By Ivo Henfling
 

In my first years of living in Costa Rica, I was always surprised that Costa Ricans have an amazing quality that most of us don’t have: patience. Over the years, I have learned there is more freedom of speech in Costa rica than in many other countries.

Costa Ricans have a huge quality that most of us foreigners don’t have. They can stand in line at the bank in Costa Rica for hours, no matter how long it takes or how bad the service is, they can stand stoically in line forever. I don’t know if it’s my Dutch up bring or that I am just an impatient person, but I generally cannot put up with it longer than 10 minutes. My wife does most such things that need standing in line. She is Costa Rican though she seems to starts complaining too. Even my 24 year old son is getting impatient. Impatience seems to be contagious. But if we get to change those things, everything would be just like we were back home again. It’s all about balance, and that is what we look for when relocating to another country.

By Ivo Henfling

Yes, why keep money in your Costa Rica bank account if they don't even pay you 1% interest on your money. Invest in Costa Rica real estate through your preferred realtor Ivo Henfling and I can get you 6% at a bare minimum. You don't have your money in a Costarican bank account but sitting in some retirement fund like an IRA, a 401K or a Canadian RRSP? Why would you want to do this to yourself?

Why am I saying this? Because I just listed this perfect investment property that I sold the actual owner about 5 years ago and is waiting for this smart investor. I personally supervised the remodeling of this property and can assure you its well done. Meanwhile, the owner got sick and let it go a bit, so it needs some care and some more love. Its some hunidity problem here and there and check on the gutters, nothing like a big deal but the potential is incredible. And when I say its not a big deal, its not.

Real estate in the immediate areas of the new highway San Jose - Caldera is of course affected. For 30 years, everyone in Costa Rica has been talking about the famous new highway San Jose - Caldera. Many governments during those 30 years started doing something on the highway and ran out of money. An old 3rd world problem: money. During the Miguel Angel Rodriguez administration (1998 - 2002) some bridges were built but during the next administration whatever could be demolished and stolen just disappeared.

Originally, this highway was designed as a two-lane road and by the time the Arias administration decided to go ahead and try to finish the famous highway, the amount of traffic had risen tremendously.

By Ivo Henfling

One of the best things I've ever done for myself: Lasik eye surgery. When you move or retire  to Costa Rica, you migth want to do yourself a favor and see if you're a candidate for Lasik Eye surgery. Costa Rica offers lots of medical tourism, and you can get yourself new teeth, new eyes, new eyelids and many other new " things" for yourself at half the cost of what it would cost in the US or Europe. Costa Rica medical services are very much up to date, as the following blog will show you.

I've used glasses since I was like 9 or 10 I believe as I had myopia. I always hated it. I've always done lots of sports (I know, you wouldn't tell right now) and nothing worse than having to use glasses. As a kid, I've broken plenty. How can you expect from a kid who is invited to a soccer game on the street to tell his friends to "hang on, I need to go change glasses".

By Tony Warren

I am proud of the people around me, my neighbors, the 800 coffee growers affiliated to Coopedota. Our Coop will soon be the first to export coffee with an international certification of neutral carbon emitted by the British Standards Institution, following the PAS2060 norm.

What does that mean? I didn't know either and looked it up, it makes me even prouder to live in this beautiful area of Dota and "El Valle de Los Santos":

In short it means: we will help keeping the world cleaner by drinking coffee from Dota.

By Ivo Henfling

Nature Air will be flying from Costa Rica to Nicaragua from 3rd of March 2011. I doubt most Nicaraguans that live in Costa Rica will be worried too much about this news, because they can't afford it, but more and more business people seem to go to Managua constantly.

For those expats without residency in Costa Rica, the so-called perpertual tourists, this flight will not be for you as the passengers flying from Managua into San Jose will have to carry printed proof of onward travel from Costa Rica (a flight or bus reservation departing within 90 days). The Costa Rican Department of Immigration requires passengers to present their travel documents in the airport in Panama to guarantee boarding (vice versa).

Source: By Nicholas D. Kristof for the NY Times, Published: December 29, 2010

Primero Hay Que Aprender Español (First learn Spanish). Ranhou Zai Xue Zhongwen.

Answer: an American.

Yet these days, we're seeing Americans engaged in a headlong and ambitious rush to learn Chinese or, more precisely, to get their kids to learn Chinese. Everywhere I turn, people are asking me the best way for their children to learn Chinese.

Partly that's because Chinese classes have replaced violin classes as the latest in competitive parenting, and partly because my wife and I speak Chinese and I have tortured our three kids by trying to raise them bilingual. Chinese is still far less common in schools or universities than Spanish or French, but it is surging and has the cool factor behind it so public and private schools alike are hastening to add Chinese to the curriculum.