It used to be expensive for retirees to call the U.S. from Costa Rica. If they called relatives and friends back home they could end up with huge phone bills in the old days. However, now there are, gracias a Dios (thank god), cheap options to call home or do business using different Internet VOIP options. All you need is a good broadband Internet connection and you are in business. In case you don’t know, VOIP is a technology that allows telephone calls to be made over computer networks like the Internet.

Personally I use Vonage. I have found it to be very good especially when it comes to running my Internet-based  relocation/retirement tour business. It is easy for potential clients to call me directly and find out all about my monthly retirement tours right from the horse’s mouth. I can also stay in contact with my clients this way and have found Vonage a real godsend. Another advantage is that the U.S. phone number I use with Vonage is in the same area code where my sister lives making it easy to contact her and to save money on calls.

Magic Jack is another option for retirees and expats who want to call the U.S. affordably. Magic Jack is one of the VOIP phone services that foreign residents use with their computers and high-speed internet connection to make unlimited long distance phone calls. Like Vonage Magic Jack offers a telephone number with a local U.S. area code. I have many expat friends who use this service and are very pleased with it.

Skype is another VOIP phone service that retirees and others can use with their computer from Costa Rica. They can make international calls with Skype for a low cents-per-minute charge. If someone is more interested in chat and video chat, Skype works very well for that, too. I have Skype on my 3G iphone and it works great from here.

Many single retirees who move to Costa Rica end up marrying a local. I often talk about this subject in the new 16th edition of my best-selling guidebook, “The New Golden Door to Retirement and Living in Costa Rica,” on my retirement tours and during the many consultations and lectures I give.

Getting married in Costa Rica is really quite simple. All you have to do is complete the required paperwork and have the appropriate documents such as a valid passport, divorce papers (if you were previously married), affidavit of single status (if applicable) birth certificate for each party and any other pertinent information. All of the above need to be authenticated by the Costa Rican Consulate to validate the signatures of officials from other countries as is needed with residency paperwork, i.e. notarized, certified by Secretary of State, then sent to the consulate.

The Costa Rica woman will need a copy of her cédula (Costa Rican ID card) and proof or her of civil status. The only church wedding that is officially recognized is that of the Catholic church. Other than a Catholic church wedding one must get married by a Notary. Most often Catholics get married by the Notary because it might be easier. Non-Catholics who want to have a church wedding for friends, family, etc. first get married in a civil ceremony then have an “unofficial wedding” in the non-Catholic church.

I suggest consulting your lawyer if you are marrying in Costa Rica to find out exactly what documents are needed and what procedures to follow. Lawyers can marry people in Costa Rica much like a justice of the peace in the United States. This type of marriage is called por civil and is usually quicker than a traditional church wedding or por la iglesia. In Costa Rica, people get married either way. If you choose to have a lawyer to get married, you will need to have two witnesses who are not a third-degree relatives for the ceremony. Your lawyer will be able to round up a couple of people if you can’t find anyone.

It takes at least three months or so before the marriage is recorded in the registro to be official. You can check your marriage status at http://registronacional.com/costarica/personas.htm

On my relocation and retirement tours my guests always ask about Costa Rica’s weather. I tell them we have two seasons here. The dry season or summer and the rainy season called winter. Despite the rain during the winter we have more sunny days than Florida. Our Central Valley has one of the best climates in the world. However we are not immune to weather conditions like la Niña.

La Niña is a coupled ocean-atmosphere phenomenon that is the counterpart of El Niño as part of the broader El Niño-Southern Oscillation climate pattern. During a period of La Niña, the sea surface temperature across the equatorial Eastern Central Pacific Ocean will be lower than normal by 3-5 degrees Celsius. In the United States, an episode of La Niña is defined as a period of at least 5 months of La Niña conditions. The name La Niña originates from Spanish, meaning “the girl”, analogous to El Niño meaning “the boy.”

In today’s La Nación, Costa Rica’s major Spanish newspaper, the regional meteorologists stated that La Niña may cause occasional rains during the next four months of summer. This weather phenomenon is unusual at this time of year.

What this boils down to is that Costa Ricans and foreign retirees may have to use their umbrellas on rare occasions during the summer months because of atypical weather patterns.

If you are thinking about retiring or living in Costa Rica then the last thing you want to do is breathe polluted air especially if suffer from asthma or other types of respiratory problems.

As a native California I was lucky to breather fairly clean air when I was growing up there. Unfortunately, the American Lung Association, in its report State Of The Air 2010, found seven California metropolitan areas with air quality bad enough that they make it onto the list of the Top 10 Dirtiest Cities in America. The 20 million people in these cities are at higher risk of asthma and chronic bronchitis. According to the Lung Association 175 million Americans live in counties where outdoor air quality earned a grade of F. In California you have good weather but not Costa Rica’s air.

