by Jo Stuart

The truth is, most of us live very narrow lives. With all the choices out there we tend to make the same ones over and over, never expanding our experiences. (Note: I have Freud’s habit of generalizing from observations of myself. You are free to say, as my friend Betty justifiably can, “That’s not my problem, kiddo.”).

I was becoming aware of this at the Saturday Feria where I saw dozens of fruits and vegetables that are totally strange to me. But instead of trying something new, I continue to pick out the same ones over and over – tomatoes, celery, strawberries, carrots, grapefruit, pineapple, etc. Occasionally I will buy some spinach, which is not like the spinach one gets in the States. And I have bought zapallitos. They are like the good old familiar zucchini, and maybe even better. But that is about the extent of it. I don’t even know the names of all those other foods, nor how to prepare them.

It is not just the food that we buy and prepare that we tend to stick to the tried and true. Thank about the restaurants. How often, when you go out to eat, do you go to the same restaurant and order the same dish? And there are so many new ones opening in San Jose and its environs it would be easy to expand one’s repitoire. Speaking of its enviorns, I thought, when I moved to Costa Rica over ten years ago, that it would be a wonderful ‘jumping off’ place. A home base from which I would visit all the countries I have never been to. Other than trips back to the States, to Panama and Nicaragua, I have been nowhere. I have rarely explored other parts of this country except when friends come to visit.

And how many new friends have you made recently? I am not being accusative. Actually, these questions are directed at myself. The reason my thoughts have gone in this direction is something I was reading. It was about falling in love. There is a chemical that the body secretes, a chemical called phenylethylamine (PEA), that surges through the nerve cells and affects both our thoughts and our feelings. This chemical makes us feel euphoric, rejuvenated, optimistic and energized – able to leap over tall buildings. All of our senses are heightened. PEA is so pleasurable it is addicting. I knew and wrote about this many years ago, but what I didn’t know was that the same chemical (PEA) is secreted when we experience new thrills. And how can we experience new thrills or fall in love if we don’t try new things and meet new people? Once in a while two people who have known each other for years suddenly fall in love, but it is rare.

On the other hand, there is another group of chemicals that takes over under different circumstances. They are powerful pain relieveers and the calm and reassure us. They are the endorphins that are secreted when we experience intimacy, empathy, dependability and oft-shared experiences. The are responsible for the good feelings that come from stability, friendship and familiarity. They, as it turns out, are even more addictive than PEA. So there must be a reason why tend to choose the familiar, hang on to our friends and go back to that restaurant and have that favorite dish: why we crave comfort food and miss our family and we eschew the possibility of another heartbreak and more heartburn.

It does make me wonder, though, about one of my favorite fairy tales. Was “The Princess and the Pea” a sort of conundrum? Was the Princess upset because she was getting PEA with every new mattress when what she really wanted was endorphins?

Jo Stuart is the author of the popular book about life in Costa Rica entitled, “Butterfly in the City.” To order a copy of her wonderful book please contact her at: jostuart@amcostarica.com

by Jo Stuart

When setting off to accomplish something in San Jose, I find it a good idea to have a plan B at the ready, and when depending upon buses, having a Plan C in the wings is not a bad idea.

This week I had a 7:00 a.m. appointment with my doctor at Hospital Mexico. I got there on time, but through a mix-up (probably a breakdown in communication), I didn’t see Dr. Ugalde until nearly ten a.m. but he is a sweet man and since he had some student interns in his office, I smiled when I told him I was annoyed. He apologized for the delay. I took the opportunity to give him my book “Butterfly in the City” and he was so pleased, I couldn’t be annoyed anymore.

I had had only a cup of coffee and my hot lemonade for breakfast so by the time I left I was really hungry. I decided I would take a taxi to the MasXMenos on the autopista and kill two birds with one stone, or rather feed this bird twice with one visit. Cate and Bill had told me that MasXMenos had really good gallo pinto, and it is a supermarket, so I would have breakfast and then shop. That was my plan. Only the biusa that I took from the Hospital didn’t stop across from the MasXMenos (they used to.) So, quickly, I decided I would breakfast at Quiznos on Paseo Colon and shop later. The biusa doesn’t stop there anymore either.

Shifting to Plan C I decided, if one MasXMenos has good gallo pinto perhaps the one downtown does, too. Lately I have been inundated with advice about the foods that are good for aging bones and lagging energy. There must be some reason I see so many older women in San Jose walking tall and straight and I have decided it must be the daily intake of rice and beans. No other food that I can think of is as universal here, although fruits and vegetables help. I got on another bus at the Church de la Merced – where the biusa does stop – and went to the Caja.

During my ride I took notice of the buildings along the way. My friend Dos has been commenting to me about the newly painted, brightly colored buildings of late. She wants me to find out why people are painting them such bright colors. The only recent paint job I noticed on my route was the Teatro Melico Salazar’s new yellow façade. It is quite beautiful. I had asked a friendly Tico architect why the new colors and he said it was “the Mexican influence.” I wasn’t sure if he was kidding.

I had a four block walk to the store and on the way I passed The News Café, a Kentucky Fried Chicken, Spoons, a hotel restaurant, four pizza places, several sodas, two panaderias and one paint store. It crossed my mind that maybe there has been a big sale on blue, orange and lime paints. I was tempted by the different fare in the various restaurants but rejected going to Plan D; afraid if I did I would forget to shop.

