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I don’t trust many cab drivers in C.R. I have the cell phone number of one that drives for the company with the newer orange cabs that service the airport that I always use when I can.
Those old red cabs in San Jose seem to me to be more trouble. When I first started going to C.R. one of the drivers of one of those old beat up red cabs tried to take me to his buddies (I think) to rob me one night. After a phone call that I couldn’t understand but sounded fishy he went off the main road down into a scary part of town and then down a dark alley. I’m a pretty big guy but I was pretty scared by the time he turned into the alley so I took hold of his neck and made him back up and take me to the hotel. I would NEVER ride in one of those old red beat up cabs again.Yes, but I’ve never been asked to produce a return ticket and same goes for everyone in my family who goes back and forth.
Puerto Viejo is very nice but there are a fair number of tourists around and costs are getting up there.
I go to a small village (about 300 people) where one can buy a lot for $2000 – $3000, a tico style (old and simple) for $5000 – $10,000 and renting an old tico style house is about $75-$100 month (gringo price) and about $35-$50 month (tico price). My son in law took me out to a place where there is no power or water and the lots were even less. No real title’s there but other gringo’s have bought and there seems to be ways around getting your hands on the title. I’m no real estate expert so a good trustworthy C.R. attorney should be consulted. But there are 1/2 doz. gringo’s who own land there, some who have businesses on the land. I know of two motel style hotels there owned by gringo’s. You can stay there for $30 night including meals. And it’s a new building.
The village is called Parismina and you have to take a boat up river to get there. It’s on the way to the National park further up river. A real cultural experience.
I should mention that I am promoting the village because my daughter and her boyfriend live there and have a small business. But I love the place and plan to retire there in a few more years when I hit 55 and can take early retirement. Check out Parismina.com and if you decide to go look for Ross’s hotel. It’s the new one and includes meals. I haven’t seen it yet because it was just opened but I hear it’s the best of the 3 or 4 right in the village. And, of course, (self-promo) look up my beautiful daughter Shannon and her man, Jessie, of Jungle Jessie Tours for THE best tour boat and tours/river fishing etc on the river!
My daughter recently returned to C.R. with 3 large bags – one was a hockey goalie equipment bag with 20 fairly unusual life jackets in it that I got them for their business. She was expecting to have to pay something but they waved her through after asking her what they were for. (They were not for resale – they were for their tour boat, but we still believed we’d have to pay duty on them.)
Hi Scott:
I really enjoyed that too. Got me thinking about what mine would be…..
My life mission statement right now is to try to keep my mind focused on the work I’ve committed to finish for the next 4 years while working on my plan to live in Costa Rica when the 4 years is up. I’ll be 55 and if I don’t keel over from a heart attack or get hit by a bus, I’ll be there where you folks are now, enjoying the beautiful weather and the long lines of friendly people at the bank.
Rick
I was speaking with a guy a year ago who built a motel up near Limon. He used to pick up a small air conditioner each time he went home to the US and bring it back as a piece of luggage. Friends and family would have to bring one with them if they came to visit. He said it was worth it even though he had to pay a little extra for the excess weight because he was only paying about $175 each for them.
Does anyone know if it is legal for pensionados to own a gun in Costa Rica? I can’t imagine Buckner carried his “piece” in peace with Costa Rican law.
Hi Antonic:
There are lots of Canadians living in Costa Rica. Here is a website you might want to take a look at. Say’s they have about 200 Canadian members who live in Costa Rica.
Good luck fello Canuck from Australia
I was hoping someone else who knows more than I do would reply to this but I guess since I’m a Canadian I’ll try. I should mention that I don’t live in Costa Rica and I’m not retired for another 4 years so I cannot be considered an expert at this. I’ve visited many times and love Costa Rica and do plan to retire there so I know a little about how my 3 pension plans (1 of them being C.P.P.) will work.
C.P.P. qualifies toward the requirments of pensionado status in Costa Rica. You should keep in mind that C.P.P., I’m told, will deduct 25% and withold that toward taxes before sending it out to you. So after the deductions you need at least $600 if you don’t have any other dependents, or any other qualifying pensions, in order to qualify.
C.P.P. does allow you to collect while you live in Costa Rica.
My fellow Canuck, may I just add that the experts here on this site suggest coming here to check things out before making the move. And then I think I’ve heard them say rent for a while before deciding where you want to live/buy.
Good luck
Hi Tom:
I doubt the trouble central americans are having getting visitors visa’s to Canada right now has anything to do with US policy. I could be wrong but I think it’s because we’re having troubles of our own here that have influenced policy.
In our city over the last 10 years there has been a huge increase in Spanish speaking gangs selling dope on the corners. Part of my work brings me into contact with them and I’ve not met one so far who’s from Costa Rica. Too bad everyone from the C.A. area tends to get painted with the same brush.
If I were you I would suggest to them they not purchase return tickets before submitting the visa application. They understood why we were not willing to buy them before being approved for the visa. That part they were fairly reasonable about. Good luck
I have some experience with this and I’m Canadian. It is very difficult to get a visitors visa to Canada for someone from Costa Rica UNLESS they have money, income from employment and strong ties to their community. VERY difficult.
Get your federal M.P. to write a letter of support if you have any sort of relationship with her/him. Mine told me the Can. Embassy has final say and MP’s have little pull. By the way, you’ll be dealing with the Can. Emb. in Guatemala, not the one in C.R. They will take the application and forward it to Guatemala where it has been our experience that the people who process the application don’t understand English very well.
I’m serious about this. And, to further frustrate the situation, there is no appeal and they don’t have to explain why they reject you and if they do, it’ll be very vague. I got my MP to look into the reasons given and she was told something different from what we were told.
Here is just one of the frustrations we’ve had trying to get my daughter’s boyfriend a temp. res. (visitors) visa. I wrote a letter for the application taking financial responsibility for him while here. I explained that my daughter is living with him and they plan to get married in Costa Rica soon. I further explained that we wanted him to come spend Christmas with us and he’d be staying for a month and then they’d be going back to C.R. In their explanation of why they rejected his application they left us with the impression that they felt he and I were in a homosexual relationship and the file was denied and closed. No appeal and no way to further explain. How do you get to that with what I wrote? No phone calls to clarify if confused. Just reject it.
Now I know I’m not the most polished writer ever to live but I think I explained the situation well enough for anyone who speaks reasonable English to understand fairly clearly what was going on.
The whole process costs about $75 and I’m sure they pay some nice Guatemalan lady less than $20 a day to process these things. They keep telling us we’re free to apply again if we like but they remain vague as to exactly what they want to see before approving him.
This time we’ve got a lawyer here in Canada and also a letter from the MP, and we’re waiting until after they get married in C.R. before we waste another $75.
There doesn’t seem to be anything anyone can do about this pathetic situation. Good luck. If you learn anything new will you please post it. And I will too as long as Scott is okay with that.
Hi Scott:
I’m not a professional.
I thought it was great except for one thing. No disrespect intended toward you but I felt the video was lively but your voice wasn’t. It sounded too serious to me and didn’t seem to match the good times being had by all in the video. I realize you aren’t a D.J. or a singer and I thought the rest was great. Makes me want to get back there as soon as I can get away!
Hi Dave:
Keep an eye on this thread. I haven’t heard back from my daughter yet as to the contact info for the boat builder who made our pontoon boat. Her (Costa Rican) boyfriend is out of town and should be back today. He should be able to get that for you. You can either post an email address or check back here and I’ll post the contact info as soon as I get it.
