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Just a Little Bit About Myself
November 24th, 2006
If I may take a moment of your time, I’d like to properly introduce myself. My name is Susan Carmichael. Tim said he erased the last introduction I did, but oh well, there’s always time for a second chance.
Filed under Blogging Stuff, Costa Rica, Expatriate Life, Kids in Costa Rica, Life in Costa Rica, Living in Costa Rica, Susan Lutz (Carmichael) | Comments (10)Costa Rica Cell Phone Update
November 22nd, 2006
The Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) – our friendly local state-run telecommunications monopoly has decided to purchase an entirely new GSM cell phone network rather than expand the current network.
Why is this a big deal? Because with this announcement, we know that it will be at least another year… more likely two-three years before cell phone (telephone) numbers can again be purchased. Believe it or not, this is probably good news.
Filed under Costa Rica, Costa Rica Tourism, ICE, Immigration & Residency, Life in Costa Rica, Living in Costa Rica, Moving to Costa Rica, Retire in Costa Rica, Technical Stuff, Travel | Comments (11)You’ll Probably Find Me at the Mall
November 21st, 2006
I’ve lived in Costa Rica for eight years, and know exactly what I need from the U.S. when I travel back for visits. Tap shoes were high on my list one year. As I first time parent, I figured this is what we do: enroll our daughters in tap classes. I’d bought a pair at a used clothes store in the U.S. for $1 in anticipation that my daughter would want to take tap class. The shoes were too big.
Filed under Costa Rica, Expatriate Life, Humor, Life in Costa Rica, Living in Costa Rica, Susan Lutz (Carmichael) | Comment (1)Central Bank Changes and the Effect on Currency Exchanges and Interest
October 29th, 2006
A couple of weeks ago, the Central Bank of Costa Rica decided to stop the ages-old policy of setting a daily buy/sell rate (exchange rate) for converting dollars to colones and vice versa. This daily exchange rate was known as the tipo de cambio, and was generally a very small spread, maybe 2.5-4 colones. It changed every day, increasing a fraction of a colone and thus devaluing the currency against the dollar… daily.
Filed under Banking & Finance, Banking in Costa Rica, Cost of Living, Costa Rica, Expatriate Life, Life in Costa Rica, Living in Costa Rica, Politics, Rants, Retire in Costa Rica, Travel | Comments (6)How Many US Citizen Expats are Living in Costa Rica?
July 6th, 2006
I must have been asked this question about 4,000 times since I moved here. Odd as it may be, nobody seemed to know… until now. Finally, immigration has announced the figure. Of the 289,237 legal residents (foreigners) living in Costa Rica, only 8,400 are US Citizens. Continue reading »
Filed under Costa Rica, Hmmm!, Immigration & Residency, Life in Costa Rica, Living in Costa Rica, Retire in Costa Rica | Comments (14)Extra Charge Coming for Cellular Internet Service
January 15th, 2006
Up until now, if you really didn’t care too much about using a GSM phone here in Costa Rica, you could at least feel good that when you phone DID have service, you also had free Internet access so you could check emails and do some browsing. That will soon begin to costa (sorry… I had to!) money.
Continue reading »