Estimated Reading Time: 6 Minutes This was the first day of our home search as “potential Costa Rican homebuyers.” We loaded up with GoDutch realtor, Isabelle Jones, and headed out to meet the other GoDutch realtor, Brooke Bishop. The plan was to start our home search with three homes that Brooke had arranged to view…
Estimated Reading Time: 6 Minutes Let me tell you a bit about our housing search. For a while, Ivo has been subtly steering me toward talking about our experiences buying and renovating our house here. Until now, I have been trying to avoid it by talking about anything and everything else. But now I am…
Estimated Reading Time: 4 Minutes Culture shock or culture bumps? That depends on the experts you hire for your move to Costa Rica. Recently, we have been publishing blogs by ex-pats TicoNuevo and FloridaTico that our readers seem to like. Why do readers like them? Because they tell you the truth! Because they don’t only…
Estimated Reading Time: 9 Minutes There are four lessons I learned when we moved to Costa Rica. If I would have known these facts, we would have had a much easier start. I’d like to share those four lessons with those with an interest to learn from other’s mistakes. My good friend Ivo has asked…
Let’s talk about cultural differences today. I’m going to spend this blog on small items of note and a few observations. Some of it similar to the culture we are used to being part of in North America. Some of it is a derivative of the Spanish influence and, while I am no expert, some…
Estimated Reading Time: 5 Minutes Assisted living is now available in Costa Rica. Florida became famous for its retirement communities and Costa Rica will be the next. The first REAL retirement community in Costa Rica is Verdeza is under construction and located in Escazu. This beautiful community will be fully operational on the 11th of…
Estimated Reading Time: 7 Minutes Online shopping is now becoming a routine for most. My past three blogs discussed shopping in Costa Rica. Let me now spend a bit of time on online shopping. About what happens when you decide to give up looking for that special something. Or if you believe it is easier…
Estimated Reading Time: 8 Minutes Have you ever tried to do your own dishwasher installation in Costa Rica? Ralph did! Ralph and Gloria have lived in Costa Rica in the nineties and moved to Florida. Now, they miss Costa Rica a lot. Ralph loves to read Ivo’s blog every week Ralph has some great stories…
Estimated Reading Time: 4 Minutes We have lots of bugs in Costa Rica, so for those who have a bug phobia… My first meeting with a monster spider, made me ask myself what I was doing on a coffee farm in Costa Rica. Gradually I adjusted to my new life in the tropics and learned…
Estimated Reading Time: 8 Minutes Everyone wants to learn about grocery shopping and department stores in Costa Rica. Almost every town has, at least, one Pali supermarket. The department stores have a different location and are usually in larger cities. The Pali grocery stores are structures carrying the bare bones of grocery and sundry items…
Estimated Reading Time: 4 Minutes Carole and her husband Don live in Atenas and met a toucan for the first time in their life. They are baby boomers and retired in Atenas, Roca Verde to be exact. It’s a pity that Carole’s blog doesn’t exist anymore. But you can order her book “Flying High with…
Estimated Reading Time: 5 Minutes Do you know what a MacGyver in Costa Rica means? TicoNuevo wrote a blog about hardware stores in Costa Rica this week. I would like to go a bit deeper into the matter. He said: “be prepared to substitute or make do with something other than the perfect solution”. If…