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Traveling without reservations is an adventure. I’ve stayed at places where I had reservations because we wanted a specific cabin (the Honeymoon cabin at Linda Vista del Norte on Valentines day) and traveled without.
On our adventure to the Eastern beach area in February 2006 (high season) we found a marvelous little place called Sanchirí Mirador South of Paraiso (East of Cartago) overlooking the Orisi valley. We came upon it as the owner was closing the gate for the night and asked (in English) if they had any rooms. Yes, and it was a wonderful place. The only thing going on was a late evening Tico gathering for some social event. Otherwise the place was empty. Large new rooms, great view, only $60/night and included breakfast.
The next night we were looking for a room in Cahuita. The first place we looked at had only one small cabin available with 30 inch wide bunk beds and facilities in another building. It was geared for the very young party crowd. We passed. But it was getting dark and we had been around and around. Then, once again, we came across a large walled in place, La Diosa Hotel, with the owner closing the gate for the night. We stopped and asked and YES they had cabins. We had half a very nice brightly painted little cabin with a little private garden outside the bathroom window where a large green lizard spent the night. The place is right on the beach and had employees that could speak (on top of Spanish) English, German, French. . .
We were very lucky. This was probably the best place in Cahuita. The owner said that the following night and next week they were booked with their annual world peace conference. So we REALLY lucked out and it was only about $60/night.
Our friends in CR travel quite a bit with company to the various Western tourist spots and never have reservations. But many of the big places that LOOK like what we think of as a hotel in North America are often fully booked (and quite expensive). You have to be willing to be adventurous.
We DO make reservations to rent a car in advance from EuropaCar. They were the most economical we found and the cars were always new or in very good condition. Maps of Costa Rica are quite good but the road signs are impossible or non-existent in most of the country. I’ll carry a GPS to use with the map next time I go.
The Dollar Amount:
It may or may not change. The problem in many cases is not the $1000, or $2000 but that it must be part of a pension, retirement or SS plan. In my case my income has been up and down over the years so my SS is far from what it could be. At this time at retirement age it would be enough under the $1000 per person to meet the pensionado requirement. If the amount was doubled I would be locked out of a CR retirement.
I have MORE long term income but not in an approved retirement plan which is what is required. I would also be living in a paid for home in CR (not renting). This is something else that is not considered by the law. I COULD take part of my housing fund and put it into a CR bank to provide a “known income” but then my planned home and lifestyle would be diminished considerably. . .
I have realestate here to sell before I can plan a move, so all I can do at this point is watch and dream. But it is starting to look like I should make other plans. . .
NO ADDRESS:
Certainly you have an address in Costa Rica. You live SOMEWHERE! Just because it is “different” doesn’t mean you do not have an address. If your address is “Blue house, 15 meters n. of Ricky’s Famoso, Aleuela, CR then THAT IS your address.
I am an on-line merchant and we get all kinds of weird things. Due to the nature of my business (we sell nothing a crook could re-sell for a quick profit) I generally do not worry about address match ups. This varies with the merchant. Two things to know:
1) The major credit card handling companies do not have methods to check out of country addresses. This is going to change soon for the EU but not elsewhere at this time. I deal with the biggest processor in the country and if they cannot do it, nobody can. So when you order on-line it does not matter. The merchant is shipping at their own risk (this is NOT news to crooks).
2) When they DO have methods to check then whatever address your card is billed to should match the billing address you use on the form. Ship to MAY be different.
3) Some merchants will not ship to addresses other than the billing address. If I was selling ANYTHING of resale value on-line I would do the same or want cash payment in advance.
4) On international sales the U.S. merchant CAN get your bank’s phone number in CR and may call them to ask
a) Does this person bank with you?
b) Is this address and phone number correct?
c) Is the account active and up to date?How much more we could ask is dependent on the country’s privacy and banking laws.
