Estimated Reading Time: 6 Minutes So, we’ve completed 98% of our home improvement project. Friends say that this is the Tico way of finishing things. Honestly, I think it happens everywhere. But allow me to tell you all about it, so you can learn from my mistakes. We have finished the business with my contractor…
Estimated Reading Time: 8 Minutes I’m sure you now want to learn more about the remodeled result of our home. We went through a long and detailed process, but we’re all happy with the remodeled result. We bought our new property in Costa Rica at a price that allowed us to afford all of the…
Planning to import your household container? Then be careful and be patient! Our construction projects continued. And based on our prior inquiries and due diligence, we thought we had timed the arrival of our household container pretty well with our move-in date. The ongoing progress of the work at our house to receive our container…
Estimated Reading Time: 7 Minutes For some reason, new expats who don’t know where to rent, often ask an agent to give them a tour. I never understood why some assume that real estate agents want to drive them around for days, all over the Central Valley. So they can make a commission. I have…
A car accident is never fun nor is it ever convenient. One Saturday a couple of months ago my husband was driving through Barrio Mexico, going to a Little Theatre Group rehearsal. He stopped at a stop sign as required and was thinking about whether he should go straight or turn right (he wasn’t familiar…
Estimated Reading Time: 7 Minutes I have now learned to watch my pants because I was stung by a scorpion. On occasion, the relevance of an event or experience needs to be related while it is fresh in one’s mind. Therefore, I’m taking a brief detour in this blog from writing about our home improvement…
Our house is under reconstruction and it’s moving day! This is the first time in our lives that we move into a home that’s still under reconstruction. I’m not trying to use my blog as a pulpit. So, I’ll try my best not to get too preachy here. But I’ve been meaning to say this…
Yes, we have mosquitoes in Costa Rica, lots of them! And also plenty of rodents, like cockroaches, ants and even fleas! Brooke Bishop, our Grecia expert real estate agent, went the extra mile as usual. She took care of the pest control or fumigation as we call it in Costa Rica, for an absentee buyer.…
Estimated Reading Time: 6 Minutes Does my Costa Rican wife beat me? Mine doesn’t, but I know a couple of guys in Costa Rica who get beat up by their Costa Rican wives. And the women get away with it. Marrying is so easy, especially when you’re in love with a beautiful woman. But divorcing…
Estimated Reading Time: 5 Minutes Like you don’t know how to do your laundry, right? Well, the best way to do your laundry in Costa Rica is to hire a maid and have her do it. I have written lots of blogs about the difference in culture between back home and Costa Rica and I…
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: 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…