Home › Forums › Costa Rica Living Forum › What Is Your #1 Concern About Living In Costa Rica?
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July 14, 2010 at 9:43 pm #172447maravillaMember
what form of residency requires a 6 month stretch. i have never heard of this. pensionados require 4 months not continuous, same with rentista, so that leaves what, inversionista????
July 14, 2010 at 10:22 pm #172448PuraVidasMember[quote=”F.A Skippy”]Don’t forget the dippity doo so you can spike your hair up and look like a rooster.Gotta ” fit in”:wink:[/quote]
LOL
July 15, 2010 at 12:07 am #172449maravillaMembermy internet goes out in a storm in colorado, too. and i don’t put toilet paper in my septic tanque there either. and we had some of the best engineers do I-70 and every year boulders the size of a VW roll down the mountainside and smash a car or two, and two years ago the entire left lane of I-70 collapsed in a huge hole. Sh%^ happens everywhere, not just in Costa Rica.
July 17, 2010 at 12:45 am #172450mollyjimMember[quote=”F.A Skippy”]Don’t forget the dippity doo so you can spike your hair up and look like a rooster.[/quote]
Come on, Skippy, you need to strive more for accuracy :D.
It’s not dippety doo, it is “Moco de Gorila” (one of the more common products I’ve seen on store shelves here). You don’t even have to know Spanish, the label’s graphics make it clear that one is buying “Gorilla Snot”. Mmmm, boy!Jim
Santa Rosa de PoásJuly 17, 2010 at 3:00 am #172451kevin.smithMemberMy biggestt concern is getting out of the US legally,while we still can,but walking across to matamorras MX and riding a bus to monterey for a flight is still an option. CR the land of the free thinker!
July 17, 2010 at 12:44 pm #172452DavidCMurrayParticipantAnd what concrete evidence can you point to, other than wild speculation, that any U.S. citizen not under indictment for a crime will have any problem leaving the United States?
You didn’t take my posting about the SeaBees building FEMA camps in Costa Rica seriously, did you?
July 17, 2010 at 1:12 pm #172453kevin.smithMember[quote=”DavidCMurray”]And what concrete evidence can you point to, other than wild speculation, that any U.S. citizen not under indictment for a crime will have any problem leaving the United States?
You didn’t take my posting about the SeaBees building FEMA camps in Costa Rica seriously, did you?[/quote]http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/ohio-6-year-oid-alyssa-thomas-turns-up-on-terror-watch-list/19532082
heres 1 example,not real sure I buy into the whole fema camp thing,but i do remember what a stellar job they did after Katrina.:)July 17, 2010 at 1:41 pm #172454DavidCMurrayParticipantWhat does the Bush Administration’s indifference to the suffering of Hurricane Katrina victims five years ago have to do with restricting the rights of U.S. citizens to leave the country today?
This sounds like one of those “My sister rides horseback. Do you swim?” or “Do you walk to school or carry your lunch?” arguments. What’s the connection?
July 17, 2010 at 3:10 pm #172455claytonMemberNo, they will let you leave you just will not be able to take your money with you, and of course you must check in every year with your tax payment. You best make any financial moves soon before they confiscate everyone’s 401K to support all the union and government pensions, including Michigan’s.
July 17, 2010 at 4:20 pm #1724562bncrMemberNew concerns about living in Costa Rica
I will be able to keep my money and I won’t be able to pay my unfair share of taxes to support moochers and unneeded regulation not to mention bailing out too-big-to-fail institutions.
I won’t be able to build the biggest government in the world any bigger and provide a bunch of overpaid government workers a great heath plan and a bloated pension.
I won’t be able to go to court to pay my traffic tickets and sit in the waiting room watching an archaic racist NAACP (BTW I have pigment, aint I colored thank you very much) bitch about the fringe elements of patriotism.
I won’t be seeing any condescending police officers around town.
People will expect me to actually greet them and I won’t be able to sit in silence as I will have to talk and maybe even laugh with people I don’t consider my intellectual equal.
Considering all this, I think I will apply for a government job. It is the only industry that is growing in the US anyways.
July 18, 2010 at 4:14 am #172457guruMember[quote=”DavidCMurray”]guru, who told your friends that they’d have to remain in Costa Rica for six continuous months each year as residents? This is the very first I’ve heard of such a requirement.[/quote]
My friends residency was based on investment of hundreds of thousands of dollars in a reforestation project. They planted a former coffee plantation with a mixture of indigenous tree species (not a bunch of crummy import lumber varieties as is often the case). Apparently since the language for this type of residency is vague there is leeway in the the rules for an “investeasta” (sp?) immigration can set the rules any way they want as well as change the rules. My friends had been staying in CR during the hottest and coldest weather in the US and the other time (6 months or more) in Costa Rica. They worked construction during good weather in the U.S. and invested everything they made back into the property in Costa Rica. It was a great deal for Costa Rica. Then the authorities just changed the “deal” on a whim and said their stay had to be contiguous.
