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There are many reputable attorneys in Costa Rica. It would help to know where you are located so members in that area can forward names to you who have given good service.
Yes. If you take too long to write the post, it times out. If your post is long or needs editing time just write it in a word document and then copy and paste it to the post box. I don’t know the exact time-out time but it has happened to me. If you are writing a post and you get interrupted or it has taken a fairly long time to write, you can copy and paste the post to a word document just in case it disappears and then you can paste it back into the box if it does disappear.
So as you can see, living a “Tico” lifestyle runs the entire spectrum from the very poor to the fairly wealthy.
I know some young gringos (some even with children) living on organic farms and in intentional communities who live on almost nothing.
They raise nearly all of their own food, live in sparsely appointed homes, buy their clothing at the Ropa Americana, don’t own a car and rely on the public bus system for transportation.
There is little or no medical care available to them. Such a lifestyle does not usually suit the average retiree. Anything beyond this simplest style of living adds $$$ to the cost to live.
In order for one to know if an income (be it social security or another source of income) is enough to support a living in Costa Rica, one needs to visit Costa Rica for a sufficient amount of time and experience for themselves the lifestyle they wish to live.
There are places in the US where the cost of living might rival the cost to live in Costa Rica. Moving to Costa Rica just to live more cheaply may not be a good enough reason to move there.
Most people who move to Costa Rica and who don’t consider ever leaving, do so for many other reasons. A lower cost of living is just the bonus that makes it possible.
Or use the money you have saved to invest in your own hotel. That type of residency is called inversionista – The investment made must have a registered or verifiable value of at least US$200,000 (Two Hundred Thousand dollars). You will not be able to work at your hotel (you must hire Costa Ricans to do that) but you can manage it until your residency becomes permanent.
Adrenaline (epinephrine) is used to prevent an allergic (anaphylatic) reaction to the anti-venom. It is sometimes given before any symptoms of a reaction occur. It has its own side effects as well.
I like the idea of getting a small supply of anti-venom and then letting the neighbors know it is available. If a neighbor should need it first, they can either replace what they used or reimburse me for the cost to get a new supply. We will have our 2 Aussie service dogs with us in Costa Rica and I would want to make sure they were safe. We also have cows and horses in our pastures all night. If any of our animals should get bitten by a snake, it would certainly happen after all of the stores had closed for the night or for the weekend.
The person hanging (I can’t see that this even looks like Lady Gaga – looks more like a man in female dress) clearly represents a figure on the cross with mourners scattered below.
I think it is a very sacrilegious ad.
I can’t imagine how this ad would make any normal self-respecting Costa Rican want to attend the concert.
It appears to be aimed at a more sinister “alternative” segment of the population whoever that might be.
Equating Lady Gaga or any other person with the martyrdom of Christ for the purpose of entertainment is crude and offensive.
I believe the anti-venom can be obtained from a farm supply store that sells medications for farm animals.
There is usually a vet at these stores that can give advise as to dosage for the size of each animal it is for.
Our neighbor has over 100 cows and over the years he has saved several of his cows from terciopelo snake bites.
He did lose a small chihuahua dog because they were not at home when the dog was bit and it died before they got home. He also lost a lovely yearling colt for the same reason.
It was probably bitten at night. I think the anti-venom needs to be given within 3 hours of the snake bite but the vet at the store should confirm this.
When humans are bit, they should immediately go to the emergency room as the dose a human needs may be larger than that for a dog and the ER would be able to deal with any side effects of the anti-venom.
There is also another venomous snake in our area that may require a different anti-venom.
It is important to note that the 3g capability on the AT&T compatible unlocked cell phone must have the 850mhz frequency. Global 3g phones do not run on this frequency as they use the 900 or 2100mhz frequencies. These are not compatible with the 3g in Costa Rica. The GMS (2g) quadband works in the larger towns and cities in Costa Rica but small towns and out in the country (think “the boonies”) are much more likely to only have the 3g network available and the phone won’t work if you are traveling between cities. I have seen many AT&T compatible quadband phones sold on the internet that do not have the 850mhz frequency for the 3g. Sometimes it is very difficult to tell what is the frequency for the 3g. The key words are “US version” rather than global.
