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Could anyone living in a typical Tico neighborhood offer any insights to the lifestyle?
I am interested in living apart from the ex-pat communities, but am wondering what others have experienced in such an environment.We live in a Tico neighborhood, but we don’t have any neighbors! Our worker and family, live on site, but we all live just outside a small Tico town. Very few ex-pats, and we see them very seldom.
This is the third time we have done this, with no regrets.
While we like it, many ‘need’ an English speaking community. A lot would depend on your area of choice and lifestyle. I wouldn’t like to live in a Tico area of San Jose but I wouldn’t like to live in an ex-pat area either. Or anywhere near there.Hello, Phil13,
We live in a small Costarican village in the mountains of Puriscal. There are 4 households of North Americans in this village and we all have different experiences. I am a retired elementary school teacher and enjoy assisting the English teacher at the local elementary school. (less than 80 students from Gr.1 -Gr.6) who in turn helps us learn Spanish twice a week. Since my grandchildren like to visit during the cold season
we have donated and installed a swing/slide set to the daycare centre. Consequently, we are welcome at both institutions and recognized by the parents as an asset to the village.
Moreover, the furnishings in our house were constructed in the local wood working shop and we visit the pottery shop for gifts etc. for family and friends.
We are invited to all community functions, school plays and graduation ceremonies as well as some birthday parties and first communion celebrations.
We are not LOCALS, but feel welcome and cared for in this village. Also, we are never short of eggs and fruit in season and understanding my interest in the local flowers, my neighbours often bring cuttings and seeds.
We love it here!
AnneLiseAnnelise, we have a love of plants in common, and my neighbors often bring cuttings and seeds. They also take many away…
They are amazed that when go ‘out ‘ I bring back seeds or cutting from plants in the wild…not orchids…then find out the scientific name and try to get them to survive in my garden, while they may consider them ‘solo monte’, if they have even seen them before.
You can only be accepted if you are an active participant of a community.Phil13,
My wife and I have property in normal tico neighborhoods. My wife is a Tica and all of her family live in and around the San Jose area. My mother in-law lives around Tres Rios about a mile up from the mall going to Cartago. My wife was raised in San Jose right across from the old MOP. Now we are living in Paraguay!
What do you want to know about living in a normal Tico neighborhood? One thing is if you don’t have a shower head in your shower that can kill you, than you are not in a normal Tico home!!! hahaha Now adays when we go home we find a new gringos coming every year. This year I belive we have 3 or 4 gringos living in the area, when we first moved out there about seven years ago there was only one in a 3 mile radius.
I bought a piece of property in a Tico neighbor and split it up into 5000 m2 lots. Sold them off and half of the buyers were Tico and the other half gringo. That was a mistake. My neighborhood is now filled with he very people I was trying to escape. They tore out the coffee (I should have put a deed restriction in to prevent that). built walls and huge houses. They never say hello to anyone and don’t like the Ticos. I hang at the neighborhood watering whole and everybody knows me and I them. It’s wonderful! The Gringo drive by and scowl when they see me hanging with my Tico buddies! What a bunch of stuck-up jack asses. Yeah, I made a mistake – I should have never divided the property.
In retrospect I screwed myself. I made very good money, but my lifestyle is lost. Be careful what you wish for….
If I had to do it all over, I’d do it differently.
BTW – Living with the Ticos is what CR is all about. You can keep Escazu and Santa Ana and the pretentious Ticos (there are a lot of then now). Give me the real life – the country life any day. “Give me the fruit and let me grow – let the rude man take the gold” – Bob Marley.
