Costa Rica-Real Estate Condos for sale in Guanacaste

According to a recent study conducted by the Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo among 40 000 people from Latin America and the Caribbean, the happiest and most satisfied people are the Costa Rica citizens. Their analysis took into consideration some of the most important facts in people’s everyday life such as quality of education (which in Costa Rica is probably the best in America), health services, home and work environment.

Costa Rica had the highest scores according to the study: Costa Rica had an average of 7,4 close came Panama at 6,8 and finally México con 6,6. I have to say that it doesn’t really surprises me, all you have to do is walk around for a couple of hours and see that those scores are definitely real, In Costa Rica people are plain happy. Costa Rica lifestyle is simple and laid back, people have gorgeous sceneries in Costa Rica so there is basically beauty to enjoy everywhere; development rates are almost the same as in the US and in Costa Rica education is at the top of the importance list, there is really a lot to be happy about.

Another thing that comes to mind is the fact that in Costa Rica, health services are available for everyone who needs them anytime and anywhere, both public and private practices, also, as an example, in Costa Rica, plastic surgery is one of the best in the world, not to mention way cheaper than in it is in the US.

Let’s not forget that Costa Rica doesn’t have or need an army either.

As you can see, it is definitely obvious why people in Costa Rica are happier than people in any other Latin American Country….

This week the shopping monster company Amazon began operation in its Costa Rica branch with its first one hundred and something employees at their offices in a free trade zone in Heredia.

Just like many other companies around the world have decided to outsource their customer and tech services to professional workers in Costa Rica, Amazon is now part of the work force that will make a difference in Costa Rica.

It has been known for decades that Costa Rica education is above standard rates in America and lots of different companies have opted to outsource some of their services to this country: Acer was one of the first ones about 15 years ago, when they decided to provide all their customer services and tech support from a location in another free trade zone in Costa Rica. After that, came the Sportsbook businesses that for over 12 years have been a regular work opportunity for many people in Costa Rica. Online poker sites, online pharmacies and even micro engineering at Intel continue to come here and get really well trained professionals to work for them.

Not only the fact that Costa Rica work force is well trained is one of the reasons for all these companies to come, a big percentage of Costa Rica students are bilingual and the free trade zones are always offering great deal for big international companies businesses, allowing them to get great deals and cut expenses when opening a company in these areas. IBM, HP and Alienware are companies that established their operations in free trade zones and have been in the market for almost decades now, also other outsourcing companies such as Sykes and Stream provide services for many industries and sell their high quality customer services to banks and credit card companies and all their services are based in a free trade zone in Costa Rica.  

Bio geographer and investigator for National Geographic, Sally Horn, after coming to Costa Rica for the first time on 1982 has now begun an extensive investigation on the impact of human activity and climate change on forests in Costa Rica. For this research she has received the assistance of over 30 students and professors, who have conduct their own investigations on the climate change and the roll that human impact plays on this matter.

Sally Horn is a professor from the University of Tennessee in the United States. So far on her work in Costa Rica she has managed to extract sediments from the lagoons and determine, among other discoveries, what they used the soil for as much as 10,000 years ago. For example, in Guanacaste, they have planted corn for 5,450 years. Dr. Horn has been interested in Costa Rica for this research because of the biological diversity that can be found in its forests, especially in Guanacaste.

As part of her studies, she has also discovered that 5,000 years ago Costa Rica land was more humid, especially in the Caribbean and in the mountainous areas; it is still humid in those areas so I wonder how much humidity can make a difference regarding the soil in this case. Dr. Horn has concentrated her studies on the high mountain ranges in Talamanca, San Vito and Buenos Aires of Puntarenas and Guanacaste. Costa Rica is in fact the place she needs to conduct this research as you can see.

This investigation has also been set up to search for newer ways to take proper care of the Costa Rica soil and check out patterns of evolution to avoid future problems with the soil. Another study conducted by Karen Masters, a scientist residing in Monteverde, reveal that in this area there is less rain, higher night temperatures and mini droughts from 2 to 10 days. All these studies will certainly be of huge help for Costa Rica once they are done.

