Blog

Posted on

Meetings and Memories

Today was the first day of our two day seminar. Today was a lot including residency, real estate, ARCR services, laws, moving, customs, learning Spanish, culture and a guy my age telling about his experience. It was mostly helpful and interesting, though tiring and a little dizzying. In addition to the 4 new people for the rest of our tour we have several here just for the seminar with a group of about 27 representing all sections of the U.S., Canada, Israel, and England. All kinds of people are considering a move to Costa Rica. No photos made today, but I still have memories of the beaches. (And extra photos!)

Playa Bejuco, Costa Rica

Posted on

Beach Properties & Back to City

Another beautiful day of sunshine until late afternoon, rain for dinner and sleeping!. And if this is the way rainy season is most of the time I will like it! In both Gambia and South Florida it was usually in the afternoons and they say that is true here sometimes, but not this week so far.

We looked at two beach condos at Jaco Beach with one on another empty beach seen below and the condos are like really nice condos in South Florida. They are tempting to buy because some, like the one in the photo, have been slashed to less than half the original asking prices because they are not all selling or maybe have overbuilt. This could mean I might get a good deal later on a rental, though the guy said an investor-owner can make more renting in season to tourists than he could on me year around. They can get as much per week in season as I would pay per month, so I’m not likely to end up in one of these. The ocean view is from an area of properties where you could build with just the lot selling for $160,000! You pay for these views! I’ll look at poor man’s property on my own next week.

Click to enlarge photo and note that these are web-sized. Please contact me to use one and I will send you a larger file.

From building property looking over the mouth of
Tarcoles River where it flows into the Pacific

“King of the Mountain!”
Crocodiles in the Tarcoles River

 Another near empty beach! This one by condo below.

Lobby of one of two condos we visited. A Vacation Condo mostly..
Reminded me of South Florida! Very nice!
For two days after our two-day seminar, we will be looking at properties in the Central Valley area, closer to more services and shopping, medical, entertainment, etc. I’m back in San Jose and Hotel Autentico for a week now. It will be nice to stay unpacked for awhile. Tomorrow our two-day seminar is led by ARCR, the Costa Rica Resident’s Association where all our questions will be answered by lawyers, movers, doctors, and expats who live here. Then I do my own thing for 4 days. A full two weeks! But fun! And educational!
Posted on

Our Third Beach Sunset Rained Out

Today was the third and last night on the beach and about thirty minutes ago would have been the time for a beautiful Pacific Coast Sunset and just like the last two nights that was when the downpour started. But you know what, it is rainy season and yet we have has mostly full days of sunshine with either late afternoon or evening rain, so very fortunate for the tour! We visited three more really nice houses today, one near Quepos with an infinity pool and deck overlooking the Pacific, just not what I can afford – see bottom photo. Then at Bejuco Beach we saw two really nice houses in a gated subdivision of 127 lots with 73 houses already built with every amenity possible. Several are for sale at $189,000 up into 5 and 6 hundreds, most with private pools plus the community pool, etc. Again I can’t afford to buy there and probably not rent, though it is closer with a few smaller ones for rent at $800 to $900 a month plus utilities. It is a two hundred meter walk to the empty beach below which is also where the folks are riding horses. We are staying in a nice hotel right on the beach in the quaint Key West like town of Jaco where we also had a gourmet lunch at the marina. And note that last night my connection was slow and I started reducing photos to 800 pixels on long side, but you don’t need to be stealing my photos anyway!  🙂  But ask if you want to use one and I’ll send the larger file. Time for dinner! Adios!

Playa Bejuco with miles of empty beach and it has the
very nice gated community of upscale modern houses.

While at Bejuco Beach some horses came by.

Our very nice hotel is on the beach where I walked today
in this quaint seaside town of Jaco – nice but more touristy
than Bejuco!
This shot is from the deck of a very nice house with infinity pool
overlooking the Pacific, between Quepos and Jaco.
Posted on

What Makes Costa Rica Appealing?

BEAUTIFUL VIEWS
Of the Pacific from an available lot at Partasol,
An Ecological Development we visited today.
BEAUTIFUL BEACHES
Playa Hermosa on the Pacific Coast South
ACTIVE NEIGHBORS
A surfer at Manuel Antonio Beach today
COLORFUL NEIGHBORS
This morning’s Toucan is so much better than last night’s I think!

INTRIGUING NEIGHBORS
White-faced Capuchin Monkey

And all of this was just today’s visits and photos!
There are 13 of us on the Pacific tour with two more joining us for the Central Valley Tour and Seminar. We are all seriously considering a move to Costa Rica, mostly for retirement. A fun group and great food!
Posted on

Chestnut-Mandibled Toucan

A good first day of the tour and over 500 photos coming out of San Jose, a bicycle race, soccer match, Talamanca Mountains, several towns and beaches along the South end of Costa Rica’s Pacific Coast, plus the beautiful grounds of the Villas Rio Mar. But on my late afternoon walk along the Baru River I saw several flocks of Great White Herons flying back to roost, then best of all a huge flock of Chestnut-Mandibled Toucans stopping for snacks in some hotel trees on their way to their roosts. They call it the Toucan Flyover which happens here every evening. They are in the tops of very high trees, but I got one or two usable photos and this is one. Maybe tomorrow I will post a beach photo, 

Posted on

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.