The cities with the worst air quality in America are: Bakersfield, Los Angeles-Long Beach-Riverside, Fresno-Madera, Visalia-Porterville and Hanford-Corcoran. The only non-California cities in the top 10: Pittsburgh, Pa; Birmingham, Ala.; and metropolitan Phoenix, Ariz.

Costa Rica does have air pollution in some areas. Downtown San José, Heredia, Escazú and Alajuela all suffer form pollution due to heavy automobile traffic. Fortunately, the Central Valley is windy and a lot of the bad air gets carried away and during rainy season the air gets cleaned by the frequent afternoon rainstorms.

In the smaller town around the country there is little pollution. Rigorous vehicle inspections have done a lot to remove a lot of vehicles which don’t meet emission standards. Fortunately, we don’t have as many vehicles as large U.S. Cities which reduces pollution. However, if you saw a rush hour traffic jam in San Jose you might think otherwise. So, if you have any respiratory ailments it is better that you live outside of the metropolitan area.

Atenas, San Ramón and Grecia are areas you might want to consider for respiratory health. All have good weather with less vehicular traffic. In case you don’t know, Grecia is considered Costa Rica’s cleanest city and has good air quality. Most of the beach areas are sparsely populated when compared to the country’s cities so they have less pollution, however heat may be a factor you won’t want to put up with when living at the beach.

Just so you will know, I live about ten blocks from the center of the city of Heredia and don’t find the air quality bad. Luckily there is enough wind where I reside to keep the air clean. If you want to live near Heredia and have clean air you can always live in the mountains above the city. The weather can be cool but the air is clean, pure and refreshing.

Pura vida!

Top 5 Dirtiest Cities in America

No. 1: Bakersfield, Calif.
Population: 800,000
Short-term particle pollution rank: 1
Year-round particle pollution rank: 2
Ozone pollution rank: 2
Hot, dusty and surrounded by California’s San Joaquin Valley oil fields, Bakersfield has all the ingredients for the worst air in the nation

No. 2: Los Angeles-Long Beach-Riverside, Calif.
Population: 17.8 million
Short-term particle pollution rank: 4
Year-round particle pollution rank: 3
Ozone pollution rank: 1
University of Calgary researchers found in 2008 that salty coastal air mixed with sunshine and pollutants helps create unexpectedly high levels of ground-level ozone.

No. 3: Fresno-Madera, Calif.
Population: 1.1 million
Short-term particle pollution rank: 2
Year-round particle pollution rank: 6
Ozone pollution rank: 4
Cars, agriculture, petroleum and mega-dairies all contribute to the brown haze that hangs over the San Joaquin Valley.

No. 4: Visalia-Porterville, Calif.
Population: 430,000
Short-term particle pollution rank: 8
Year-round particle pollution rank: 3
Ozone pollution rank: 3
Proximity to the giant trees of Sequoia National Park isn’t enough to clean Visalia’s smoggy San Joaquin Valley air.

No. 5: Hanford-Corcoran, Calif.
Population: 150,000
Short-term particle pollution rank: 10
Year-round particle pollution rank: 8
Ozone pollution rank: 6
Hundreds of aircraft based at the giant Naval Air Station in nearby Lemoore doesn’t help Hanford’s air quality.

If you think I am going to talk about medical tips in this blog, then you are wrong. When I say the word “cold” I am referring to cold weather. If you live in an area of the States or Canada that is plagued by snowy winters and short dark depressing winter days, then Costa Rica just might be the place you are seeking for retirement.

Costa Rica has a tropical climate since it lies so near the equator. The country is famous for having one of the best climates in the world. In fact, Atenas, a little town in the Central Valley, is touted as having “the” best climate in the world according to National Geographic. In Costa Rica, you dress in lightweight clothing year-round; a jacket may be necessary for higher elevations and cool nights.

Temperatures vary little from season to season and fluctuate with altitude. The higher you go, the colder it gets, and the lower you go the warmer it gets. In the Central Valley, spring-like daytime temperatures hover around 72 degrees all year, while lower elevations enjoy temperatures ranging from the upper 70s to the high 80s. Temperatures at sea level fluctuate between the high 80s and low 90s in summer with slightly more humidity than at higher elevations.

Whether you want to live here full time or just be a snowbird, the country’s climate is bound to suit you. Many retirees say they feel and look better because of the year-round spring-like temperatures. The weather is so good in the Central Valley that I don’t have air conditioning or heat in my home in Heredia and rarely use more than one blanket at night.

Cost-conscious retirees seeking to stretch their pensions, also will be pleased to know that the country’s great climate will reduce their utility bills drastically. I pay around $60 monthly for water and electricity. Not bad considering winter heating and summer air conditioning bills in most parts of North America.