The summers in are generally warm and the days are long with the sun setting around 9 o’clock. However, the rest of the year leaves a lot to be desired. As much as I love this beautiful area, the cool raining weather, cloudy skies and long dark winter days would make it impossible for me to live there.

After being in Seattle for a couple of weeks I traveled to my old stomping grounds, San Francisco. I lived in San Francisco for many years before I moved to Costa Rica. I remember vividly discovering Costa Rica while living there. As much as I enjoyed the lifestyle of the Bay Area I felt compelled to move because Costa Rica offered so much more for me.

I make it a point to visit San Francisco almost every summer and always have a fantastic time there with my old friends. As nice as it is I feel completely out of place. I guess I have become more Costa Rican than San Franciscan. The city is a lot nicer than when I lived there and there are more things to do, but honestly I have a much better life in Costa Rica. I cashed in my chips, moved from San Francisco, followed my dreams, have been very successful and have had a fairy tale life in Costa Rica.

Many Americans who move to Costa Rica to live or retire have similar experiences. Costa Rica isn’t for everyone but if it “gets under your skin” you won’t want to move back to the States for”all of the tea in China.”.

On my popular monthly relocation and retirement tours I am always asked questions about pets in Costa Rica. I make it a point to tell my guests that I know a lot about the subject since I am a dog lover.

Presently, I have two black male Labs. They a really good dogs and I try to take the possible possible care of them. Veterinarians are excellent and charge a fraction of what their counterparts do in the States. They are also easy to find here in the Central Valley. Almost every neighborhood has one.

You can also find your your favorite dog and cat here. We have everything from Purina to Science Diet. The are even a few large pet stores that are similar to the U.S. Chain Pat Co.

By the way, it is not necessary to bring your pet from home since there are several places where retirees can adopt dogs and cats here.

Auto Mercado is Costa Rica’s high-end market that carries most brand name products from the United States and Canada.

Presently I am in Seattle, Washington visiting my sister and seeing the sites. I make a yearly visit to the States every July and enjoy myself. However, the more time I spend in the U.S. reminds me why I originally moved to Costa Rica.

Don’t get me wrong! I have nothing against my country of birth. The differences between the two countries stand out the more time I live in Costa Rica. I consider myself 100% bilingual and bicultural and can live comfortably in either place.

The U.S. has good roads making it easy to get from one place to another provided there is no traffic. On the other hand Costa Rica is still working on infrastructure and roadways. Great progress has been make in the last couple of years with the completion of the Costanera between Quepos and Dominical and the new highway to Caldera from the Central Valley. Other new highways are in the works. When everything is completed I believe the country’s major highways will be on a par with those of the U.S.

Shopping is another big difference between the U.S. And Costa Rica. There is no question about it shopping is better in the United States. However, things are slowly change here. When I moved to Costa Rica over 30 years ago you couldn’t get any foreign products. Now the stores are inundated with them. We don’t have the variety of the U.S. But are closing the gap. For example, the Auto Mercado supermarket has almost every food product you can dream of from the U.S. Products that are not available in Costa Rica may be ordered over the Internet and shipped via one of the private mail companies like Aerocasillas.

On my monthly relocation/retirement tours I spend a lot of time lecturing about the differences and similarities between the U.S.and Costa Rica. My tours are like taking a constant seminar. I try to provide as much objective information as possible for my clients to help them decide if the country is right for them.

During the time I have lived here I have had the opportunity to observe many foreigners. Some of them find their piece of paradise in Costa Rica while others do not. I would be lying through my teeth if I claimed that Costa Rica was for everyone. It simply is not. On my monthly tours I make it a point to get this across to my clients. Costa Rica is not for everyone. However, those who come here and find it to their liking would have to be dragged back to the States or Canada. They have discovered the incredible lifestyle a person can have her if he or she makes an effort.

On the other side of the coin are those who decide after a while that Costa Rica isn’t the place for them. For a variety of reasons the decide to move back home. According to the Association of Residents of Costa Rica, “cultural shock” is the main factor leading to people leaving the country. There are just some kinds of people who cannot handle the Costa Rican culture and all of its nuances. People from this group find it just too hard to adjust to the lifestyle here.

The language is another factor that causes many people to leave. It takes time and effort to learn another language, especially when you are older. This task is not impossible but requires a lot of dedication. You basically get out of it, what you put into it. If you don’t at least learn survival Spanish you will always be a stranger in a strange land.

Boredom is another reason. A lot of people do not learn Spanish well enough and they are isolated in their communities. Or they do not have enough to do. Costa Rica has a wealth of activities for foreigners. All you have to do is pick up the weekend edition of the local English newspaper, the Tico Times, and you will find hundreds of things to do where you can meet other expatriates. La Nación, the local Spanish, newspaper also has a long list of things to do to stay busy and happy. All you have to do is get up off your butt and make the effort.