Posted on

Birding Adventure Scheduled

Resplendent Quetzal by Charlie Doggett
Near Savegre Lodge, Talamanca Mountains, Costa Rica

I was saving all four of my personal days after the tour for business if needed, but realized I could get enough done in two and found a travel agent to set up a birding trip for my last two days. I’ll get private transportation (90 minutes) from San Jose to and from the Talamanca Mountains, Los Quetzales National Park, and Trogon Lodge on September 3 & 4. It comes with a birding guide early before breakfast on the 4th to help find and photograph another Resplendent Quetzal bird (above), the most sought after bird for birders in Central America. The photo here was made on my 2009 birding trip. Hope I get another one as good or better than this! Plus there should be trogons, hummingbirds, and many other cloud forest birds, other animals, waterfalls, and landscapes. A cloud forest is a rainforest in the mountains with mostly different species of flora & fauna than seen in the lowland rainforests.

Well, I’m excited and ready for my flight early tomorrow morning and the beginning of the Live in Costa Rica Tour. I plan to make a post tomorrow night and each night for the two weeks, with a photo of the day each night. Please send a link to this blog to anyone you know who is interested.
http://costaricadecisionprocess.blogspot.com/  This is where I will finalize my decision to move (or not move) to Costa Rica. 

Posted on

Just One Day & I’m Nearly Packed

I’m excited and have most of packing done for leaving day after tomorrow morning. I’ve contacted a travel agent about using my last two free days of exploring for a birding trip. I’ll decide tomorrow if I do that and it is likely.

I’m now in the International Living “Costa Rica Insider” Forum, a blog and website full of information to supplement what I get from Chris Howard and the ARCR which I have joined. So there should be no excuse for not having the information I need.

For any family or friends who need emergency contact, I have activated the Global Plan on my Verizon phone. When in San Jose we are at Hotel Autentico, while I’m not sure about the traveling hotels Sunday through Tuesday nights along the Pacific Coast, a different one each night. And if I go birding or whaling, I will be somewhere else on the night of Sept. 3.

Everyone knows that my legal name “Charles” is “Carlos” in Spanish. Well, Chris tells me that my nickname of “Charlie” is “Carlitos” in Spanish. It might be fun to have a new nickname if I move to Costa Rica, but all you Norte Americanos can continue to call me Charlie! 

Posted on

Call From Tour Leader – Ready to Go!

Yesterday Christopher Howard, the director of “Live in Costa Rica Tours” called me to give last minute details about pickup at airport Saturday and answer the many questions I keep asking. I’m excited about having “boots on the ground” in my continued search for whether or not this is the best thing for me to do. Right now I’m certainly favoring a move while looking for good reasons why I shouldn’t do it. I’m in Costa Rica August 23–September 5 and plan to post a photo and report each night that I have internet connection and it isn’t too late when I get in my hotel room. See my itinerary.

Now that it is widely known what I am doing next week, it is fun hearing the questions and comments from friends who find this concept of moving abroad rather strange and some even dangerous. Of course I’m the forever educator and helping many Nashvillians learn a lot about life in Costa Rica.   🙂  While other friends who know be pretty well are not surprised at all that I would consider moving to Costa Rica!

Landing at the San Jose International Airport 2009
Click to enlarge.
Posted on

Cost of Living in Costa Rica

Here is what one couple actually spent in July 2014 (they publish it):

Note that Retire for Less was their goal and is the name of their newsletter

From “Hanging Bridges” Costa Rica by Charlie
Click to enlarge
Chris Howard (my tour leader) has long lists of the cost of everything in his book and budgets at these two levels he says people are actually living on. Bottom line is that everything is not cheap, but you can live on your income or what you budget to live on if you don’t live too luxuriously:

Here is an example of a budget for a single person who has no more than $1500:
Rent  …………………………………………………………………………………$200 to $300
Electricity and water  ………………………………………………………….$20
Cable TV  ………………………………………………………………………….$25 Monthly Public Transportation ………………………………………………………….$50
Monthly public health insurance (medicines included)  ……………$50
Food  ………………………………………………………………………………..$200 Entertainment  ……………………………………………………………………$100 -$150
Misc.  ……………………………………………………………………………….$200

How to live like a king or queen on $3000 or $4000
When you read the title of this article you will  probably think that it is impossible to live so cheaply and so well. This  is especially true if you reside in an expensive area of the U.S. like  California. You could probably scrape by on a few thousand dollars a month up north but you certainly wouldn’t be living in luxury. Let’s see why the title of this article is true. A couple who owns a $150,000 home (three  bedrooms and three baths) free  and clear and has a car will probably  have the following monthly expenses in Costa Rica.
 Private medical  insurance ……………………………………………….$200
Dental care  ……………………………………………………….$50 per month
A part time maid  …………………………………………………$100 to  $150
Part time gardener  …………………………………………………………….$30
Beauty parlor  …………………………………………………………………….$75
Food including inexpensive fruits and vegetables from a Farmer’s market and many  imported  American products  …………………………………….$500 per month
Entertainment (movies,  socializing)  ……………………….$200- $300
Dining out a couple of times a week   ……………………………….$300
Private gym  ……………………………………………$50 – $100 per couple
Country Club (after initial fees) …………………………………$100 to $200 per month
Car insurance for a relatively new car   …………………………….$100
Utilities (water and electricity)  ………………………………………..$100
Telephone (using Vonage or  Skype for long distance) ……. $75-$100
High speed Internet  …………………………………………………………..$50
Cable or  satellite TV  …………………………………………………………$50
Car repairs  …………………………………………………………………………$50
Garbage  ……………………………………………………………….$40 per year
Property taxes  on your $150,000 home  …………………….$20 per month
Misc. expenses  …………………………………………………………………$300
Travel to U.S. or other countries  ……………………$3000-$5000 or more per  year

Really your lifestyle determines what you will spend here. You can  choose to spend a lot more money if you are a high roller or yuppie type   or substantially less if you wish to live modestly. I know single people  who live for less than $1000 per month and others who have expensive tastes  who spend what they would in the States. Nevertheless, you can live very well  on the budget above. I should know because I have lived here almost 30 years  and buy and do everything I want for under $4,000 monthly.