitchen appliances and a 36 inch television and furniture. It has never been broken in to (think I just jinxed myself).
The reason? Most break-ins are conceived by people that know your house. They then tell other people about your lifestyle and habits of coming and going. To prevent break in do not have a lot of young locals or unknown workers at your house for long periods and try to hire neighbors to help with domestic work – they are more trusted, unless you isolate yourself from them by not embracing their culture and language.
My point: Don’t be predictable, and have your caretaker change his routines, IE not always taking Sundays off. I you have expensive tastes by all mean live in a condo. I came here for the outside world – that is the richness here. If all my stuff was stolen out of my house, blender, TV, etc – its “used” value may be $1,000. (I keep my laptop in an indestructible safe box secured in cement when it not with me.) I take it back to the US when I return.
The point is I have lost a car stereo and suffered $200 in car damage in 6 years. Add this to a breaking in (that has not happened) where I get “clean out” of $1,000 worth of stuff (TV etc).
Well that’s $1200 in losses over six years = $200 a year (in reality I an averaging about $75 a year in losses.
My long-winded point: many people spend more money on securing their belonging than they are worth. Let’s say I spend $200 a month on extra security. That is $2,400 a year X 6 years = $14,400. I can replace a lot of loses for that kind of money. and that is with new stuff.
Sometimes security is like renting storage for your stuff. By the time you have paid years of storage rent you could have replaced all you had in storage three times over for what you have paid for the storage unit.
Its another symptom of materialism. If you are coming here to cure your materialism, you will be happy. If you want to sustain it here you most likely will miss the best things in CR – nature and the out door world and the people who think life is for living not only for working to buy more stuff and earning the money to protect it.
People need to get over their emotional victim mindset that goes along with losing some material objects.I came on the board to congradulate Scott on the article giving thanks and appreciation to his CR lifestyle. Not write a 20 minute article – but being that Scott is good hearted I thought I’d do it for his readers.
Diego, Great post. I think that’s what most people misunderstand about relocating to CR. You have to want to change your material driven lifestyle in order to enjoy the beauty that is Costa Rica. If we buy or take everything we had in the US to CR all we are doing is changing Latitudes. We will miss out on the lifestyle that is uniquely found in CR.
Some people will want to keep their former lifestyle and for them a condo seems right.
When we eventually make the move we want to re-adjust our way of living from harried to simple, and most likely will settle in the Central Valley. Maybe it is just a dream, but its worth striving for.Alfred – Thank Scott for providing the forum. And whatever you do don’t ask me about Gringas and Ticas.
Exactly what are you looking for? What is your budget? Heredia has many microclimates so it depends what you want – cooler weather – warmer weather, closer/further from the city, lot/farm/house. Prices there are all over the board too. Growth in Heredia is up dramatically as developers rush to create amenities commonly found in the Escazu area. I have been there a long time and can suggest areas to look in depending on your desires.
I am looking for cooler weather (I’m in FL now) and a lot with a valley view of city lights.I’d rather not be far from the town of Heredia. Actually I keep watching a lot forsale in Barrio (?) which has all of these qualifications but Have not seen it. You can email me at linlsd@yahoo.com. Thanks, linda
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