You can only sit on the balcony watching a tropical sunset for so long before is gets very old. I have a friend who lived on the beach and said, “After a while all of the sunsets look the same.”

The single men tie up with women here and sometimes get stripped of their wealth which leads them to move home. Others do not do their homework and make bad investments which eventually causes them to move back.

Single women sometimes have problems finding male companionship and enough friends of the same age and
educational level.

I am sure there are other reasons why people return to their home countries but the ones I have listed above are the primary factors I have observed.

Over the years I have encountered a lot of foreigners who end up not using common sense and get involved with people with whom they would probably never associate back home. This brings me to the story of “Dumb and Dumber.”

Dumb came to Costa Rica about 12 years ago from the United States, where he was a successful businessman. Almost upon arriving here, he became romantically involved with a woman of ill- repute. He was basically too lazy and busy getting drunk to find a quality mate. Over the course of his relationship, he lost about $300,000 because he entrusted his business dealings to his girlfriend. After splitting up with her and having to give her half of everything he owned because of their common-law situation, he went and got involved with another woman who will probably “take him to the cleaners” someday.

Dumber is even more stupid than Dumb. He came to the country as a millionaire. The first thing he did was get romantically involved with a woman of the night. Dumber also spent most of his time in bars, like Dumb. Consequently, when he broke up with his lady friend, after a few years together, he had to pay her about $50,000. He is now with another woman and most likely supporting her whole family. He will probably end up broke like Dumb. Neither Dumb nor Dumber speaks Spanish nor has made any effort to understand the locals and constantly refers to them in derogatory terms.

This brings me to ‘Even Dumber.” He came here many years ago to retire. He is bright and I am sure he has read about the two characters above according to what he once told me over a couple of beers. “Even Dumber” is a man of money who was a successful lawyer in Texas before retiring here. He had been married and divorced twice in the States and has a couple of grown children. Dumb lives near the beach and enjoys the outdoors. He still maintains a residence in the U.S. I give him credit because he has learned some Spanish and made an effort has tried to fit in with the locals unlike the two dufuses above.

About five years ago he met a curvaceous young Costa Rican woman with a couple of children from her previous relationship. Five months later he moved her and the kids in with him. The woman has been good to him and he has developed an excellent relationship with her children. The only problem is that “Even Dumber” is now supporting not only his girlfriend and her kids but his girlfriend’s parents and several other relatives, about ten people in all. Don’t forget if you hook up with a woman or marry her here you also get involved with the her whole family.

Older single men can be blinded by lust and a beautiful younger woman but have to remember that there is ALWAYS a price to pay…and it just may be exorbitant. Fortunately, this story has a fairly happy ending because this guy’s wife is honest, devoted and didn’t take him to the cleaners. He is just lucky to have deep pockets to support her extended family. Over the years I have heard many other stories with less happy endings.

I admit Even Dumber has a good heart and is a kind person but the “buck has to stop someplace.” Kindness is often synonymous with stupidity here. Americans are seen by many a winning lottery ticket and an upgrade in lifestyle. Unfortunately, many Americans are taken advantage of because of their good hearts. A lot of the locals take a lot more than they give in any relationship whether it be romance or in business.

The bottom line is that as foreigners we are guests in this beautiful country, but we should not go overboard with our generosity and let people take advantage of us. Unfortunately many Americans and Canadians “leave their brain” on the plane. I have seen this situation repeated over and over.

If you come to Costa Rica to live or retire it is of paramount importance to learn the language and interact with the people. As I have said before on repeated occasions and probably sound like a “scratched record” as they say in Spanish, “If you don’t know some Spanish you will always be a foreigner.” You are also increasing the chances of failure here. Don’t get me wrong! I have seen people live here for ten or twenty years without knowing the language and survive. However, they are really missing out on experiencing the best things about living in a different culture and will always be “strangers in a strange land.”

Being bicultural can makes all the difference in the world. One of the reasons I have had such a fantastic life in Costa Rica over the last thirty years is because I speak the language. All of the success I have had here is a direct result of my linguistic background. Hundreds of doors have opened for me and opportunities have presented themselves.

Cervantes said, “To know another language is to know another world.” Nothing could be truer.

Estamos en Costa Rica

If you retire in Costa Rica and happen to understand some Spanish you will hear the phrase “Estamos en Costa Rica.” This means “We are in Costa Rica” but really has little to do with where one’s physical location.

This express is often used by Costa Ricans to explain or justify the way things in the country work, as manifested by the inefficiency in many areas. For example, if the country builds a new highway and it turns out to be poorly constructed, the locals will justify the shoddy job by saying, “Estamos en Costa Rica” to indicate that these things are endemic to the country.

Another example is if someone is applying for Costa Rican residency and the process drags on and on and the person starts complaining about the bureaucracy to the locals. The latter will say “Estamos en Costa Rica.” In other words it is to be expected because that’s the way the country operates.

