Where is the best place to live in Costa Rica ???

[kinembe]

Originally Posted by Lend-a-Fish

Hey Chris, from what ive read, CR has the most sophisticated and modern infrastructure in the region and ive read that the people are very friendly. Do you feel that there is a big F-the gringo tude in CR? Rated one of the best places to live in the world. Are you just saying that because you dont want every gringo with a clue to come to CR or is there some real concern of danger. I dont do high risk things, i dont go out much, and i keep to myself. I live in Las Vegas, NV so danger and attitudes are of very little concern for me. Please let me know if im being naive about that.

Do you run a fishing charter operation in CR?

TAP pretty much said all that was necessary, i do get alot of that attitude mentioned above and hate the way they try to stick it to you every chance they get...

brake pads for my e-brake they wanted almost $300 for cost me $31 in Fla...fuel injectors they wanted $140 each for used ones, i paid $34 each for new ones in the states...this is typical here

an issue with a motor a couple days ago and the fact that yamaha dealer doesn't have what i need means i'm about to bend over and take it from behind as the local mechanic overcharges me for used parts that he'll steal from someone else's motor.

the crime here is mostly petty, most anything not nailed down will disappear if not looked after, but you probably won't get mugged. and did they really say one of the best places to live in the world? ...wow

[mrbill]

Nobody mentioned this big factor. Price of fuel in CR is almost twice as much as Panama. Panama fuel prices are comparable to US prices.

[LA Smoker]

Originally Posted by kinembe

and did they really say one of the best places to live in the world? ...wow

I believe it was reported as the HAPPIEST place in the world.

[jimfrogs]

I have lived in Costa Rica for many years and know Chris Kinembe well. I have finally given up on Costa Rica. I watched many other people arrive with high hopes of living the great green life in paradise and then almost all of them leave within two years broke and or addicted to alcohol and or drugs. Don't get me wrong, you can have a good time there. Drugs, alcohol and prostitutes are readily available and fishing is often good but the country has priced itself out of the market lately. I now live in San Francisco Ca cheaper and better than I did in Costa Rica. Even as little as five years ago it was still fairly nice there but in the last few years florida developers have attacked it with bulldozers and concrete and destroyed most of the place. If you want to move there you need balls of steel, lots of money, lots of other money someplace other than in Costa Rica with no bank account ties to anything in Costa Rica so that when they clean out your bank account you can still go someplace else with a nest egg, lots of patience, be willing to negotiate for everything or pay top dollar for everything, must love to argue pointlessly with petty local government officials, must be willing to pay bribes for almost everything, drive a tank becasue the roads are the most deadly in the world (and pay twice the money for that same tank compared to what one would cost anywhere else in the world), you can't be a green tree hugger or you will go crazy when your beautiful green country that you read so much about turns out to be just the opposite chopping down the jungles as fast as they can and building ugly concrete condos and shit, (see south park episode 93 for a more accurate picture than all the government crap they push), oh and even more patience, more money, and little or no faith in humanity because everybody lies to you all the time, but you can still have a good time there for a short visit and Chris will even help you book a trip. You will love it, just don't think of moving there.

[kinembe]

I found this tourist guide somewhere and really get a good chuckle every time i read it.

