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As the editor/moderator and maintainer of a large forum system on a completely different subject for over 10 years I can tell you it is VERY difficult to know when to edit or not. Often an innocent thread becomes a sales pitch, flame war, religious or political rant.
Without occasional judicious editing a forum just becomes a quagmire of spam, bad language and flame wars. Often there is no way to easily edit the thread so the whole must go for the better good. And no matter what you do, you get accused of censorship or worse.
Its a dirty job but someone has to do it.
edlreed,
While a few folks can sit on their mountain tops contemplating the nature of the universe most people prefer some sort of interaction with other people. Married couples who have only spent a few hours a day together in conversation during the decades of their working careers are often thrust into a situation upon retirement where they do not think they will have enough subject matter to keep one or the other interested in their conversation. Once this fear kicks in it is more likely to become reality. They need to realize that retirement is not just sitting in a chair staring at each other waiting for a topic to occur to them. LIFE should provide enough topics but some folks need to be reminded of that, OR that life has more to offer.
Imagine while you are meditating that your spouse does not want to quietly meditate but spend hours in conversation.
My “title”, which I did not expect to be used in forums here, was given to me by acclimation in a specific subject area where I maintain a very large web site. I write about and advise people about metalworking, particularly blacksmithing. Everything from how to start a coal fire to going into business.
I cannot imagine retiring to “nothing”. There is ALWAYS something to do. .
I figure the first couple years in Costa Rica will be filled with learning the language, to cope with the system and to live well in a different environment.
Moving to Costa Rica is a great time to improve your life style. Become a vegetarian and all that goes with it (cooking, new recipes. . ), take up Yoga, learn a craft, paint, study some facet of the country and write a book about it. . .
There is a lot to explore in Costa Rica and Central America that is just a few hours drive, or a day or two by bus.
If your spouse is an avid reader then you may not need to talk a LOT. But you may need to go to some effort to obtain books. I guess the question IS, WHO does yoru spouse talk to now? Who do YOU talk to?
If you NEED conversation and your spouse does not then there is a universe of forums on every topic on the internet. . . But if your spouse needs conversation with YOU then you should consider the topics and not expect to win even the friendly arguments.
If you need to communicate with friends in other countries there are inexpensive ways to do so. I have an international plan on my phone that lets me call my friends in Costa Rica for about 12 cents a minute. There is also email, forums, VOIP. . .
If everything I currently do was taken away from me I could find thousands of other interests. Use your imagination. This move is THE GREAT ADVENTURE. If you can’t find anything to talk about it then you are a pretty poor human being.
Very interesting article but also very disorganized. Expert writing is not expected in such articles. Some editing would help.
I was left with more questions than answers. Under what circumstances did a husband owe his Tica wife a pension? Was the pay now amount of $1200 for $200 due a typo or typical court inflation?
Considering how many Ticos live I was not surprised at the conditions in jail there. Jail is often a step UP in comfort for many poor even though a long way down for the rich. The home described (shack with ventilated walls and floors) is not unusual in rural Costa Rica. So you can expect jail to be just a LITTLE better.
Vonder, being a single parent is always going to be a problem.
Some things to consider about kids in Costa Rica. Most of the schools are Catholic and uniforms are the rule. Most kids actually WALK to school in the small towns. The culture in general is like living in the 1950’s in the US. I don’t think you are old enough to have experianced that but the world was a LOT different. People let their kids walk to school because it was safe and it was good for them. People in general were more respectful to each other (as they are today in Costa Rica).
You would probably need to home school your children in the things you would expect to learn in your country’s school. That would include their language, history and so on. But their experience in Costa Rican schools would be to learn Spanish very well which is something that is increasingly important in the entire Western Hemisphere. And they might be considered an asset to the school depending on their age and how well they speak English.
From what I see of my little granddaughter of 2-1/2 years she could benefit from a much less materialistic slower life such as in Costa Rica. The expectation (and realization by doting parents) of a truck load of toys under the Christmas tree was a bit much.
You cannot get completely away from the U.S influence. Many homes have satellite dishes and the same crummy TV we have in the U.S. You can get Internet almost everywhere in Costa Rica and cell phones are easier to get than a land line.
But the life is really different, slower, more family oriented. I think kids raised there would be better people.
