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The Three Biggest Lies Among Gringos in Costa Rica

Costa Ricans have many jokes. For example, one is the three most important things in a Costa Rican man’s life: 1) soccer 2) beer 3) women. Not necessarily in that order.

It is also common that Costa Ricans often tell this anecdote when asked what are the three biggest lies in Costa Rica : 1) This is the last drink of the night 2) I will pay you the money I owe you tomorrow 3) I am just going to insert the head of my penis.

In the case of gringos in Costa Rica the three biggest lies are not as vulgar as the last example but much more true; 1) I speak fluent Spanish 2) I have the best lawyer with the best connections 3) I am an expert on real estate. I don’t know how many hundreds of times I have heard people say this here which makes this statement absolutely true.

Let me address number one. If a gringo knows a couple hundred words in Spanish or has lived here for a year or two, it seems automatic that he or she speaks fluent Spanish. Well, there are different degrees of fluency. Fluent means to flow like a river. I know few foreigners who can speak at that level. Again miracles happen in Costa Rica and foreigners seem to think they have learned the language over night.

Next, I don’t know how many times I have heard gringos say they have the best lawyer with the best contacts that can get anything done. There are a lot of lawyers here. Some are good and some are bad. Be careful of lawyers who boast about there contacts and how they can get around the system. A competent lawyer who works within the system is on the an even playing field with other good lawyers and has to work with the bounds of the law.

Finally, there is a real estate boom here any every Tom, Dick and Harry foreigner is trying to cash in on it by getting on the band wagon. About 80% of the websites out there and information about real estate are second-rate and have been put up by someone who is really not qualified. Experts in the field are few and far between. So be careful not deposit your faith in some gringos just because they claim to experts.