1) Trust no one. The locals will rob you blind. They’ll steal your shoes, and while you’re looking for them, they’ll snag your camera. Never trust anyone who speaks English for he will attempt to empty out your entire bank account. when dining, always examine your bill carefully. half the time it will be padded with items you neither ordered nor ingested. The other half you will simply be handed woefully inadequate change. But don’t get mad at the staff, they are often instructed to rob you by the Establishment’s owner. All of the business owners here are criminals and many are certifiably insane.
B) Cocaine is cheap and plentiful, and most folks here are loaded way past the gills. They say on average that six drug-running boats a day glide off the golden coast, so keep your eyes out for mysterious packages as you walk on the beach, you might just win the lottery. Keep your eyes out likewise for drug-crazed Colombians who will not think twice about murdering you.
Lock the doors and roll up the windows tight when you pull into town, the guy flagging you down and navigating you to a secluded parking spot is a crack-head. Buy a length of thick chain at a local hardware store and secure your vehicle to something solid (people used to secure their property to trees, but there are no more trees). Of course, never leave anything of value in your car. Not flip-flops, not a comb, not a half-smoked cigarette.
3) Costa Rica is pretty dirty, and Tamarindo has a slimy layer of filth on it. That’s what happens when too many humans crap in the same place without proper management. Swimming in the ocean can give you nasty ear infections (not to mention horrible wraparound wounds from jellyfish). There is trash everywhere and every rainy season it eventually ends up in the sea. The country’s sewage also washes into the water on a daily basis.
The very dust you breathe contains human waste. Do not drink the tap water in Tamarindo unless you like dying of monkey shit poisoning. Do not get bitten by a mosquito or you might spend two weeks wishing you had died from monkey shit poisoning. The locals make sport of tying up their dogs and starving them nearly to death until they go crazy. Then they let them go. Do not let Scruffy run loose on the beach, he will be ripped apart and his bones picked clean by vultures.
D) Try to avoid a stabbing. the nearest hospital’s hours away. That’s if they don’€™t stab the ambulance driver when he gets there. The good thing about getting medical attention here, it’s cheap, and usually has a big surprise twist at the end to keep you entertained.
5) What I said about cocaine goes triple for Flamingo. It is the number one destination in Central America for the semi-rich. they come from around the world to fling narcotic stimulants up each other’s noses and indulge in illicit week-long marathons of sex with children. Costa Rica has long obscured the fact that they are a leader in the trafficking of underage human slaves.
G) Looking for eco-tourism? Don’t look here. Something like 107% of the solid human waste (or doo-doo) gets pumped straight into the creeks. Need I say more?
7) Come quickly because soon everything thing here will be a cement facade. Guanacaste has been designated as the site for the new Costa Rica theme park, and it is going up fast. Tourists will be bounced around in cartoon vehicles from one ride to another and to the malls to go shopping for local handmade art and jewelry imported from Nicaragua and Haiti.
I) Car broke down? Bend over and try to relax because what’s coming next is going to hurt. Locate a flatbed and get the offending vehicle up on it, which the driver will cheerfully facilitate in exchange for a grab at your wife’s (or girlfriend or daughter’s) goodies. The nearest mechanic will be taking a nap for the next three hours. Spend this time locked in the vehicle, for it will provide shelter from the hordes of lusty pirates driving blind-drunk on Guaro.
Whatever the car’s symptoms, the doctor will diagnose the most expensive cure. This most costly part must now be tracked down. If you’re lucky it is found in San Jose, if you’re not lucky it must be shipped in from a country on the other side of the world. A week and $900 later, your car will have the same problem it had when you started. Now start the process over with a new mechanic until you find an honest one or there is nothing left to fix but the actual problem. By then you may have spent thousands just to fix a $150 problem.
9) Bring a flashlight. The entire country lost power for three hours last week. The power here goes out almost daily. So does the water, just in case you want to drink that milky muck. Often they go out at the same time. Enjoy your powerless, waterless vacation and whatever you do, avoid finding yourself in a casino in Central America when the lights go out. The doors are immediately chained shut and it’€™s kind of like being in a prison riot.
K) Be prepared for anything. Every 50 years Costa Rica experiences a major earthquake– the type of earthquake that leaves very few buildings standing. We are now well overdue. The current warning system gives San Jose about 30 seconds of warning before the earthquake waves would demolish the city. There are also 112 volcanoes, seven of them active. We don’t have hurricanes, but the Costa Rican government has steadily spotted UFOs since the 70’s and there are a multitude of reports of alien abduction.
11) Bring lots of money. The prices go up here every day. Property prices are inflated based on value forecast ten years in the future. Accommodations that went for $20 five years ago now go for $50. Gas is $4 a gallon. I recently paid $3 for a glass of juice. Remember that the price on the menu doesn’t include a 10% tip and a 13% tax. There is also the gringo tax which doubles everything. Take care that your credit card number isn’t used to purchase hookers and laptops in San Jose.
12) Ladies, have a threesome or two before coming here, just to get used to seeing your man with other women. And join the gym like yesterday. Even if your relationship is rock solid and the sex is better than it’s ever been, beware because the women here are from a different planet. Women’s liberation never caught on here and never will; they aspire to hotness.
Most newspapers feature 10% news and 95% hot chicks. Girls are primped and pimped out by their own families. Hookers from around the world come here to study under them and learn their sexy secrets. Add to that they are the most beautiful females in this galaxy and will claw each others eyes out fighting over a piece of your gringo, and you just don’t stand a chance. He will present you with an infamous Costa Rican divorce and never look back. He will have Costa Rican babies, become a Costa Rican resident, and sell Costa Rican real estate the rest of his days.
Commit yourself entirely to him before the plane lifts off and you join the mile high club. Twist and writhe yourselves into some freaky Karma Sutra positions he never thought you capable of. Try the pile driver in a public place. Whatever you can think of to keep him distracted and drained, do it. And good luck.
13) Pura Vida? Google fer-de-lance, we got em here. Check the shower for scorpions and poisonous spiders the size of toupees hiding in your bed. Beware of lethal miniature dinosaurs that drop on you from the trees, and frogs that spray toxic nerve gas.
Remember, when you enter the ocean, you are basically entering the food chain. Wear your flip flops because we have fish with poison spikes cleverly camouflaged in the coral reefs. Shuffle your feet in the shallows to avoid stepping on an angry manta ray. Keep both eyes open for man-eating sharks, crocodiles, three-eyed alligators and venomous sea snakes that hungrily await you. Sand fleas that burrow into your inner ear to lay eggs that hatch and wriggle hungrily to feast on your brain.
I’ve already mentioned the gigantic jellyfish, ferocious dogs, bone-picking vultures and deadly mosquitoes. But, have I told you about the monkeys, no longer afraid of humans, whose teeth grow an inch a day, and have been known to take over fishing boats? How about blood-sucking bats, or the armies of crabs that can devour an entire horse carcass in three minutes? Pura Muerte is more like it.