The hard question is what future you want for your children or do they expect. Wages are low and life harder in Costa Rica. Eventually they may want or need to go home for school or for work. But seeing how other people live may also be an incentive to do better. You never know. Children can be our joys as well as biggest disappointments. But an international life experience cannot hurt.
My EX was always concerned about living within close distance to a hospital or health care clinic. But if you worry about this kind of thing all the time then you are going to die of worry.
I’ve found during the last couple emergency visits to these so “important” resources in the U.S. that we spent as long waiting (three to four hours) before been seen, that we could have driven half way across Costa Rica. Costa Rica is a SMALL country. Everywhere is only 3 hours or less from San Jose.
Now, if you expect a 10 minute response from an emergency medical technician then you need to very carefully study where you live in the U.S. as anywhere else (forget it in CR). You also need to look closely into the kind of services and personell you specific locality provides. They are all different and NONE are as high tech and professionally staffed as those on TV (its science fiction). You may get a very quick response but only to be transported to the closest hospital AND this may not be where you really needed to go.
One of these emergency visits was to take a friend to the hospital after an industrial accident. It took him 4 days to die, at a cost of $60,000 to his widow who lives on a very little bit of social security. I do not know what this would have cost in Costa Rica but I am sure it would be less than 10%. Most direct medical costs in Costa Rica are 1/3 or less than in the U.S.
IF you have a heart attack and IF you live in just the right neighborhood in the right city in the U.S. you MIGHT get that 10 minute response from properly trained medical technicians. If not (90% of US citizens do not). . . then you would be no worse off in Costa Rica.
IF you think a hospital with emergency services is important to you then keep a close eye on those you depend on. In the U.S. big medical corps are buying and merging hospitals every day. This often results in closed hospitals or a change in services provided. It has also resulted in less competition, longer waits, higher costs and dictatorial policies (your insurance company may no longer be accepted – it happened to my brother last month). This situation is changing daily all across the U.S. and not for the better.
So, while you worry about lack of medical services others go to Costa Rica for the medical services.
It sounds like you already have a dream place of your own. “Amusement parks, Night clubs” and city life in general are not even on MY list. In fact, most of the things *I* want I have in the rural U.S. except for the climate. The older I get the less I like cold weather and the more out of shape I get every winter. I despise Florida and Southern California, the closest places without winter in the U.S.
While Costa Rica has ONE big city, San Jose, the country is primarily agricultural, Hispanic and Catholic. Those things color every part of life in Costa Rica. Small town life akin to the 1950’s or earlier is typical.
Costa Rica is NOT a land of WalMarts, Water parks, Nascar or 5 star hotels and restaurants. If you want fine city life you will have to find it elsewhere. The world has some great cities IF that is the life you like. GO to Moscow, NY, Paris, Hong Kong if you like.
While English is not spoken everywhere and even the Spanish has such heavy accents in rural areas that it is hard for Spanish speakers to understand we got along fine traveling for a month in CR speaking English only. There WERE those moments of confusion but nothing that stopped us from having a good time and doing what we needed to do.
NO PLACE is perfect. I love the freedoms and access we have in the U.S. but I cannot afford to retire here. While I enjoy the great University libraries and Museums of nearby cities I do not want to live in the cities with them and I could travel to them just as well from anywhere in the Western Hemisphere or Europe as I can now. While I love a meal at a GOOD restaurant I cannot abide by snooty overpriced restaurants where they pay more attention to the dress code than to the attitude of the wait staff. But to some people, THAT is what they like (snooty over real quality).
AND if trash is REALLY your problem then get out an pick it up OR organize groups to do it. Here in the U.S. we have many volunteer organizations that pick up trash on public road sides. I’ve done it numerous times. We did a much better job cleaning the ditches than the road crews and at no cost to the local government. Maybe if a few gringos started picking up the trash it would embarrass the Ticos into doing it and the problem would go away.
OBTW – Where I live in central Virginia, I hear the same complaints that there is no place (meaning clubs) for young people to go, no bicycle lanes, no Amusement parks. But anyone old enough to pick where they want to live can move the 100 miles to Richmond, or 250 miles to the D.C. area or 450 to Baltimore or Charlotte. AND English is spoken (mostly) in all these places.
There are some places where you see quite a bit of trash in CR. They are a third world economy and there is only so much money for clean up. But there are also much cleaner better parts of Costa Rica than the cities.