There are countless examples of where this expression can be applied by Costa Ricans to describe and rationalize why things go wrong here, take very long to get done or why strange things generally occur.

As foreigners we are never going to be able to change the idiosyncrasies of Costa Rica. So, we have to adapt to them and accept them if we are going to be happy living here. I chose to write about this subject to help potential retirees be aware of the many cultural differences they will be confronted with when living here.

Recently the town of Nosara, located on the Pacific Northwest coast of Costa Rica, was cut off due to a few days of torrential rains. The town’s main highway was turned into a virtual river. Over three hundred people in the community had to be taken to shelters because rising water threatened their homes and their personal safety. A few secondary roads were completely destroyed and there were several minor landslides and blackouts which cut off communication with the outside world. The whole Nicoya Peninsula really got hit hard by May’s rainstorms. Costa Rica usually doesn’t experience this kind of weather until October, which is traditionally the wettest month.

So as you can see living at the beach in Costa Rica is not all fun and games. Most often infrastructure lags behind the other areas of the country. Besides occasional flooding, Internet services can be scare, the heat can be soffocating at certain times of the year, air conditioning bills can be very high, quality emergency medical care can be far away, good entertainment and groceries can be an issue as can isolation and boredom.

I personally know a lot of people who initially were very enthusiastic when they first moved to the beach to retire in Costa Rica. About eight out of ten of them have since moved to the Central Valley where there are more services, cooler weather, good medical care and more things to do to stay busy and happy. I even know a successful Costa Rican business woman tried the beach for a year but could not stand living there. She eventually moved back to the San José suburb of Rohrmoser where she is much happier.

You really have to be a certain breed of animal to live at the beach full-time. It is better to visit one of Costa Rica’s beautiful beaches for a few days on a mini-vacation and then return to your home at a higher elevation. That is what a lot of people do. Some even have second home or condo at the beach but only use it for a few days at a time.

Personally I always feel refreshed when I return from a trip to the beach and start to feel the cooler weather as I reach the Central Valley. I get an instant inject of energy from the cool breezes.

Don’t think I am against living at the beach in Costa Rica. I am just trying to paint a realistic picture of life there to help potential retirees and other make the correct decision.

As most of you know by now the term “pura vida” (pure living) is the national motto and is reflect by the Costa Rican’s laid-back and carefree lifestyle. Because of this omnipresent attitude and view of life, the people here tend to enjoy life more than we do and live in the moment. Costa Ricans were recently selected as the happiest people on earth according to a study. They also live longer than most Americans. This is probably due to the country’s “cradle to grave’ health care system and the lifestyle. Most Americans who retiree here adopt this pura vida lifestyle and usually end up living longer and happier.

Unfortunately there is a downside to the “pura vida’ lifestyle. The people here tend to procrastinate and take longer to get many things completed. At time this attitude can be frustrating to foreigners. Especially when they are trying to get things done and the ticos seem to be dragging their feet.

Pura vida can also be an excuse for general inefficiency and a pretext for not acting on important matters. Maintaining the country’s highways, combating crime, passing and enforcing traffic laws and fighting poverty and drugs use are important areas where progress is slow. An example of this indifference is the new highways which were recently completed during the Arias administration. The highway between the costal towns of Quepos and Dominical took over 40 years to complete. One administration after another delayed the construction this vital link for one reason or another.

There are countless other examples of the pura vida outlook keeping the country form being proactive and making it more reactive. All of this has combined to stunt the county’s growth. Don’t get me wrong Costa Rica is making huge strides in many areas but could probably be miles ahead if the people were a little less carefree and more responsible.

Despite all of the above I still love living here.

One such cultural nuance is the country’s famous sobadores. This practice dates back to the old days in Costa Rica and is traditionally used by many Costa Ricans as a form of alternative medicine. Most commonly this type of procedure is used to get rid of so-called pegas or empachos which indicate that one’s digestive system is not working correctly. The main symptoms are indigestion or colitis-like pains in the abdomen. Although los sobadoders claim that headaches, fevers, nausea, la oss of appetite and even diarrhea can be alleviated by their procedures. Usually oil or hand lotion is applied to the part of the body which is going to be massaged. In the old days pig lard was used as a lubricant. Now baby oil, mineral oil, any type of hand cream or mentholated sports injury cream can be utilized.

What sobadores do is like a type of home-grown acupuncture combined with massage. Certain parts of the body are stimulated and massaged to cure symptoms in another part of the body. The parts of the body that are usually worked on are the inside of the forearms, the outside of the wrists, the calf muscles, the abdomen and the feet.

Physicians warn that if a person presents any of these digestive maladies that it is better to see a regular doctor because these problems could be a sign of a more serious condition like an intestinal occlusion or diverticulitis, etc. Doctors also claim that the treatments given by los sobadores are nothing more than a regular linfatic massage.

Anyway this all food for thought and will help you understand some of the deeply-rooted local customs during your retirement years.