The government, getting fed up with the huge number of alcohol related traffic accidents and the resultant deaths, passed last December La Ley de Tránsito or simply new driving laws.

Although signed into law and effective last December 2008, I did not blog about it because there were sure to be a ton of appeals to the Costa Rica Supreme Courts, called Salas, regarding the legality of the new laws and the associated punishments which are truly severe. Sala IV has upheld some and is still considering others, but it is time to talk about these new laws. In this post, I will provide my thoughts and more important, a shortened list of the new laws and the associated fines and/or imprisonment.  If this topic is of interest, read on!

The new laws are nasty but are receiving huge popular support.  La Nacion did a survey of Ticos over age 18, and a whopping 77% supported the new laws. Many respondents  (58%) told La Nacion they had altered their lifestyle and simply no longer drink anything if they are driving. I guess the government was not alone in their concern for traffic safety. Further, the law seems to be having the desired affect! In January, drunk driving arrests dropped 53% and that ain’t bad!

Stuck towards the bottom of the results was the interesting fact that women had fewer traffic accidents than men.  OK, this is where you say, “Well Duh!”.  This was probably a shock in machista Costa Rica.   Guess they have not figured out that women tend to drive using their big head… but I digress!

As I said, these laws are tough.  Some of the fines, however, actually exceed the monthly salary of the transit officers, so that might make bribe taking a real possibility.

The new laws not only have the usual fines, called multas in Spanish, they also include a point system though the point system here bears no resemblance to the systems used in the USA.

Everyone starts with 50 points and when those are gone due to traffic violations… well…  so are you, at least on the roads. The points do not come back.

I would suggest readers also check out the section on drivers licenses in Costa Rica and owning a car here.

Below, I will break out the new laws and the associated fines and possible prison sentences involved.   I’ll put them is order of seriousness/fines/penalties.  Note that not all of these laws are effective today.  All drinking related laws ARE in effect, and the others phase in over the next months. All drivers are required to know these laws, so if you do not because you do not speak the language, that will not be a defense.

To be clear here! You get the fine AND the loss of points.

Example:  Driving (you or adult passenger) without seat belts.  Pay $310.00 AND you lose 20 points.  Same thing for talking on your cell phone

Jail – the biggie!

Reckless driving, speed more than 100 MPH (150 kph), death of a person from the accident (and perhaps injury!) blood alcohol level exceeding 0.75%. You get to keep your car (which is not too useful as you are in the slammer), but it may become State property at your trial. Loss of 50 points i.e. all your points.

No jail but real costly!

227,000 colones (or about $415.00 at today’s exchange rate) plus points lost

Category A offenses.

Reckless driving, in this case speed exceeding 80 MPH  (120 kph) 0.5%, drag racing. Lose 50 points.

Driving without a valid drivers license or learners permit  (and I would urge expats, especially those expat “perpetual tourists”)  to read this as this WILL affect you!

Driving under a suspended license.

Driving a child without proper safety seats (and you lose all 50 points).  Included is driving a motorcycle or any other motorized similar vehicle (like quadracycles with a minor and that minor has no helmet.

Transporting or carrying anything considered dangerous.  This is broad and I am not going to go into it, though I do wonder if this would include my menopausal wife…

170,250 colones or about $310.00 plus points lost

Category B stuff.  Includes driving 14 MPH over the speed limit, exceeding 16 MPH when passing schools entrances or exits, hospitals or clinics. PS:  These are many times NOT marked.  Lose 20 points.

Talking on your cell phone not using hands free.  Lose 20 points

Running a stop sign, illegal u-turn,  or driving a restricted vehicle.  Lose 1o points

Driving without the minimum insurance required by law.

Driving with illegal plates…. meaning I think, not corresponding to the car driven. Lose 20 points.

Driving older children but who are still minors not using seat belts. Lose 20 points.

Driving motorcycles or as above ANY similar vehicle without a helmet.  Lose 20 points.

Driving or carrying passengers (adults) and not using seat belts. Lose 20 points.

113,500 colones  ($210.00) plus the loss of points shown.

Driving in the wrong lane (I think).  Lose 15 points.

Driving a motorcycle between cars while stopped or moving.  Yeah sure! This will never be enforced.  Lose 15 points.

Driving too slow in high speed lane. Lose 15 points

Improper vehicle lights. Lose 15 points.

