Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Boy, Isn’t that the truth. My safety net is what was a $700K house with a $200K mortgage. So a nice half mil in my old age. Now I have a $350K house in Florida that is unsellable, so kiss the big safety net goodbye. I too now have more of a drain than an asset for at least several more years. We are not in lust with Costa Rica. We have made many trips here, lived with local expats, took a good honest 4 day tour with George Lunquist, etc. In short, did enough due diligence to know most of the pluses and the minuses. I speak Spanish and my wife is learning. We like about 4400′ elevation for eternal spring. Love shopping at local supermercados and the feria agricultor in San Ramon on Saturdays. If I really need to see rich Americans and do over priced shopping, I can visit Escazu. Yes we can always go home on Spirit Air for $69+ tax, but I don’t believe having done our homework that we ever would except for short visits. As my wife says “I want to die here”.
What difference does it make what someone else does? You have to live your life. I’ll bet you have found lots of people before this that thought differently than you. We are in the porocess of getting our Cedulas now and will move this summer to the San Ramon area. First key is due diligence. Know what the difference is between sea level and 4400′. Take time to know the country and what your preferences might be. A lot of Gringos end up in Escazu. You couldn’t pay me enough to live there. Great shopping and food, but lots of obnoxious rich Americans, high crime, high traffic. Except for climate, those folks should have stayed home. Live out in the country where real people live. Here’s a few musts:
1. Rent for a year before shipping stuff to C.R.
2. Have a spirit of adventure and a stable emotional life
3. Understand this is not the US or Canada, better or worse
4. Don’t make any mistakes that are not easily reversible
5. Build a network of friends both Tico and American
6. Learn Spanish – at least conversational and basic tasksDo those things and you should enjoy your new paradise. Better yet, if you don’t, just hop on a plane and go home, minimal damage done.
I am 69 and simply love my govt. operated health care – Medicare. In addition to the usual problems I am deaf. Insurance company felt sorry they couldn’t help. I got a cochlear implant which costs $125K and 4 hors of surgery. Medicare bargained the cost to $65K at a big teaching hospital and my out of pocket was $800. I now have virtually normal hearing and got my life back. Greedy insurance companies would have given me zero, nada, zip
If a firearm problem occurs, the law loosely translates as follows:
Article 88. – Possession and transportation of illegal unallowed firearms
Person are subject to one to three months of prison or work release on public projects or community service, under control of the authorities which has the power to do so if said arms are enrolled in the Department (holds permit). If that person carries arms not allowed by this law or does not have a permit, sentence would be prison for six months to three years.
That’s pretty unambiguous. El hombre tiene una problema muy grande!
I too have a seretonin imbalance for the last 15 years. I take Xanax 3X daily. No more problems. I enjoy life every day. There are many victims of this suicide. The others live on. As for guns, it is an American obsession. I don’t own one, don’t ever want to kill anyone or anything. The gringo who owned the gun should be prosecuted. He helped make it easier for her to check out early.
