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[quote=”sprite”]
In order to support the Israeli tyranny and oppression, you have to be a bible thumping moron anxiously waiting for the second coming, one of the elitist minion, an israeli fanatic or a simpleton who simply buys into the official line. I am still waiting, after 5 years for Scott to write something with which I can disagree.[/quote]OMG, Sprite the Heathen returns!
Sprite, what Temple do you attend?[quote=”Scott”]The correct URL appears to be [ http://www.benzinga.com/press-releases/11/06/p1173421/million-dollar-agent-josh-flagg-to-host-four-day-dance-party-in-costa- ]
According to this Press Release, at the ripe old age of 26 Josh Flag is a “world renowned” author and the star of a “reality” show and he “can’t wait to visit Costa Rica” to attend the “four-day dance party” sponsored by Hacienda Matapalo.
Four hours would be too boring for me but hey! Different horses for different courses, right?
Although he has yet to visit Costa Rica, Mr. Flagg refers to Hacienda Matapalo and “the fact that they have five-star amenities within their community…”
I may be mistaken but it’s my understanding that Hacienda Matapalo has not yet begun building anything never mind offering “five-star amenities” but if someone has photographs showing these five-star amenities, please do email them to me…
All the people I know on the ground in the area tell me the same thing – that nothing has happened yet – so it seems to me a bit of a stretch to say that “…they have five-star amenities within their community…”
Perhaps they might be more correct to say that they are planning to have “five-star amenities within their community…” They were probably planning that back in 2008 too…
Scott Oliver. Author of: 1. Costa Rica Real Estate Scams, 2. How To Avoid Them, How To Buy Costa Rica Real Estate Without Losing Your Camisa, 3. Costa Rica’s Guide To Making Money Offshore in Bull & Bear Markets and 4. ¿Cómo Comprar Bienes Raices en Costa Rica, Sin Perder Su Camisa?[/quote]
First, a disclaimer – I have no connection with, no opportunity with, no interest in, have never been to, have no desire to go to …… and all the rest – but a google search of Hacienda Matapalo is indeed interesting – true or not!. If the “you-tube” videos of the work underway and all are true, we may be eating crow for Thanksgiving. I have no way of knowing and no interest in, if the work shown is in Matapalo or “BFE”, but before we (not just you, Scott) discredit their efforts and pace them in the category of “Big Gate, No Roads” maybe we need a more recent on the ground report! [b]Where is Geraldo when we need him??[/b][u][i][/i][/u]
Maybe I am off base here Scott, but you are the one who generally admonishes us to “stay on subject” Your rant looks and reads a bit like something that has been “in the can” for some time waiting for just the right moment to publish!
Just tonight, driving back from Camaronal to Carillo to Samara, I was stopped at a routine police road block for absolutely no traffic infraction – the police just wanted to check my passport, my wife’s passport and make sure we were not over the 90-day limit. We are not, but that never came up as we are both “en tramite” and have a file number.
But please tell me, how can CR protest or file against or join in a lawsuit against Arizona or Florida or Georgia or any other state when they allow and do EXACTLY the same thing?
How is it different when the have “no fault” road blocks set up all over the country?
West Coast- sounds like you have narrowed you choices to two pretty remote places and if so you can disregard this post. But if you are open to a suggestion that ideally meets the criteria you detailed in your original post, I encourage you to take a look at the Samara/Carrillo area.
On the road from Tamarindo to Santa Cruz, out in the middle of nowhere, there is a custom furniture maker that I have heard good things about. I am going to be up that way later this week, so let me know what you are looking for and I’ll stop in and see if he does want you are wanting and I’ll send you a report including the name, a better description of his location and what his furniture looks like, quality, etc. Other members may already be familiar with this business and can also fill in the blanks.
[quote=”jpgr66″]Thanks Maravilla and CRBill. We were looking into Tamarindo then to Arenal but It looks like a 5 hr drive from SJ to Tamarindo, am I correct?[/quote]
It will be every bit of 4 – 5 hours. My normal trip to/from SJO and Samara is 3.5 hours (with no stops). I turn for Samara at Nicoya but you would continue on to Santa Cruz and then you can take he “typical” road to Tamarindo and get the Costa Rica massage for 36km, or you can continue on past Santa Cruz to Belen (less than 15 minutes further) and then turn left for Tamarindo.
The latter way you have very good paved roads. I drive that route twice a week, and definately recommend the extra 15 minutes to stay on the paved road. The road from Santa Cruz to Tamarindo was in decent shape a few months ago, but no more!
Investigate Samara, I’m sure you will enjoy it, everyone else does!
[quote=”maravilla”]the beaches are nowhere near Arenal. and there is no easy way to get from the beach to arenal except to come up the Pan-American from Puntarenas and then head north to Arenal. that’s about a 3 hour trip each way. there are nice hotels in the Esterillos area, but that is south of jaco.[/quote]
Actually getting to Arenal from the Pacific beaches is not difficult. We have taken guests from our home in Samara to the hot springs, had a nice lunch and then returned home on a day trip. At 3 1/2 hours each way it is more driving than I prefer, but we have done it several times. From Jaco or Esterillos it will be a much longer trip.
The best route is to leave whatever beach you are at and go to Canas (on the Pan Am highway) then go up through Tilaran and Nuevo Arenal. It is a beautiful drive around the lake and good roads all the way. Of course, if you are going to Arenal first, then to the beach part of your trip, just reverse the course.
To/from Arenal and the beach, your best bet will be the beaches of Guanacaste, and there are just too many of them to list. Most popular destinations (easiest to get to) would be Playa del Coco, Flamingo, Tamarindo, Guiones, Samara, and Carrillo, but there so many to choose from.