Driving too slow and impeding traffic and failure to yield to faster traffic.  Lose  15 points.

Stopping in the middle of an intersection blocking traffic. Lose 15 points.

Brakes lights etc, Lose 15 points

Driving a souped up vehicle that bypasses environmental pollution rules. Lose 15 points

Driving on the beach. Lose 15 points.

Driving a vehicle without plates.  Lose 15 points.

Improper passing.  Lose 15 points.

Littering or transporting garbage illegally.   Lose 20 points.

These are the biggies and the ones I believe might most affect my readers, whether tourists or visitors.

There are about 60 other items  such as driving the wrong way, excess cargo or passengers, driving without a windshield (I am serious), parking in handicapped zone,  tooting your horn in front of a hospital, driving on a foreign drivers license while in violation of your visa (US is 90 days), jaywalking, playing music too loud in the evening, failure to have your drivers license with you while driving, driving with an expired license,  failure to maintain assured clear distance,  etc.  The list goes on ad-nauseum and covers all the normal stuff.

Those fines range from 90,800 colones ($180.00) down to 22,700 colones ($40.00) and most include some loss of points.

As far as I can see, when/if you lose points they never come back. If you lose all your 50 points, you must take the driver’s exam again and perhaps attend driving school.  I can assure you that neither is offered in English.

In addition, there are another dozen or so that affect taxi drivers and other livery/bus drivers.  As I doubt any of my readers fall into this category, I have not included them.

While I am not thrilled with the fact that the points do not come back over time, I am generally happy with the law, though I also expect the extortion by transit officials to go way up. Clearly the problem is many of these fines, especially categories A and B, exceed or come close to the entire monthy income of many Ticos. The payoffs cometh methinks.

Most foreigners living here feel they do have that right. Perhaps they do. Certainly, it is hard to not form opinions and even harder to keep those opinions to yourself. However, I have yet to hear of a case where a North American was asked his opinion on an issue by anyone in the government.

Saying that, there are times when the government does something that to me just makes no sense whatsoever. A few weeks ago, the government announced a new policy that for the life of me I did not understand and still do not understand.

The announcement I am referring to involved a edict telling casino operators that henceforth they would be limited to allowing casino gambling only from the hours or 6 PM to 2 AM. Further, casinos must be part of, meaning inside, the hotel. Costa Rica’s casinos are for the most part inside the hotels, but a few, like the large Fiesta Casino near the San Jose airport, are not attached to any hotel, though it is across the street from the Garden Court. Other rules included no direct access from the street, and rules about alcohol being served.

I thought immediately of the huge sums of money that these companies had invested in building the casinos. Really, invested in Costa Rica. I thought of the tourists that would be affected. I thought of the thousands of Ticos employed by the casinos. Basically I just asked myself why would they do such a thing? Tourism is the cash cow of Costa Rica. Why do anything to screw that up? Why take the chance of losing just one tourist?

I read a statement by someone in the tourism bureau that visitors to Costa Rica do not come here for the gambling and I thought “This guy is making decisions that affect thousands of jobs and a ton of tourists, yet has not a clue as to what he is talking about!

While technically he is right and gambling may not be the prime reason for choosing Costa Rica as a vacation spot, I know that when most people make their vacation plans, they take into consideration things to do as a family, things their kids can do, and things they can do as adults, especially if there are no kids on the trip. When I do play at the Fiesta, Del Rey, Cariari (now Doubletree) and others, those are not Ticos I am sitting next to! Most are foreigners and they are tourists. Lots of people, especially from the US do look to see if gambling is available probably because so many states prohibit it and vacation is a great time for some harmless sinning!

Why is it so hard for Ticos to realize that tourism is a business, and if they want their share of those vacation dollars, they sure better offer services at least equal to all the other Caribbean vacation spots. They should be thinking of offering more services, not less.

If that is not enough, the cutback in hours and the closing entirely of some casinos would mean the loss of 3,000 jobs. 3,000 jobs would be a big deal in the US with what, close to 300 million people? The population of Costa Rica is under 5 million. 3,000 jobs. Incredible. For what?

I like to play Blackjack, or as that is not really available here, the Costa Rican version called Rummy. I play maybe every two months or so, so I am far from being a regular client. Still, it means I could now go only at night, and as that is the time I spend with my wife, I can not go when I want and now, maybe not at all. I felt really irritated.

