By Ivo Henfling

Many of us who have moved to Costa Rica come from cold places. Most of us did so because of the nice weather in Costa Rica, amongst the best in the world. If I look at my list of clients, I have people from New York, Portland, Kelowna and even less cold places like Berlin, Amsterdam and Los Angeles where it still gets to temperatures of around 30ºF or zero Celsius. I even have one client who still works in Kazakhstan and comes home to Atenas once in a while to get warm, he must be freezing his butt off right now. Most of us moved to Costa Rica to never be cold again.

Ski hat and woollen gloves

Guess what? Your blood gets thinner after a while and the weather worldwide is changing too. A couple of days ago, it was 65ºF in my office and I was still sitting in my t-shirt, shorts and flip-flops in my office. My wife says I am crazy because she is really cold, but she is Costarican and has a different skin. We had breakfast together last Wednesday and she was wearing a ski hat and woolen gloves. I had a big laugh out of it and she got pissed off at me, saying it is becoming fashionable in Costa Rica, all serious. We are in Costa Rica for God sake.

Snow and rain

For now, we don’t expect snow in Costa Rica, so leave your ski’s where they are. But, it does get colder than it was ever before, during the months of December and January. Thirty years ago, during most of the rainy season, we would enjoy the morning sun and get a couple of hours’ rain in the afternoon. It rains a lot more now than it did then. For that same reason, I have written a few blogs about being careful and hire a knowledgeable real estate agent when you buy real estate in Costa Rica, because your agent will know what to look for in terms of landslides and other hazards.

December winds

December and January for many means snow, for those who live in Costa Rica it means wind. We get a lot of wind, much more than you are used to. The temperature was 30ºF on the Turrialba and Irazu volcanoes last week. THAT is cold for Costa Rica and the reason that the Ticos think a ski hat and gloves look cool. Dany and I went on a day trip to Poas on New Year’s Day to buy some strawberries and palmito cheese and it was 22ºF.

Micro climate

To give you an idea on the winds: today in San Jose we have East wind at 19 km/h (12 mph) and 37 km/h (23 mph) gusts. So if you plan to move to Costa Rica soon, you know you’ll have to bring a sweater and extra warm socks.

The advantage of living in Costa Rica is that you can choose the climate you want to live in as Costa Rica has all these nice different micro climates.

By Ivo Henfling, your GoDutch Realty Escazu and Santa Ana real estate agent who tries to inform you about different issues on moving to Costa Rica every week. Feel free to leave your comments and to follow our weekly blogs.