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It saddens me to see the pristine, powder white beaches of the Emerald Coast in Florida fouled with oil. The amount of marshes and estuaries all along the gulf coast is phenomenal. The dispursant they are using breaks down the oil even more, such that it will invade every pore of the wildlife chain for generations to come = 20 year recovery. The fed could also help future catstrophes by allowing the states to build sand berms to protect the marshes without so much red tape endemic with all the federal agencies. They have been asking for years.
The reality with oil is that until all the major industries that are totally reliant on it, such as large portions of the electrical grid, trucking, railroads, shipping and airlines are converted to renewables, the demand will always be there. The technology is here now to at least have a 100-200 mpg vehicles with hybrid/diesel, yet we do not see it on the market! This is the transition technology we need now, until someone can harness other 0 emission energy sources for the mass market to keep us mobile.
We rented from them 1 time only. A/C was broken, suspension was shot, rear window did not seal the road dust out and we had the wonderful experience of being stuck in the jungle with a dead battery. Stick with the major rental car companies.
Costa Rican schools have had special education since 1939, however there is a chronic shortage of qualified professionals to meet the needs of the 75,000 SE students in the country. In the last 5 years there has been a big push to enhance the program. There is even a Special Education Department in the Public Education Ministry that was established in 1968. UCR offers a Masters degree.
As far as private schools it appears American International has a SE program.Education for my daughter would be my biggest factor in choosing where I would live initially, which means the central valley proper. Search private schools in San Jose and you will see the list. Personally, as far as the valley, we definitely prefer the south side (Escazu, Santa Ana, Colon), but it is also generally the most expensive. Atenas has proximity to the airport, but the new highway has inflated prices and there is not a private school that I am aware of. Some of the beach communities have small private schools that were often started by expats, but do not have the accolades or programs of the valley schools. As far as all the services; nice malls, restaurants, markets, banks, lawyers, grocery stores and medical faclities, the valley by far has the most choices. My 2 cents (11 colones) worth anyway.
Sovereign Society
Extrapolating CIA factsInteresting factoids:
Panama vs. Costa Rica
Populations: 3,310,000 2008 4,196,000 2008
GDP: $34.81 billion $45.77 billion
$10,517/PP $10,908/PP 3.6% variance!Labor Force: 1,390,000 2008 1,820,000 2008
GDP: $34.81 billion $45.77 billion
$25,043/PLU $25,148/PLU .4% variance!Unemployment: 9.8% 6.6%
Populations: 3,360,474 (2009) +50,474 4,254,000 (2009) +58,000
Birth-Death
-Immigration = 2% = 3,376,200 +66,200 1.26% = 4,248,870 +52,870
Net Foreign Gain = -16,550 + 5,130Costa Rica gained 5,130 more people than their B-D-I resident growth rate in 1 year alone, so these should logically be all legal foreigners, probably excluding most Nicas. Including this year, that would be 102,600 since 1990 and Nosara was founded in the late 60’s/early 70’s; Monteverde in the 50’s. What % of those are US is anybody’s guess, but there are records of immigration applications. The US Embassy also has stats. Personally, judging by the amount of Americans that were at the embassy recently, solely for the purpose of getting birth certificates for their babies was amazing. Expatriations in the US are up 234% since Obama took office and what was once something only the very wealthy did, is now more prevalent in the middle class. There is a trend here that has spiked in the last 2 years, so the influx has increased in CR. If 80,000 Americans were distributed proportionately throughout the country, then 30,308 would live in San Jose metro (1,611,616 pop.) alone or only 1.9%. Surely this number is higher.
The total expat population that lives there 11 months/year (30 day max in US if you are exempting foreign earned income)vs. 4 months/year for “rentista” has to be a huge gap. The number is closer to 80,000 US now, but Panama is currently the #1 country for US govt. pension checks.
As far as duties, this is a big income source and it would be ideal if it was exempted one time if you are moving permanently, but it won’t go away. If you move from state to state, you are subject to excise tax on vehicles, however, the value is determined from Kelley Blue Book and if yur car is in poor condition, that is what you pay on. This eliminates the inflationary CR pricing book and everyone pays more fairly. Or kill the duties completely and subject autos to the 16.39% sales tax and call it good.Happiness is returning to Costa Rica and away from the enslavement of what has truly become a rat race! The older you get, the only thing that really matters is family and health and all endeavors should be undertaken with that as the core motivator.
Gain some experience, make mistakes, learn everthing you can, live below your means and embrace frugality.
You cannot be an “employee” in Costa Rica until you are a “resdident” or married to a Tica (a more cumbersome process now) or born in Costa Rica or have a child in Costa Rica, which still requires the “resident” process. All of these steps require time and capital, both of which you must be able to spare in order to live in CR.Just make sure you have the appropriately sized “hurricane ties” for roof joists/rafters to walls. Use the Simpson joist-tie tables with the same wind uplift forces as Oregon/Washington coast. That is a lot of roof area which increases the surface pressure. Wind storms are the most prevalent/regularly occuring threat to structures in Guanacaste region.
Depends how old and it is expensive regardless. 3 y.o. or less seems to be the least exepnsive, but that is relative…big bucks until they pass a law exempting “resident” auto tariffs, which could take years at best. Search auto tariffs on this forum.
We are no strangers to rain in Seattle, but at least it is warm rain in Costa Rica…miss it already. Great weather link Scott. Amazing how much difference in rain fall between the different parts of such a pequeno pais.
Regardless of everyone’s individual view on the matter, it is a serious enough issue to mobilize the Merkel & Sarkozy administrations into immigration action and limitations on muslim dress for safety issues. Like not being allowed to wear hats & sunglasses in many Costa Rican banks. The bottom line is that it is a taxation on their system without added revenue, like most all current government entities, with maybe the exception of New Zealand. It is more of a money issue than safety or religious profiling since the majority of European immigrants are from predominantly muslim N African, middle eastern & eastern European countries.
All the farmacias carry it, but your best deal is at Hipermas, unless you are a member (or know a local expat member) of PriceSmart in Escazu next to CIMA Hospital. It is easily found evn in the smallest towns, including Similac or Enfamil. They carry it at the MegaSuper in Puerto Viejo south of Cahuita too.
$50-$200/SF in the valley const. cost; completely dependent on location & socioeconomic make-up: Escazu vs. Tibas. Land is common denom for location cost. Santa Ana Piedades = $250K-$275K/HA. San Ramon much less.
Every country I have been to in the world, I am used to being asked for my documents. I can’t recall how many nightly police checks in Colon where I have had to produce my documents. Get pulled over in any country in Europe….produce your documents.
The US has become a pansy and the Arizona law is just indicative of how bad the immigration problem has become; putting and undue burden on public facilities with no added tax revenue. California is even worse, but they are too liberal to do anything about. I expect the Republic of Texas to be next.
If you are caught illegally in Costa Rica, what would be the end result?
David: I have my original birth certificate from Rosario Hospital in Madrid, Spain and the original US Consular Report.
