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Can we all agree that people come and go for a number of reasons, some personal, some health related, some job related, etc., and then we can possibly get back to what this thread is supposed to be about, i.e., providing Miss O with information that will help her in her decision making process.
This is a perfect example of how these threads take off on wild tangents!
By the way David, what is a betel nut?Hi Olivia –
Thank you for your kind words, and let me add to the other posts you have been receiving by saying you are getting some great advice from some very caring people.
Unfortunately, as others have stated, I think you have been getting a bit of biased advice as well but I don’t think that is unusual because almost all of us that live in CR are biased toward the area where we decided to live – that is how we validate our decision to live where we do!
As simple as it may sound I suggest that you sit down and make a list of the things that are most important to you (education for your daughter, climate, healthcare, proximity to hospitals, airports, malls, grocery stores, restaurants, etc.) and then prioritize those items top to bottom. Then, as you research or hear about a town or area, add a column for that town and fill in all the information you can on that matrix, adding new items to the list and any comments you may want to add at the bottom. This is a simple way to determine which areas you want to visit when you make your trip (good advice, Jenny – I have already told Olivia the same thing in a PM), and just as important (if not more important) which areas you don’t need to visit because one or more of the essential, critical items that you need for your family may not be available in that area. I don’t think you can use this algorithm to determine where you want to live, but it can certainly be used to determine where you do not want to live.
As I mentioned before, there are many great areas in CR including those great little towns surrounding and near to the Central Valley (Atenas, San Ramon, etc.), up in the mountains (Tilaran, Fortuna), in the southern zone (Ojochal), Guanacaste (Tamarindo, Flamingo, Coco, Samara, etc.).
What I would be careful about is taking “advice” from someone that has a monetary interest in helping you make a decision. Although we fly in and out of San Jose more than Liberia (which is closer to our home), we often drive to/from San Jose on the day of our flight rather than stay in the Central Valley to avoid many of the things that Scott may consider as “benefits” of living in that area.
Contrary to Scott’s comparison of the Pacific Coast being “20 years behind San Jose”, I would have to say that is definitely a biased over generalization. Arguing in the same vein, I guess I could say that the Central Valley is several thousand years behind the Caribbean and Pacific coasts when it comes to living on or near the beach, beach restaurants & bars, great sunsets, lower stress, cleaner air, healthier lifestyle, etc.
What matters is that the area you choose has the goods and services that will allow you to live comfortably. Not all of us need the same things to survive and be happy. Like many others, you may find that many of the things that you think you may “need” (malls, big box stores, movie theaters, cultural events, concerts, etc.) are really not “needed” at all. It may be nice to have them accessible (1 – 2 hours away) but there are also benefits to not having them right around the corner. Where I do agree with Scott is that the Pacific communities are HOPEFULLY at least “20 years behind San Jose”. And I’ll add Escazu & Santa Ana to the Scott’s list as far as traffic gridlock (can’t be denied), everyday fuel fumes that cause your lungs to burn and eyes to water (can’t be denied), sleepless nights (I guess if you sleep like a rock you can deny some of these) due to routine gunfire, sirens, hundreds of dogs barking all night, loud trucks and motorcycles, etc. Plus, living where every store and most homes must be protected by razor wire and/or an armed guard isn’t (as Scott remarks) my “cup of tea”.
As the old saying goes “The central valley may be a nice place to visit, but I’d hate to live there!”
Many of us are just as content (maybe more so) to have to go to 2-3 of the local grocery markets, the meat market, the fish market, the bakery, the pharmacy and the vegetable stand on the side of the road, etc., to find everything we need rather than fight the traffic to get to HyperMas or MultiPlaza. Some of our beach communities enjoy having an Auto Mercado in town, but most still have 2-3 smaller family markets where you can get almost everything you need.
Likewise, most of our beach communities have at least one bank, and at least one local doctor in addition to a Caja medical facility. And Liberia has an absolutely spectacular dental facility and great little hospital with trained professionals including doctors, nurses, Cat Scan and MRI facilities, etc. In fact a friend of mine who is an oncologist in Houston at M.D. Anderson had occasion to take his 18-month-old daughter there for an emergency concussion following an accidental “bump on the head”. He told me the care was great and the costs was absolutely low. He said the costs of the MRI was 10% of what he would have been charged in Houston “just to turn on the lights” in the exam room!
Plus, although it may be a year or two before it is available, it looks like CIMA is proceeding on their new hospital near the Liberia airport. Think that may attract a few doctors and other medical professionals out of San Jose, Scott?
Anyway, back to the point –
Olivia, take your time, make your list of priorities, research every area that may be of interests, eliminate those towns that don’t meet your top priorities, and then go see the other areas during your trip. While in each area, go see the local doctor and school and interview him/her as to your specific needs, go sit in popular restaurants and you are sure to meet and have the opportunity to talk to other expats.
Read and record as much as you can and then file it all away as “background information”. Do your final research “on the ground” and then don’t look back! If you decide to make the move then treat it as an adventure, day to day. There is no shame if you find out living outside the States is not for you – even after the move you can always go back. It is better to have tried and failed than to have never tried at all.
the one thing that I have found to be totally over-priced here, and I can not understand or explain it, are all things PLASTIC….big garbage cans, small garbage cans, plastic shelving units, plastic storage tubs (like RubberMade) and especially coolers (Igloo, Coleman, etc.). Had I known at the time of my move I would have loaded up on these things buying more than I needed, using them to pack things in and then upon arrival I could unpack them, determine how many I really needed, and then sold the remainder for up to 50% more than I paid and still save the buyer 25%-40% of the price available in CR.