So, you DO have an address. It is where your bankcard bill is sent OR the address they have on record. AND it may not make any difference to online merchants OR it might. If there is a problem then a phone call is in order.
Now. . shipping to Costa Rica. . THAT is an altogether different thing. Use your forwarding service and note what it is in the comments field of the order form.
Off with their heads. . . That has been MY big question. When a VERY few cause such destruction SOMEBODY should be going to jail. Instead there has been months of closed door meetings to assure certain people keep their bonuses.
Where are the arrests? Why have not the crooks accounts been seized? Time passes and I’ll bet those that should be arrested have a plan and have already moved their money. . .
The problems that caused such disastrous loses are part of a global economic practices that allow huge profits to made on doing nothing. Moving money makes NOTHING. The profits from loaning money makes nothing. Riding the wave of an emotion driven market that is not based on reality makes nothing. . .
True wealth comes from mining, manufacturing, farming, invention or technological advances, (making things). . . all other human endeavors including fuel, food, shelter and transportation all rely on the creation of true wealth. Money markets, interest, the WHOLE financial market is and SHOULD be a low third tier of the economy, NOT the primary driving force. In the U.S. our industry has declined and the things that suck off the profits have grown. Shuffling paperwork is an EXPENSE not a wealth generator. Insurance cannot be a bigger industry than those it helps support. Banks cannot be bigger than the economy they service. . . But what has happened is that our economy has been turned upside down. The non-productive aspects have grown larger than the productive aspects. The money movers have managed to take most the wealth out of the economy without doing anything REAL. Making iron, building ships, discovering new energy sources. . those are REAL. Manipulating the stocks to make a profit does nothing for the wealth of the world.
We need to get back to doing REAL things. Not profiting on others who do.
Most of the time, not all, but MOST of the time folks bring these things on themselves. Here in the U.S. in “good” neighborhoods folks get shot and killed on a regular basis. But when you look closely they were almost always involved with the wrong people (gang members, drug dealers, prostitutes) and or did things that put themselves at risk (doing drugs, drunk, constant battles with “friends”, neighbors and relatives). Most murders are committed by people that that the victim knew.
We all know people who’s lives are soap operas. In most cases they bring it on themselves at the same time they are complaining about it. They fail to keep jobs, have affairs, do things that get them arrested (drunk in public, driving recklessly, drugs or alcohol in the vehical. . .), treat their children poorly and then wonder why they are screwed up, associate with people they shouldn’t. . . They will try very hard to suck YOU into their soap opera life as well. The soap opera king and queens have a lot of crimes committed against them.
We all know people that gravitate toward the wrong people. Alcoholics that marry other alcoholics or “enablers”, the divorced that remarry over and over, the abused that get divorced just to get involved with another that abuses them, troubled kids that out of hundreds will pick the one other kid that can’t stay out of trouble to be their friend.
You will find these people among the rich and famous as well as the unknown poor. They are in every country and the story is always the same. There is nothing anyone can do to help them. It is their character and born personality. If you learn to recognize these people and avoid them then your life will be happier and safer.
AVOIDING situations that put you at risk is a big part of avoiding becoming a statistic. Cities may not have more crime per capita but they have more crime per given area due to the denseness of the population. Walk a block, turn a corner and you may have gone from a good or safe neighborhood to a bad dangerous one. . . This makes most rural areas much safer for most of us.
THE LOW COST of living is what attracts us “rich gringos” to CR and other countries. But that low cost of living also means that there are many low income local people. It was once pointed out to me that my camera and laptop computer were worth more each than a year’s income for most of the workers on a farm I was staying at in CR. Whether we are rich or not (I certainly am not) we are vastly rich compared to most in other countries. This makes us a target no matter where we are. Even if you are not rich you will be perceived as a “rich gringo” with an endless supply of money. . .
Yes, good folks are often victims of crime. But the majority of crimes are committed on people that commit crimes themselves, associate with criminal types OR others that associate with criminal types. If you avoid them and the soap opera players, avoid looking like a rich target, AND stay out of places known for high crime then you will probably not be a victim of a crime. Its largely your choice.