While most of the streets and highways in the U.S. are pretty clean you should see any rural road leading to a landfill. Trash for miles! Even when there are load cover laws and regular cleanup. The trash is there. There are also private or pirate dumps in the U.S. The advantage the U.S. has is its size and ability to HIDE dumps, trash heaps, landfills. . . Plus the money to constantly pickup the trash from streets and roadsides.
If you want to live somewhere cheap you must expect conditions to be different than places where it costs much more. I suspect that Ticos have much LESS trash deposited on their streets than the U.S. They just cannot afford to have it all cleaned up every day.
At one point it was only time (time to sell realestate in the U.S., time for retirement to kick in but that was secondary as I know I can move then wait to get full time “retiresta” status.). I operate an internet business that can be run from anywhere in the world so income was not a problem.
I was recently divorced and ready for the “grand adventure”. I had visited friends in Costa Rica and knew I could make a new life there.
I was surprised when I told my children that I was going to “retire in Costa Rica”. They both saw it as a travel opportunity. My parents were not as positive but my mother felt much like my kids. – a chance for cheap travel.
Then life changes, The economy has hurt everyone’s sales and my have slowed ours. But I also fell in love and now live with a lady that does not want to live in Costa Rica full time. How we are going to settle this I do not know. A significant part of the problem is that I was not planning on maintaining two homes.
So now I am 6 years into a 2 year plan with the “plan” in limbo. For most of us “life” often makes these decisions for us. I thought that for once I had a plan and *I* was taking charge of my future. So, we will see. Life changes.
IF you can make this move, DO IT! I hesitated and life made the decision for me. . . Not speaking the language should NOT be a deterrent if you are willing to learn. It will come quickly with full immersion.
Folks that need to earn income in Costa Rica SHOULD think long and hard about it. As mentioned above you just do not “go to work” in Costa Rica. Its illegal. BUT, you can start and manage a business that employs Ticos, sells locally OR exports. It IS LEGAL to manage your own financial affairs and this has been extended to managing a business. Articles in recent years discussed how the Tico wage rate could not compete with the Chinese BUT was close. So manufacturing in CR is a possibility and in my opinion a MUCH BETTER option than sending work to China. You just can’t be the sole worker in your “business” or go to work for someone else.
Costa Rica is still my dream. . . .
First you need to look into the pros and cons of bringing a vehicle into Costa Rica. It is not an inexpensive thing to do. You will NOT save money over buying a car in-country.
The second thing is that this is not a sightseeing trip. Much of Mexico is run by violent drug dealers and their minions, NOT the government. Where there are police they are generally NOT to be trusted. Taking side trips is NOT recommended. For safety you stay on the highway, stop in the truck/travel stops and just keep moving.
As you travel South the situation gets worse until you are in Costa Rica. You can be happily be playing tourista one moment and be the victim of a road crime the next.
Friends of mine that recently made the trip had no problems until they reached one traffic check point in Nicaragua (I think). They had just been stopped at one traffic stop then there was another less than a mile down the road. Words became heated and the young female police officer had her hand on her gun. . . This was probably a robbery going bad as asking for payoffs for no reason is common. I think my friend was upset that this was twice in less than 10 minutes. Suddenly the situation changed and my friends were waived through but they do not know why or what was really going wrong. They speak Spanish very well and have lived in Costa Rica for over a decade. But this situation almost got out of hand.
There is a LOT of anti-American sentiment in these countries, and with good reason due to our meddling throughout the 70’s and 80’s. AND anyone from the U.S. is a “Rich Gringo” (Even in CR). You can afford making payoffs OR your relatives can. . .
Once in Costa Rica you are pretty safe. However, getting anything of value through customs is a serious issue and the system is not cut and dried. They can take weeks determining a value and there is no logical reason for the values or fees set. You just wait, and pay.
It could be a great adventure. I have not completely ruled it out myself. But you need to know what can go wrong.
The first thing to do is to educate yourself about ironwork. There are basically three types (qualities).
1) Welded rebar and tubing, the typical stuff seen on Tico homes and businesses. Some of this is very plain and some quite artistic and creative. Some is heavier and some lighter. The heavier is often light tubing that is actually not as durable as solid bar. But it is all just cut, occasionally bent and arc welded bar or tubing. Hundreds of small shops produce this throughout Costa Rica.
