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Whether in Grecia or anyplace else, it makes no sense to leave your doors unlocked and invite the neighbors in to catalog your stuff. Be prudent.
And remember that, unlike our own north American experience, Costa Rican burglars will find attractive virtually anything they can make off with. If you have (say) appliances, or bedding, or linens, or kitchen pots and pans, or dinerware, or a hair dryer, or whateverelseyoucanthinkof, a burglar will figure that there’s a resale market for it and take it with him.
None of this is to suggest, however, that burglary is rampant. In our little barrio of el Cajon, a few months ago there were eleven burglaries. This is in a neighborhood of about four hundred households. For a time, the neighbors were hysterical. They were talking about forming a patrol group, stopping cars entering the area to check IDs, etc. One guy was apprehended and the problem hasn’t recurred.
We recently had a visitor who brought some folks to look at our house. On the way out, we all decided to go downtown to Grecia for lunch. The visitor was surprised that Marcia and I actually left the house together!
We do that all the time. Will we live to regret it? Maybe. But in five years nothing’s disappeared yet.
And we do not have bars on the windows and doors. Nor do many, many of our neighbors. So where’s the exposure?
[quote=”gzeniou”] 1-Crime (by far)[/quote]
Against expats petty crime possibly, thieves primarily. The Americans here tend to blow this out of all proportion to reality. Expecting the idyllic life blinds many to the reality. Maravilla and David have been here longer and I think will confirm what I think.
Assault on expats carelessly where they shouldn’t be. Aggrvated felonious crimes are usually Tico against Tico. Again I say, if you live within a community of expats you are more likely to suffer from professional thieves. Murder is most common within family units.[quote=”gzeniou”]2-Mail system[/quote] Slooowly iiitt wiillll arrriiivve aaatt iittss ddeeessttinattiioonn.
[quote=”gzeniou”]3-Americanization (I guess Chinese can fit here too)[/quote]
The invasion of Americans has been a great issue since the early 1900’s. Now that the trade agreement with China is done it has been harder to find quality products.
[quote=”gzeniou”]4-Bugs (this one is from my wife)[/quote]
and more bugs but I kinda balance that with butterflies, preying mantids and such. I saw my first glass wing butterfly yesterday.
[quote=”gzeniou”]5-Earthquakes[/quote]
After 19 years in the LA area we just note that there has been a shaker and let it go at that. The house is built of concrete and an earthquake stronger than 6.5 is a rarity.
We are half time residents, which started in March of 2010.[/quote]
More experience here will tell you more about whether this is the place for you.
In response to the[b] mail[/b] question, we have found the service to where we live in Guanacaste, to be very satisfactory. Most times, mail, is delivered to our door. Never had any items gone missing, in any of the parcels we have sent or received.
Over the past five years or so, I have sent tens of thousands of items (books and DVDs) via the Costa Rica mail service and I’m not kidding you when I say we’ve “lost” about 25 items…
My DVDs are shipped from Chicago with a “professional” company which costs me a bloody fortune and on a percentage basis, the number that have been lost is MUCH higher….
Scott
Number 1 for me would be crime. I like this initiative
http://caponcrime.info/Hi Scott: I am guessing that you mean the “regular” Costa Rican mail service…yes? We are looking at Aerocasillas because we can order things online and the Miami address means that companies will ship to us. How do you handle this issue?
Thx!
be careful what you order because it could cost more than the item is worth! last year i bought a massager online — it cost $23.00 with shipping to the Miami address. When it got to Costa Rica, customs said i needed a permit to bring that item in country, AND they wanted $100 for fees. i told them it was theirs! other friends have had vitamins and cosmetics confiscated, and by the time you pay for this extra shipping and customs fees, i can’t find one thing i really need to pay that ransom for.
This is why we use the regular mail service.
For instance, we had a parcel delivered last week, and this time we had to pick it up in Caldera due to size, but the printed and true value of the items were $480, and all we had to pay was 670 col. for the postage from our PO in town to Caladera.
