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1 Unless you are flying from Florida, Mexico is usually a shorter flight.
2 There are many communities of ex-pats living together so it is more familiar ( for many that’s important)
3 There is more English spoken there by the locals, so it is easier to get things done (gardening, housekeeping, etc.)
Mexico is a large country so not all areas have bad weather like the Gulf coast. I have friends retired there who enjoy golf and other “American ” pastimes and they are easy to find and inexpensive.Really, there are lots of reasons why people retire where they do. “Corruption, crime, over population, poverty, bad health care and poor education and even bad weather”
It’s not only Costa Rica that has these benefits you know! Ha ha!Alberto
What makes you think that Canada would want to tie it’s ship to the US?
I can’t think of any good reasons.
Alberto
I don’t know if this is the case with Mr. Chilton, but there are a lot of people who will do bank transfers to pay an invoice at local businesses.
They use the computer provided at the business and log into their accounts to do the transfer. If the business is shady and uses keylogging software, they now have account numbers and passwords to allow access to your money.I don’t think most people realize how easy it is to steal information via computer.
Alberto
Please remember that you are looking at a thirty year old vehicle! If you find parts, they will likely be from another 30 year old vehicle. The appeal of the older Landcruisers is their rugged reputation and their rugged “Safari” styling, but having owned one, I would not buy one as my primary vehicle. 300,000 miles in the USA is not the same as thirty years on the roads of CR. Some issues we had – frame rails fatigued to the point of breaking (30 year old metal!), a broken power steering line that had to come from Japan, (8 weeks without a vehicle), radiator/power steering cooler completely rotted through because it was always filled with water and not coolant.( I don’t want to know what the inside of the engine block looked like)
People can keep these vehicles running here because there are lots of older dead ones to pick the bones of. Used parts are a lot less expensive so it can make sense, but there are lots of 10 – 15 year old 4×4 s that would be more reliable.
$5000 – $7000 is a lot of money for an antique unless you just have to have one.Alberto
Thanks. I looked at their web site and they mention international dealers, so I will check on Monday to see if it applies here. I had been looking at aftermarket doors to keep little legs inside so it would be more fun if someone else paid for them.
Alberto
The Yamaha dealer is huge in this country with outlets in a lot of areas, so support is good. They even sponsor ATV riding events from time to time. The Rhino is about $10K in the States and about $16K in CR. That includes all paperwork and basic insurance to drive on the roads. If you wanted collision and theft insurance it would likely be about $1200 per six months. Just a guess, but theft insurance here is quite expensive. You can buy collision only as well. The rates are based on insured value and some people insure at a lower value than replacement cost and accept that in times of trouble they will only be paid the reduced amount.
Alberto
If you are living in the country there is no better way to get around than with an ATV. A lot of the roads or paths people use, are narrow and washed out. If you are driving an SUV or the like, it is often impassable.
I bought a Yamaha Rhino because it is a two person ATV (side by side), with a small truck bed. I have small children and we often go trail driving together and this way we can talk while we explore.We are currently in the Grecia area.
Alberto
The laws here are a bit different than the States. Almost any vehicle can be made road legal with mirrors, signal lights, a horn and a speedometer. ATVs and golf carts are considered the same as cars so can be driven anywhere. Contact one of the suppliers here to be sure, but it is likely they have a way to make it work for you.
Just taking some normal precautions is usually enough. When you are hiking don’t wear open toed shoes or sandals, protect yourself with hiking boots or shoes that come up your ankle.
Our gardener has been working in our finca for over twenty years and has yet to be bit by anything worse than a scorpion. He is picking up things and working at ground level all day so he has seen just about everything that lives here. He wears ankle high boots and long pants…………. oh yeah, and he carries a machete. Maybe that’s all you need?Alberto
If you are renting a vehicle, you can get by with a small sedan because you can’t hurt a rental. Right? It is one more reason never to buy a car that has been driven on these roads.
When we first came to CR we rented whatever was cheaper, but soon grew tired of flat tires and lost mufflers. We started to rent small suvs and found the drive much more pleasant. Not that you needed 4X4 but the additional size of the tires and the additional suspension made it more comfortable. The potholes can be sharp and the small sedan tires often wound up with bent rims and flat tires.That said, I drive a Honda van and have no trouble getting around. Just drive more carefully and you will do OK.
Alberto
You see people driving them a lot of places, but I don’t kow if it would be their only transportation.
Someone in Quepos uses one to deliver ice in the area, but I doubt they would go very far outside of that. They work great locally but if you travelled a lot, a multi-use motorbike might be more practical.
I guess it might depend on how comfortable you need to be. We do get a lot of rain!Alberto
Sorry, didn’t mean to offend you.
I was just interested in bringing retirement funds into CR and wondered if it should go into a US$ account or Colones.That is about the right price for that speed via satellite. It has no relation to speed through phone lines or cable. Satellite time is VERY expensive.
Two systems I have used, one being the Racsa system, are priced about the same. To get the price down, they need to add a lot of subscribers to the system and hope you don’t see the drop in performance.
The price is high but where I live, there simply is no option and won’t be for some time.
Alberto
We used Crowley Ship lines from Port Lauderdale. They have an office in Limon but you need to contact a ship broker to arrange the documentation.
Crowley has a ship docking in Limon regularly, and there are CR Customs offices so it can all be done in one spot. There is a special window at Aduanas for tourists importing vehicles. The process of actually importing permanently can be many hours, so it was easier to import it first as a tourist vehicle.
From the time we dropped off the vehicle until we picked it up in Limon, was about three weeks. I don’t know how long it sat at the dock before the ship sailed.
One thing cannot be stressed enough. There are signs everywhere telling you not to leave anything in the car when you ship it. They are serious! When it lands in Limon, it will be picked clean while it sits on the dock. Mine was only there for 12 hours and they even took the headrests that were loose in the back.
Alberto
We brought a 2002 Honda minivan into CR in March 2007. Exported it through Port Lauderdale Florida by boat. It cost $500 plus $100 for brokerage.
We brought it in as a tourist vehicle which gave us 90 days to get it registered in Costa Rica. They have their own evaluations about the value of the vehicle, so it doesn’t matter what you think it is worth, you pay the import duties they determine. On a 2002 Honda van with all options, it was about $8000.I am not sure if it would have been easier to just buy a new vehicle here, but this vehicle has been converted for wheelchair access so it was a choice we made. ( no added value for the conversion as far as duties are concerned and no break either!)
Alberto