I waited all this time to blog about this as I wanted to see if this would be read into the legal newspaper which is the final step in activation of any new law in Costa Rica. It was. I thought to myself that certainly someone would come to their senses and stop this silliness. They didn’t. It is now law. One newspaper on May 9 informed the readers that this law was now being enforced.

So this week, when I had an opportunity to meet with a client in the Del Rey Hotel (at 11:00 AM), I was surprised to see the casino operating all tables! Hmmm! How could this be? A quick stop at the Fiesta showed me that they too were open in the afternoon. Huh? What happened to the new law? Were the jobs lost? What happened to the law? Shrug.

Odd huh? Makes me wonder why I wrote this post.

Life in the tropics.

Costa Rica! No Artificial Ingredients! A types need not apply.

The first time I started to get that question was right after I posted my daughter-in-law’s recipe for Gallo Pinto. Her recipe is, in my not too humble opinion, the absolute hands-down best I have had anywhere in all the years I have lived here and the years before when I was a visitor. She got the recipe from her mom and who knows before that… but it is superb! Those of you who know me are aware perhaps that I am not exactly an amateur eater!

Gallo Pinto, the basin ingredients are rice and beans, is perhaps the most famous of all Costa Rica foods and is served mostly as a breakfast dish, but also for other meals or even as a snack.

However, it is the seasoning ingredients that make the dish!

The key ingredient in her Gallo Pinto, or for that matter a large number of Costa Rican typical food dishes is Salsa Lizano. This dark brown sauce has a pretty unique flavor, and not a few tourists have loaded up on it before returning home. The problem, of course, is that they run out! That’s when I get the emails.

So, I decided to add a small online store to The REAL Costa Rica web site that sells not only Salsa Lizano and Costa Rica coffee, etc, but a variety of other foods gifts, clothes (check out the baby clothes!) and even a Costa Rica flag.

To get to the store, just click here. Then just click on the Salsa Lizano category.

Of course there are also the usual books on Costa Rica, but I also threw in stuff like music and DVD’s as well as learning Spanish. Just for yucks, I also added references to Mexico, Nicaragua and Panama as I get a lot of email from people asking about those countries.

All stuff is shipped from the USA. Enjoy!

From a mom with kids…

Q. What would be your advice when traveling to Costa Rica with a 1 year old? I have spoken to her pediatrition (sic) and there are really no suggestions. Should we have certain meds if she is bitten or comes in contact with a plant and puts it in her mouth? My husband and I are also considering the thought of living in Costa Rica with small children. Any advice would be helpful. Thank you.

A. You would use the exact same common sense things as you would at home. No shots are required but of course they should receive all the normal childhood inoculations + tetanus.

It would be impossible for you to bring medicines for all the things that COULD happen here. You don’t even have them in your own home! If she got ill there, you’d go to a doctor or hospital. Same here. Depending on where you live, the medical care is quite satisfactory.

Also, a one year old should not be anywhere near biting animals, snakes, whatever, in the first place. We don’t have wild animals and reptiles running in the streets. As for bugs? If out in the daytime, she should use a repellent if possible. There are many safe ones for kids. It would be highly unlikely you would have toxic plants in your home any more than you would keep poison ivy in you home.

Living here with small children is nothing special. Ticos do it all the time. Unless you are living out in some rain forest or a swamp, life here is exactly as it is now (for kids). Eat, sleep, play, keep ‘em out of traffic, watch them at the malls, take them to MacDonalds.

Q. Is there any limit on the number of properties that a foreigner can buy? per year or certain time limit? I was wanting to move my family here, a wife and child, to really try and live a much simpler, cleaner life (pura vida). However, there seem to be many obstacles to this dream. Any advice? We were hoping of buying a small home, fixing it up and selling it, and maybe do this a few times. Is this possible? Many thanks.

