Amazingly, you’d be surprised how many “gringos” treat Ticos like shit. Because they’re stupid, they’re ignorant, they’re uneducated, dumb, or idiots. First, Ticos are not like that; even if they were, you should be ashamed of yourself if you’re one of the name-callers. I know I shouldn’t use bad language, and I apologize for the…
Estimated Reading Time: 5 Minutes Some buyers looking to buy a property in Costa Rica do not want to hire a realtor. Instead, they prefer to purchase FSBO, which is very understandable, but a mistake. First, it’s essential to know that this word is a registered trademark. Very few real estate agents can call themselves…
Estimated Reading Time: 5 Minutes There are lots of retirees in Costa Rica, and in some way or another, they all communicate with their children, grandchildren, and friends back home. Technology changes faster than you want if you’re over 60 years old. I know because it drives me crazy already, and I’m computer savvy. My…
Estimated Reading Time: 8 Minutes To make it easier for you to decide if urban living in Escazu is a better lifestyle choice for you than other parts of the country, I have come up with 15 benefits. When I moved to Costa Rica in 1980, Escazu was the most attractive community for expats. In…
Estimated Reading Time: 7 Minutes When newcomers ask me if they can drink tap water in Costa Rica, I cannot just tell them a simple yes or no. I do drink the water from my water dispenser on my refrigerator. That’s more because it’s cold than I worry about water quality. My wife buys bottled…
Estimated Reading Time: 5 Minutes Would you like to break an arm or a leg walking into a Costa Rican shopping mall when it rains? I bet you don’t. The rainy season, or the green season as we, the marketing specialists, call it, is a phenomenon to have respect for. When it rains in Costa…
Estimated Reading Time: 5 Minutes Life has become extremely expensive, but there are ways to save money. The pandemic led to high inflation. As a result, you might want to start thinking of how to save money to have enough available balance at the end of the month. The cost of living has gone up…
Estimated Reading Time: 5 Minutes Did you know that Costa Rica is a top scorer on the Happy Planet Index? And that we’ve been so, every year, since 2006? Costa Rica has scored #1 on this Happy Planet Index (HPI) from 2007 until 2019; you can download an excel sheet with all the HPI details:…
Estimated Reading Time: 5 Minutes We have come up with some passive ideas, so you can be busy after retirement and still make some extra income. Sitting at your pool all day will last only so long. Many of those who have worked hard their whole life and suddenly have too much time on their…
Estimated Reading Time: 6 Minutes Did you know that Costa Ricans have two last names? When born, children are registered in the civil register with the father’s surname first and the mother’s as the second surname. If you come from a non-Latin American country, it’s hard to figure out why Costa Ricans have two last…
Estimated Reading Time: 10 Minutes Looking for free apps you can use in Costa Rica? If you’re a tourist or an English-speaking resident, this blog should interest you! You’ll be surprised how much assistance these free apps can give you in Costa Rica. Many of us now live with our phones in hand, all day…
Estimated Reading Time: 6 Minutes Costa Ricans still dress quite conservatively in public, although they are not as prudish anymore as they used to be. Costa Rica is not that 3rd world country where I moved to in 1980 anymore. Although, of course, television and foreign influence have opened their minds tremendously. But there are…
Estimated Reading Time: 11 Minutes These are the most read live in Costa Rica blogs 2021, of a total of 615 published since 2010. It all started when I realized how many questions our website visitors ask that I could respond to easier by writing a blog about it. The hard part of writing a…
Estimated Reading Time: 7 Minutes This week, we had the monthly ARCR seminar, part of the Christopher Howard’s Live in Costa Rica Tour. Elizabeth, one of the participants, asked me about Dutch cooking, and we ended up talking about vegetables and Tico Cooking. So I thought to re-publish this article. In 2015, I felt an…
Estimated Reading Time: 6 Minutes No matter where you live in the world, you need tolerance to live in peace and harmony with your neighbors. Therefore, if you want to move to Costa Rica, YOU have to adapt to the local culture and not the other way around. To be able to adapt, you will…
Estimated Reading Time: 5 Minutes Suicide Showers, Surfer Hotels, and Other Things to Avoid on Your First Trip to Costa Rica. Unless you want to go native and adapt to your new home country. In this blog, I’m trying to cover things you may not hear or read before you visit Costa Rica for the…