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Many business will close for the entire week, however, in tourism driven aeas this is not always the case. Visit http://www.visittamarindo.com or http://www.tamarindo.com and get restaurant info and e-mails.
Caught this morning also; part of my daily read. You are right about the Tico’s being much more self-sufficient. The average American cannot live without a mall near by, hot water in every faucet or flush toilets.
10 acres, or 5 acres for that matter, for $150,000 will be tough anywhere within walking distance to the beach anywhere from Dominical north.
I can attest to what Scott is saying. There are no increases in wages this year unless you are a union employee and raises were granted as a result of collective bargaining, but as an owner of a construction company and a resident of the area that builds Boeing aircraft, the end result of ridiculous union demands = higher unemployment in the future. As far as food, I can verify that in my grocery store bananas have gone up 41%, rice 35% and corn 50% all in the last year. Meat is no longer affordable; seafood is a luxury. Being that food costs are at least three times higher annually than gasoline, the drop in gas prices only makes up a fraction of the difference and they are temporary. Also, our electricity costs have increased 20% and unemployment has risen 35% (4.8% to 6.5% in 6 months). The only silver lining is that property taxes have decreased thanks to a decrease in assessed value of our homes and I would rather take the higher value in the home so I can sell and execute my own bailout plan. The financial crisis will affect foreign investment in CR, with the exception of the wealthy.
The private banks – Banco San Jose, ScotiaBank, Banex, Interfin and talk to the folks at Costa Rica Mortgage http://www.costaricamortage.net
Here in Washington, we simply go to the eastern side of the state, the high desert, where the sun shines 300+ days per year and temperatures in the summer exceed 100, but in the winter get to 0. Many people do not realize that 2 hours from Seattle the weather transforms 100%. We need somewhere to go to avoid going crazy due to lack of blue sky for months on end. We get the dark like Michigan, but not the frigid cold and snow.
There is a good reason for Alaska Airlines being successful shuttling hoards of Western Washingtonians to more sunny locations. We just simply escape to CR for 2-3 weeks every 6 months and are looking forward to a permanent move as soon as fiscally possible!Triceratops, curious to know where are you 50 mi. into the “wilderness” and the pollution has reached your house? California, Denver, Phoenix?
Let me rephrase that in more straight forward terms dm. Those who are comfortable in thier bubble and never have a desire to leave for lack of wordliness (never been farher than 500 miles from home), fear of the unknown, or the verbalized attitude of “why would I ever want to leave this state, there can’t be anything better than this” are the people I am refering to. These people are from America’s less cosmopolitan, rural areas and/or the agriultural or blue collar heatland…a large geographical area. It would be interesting to actually see some quantitative data on where most expats move from. I would venture to guess, from a psychological perspective, that the significant percentage are from major metro areas or suburbs thereof.
October is historically the rainiest month in Costa Rica. November has 50% of the rainfall of October. December through April is the best weather. The bad weather coincides with hurricane season.
There are more boomers considering the move now more than ever, but only those who are well travelled and may have lived in foreign countries. You have to admit that someone born and raised in Des Moines, Iowa or Billings, Montana probably could not handle living in Central America. The smartest thing CR did was not place their nest egg and faith in the US market.
That is a huge 41% jump sumaSAL!! Es muchisimo!! Aqui el aumento todovia es 5.75% para 30 anos. But your credit has to be near perfect, the banks want to see 3+ years of employment history in the same place and will not lend more than 80% of the value of the home = 20% down.
There is still credit available, but your credit rating (which is a farsical system)pretty much has to be 720 or higher and/or you must have significant assets clear of any liabilities. Good time to buy if money is available.
Try and fjord a river in a car or climb a steep rutted road after a torrential downpour. It simply isn’t going to happen in a car. We spend most of our time between Montezuma and Samara, with Montezuma as our base. The coast raod is completely impassable with a car in the rainy season. If you surf and want access to the more remote beaches, a car will not get you there. If the roads are fine to get from airport to destination or your house to town, then a quad or some type of ATV may meet your needs.
Cars are at least 50% more than in the states for the same model, however, your choices of diesels in the states are limited to big trucks, VW Jetta or Mercedes only. Diesels are 30% more efficient and tend be more common outside the US (60%+ in Europe) and you can make your own biodiesel if you are so inclined. There is no such thing as bio-gasoline.We have rented different 4X4’s every trip we have taken to test their capabilities. A car is virtually useless unles you would never venture outside of San Jose.
So far, the best 4X4 vehicle has been the Toyota Hi-Lux Quad Cab Pick-up or the Prado SUV with the 3.0L diesel. The 2.5L is underpowered and the mileage difference between the two is insignificant. For SUV’s, I believe the best choices are the Toyota Rav or Prado, Hyundai Galloper or Mitsubishi Montero or Trooper (all diesels). These brands seem to be ubiquitous in CR with parts and mechanics easily found.