[JACKPOTER]

so...do predictions for Panama look like that of Costa Rica? There were a lot of old drunks from FL that I saw during my travels in Costa. Maybe this thread should start over with the question "What are the best places to live in Panama?"

[1:11]

i have a feeling you guys are BSing, every thing ive seen of CR is gorgeous and pristine, all the contamination, corruption, is what i want to leave. I dont blame you guys. I wouldnt want 10 million americans showing up either.

[Whalebreath]

Originally Posted by Lend-a-Fish

i have a feeling you guys are BSing, every thing ive seen of CR is gorgeous and pristine, all the contamination, corruption, is what i want to leave. I dont blame you guys. I wouldnt want 10 million americans showing up either.

The last post is a bit tongue-in-cheek Yes but the rest is surely true.

I was there 20 years ago and the direction the place was headed in made me sick then even though I met some great Ticos the gringos were already shitting all over everything and ........well........monkey see/monkey do.

[kinembe]

Originally Posted by Whalebreath

the gringos were already shitting all over everything and ........well........monkey see/monkey do.

what the hell does that mean?

are you saying that the Gringos came and ruined things in an otherwise perfect Costa Rica?

[jimfrogs]

I wasn't BSing. Great place to visit but pain in the ass place to try to live. When you live there you see the daily erosion of everything green and the constant outflow of money. Panama has its own problems too, some similar to Costa Rica's but at least Costa Rica has some nice beaches to look at. Fishing is better in Panama but nor a lot of other entertainment,

[Whalebreath]

Originally Posted by kinembe

what the hell does that mean?

are you saying that the Gringos came and ruined things in an otherwise perfect Costa Rica?

When a Gringo owned organisation is charging $100 for a plane ride that Ticos sell for $25 you know things are headed into the toilet.

I know you live there and have an investment to protect but it's a losing battle.

The internet has made real time exchange of info a reality and your aggressive stance defending the place can't change that.

Twenty years ago I made a decision not to move there/start an operation like yours and I've never regretted it for an instant.

[PCH]

Living in a third world county comes with allot of challenges and life adjustments. If anyone from America or other first world country is planning on moving to a third world, they should rent and try things out for 6 months to a year first. If you can put up with getting ripped off and looking like dollar sign to the locals, corruption, crime, no help from government offficials, poor construction, bad roads, air pollution, expensive imported foods and goods that you are used to from a first world, less educated health care (not all doctors are bad, some are really good), horrible traffic, and the list goes on, you might be ok, but live and learn with it first.

The fishing is awsome in costa and panama and to me its better to enjoy it on vacations not daily life. I have lived in Panama for two years and an excited to move back home and enjoy the country on futire vacations.

And if you are a gringo and want to start a buisness, be ready to fight for every detail and to find almost everyone is trying to rip you off. I dont know about costa rica, but panama to order anything from outsidde the the country is a pain in thass, there is no mail routes, street names, adresses or area codes.

Panama has a risoing crime problem and it has been getting constanly worse over the last three years. It is hard to find an ex pat in this country that hasnt been robbed, mugged or assaulted or knows someone who has. Dont expect the cops to help, they are worthless and will rip you off themselves. Take it from me, buisness is hard down here in panama and costa is no easier.

And if you are moving here and are going to buy a boat, good luck finding an honest mechanic and good parts fro a good price.

Panama has awsome fishing, lets not forget that!