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Why Costa Rica is Just Not for Everyone

May 18th, 2006

The writer of the article below, Michael Quinn, recently visited Costa Rica with his lovely bride Patrice.

I had the pleasure of corresponding with them before they arrived. He spend a couple of weeks here, and upon his return to the USA. Michael wrote the article below. It appears he may not be moving to Costa Rica real soon.

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Coming to Live in Costa Rica?

May 16th, 2006

Between three of my websites, The REAL Costa Rica, this Blog, and my personal Blog, I get maybe 200 emails per week. I try to answer them, though this is getting tougher every month, and soon it is gonna get real ugly.

The hands down #1 topic of these emails is people asking me for my advice on moving to Costa Rica. Popular questions are:

* Where are the North American communities?
* Where are the good places to live?
* Constant questions about buying property here…
* Where is the best place to buy? Live?
* Where to visit when coming here to decide about a permanent move
* Where can I get a job?
* Plus a TON of emails from scared baby boomers world-wide who are just now saying to their spouses, “Holy SHIT Martha (or Clyde), there ain’t no way we can live on our social security! We gotta get outta this place!”

So, in this Post I am going to cast some pearls to you folks!

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Gasoline Prices in Costa Rica are just silly

May 13th, 2006

I forgot gas prices were going up again today, so it caught me off guard when my wifey and I stopped for a routine fillup last night and found ourselves in a loooong line at the pump. The price of gas was going up another 50 some colones (10 cents or so) and for the average costa Rica, THAT is a hunk of money.
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Urban Planning – Costa Rica Style

May 12th, 2006

The study by the Universidad de Costa Rica (UCR) concludes that if the disorderly growth of the Greater San José area continues, “we face contamination on a massive scale and quality of life will become practically unsustainable”.

Well DUH!

Jut kidding…

I say “kidding” not because this article did not appear but because even the dimmest bulb who lives here in the valley has known about this forever! Continue reading »

411? Anyone? Hello?

May 12th, 2006

Costa Rica is getting a new 411 directory assistance system.

According to our friendly local monopy, ICE, you will now only have to say the name of the person or company they are looking for and the computer does the rest. Of course, when the computer cannot understand your request, the call will be transferred to a live operator. Continue reading »

What´d you say mai?

February 17th, 2006

As my second week of classes is coming to an end, I feel as though it’s time to reflect. Before classes had started, I had been feeling confident about my Spanish and wasn´t at all worried about understanding my professors. Well, apparently my confidence had been falsely built up by a supportive family and professors who are accustomed to dealing with non-native students, because understanding the Spanish spoken in my classes is a struggle.
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Death to Rice!

February 9th, 2006

Usually I try to look at the good side of things, but there comes a time when even my high-level of tolerance is breeched. Every day, my family makes me breakfast, lunch, and dinner. At first, this seemed like a premium arrangement, as I never have to do any cooking or cleaning. As it turns out, it´s awful. I would rather cook and clean for 5 people 3 times a day than eat rice one more time.
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Dominical, Costa Rica

February 7th, 2006

This weekend 21 of the 29 people from my program decided to take an independent trip to Dominical. It was really obvious that the trip was planned by gringos who don´t fully understand the bus schedules, because we took an unnecessarily long bus ride (6 and a half hours!).
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Saved by a Knight in Shining Armor

February 1st, 2006

On my second to last day in Monteverde, we took a horseback ride through the country to a coffee plantation in San Luis. Everything was absolutely beautiful! It was so beautiful, in fact, that I got lost while my head was in the clouds.
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Original Costa Rica Art

February 1st, 2006

Most of the time it seems, most web sites, even the cool ones, don’t really offer anything original or unique. Saul Bolaños is a Tico who creates a pretty unique product. He uses coffee, presumably the excellent Costa Rica cafe, to create art… and it is waaaay cool!
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