Retirement In Costa Rica What We’re Thinking

Costa Rica is one of the most diverse countries in the world. From the tropical rain forests in the central part of the country to the very hot beaches on both coasts there are many microclimates in between.

It seems to me that in the Central Valley at around twenty five hundred to three thousand feet you find that perfect climate. Around the town of Atenes, which some people say; “has the best climate in the world”, the temperature stays between sixty-two and eighty five year round requiring neither air conditioning nor heat.

Some of the most interesting man made objects in the country were found off the southwest coast on an island about thirty miles from the mainland. There they found stones carved into what look like perfectly spherical balls, of course they aren’t perfect, but they certainly fool the eye. To this day no one knows who made them or why, and when they were first discovered, many of them were taken to the mainland for decoration. Now they are off limits, and the navy patrols to protect both the artifacts and the environment.

The government of Costa Rica is the oldest and most stable democratic government in Central America. The culture itself is one of the friendliest you will find anywhere on earth. My wife and I have made many friends there in the last six years. It’s seems like more of a European culture than other central American cultures and the people will go out of their way to help you even if you don’t speak Spanish.

Our first visit was a twenty-one day driving trip exploring the central valley and the northwest to a three thousand acre nature preserve called “El Pelon.” It’s about twenty miles north of Liberia, which is one of Costa Rica’s larger towns, and has the second largest airport next to San Jose. We also went south along the western part of the Nicoya peninsula and spent almost a week in what was then a small beach town called Samara.

The North American land bridge, which is Panama and most of Costa Rica, is some of the newest continental land in the world. It was formed around five million years ago by volcanic activity. Before this land formed the main current of the earth came around the Cape of Africa and went between North and South America.

There are many active volcanoes, the most famous being Arenal, outside the quaint town of Fortuna. It erupted in 1968 and at that time the town had a different name. After the volcano settled down the town became a tourist attraction and many people made their living from tourism.

Thus the name,”Fortuna.” At the base of the mountain there are springs flowing down the valley, the most famous of which is Tabacon springs.

Tabacon is like being in a natural Jacuzzi and the higher up you go the hotter the water gets. It has become very crowded now and it’s good to get there early in the morning when it’s cooler and there aren’t as many people.

Just in the last six years we have witnessed major changes in the town of Fortuna. I think that tourism has taken some of the romance away from this little town.

Costa Rica, like the rest of the world, is experiencing economic problems. These problems are mostly linked to the decline of the U.S. and the rest of the world’s economies and house and land prices are still falling with many unable to sell what used to be “a real deal”. And like the rest of the world they are dealing with pollution and the effects of global warming.

One of the main signs of this is the fact that many species of frogs are simply disappearing. Frogs are like the canary in the coal mine, they breathe through their skin, and thus they re-act to air quality changes much more quickly than other species.

Now I may seem to be getting off the subject of Costa Rica but this beautiful country like all others on earth are being affected by climate change. They recently had tsunami warnings on the west coast and that entire coast is on the “ring of fire”.

Many people are pointing to the end of the Mayan calendar as a harbinger of things to come in December of 2012. This date actually signals a very unusual alignment of the earth, our sun, and the center of our galaxy. This alignment only happens about every twenty five thousand years or so and signals our complete rotation through all twelve signs of the Zodiac.

Now you will say, this is getting into astrology, but actually it is simply charting the movement of our planet and our solar system through the Milky Way Galaxy. There are many things going on now that point to drastic change for everyone on the planet. The melting of North Pole ice, the Greenland ice sheet, and Antarctica, is proceeding at an alarming rate. It’s seems it’s the “snowball rolling down a hill effect” the larger it gets the faster it goes.

As I write this there are hundreds of icebergs being spotted south of Australia. Icebergs in this area are fairly common but not in these numbers and they all seem to be coming from the Ross Ice Shelf as it breaks off into the sea. Global warming is a hot topic today, no pun intended, and it has many causes.

One of the things that worry scientists is that the permafrost in northern Canada and Siberia is now melting. This permafrost is made mostly of decaying animal and plant life and when it is unfrozen it gives off extreme amounts of methane gas. Methane is over twenty times stronger than carbon emissions and this could contribute greatly to a warmer climate.

Many believe that the dark cloud of gases now in our atmosphere will actually slow warming by reflecting sunlight back into space. This is a topic I won’t get into because there is no solid evidence either way.

The one great advantage Costa Rica has is it’s abundant supply of fresh food and water. About eighty percent of its electric power comes from hydroelectric plants, run entirely on flowing water. This is one of the cleanest ways to produce electricity and it is being used more and more throughout the world.

One other factor I’d like to mention is the fact that the polarity of the earth is shifting. In other words, north becomes south and vice versa. This is a scientific fact and they have found an area of about one million square miles between South America and Africa where compasses don’t work as they should and there is intense solar radiation.

What this bodes for us is up for debate. Scientists say they think this happens every six hundred to seven hundred thousand years. I find this prediction interesting because it coincides with their predictions of how often the super volcano in Yellowstone national park erupts. This volcano has a caldera that is fifty-six miles across and a full eruption would be catastrophic.

I am talking about things that seem unrelated to Costa Rica here but in reality these things will affect all life on earth. It seems to me that the people of Costa Rica are more closely tied to their environment than many of us. Rarely do they eat anything that is imported and we have consumed tap water all over the country without ill effects. I would not do this in the major cities though because of inherent problems with any concentration of population.

Don’t get me wrong Costa Rica has it’s problems with pollution too. There are two main ones I have observed, one being the Tarcoles River that drains the entire central valley into the Gulf of Nicoya. Despite efforts to clean it up it still dumps vast amounts of pollution into the gulf and swimmers there have reported stomach and skin problems.

We went to look at some property my wife’s uncle owns just south of the river.

The water looked fine, but upon talking to one of the neighbors there I observed some sore spots on his skin and asked him where they came from. He told me he wasn’t sure but he suspected it was from swimming in the water there, something he said “he no longer does”.

The other problem is on the east coast and is mainly due to runoff of pesticides and fertilizers from the large fruit plantations running down to the coast. Fruit is a major export for this small country and this problem is one that needs to be addressed.

We have considered buying a small place in the mountains where we could spend the winter but have decided it would be better to rent at first to see how we like it. If you haven’t visited Costa Rica by all means do so, you won’t regret it. It has a spellbinding effect on many people and there are more Americans there per capita than any other country in the world.

Scott Oliver has written an excellent book on buying real estate in Costa Rica and I would recommend it to anyone contemplating a purchase. His website, www.WeLoveCostaRica.com is also a tremendous source of information on living in Costa Rica.

Good Luck!

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Written by VIP Member Thomas Michael Eure of Richmond, VA who has been a writer and painter for over forty years. Tom started his work career at his Dad’s grocery store when he was 10 and has always been fascinated with people and their habits. He attended college for six years ending up a philosophy major with a concentration in psychology.

Tom and his wife of thirty years have the unique Atlantis Leather shop at the Greenbrier Hotel’s artist’s colony and are frequent visitors to Costa Rica.

Andrew Makarik

to@welovecostarica.com

Andrew Makarik is the main editor of WeLoveCostaRica, a fan of this sunny country. He is also a loving husband and a has a lovely daughter. By being a devoted family man and the biggest Costa Rica fan, he wants to make more people feel at home there. WeLoveCostaRica unites people and helps them find new home or a new travel destination. This website is a friendly community where everyone can find not only information, but also new friends and travel pals. Andrew is also passionate about IT and programming, so he himself maintains a friendly atmosphere in this cozy environment of WeLoveCostaRica.com.