A. There is no limit on the number of properties you can buy and own though you cannot buy certain properties if they border a foreign country. I am sure there are a lot of “fixer-uppers” for you. The bigger problem is your residency status. You cannot just come here and live without proper residency, so make sure THAT is in order first. Finally, as always, I STRONGLY urge you NOT to just pick-up and move you and your family. Here are some suggestions for a happy transition:

1. Remember that about 40% of the people who move here do NOT make it, and return “home” within a year.
2. Do NOT be dumb and think the above statistic does not include you…. that you are somehow “the exception”. To do that indicates you might be less intelligent than a box of grapes.
3. Do NOT do anything during your first 6-9 months in country that cannot be “undone” with a couple of phone calls. Do not sell the farm to come here. The expatriate lifestyle is NOT for everyone. Think if you can really live without those grandkids, your kids, local malls, your best friends, etc
4. Costa Rica is NOT an easy country in which to live. I love it. You may not. It is NOT the panacea to all those things that make you crazy where you now live.
5. Do NOT come here if you need to work. Pay is very, very low compared to most other countries (like 10-15%) and working here without proper authority is illegal and disrespectful. Want to bring $$$ and open a new business? Do it! That is legal and there are a zillion opportunities around every corner.
6. Do not think for 1 second that life here will be better or different because there is no Bill (or Hillary) Clinton, no George Bush, or whomever you currently hate and blame for the problems in your life. Do not think that life is “simpler” here (unless you plan to retire, live away from everyone, and spend your days reading in a hammock) To believe that is just about as dumb, maybe dumber, as believing #2 above.
7. If you come, explore the country. Take time to travel. It is smaller than West Virginia, but holds a ton of secrets.
8. Do not believe about half of what you read on tourist websites. Believe about two thirds of the travel guides have to say. They have their agendas which is fine. The book or web site Costa Rica is not the REAL Costa Rica.
9. Do not plan to enjoy this country to the max if you cannot Spanish. If you plan to own or operate a business, this goes double!
   

As you might expect, I get a lot of email from people who are either making the move to Costa Rica or are considering such a move. Some are baby boomers realizing that they may not be able to afford to retire in their home country… others are younger, asking about employment opportunities and lifestyle. They ask my advice on a variety of things,and I give the best answers I can. But over time, I have come to realize that there are a some questions that are never asked, but certainly should be asked, before making a move of this magnitude.

So here are my thoughts on this.

One fact that is pretty well agreed upon is that from 30 to 40% of the people who move here do not make it through the first year. They return to their home country. I read an unsubstantiated article the other day that says this figure is average even for those moving to Hawaii. I guess it is the leaving your home soil that makes it hard… Quien Sabe?

I think that to approach this topic clearly, the only logical place to begin is by dividing everyone into groups. The way to do this is by age, I suppose, so I am going to (arbitrarily) use age 50 as the cutoff. The reason is that those under 50 are probably not retiring. Their needs are different than the over-50 crowd who are a bit more likely to be either in early retirement or will be retiring pretty soon. Obviously your personal situation will vary, so I suggest your read both sections.

Of these two groups, the over 50 crowd is much larger, so I will begin with them.

Over 50

Costa Rica has become one of the hotspots for those of or nearing retirement age who are coming to the realization that they may not be able to afford to retire on social security or another pension plan, so they are now casting about for alternatives. Of course there are also those who have no money concerns who are also considering the expatriate life. The interesting thing is that the most important things to consider for all these people are pretty much the same.

Leaving Home

Sounds simple right? It is not. You are leaving home.

You are leaving everything behind that is “normal”, comfortable, and familiar. You are leaving behind family and friends. You may be leaving behind your children… and their children… the grandkids. If you have money, you can visit them of course, and they can visit you, but maybe not so often as they likely have to work and vacation time is limited. You will probably miss births, first communions, bar mitzvahs, baptisms, accidents, first steps, first words and a ton of the other daily “stuff” that makes up your life. Of course you will hear about all this stuff… after the fact.

If one of your good friends needs your help or your daughter is fighting with her husband, you will not be there to advise or provide a shoulder. It must be done long distance. It is not the same.

Can you handle that? For Pete’s sake don’t say yes if the answer is no.

Costa Rica is not for everyone. It is not the panacea to your problems. It is not like the tourist Costa Rica that you may have experienced on a visit. Nearly every single thing you do in this country is different from how you do it at “home”. Going to the pharmacy, shopping, learning the names of all your body parts and car parts so you feel comfortable at the doctor’s office or the mechanic, getting your hair cut or going to the beauty parlor, learning the metric system for groceries and cooking, stopping at the bank, going to the movies… the list is endless.

