Home › Forums › Costa Rica Living Forum › How many expats make it longer than 2-3 years?
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January 2, 2010 at 3:21 pm #170131LauressaMember
Muchas gracias para la informacion. Hablo espanol solomente un poco a este tiempo. Whew- I had 5 years in secondary school and really looking forward to picking it up again. But that sentence is likely funny to a tico! I went on George’s site and notice his extended tour takes you into the central region and into the central pacific area. What is the nature of living on/nearer the Nicoya Peninsula or closer to the beach areas there? I am curious as to why the tour does not take folks into the upper pacific/beach area? Our eventual plan may be our boys moving out with us- and being in an area where they could get work in the touristy area( after permanent residency/citizenship of course). I have heard that Atenas, Tambor, Puntarenus areas are nice, yet the tour doesn’t go near those places- anything worth knowing why on that? We would really like to see that area as well. Being within 30 minutes of the beach is one thing on our wish list, and fishing is also big.
Also- I recall reading somewhere that there is a government program that would hire non-citizens with specialties that meet their environmental initiative programs needs. But not sure what that means. Anyone else have a lead on that? Curious as I may have something to contribute to the country in that way.
All this literature also says this big road/highway is going to be built in 2009- was it? and a new airport? where is that going? would be a sin to live in the jungle right in the flight path of an airport. OK- yes I was the kid always raising my hand in class. Sorry for all the questions- yes I think the Tour will be able to answer them. I will bring our list. I need to look around more on the internet as well, except I am skeptical on what I read- would rather hear it first hand from those who would know. OK- January 2, 27 degrees here in Southeast Pennsylvania-wish I was there.
January 2, 2010 at 3:45 pm #170132jdocopMemberpost removed so as not to offend any forum members.
January 2, 2010 at 3:47 pm #170133costaricafincaParticipantYou would do best by coming for an extended vacation and driving around to the areas you think would be of interest to you. George, does, I gather take you around to some established homes and builders.
The highway will soon be operational.
One poster has said although being involved in [i]’Green building initiatives'[/i] etc, there are locals involved in this too, so this does not apply.
Be aware, that the residency requirements will change on March 1st, 2010January 9, 2010 at 7:22 pm #170134wkmossMember[quote=”maravilla”]just in my little enclave 30% of the people who moved here with the intent of living here til they died, who built houses, and spent a lot of money shipping their goodies, have left already. all within the first two years, often less.
i can predict with uncanny accuracy who will make it here and who won’t after only a few conversations. some people just don’t belong in a foreign country — they want all the things they had back home and continually grouse when they can’t find them or have to pay a premium to get them.
the folks who refuse to learn spanish, or think the Ticos should accommodate them because they are spending dollars in their country, also have a high return rate. the people who constantly compare costa rica to wherever they hailed from are also dooomed. this is not like any other place; it is not small town america, it is not LA, NY or SF. it has its own rhythm, it’s own cultural structure, and its own mindset of prejudices and history.
if a person refuses to embrace those things, they can never function in this society. then there are the peeps who hate any kind of insect and who squirm and scream at the site of all kinds of creepy crawlies at the onset of green season. get over it! the gringos who insist on hanging out with only gringos often find that they are thrust into a circle that they would never have joined in the States. they find that the only common denominator is that they are living in a Latin country.
the ones who refuse to make Tico friends wind up being isolated and view the Ticos with suspicion. another ingredient in the recipe for failure. the shipping companies love to tell people to bring ALL their stuff, even though many people have stuff that isn’t worth the price they are going to pay to ship it somewhere.
when it molds, falls apart, or otherwise becomes completely unusable, they bitch and moan that their 18 year old sofa was just fine when they had it in the States. my next door neighbor fled CR on the cusp of a nervous breakdown. he couldn’t wait to get out of this place, even after romanticizing before he got here that this was the perfect place for him. he sunk almost all of his savings into building a house that he will probably never live in, and which is now rented.
then there are the folks who think they will come here and earn some money. forget it. if you don’t have enough to live on without earning one sou, stay home. and once people figure out that this is not the cheap place to live, unless you want to live like an unskilled worker, where if you want all the electrical goodies running 24/7, you can expect to have a $250 a month ICE bill.
