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Another free program you might want to install on your portable electronics is “Prey”.
Here’s a humorous account of Prey at work.Operation Gringo Revenge: Tracking My Stolen Laptop In Panama
Hey – don’t be swayed by the opions stated as facts on the internet. My never to be humble opinion is buy books about Costa Rica.
Besides Scott’s books there are Living Abroad in Costa Rica by Erin Van Rean which is perhaps the easiest read about CR while still being useful. The best book about actually visting living and buying here has been featured on this web site: Phil Baker’s Costa Rica Now.
Both these books give an acurate picture and also capture some of the ambiance of the country. Baker’s book does not color Costa Rica as a one size fits all country. That is what I think makes it ring true. He also lives and works here as Scott does.
Good luck. I love it here although its not like back home that is for sure. If you can crack the learning curve you will do just fine.
Please try to do as the locals do rather than being the good little rule follower we are indoctrinated to be in the US. This can be a really free country if you can shed your US indoctrination.
Hey guys I didn’t mean to start a (my town is better than your town) war. The replies indicate that most of you thing the west north west corridor is the better areas that can meet our needs. I haven’t heard anyone talk about Santiago de Puriscal, or areas east of San Jose. Are there any thoughts on those areas?
If I didn’t mention it I plan to use public transportation the first year so a good bus route would be important.
I am copying the comments and information, this has been an eye opener so glad I asked.[quote=”davis2″]Would beg to differ about Grecia. We were there last year. Small downtown area is very crowded, small unmarked roads and streets that don’t show up on GPS, insane drivers, kids begging for money, [/quote]
Some of us will never understand that we are guests in a poor country and will forever complain about all that they see is wrong in trying to compare Costa Rica to the U.S.
As a primarily agricultural nation, many of the smaller towns are centers of the agricultural communities and considering that many of the Ticos shop for their food on a near daily basis the town centers can be quite lively.
The Tico method of giving directions depends on landmarks rather than street names, which are useless under the circumstances.
Costa Rica is not at the top of the list of priorities for the GPS map makers. You find your way around by living here, not by visiting for a couple of weeks.Insane drivers??? I am referred to by many Ticos who know me as “Gringo Loco” when I get behind the wheel. I have had a lifelong habit of paying attention to the road to the exclusion of everything else. It is a habit that stood me in good stead in the States and serves me well here. The vast majority of Ticos are inattentive to the road, paying much attention to their friends and neighbors or parking in the middle of the street to chat with their friends. These are farming communities and the habits here are much as they were in the farming communities of the U.S. before WW II.
As in any poor nation there are far more beggars in the streets than in the U.S. Unemployment is very high in Costa Rica and at any stop light in San Jose you are apt to find vendors, beggars, jugglers and other entertainers trying to make a living from whatever they are capable of doing.
[quote=”davis2″]and if it IS the cleanist city in Central America I would hate to see the dirtiest, Don’t believe all the hype. Don’t believe the lovely pictures you see in travel guides or on the internet. For example the lovely park is a dump. It may have been a nice little place at one time but don’t be fooled, times have changed. You will not understand this until you go there.[/quote]
I live near Ciudad Colon and I consider it a clean town. We have people who drop their trash as they walk or drive along as if they were in the local dump just as people do in the States.
Although the municipality has maintained a clean-up force in the streets since before we moved here, for the first time my property taxes will include maintenance of streets, parks and public places.[b]We live in a beautiful country filled with wonderful people. If you cannot see that forest for the twigs in front of you I have to wonder if it is worth living here.[/b]
[quote=”waggoner41″][quote=”davis2″]Would beg to differ about Grecia. We were there last year. Small downtown area is very crowded, small unmarked roads and streets that don’t show up on GPS, insane drivers, kids begging for money, [/quote]
Some of us will never understand that we are guests in a poor country and will forever complain about all that they see is wrong in trying to compare Costa Rica to the U.S.