Analyze why you are leaving. Have good reasons? I hope so. For instance, I get a ton of email from people who cannot live one more minute under the George W. Bush regime. I am starting to get emails saying that if Hillary Clinton (or almost any other Democrat) is elected, they are leaving the USA. HUH? Do you think things will be different here? Nothing changes. You are just leaving your family and friends to live here and you STILL will have to deal with all the political crapola that IS the United States… and Costa Rica!

Political reasons aside… I cannot tell you how many people I know who have underestimated the above. It is, however, one of the things that you should think about very seriously before you consider leaving home. Some folks can take it. Others simply cannot.

Where will you live?

This is the number one question on peoples minds. They want to get here, buy a home and get settled in. Kind of olde age nesting instinct I guess. Safety in your own little place. Right?

It is my opinion that this probably the last thing you should be doing! What you need to realize is that there is a fairly high probability that you won’t even want to stay here. That 30-40% number is something you should not ignore. If your doctor told you that you had a 30-40% chance of dying in six months, I betcha that you’d listen up pretty carefully.

So you come here anyway and quickly buy your little piece of paradise. Then realize any or all of the following:

• You vastly overpaid because you had NO idea what you were doing
• You chose the wrong location and now wish you could live in XXX (XXX is anywhere where you are not now living)
• You realize you just cannot live this far away from your grandbabies, friends, family… etc.
• You realize that to really enjoy living here, you really have to learn Spanish
• You cannot adjust to the Latin lifestyle
• You THOUGHT is was cheap to live here, but as you chose to live in high security, gated communities in some Gringo stronghold, you now find yourself paying more than it would cost to live in Miami
• You decide that Costa Rica is not for you and then realize you have no place to go. Your money is tied up in your overpriced home which cannot be easily sold, and you have no home to return to anyway.

I could add another 5-6 items to that list, but I hope you get the point. Do not rush into the expat life. Personally, I love it! Others do not.

What to do?

Stop and Plan this thing.

By all means come here and try it out! There is little or no downside IF you don’t do anything drastic.

If possible, don’t liquidate everything in your home country. Don’t sell the farm. Rent out the old homestead. Have someone housesit. THEN

Come here and RENT for the first six months to a year. This will give you the opportunity to travel all over the country and see what are your options. Meanwhile, your CASH and your property are safely sitting somewhere so that if you DO change your mind, you can get out easily and relatively painlessly.

My wife and I like to take little weekend jaunts, and I can tell you this: After living here for several years and visiting here for even more years, there is not a month that goes by that we do not say to each other, “Let’s buy a place here. This is GREAT!” We must have 25 places we’d like to live someday.

Costa Rica is rich with beautiful locations. There are of course the famous Pacific beaches, but there are Caribbean beaches, mountains, valleys, rain forests… You must really know Costa Rica to have any idea what will be best for you. Other considerations:

• Do you want or need access to shopping? Internet? Other things (aka infrastructure)
• Over 50? Things start to break on people over 50. The beaches, while beautiful, have little or no access to good medical care. No trauma centers. The closest beaches are about 2 hours from a good hospital. Even more if you are in Guanacaste. It can be just as bad from the mountains. Is this important to you? Should it be?
• Do you like movies? The Orchestra? Cultural stuff? San Jose has it. An easy drive from the mountains surrounding the central valley. A really LONG drive from any beach community.
• You like the heat? Lots of folks do. But they are not prepared for living in 90 degree heat WITH 80-90% humidity. This is the tropics so you better know you like it before you make the big move.
• Insurance? Costa Rica is famous for it reasonable medical care, BUT are you prepared for the downsides of any socialized medical care? HUGE waits, delays in getting prescriptions, overcrowded and understaffed public hospitals that may not have even BASIC life saving smoke detectors? The terrible condition of some of those CAJA hospitals?

Again, I can go on forever, but you get the point. There is no rush. Relax. Get to know Costa Rica. Learn some Spanish. See if you can adjust. Travel. THEN, make your decisions from a position of power and knowledge.

And as for those realtors making it sound like this is your last chance to buy land… remember there is a lot of paradise here… and it will all be on sale next year!

But if you think you can handle all this.. Come’on down. At the least, it will be a life changing experience for you and your family, and if you plan it correctly, there will be little or no downside to the adventure!

This is the end of Part One.

Part Two for the Under 50 crowd will be up in a thrice!