NOTE: I agree that there is a lot of crime against property (petty and not so petty theft) in Costa Rica. But that is different than violent or major crime.
Edited on Sep 16, 2008 08:33
“The Ticos: Culture and Social Change in Costa Rica”
by by Mavis Hiltunen Biesanz, Richard Biesanz and Karen Zubris BiesanzThis book is a bit dated even though it was published in 1999 but gives you an idea about why the Ticos are the way they are. Knowing the people is as important as knowing the country. Friends who have lived in CR, worked and done business with the Ticos for over a decade said that the book gave them some more insight into the people. I found the book very good and worth reading more than once.
This, Scott’s book on realestate (and more) plus a Lonely Planet travel guide are the top of a VERY short list.
Edited on Sep 16, 2008 07:30
There are advantages and disadvantages to this. While prices are rising dramatically for steel and concrete it cannot continue at this pace. It should slow or stop for a while (we all hope). You need to look to see if the projected price increases are much greater than interest your money may earn elsewhere. Then there are other costs.
The most serious problem is storage. Do you own a warehouse or storage containers? Materials must be stored racked to prevent breakage or warping. Materials must be kept dry to prevent rust, corrosion, mildew and hardening (of the concrete). In a normal North American shed or garage a bag of cement may harden in a year or two. In sodden Costa Rica. . . I do not know, but definitely less.
Storage also means security problems. Property theft is very high in Costa Rica and building materials are prime targets. Lock a shed on your property and come back a year later and the you may find the materials AND the shed missing. . .
So, you need a good dry storage building and security to protect it. You might think that you will have someone on site full time once construction starts but much construction is seasonal and there ARE holidays.
If you have read Scott’s book you will know that you need a trusted contractor that takes responsibility (by contract) for missing tools, equipment and materials. Not only must he agree but you should want him to have the financial wherewithal to uphold his duties in this regard. This person may supply the needed security OR be the security. But you need to let him know he will be responsible for a small mountain of materials. HE may not want that responsibility.
SO, while theoretically it may be a good idea there is more to it than just buying the materials and throwing a tarp over them. Ask your contractor. The added costs may not result in any savings.
I’ve always exchanged funds at a local bank in CR without problems. I’ve always had hundreds in good condition and the exchange went smoothly. Just smile and say “ColonES por fav vor.”
The WORST experience I had was with my U.S. bank. I thought I would get a head start on my trip and exchange a couple hundred through my bank, a service they advertised on their on-line page. The exchange went through a Canadian company at a high rate and the bills were ALL 1000c notes in terrible condition including some that were defaced. They looked like bills that a central bank takes out of circulation and destroys.
Since I travel at least once a year to CR I keep an envelope with about $100US in Colones including some coins for the next trip.
I spend both dollars and Colones in CR. I’ll use dollars when prices are in dollars and Colones when prices are in Colones. Note that you will almost always get change back in Colones.
One thing to get used to is that many countries with devalued currencies do not use fractions of a unit like we do in the U.S. In these places the prices are all in whole units and when cash registers and fuel pumps return fractions of a unit everyone knows to round the amount. In CR the smallest current coin is 5 Colones (about 1 cent so that not only do you round off decimals but also to the nearest 5 whole numbers.
Coins run, 5, 10, 20, 25, 50, 100, 500.
I think they are phasing out the 20C coin. They used to have smaller coins and kept them only because the pay phones used them.
Bills run 1000 (1 mil), 5000 (a beautiful note). 10,000 and I think 20,000
As mentioned it is good to get a feel for what the money is worth. A 500C coin is about $1, a 1 mil note like $2, the 5 mil like $10 and 10 mil is $20. A few years ago these were exact amounts and it made exchange easy, even a gringo could do it. . .
While touristas DO get charged special prices at times I’ve never been cheated on making change.
