Two Weeks in Costa Rica

[JSH]

Just as the COVID 19 crisis was started to heat up my wife and I spent 2 weeks in Costa Rica attending a language school. We visited Costa Rica 2 years ago on vacation and had a positive experience. It jumped to the top of the list for possible future retirement locations. (To date we have visited Costa Rica Ecuador, Mexico, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, and all the Balkins from Slovinia to Greece) We have pretty much decided we will retire in Latin America so Spanish is a must and we thought why not use this language school to do a mini test of retired life.

So we booked the school and decided to study in Heredia instead of the beach campus in Samara. We wanted a more real experience away from the tourist towns set up for English speakers.

In general we were very pleased. The school and staff were great. Though that isn't the focus of this post.

We rented an apartment for the time, again to get a more realistic look at the country and costs. Our 2 bedroom apartment was $250 a week / $900 a month. It was very nice, downtown and close to supermarkets and the central market. As an Air BnB short term rental that is surely on the high side but it came furnished with all utilities and WiFi.

Weather was very nice. Highs of 75-80F, lows about 65 or so. Sun and a breeze every day. The air quality was great, with AQI 25 or less every day.

We cooked all of our meals, with near daily visits to the market for fresh produce. Our food bill came out to about $100 a week but about 1/3 of that was bad Costa Rican beer. (I would need to start brewing again if we moved to CR) In general local and unprepared food is cheap, imported and prepared food is very expensive. For example a loaf of bad white "wonder bread" was $4 in the Mas y Menos (Wal-Mart). Good fresh baked bread from the local bakery was $1. Fruit and veggies were very cheap at the local market.

All in all a VERY positive experience. We will heading back again this year for another 2 weeks of school and to get a sampling of "Green Season" (The wet season)

Which makes me wonder - why don't more Americans retire abroad.

The average Social Security check is $1500. That is poverty level in the USA but double the median monthly income in Costa Rica. You could live REALLY nice on the average SS check. Health insurance for a family is 7%-11% of income depending on income. (Worst case $165 of that $1500 SS check) Getting permanent residence is easy.

Option 1: Show you have SS or pension of $1,000 a month per couple
Option 2: Deposit $60,000 into a Costa Rican Bank
Option 3: Buy a business or home worth $200,000 or more

[Fat Charlie]

I don't have the imagination. I've seen some wonderful places, but I love the land up here in the northeast.

Luckily, my wife has more imagination and would like to be somewhere warmer sometime. So maybe I'll see you down there sometime.

[redpoint5]

I spent nearly a week on Little Corn Island, Nicaragua. Lived like a king for $11/day. Food, shelter, ron (rum), and drank it out of fresh coconuts harvested beach-side.

At the time I was thinking I could probably retire on $200k, perhaps picking up some work along the way as a SCUBA guide or really anything as the island lacked most everything.

Costa Rica has been my favorite foreign place so far... and that prompted a trip down memory lane. 2009 travels to Nicaragua and Costa Rica.

[JSH]

It is a beautiful place

[freebeard]

(To date we have visited Costa Rica Ecuador, Mexico, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, and all the Balkins from Slovinia to Greece)

The only place on that list I visited was Vietnam. What did you think of it?

I like the Vietnamese people, prolly because they didn't kill me.

My little brother made Mexico his choice. He was all over the world when he was young. An importer/exporter. He brought a '34 Ford touring back from Argentina.

When he visited, he was comparing food prices with Winco.

He lived in a hole in the water in the Sea of Cortez, migrating up and down it with the weather. In the end, when he got back to American medicine, it was too late to save him. His son put off the Rememberance from December, now it's a little iffy and he's no where to be found.

[JSH]

Originally Posted by freebeard

The only place on that list I visited was Vietnam. What did you think of it?

I like the Vietnamese people, prolly because they didn't kill me.

The Vietnamese people were very friendly. The food was excellent and cost of living is very low. (Air BnB short term apartment rentals at $250 - $500 per month and whole meals for $1)

That said, it is incredibly crowded, the air quality is the worst I've experienced in all my travels, and the language would be a huge challenge with the different tones changing meaning completely and non-Latin letters. The heat and humidity is oppressive even in the cool season.

The blend of Communism and small time capitalism is strange but interesting. That would be another interesting thing to see in the countryside because the touristy areas we visited had special rules and police that looked the other way.

The war also destroyed a lot of history. Most of the "historic" sites we visited were recreations in concrete built about 10 years ago when Vietnam did a big push to increase international tourism.

We spent the vast majority of time in Ho Chi Minh and Hanoi. Maybe the countryside is better. It was interesting to visit but we wouldn't want to live there.

[JSH]

I've been to almost every country in Western Europe for work but we never really have looked at them as a retirement location. The cost of living is similar to here and immigration is quite a bit harder than Latin America. I have not been to Spain though my wife has. It is a popular expat retirement location so we might take a look.

I've also been to Guatemala, Peru, and Chile for work. We have started focusing our vacations on potential retirement locations the past 3 years.

Learning Spanish opens up so many opportunities (and helps me in my current job) That gives us the option to pick up and move if conditions change or the option to slow travel up and down Latin America. (Slow travel is WAY cheaper than they typical fly in / fly week or two vacation.)

As to medical care, Costa Rica has Level II trauma centers and US and European trained staff. The national system is very focused on preventive care and catching issues early.

[Piotrsko]

I dunno, I researched retirement in cheaper locals, but since I have bugged out a couple of times in a similar mode, and the kids refuse to relocate any more, I need to sit put if I want to see them. Did the backwoods thing also and decided while I hate wallyworld, being able to walk there in a snowstorm has it's benefit.

Otoh, here in Reno I exist quite well on just my SSAN payment.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Costa Rica seems to be an interesting place to say the least. Never been there, but in 2014 there were some Costa Rican tourists in my hometown for the FIFA World Cup which had some matches held locally.

When it comes to regionally-grown food, makes me wonder what has been done for fresh bread in Costa Rica to be so comparatively cheaper than the imported one. Brazil relies heavily on imports for wheat, even though other grains such as corn and rice (which my state has AFAIK the largest output nationwide), or roots such as cassava/manioc/tapioca and sweet potato, which can also be used for baking and are more suitable for tropical regions. Wheat relies heavily on subsidies in Brazil.

Originally Posted by freebeard

My little brother made Mexico his choice. He was all over the world when he was young. An importer/exporter. He brought a '34 Ford touring back from Argentina.

Presumably it was RHD, made in Canada and exported as a CKD kit and assembled at the La Boca neighborhood in Buenos Aires.

[JSH]

Originally Posted by cRiPpLe_rOoStEr

When it comes to regionally-grown food, makes me wonder what has been done for fresh bread in Costa Rica to be so comparatively cheaper than the imported one....

Costa Rica has high import duties. My guess is the bread was made outside the country and imported. Almost all the prepared goods were very expensive.(boxed pasta, jars of pasta sauce, cookies, chips, foreign cheeses, etc) Base ingredients were cheap. We ate a lot of rice, beans, eggs, fruit, and veggies. We both lost a few pounds on the trip.

Say the import tax is 100%. A $2 loaf of bread becomes a $4 loaf. That loaf likely only has a 10 cents worth of bread flower in it. So that 10 cents of flower becomes 20 cents and then you pay for the bakery to turn it into delicious bread.

EDIT: $3 spent at the central market and a typical lunch