Edited on Apr 21, 2009 10:07
If you want to maintain an affordable monthly budget, you can easily do so by living like a Tico in a Tico pueblo. I know lots of guys down here on social security who have a lot of fun. Look for a community where you don’t need a car and that will save you a chunk every month. I have been in CR since 1992 and over the last 15 years I have had the opportunity to live on the beach in Guanacaste, in several communities around the central valley and now in a condo in the center of San Antonio, Belen. There’s no need for A/C or a heater because the climate is very moderate, so that saves you money. In Belen you’ll find all the conveniences you’re accustomed to for much less. There are a variety of restaurants offering some of the healthiest and best fire cooked chicken and broiled fish plus Chinese, pizza and typical Tico food. I eat out everyday and spend an average of 2500 colones or $4.50 at lunch for fresh cooked meals. A beer in the local bar at happy hour is 550 colones or $.98 and a Johnnie Walker is 750 colones or $1.35. The local roasted (over coffee wood) chicken restaurant charges $4.64 for a 1/4 chicken with salad and tortillas incl. tip. Dinner or lunch at the El Dorado seafood restaurant of fresh Dorado or Corvina, salad and plantains is $5.00 incl. tip. The municipality in Belen is very organized and keeps development under check which enables the community to stay clean. Additionally, it is one of the safest communities because it has its own Municipal Police force in addition to the Fuerza Publica and Transito officials that are present throughout the country. In Belen you can walk to get everything you need and do not get stuck in traffic jambs burning up your money on stinking gasoline. So not only do you feel good about cutting back on fuel consumption but its great exercise and you meet a lot of new friends and beautiful women on the sidewalks. If you want to get to know a community and the locals better, walk around as much as you can and say “hola” or “que tal” to as many people as possible to see how friendly the locals are toward you. In many Latin pueblos it’s difficult to walk around because there is little or no infrastructure. In Belen there are handicap accessible ramps at most major intersections and ample sidewalks everywhere. Look at the map to understand where Belen in the province of Heredia is situated in the Central Valley of Costa Rica. This is a wonderful place to live and very affordable. You can visit http://groups.google.com/group/belen-costa-rica/web to see a map and photos of Belen.
Hi Phil13, my partner and I live in Alejuela, we live in a typical tico neighborhood, as a matter of fact we are the only gringos in the immediate area. Our neighbors could not be more welcoming and accepting. Our only problem, is we are learning spanish and communicating with them is sometimes very frustrating. None the less, we could not see ourselves living in an ex-pat community. We believe that living where we do offers us the greatest opportuntiy to learn a very rich culture.
Best regards,
Stevecrhomebuilder,
You describe exactly the lifestyle I feel I’d like to live. The possibilities seem very interesting and encouraging. My plans are to go visit CR again (went for the tourist loop a couple of years ago). The next time I would like to go and stay in one or two places and see how it would feel living there. I will be brushing up on my Spanish now.
Muchas Gracias,
Philanneliseped,
Thanks for the response. Your lifestyle is one I think I would enjoy too.
On my next trip, I want to explore some of the out of the way places to see how I would
like the smaller quiet places.Phil
This has been one of the more interesting discussion threads, to me, on this site. I have primarily been interested in learning what living among the Costa Rican people would be like within their culture, rather than what living in the ex-pat community is like. There has actually been very little feed-back, until now, from people who are living in more remote areas or in areas not heavily populated by ex-pats. So, thank you to all who haven’t contributed here before but who are now sharing their experiences. Please continue to tell your stories. Thank you !
While I don’t actually live there yet, I do own a tico house in a tico neighborhood about 6 miles outside of La Fortuna. I visit it for several weeks at a time about 3-4 times per year. I am the only gringo in the town and in fact, the only English speaker. I have found that the local community is very gracious, humble and respectful. I couldn’t be happier about my decision to join their community. I have a woman from the neighborhood living in the house who I just adore. She is thankful to be able to live near her parents (she has 2 small children), and I’m thankful to know my house is safe. I couldn’t imagine myself living in an expat neighborhood. I come here to get away from that. The neighbors all know me by name and do whatever they can to make me feel welcome. I would say that if you’re considering living amongst the locals, then you will probably love it.
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