The first 3 in the list above are larger and more populated, while the last 3 are definately quieter and more laid back, and all of them offer a wide range of hotel & cabina choices as well as great restaurants.
Enjoy your trip!
[quote=”crudehaulr”]is it expensive to live in tamarindo if you can get an affordable home?[/quote]
“EXPENSIVE” is a relative term, and living in Tamarindo is more expensive than some places and less expensive than others, and it all depends on your lifestyle.
If you dine out a lot, it will definately be more expensive, at least until you find a few “local” places – and they really won’t be “local”, they will be outside of Tamarindo-proper. Like most places that solely depend on tourism, eating out will be costly. Similarly, to make it affordable, you’ll need to learn to go past the comfort of shopping at AutoMercado and find the less expensive stores.
I don’t live in Tamarindo but I am there quite often and I can only speak from that experience, but on the whole I would say that Tamarindo would easily rank in the top 25-30% of places to live on the Pacific coast.
[quote=”rebetzen”]Does anyone know if Costa Rica requires travellers that go to Cartagena to have yellow fever shots? If yes, do you know where in CR you can get the shots? Or a website to go to that will have the correction information.[/quote]
A friend of mine had to yhave the inoculation for yellow fever beore he could board the plane to LEAVE Colombia. Fortunately he had time to dash from the airport to a nearby childrens hospital and ask for the shot. The doctor told him that he had not given a yellow fever shot in years, but for $20 he could give him “the card” that the airport required.
Safest bet would be to get it here and be sure.You can live on a sailboat in CR just as you can anywhere there is water. CR has many beautiful anchorages, some better protected from the weather and surge than others, so living on the hook is a viable option. Sure, there is the possibility of theft, but that happens to boats and boaters everywhere. There are ways to limit the opportunity of theft, just as you would in any other location.
Options for living in a marina are very limited, but there are several new marinas planned and a couple may actually get built.“CuriouSprite” – I’m not quite sure how you plan on twisting & turning this post into “banksters”, those who “control nations …… through control and creation of fiat currencies” and “create economic booms and busts and false flag wars”, “financial terrorists and mass murderers”, the necessity “for U.S. addresses for bank accounts”, etc., but once again I’ll take your bait and respond, all the while hoping some very special mystical event (maybe the lottery) happens to you and you can live a very specil and happy life for many years to come.
This is a potentially great discussion topic if you will refrain from taking off on one of your wacko tangents! (Sorry, couldn’t help it!)
Yes, many Norte Americanos & Euros move to CR with no, or limited, knowledge of the Spanish language, my wife and me among them. We’ve been here over 2 years and have scolded ourselves several (many) times for not learning more of the language, but with so many frequent friend and family visitors, and so many local gringo friends who speak English, and so many Tico local friends that share our language, we honestly have not felt a hard & fast requirement to “speeka da’language”.
I guess a big part of “getting along” is where you live in Costa Rica. Our community, although small, has a great blend of locals and gringos that mix very well together and when needed, help each other with the language.
For the past 3 weeks we have had woodworkers and painters at our house. I can’t tell you how many times I have said “no” to the question “comprende?”. But a few more minutes of gestures and pointing and drawings and “enscriptos” and everything works out just fine. At times like these I agree with you that I would be so much better off with a command, or at least a much better working knowledge, of the language. I know many words and many expressions, my problem is putting them together in sentences.
I wish I were at liberty to tell you about other projects and endeavors I am involved in; however, confidentiality agreements with the “financial terrorists and mass murderers” (lenders) prohibit my doing so. Suffice it to say that I am in daily contact with many CR professionals – lawyers, engineers, architects, contractors and consultants (environmental, forestry, hydrological, urban planners, landscape designers, etc.), – and the project is progressing well in spite of my linguistic shortcomings.
Do I have a “significant and satisfying social life now amongst Ticos?” – Absolutely!
Have I “been able to establish some social connections?” – Absolutely!
So, do I agree with you?
This time (as long as we stay on subject), the answer is “yes, I should learn the language”!
Has it stopped or prohibited me from enjoying our life in CR or allowing me to make through my required business endeavors – Absolutely Not!
Sprite –
Although I can and do often disagree with your wild-eyed rants and anti-US sentiment, I (confidentially) sometimes agree with the fringe of your arguments. But I noticed that you totally ignored the questions I asked! How can I attempt to offer a “fair & balanced” response if you ignore the questions?And by the way, I have one more question –
I know you think the GW Bush-profered Patriot Act started the most recent “big brother” syndrome, but can you deny that that the current administration has added to it, several times fold?Also, I think you would get a lot more empathy and agreement in your arguments if you learned to tone down the rhetoric a bit …… “banksters ….. banking crooks … governments they bought …… enslaving and crashing system”. I hope you are smarter than that drivel!
so Sprite, I took the hook – I followed the link and read the article, including the 2 links imbedded in the article. Am I suppossed to be impressed that 502 expats relinguished their citizenship in the 4th quarter of 2010?
Using the lower of the 2 numbers found in the link and imbeded links, the estimated number of of expats is 4 million. Annualizing the “highest quarter ever” number of 502, we come up with approximately 2,000 expats that may relinguish their citizenship annually. Simple math reveals that equates to .0005, or 5/100ths of 1%.
If you use the higher number of 5.2 million, then the percentage drops to less than 4/100ths of 1%.
Do you find those to be impressive numbers?
I know you are constantly displaying your hatred for the U.S., so tell me where you would rather be, what country you think is the best in the world, why you think so, and and why you are still in the U.S.?
