by guest blogger Ticonuevo

November-April is high season—or the dry season or tourist season. In my opinion, it is more-accurately called high season because of the higher prices of getting to or arriving at tourist destinations or that “high” relates to high occupancy at hotels, resorts, and B&Bs. May-October, has historically been considered the “green season” or rainy season here in Costa Rica. However, weather worldwide is changing and we had rain on the day we arrived at the end of February—unheard of we were told.

We’ve had rain in March and a significant amount in April. Add to that the fact that Costa Rica suffered a drought in 2012. (It was severe enough that several communities are currently out of water and having it trucked in.)

by guest blogger Ticonuevo

Now that we are in country, we are scrambling to learn the language. If you can find the time before you leave North America or wherever your home country is, learn some Latin American Spanish. Latin American Spanish, and more specifically Costa Rican Spanish, is not the King’s Castilian Spanish as spoken in Spain. Local Spanish is full of country-specific colloquialisms.

But not to completely despair, virtually all communities in Costa Rica where ex-pats hang out offer courses, individual lessons or immersion groups dedicated to helping you learn Spanish as a second language. And, take the advice of everyone we know--jump in and try.

by guestblogger Ticonuevo

Once you are committed to moving to Costa Rica, there is a huge amount of information to read and absorb. So, my advice again: be detailed, be methodical (even if it’s hard for you to do). I can’t emphasize strongly enough how important and helpful it proved to be to have built a database of Costa Rican resources, research and contacts.

Your vacation visit(s) will give you a snapshot of Costa Rica. Just remember you’re seeing the country in its most-perfect light, as a tourist. It’s different than actually living in Costa Rica day after day and dealing with the mundane issues of daily life and the bureaucracy. Your research will help to fill in the blanks and demystify Costa Rica. So, it’s very important to build contacts, read (discriminatingly) and record and file the details you collect from your visit and online.  

by Ivo Henfling

Every week, “El Polaco” visits a poor neighborhood of Costa Rica, with a car full of merchandise. The Polaco is a department store on wheels and he sells on credit. He offers mainly clothing, women’s, men’s and children’s. But he also sells coffeemakers, shoes, perfume, ceiling fans and anything his clients might need. And if he doesn’t carry it, he will get it for them.

It is a pity that so much of the flavor of Costa Rica (and other countries) is disappearing with corporate business. I remember well when we would just walk to the pulperia to get our fresh bread and milk every morning. We had 4 pulperias on our street and they all made a living.

by Ticonuevo

The object of recounting specifics of our family communication is not to bore you with details that don’t relate to your planned move to Costa Rica. My purpose is show that there are possible surprises and unknowns harbored by all parties involved in your move. The success of your move to Costa Rica will be measured by how well you have openly addressed all of the inner details and emotions involved. It’s incumbent upon you, your partner and other individuals that are part of your decision to come clean and their discuss concerns and desires.

Upon our return from our due diligence trip to Costa Rica, my wife and I agreed to remain silent for a few days about any decisions or inclinations we may have formed independently of the other during or after our working vacation. I recommend a “phase 1 cooling off period” allowing time for the euphoria of your dream vacation to wear off before you discuss what could easily be the biggest decision of a lifetime.

by Ivo Henfling

Jay Brodell, editor of AM Costa Rica, published an article last April titled “What do expats want? Well, here are suggestions”.  Jay is a great journalist and probably one of the best informed gringos living in Costa Rica, never afraid of publishing anything that might not be received well by either the expat community in Costa Rica or the Costarican government. The suggestions are some great ones though I'm not sure the Costarican government will listen to the suggestions.

Since our company sells and rents Costa Rica real estate, I am of course all for the idea of having thousands of foreigners move to Costa Rica, but that's beside the point here. Jays’ article proposes some ideas of what needs to be done for the expat community in Costa Rica to improve their conditions as foreign residents of Costa Rica.

First, the Costarican government doesn’t seem to be interested at all in promoting foreign retirement in Costa Rica like they do with business investment tourism or medical tourism.

by guest blogger TicoNuevo

Here’s something to think about: a significant number of all of the expats attempting to settle in Costa Rica return home within one year. I have some ideas about why this happens, and how to avoid becoming a statistic. I’ll discuss the most prominent reasons for failure here.

A big reason influencing an early departure, I think, is a lack of preparation before potential expats arrive. Changing your country of residence requires an enormous, well-coordinated effort—lots of pre-planning. Unless you have changed countries of residence before, you have no concept of the volume and benefit of pre-planning your move.

by guest blogger TicoNuevo

When we returned from our Costa Rican exploratory vacation and due diligence trip in February of 2012, the work really began and things started to get pretty interesting. But that starts with next week’s blog installment.

So first before we head home from our vacation, let me pass along a few bits and pieces that I haven’t already covered or that require reinforcement.

