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I have flown in from the US twice with my dog on Continental (now United) via Houston and using the (very good) PetSafe program. (I took her to the States with me last year for a month so that’s why I’ve done this twice).
She flew as Cargo both times as per United policy. The first time, I landed in San Jose and had to use a Broker and pay a ridiculous fee (about $250) to free her from the Cargo Area (which is offsite from the airport so you need a taxi to get there). Clearing her took about 4 hours, and my poor puppy sat there in her crate while I waited for the “paper stampers” and “fee collectors” to do their jobs. It was horrible.
The second time in, I flew United (Continental) into Liberia via Houston. My dog was hand-delivered to me in the baggage area about 5 minutes after I got my luggage, and there was NO additional Broker fee involved. (BTW, the United people at the PetSafe desk aren’t that informed about each local airports’ policies and procedures, as you might imagine. They do try, however.)
Having said all this, the price of shipping via “Cargo” on Continental / United vs. shipping my dog as “checked baggage” on other airlines was similar. The MAIN difference was, flying as Cargo, the extra Broker Fee to clear her through Customs in San Jose. Considering the size/weight of a Great Dane, I’d suspect that you’d find it hard to ship the dog for a normal “checked baggage” rate on most airlines – probably you’d have to pay an “oversized bag” rate in any case.
My point is, if you can fly into Liberia (if it’s convenient), on United, you will still ship the dog as cargo but you likely can avoid the crazy “Broker Fee”. The San Jose rigamarole is, in my opinion is simply a pocket lining exercise on behalf of the Cargo people. They really don’t do anything other than say “Hola Perro!” to your dog in that facility, then they get the “Health Official” to sign off on your Veterinary import paperwork, (and if he’s not around, then you sit and wait in a crappy little office), then eventually they get around to delivering your animal to you. Meanwhile, your dog sits in his crate in a cargo warehouse, alone, ignored, and if it’s hot…well, it’s not climate controlled, and so it’s not too fun. And, if like me you worry about your dog, you suffer all this time as well.
My advice is to fly into Liberia with your pets if it makes sense, (ideally, they all arrive on the same flight), then hire a private transfer or rent a car to get to wherever your final destination is. Again, United flies directly to Liberia from Houston. If you use them, the PetSafe program will guarantee they are well cared for on their layovers, (they fed and watered my dog as advertised and they have a special pet area), and since they fly cargo, you can actually log into their website and monitor their transit status.
Finally, I bought my crate at Petco and it was fine. You just have to be sure that it’s big enough, noting that for International flights they require more free clearance for the dog to move around than on shorter Domestic flights.
Contact me privately if you want further info.
A few things:
1) Make sure you ask ICE how long a prepaid account can remain dormant before it must be refilled. It used to be a pretty short time, but now by law I think, it’s longer, but I don’t know precisely the length, and you need to know so that you can refill before your phone number gets cut off and your prepaid funds surrendered. I did manage to recently lose one phone number I had that was dormant for about 8 months.
2) I tried to fill up my ICE prepaid account online once, about a year ago, and according to the ICE web site since I wasn’t a resident I had to mail them a passport copy and G*D knows what else in order to be able to do this. I said, “forget it”, and so I just refill at various kiosks. Maybe they’ve simplified this process now, I don’t know, I haven’t checked.
3) If you don’t care about retaining your existing ICE Cell phone number, you may want to look seriously into some of the new cell phone providers as some may be easier to deal with than ICE for prepaid service in terms of refills (and may offer better rates and service!) If their coverage is OK for where your home is, this is an option. Unfortunately, it will be several months before ICE finally implements the ‘number transferability’ provisions that I believe were codified when the country allowed in cell phone competitors, so if you want to switch providers now, you still have to get a new phone number.
BEWARE of ICE.
I suggest if ICE is jerking you around, look to Claro, TIGO, etc. who may be happy for your business without the headaches and may offer alternatives.
My recent experience with ICE is as follows:
Went to local ICE office in Huacas to set up a new phone line / DSL for my newly built home near Playa Conchal. ICE happily collected my installation fees on November 1, and I signed an installation contract. They said they’d have me up an running the following week. I ordered this under my Corporation and had no ‘residency’ issue.