The MasXMenos on Avenida Central has a complete cafeteria now. I stuck to gallo pinto and a couple of fried platanos, which I love but seldom eat. For a mountain of rice and beans, two pieces of platanos and 12 ounces of Cas juice, the cost was 605 colones (under $1.20)

On my way home I realized I should have gone into that paint store and asked them about the new décor of San Jose. (That is, instead of dropping into that corner shoe store.) But since I didn’t, I am putting out the call. If anyone has another answer besides the Mexican influence, please let me know so Dos can go on to some other fascinating cultural question.

Jo Stuart is the author of the popular book about life in Costa Rica entitled, “Butterfly in the City.” To order a copy of her wonderful book please contact her at: jostuart@amcostarica.com

By Nathan Rold a long-time resident of Costa Rica

Over the years I have had the opportunity to meet many Americans from all walks of life. To be here you have to an adventurous and different type of person. It takes a lot of courage to move anyplace. Some people have a difficult time moving one place to another in their home town let alone moving to another country.

The majority of the North American retirees I have encountered have been very pleasant people. I have had nothing but good dealings with this group. However, let’s look at the other side of the coin.

A growing number of would-be North American entrepreneurs are becoming increasingly attracted to Costa Rica because of the growing number of business opportunities especially in the fields of tourism and real estate. Unfortunately many of these people are not qualified professionally, lack the fundamental knowledge and life experiences and even ethics. I have heard a growing number of Americans complain that despite the growing crime problem among Costa Ricans, that they have had more bad experience and been victimized more by fellow Americans.

The problem is that we have now have overnight gurus and experts being by the slews. Some foreigners think that by just moving they have enough experience to dole out advise and go into business. Recently, I checked out a tour company and found the owners had only lived in Costa Rica for a few months. How could they possibly have enough knowledge about Costa Rica to run a tour company in such a short time?

Would-be real estate agents are coming out of the woodwork. Many are even wetbacks (no offense to our Mexican brothers) who are working here illegally without having residency. Would you buy property in the States or Canada from an illegal?

I even heard of a person selling Costa Rican real estate in the States who had never even been here.

With the graying of the baby Boomers there are now thousands of web sites springing up all over the Internet by people offering retirement and real estate. Its hard to separate the real deal from inexperienced people and outright scoundrels. Every real estate site has retirement info. They have cut and pasted from a few of the real authorities on the subject. Several groups offer retirement related services and the principals don’t even speak Spanish nor have they lived here for enough time to give good advice. They are just here to ride the gravy train of the gold rush and prey on naive prospects.

One very smooth talking character I met , who passed himself off as a very religious family man, ran a dating service for single men looking for serious relationships. He lured the men in under this pretext and sold them products like off shore corporations, on-line casinos, none of which these people really needed.

An investment company with a biblical name and whose principals are now in jail in California, bilked other North Americans out of about $150,000,000 million dollars a few years back.

Bottom line is most of us who come here just want to live and let live. A few others are here to reap the spoils of the land and take advantage of their naive countrymen. Please be careful! This article is written to both help and protect future and current residents and keep them from making unfortunate mistakes.

This is bound to cause some controversy.

People often ask me, “Is it safe to invest in Costa Rica?” I don’t purport to be an expert in the field of international investments but lately have seen a growing number of big name U.S. companies and individuals investing in Costa Rica. They would never think of putting their capital here if the investment climate was not favorable.

Intel was the first major play to invest in Costa Rica in 1998. A significant amount of Intel’s major manufacturing and technology development has taken place at its award-winning site in Costa Rica. This site includes two manufacturing plants and one distribution center dedicated to the assembly, testing and distribution of the world’s fastest processors.

Let’s look at who else has invested recently in Costa Rica.

• General Electric purchased 50% of the Bank of San Jose, a private local bank. As a result the bank plans to expand to other areas of the country.
• Wal-Mart just purchased stock in Supermercados Unidos, the largest supermarket chain in Central America.
• Steve Case, the founder of AOL and of Time Warner fame, just purchased 23 million dollars worth of beach property. He plans to build an upscale resort at Punta Cacique.
• Wendy’s Hamburger chain will open over 15 stores in Costa Rica starting in May of 2006. All 15 of the stores should be completed by 2010.

This purpose of this article is to show one person’s resourcefulness and courage in the face of adversity. The author is not advocating moving to Costa Rica with little or no money.

About three years ago I met Steve who had lived in Hawaii for many years. He moved here because Hawaii had become very expensive and he wanted to make his early retirement “nest egg” go farther. Steve had always been used to living frugally and in the process amassed a few hundred thousand dollars.

Within a few months of moving here Steve invested his life savings in two high interest -yielding investments with the idea of doubling his money in a few years. This was his game plan but unfortunately both of his investments went “belly up.” Steve was left with only a few thousand dollars to his name. As we mentioned Steve had mastered the art of living on very little money but had never been faced with having no resources and living in a foreign country. He knew that he would not be able to draw his pension for four more years. Steve thought of returning to the States to work and then moving back to Costa Rica when he got back on his feet. However, he became involved with a nice Costa Rican woman and had also fallen in love with the country.
His close friends provided him with a place to live for free, but he still had to find a way to generate and income. Since he was born with the ability to repair almost anything, he did odd jobs in exchange for small sums of money and food.

After a while he figured that the only way he could continue to live in Costa Rica was to start a business. Steve had one big problem; no money with which to start a business. His pride kept him for asking for a loan from friends. He started to look at local small business and do research on the Internet. It did not take him long to come up with a good idea for a small business. He came across a good recipe for banana bread and his business was born.

At present he sells he bread to tourists and his many friends in the city of Heredia where he lives. He has purchased a mixing machine, an oven and his lady friend is helping him.
Steve is a born survivor. All of his friends are sure he will continue to do well and continue to enjoy living in the country he has adopted as his home.