DISADVANTAGE: The exit tax if traveling is much more.
ADVANTAGE: Tickets to National Parks are cheaper.
ADVANTAGE: If you are a U.S. Citizen and spend most of your time in CR then there are huge tax advantages (no taxes on up to $80,000 income).
Here is a link to a site I found about how ebay scams work. It is MUCH worse than I thought. But then, I KNEW that the crooks knew a lot more than I do about how they operate. Multiple accounts and shilling is VERY common. To avoid high ebay fees the crooks post things for a VERY low price, say 99 cents. Then they use their shill accounts to bid the price up to where they really want the bidding to start. Those same shill accounts can be used to make successful “buys” and then give yourself great feedback.
http://www.companyexposed.com/
Just my opinion but you would have to be crazy to buy unseen land in CR without all the proper paperwork. Until you have the title and have inspected the land, don’t pay more than a small deposit that you can afford to throw away.
I have friends that spend summer and winter in CR, spring and fall in the US. They work in both places and love it. The 3 months on, 3 months off lets them travel as visitors under the 90 day rule. They TRIED to get permanent residency and the rules changed from needing to stay in CR for half the year (which they were) to staying half a year at a time. After 6 years of working on their residency they were thwarted by the system. They may try again when they make a permanent move (if ever).
Its not the paperwork and permits. They are about the same as for a U.S. business (IF you follow all the rules). It is the Tico system that takes a simple process and drags it out for years. And the rules change and are interpreted differently by different people. You need a GOOD Tico lawyer and someone to stand in the cue for you.
The problems that arise start simple. Property theft is very high in Costa Rica. You cannot walk off and leave a place unattended and expect it to still be there when you come back. Give it a year and a whole building will disappear one brick at a time. So, your plan needs to include a full time guard, grounds keeper or housekeeper to keep an eye on things while you are gone. You ALSO need to be sure that you have a contract with whoever this is so that they do not claim squatter’s rights on your property. This can be a minor expense OR a major expense.
And as mentioned, as a guest or even as a permanent resident you cannot legally work in Costa Rica. You CAN manage your own business but you must hire Ticos to do the work. there are lots of shades of grey in this area but if you try to get around hiring Ticos you will be quickly “denounced” and in trouble with the authorities.
So, be it employees working in your business full time or a guard/grounds keeper you will have to have Tico employees of some sort. This is much cheaper and simpler than in the U.S. but there are minimum wages, taxes, mandatory vacation laws. More work for the lawyer and accountant.
Its a great country. I hope to live there on day. . .
EBAY SALES: In every area of ebay sales there are a great number of charlatans and crooks. Everything from phony (forged) antiques to pirated software and stolen automobiles are sold on ebay EVERY day. Ebay is like going into the worlds largest open air market (Imagine it located in Bombay or Africa) where there is no law enforcement and the operators of the market do EVERYTHING to protect the sellers but nothing to protect the buyer. So imagine your lily white hide in this den of thieves and cutthroats. . . will you get out alive WITH your wallet?
I have been reviewing ebay sales in a number of areas for as long as ebay has existed. I cannot use words strong enough to convince people just HOW bad it is. A very common scam is to make a bunch of bogus sales and when things get hot, move on. Ebay will protect the thief’s real identity forever unless YOU hire a lawyer and sue. And sometimes that doesn’t work and you have to convince your state’s attorney to take up the case. Meanwhile several months pass by since you realized you were scammed and decided to take action. Forget your money. . . it is GONE. Note that these scams are more likely on high dollar items like automobiles, antiques, musical instruments, and realestate. If you think ebay will help get your money back, forget it!