Although it is sad a lot of people do search Costa Rica looking for wild sexual adventures and either they don’t care or want minors on their itinerary. For some twisted reason there are people that have heard of a place I definitely don’t live at: Costa Rica sex industry. The saddest part is they are not only looking for regular prostitutes, they are in fact looking for under age girls in Costa Rica.

I one of those main stream Hollywood flicks “The Sweetest Thing” actually makes a terrible and awful remark when one of the supporting characters tells one of the main characters that what he needs is to come to Costa Rica and that for “5 pesos” a girl will give him the time of his life. Costa Rica sex industry is just as hated here as it is anywhere else in the world and trust me if they catch someone trying to engage into a sexual relation with a minor they will prosecute them. Another thing in Costa Rica, money is called “colones” not “pesos” and 5 colones are basically a penny you wouldn’t even care to bend down to pick up.

Just last week A 31-year-old Reno man was arrested for allegedly coercing a 16-year-old girl from England to fly to the United States for sex then he planned on have her move with him to Costa Rica. The man actually fell for that tolerance with sex with underage girls urban legend a lot of people fall for. Costa Rica girls may be gorgeous, but to be honest, most prostitutes here are not Ticas at all; most prostitutes in Costa Rica are actually from Nicaragua, Dominican Republic and Colombia.

As you can see, Costa Rica law is definitely serious about the zero tolerance for illegal sex. Costa Rica is a peaceful and well educated country; it will be very hard to expect less from their authorities once you see how things really work around here.

For Google Innovation Community, Costa Rica was definitely an asset and has included as one of the participants and it was launched by the Ministry of Science of Costa Rica. The Google Innovation Group will be open to everyone in Costa Rica who wants to participate and will be used as an announcements board for free activities, training programs, scholarships and offers for financial support for scientific and economic research. The Ministry of Science of Costa Rica also plants to use other tools such as Youtube and Facebook to display any type of innovation developed in Costa Rica and document promoting the project has been sent to every school in the country as well.

In my opinion Costa Rica has proved to have extremely talent professionals and good resources for technology innovation, this addition of Costa Rica to the Google Innovation Community just proves that the potential in Costa Rica is above the parameters established by well known innovative companies around the world.

In Costa Rica, science and systems engineering are one of the top careers chosen by youngsters and many items we use today have been developed in Costa Rica lands, also many technological companies such as Intel, Hologic and Alienware have had their offices located here due to the fact that the professional labor in their areas is definitely strong and well prepared among professionals in Costa Rica

The famous actor Sylvester Stallone will be visiting Costa Rica soon to shoot part of his upcoming movie “The Expendables” which Stallone will produce and perform himself. The other two main characters will be performed by professional actors Jason Statham and Jet Li. Sylvester Stallone also wrote the screen play.

This is not the first Hollywood flick to be shoot in Costa Rica, in the past major films had locations in the Costa Rica territory: Jurassic Park and the story of Christopher Columbus “1492” with iconic actor Gérard Depardieu was also filmed in Costa Rica among other countries. Although the details of the plot are not out yet it appears that the story follows a team of mercenaries on a mission to overthrow a South American dictator.

The film will be made in Costa Rica and Louisiana starting on February, 2009. This is also a great step on the rise of Costa Rica films since not only the best movies entirely made by Ticos were shot and shown this year but also it puts the country in the map again. I am happy to look back and see that the main reasons Costa Rica has made news this years have been because of the great talent and artists that this country produces.

I am not sure about the location of the shooting will be in Costa Rica but if anything is done in Guanacaste I will see how to check it out or a least get a glance of Rambo himself.

While doing some browsing in Guanacaste real estate listings something odd came to my attention: A lot of vacation villas are being built for sale! Vacation villas in Guanacaste are often one of the most wonderful properties in Costa Rica one can get.

The gorgeous scenery of Guanacaste! Costa Rica has the best beaches in this area and most of them are accessible in a short 40 minute drive from Liberia, which the most developed city in Guanacaste. Vacation villas are just called that way because some entrepreneurs buy them to rent them out to tourists, but a lot of people, including myself, buy these Costa Rica properties to use as permanent residency.

