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The last paragraph reads:
“One aspect of Costa Rican law that benefits criminals is that a trial verdict usually is validated by a higher court. In the meantime, convicted criminals are allowed to roam freely and usually do not show up when their prison sentence is confirmed.”
I have read more than a few stories in the news over the years about people being arrested 20 or 30 times.
The least expensive way possible is absolutely free. Therefore the quickest I know of in that regard would be 1) using a no-fee ATM card such as NetBank (they give excellent exchange rates) or 2) writing a personal check to a Costa Rican bank account. The quickest way for number 2 that I know of is Banco Cuscatlan. I have been writing 2 checks a month with them for the last 4+ years and they clear in 8 working days or 10 normal days just like clockwork. That is if your bank is in the US. If your bank is also in southern Florida, the waiting time is even less, 5 working days.
Jon
No Scott? I didn’t think so. But if what you say is true about only having to do it once, could you send me that? I mean, whatever it is that accepts html format, reformats it into additional columns and does the conversions. You see it would really help me out because I’ve spent a lot of time doing these by hand in the past. I have been regularly posting them on my blog. Ironically, my format has been the same as yours!
Jon
You wouldn’t happen to have one from March or April would you? Just wondering if things have changed any.
Jon
Thanks Scott, for putting in the time and effort to translate the food names and do the conversions. The newspaper doesn’t always do that. You’re amazing!
Jon
There is a delivery service, “express” as they say in Costa Rica, for DVD’s. It’s called CR Movie Express. Their site is http://www.crmovie.com/
this copied from my blog in May of last year:
You create an account online and give them your address and credit card info (optional as you can pay cash too). Browse through their website and check out the details of any particular movie of interest. You can select your movies online or by phone. Your movies are sent to your home via messenger on a motorbike within 45-60 minutes. You pay the messenger, inspect the DVD’s and agree on a return date pickup time. When that time comes around, the messenger shows up at your house again and you give him the DVD’s. It’s that simple.
There are two types of plans available. The normal one is 1000 colones for new releases and 700 colones for all others. Rent up to six of these at one time for a period of two days.
The other plan is the VIP. Pay $25 per month and you can rent up to three movies at a time, keep them as long as you want and never pay a late fee. Upon returning your movies, order more and do this as often as you like.
You can easily find DVD players in Costa Rica that are Region 1 and 4 or that are Region-Free altogether. Just be sure is says so somehwere on the package before you buy it. Some of them come with a code and instructions on how to set it to be “region-free”. Then you won’t have to worry about which code the DVD’s are.
If you plan to rent videos from the local video stores, you will find some DVD’s that are only region four. Those won’t play in a Region 1 player from the US.
The fedefutbol website shows it to be 20:00 in Saprissa Stadium, Tibas against New Zealand.
http://fedefutbol.com/modules.php?name=Sections&op=viewarticle&artid=106
Oscar Cascante has been a good friend of mine since 2001. I have used his services frequently for trips to the airport and to Valle del Sol golf course. He was a licensed taxi driver for many years with his own vehicle up until 2005 when he decided to sell out and buy a minivan. The reason for this was that most of his clients were established regulars and he needed a larger vehicle to accomodate the increasing demand for group transportation. Oscar is a very friendly, talkative and easy going person who is responsible and punctual. He speaks English very well, is a non-smoker/non-drinker and lives in a southern suburb of San Jose.
Details from his business card:
Transportes Cascante Cab Services
Trips all over country and Airport Transfers 24 hours
Oscar Cascante Bogarín
Home/fax (506) 270-3686
Cell: (506) 388-1281
P.O. Box 1968-2100
email: octravelcr AT hotmail DOT comGood question GringoTico.
Can the owner of a business volunteer his/her labor without having a work permit? I believe that is your question.
I’m not a lawyer, but I’ve spent a lot of time in the bars in San Jose with many of them owned by foreigners without work permits. I have always been told that in this situation they can not perform any labor whatsoever. An example I have witnessed often is when cases of beer come rolling in on the trolleys form the truck outside. While the owner is there supervising, they can not even move the beer from one location to another inside the premises without a work permit. They need to tell an employee to this labor.
Of course I suspect this law is enforced much more strictly in downtown San Jose as opposed to some small beach town.
Would be interesting to read more input on this from attorneys.
Jon
Here’s a couple of websites I found through a search for emergencias costa rica.
Emergencias 2000
http://www.emergencias2000.com/principal-en.htmlEmergencias Medicas
http://www.emergenciasmedicas.net/Sorry, I don’t have any experience with either or any other.
Funny you mention the toll booth thing because that’s the first thing that came to my mind when I first read this thread. You see, about 5 or so years ago, the fares for the booths in Escazu and the highway to the airport were 60 colones. The officials knew they had to raise the fare and were considering a new one of 100 colones. But someone, or some party, objected on the grounds that the increase was too great, from 60 to 100 would be a 67% increase! Hence the 75 colon fare now and the voluntary 100. By the way, I think this is one of the most rediculous things in Costa Rica. Wait in line 5 minutes while burning 14 cents of fuel to pay a 14 cent fare. It does keep people employed though 🙂
You’re right about the “th” sound for the letter “z”. That’s the way it is pronounced in Spain and that is proper Spanish. So since you heard it from a Spaniard, you probably heard correctly.
However, most Costa Ricans do not pronounce the “z” with “th” sound. They would pronounce the “z” in Escazu (and other words as well) with a “z” or an “s” as in “zoo” or “sue”. The zoo and sue sound so similar it’s difficult to hear the difference.
Jon
Hi Deb,
According to a map I have of all the barrios in the Cantón of San José, it is located directly across the highway from Migración. It’s between the Parque de Diversiones and Hospital Mexico, just off main street that connects them. Here’s my map from the Muni you can check out, it’s number 714 – color sky blue.
http://www.doscolones.com/doscolones/maps/barrios/barrios.html
If you have Google Earth you can see an overhead view of it at these coordinates:
9 deg 57 min 20 sec North LAT
84 deg 07 min 05 sec West LONIf you don’t have Google Earth you can download it here:
http://earth.google.com/download-earth.htmlI too will say that you really need to spend some time here before you make the decision. As for deciding on a neighborhood and house, consider traffic, noise and the proximity to all of your necessities. When considering the latter, even a few blocks can mean a world of difference when making your daily runs. For example, if your supermarket is on the other side of a main street and crossing it is always a real pain, you might find yourself asking why you didn’t choose the other side.
