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dawntr, To try and get this back to your original question… the main thing you have to remember is that this is a foreign country and you have to be more vigilant in being aware and understanding your surroundings. It is awesome that Scott and others have been here for several years or more and have not been a victim of any type of crime. I dare say though, that is not the norm, but that should not neccessarily be a discouragment for you. That also is not to say that Scott, Maravilla and others should not tell thier stories of a crimeless experience living or visiting Costa Rica. We need to learn from everyone’s experiences. I agree with Maravilla that integrating yourself into your community is a vital part of being and feeling more secure. However, it doesn’t matter where you live in Costa Rica, you typically will stick out as a foreigner and almost without fail, most Tico’s look at you as a rich Gringo, and that makes you a target. My wife and I are friends with all the locals around our house. We used a local Tico builder for our remodel and have Tico friends we have over to the house for dinner, drinks, etc and are invited to thier homes as well. My wife volunteers two days a week at the local elementary school here teaching art and an adult English class. That has not prevented our home from being robbed, our car being broken into, my sister-in-laws rental car stolen during the night from inside our locked gate, and the kicker, someone broke into the local school and stole 18 computers from one of the only computer learning centers on the Pacific Coast. They stole their own kids education. The police typically will say “oh it’s the gangs coming down from La Loma. If true, then it’s not the locals who we are friends with, it’s outsiders coming into town looking for a target,and that can happen anywhere. We now have security bars and alarms. We don’t have the security bars for protection at night or while we are home, but we feel much more comfortable having them when we are away for the afternoon or overnight. It simply is a fact of life here that you have to take more precautions to protect your belongings. My feeling is, the harder you can make it for a potential thief, the more likely they will go looking for an easier target. All of this may very well be a factor in determining if Costa Rica is for you. My wife and I are always honest with people in saying first “This is not for everyone”. First and foremost you have to have a somewhat of a sense of adventure to make a move such as this. Our personal feelings are that the positives far out weigh the negatives, but it doesn’t mean you should not keep the negatives in mind and do what you can to protect your self and your belongings.
I would like to thank everyone for their replies. It’s good to be able to hear the experiences of those already living in Costa Rica.
dkt2u and gringotico- how long have you lived in CR?
Many people blame it on the Ticos! Many people don’t understand that most of the crime is coming from Nicas that are living in CR or crime that is do from drug issues.
Most of the bank robberies that you see are Nicas and Panamanians.
POSTED IN WRONG PLACE BY DAWNE AND REPOSTED HERE BY SCOTT
Posted Apr 07,2007 6:19 AM dawne
With a potential move to CR in the next few years, I have been reading alot of your entries and am wondering if those of you living on the Pacific Side – away from the apparent city crimes of San Jose, yet not completely isolated – in some of the smaller towns are experiencing the same amount and sort of crimes?Maravilla,
I have been reading alot of the forum this morning and noticed alot of great advice from you and noticed you live in Colorado and hence, flew your dogs out of DIA without any problems. We spent the past 10 years or so in Fort Collins and are on a professional hiatis in Manhattan right now in hopes of moving to Costa Rica (or Belize) within a few years and returning to Fort Collins…we kept a house there. Anyway, do you happen to know how travel with cats is to Costa Rica? I would bringing 2 and we have been searching for a place to raise our 2 little ones abroad for a few years now but one of the concerns have been the quarantine requirements for some countries. Also, I am going to post a question about kids and education down in Costa Rica, so if you have any input, I”d love it!
We’re not sure if there are better places along the Pacific Coast to land but are not very inclined to head toward a very populated city as San Jose. Thanks so much!I’m in the mountains outside Denver where today it is snowing and the high is 22. UGH! I wish I’d stayed in Costa Rica. Don’t know anything about bringing cats to CR, but I assume the procedure is the same as for dogs (except that our dog traveled in the cabin with us) but there is no quarantine for pets in CR. Personally, I would never live on the beach because it is just too damn hot. I live in the mountains outside San Ramon where the temps are much cooler — around 75 – 80 degrees, and the nights are cool enough to sleep under a down comforter. There is also very little crime where I live there. Don’t have school-age kids so can’t give you any advice there, but I have observed one important difference between the US and Costa Rica schools and that is that they are not drugging the children with all kinds of mind-altering drugs for bogus disorders that are so prevalent in the States. If I had school-age kids, I’d be getting them out of this country toute de suite, just for that reason.
We moved down with two cats. We were able to bring them both on Continental as carry on luggage. We had soft sided carriers for them. Continental only allows to animals in the cabin, so you want to book that way ahead of time if you have more than one. We heard a little girl comment when she saw our two cats with us that much have been why they couldn’t bring so and so in the cabin with them because there were already two animals.
It was $100 for each cat even though they were considered our carry on luggage. I thought that was a rip off, but Continental is recommended by a lot of people and for us it went very smoothly.
All you have to do is have a health certificate from your local vet done within 30 days of your arrival.
There is no quarentine. You simply show the health certificates at customs and you are on your way. Customs officials didn’t even look at our cat carriers. It was no problem
It’s hard for me to imagine our cats on a plane!! Did you have to sedate them? Just getting cats to a vet in a cat carrier is enough torture for most people!
No, in fact our vet in the U.S. advised us against sedation saying that the drug itself might freak them out more than the travel and unusual experience. They were both obviously scared, but they traveled really well. We had no issues at all. That being said, animals have their own personality just like people, so each might act differently under the same circumstances.
Dawne,
I brought a small dog and cat here from the USA. You would need to check with airline, but on Delta we could only have one of the pets in cabin with us. They both did fine…There is no quarantine requirements in Costa Rica. I don´t want to give wrong information, so please check elsewhere on forum for precise details on bringing in pets. You need to get a letter from local veterinarian with shot records and stating pet is in good health. Also can get tricky depending on where you are flying from if you are having pet in luggage area (temperatures). My understanding (again, please verify this) is that Costa Rica does not recognize 3 year rabies shots. So, if last rabies was more than 1 year ago, pet needs another shot. Also
rabies shot cannot be any more recent than 30 days prior to arrival in Costa Rica. This documentation was requested at both my departure airport and in Costa Rica. Hopes this helps….it was very easy but please verify facts.
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