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I’ve seen reports that it is now open. In addition to my above comments. On Wednesday afternoon (1-27) at 3pm, I attempted to continue on the highway to San Jose but it was still blocked at the Orotina interchange. I assume it opened later that day. Many people had expected it to be fully operational in the morning.
I visit four or five times a year on business. I’ve had pretty good luck with Alamo near the airport. They take you from the airport in a shuttle van. I’ve noticed that rental rates for my next trip soon seem a bit more expensive than usual even though it is the high travel season. Alamo has unlimited mileage rentals. Budget seems to have a new location not far from the Alamo site, but I haven’t rented from Budget in a while. If you are using a Visa card, it automatically covers the CDW. There is a mandatory insurance charge though. Good luck and watch your speed throughout the country. Not only for safety but to avoid tickets.
You might also look into opening an account with Banco de Costa Rica — though it is not an easy task. I say this because I think they are one of the only banks that allow you to automatically pay the phone bill and other utilities on line — if that figures into your plans.
Check out two of the nices beaches in CR that I know of and the waves are pretty tame — Playa Flamingo and Playa Conchal.
Also, a friendly reminder at the beach or anywhere in CR…don’t leave anything of value unattended in your car. Speaking from experience on this one.
Canon offers a wonderful line of image stabilized binoculars of various powers. I have a pair of their 15x binoculars. They are expensive and a little heavy but do a fantastic job.
Thanks, costaricafinca for your detailed response. As Scott mentioned, it is a good idea to establish the working relationship with the caretaker(s) in a legal agreement. Did you choose to go that route? Any added details appreciated. Also, how did you go about selecting the caretaker and establishing a successful long-term professional and personal relationship? Thank you.
re: “sorry I missed the bullish part.” Well here’s a hint. The author making a reference to a representative of the group financing the Hyatt Regency organization’s $300 million Azulera project in Brasilito — suggesting that the project may resume in June was an interesting nugget of information.
Btw, as background, SETENA has not required an environmental evaluation as a prerequisite for any construction of 300m2 or less. A move of the bar to 500m2 would be a very welcome development if true.
As I understand it, 500 square meters (roughly 5300 square feet) would be a combined total figure per property. For example adding up — a main house, casita (care taker quarters) and pool-patio-rancho could get you up or near that total pretty quickly.
Having been a regular on the “Monkey Trail” for a couple of years now here’s my take. The trip from Flamingo-Potrero to Liberia is actually in two sections. Firstly, the real bumpy section over the mountain from Potrero to Nuevo Colon. Part two is Nuevo Colon to Sardinal. The “part two” portion is much more likely to get paved. Why? Probably because it leads to Cacique — the $800 million future project and part of the Steve Case, Revolution company. By the way, the trip from Flamingo to Daniel Oduber via Huacus is about one hour due to the now excellent condition of the roads. The Monkey trail route is roughly 50-minutes. So unless you really like bumpy rides, go the paved route.
Scott, my guess is that basically the vast readership cares little about “fractional real estate.” Full-ownership rules in CR. Thanks for stepping up-to-the-plate and suggesting that you may have gone-to-press a little too early on this topic. That says volumes to your dedication to this forum membership.
Firstly, my sympathies to the person(s) who had their house dismantled. I think in a perfect world the suggestion of being on site full-time during construction and after completion is great advise. Since I can’t be on site full-time during construction, we are taking a hybrid approach. I’m visiting every 5-6 weeks. In the interim, the plan and agreement with my builder is to never leave the site totally unattended during construction (including a watchman when the workers are on leave). My builder is very tech savvy with internet capability (text-voice-photo) with his Treo. So, we stay in touch and try to resolve issues very timely with the tech approach. We’re also going to set up the internet camera — not for entertainment value — but to use as a tool primarily to stay in touch regarding construction issues. Post construction, the plan is to have a salaried couple living on site in the separate caretaker house to maintain the primary house, the grounds and pool, and maybe make some extra money cooking for guests. Post construction — the remaining in-place camera system would serve as continued operational surveillance and security complimenting and in addition to the full-time caretaker couple.
