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I have enjoyed a couple of excellent meals at this restaurant/small hotel but as you point out it is very much “A little pricey for Costa Rica.” But hey! You only get married once… Right? 🙂
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comAhhh!
That’s the subject of a whole series of new articles to come… But I can tell you that my new office will be two hours from San Jose smakc dab in the middle of Costa Rica coffee country and in a very, very different environment.
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comREPOSTED HERE BY MODERATOR
Posted Nov 16,2006 2:06 PM ymontagne
I studied with Rosetta for over 2 months prior to traveling in Central America–it will not teach you the things you need to interact at hotels and have basic interactions. (Things like I need, I want, can you help me). Since then, I have tried many others. If you want a focused class that you can use to get around, I would try Rocket Spanish or the Pimsleur tapes.I would agree with you 100%. Apart from your own security concerns, I can’t imagine a family with lots of children would be something that your guests would enjoy ‘if’ you all lived in the same building
Having totally separate living quarters would seem to be a very sensible idea.
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comWe have quite a few people interested in buying B&Bs contacting us and thankfully most of them have experience in hotel management and or restaurants but this is NOT a business for someone who wants to take it easy.
I appreciate that Jenny has a lot of great staff working with her but for most people, running a successful B&B is extremely hard work and very long hours.
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comREPOSTED HERE BY MODERATOR
Posted Nov 15,2006 10:15 AM C. Risley
I have been using the Rocket Spanish (rocketspanish.com) and it is very easy…has downloadable format and text and a whole bunch of books that you can download too. Very inexpensive and you can make cd’s or mp3’s or just listen and read on your computer. Latin American speakers.
CarenYou would have to ask the bank about their specific policies but I doubt they would tell you.
Let me stress that the following comments are assumptions only, I have no real data to back this up:
1. The weather is certainly more damaging to real estate on the coast.
2. The ‘longevity’ of owners at the beach is ‘probably’ lower than in the Central Valley. People tend to ‘dream’ about cocktails at sunset on the beach but then discover that ‘living’ there is different from being on vacation and then they want to sell up and leave. This probably applies to both Tico & Gringo buyers.
3. People with plans to rent their homes out to make a little money discover that it’s more of a ‘high-impact’ rental situation (more damage to the home) than a home in the Central Valley where they might be renting to ‘professionals’ who leave the home to go to work every day and managing a rental property form a distance is NOT easy at all.
4. Crime is higher in many of the beach areas and there are more burglaries.
5. Since property prices at the beach tend to be significantly higher, I am assuming that the default rate is also higher.* Again – Let me stress that these are assumptions, I have no real data to back this up.
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comThere are various arguments but I would suggest that buying a car here is the safest bet and certainly less hassle.
I bought a Toyota RAV which is a perfect car for this country and the dealership (Purdys) is enormous and has been just terrific.
It’s difficult to talk about “best deals’ though since the import taxes are high on some cars. My Toyota RAV cost about US$31,000 in 1999 so it’s a lot more than you would pay in the USA.
But buying a ‘popular’ car in Costa Rica from a well established dealership means that you won’t have problems with parts or service.
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comYes! That is a good, rich coffee…
Which B&B do you recommend in the Santa Maria de Dota area Bill?
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comI don’t know if any shops that specialize in “quilting” per se but when my mother was here she found everything she needed in San Jose – no problem.
In fact, we had a tough job dragging her out of the stores because she wanted to “take a few wee things back to Scotland” with her and she thought the prices were incredibly cheap.
On Avenida Central in SJO, on the same side of the street as Lehmans is a great fabric and haberdashery type store.
The thing to remember is that the Ticos LOVE to adjust and make their own stuff so these kinds of products should be very easily available and cheap.
A fashion conscious Tica will never wear jeans that she bought from the store, she’ll buy them and then ‘adjust’ them so that they are just right.
My ex-wife (NY fashion designer) may not like this but a good looking Tica in a nice pair of jean and a simple white t-shirt looks just fantastic to me…
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comI don’t know where you are moving to in Costa Rica but there seem to be many artists stores where you should be able to find what you need.
There’s a special art store in the Paco Centro Comercial in Escazu, there are many stores in San Jose including ‘Universal’ which has a huge art department.
Having said that, you may have ‘special’ arto product requirements that I may be unfamiliar with and this is obviously very important to you so you may want to check this out before you choose a place to live.
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comI picked up the coffee personally from the Llano Bonito Cooperative which is about two hours from San Jose – It’s a beautiful drive.
I will be living in Escazu for another few weeks so if you want to arrange to meet somewhere to pick up a few bags, we can, obviously we would not charge you the shipping charge.
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comTry Mauricio – the ‘best car mechanic in Costa Rica’ who has his shop up in Heredia somewhere. Mauricio Artavia 849-7244, 386-8669, 236-9348 He does NOT speak English very well but I believe his wife does.
To be frank, I have no idea where it is because he always comes here to Escazu, picks up my car (Toyota), takes it away does the RTV or whatever service or repairs and brings it back in the afternoon.
The car is always immaculately clean when he brings it back too…
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comThanks for your feedback Diego but I think we’re using different kinds of calculators here…
A quick search on the internet will show that US$8.95 is a competitive price for a high quality, single origin Costa Rican coffee.
With shipping, you are talking about only .50 cents per cup and even ten years ago – the last time I visited Starbucks – the coffee was a LOT more expensive than that…
According to my sources there are 453.59237 grams in a pound which would mean that if Wise Owl coffee is $8.95 per 250 gram bag then one pound would be US$16.23 per pound, no?
We would charge only $6.95 for shipping which is significantly lower than most internet suppliers so if you add the $6.95 shipping to the $16.23 you would have a total cost to you of $23.18 for a pound of coffee which is WAY cheaper than it works out to be with your calculator.
Two 250 gram bags (including the cost of shipping) should brew about 50 cups of coffee and at $24.85 that would be only US$0.50 cents per cup.
Having said that, we are testing this new product and I promised Kattya & Felix at Coope Llano Bonito that we’d try hard and help them sell more coffee so if we have to make adjustments in the future, then we shall.
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comBear in mind that although there are more banks interested in working with US citizens, their fees are sometimes OUTRAGEOUSLY high and, most of them consider beach real estate – “high-risk.”
Some of them that might help you with a mortgage in the Central Valley will may NOT help on at the beach so do make sure you understand that before you waste your time trecking into the city to meet with them.
I have met with a couple of people in this field and have declined to recommend them for a variety of reasons (extremely poor service, bad communication skills and very high fees) so if someone does make a suggestion, PLEASE do your own homework.
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comPS. Did you see my article on “Costa Rica Mortgages – Commission Costs” at