As a primarily agricultural nation, many of the smaller towns are centers of the agricultural communities and considering that many of the Ticos shop for their food on a near daily basis the town centers can be quite lively.
The Tico method of giving directions depends on landmarks rather than street names, which are useless under the circumstances.
Costa Rica is not at the top of the list of priorities for the GPS map makers. You find your way around by living here, not by visiting for a couple of weeks.Insane drivers??? I am referred to by many Ticos who know me as “Gringo Loco” when I get behind the wheel. I have had a lifelong habit of paying attention to the road to the exclusion of everything else. It is a habit that stood me in good stead in the States and serves me well here. The vast majority of Ticos are inattentive to the road, paying much attention to their friends and neighbors or parking in the middle of the street to chat with their friends. These are farming communities and the habits here are much as they were in the farming communities of the U.S. before WW II.
As in any poor nation there are far more beggars in the streets than in the U.S. Unemployment is very high in Costa Rica and at any stop light in San Jose you are apt to find vendors, beggars, jugglers and other entertainers trying to make a living from whatever they are capable of doing.
[quote=”davis2″]and if it IS the cleanist city in Central America I would hate to see the dirtiest, Don’t believe all the hype. Don’t believe the lovely pictures you see in travel guides or on the internet. For example the lovely park is a dump. It may have been a nice little place at one time but don’t be fooled, times have changed. You will not understand this until you go there.[/quote]
I live near Ciudad Colon and I consider it a clean town. We have people who drop their trash as they walk or drive along as if they were in the local dump just as people do in the States.
Although the municipality has maintained a clean-up force in the streets since before we moved here, for the first time my property taxes will include maintenance of streets, parks and public places.[b]We live in a beautiful country filled with wonderful people. If you cannot see that forest for the twigs in front of you I have to wonder if it is worth living here.[/b][/quote]
I don’t stand in judgement of you sir..So don’t judge me on my experience and honest opinion. My post was to inform others to investigate, if your motivation is to discredit my experience then you harbor a personality flaw.
[quote=”shilo”]Hey guys I didn’t mean to start a (my town is better than your town) war. The replies indicate that most of you thing the west north west corridor is the better areas that can meet our needs. I haven’t heard anyone talk about Santiago de Puriscal, or areas east of San Jose. Are there any thoughts on those areas?
If I didn’t mention it I plan to use public transportation the first year so a good bus route would be important.
I am copying the comments and information, this has been an eye opener so glad I asked.[/quote]Shilo, at the risk of being attacked because of my honest opinion I will share my experience of Puriscal with you. We spent some time the last year as well. A week in fact, because we were looking for a building lot to buy. Puriscal is a nice little quaint town which we liked much better than Grecia. It is what we had envisioned CR to be. After investigating properties there and the good versus bad here is our conclusion. It is a nice little town with lots of culture and a new hospital. It is also very rural. Just to get there you are on a narrow winding road from Colon that is in disrepair and at times is blocked with landslides. Puriscal was an agricultural community that had a lot of deforestation and is thus more prone to landslides than other places. There was a 6.1 quake there last year which caused some damage to roads and a few structures. Given the land was remote and hard to get to land was cheap a few years back. A canadian developer came in and bought spme land and developed an initially sucessful community called Los Antiqua. We spent time talking to him about his hillside lots and decided against it because it was about 30 muinutes on the other side of Puriscal even more remote. One of his houses was damaged by the quaks landslide. Many there don’t drive that road at night as it is too dangerous. SO when we considered the possiblity of having to drive the road at night in an emergency we ruled it out. They also raised their prices by 29% in 2010 even though real estate is in a recession. To my knowledge nothing is selling there or at another development called Los Cafetales because of the same reasons. Nothing is selling but they promote their properties on the internet heavily. If this appeals to you then by all means check it out. I stress again please don’t be fooled by internet adds and even Testimonials from “happy” residents. Go there and evaluate the pluses and minuses. I suggest you do this on your own without a “Realtor”.