We have received many parcels by USPS and have [i]never[/i] had to pay duty
Of course, we paid gas and had lunch out 😆[quote=”sueandchris”]Hi Scott: I am guessing that you mean the “regular” Costa Rican mail service…yes? We are looking at Aerocasillas because we can order things online and the Miami address means that companies will ship to us. How do you handle this issue?
Thx![/quote]
Yes! I do mean the regular Costa Rica Post Office service which I have been very happy with…
Aerocasillas, JetBox and the others are all bloody expensive really because you pay for the weight, the insurance and shipping of the package and on top of that (plus the price paid for whatever you have ordered), you pay the import taxes to the government of Costa Rica…
In years gone by, they weren’t too careful with the import duties and I rarely paid big taxes on stuff from Amazon for example but today, very little gets through the private mail companies without some serious taxes paid…
Here’s an example for you… Today I received a book I ordered from Amazon, it was part of a larger order and this was delayed and shipped separately.
The book cost US$14.81 and transportation, fuel surcharges etc cost an additional $13.20 which is an extra 89% on top of the cost of the book….
So buy a book for $14.81 and spend $28.01 before you’ve read the first page …
Scott
I used to think that my biggest concerns about living in Costa Rica were concerns about theft, about being able to learn the language, and about whether my wife would be able to find enough true friends to replace her circle of very close friends back home. Whatever my #1 concern was, however, it has instantly been supplanted with “46 US warships & 7,000 US Marines on route to Costa Rica”. I cannot think of much else that would more quickly and completely turn me off to my dream of retiring in Costa Rica than for the country to lose its heritage of peace and independence and be ruined by the influence and presence of the U.S. military. OK, OK, the Chinese or Russian military would be a quicker and more complete turn off! If the country doesn’t desperately need the U.S. military, their presence is a big concern. If the country does desperately need them, then I guess I need to rethink whether I really want to be in the country.
Scott wrote: “The book cost US$14.81 and transportation, fuel surcharges etc cost an additional $13.20 which is an extra 89% on top of the cost of the book….
“So buy a book for $14.81 and spend $28.01 before you’ve read the first page …”
Okay, so has anyone used Apple’s new iPad to download books yet? We have one to pick up when we go to the U.S. next month, but the Apple introductory material says that their e-books are only available in the U.S.
Apple offers a Kindle app. Does/would that help?
I don’t know about the Ipad, but 2wice I brought the Cybook from Mobipocket, a nice light ebook, and 2wice it broke.
I had many books downloaded and no way to read them anymore once in CR, very annoying.Don’t know if it is the salt air, or hot weather, did not use it enough in Canada to compare. Now I will either change for another brand, or just come back to paper books.
None. I spent 25 years in Miami.
The slimeballs there make the dolts loitering in San JosB look like saints.
I only go to the Central valley for documents.In ,in the AM and gone before dark.
Beaches ? Yep. In Nicaragua ![quote=”Scott”]What Is Your #1 Most Important Concern About Living In Costa Rica?
This question is aimed at the VIP Members we have who have yet to make the move to Costa Rica…
1. Our dog being intentially poisoned by a would-be thief.
2. No libraries. I read primarily non-fiction and memoirs. Kindle will be an expensive alternative, but I’m budgeting for it.
3. No Costco return policies. So I’ve been busy buying the things I think we’ll need before we leave.
I wasn’t particularly worried about theft until I read some of the responses. I think my heart would go out to someone who stole only food, and I’d let it be known to our neighbors that a person need only ask. Theft of our computers would be more of a loss and expense, although I subscribe to a nightly backup (Carbonite) so it wouldn’t be devastating. Presumably theft of computers and a flat screen TV would require a truck, so now I’m seriously considering a gate, but won’t leave our dog home alone to act as a guard for fear of her safety…
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