If you unlock your AT&T 4g phone yourself, you might invalidate your warranty with AT&T. Since this is a new phone, that might be a concern.
Well at least 80% of prepared foods in the grocery store have one or more GMO ingredient in it. That % can go down a lot if we switch to fresh fruits and vegetables and stay away from stuff in cans and boxes. Lets hope that proposition 37 passes in California. If it does, at least we will know which foods contain GMOs since it isn’t likely that food producers will make one label for California and another for the rest of the country. At least we will have the option to avoid them if we choose. It could encourage manufacturers to reject GMOs entirely if people quit buying the foods with GMOs. Heaven help us if Costa Rica lets GMO seeds/crops in the country. At least we don’t eat cotton but GMOs make farmers dependent on a third party for seeds and pesticides. No more saving seeds. The GMO seeds are either sterile or the holder of the patent can make the farmers pay for the seeds even if they do save them.
Thanks for the links Maravilla. It gives much material for thought especially for those who do not understand the true implications of GMOs in our food and for those who do not realize how much of our food contains GMOs. Most of the prepared foods we see in Costa Rica are imported from the US and thus most certainly contain GOM ingredients. The fact that these foods are more expensive compared to the same foods in the states has been one good reason for me to stay away from them. With our ability to grow our own food on our farm and the abundance of fresh foods available at the ferias in Costa Rica at really affordable prices, we eat a better diet in Costa Rica than we do in the states. Of course, GMOs aren’t the only ingredients found in foods in Costa Rica that one might want to avoid – hormones, antibiotics, MSG and artificial sweeteners are all found in foods made and produced in Costa Rica. However, unlike GMO ingredients, some (but not all) of these can be found on the food label. These things have found their way into a whole slew of foods and it makes “growing our own” so much more attractive.
Maravilla is totally right. There is so much information out there about the dangers of GMO crops and their links to human diseases and the fact that they don’t increase yields but destroy soil. The same goes for Round-up ready crops. Round-up is sprayed right on the food that is later harvested. When Round-up resistant weeds emerge, they have to spray even greater amounts of harmful chemicals to kill the resistant weeds. And then this stuff goes in our food, chemical residues and all. Now there is Bt and Round-up ready corn in the same seed. I wouldn’t eat that, no matter how good it tastes. If you read, read read, you will come to the same conclusion that I and many, many others have concluded – these companies make these Frankenseeds so they can be patented and they can make billions of dollars. And they have not been tested for safety. Thank goodness, Costa Rica would have none of it.
[quote=”VictoriaLST”]For thousands of years, we have been genetically engineering our food. We learned to cross-pollinate crops for a larger seed heads, greater sugar content, more protein. We bred a prize bull to certain cows for higher milk production or more meat. We genetically engineered for food and for vanity (how else did the wolf become the Chihuahua?).
We have genetically engineered for thousands of years, we just didn’t know how to do it quickly. Now we do. The danger lies in relying on a single type of seed to the exclusion of others. As for the engineering? I really prefer a Golden Retriever…..
[/quote]What you describe here is not gentic engineering. It is genetic [b]selection[/b][u][/u] within a species. Nature does this according to her own schedule in order for a species to adapt to changes in the environment. We have done this for ages to select the characteristics in plants and animals that suit our purposes. Genetic engineering, on the other hand, is inserting genetic material from an entirely unrelated species into the genetic material of another species. Nature never does this. There is a profound difference here.
I think that Costa Rica has banned GMO seeds but someone could possibly sneak them in. I would be very leary of buying corn from anyone who could have possibly done that.
Learning a new language is easier for some people than others. I have found it a long, arduous process to learn Spanish. But I keep trying to learn more. I find that my Tico friends and neighbors feel honored than I am trying so hard to learn their language. I am not afraid to give it a try. By the same token, my Tico neighbor always is proud to try out any new English words he has learned on me. He loves the surprized look and smile that he gets from me when he does that. I always encourage my Tico friends, neighbors and even workers to correct me if I make a mistake. It seems to work well to build a better relationship all around. I would suggest making an attempt to learn as much as you can and then go from there.