I think we all know that we usually get what we pay for. Years ago when I was shopping around for a property, I noticed that Puriscal real estate seemed cheap. Of course it was. Puriscal was rural and lacked a certain degree of infrastructure. There were notably fewer trees as well. It reminded me a bit of Guanacaste where land was cleared for cattle.
I bought a property in the San Ramon, Palmares area and paid a bit more than I might have in Puriscal. But there are good roads, lots of trees, clinics and a higher level of infrastructure in the San Ramon area. Things change, though. Who knows what things will look like in ten years?
[quote=”davis2″][quote=”shilo”]I stress again please don’t be fooled by internet adds and even Testimonials from “happy” residents. Go there and evaluate the pluses and minuses. I suggest you do this on your own without a “Realtor”.[/quote]
1. Excuse me ‘davis2’ but I personally filmed the testimonials of those “happy” residents in Puriscal and spent a few days with them, are you saying that they were lying about the area?
2. And are you saying that I would happily publicize their lies on my site to “fool” people into buying their real estate?
Scott
there is a happy place for everyone here in CR. i know some people who think i am crazy for living where i do because we of our proximity to the cloud forest up the road from us. i know people who moved because of it, but i love it, and i’m glad it’s not for everyone. when you live in the mountains, which, let’s face it, are ever everywhere, there are always going to be challenging roads — it comes with the territory. i personally don’t understand why anyone would want to live at the beach! so there you go.
[quote=”maravilla”]there is a happy place for everyone here in CR. i know some people who think i am crazy for living where i do because we of our proximity to the cloud forest up the road from us. i know people who moved because of it, but i love it, and i’m glad it’s not for everyone. when you live in the mountains, which, let’s face it, are ever everywhere, there are always going to be challenging roads — it comes with the territory. i personally don’t understand why anyone would want to live at the beach! so there you go.[/quote]
Being from Colorado, a bit like there w/mountains I imagine….though diffrent, too, of course…
my house in CO is in an exact similar location as my house here — in the mountains, off a two-lane road (sometimes), 6 miles from town, on a hillside overlooking a big valley. the difference is we get no snow here and there are cafe and banana trees instead of pine trees. so living in the mountains of costa rica isn’t all that different for me. i have all the same challenges that for a flatlander might be daunting.
[quote=”maravilla”]my house in CO is in an exact similar location as my house here — in the mountains, off a two-lane road (sometimes), 6 miles from town, on a hillside overlooking a big valley. the difference is we get no snow here and there are cafe and banana trees instead of pine trees. so living in the mountains of costa rica isn’t all that different for me. i have all the same challenges that for a flatlander might be daunting.[/quote]
not having the cold/snow is a big plus, while still having the other beauty,etc.:D
I tend to drift more towrd coast and beach, if not on, then close to get too…..though CR, he can easily have both in short time….for me, I can right now get to the beach in 2.5 to 3 hrs, mountains, more like 4-5 hrs……
i can get to the beach in under an hour from my house, and there have been days when i went to the beach with the unrelenting heat and was grateful that i didn’t live there and could go home where it was pleasantly warm and cool enough at night to sleep under a down comforter. and that’s the beauty of costa rica — we have 75 microclimates and all manner of terrain from which to choose. i am at 4000 ft. here and 7900 ft in colorado. except for living in manhattan, i have always lived in the mountains but it is not without challenges that’s for sure. the biggest problem is that flatlanders have no clue how to drive in the mountains.
[quote=”maravilla”]i can get to the beach in under an hour from my house, and there have been days when i went to the beach with the unrelenting heat and was grateful that i didn’t live there and could go home where it was pleasantly warm and cool enough at night to sleep under a down comforter. and that’s the beauty of costa rica — we have 75 microclimates and all manner of terrain from which to choose. i am at 4000 ft. here and 7900 ft in colorado. except for living in manhattan, i have always lived in the mountains but it is not without challenges that’s for sure. the biggest problem is that flatlanders have no clue how to drive in the mountains.[/quote]
are you near Arenal?
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