i have one neighbor whose ICE bill is nearly $500 a month. the ones who scurry home came here with unrealistic expectations. they say they like the rain, but when it rains day and night for ten days, they are ready for Prozac.
they also seem to not know that with lots of rain comes lots of mud, lots of cleaning up the mud, and the constant battle against the things who would like to move in with you.
i am currently working on an article for the new central american magazine called Neotropica. the thrust of this article is the unrealistic view of paradise, and how it is sold as a concept to people who refuse to do their own research on what the reality is here. when reality finally does sink in, the results can be disastrous — suicide, alcoholism, divorce, financial ruin. this is truly where caveat emptor rises to the occasion.[/quote]
Very good advise. This is your article. Bill Moss, Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA wk.moss@gmail.com
January 9, 2010 at 7:29 pm #170135wkmossMember[quote=”soldier”]There is another Costa Rica website, that I will not mention here; that contains some figures; I do not know how accurate the numbers are, and how the data was compilled. I would assume it would be impossible to keep accurate numbers. If you would like the website, please contact me by email.[/quote]
Soldier: Please send me the other website. Thanks, Bill Moss, wk.moss@gmail.com
January 9, 2010 at 7:56 pm #170136costaricafincaParticipantA reminder or prompt, [b]Scott[/b] to please consider a poll as was mentioned earlier:
[b]1)Intending to move
2)Living here part-time
3)Living here full time
4)Have not yet visited Costa Rica
5)Live here but want to leave
6)Lived here but have now left.[/b]Possibly it is not in the interest of this website to have an actual answer to the question?
I just heard of two more couples returning to the USA today.
January 9, 2010 at 8:18 pm #170137maravillaMemberwhy are they returning? i would be interested to know that.
January 9, 2010 at 8:31 pm #170138jdocopMemberpost removed so as not to offend any forum members.
January 9, 2010 at 8:34 pm #170139costaricafincaParticipantFor one of the couples it was a ‘financial decision’ after 5 years of living here and the others was [i]’life was not what they envisioned'[/i] so after a year and a half they are going home.
January 9, 2010 at 8:55 pm #170140maravillaMemberah, that’s usually the case — it’s not what they envisioned. i wonder what it was they envisioned because we have been beating that subject to death in another thread dealing with the concept of paradise and what it is or isn’t.
January 9, 2010 at 10:29 pm #170141costaricafincaParticipantParadise for some right now would be [i]escaping the cold and not having to shovel their driveway…again[/i] 😆
January 9, 2010 at 10:41 pm #170142maravillaMembereven though i’ve been fogged in for three days straight, i would still rather deal with this than -3 and 3 feet of snow.
January 9, 2010 at 11:35 pm #170143AndrewKeymaster[quote=”costaricafinca”]A reminder or prompt, [b]Scott[/b] to please consider a poll as was mentioned earlier:
[b]1)Intending to move
2)Living here part-time
3)Living here full time
4)Have not yet visited Costa Rica
5)Live here but want to leave
6)Lived here but have now left.[/b]Possibly it is not in the interest of this website to have an actual answer to the question?
I just heard of two more couples returning to the USA today.[/quote]
Since you were the one that “heard” perhaps you can now confirm WHY they chose to leave Costa Rica?
Do you think that people who have lived here and and have left because they were unhappy will be readers of this website or any other Costa Rica site?
January 10, 2010 at 2:33 am #170144plasticbradMemberOur family has been living in CR for a year, we had a daughter 6 months ago at CIMA and our oldest goes to school here. It has been great for our family. We are expecting to stay another year and a half and are only going to move on to try our next adventure.
Both my wife and I telecommute so we can work from anywhere. Not sure where our next move will take us but I am sure it will be hard to beat our experience here.
January 10, 2010 at 4:31 am #170145jckincyMemberI am finding this thread fascinating because we are packing to move to CR at this moment. This week I asked our realtor here in Florida, 55+ community why people leave here. Said the reasons are varied but some just don’t like it for one reason or other, for some it is wanderlust like the young couple above, but for those that are going back, up north, it is because the wife misses the kids, grandkids, family, etc. For many of these people they thought moving south to warmer weather and golf year around would be great but the culture shock and missing the “old country” is too much. Not much different than many gringos who move to CR.
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