It is now February 13, and I have ONLY a telephone line installed, and that finally was done last week. This is after about 7 ‘no show’ appointments by the installers, numerous strange excuses by ICE of why they couldn’t complete my installation of the new phone line / DSL…INCLUDING a demand that I pay them $1,000 for new wire. My hookup is about 40 feet from an existing phone pole with cable running to it. (This strange demand turned out to be a result of ICE accidentally assuming I lived in a different neighborhood almost 2 miles away from where I actually live, which it took them 6 weeks to figure out. DOH.)
Nearly all of the homes in my neighborhood are already hooked up and running with ICE phone and DSL, although the DSL speed is horrendously slow due to our distance from the nearest ‘repeater’ station (4.5KM). We currently have no alternate service providers serving our neighborhood so we’re stuck with the shreds of crappy Internet service ICE provides.
After 3 months of jerking me around, finally ICE stated that they refuse to activate my DSL signal because my neighborhood is too far away from the repeater, and the resulting service problems in my neighborhood are simply TOO annoying for them to deal with. Therefore, they refuse to sign up any more customers in my area.
Nice.
So now, I’m stuck getting internet using my I-Phone with 3G using my ICE Card and my signal is spotty at best b/c there isn’t a tower nearby. Thankfully I’m on a hill and have a terrace – but if I go in the house I’m completely incommunicado.
Now looking at NON-ICE options to get service to my area since we DO, finally, have new competitors in the country. With luck, I will convince a competitor to bring service to our area, and then I can convince my neighbors to pull the plug on ICE, thus depriving them of the fairly substantial revenue they’ve been collecting in exchange for terrible service they’ve provided thus far as the monopoly provider.
To Elisabeth’s initial point –
I think the customs tariffs on electronics (as well as cars and other goods that businesses and individuals need) in CR are outrageous and are absolutely stifling economic growth here.
Imagine yourself a Costa Rican trying to start a small business. Your start-up income / funds are probably scarce, and financing almost impossible to get, yet you will for sure need up-to-date computers, cell phones, printers, and possibly transportation etc. in order to get rolling, among the other items, depending on your business.
Right off the bat, you’re handicapped by daunting start-up costs to buy essentials that are largely going to be imported.
Where is the sense in burdening these already high costs with ridiculously high tariffs?
It’s not a “luxury” to be able to conduct business with a smart-phone any longer – it’s clearly a necessity.
Ms. Chinchilla needs a SERIOUS wake-up call on this issue.
I agree – only use a TRUSTED pool builder and don’t ‘cheap out’ on it, as then you’re just asking for problems.
My builder did a wonderful job with my pool infrastructure – (concrete / rebar), and building it probably took as long as framing my house! Then a local pool expert with a great reputation finished the pool and provided the pumps, lights, finish, etc. So far, so good.
I decided to use a finish called “Crystalcrete”. It is smooth and long lasting and you can design your own colors to get the water color that you want. The cost is reasonable. You can also get PebbleTec here as well as DiamondBrite and Magicolors for your finish if you don’t want to use tile. Tile is fine too. You do NOT want any of these finishes installed by inexperienced crews! The worst, but cheapest option is going with plain plaster & paint – as you’ll have to refinish often. I can’t speak for Fiberglass but do have a very ‘thrifty’ neighbor who has one that’s relatively new. Jury is out on it’s hardiness.
I considered installing a Solar-powered water pump system, but the cost / electricity savings didn’t add up. Eventually I’ll probably do it however. I already have Solar hot water and LED lighting in the house, amongst other energy saving features, so the standard pool pump is my little wasteful extravagance.
[quote=”aguirrewar”]I second that motion[/quote]
I third the motion.
Motion carried, please….???
The average attention span of the average person has gone down to nearly ZERO since the dawn of the Internet.
If I have to re-type a response I carefully crafted just because of some arbitrarily short ‘time out’ rule on a web site, I get more than a little irritated.
PLEASE, Scott, could you make an adjustment here? Thanks!
Sarah
David,
It’s lightweight galvanized steel. One slick aspect of the system is that the joists have cutouts that allow the piping / wiring to be threaded, giving easy access later on.After steel framing, there’s styrofoam insulation (it comes in sheets, not spray-on), a layer of silver reflective insulating ‘wrap’ (optional), and black builder paper.
