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It seems to me that most say its because of the political and or cost of living here. I have seen very few that come here for the same reasons my wife and I have come for. In fact we have only met one couple that came here for similar reasons. The nature and the beauty of the country, the opportunity to learn about another culture. Its not about living here forever for us, its about enjoying the country for all it has and if one day, we decide to leave (doubtful we will stay full-time in the states) and explore another country, we will know that we enjoyed Costa Rica to its fullest. Then again we are not retirees, we are about 20 years from that, we have a history of doing long back packing trips, mountain biking and last summer we even spend 57 days bicycling from the Atlantic ocean to the pacific ocean of the United States, a transamerican trip of 3,500 miles with no support. What I’m trying to get at is Costa Rica has so much to offer other then the political and economic benefits. People should enjoy her and not just come here to escape the states.
[quote=”gzeniou”] Then again we are not retirees, we are about 20 years from that, [/quote]
Well You must have a big company in the states or some large income source to be able to stay in Costa Rica legally.
My wife and I are moving back for family reasons, since my wife is a Tica and all of her family are in Costa Rica. Her mother is becoming older and needs some assistance and since my wife is the only female in the family it is expected of her to take care of the mother. We have traveled the world as well and there are thousands of places like Costa Rica. The last place that we lived was in Paraguay which we fell in love with and would rate that up there with Costa Rica. It is much cheaper to live and even more laid back that Costa Rica.
when i was your age, i had already lived in london, paris, nyc, LA, the Bahamas, the Yucatan, the Baja, and spent significant periods of time traveling in Europe and South America and mainland Mexico– in all i’ve been to over 25 countries, many of them i could’ve (or had) lived in. Costa Rica isn’t the only beautiful place, and where i have another house (Colorado) it, too, is one of the most beautiful places i’ve ever seen or lived. we are surrounded by national forest, town is 7 miles away, wildlife abounds, etc. i would never live in an ugly place, and there are plenty of those too, so if i am going to sort of retire (I’ll actually do that when i’m dead!) i want more than just a pretty place — politics loom large considering the havoc the US has wrought in Afghanistan and Iraq, so living in a place with no military (except for our own US forces on their way here), was a draw — war creates a mindset, and influences how you regard the world, and i got tired of living with the paranoia and the idiocy of the way things are done “up there” — plus i now live on a mountain here (similar to where i live in Colorado) with a sweeping view of an immense valley. had i not found this view, i might have spent more time searching other places, but this was IT for now. i also have a desire to live in either Uruguay or Argentina, so while i love it here more than most places i’ve lived (mainly because i never feel cold), i can’t guarantee that this is the last stop on my journey of being a gypsy of life.
I too have lived all over the world from birth and travelled. Spain, Libya, Denmark, Greece, Egypt, Argentina, Colorado, Mexico, Arizona, Alaska and in Washington since 1987. As with Colorado, most all of the western states with significant mountain ranges are stunning. We live in “the woods” on 5 acres (2 hectares) north of Everett in an area called 7 lakes and are 2 miles from the Saratoga arm of Puget Sound. It is also one of the most beautiful places in the US on a July or August summer day; it’s the rest of the year that is a problem. We are all vitamin D deficient and why Alaska Airlines is so sucessful. Work for me is on the “eastside” (Bellevue, Redmond, Woodinville) 42 miles away……the rat race, but at least my car is courtesy of my company.
There are numerous similarities between here and Costa Rica, primarily the thick forested hillsides, at least the ones that have not been clear cut, an issue in both locations. The weather is also surprisingly similar in the late spring and early fall, better in July and August, but dismal 6-8 months of the year. Although we have “nature” where we live, the comparison to the wildlife in Costa Rica is like comparing apples to a pineapples. The wildlfie is much richer and more varied in Costa Rica; the forest is alive with noise rather than silence in the dead of winter. The pace outside of San Jose proper is significantly slower than in the US. The food is healthier in Costa Rica and much cheaper to eat healthy. Healthy food in the US is a “premium” product unless you raise and grow your own. Communities are much more communal in Costa Rica; most people who live in what is considered rural or semi-rural (big lot suburbia) in the US keep to themselves. Kids and families in the US do not freely roam the streets and neighborhoods to the degree that I have witnessed in Costa Rica. We are conditioned to live in fear of the sexual offender or drunk driver and most roads outside of the cities and towns are devoid of sidewalks.For us, weather is a huge factor. Twenty years in Maine had made “year round spring” seem pretty appealing. And even with the rainy season (our fifth one now) we still find the weather to be wonderful. Here in the mountains, around 3,000 ft. elevation, it’s essentially never either too hot or too cool. And yet it’s warm enough for swimming and cool enough for an occasional fire in the fireplace. As close to perfect as we’ve ever found, for us at least.
We also enjoy that the cost of living is lower, while still offering a good standard of living. It is not “cheap” in our view to live here — not if you expect to maintain anything like most gringos would consider a “normal” lifestyle — but we’re still able to live quite nicely for less that we could in the states. The savings on utility costs alone –compared to our heating oil bill in Maine!– makes a significant difference. (And there are few places in the U.S. where you don’t have either substantial heating or air conditioning costs, so it isn’t just those of us from the far north that save money on utilities.)
We like the people here — we have many wonderful friends, both Ticos and gringos. We like the “nature” — although we live less than a 10 minute drive from a nice-sized town (San Ramon) we also have monkeys right outside our door, birds of amazing variety along with butterflies. (Oh sure, and spiders and snakes and those nasty leaf-cutter ants!) We get up every day and marvel at the sheer physical beauty outside our windows.
So… there’s a few reasons why we live here.
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