Import taxes are very high here, especially on big-ticket items like automobiles. But I chose to not have a car and get around on foot, taxis, and buses with some of the lowest public transportation costs in the world. When I add the low cost of medical care, being some of the lowest and yet best in the world, I save money. Eat local, natural food from the farmers’ market and food is cheaper as well as healthier. Eat imported U.S. products and you pay a lot more than you would in the states. There are Americans here who actually live on their Social Security Checks and some have made it an art to live on less here such as Paul & Gloria at Retire for Less in Costa Rica. Or check out George Lundquist’s “Retire in Costa Rica on Social Security” Tour. It is not the most expensive place for these folks!
So it really depends on what you want to do and how much you want to spend. I splurge on some birding trips and some foods I enjoy, while living very easily without owning a car. I find Costa Rica to be a very Easy Place to Retire. And so far costing me less than the multi-level retirement center I last lived in while in the states. And I think I live in luxury! Just read my blog and decide! 🙂
Easiest Place for Retirement in the Whole World!
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It is an especially easy place to retire for nature-lovers and birders! 🙂 |
Costa Rica is rated as “The Easiest Place for Retirement” by a recent report based on “fitting in,” “adapting” to the new culture, and a “happy lifestyle” which of course might relate to an earlier report that Costa Rica has the Happiest People on earth! 🙂
Now that I’ve been here more than a year, I agree that it is an easy place to retire. Like everywhere, there are some things that seem difficult at first or slow, like getting my residency (government bureacracy), but not as difficult or slow as it is for people moving to the states! It is the people of Costa Rica who make it easier with their friendliness and desire to help any way they can. And unlike most countries I have traveled in, the people of Costa Rica like Americans! Amazing! 🙂
Well, click the link above and read the article. It is good and explains the cultural acceptance.
Palm Tanager
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Palm Tanager In my terrace cecropia or yagrumo tree. Different shots show different aspects of a bird. |
This is in the family of the more common Blue-gray Tanager that I’ve photographed many times and the book says has a similar song. This is my first time to photograph these guys.
My Costa Rica Birds Photo Gallery OR All My Costa Rica Photo Galleries
Those little nimble musicians of the air, that warble forth their curious ditties, with which nature hath furnished them to the shame of art. ~Izaak Walton
New Terrace Table & Chairs
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There are a lot of advantages to renting! New furniture is one! 🙂 |
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It makes the terrace look larger! |
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And looks good from inside too! I like it better than the old one! Fresh and airy! New and clean! I’m ready for Reagan now! |
San Ramon, Costa Rica
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San Ramon is higher in the mountains than Atenas, meaning it gets much colder and rains more. It rained this morning & in 50’s. |
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San Ramon’s beautiful Catholic Church facing the Central Park, like every town in Costa Rica. |
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They also have a boyero or oxcart driver monument like Atenas. I like our Atenas metal one better. This one is on church grounds. |
San Ramon is quite a bit larger than Atenas with more businesses and traffic, something in-between Atenas and Alajuela. I do not like it as well as Atenas because of the weather (colder and wetter) and the more crowded conditions. They do have a University campus which is a plus and a couple of museums we don’t have, but I think I will stick with my more walkable small town. Both are very “Costa Rica” in nature with wonderfully friendly people. They have a few hundred expats living there where we have over a thousand in and around Atenas.
The other post today about healthcare tour has more photos of San Ramon and yesterday’s short post has photo of tour group in front of Mural on La Posada Hotel where I stayed.
Friday of Healthcare Tour
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Old Man Tree in Breakfast Room |
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A stop by CPI Spanish Immersion School in Heredia for one short lesson. |
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Visited the smaller public hospital in San Ramon. Public hospitals aren’t as fancy and pretty as private, but very clean and functional inside. |
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Paul & Gloria’s view with a Poro Tree blooming. Now is time for Poro. |
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Lunch at home of Paul & Gloria Yeatman with guest speakers. |
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Visiting the San Ramon Feria or Farmers’ Market Friday afternoon. Paul & Gloria emphasize this as a part of healthcare! |
We also visited a small neighborhood clinic, farmacia, bank, community center, Red Cross which does all the emergency ambulances, a museum, and talked about insurance, the CAJA government healthcare, homecare provided by CAJA, and even a presentation by a volunteer organization encouraging us to volunteer. Whew! A full day! But very helpful. They were showing us what it is really like for medical care in a local community, in this case San Ramon. I will do a separate post on San Ramon and give my comparison to Atenas. This ended the Healthcare Tour at dinner time in San Ramon. I spent the night there and tried to post these photos but the little La Posada Hotel had very slow internet, so I saved them for today, Saturday and will purposefully do two posts. The next one with a few shots of San Ramon sans-healthcare!
Our Healthcare Tour Group
The internet connection is very slow at my little La Posada Hotel in San Ramon, taking a long time to upload the one photo above. So I will save the several other photos I want to share for after I get home tomorrow, telling what we did. It was another good day with a lot seen and done. Tune in tomorrow for a report! And I have now seen San Ramon for the first time. Opinions tomorrow.
San Jose Hospitals Today
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Entering Hospital Mexico, the largest in Costa Rica and a public hospital |
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MRI at Public Hospital Mexico |
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Hospital room at small boutique private hospital, Clinica Unibe. We saw another similar one called Hospital Metropolintano. |
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In and out of the van at about 5 hospitals |
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Clinica Biblica, one of the two largest private hospitals along with CIMA. We also visited Hospital Catolica, just a little smaller. |
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An absolutely wonderful Senior Adult Apartments with all levels of care, great views, and near the second largest mall in Costa Rica. Verdeza Apartamentos I would love for this to be my final home before death! Great program! |
More tomorrow as we head for San Ramon, a town a little larger than Atenas to visit more of the local healthcare facilities and hear more from Paul and Gloria Yeatman and eat lunch at their house.
Healthcare Tour of Costa Rica
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Wednesday & Thursday nights at Adventure Inn in San Jose A small family-owned, non-chain hotel with good prices! Adventure Inn San Jose |
Because the tour starts at 7:30 in the morning from this hotel, I came the night before like probably most of the participants. Walter’s Tours and Taxis in Atenas takes me for visa renewals usually and so I used his services to get to this hotel today. Door to door friendly and efficient service at a reasonable price and I did not have to fight the San Jose traffic! Saturday morning they will pick me up in San Ramon where the tour finishes. To save money I may use the public bus in future but it seemed more of a hassle with a suitcase and changing buses in San Jose. Kind of nice to be chauffeured!
Tomorrow night I will report on the first day of the tour, all in San Jose. So keep reading. I expect most of the participants to be people from the States and Canada who are considering retirement here. The Yeatman’s do this in conjunction with another guy who does a relocation tour of Costa Rica, different from the one I took. More about it later too. Tonight I rest, eat in hotel restaurant, do some computer work and play and read. It is fun to be away from home even when you live in a paradise! 🙂
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A quote from the founder of my former clinic in Nashville where caring people still struggle with the broken American system. |
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It is good to now live in a country where healthcare and education are more important than wealth and military. It makes a difference! |
Black-cowled Oriole
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Black-cowled Oriole Inside my house on a screen |
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Black-cowled Oriole Inside my house as seen from outside before I opened the screen. He flew away, probably fearful of houses now. |
During the day when at home I leave the garden door without a screen open and the sliding glass doors and screens to the terrace open, thus easy for wildlife to sometimes explore inside. 🙂
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From Charlie! Retired in Costa Rica! |
See my Costa Rica Birds Photo Gallery with 156 species I’ve photographed in Costa Rica so far! And with about 900 species of birds here, I have a ways to go! 🙂