Seniors and baby-boomer retirees are having a tough time with a hold on Social Security cost-of-living increases. Local cities have runaway budgets. Many cities are starting to charge big bucks for emergency vehicle responses. And they are charging upwards to $1,000 per response. Many cities in California are charging $350 – $500 for a 911 call. Some friends in the U.S. tell me that their close friends in Salt Lake City, Utah, had to sell their house at a big loss and move to Costa Rica for lower medical costs, housing, etc. Savvy Retirees are really starting to look elsewhere in the world for a better lifestyle with lower costs.

In Costa Rica I pay less than $25 dollars monthly for a PRIVATE ambulance service. The public ambulance service is FREE here. There were no sub prime mortgages here and the housing market is coming back in Costa Rica because the banks are lending money again. It never really went away, just slowed down and corrected itself which was needed. An apartment or small home can be rented for well under $1000 per month if you don’t want to buy.

Thsee are just a few examples of how baby boomer retirees and others can save money and live with dignity here without sacrificing their lifestyles. In fact, they will probably have a much better and healthier life in Costa Rica for a hell of a lot less money.

Costa Rica’s people are the happiest in the world.

One of the things that draws retirees to Costa Rica is the country’s wonderful people. Besides its excellent weather and natural beauty, Costa Rica’s unique people are probably the country’s most important resource and one of the main factors in considering Costa Rica as a place to live or retire.

Costa Ricans proudly call themselves ticos. They affectionately and playfully use this nickname to set themselves apart from their neighbors. This practice is derived from their habit of adding the diminutive suffix -”ico” to words instead of “ito,” as is done in most Spanish-speaking countries. For example, instead of saying un ratito (a little while), ticos say un ratico.

Costa Ricans are friendly and outgoing and will often go out of their way to help you even if you do not speak Spanish. They are also very pro-American and love anything American—music, TV, fashion and U.S. culture in general. Because of these close ties to the United States and just the right amount of American influence, Costa Ricans tend to be more like North Americans than any other people in Latin America.

Generally speaking, the people of Costa Rica love to have fun, to live with “gusto” and know how to enjoy themselves. Ticos seem to always have a smile on their faces. In fact, Costa Ricans are the happiest people in Latin America and thirteenth happiest people in the world according to a study by Leicester University in England. The Costa Ricans are also the most satisfied with their lives according to the Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo (BID) or Bank of Interamerican Development. This happiness and the country’s fantastic lifestyle are contagious and make most foreign retirees happier, too.

They say there are three important things in a Costa Rican man’s life: soccer, beer and women — although not necessarily in that order.

Just as in the rest of Latin America, a strong family unit seems to be the most important element in Costa Rican society. Social life still centers around the home. Much of one’s leisure time is usually spent with family. Mother’s Day is one of the most important holidays. Parents and relatives go to almost any length to spoil and baby their children. Elderly family members are revered and generally treated better than their counterparts in the United States or Canada.

What all of this boils down to is that Costa Rica’s friendly people are another compelling reason to retire here.

I have written about this subject before but always strive to keep my readers up to date on the availability of quality foods in Costa Rica. Every year more and more U.S. products are sold in Costa Rica’s supermarkets. So retirees need not worry about getting their goodies from home.

Recently, Walmart announced that it was going to introduce a line of “premium’ foods for all of their Mas x Menos stores. They have even changed their name from Más X Menos ( More for Less) to Maspormenos in an effort to create a new image. Furthermore, they are remodeling select stores to go along with the new “look” and products. In all the chain now has 25 supermarkets under the new brad name of Maspormenos. These changes are response to the company’s main competitors: Auto Mercado and the smaller Fresh Market. The former has 14 outlets and the later has 10 stores.

Walmart has also added over 1000 of new products to its list of imports including: cookies, beers, wines, salad dressings, beauty products and a whole lot more. A couple of stores even sell fresh sushi, have delicatessen meats and bakeries.

The good about the competition among these supermarket chains is that each one tries to outdo the other one. The result is that the availability of imported foods has increased dramatically for the locals and the American retirement community. For example, at Thanksgiving and Christmas you can now purchase frozen turkeys from the U.S., Ocean Spray Cranberry Sauce, Stove Top Stuffing and even the filler for pumpkin pies. How about that?

A move to Costa Rica is not tantamount to gastronomic sacrifice.

Yesterday I took a half an hour bus ride from my home in Heredia to bustling downtown San José. As soon as I got off the bus I could feel the change in energy. The streets were overflowing with ticos (Costa Ricans) doing their Christmas shopping. At Christmas time most employees receive a bonus equivalent to one month’s pay called an aguinaldo. Yesterday (December 4) the Central Government paid their 491 billion colones in aguinaldos so everyone hit the streets to flood local businesses.

Some people including foreigners are afraid to venture into San José because of exaggerated crime reports. During the Christmas holidays 750 police patrol the downtown area to ensure everyone’s safety. If you haven’t taken a stroll down Avenida Central during the Christmas season, you should do it. The Christmas spirit is really uplifting.

Starting the 9th of December is the annual avenidazo. On that date the Municipality of San Jose begins to offer a variety of activities in downtown area for all ages. Some of the events are performances by local choirs, marimba music, parades and much more. December 11th is the annual Festive of the Light Parade (Festival de La Luz) on Paseo Colón, which is “must” if you have never seen it in person. You can also watch it on television but it isn’t the same as seeing it live.

At night a traditional part of the avenidazo is the throwing of confetti by young pedestrians as they walk back and forth along Central Avenue. So much confetti is thrown that the ground looks like a snow storm had occurred the night before.

A good place to watch the action is around the Plaza de la Cultura, by the Central Bank, at the News Café in the Hotel Presidente or The Patio Restaurant to the west of the Hotel Balmoral. The atmosphere is really festive and should be experienced by everyone who wants to see Costa Rican culture first-hand.

This is just one of the hundreds of year-round activities retired people can enjoy in Costa Rica to stay busy and happy.

I just had a fantastic guest on my monthly relocation/retirement tour. His name is Vince P. and he hails form northern California. Vince is a highly educated person having graduated form M.I.T. with a degree in economics. He also has been a highly successful builder and developer over the years. He semi-retired early young in the nineties.

Vince shared something very interesting with me. He told me that he only sleeps three hours a night and is a self-confessed work-a-holic. He plays the stock market among other activities and finds it extremely hard to relax. Nevertheless, he claims to have had some of the best night’s sleep of his life on my tour, sleeping up to eight hours nightly. It seems that Costa Rica turns out to be just what the doctor ordered for Vince.

He also went on to say that my retirement tour was so good that he would take it again, recommend it to all of his friends and associates and write me a glowing testimonial.

I am so happy have made Vince and the others on my November retirement tour happy by introducing them to this wonderful country.