 In Guanacaste, vacation villas are design to provide comfort, peace and in most cases luxury is one of the most important details of the construction. The main idea is giving a sense of relaxation and easiness given the fact that Guanacaste is already a peaceful location, luxury villas are just the cherry on the ice cream if you know what I mean.

 In the real estate ads in Guanacaste, the owners or brokers often provide all the proper information of the property: bedrooms, bathrooms, swimming pool access, the possibility of air conditioning and all those aspects people usually look for.

Homes in Guanacaste are of course not limited to vacation villas, in Guanacaste you can also purchase land, apartments, condos and fincas. Searching through real estate listings in Costa Rica might require a bit of patience but great offers and prices are sure to be found. I can tell you for sure I am a happy property buyer and I have been investing in Costa Rica properties for a while now and have received nothing but good news and great businesses.

Finally after months of unstopping rains, storms and terrible floods the weather in Costa Rica is changing and the Christmas winds are here for good. In Costa Rica they have what they call “vientos alicios” and their main function is to literally blow away all the rainy clouds and let the sun shine.

In Costa Rica, holidays have a special characteristic: during the month of December the best weather can enjoyed all over the place from Guanacaste to Puntarenas the sun shines brightly but the cool breeze of the “vientos alicios” makes a chilly ambience that everyone enjoys.

Also this is the time when Costa Rica travel becomes more and more fun: the weather and the holidays are the perfect excuse to get away from the awful traffic in San Jose. Costa Rica also has an awesome tradition: tamales! Families gather together to cook huge badges (or piñas like people in Costa Rica call them) which are usually just delicious.

This is a great time to visit Costa Rica; real estate listings are definitely bigger this time of year since people also want to start making changes and the weather in Costa Rica this time of the year is perfect for sightseeing and house hunting. Costa Rica expects to continue having these wonderful days until late April 2009, although the Christmas breeze is usually gone during the first weeks of January. So go ahead and start making plans to visit different properties and locations now that there will be no rain to delay your plans. Purchasing real estate in Costa Rica cannot be easier now that you can actually appreciate all the beauty of the surroundings in any Costa Rica property.

Costa Rica technology has now made a huge step in the medical diagnose for breast cancer issue. As we all know there has been an alarming increase of women suffering this disease worldwide in the past years and crusades and huge publicity tools have used to create true awareness about the issue every where in the world. Costa Rica included.

The breast cancer detection system is being developed at the Hologic installations in Alajuela. Costa Rica technology has been used by the biggest companies such as Intel for decades now, given the fact that education in Costa Rica is so good, professionals in different areas tend to be impressively creative and focus on the needs of our times.

Hologic Costa Rica is a US based company that has taken care of manufacture and supply premium diagnostics, medical imaging systems, and surgical products destined to improve the healthcare needs of women throughout the world. Many of their products are totally manufactured in Costa Rica and later sold around the world, mostly in the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia.

Breast cancer foundations throughout the world are continuously trying to collect money to improve diagnosis systems for breast cancer, medication, cures and research and this system created by Hologic in Costa Rica is one of the biggest steps taken.

In the past two days the US citizens living in Costa Rica have been celebrating with many other Ticos the winning of Barack Obama’s Election and the ambiance of joy has been full of brotherhood and happiness. As we all know, Barack Obama won a large majority of Latino voters and that he managed to captured 349 electoral votes, compared to 162 for Republican candidate John McCain.

In Costa Rica, immigrants from the United States do have the right to vote and the American Embassy in San Jose takes care of the process, so all of us that wanted to ahead and vote were able to do so, through them. Given the type of celebrations I experienced in the past two days, Obama was definitely the favorite in Costa Rica as well.

A lot of people feel that Barack Obama is here to clean up the mess created by soon to be former president Bush, who not only had a very violent government but also messed up the United Estates finances to a point that has not been seen in decades.

Costa Rica is also putting its hopes on Obama’s government. I think that all this Obama craziness comes from a country that was pretty much lost, that had lost its faith in its leaders and now a ray of light appears from a place we never even thought to consider, a set of minorities. The United Estates will see how it can grow to become a more human international potency and Costa Rica and other small countries will also be benefit from the changes to come.