My friends still travel back and forth but they have given up on permanent residency for the time being. They still continue to invest in Costa Rica. But I don’t think they feel like they can trust the government and the reforestation project is now being looked at more like a tree farm since the “rules” no longer apply.
July 21, 2010 at 12:24 am #172458deborahadams1Member[quote=”mbuhler”]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.
I agree with you I have been planning on moving to Costa Rica for about 2 years and now that there are 46 US warships, 200 helicopters and 7,000 US Marines this really concerns me. Why are they REALLY there? I have heard things from defense against Venezuela to building military bases, fighting drugs ect. I think it’s all plans of the NWO!
July 21, 2010 at 12:42 am #172459deborahadams1Member[quote=”guru”]1) The seemingly illogical changes in the rules that effect “residents” (such as the new laws that may or may not be completely enforced. . ). Friends of mine dropped their resident application when they were told their necessary 6 months a year in CR had to be in one continuous block of time after having made several hundred thousands of dollars investment and many years work toward permanent resident status. I would have been ready to strangle someone. . .
2) Security bothers me a little. We happily live in part of the US where we don’t lock our doors and probably could not find the keys at this point. . . as well as having no doors on a work shop building. I KNOW this will not fly in CR.
3) Rising costs. A limited budget can quickly become an an insufficient budget when costs rise too much. But we are seeing that in the U.S. as well.
4) How property will be handled when I die. With my children in the U.S. I am not sure how well the property transfer or sale if necessary will go when the time comes. I suppose some serious lawyering and planning is necessary.
Bugs, snakes and pests are almost everywhere on the planet. In rural Virginia and North Carolina I’ve been in places where the flies, mosquitoes and wasps were MUCH worse than in Costa Rica. We have a dozen types of mud daubers here that clog hoses, vents and oil ports on tools, machinery and automobiles if they hold still too long. . . I’ve had snakes in the shop on a regular basis and Copperheads are fairly common. We may not have the variety of snakes as Costa Rica but they are more common than folks think. The bugs that bothered ME in Costa Rica were the little noseeums that eat you up at night without notice and can bight through the holes in mosquito netting.[/quote]
I live in Northern Arizona and the noseeums are abundant in the summer. The only answer here is Skin So Soft, especially in the spray bottle!
July 21, 2010 at 12:53 am #172460deborahadams1Member[quote=”maravilla”]my internet goes out in a storm in colorado, too. and i don’t put toilet paper in my septic tanque there either. and we had some of the best engineers do I-70 and every year boulders the size of a VW roll down the mountainside and smash a car or two, and two years ago the entire left lane of I-70 collapsed in a huge hole. Sh%^ happens everywhere, not just in Costa Rica.[/quote]
I remember the collapse of the I-70. I had just came through there and tried to go back a few days later. It was a big sink hole. And I have seen major mudslides there too. Especially west of Vail, Co.
July 21, 2010 at 1:51 am #172461deborahadams1Member[quote=”waggoner41″][quote=”2BNCR”] Professional incompetence, including doctors especially lawyers, vetinarians and pharmacists.[/quote]
We have resolved all of these problems, some with luck.
We have a very good Caja doctor, pharmicist and attorney and a good vet.[quote=”2BNCR”]The gap between the haves and the have nots
Western materialism corrupting traditional values, disconnecting more and more Tico from their historic ties to agricultural, and living off the land.
US feminism and the degradations of motherhood.
Rampant uncontrolled development that has degraded the environment through unfinished inappropriate projects that stand as testimony to greed.[/quote]
I wholeheartedly agree with this assessment but lets lay the blame for these problems where it belongs.
Many of the problems that expats face are problems that are a result of the actions (greed) of those who have come before us and some who are still here. Some are self inflicted.This is a macho society and it is we who are guests in Costa Rica and we need to be aware of the differences in culture. If you don’t fit in with the community you are asking for problems that can be avoided.[/quote]
I agree totally! If people who move to the US from other countries, would understand that, then there would be a lot less problems in that respect. I would only expect to be a guest in another country and adapt to their culture and language and not expect them to change to suit mine! This is a big pet peeve of mine in the US! I am so tired of calling somewhere and being asked to press # 1 for English!!
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