Patience

As I’ve said before, but need to emphasize again, things are constantly evolving in Costa Rica, or if you don’t like it today just wait until manana. These are two polite ways to say, “laws and policies are constantly changing here as are the ways existing laws and policies are enforced.” If you come here, bring patience and tolerance. All of you Type A personalities out there better be prepared to “cool it,” at least, while you are visiting or living in Costa Rica.

by Ivo Henfling

Costa Rica retirement vacation properties and bird watching go together well, the reason so many have decided to retire or buy a vacation home in Costa Rica. When you retire to a country like Costa Rica, you must love nature and in particular birds. If you don’t, why even bother moving to Costa Rica. The best part is that no matter if you buy your Costa Rica retirement or vacation property in a town like Atenas, you get the birding for free. Just make sure you bring a camera that can take high resolution photos just like our client Peter Boyer did and you’re up for a good time and a better lifestyle than you had ever imagened.

Thanks Peter, for finding such a great hobby and sharing it with us. Your photos say so much more about the beauty of Costa Rica than any text that I can write. Just like you and your wife Edie took the decision of buying your retirement home just outside Atenas, many others can now get a much better feel what it must be like to crawl through the grass of your neighborhood to take these awesome photos.

by guest blogger TicoNuevo

While the country isn’t renowned for its own cuisine (there are some really great exceptions), you will find a multitude of international restaurants in addition to well-known restaurant chains (if you yearn for a taste of home, but then, why bother coming to Costa Rica in the first place). In our estimate during our visit last year, my wife and I had three of the very best meals we have ever eaten.

One was lunch at an Argentinean-themed establishment, one a seafood meal at a restaurant run by an American expat and one, admittedly, at a Costa Rican-style outdoor restaurant catering to the tourist trade. We had the meals in three different areas of the country. The costs of these three incredible meals were not “cheap” by our standards, but less than what we would have expected to pay in the States for the same quality. In the two weeks we were in country, we ate out lunches and dinners probably 15 times. We never had a bad meal.

by Ivo Henfling

“I am sorry sir, if you want me to show you Costa Rica real estate on Friday, I cannot pick you up at your hotel. I can meet you anywhere outside the beltway; you will have to get a taxi to get out of San Jose. Friday is my tag day.”

Most people who are planning to move to Costa Rica have no idea what tag day is and for those living in the Central Valley it is hard to figure our where you can drive on tag day. It is a restriction that all cars in Costa Rica have: your car cannot go into San Jose 1 day a week on certain hours. The restriction is regulated by the last number of your number plate and was invented by the Costarican transport authorities (MOPT) to reduce the amount of traffic going into San Jose as well as to save gas. I am sure nobody has measured the amount of gas wasted by cars seeking alternate routes to get around San Jose.

by Guest Blogger TicoNuevo

Suicide Showers, Surfer Hotels and Other Things to Avoid on Your First Trip to Costa Rica

In this blog, I’m trying to cover things you may not hear or read before you leave to visit Costa Rica for the first time. Since we’ve travelled plenty, but had been to Costa Rica only once, there are some things that struck us as unique or, at least, a bit unusual. The first of the two items mentioned in my headline above you may find at economy accommodations anywhere in the country, but particularly along the coasts.

The suicide shower as it is called, is an invention triggered by some engineer’s warped sense of practicality.  Many, if not most, Tico homes do not have hot water—hot water is generally seen by the native Costa Ricans in this warm clime as unnecessary and/or too expensive. This invention—an electrically heated shower head—is a way to provide hot water in the shower without having to invest in a hot water heater and hot water plumbing.

Many found another reason to retire in Atenas and in other locations in Costa Rica after my post a couple of weeks ago with pictures takes by our expat and I’ve received a lot of emails from readers asking for more quality photos of birdlife and views in Paradise.

In February this year I already posted a blog with photos from Peter Boyer taken in Desmonte – Atenas, where he moved recently with his wife Edie.  After receiving Peter’s photos, I asked Cyndi Mayer in Santa Ana to help identify some of the birds, so thank you Cyndi! 

Not only is the climate in Atenas perfect, Atenas offers you a laid back lifestyle and at the same time availability of all you need as well as having th eposibility of making friends fast!

by Guest Blogger TicoNuevo

As stated in my last blog “Movin’ On”, we were committed to a Costa Rican exploration holiday before moving to Costa Rica and so we prepared to head south. We wanted to give ourselves enough time to get acquainted with the country and still leave time to enjoy ourselves. Since we had a business to run back home, we felt just a bit over two weeks was about the maximum time we could afford to spend away from home.

We basically divided our trip in half. The fact that weather and medical services were priority criteria for us, we decided to spend half of our vacation exploring our interest in some of the communities of the Central Valley with the most-temperate weather and the closest proximity to excellent medical facilities. The other half of our trip was spent in Arenal, Poas Volcano National Park and along the Central Pacific Coast. I suggest if your priorities differ, allocate your visit accordingly.