This is one of the most frequently asked questions by people who take my Costa Rica retirement tours. The answer is, “Very few.” Everyday more and more products from the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Europe are available in Costa Rica. PriceSmart (like Costco), Hipermás (owned by Wal-Mart) and many of the other large stores and U.S. style malls here are filled with products from abroad.

When I first came to Costa Rica over 25 years ago, there were very few of the “goodies” from home. Each time I went to the States I would stuff my suitcase with items I couldn’t find here. But now all of that has changed.

However, if there are some things you really crave which you can’t find here, you can always resort to the Internet. It is easy to do on-line shopping from Costa Rica especially if you are a member of one of the private mail services like Aerocasillas or Jet Box. Both of these companies enable you to order a product on-line and then have it shipped here.

I use Aerocasillas and visit their office a couple of times a week. Every time I go there I see piles of boxes of items their clients have ordered from the States — everything from vitamins to large automobile parts and flat-screen televisions. You do have to pay duty on all of these items, but this doesn’t stop Costa Ricans and foreigners from using this handy service.  The good news is that every six months you have the right to import electronics like cameras or ipods using  your $500 tax exception.

What this means is that during your retirement and living in Costa Rica you don’t have to deprive yourself of some of the essentials from your home country. This really makes living here as easy and comfortable as ever.

What Kind of Care is Available Once My Pets is Here?

Since most American’s are pet lovers. It is not surprising, therefore, that many of the people on my monthly Costa Rica Retirement Tours ask me about bringing pets here and what kind of care is available for their animals.

To bring your dogs and cats here there is a series of steps. You must have a health certificate issued by a licensed veterinarian in your home country. The examination for the certificate must be conducted within the two weeks prior to travel to Costa Rica.

A veterinarian must certify that your pets are free of internal and external parasites. Your pets have have to have up-to-date vaccinations against rabies (the rabies vaccination must not be older than one year), distemper, leptospirosis, hepatitis and parvovirus within the last three years.  All of these required documents are indispensable and must be certified by the Costa Rican consulate nearest your hometown.  These papers are only good for 30  days.  If you do not renew them within this period of time, you will have to make another trip to the vet’s office and the airline will not accept your animal. If you are bringing an exotic animal to Costa Rica —parakeet, macaw or other—you will need special permits from the Convention of International Species in Danger of Extinction and the Costa Rican Natural Resources Ministry.

If you don’t follow these regulations and do not provide the required documents, your pet(s) can be refused entry, placed in quarantine or even put to sleep.  But don’t worry, if worse comes to worst, there is a 30-day grace period to straighten things out.

If the animal is traveling with you as part of your luggage, the average rate is $50 from one destination to the next (i.e. Los Angeles—Miami—San José). If your pet travels alone, depending on size and weight, the average rate is $100 to $200. Please consult your airline for the actual price. Call the 800 toll-free cargo section of American Airlines and they will tell you the cost.

Whether your pet is traveling with you or separately, be aware that the weather can delay your animals arrival in Costa Rica.   U.S.D.A. Department of Agriculture regulations on flying animals say that you may not fly a pet as baggage or cargo if during any part of the trip the temperature will rise above  80 degrees or below 40 degrees at either your point of departure or a layover. Some airlines, such as Delta, will not fly any pets from May 15 to September 15. We know of several people who have arrived at the airport only to find out their animals could not travel due to a change in the weather.  Call your airline the day you intend to ship your animal and again an hour or two before departure to see if your animal will be allowed to travel.  This way you can avoid unpleasant surprises. I once had to  ship a dog from Los Angeles to Costa Rica and had to make three trips to the airport because of the hot summer weather before I could finally ship the dog safely to Costa Rica.

Make sure your dog or cat has an airline-approved portable kennel.  These rules are very strict and the kennel must be the appropriate size for your animal or it will not be allowed to travel.  Some airlines rent kennels.  Make sure your kennel has a small tray so your pet can have food and water during the journey.

If there is a layover involved, the baggage handlers will give water to your pet.  The operator at American Airlines told us about a special service that will walk your dog for an extra charge at some airports.  Some people suggest tranquilizing dogs and cats when shipping them by plane.  We talked to our vet when we were going to ship our large Siberian husky, and he did not seem to think it was a good idea. We also asked a friend who ships show dogs all over the United States and he said to use our own judgment since tranquilizers can make an animal ill.

Some airlines allow small pets to travel in kennels in the passenger cabin. You can bring one per passenger on the plane and often the airlines will only allow one pet per cabin, so reserve early. They must fit in these tiny little carriers. A few airlines have restrictions on certain breeds of dogs, including Doberman pinschers, Rottweillers and pit bulls. Be sure to check with the airline if you have one of these breeds.

One  animal lover hired a charter to bring her many pets to Costa Rica: “After doing major research on this, I realized that the cost of my 12 pets in cargo, renting a vehicle that could transport them, us and 20 odd pieces of luggage, driving for almost three hours to get to the airport and waiting at the airport for many,  I found it wasn’t going to be a whole lot less expensive than doing a private charter.”

There are also pet transport services such as www.airanimal.com and www.pettransporter.com, which have contracts with the airlines allowing them to make things easier for you.