2) Fabricated from components. There is a huge world market of components (pickets, scrolls, baskets) that fabricators can obtain and weld together. This requires little skill and results in an acceptable product. These parts are made in Mexico, Europe and India among other places. To most people this looks like hand made iron work. It is not “the real thing” and should be half the cost of similar work done by hand. You often see this type work on community gates and upper class homes in Costa Rica.
3) Hand forged and assembled ironwork. There are only a couple smiths in Costa Rica that do this work. This is the real thing. A lot of this work is attractive but not what would be considered first class work. It is often welded and lots of auto body putty used to cover the poor work. Good iron work has NO body putty. Welds and joints should be clean and well made and not covered. For one of the few that does this work see:
[url=http://www.johancubillos.com/]johancubillos.com[/url]
Also see this article I wrote a number of years ago on Costa Rica blacksmiths and Ironwork.
[url=http://www.anvilfire.com/news3/index37.htm]anvilfire News 37[/url]
Between the three grades above there various shades and quality of manufacture. The worst is roughly arc welded re-bar and the best as good as any made anywhere in the world. If you are interested in really high class ironwork we have reviews of a number of books on this type work on anvilfire.com.
Like many things having to do with home construction you can a little or a lot depending on your budget and requirements.
[quote=”Stever”]Emil
I am guessing you were born at BMH (British Military Hospital)Wegberg, as my son was. If so your birth may be registered in Dusseldorf with the British Consulate. If not they may still be able to advise.
Steve.
[/quote]
I think you just need to bite the bullet, write letters to the hospital and embassy. They may make it easy OR you may have to do a little work. But is should not be a big deal unless you wait and try to do it at the last moment OR after the fact. These are common situations that the people you contact can usually handle OR point you in the right direction.
[quote=”ticopaz”][quote=”soldier”]Thanks to everyone for the information.
[/quote]
In my opinion… I would not want to buy a used rental car here.[/quote]I will second that. I typically rent a small car for a week or two and I KNOW I put a year’s worth of wear and tear on the clutch and suspension. While I’ve been a mechanic and know how to make a clutch last a long time most folks do not and probably come close to wearing one out in short order. While this is a simple replacement, that use translates into a LOT of wear on engine bearings and other parts.
IF you travel anywhere interesting in CR the car’s suspension gets a LOT of wear. AND even though all the rental contracts say NO to driving in water that would mean not driving at all in a lot of parts of CR, especially in the wet season.
All the rentals I’ve had were very low mileage so I suspect that they trade them off pretty quick. That means they KNOW the car has had a lifetime of wear no matter the looks or mileage.
I would buy new in CR
Change. . . I operate several of my own forums and have been using the same ancient software and display format for over 10 years. I am in the throngs of updating them and have polled members and there is always resistance to change. I have yet to see a forum system that I really like including some of our own trial designs. ..
I DO congratulate Scott on updating all the old posts to the new system. That is a costly bit of work.
1) Like all change it will take getting used to. I may use it more, or less, the future will see.
2) Like most packaged and open source systems it will have good features as well as bad (especially in default configurations)
3) The edit system has a SAVE, PREVIEW but no EXIT or “RETURN without POSTING” button. . . This is like Microsnot prompts “Continue OR go ahead”. . .
4) The subscribe and send email selections should always be OFF by default, never ON.
5) I do not like wasted screen space even though many of us now have huge wide format high definition monitors many other do not. The problem is designing spaces around avatars mixed with name text creating wide unused zones.
6) Default edit setups typically use these narrow little windows which I despise. It is the airline seat complex. When the message editing is on a completely seperate page it should take advantage of the space. I like “elbow” room.
7) I also like icons that make sense OR text buttons that always do. The little blobs of color are like bits of ground up trash on the floor or indecipherable graffiti.
8 ) A design error: The link text on the dark blue bars is not styled correctly and is small blue text on the blue background. . .
. . . . .
As I noted. I’m in the forum business and its hard to design such that everyone is happy. And sadly, even though I AM a designer of such I have not seen a solution that I liked even my own. So you can take my criticism above for what its worth.
In the Arenal area the best place we have found is called Linda Vista.
Google this, Linda Vista del Norte – Arenal Costa Rica
Ask for the Honeymoon Suite. It is a seperate cottage or cabina and has the best view of Volcan Arenal and the lake other than from the restaurant.
If you are not going to spend the night it is well worth having a meal on the porch and watching the volcano. It is a long drive on gravel and volcanic ash covered roads but worth it.