Most of these crooks do not just move on . . they change identities, get an new ebay ID to hide behind and start all over again. IF there is a flimflam it is being run on ebay. It is a LARGE part of the “ebay culture”.
ebay is a GREAT market IF you know what you are doing and put some effort into it. I’ve bought and sold on ebay. I’ve spent thousands on ebay over the years. My last purchase was a fork lift and I had to trust the seller to ship it. The only time I was “stung” was on a purchase made in order to write an expose’ of a dealer. He was selling items that were entirely misrepresented and making all the profit in “non-refundable” shipping. His response to my feedback about his nasty replies to my letter asking for a refund was that I was an “unexperienced ebayer and a low life. . ” Note that ebay no longer allows negative feedback mostly because of dealers like this. I reported this dealer to ebay and he continued to do business (as usual) for another two years. They have also supposedly cracked down on exorbitant nonrefundable shipping. But they let that scam run for over five years before they made a rule against it.
How do you get a lot of positive feedback when you are a crook? Remember, ebay no longer allows negative feedback. . so it will ALL be good. Including those that got scammed and don’t know it yet. .
How do you get a load of positive feedback on high dollar items? Its EASY when you have a boiler room full of employees working for you. Sham sales. Note that it has been common practice among the Costa Rica realestate crooks to have a laundry list of “satisfied customers”. They are always partners or employees. . .
Caveat emptor!
Edited on Jul 12, 2008 10:07
Some folks just don’t get IT and never will. While the photos of this place were quite honest they were also quite horrible. If you are trying to sell something you make sure you present it in the best possible way. However, in this case, the photos are also an example of the seller’s idea of “quality”.
If the seller had hired a professional photographer they would have picked the best views, asked for things like the toilet seat be closed and the curtains straitened (beds made) then waited for the best light and framed the most possible flattering photos. Just squaring up the camera or cropping the images true makes a HUGE difference! Really good photos avoiding the bad MIGHT have gotten by. It PAYS to pay a pro.
I have web clients that insist on taking their own photos. They have no eye for it and after 10 years I have given up and just charge more than a good photographer to make the bad images look good. However, it is such a pain that I have offered to take the photos for FREE to avoid the rework. . I have better things to do.
I responded to the poll with a “wouldn’t take it if you gave it to me.”. Why? Well, when construction looks this bad on the SURFACE the important details like foundation, roof, drainage, electric are probably just as bad or worse. I’m sure the fellow spent a LOT of money having this shoddy work done. If you let Tico construction workers do it on their own they will make it just like their own home. This is what happens when you don’t take the good advice of folks like Scott and make sure someone with skills oversees every step of the design and construction. It is also why most banks will not loan money to DIY builders. . . Given this property for free there might not ever be enough money to ever make it worth half a million (dollars). Is the lot worth what it would cost to have the structure removed? Free might not be a good deal. . .
I’m also sure that Scott suggested taking new photos and the seller didn’t get the point. He thought HE was personally being criticized and as Scott noted he was rather rude. However, the photos are the same quality as the construction which is the same quality as the house design . . . and they are probably all one person’s idea of quality and beauty. The poll results tell the tale.
I’m on Scott’s side. The guy should have just politely taken the criticism and gone somewhere else to advertise. But by being insulting and rude to someone in a position of power he got an expose’, for free. I would have done the same.
Edited on Jul 12, 2008 09:08
Deregulation of phone service in the U.S. and Costa Rica
You had better LOOK at your telephone bill and then look BACK in time. Our “basic” service before taxes is about $12 per month. Taxes (Federal, state, local) more than double the base rate (total $28.50 without long distance service). We paid only $14/month for basic service in the 1960’s including taxes! $9 for the service and $5 in taxes. If you calculate in the value of the dollar the current base rate is a fraction of what it was in the 1960’s. Blame the tax man, no the tellco.
Under the Bell System long distance calls cost a small fortune and were considered a real extravagance. You only made a long distance call if someone died. Depending on the distance and time of day you could pay over $1/minute. International calls were $5 to $8/minute. Today, for about the same cost as our 1960’s base rate in inflated dollars (over 10x) we can have as many phones in our house as we want and make unlimited long distance anywhere in the U.S. AND Canada! On my cell phone I have an international plan that costs $5/month and I can call Costa Rica for $0.15/minute and New Zealand for 0.05/minute. I can travel in most of Central America (EXCEPT Costa Rica) and use that same cell phone to call home OR other countries.