[quote=”roseannaboyer”]There is a place in Sardinal called HOME FURNISHINGS…Right on the corner where you turn to go to the Congo Trail and the resort RUI…They are always running discounts there…A good friend of mine Bill owns it..See him or Evelyn..Tell them Roseanna sent you..
Good Luck[/quote]
We stopped in HOME FURNISHINGS one day while out looking for funiture throughout Guanacaste. they are very nice folks and very helpful, but we were very disappointed with their selection and definately found their prices to be “Gold Coast”. Most of the furniture we have purchased in CR has been at Tamarindo Pacific and Artistica, and we found the selection and pricing at their stores to be better. Having said that, I am sure the helpful folks at HOME FURNISHINGS can order just about anything you need (if you know what it is that you want) and maybe we weren’t there on a “discount day”.
It is possible for a non-resident to possess a gun – notice I said “possess”, not “own”. I set up a separate corporation specifically for the purpose of that corporation legally “owning” a weapon, and I then “possess” it. The corporation’s ownership does not translate to a “carry permit” so I keep it in the house and never carry it in my car or on any travels with others.
Prior to moving to CR 2 years ago “I owned more guns than I needed but fewer guns than I wanted”. When we moved, some of the weapons were given to family members, some were sold to and gunsmiths and collectors, and most were placed in storage back in the States.
The sole purpose of the weapon I now possess is for self protection, and even then I would hope to be able to use it in a manner that would ward off an intruder, rather than be forced to use it to harm an intruder. HOWEVER, neither my wife nor I have any qualms about shooting to injure or kill someone if we think that either of us are at risk of bodily injury.
As to what would happen (legally) if I were forced to shoot an intruder I don’t know, but I would rather take my chances in the CR legal system rather than at the mercy of a machete wielding, drug-crazed intruder.
By the way, several of us here on our hill possess guns, and most of those weapons are much more lethal than my 38 caliber revolver. We feel having the guns is necessary because of past experience with the “little Bogota” type neighborhood just below the base of our hill. I am quite sure that not all of my neighbors’ guns are legal (and i don’t care) but all of the guns make enough noise to warn potential intruders that they might want to reconsider any plans to make an unwanted visit to our neighborhood. An occasional round or two fired into our garden or hillside seems to be a sufficient reminder to those within earshot.
I am quite sure that some of you will be at odds with my “gun toting” philosophy, and I respect your right to disagree. Hopefully you will likewise respect that I went through the necessary process to legally possess a weapon, as well as my desire to sleep well each night.We have Vonage & Skype, both of which work well as long as the internet is working well. Friends have visited and used their Magic Jack and that little box seems to work well also.
Vonage is not cheap, but you can port your U.S. number to CR if that is important. I have a friend in St. Petersburg FL that just told me about a new service named OOMA, and he loves it. All of his calls to our Vonage line are crystal clear, and he says the ongoing costs are very low after you make the initial purchase. You must do the initial set-up in the States and then you can port the phone number to CR. Of course any of these “phone alternatives” will only be good as long as the company is in business.we had a totally airconditioned 3500sf house on the water in Tampa FL. Lots of heat, humidity and bugs – not unlike Playa Samara where we now live. Tampa Electric offers “average billing” that they calculate and adjust annually based on the prior year’s actual use applied to current rate/kwh. Our monthly bill was about $180/month the last year we were there.
Pacific Home Furnishings is a place and a website to avoid! All they are doing is clipping pictures and info from other retailers websites, putting it on their website and marking it up substantially! We have seen pictures on their website from the Piscina Acuarium store 5kms down the road at 50% more than available at Acuarium. I was told that the owners of Tamarindo Pacific called them and demanded that the pictures taken in the Tamarindo Pacific showroom be removed! If you see something on the Pacific Home Furnishings website, shop around and you will see the original items in someone else’s showroom for much less!
Me thinks we have a new record….this may be the longest thread I have seen on WLCR.com without input from David Mc, costaricafinca or marvilla.
Congratulations to all!
And by the way, just about all of the posts on this thread actually have some validity!In the FAQ section I found that tickets can be purchased in US dollars or local currency – no checks or credit cards, so I guess that also means no internet purchases.
[quote=”ocasocerro”]Does anyone know the maximum daily charge for parking at the airport?[/quote]
about a month ago it was just under $15.00US.
David – thanks for the information. I sent an email to Arluth asking for a quote or how to get a quote on the Johnson film. I sure hope I hear from him.
CRF – can you please tell me who you spoke to, at what company, and phone number – PLEASE!
I’m in Guanacaste (Samara) and really need to get film put on our windows!
Thanks in advance, and I’ll be glad to share with you the information and pricing I get (if I can contact them).Thanks for the advice and especially the phone number. I called and asked if new passport pages were available at the embassy and the young lady said “certainly, Monday through Friday, 8:30AM – 11:30AM, and 2:00PM to 4:00PM on Monday afternoons.” She also said that there is no charge for this service.
So, I arrived at the embassy this morning at 9:45AM, and at 10:15AM (30 minutes later) I was back in my car with about 20 new pages bound into my passport after filling out one simple form, being called to “window #2”, visiting briefly with the immigration agent, being asked to wait 20 minutes (it actually only took 14 minutes before they paged me), I went back to window #2 and I was handed my passport with the new pages and I was gone!
It was so easy, and everyone I dealt with was extremely pleasant and helpful.
