Not allowed to flush the paper down the toilet? How is that? Once in a while, people who visit me in my office, ask if they can use the restroom. Some, who have been staying in an older hotel or Bed & Breakfast or live in a rural location, open the door of my restroom,…
Who would have guessed that we have Black Friday in Costa Rica now too? Black Friday in Spanish is Viernes Negro, but almost nobody uses that. Last Friday, I saw no Black Friday signs on any Costa Rica real estate offices. I have asked a couple of sellers but they didn’t think I was serious.…
Estimated Reading Time: 6 Minutes Moving to Costa Rica? Be smart and first take Christopher Howard’s famous Live in Costa Rica tours. Too many property buyers end up running all over the country without having a clue where to purchase or rent a vacation home or retirement home in Costa Rica. You have heard friends…
Sidewalks in Costa Rica? What’s that, a sidewalk? Who needs sidewalks anyway? Costa Ricans don’t use sidewalks, even if they have one. Costa Ricans walk on the road, mostly for lack of sidewalks or there are too many obstacles. A few weeks ago, I wrote about obstacles on the roads of Costa Rica. This blog…
Do you like bife de chorizo? I had never heard of this Argentinian restaurant in San Jose, though I had driven past it many times. I don’t go to San Jose that often anymore, but it looks like the city is becoming a good place for great restaurants again. Once in a while, when I…
Most people know a chorizo as a sausage made of minced meat and spices, usually dark red or brown and of elongated cylindrical shape. In Costa Rica, we have two types of chorizo, a legal one and an illegal one. Most butchers in Costa Rica make their own chorizo or sausage, some good and some…
There are a lot of die-hard American football fans in Costa Rica, and they go to a sports bar. I have to admit I belong to that group and when not working will be at a sports place – restaurant, watching a game. Some places are great because they have the ability to show 2-3…
Estimated Reading Time: 5 Minutes Do Ticos love or hate gringos? You can read some nice and some not so nice comments on this same issue on Costa Rica Living Forum, where some tend to be a little blunt. Please leave your comments at the end of this blog, it will be appreciated very much.…
Estimated Reading Time: 3 Minutes Que Pasa, the free-membership Grecia & Sarchi community information website started in 2014. This incredibly informative website serves the English-speaking residents and ex-pats who plan to live in Grecia and Sarchi. Debi Gedling, former Que Pasa editor, and co-founder said: “We felt that as a no-cost community information website serving…
Estimated Reading Time: 5 Minutes Did you know that Costa Ricans never say no? There are many reasons for moving to Costa Rica. But the most attractive one is that Costa Ricans are nice people. They never say no. If you compare the Ticos, with their neighbors, the Panamanians and the Nicaraguans (Nicas), they come…
Estimated Reading Time: 5 Minutes Nobody Stands Alone is one of InterNations’ slogans and the expat community in Costa Rica is no exception. Costa Rica has well-established expat communities in many of its towns and cities. For instance, as an InterNations member, you are able to connect with fellow expatriates and share the wonderful experiences…
Estimated Reading Time: 5 Minutes Last week, in my blog on Machismo in Costa Rica, I told you a bit about piropos or catcalling. They are like pick-up lines in English. A piropo is the Latin American way of giving another person a compliment and they are a tradition in Costa Rica, like it or…
Estimated Reading Time: 5 Minutes Machismo is part of the Latin American culture and though education and travel are changing this gender gap, you will still see a lot of machismo in the lower and middle social classes in Costa Rica. But what is machismo? Machismo is a concept of masculine pride, associated with men…
Estimated Driving Time: 6 Minutes Did you know that you need a Costa Rican drivers license when you have been in the country for more than 3 months? Nearly all obstacles to our residency in Costa Rica are in the rear-view mirror except for the matter of getting our Costa Rican drivers license. If you…
Is smoking in Costa Rica becoming outdated? I grew up in a smoker’s family. The ashtrays were huge in our house. To quit smoking, was the most difficult thing I have done in my life. First I tried patches, gum, acupuncture, and other methods. I quit by using Champix (also called Chantix). By then, I…
Estimated Reading Time: 6 Minutes Costa Rica lost the soccer game against The Netherlands! But the Ticos are still happy! But, it is no wonder Costa Rica is the happiest country in the world because the country has the highest life satisfaction in the world. Even when they lost the soccer game against the Netherlands…