Estimated Reading Time: 4 Minutes Costa Ricans use animals quite a bit in their expressions. The tiger is one of them. Pa’l Tigre means not feeling well, feeling sick, or not having done well. Estoy pa’l tigre = I feel terrible. Something that is not usable anymore, out of order, esta “pa’l tigre”. Esta…
Estimated Reading Time: 3 Minutes Did you read Ned Nossaman’s Costa Rica poem last year? The title of this Costa Rica poem was Costa Rica ~ Pura Vida! in which Ned shared his feelings for Costa Rica with us. Is moving to Costa Rica a consideration for you? Ned wrote another Costa Rica poem, with…
Estimated Reading Time: 4 Minutes You don’t want to be called The Mother of Tarzan in Costa Rica, you know why? In the past, I have been telling you about certain slang words used in Costa Rica, to give you the opportunity to go a little bit native when you move here. Learn the…
Estimated Reading Time: 4 Minutes The use of slang in Tico Spanish is just as common as it is in any other language. Que chapa is one of those often used words in Tico slang. It would be helpful for you to understand why someone might call you a chapa. Or maybe when someone is…
Estimated Reading Time: 5 Minutes The translation of huevo in English is egg, but manda huevo is something totally different. When you move to Costa Rica, you will want to communicate with your local neighbors. In their own language of course, not in yours. They speak Spanish. Spanish is a really easy language to learn…
If you really want to go native when living in Costa Rica, you should learn the typical Tico slang or Tiquismo that is used by the locals. In other blogs, I have told you about Chunches, Upe, and some others. Today’s turn is for “estar parado de uñas“. What is parado de uñas in Costa…
Everyone in Costa Rica knows what upe is. Or uuuuupeeeeeee, when you yell it. If you don’t say upe loud enough, nobody will hear you and they won’t come to the door. Do you want to know what Upe in Costa Rica is? Alf Giebler, in his book “A lo Tico”, says that is means…
Estimated Reading Time: 9 Minutes My blogs are meant to make things easier for you when you live in Costa Rica. That’s why this time I have tried to find 5,555 genius household hacks that should work in Costa Rica. I decided to start with only 20 of them and leave a few for some other…
Estimated Reading Time: 8 Minutes When you first arrive in a new country, there are concepts, habits, and unique facts that everyone notices. They might be the reason you move to Costa Rica or not, but you assume you’ll do all you can to enjoy them. After a while of living in Costa Rica, you…
Estimated Reading Time: 6 Minutes Did you know that a landmark can be incredibly important so visitors can find your house? Few things are as hard as directions or finding an address in Costa Rica if you have recently arrived. Even if you are fluent in Spanish. Our addresses are weird. Even if you use…
Do you think you will be able to adjust to the food in Costa Rica? Moving to another country is a much bigger step than most think it is. Especially when it’s about trying to adjust to the food in Costa Rica. There is so much information available online. Nonetheless, I find that only a few…
Estimated Reading Time: 6 Minutes If you’re planning to move to Costa Rica, we would like to mention that living costs in Costa Rica are below average, but you better learn how to make things work. If you were born and raised in a developed country, you are used to going to the store and…
Yes, you can use US Dollars to make payments for almost everything in Costa Rica. BUT, they’ll always give you a horrible exchange rate. Here are some tips. Although I sometimes wish we could get rid of the local currency, the Colon, I must admit that they designed beautiful bills. Money is not something you…
Estimated Reading Time: 6 Minutes Ninis? No, they’re not weird creatures from outer space. Cultural diversity will many times interfere in your life once in a while when living in Costa Rica. Cultural differences between Costa Rica and your home country are plenty; you will find that out as soon as you move to Costa…
Estimated Reading Time: 13 Minutes Would you like an outdoor kitchen or a bar in your home in Costa Rica? If you haven’t already bought a house in Costa Rica through a GoDutch Realty agent, I’m sure you will as soon as you learn how to design the coolest bar in the neighborhood! Now, I’m…
Estimated Reading Time: 8 Minutes Is it true that gringos living in Costa Rica do stupid things? Hey, I found 16 stupid things. Maybe you’ll come up with a few more. Post them in the comment box, please. The first thing that I should do, in case someone misunderstands the term “gringo”, is to explain…