Today our “unlimited long distance” phone costs about $120/month and a big part of that is taxes. Several years ago my old Bell System plan cost me over $250/month due to business long distance and occasionally ran $350/month. ONE 30 minute phone call to New Zealand cost me $270 and a one minute FAX to Turkey $15! Now our 3 cell phones, seperate ground line and high speed internet on a different company cost about what my old single line and long distance cost. AND I can call friends anywhere in the world at a reasonable affordable cost. We could do a LOT better by switching to a single company and using Skype for international calls.
In the U.S. phone costs have dropped tremendously since the break up of Ma-Bell and services have leaped forward technologically. While Ma-Bell was a tech company she would not have provided the services we have today. THAT is the result of competition.
THE DOWN SIDE: The Bell System had excellent public pay phone service. They were everywhere including along the Interstate Highways. Today that has virtually disappeared and you can end up paying several dollars a minute or more to make long distance phone calls from the few that exist.
The Bell System had big DURABLE ergonomic phones. I hate the poor design of the available cheap modern phones. On the Bell system they would wire your house for free BUT extra lines cost extra to install and to operate. You did not own the equipment and Ma-Bell took care of it forever. However, today you can by ten phones for what one of those durable Bell System phones would cost.
AND for a brief period the lack of regulation let scammers running billing houses hijack your account and the rate you paid. But THAT was sorted out.
In general, the system in the U.S is better. However, rural markets still do not get the same choices in services as cities.
IN COSTA RICA the public pay telephone system is mostly non-functional. In most of rural CR the pay phones do not work and individual phones may not have worked for many months. This is a failure of the government monopoly phone system.
The problem IS that the government should own parts of the system such as the wires and towers and lease those to service providers. OR they should have planners and regulations that make sure that rural areas are served as well as the city. Otherwise with deregulation there will be GREAT services in San Jose and almost nothing or less than there is now in the small rural towns.
One huge advantage is that folks that want direct satellite service from major providers will be able to do so legally. And oh, yeah. . . my Verizon cell phone that works in most of Central America and the Caribbean might have a chance in CR.
My friends who live in Costa Rica have had several minor incidents over the years. The first was after they put up gates to close their property a young man tore them down and threw them in the river. He was upset that his favorite “parking” spot was now a posted road. He was caught, friends agreed to let it pass if the young man would explain to his friends that it was no longer public property. He agreed and has been a friend of the family since.
Another time they had telephone equipment stolen. . . a minor crime.
One thing that they told me that made sense was to keep expensive things out of sight. They pointed out that my laptop and digital cameras cost a year’s wages for the local laborers. . . A terrible temptation for even honest people. Something to think about.
But crime IS much higher in Costa Rica than in MY parts of the U.S. I have lived in the country within 100 yards of a paved road for over 30 years. No locks on the doors, keys left in the cars. Never a theft or invasion. While I do have things of value most of it is not the kind of thing you can hock for a quick buck. Several years ago I moved to another rural location. Same lack of crime.
However, in both places you could go 1/4 mile and try to live the same way. . . HA!
On the other hand. There is a very nice little Tico style (not lavish) “summer house” built by a Costa Rican doctor near my friends place there. He did not live there full time. It was supposed to be a weekend “get away”. It was broken into the first time he left it unattended. Everything loose was stolen. Later the windows were stolen, then the plumbing fixtures and the last time I saw it there were pieces of wall and roof being hauled off. . . The location while beautiful will probably always be a target from now on. In the U.S. we are used to common burglary. But stealing the entire house is a whole different level of property crime.
All this yet I still want to live in Cost Rica where the climate is milder and the tax man is a thousand miles away. . .
