Category: Culture

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Is This My Colonial Town?

We started at our day of looking for rentals at 9:30 AM and went to 5:00 PM. My driver/helper is Alex Palma who drives a cab, serves as a concierge mainly to tourists, Realtors and for tourist transportation (506-8846-6868) and was very helpful after I finally made it clear I wanted to see furnished apartments only and got to his computer to show him what I had found online. He was pushing his town of Santo Domingo partly because he lives there and then I found he has what we call a “Mother-in-law’s Apartment” in his house that is available. Nice but not what I wanted. I did fall in love with Santo Domingo though.
We looked at a very nice condo in Santa Rosa neighborhood of Santo Domingo that I loved and it was right beside the INBio Park which I see myself volunteering at sometime in the future. It was wonderful condo for only $600 a month but not furnished! I may later get an unfurnished place because I like to decorate, but not for a year at earliest. So we move on!
 In another adjacent community (all suburbs of San Jose) named San Pablo we saw a wonderful furnished condo with pool for $900 which is more than I want to pay at first and it did not include utilities beyond water. We saw a brand new simpler and modern condo in Belen that was $750 plus utilities but it was another unfurnished one even though listed with the furnished ones. I could easily live there but I must start with a furnished apartment.
Finally our contact was able to meet us at 4:00 PM to show us a two-bedroom, one bath apartment just 5 blocks from the Santo Domingo plaza and church where everything is located and just what I wanted to be near. It is a colonial Latin American town that centers around a full block plaza with a big Catholic Church facing it. There are several needed businesses including a supermarket, the weekly farmers’ market, and a smaller 7-day a week fruit and vegetable market. There are several Sodas for a variety of lunch choices (we ate at one) and my favorite, a POP’s Ice Cream right on the square. I felt I had found my place! It rents for $600 a month furnished and with all utilities except electricity which will probably cost $40 month even with some a/c use says Alex.
I’m going to sleep on it a few days and then may offer a retainer if they will hold it for me until January to begin a 12-month lease then. Pray that I make the right call. This could be the first step in the decision to really do it! To really move to Costa Rica!
Earlier in the day we got ice cream at POP’s and ate it on a park bench in the Plaza. I hastily took a couple of photos on my pocket camera that are not very good, but must show them now!   🙂
Iglesia del Rosario, Santo Domingo (built between 1838-1844)
In another part of town there is a larger church, Basílica de Santo Domingo de Guzmán (built in 1856)

Central Plaza, Santo Domingo, Costa Rica
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Art, Play, or Vandalism?

Art, Play, or Vandalism?   In Sabana Park.

Good, long flight from Nashville to San Jose through Charlotte of all places! Arrived about 1:30 this time which is Central Standard Time (no daylight savings thank goodness) which means in the summer it is like the U.S Mountain Savings Time. It was lightly raining on arrival and at supper time now is raining hard. May through November is “Rainy Season” which is mostly afternoon showers. And yes, I planned to come in rainy season on purpose. If I move here, this is what it will be like, half the year. December to April is “Dry Season” with no rain in most places except the coastal rain forests which have rain year around. The northwest part of Costa Rica, called Guanacaste, is dry year around with some rain during rainy season. It is like some of our American West.

Well, anyway, I was in my hotel by 3:00 in downtown San Jose and with only a mist and my umbrella I walked two blocks to Parque Sabana which is bigger than New York’s Central Park and made a few photos. I promised to just do one a day, so I chose the weird one instead of the cute boys playing soccer, a tree I liked, or the beautiful yellow hibiscus across from the hotel. This monster eating a picnic table next to a slide made of logs intrigued me and maybe I will learn more about it later. The children were playing on the regular playground. So, is it art, play, or vandalism? Click photo to see it larger.

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10 Qualities of Successful Expats

Some of my most practical research information comes from current expats in Costa Rica who write blogs, newsletters or even have websites. One of my newest discoveries is a site and newsletter by Paul & Gloria Yeatman with their website at www.retireforlessincostarica.com and I just signed up for their newsletter. By doing so I received a “free gift” of a linked document titled

The Top 10 Qualities of Successful Expats in Costa Rica

You might be able to see it at this link if not coded for subscribers only!  🙂
http://retireforlessincostarica.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Top-10-Qualities-of-Successful-Expats-in-Costa-Rica.pdf

In case not, here are the ten characteristics without the wonderful, detailed discussion of each:

  1. Do your homework. 
  2. If you are married, both of you must agree.
  3. Rent for at least one year.
  4. Enjoy the simple things of life.
  5. Have a positive attitude!
  6. Learn to speak Spanish. 
  7. Join the Caja (national health care system).
  8. Hook into the local Tico culture. 
  9. Hook into the local Expat community. 
  10. Get involved . . . volunteer. 
Now if you have been reading my blog or know me, you know that these are all things I aspire too already, but it was encouraging to see them listed in this way. Hope you can get to the whole document with the above link! And isn’t my research a lot of fun!