By the summer of 2012 thousands of locals, retirees and tourists who visit the city of Puntarenas on the Pacific Coast will be able to enjoy a fist-class resort. The resort will feature a huge swimming pool, a small pool for children, restaurants, a convention center and beach access. The facility will be able to accommodate around 1,200 people at one time.

People on my popular relocation/retirement tours often ask about activities to stay busy while living here. The new resort in Puntarenas is just one of the thousands of things to do to stay busy and happy in Costa Rica.

Yesterday I was I downtown San José, Costa Rica and it seemed everyone was consumed with soccer. A lot of businesses put TVs in the window so that the people on the street could follow the games. I met a friend for coffee at the Patio Restaurant at the Hotel Balmoral. The place was full of people eating lunch and watching the game. There was also a birthday party going on with a group of Mariachis entertaining playing, so the place was buzzing with activity. The Balmoral faces Avenida Central, the city’s main pedestrian mall, so it is a great place to watch people. You’ll certainly get an eye-full!

For the next month everything comes to a virtual halt when there is a World Cup soccer game. It seems that everyone’s life revolves around the sport. Many business even give their employees a flexible schedule so that they can view games. A lot of cab drivers even have small TVs in the vehicles so that they can follow the cup and radios everywhere are blaring the play-by-play.

Soccer or fútbol as I is called here is king and the king rules during the World Cup. This huge event rivals the Super Bowl or Olympics. It hard to believe that in the U.S. most people aren’t aware that the Cup is even going on. That is not the case here.

In case you don’t understand the rules of soccer or how it is played, Don’t worry! Everything is explained in a previous article I wrote on this blog. It also appears in my perennial best seller “The New Golden Door to Retirement and Living in Costa Rica.” By the way the 16th edition will be released in a couple of months.

If you live or retire in Costa Rica sooner or later you will get bitten by the soccer bug. The important games are a good time to socialize and gather with friends to add to your list of incredible experiences in Costa Rica.

On my monthly relocation and retirement tours I’m always asked about activities in which Costa Ricans engage. I always make it a point to talk about the lottery or lotería nacional. Don’t get me worng! I don’t advocate going to a casino and gambling away your hard earned money, because I never do. However, I always explain how the lottery works here, especially after many of my clients notice the venders selling the tickets on the streets and ask, “What are they selling there?”

The lottery is a part of most Costa Rican’s lives for a long time. Almost every tico I know dreams of striking it rich by winning the big Christmas lottery called EL Gordo Navideño or Premio Mayor (grand prize). There are also weekly lotteries which offer a smaller payoff. The results can be found in the newspapers.

People use their date of birth, their lucky number, numbers and symbols from their dreams, etc. in order to select they lottery numbers they will play.

The lottery is a Costa Rican tradition and has been around since 1800s when the first drawing was held. In 1845 Nazarino Toledo, the head of a charity, requested the government start a public lottery to raise funds for the construction of the San Juan de Dios Hospital. Shortly after the government initiated a monthly lottery to raise money. However, it wasn’t until 1885 that the lottery officially began on a more regular basis.

In December of 1960 the Gordo Navideño was held. It wasn’t until 1979 that the first million colón prize was offered. In 1986 the largest prize was 5 million colónes. Today the prizes are larger and lottery tickets are more colorful. A large portion of the money collected still goes to charity and the remainder is given to the respective winners.

If your are a retiree and beer drinker and are thinking about moving to Costa Rica, you have come to the right place. The three most important things in a Costa Rican’s life are beer, soccer and women, but not necessarily in that order. However, one thing is certian, Costa Ricans ARE beer drinkers. Beer is also called “birra” or “una fría” in Costa Rican slang. The saying ¡Pura Birra! (pure beer) is word play on the national motto of ¡Pura vida! (pure life).

There seems to be a bar on every corner displaying the eagle-emblazoned logo of Imperial beer. Since there is a an eagle on the label most Costa Ricans refer to Imperial as “un águila” or eagle in Spanish. If you go into a bar and ask for an “aguila” they will know immediately you want an imperial. Imperial is by far the country’s most popular brand.

In Costa Rica, there is exactly one major brewery. It goes by the name Cerveceria de Costa Rica. It’s owned by a conglomerate called the Florida Ice and Farm Company.

The second-most popular brand of beer in Costa Rica, Pilsen which is also available just about everywhere. It’s somewhat lighter in body and color than Imperial.

The Bavaria label of beer seems to be the upscale image section of Cervecería de Costa Rica’s product line. Bavaria Gold, Bavaria Dark and Bavaria Light are the three beers that comprise this line of beer. Bavaria Gold is noticeably better in quality than either Imperial or Pilsen, with a firmer body, a cleaner flavor. Bavaria dark is a very nice, well-crafted Vienna style dark amber. Bavaria light is a typical thin, watery low-cal and low-alcohol beer.

Rock Ice watery, unbalanced “ice” beer. It was voted one of the worst beers 9n the world according to a poll of beer lovers.

Heineken, Holland’s most famous export, can be found all over Costa Rica. It’s not imported though,but brewed locally by Cerveceria de Costa Rica. It is hard to tell the difference between the Costa Rican version and the Heineken that’s found in every other corner of the globe.

Corona is a popular Mexican beer that is sold in Costa Rica.

Beers from the U.S., Argentina, Ireland, Germany, Belgium, Denmark, and Japan among other are also sold here. However, in much smaller numbers than Costa Rica’s national beer.

It was just announced that a Costa Rican company plans to import Baltika, which is a popular Russian beer.

If you are a movie freak or cinéfilo as we say in Spanish then you will be happy during your retirement days in Costa Rica. Most first- run movies premier here about the same time they do in the States or shortly after at a fraction of the price. Movie theaters are very popular, and have become part of the daily entertainment of Costa Ricans. On top of that, all movies are in English with Spanish subtitles except for children’s movies since they cannot read. We even have an iMax movie theater in Escazú. Some of the newer theaters have stadium seating just like in the U.S.

In the old days most movie theaters were in downtown San José or Heredia. Now most theaters are located in shopping malls. The majority of the old theaters have been demolished.

Every year more and more movie theaters are being built in Costa Rica. Most are located in the Central Valley around San José and its suburbs. CCC Cinemas and Nova Cinemas just announced plans to expand their chains. The former has 37 theaters in Costa Rica. Cinéplois which is another company that operates movie theaters here has also plans to build more new theaters in Costa Rica. Furthermore, many of the older movie theaters in shopping malls are being remodeled and upgraded with better projectors and other equipment.

To find what movies are playing in Costa Rica look at the local newspapers or go on line.

Don’t despair! If your favorite movie doesn’t come to Costa Rica you can always rent the DVD here or wait until we get it on cable or satellite TV. You can also buy movies through Amazon.com and have them brought here through one of the private mail companies.

The bottom line is that by moving to Costa Rica or retiring here, you won’t be missing out on their favorite flicks from home.