Brand name dog and cat food is available here. We have Science Diet, Purina, Pedegree and a whole slew of local brands to meet your pet’s dietary needs.

The country’s vets are all well trained and their prices are much less than their counterparts in the U.S. Medicines are also affordable as well as other products for your pets. I have two dogs and am extremely please with the care they have received from my vet.

If decide not to bring young dog and cat with you there are several places here where you can adopt an pet. In addition there are lots of poor street dogs who could use a good home. I know one foreigner who has a small farm and has adopted 13 street dogs. Another friend of mine has eight strays. He takes them to the vet and gets them neutered and makes sure they have all of their shots before taking them home for good.

On a recent flight from the Houston, Texas to San José Costa Rica I had the pleasure of meeting a very bright young woman who was being transferred to a new branch of her company in Costa Rica. Her name is Brittany and she hails from Austin, Texas. She explained that her company had offices in different locations but they chose Costa Rica for a new branch because of its highly educated work force and  lower operating costs. This process is called outsourcing and is growing increasingly more popular as U.S. companies strive to reduce costs and increase their profit margins.

Brittany went on to tell me that her company had found her an apartment near her office and was going to provide her with a car and driver. They even included first-class airline tickets when she had to travel to the U.S. However, despite all of these perks they never gave any type of orientation about Costa Rica.

When I explained to her that I specialized in the relocation business she couldn’t believe it. Our flight lasted three and one half hours and we talked during the whole trip. She probably asked me fifty or sixty question about living here and I tried my best to give her detailed explanations. Some of the subjects we discussed were the weather, entertainment, finding a good doctor, where to meet people, how to learn Spanish, banking, how to receive and send mail, personal safety for a single woman, beaches, cable and satellite TV, dinning, supermarkets and a lot more.

In order to absorb everything she took notes and I jotted down the names of some important contacts for her. I recommended she sign up for the monthly newcomer’s seminar sponsored by the Association of Residents of Costa Rica. It is highly informative and a must for anyone who moves here. Some of the topics included are: real estate, banking, insurance, health care, learning the language, taxes abroad, culture and more.

After hearing what the seminar offered she promised to attend the next one.

When our flight landed in San José she thanked me for all of the valuable information I gave her. She said meeting and talking with me really made her feel more prepared. She paid me one last compliment by saying that anyone moving here to work or retire should take advantages of my services.

The information I gave Brittany is just a small of amount of what people will learn by reading my guidebooks and above all by taking one of my popular relocation/retirement tours. The latter are an ongoing seminar.

Let’s look at how you can reduce your expenses by moving to Costa Rica.

I live in 2000 square foot home in Heredia. On the average I pay about $12 dollars per month for water and about $35 dollars for electricity. I was spending less but recently there was a 20 percent hike in the rates.  I don’t need air conditioning or heat where I live which is a real savings. I do have ceiling fans but rarely use them.

Gasoline is expensive here, but you don’t really need a car because Costa Rica’s public transportation is dirt cheap. Buses go virtually everywhere in the country.  In fact,  it costs less than $10 dollars to travel any place in Costa Rica. The rates are controlled so that everyone can afford this popular form of transportation. In San Jose there is a commuter train with more routes in the works as this form of transportation becomes more popular. Taxis are also affordable and easy to find.

I leave my cars in the garage during the week  and travel mostly by bus. I purposely get off the bus far away from my destination to walk more. This way I stay fit. Some of my friends think I don’t own a car because they always see me on foot. One of my wife’s friends thought I was poor and couldn’t afford a car because she always used to see me walking.

For the last 27 years I have been  helped 1000s of people successfully relocate to Costa Rica. During this time I have been lucky to work closely with time-tested organizations like the Association of Residents of Costa Rica (ARCR) and Charles Zeller’s Ship to Costa Rica. Both of these organizations have outstanding track records and have withstood the test of time.

Unfortunately the coming of age of the Baby Boomers and Costa Rica’s growing popularity as a retirement/relocation have  given birth to similar companies who have tried to jump on the bandwagon. Most of these neophyte ship ping and relocation services are run by foreigners who are not even legal Costa Rica residents. A few of them are still tourists with no legal foothold in the country. They farm out most of their work to other people instead of actually doing it themselves and are really just middle men.  Also many of these people don’t even speak Spanish nor do the have a  real knowledge of how the country works. They are just here to take advantage of naive people who stumble onto their glitzy web sites and fall for the  verbiage. A couple of these organizations are located in the U.S. and consequently are really out of  touch when it comes to Costa Rica. Most of these people have never worked in the relocation business until they moved to Costa Rica and think just because they relocated here they are experts.

Would you trust a doctor straight out of medical school of one that has many years of experience. The same logic should be employed when choosing a person who offers relocation services.

We heard of one instance where one of these companies changed someone five times the normal fee to ship their pets to Costa Rica. Obviously the people didn’t do their research and consult an organization like the Association of Residents of Costa Rica or Ship to Costa Rica.

People should shop around and not be fooled by some websites. They should also ask to talk to people who have used a company’s services and try to do a background check on the owners to see if what they say about their experience is really true.