For the exterior I finished with a combination of concrete stucco, Plycem which looks like Cedar planks and Molejon (a natural stone which was laid on top of concrete). Interiors are standard drywall and Lamina Verde for the bath.
My builder is Frame Projects and their web site is http://www.frame.cr/
They are very busy and haven’t updated their site with photos of their latest projects (including mine). I’m very pleased with their work & their professionalism, and trust me I’m no shrinking violet when it comes to dealing with suppliers & setting high expectations.
If anyone would like more info please feel free to send me a private message.
It’s all about the insulation!
I just built a steel-frame house. It’s heavily insulated. It’s amazingly cool and dry inside compared to the “concrete / rebar” houses around me that I’ve rented during construction of my home.
To boot, my new house is seismically sound. When the 7.4 earthquake hit, my then partially built home, (in Guanacaste), jiggled but NOTHING cracked or crumbled. Many of my neighbors had to do wall and roof repairs. I did nothing except rejoice over my good fortune 🙂
I’ve also seen one amazing container home in Tamarindo. I think with proper insulation this is an interesting option.
Better question is why WOULDN’T anyone want to do this.
It’s a “no brainer”, actually, but sadly most Americans are not aware that they can actually take charge of their own retirement investments using this *IRS blessed* method.
I’m pretty financially savvy and yet only learned of the self-directed IRA last year. Well kept secret, I’d say.
*And BTW, I’m a U of Chicago Grad :)*
[quote=”srigsby”][quote=”sstarkey”]I pay $25 per transfer. It’s a drop in the bucket really.[/quote]
May I ask what bank you use? We have wired funds to our lawyer a few times from the US and our bank charges $45 and the receiving end charges $50. This adds up fast. Anyone use paypal to send money?[/quote]
Charles Schwab. I also get free ATM Withdrawals here with their High Yield checking account. This is helpful because sometimes I simply pay my guys in cash if the invoice amounts aren’t too high (I refuse to risk carrying large sums of cash around).
Also, I generally do NOT reimburse my Lawyer/Architect/Builder for their incoming wire fees when I send money – I am firm that I’m not responsible for their banking fees which are out of my control. To wit: $50 for an incoming wire is insane! My US Credit Union charges me $10 for incoming wires from overseas. Yup, that’s in the US and not CR, but again, I refuse to make it “my problem” if CR banks charge ridiculous fees.
I think it’s all about the bank branch. I opened a BNCR account a few weeks ago, in my name, with my Passport, copies of some US Bank Statements (untranslated) and two letters of recommendation from neighbors who hold accounts there and are well known to the bank manager. I don’t have residency. BNCR DID, however, want to know how much money I’d be moving into the account, and since I don’t plan to use it for more than household expenses I said, “less than 1,000 / month”. That answer was, apparently, the key…it seems moving higher amounts raise the red flags, (the IRS presumably).
The moral of the story: Ask around!
Oh, and I’m building a home here. To fund my build, I wire transfer draws to my builder when needed, generally to cover expenses they’ve already paid on my behalf, plus a cushion for advance purchases. I have full audit rights over invoices and good visibility on purchases (I can see what’s being delivered on site as I live next door).
I agree it’s not a hot idea to grant your builder to have check writing rights…but you do have to figure out something that’s practical while minimizing your risk.
I’ve researched this for my own benefit, and can report that I’ve never found a US – based lender who will directly lend on a CR property. Naturally, the problem is risk management for the lender – how to collect if the loan goes bad.
If you aren’t willing (or able) to go through the C.R. banking system to obtain a mortgage loan (as David describes above) then your best bet is financing obtained through a private lender in the U.S.
If you can find a private lender to lend on the property, you can have a Mortgage drawn up in C.R. that can be recorded. This means, the lender will have recourse should you default – but only within the C.R. system. I suspect the Interest Rate the lender would charge would reflect the risk/cost involved.
Recording / Notary costs should be about 2% of the loan amount, plus you would need to pay a C.R. attorney to draw up a mortgage that is compliant with C.R. laws, and thus enforceable in C.R.
