To some people Costa Rica is a just a huge rainforest in the middle of the continent where it would be nice to take a nice long vacation. To some other people, it is an island with pristine beaches where surfers go to hide (It is not an island by the way) and to some of us Costa Rica has become our home and we are happy to embrace everything that comes along with becoming a Tico.
I am fool for culture and arts, so I take my time to indulge myself with local crafts and let me tell you, Costa Rica arts are quite impressive, it actually amazes me that they don’t get more spotlight around the world: paintings, photography, music and believe it or not, film making. There have been a few films made in Costa Rica, yet there was no school for film production up until a couple of years ago. This month there are three different film productions from Costa Rica featured: El Cielo Rojo (100% Tico Pop Corn movie), El Camino (several countries from Central America and mainly Nicaragua and Costa Rica were part of the production) and Ta Tau (a documentary on psychological views on tattooing). Most of these films were made with very little budget but the talent has given great critics to the pieces.
I have checked newspapers and seen interviews on television and Costa Rica artists are very proud to showcase their work, according to reviews I have read the audience is very amazed and thankful. Although there have been some difficulties young people have raised their voice claiming to be taken seriously in the industry, which I must admit: I admire. Costa Rica has shown potential and the carriers of that potential are here to stay.
It is definitely worth to check that cosmopolitan side of Costa Rica treasures, the insight of the culture itself and how technology is becoming a huge part of the evolution of the arts industry in Costa Rica. Soon Costa Rica real estate will not be one of the most important markets in the country and arts such as photography, film making and music will take its place. I strongly recommend you try to get a glimpse of these pieces of work; they are definitely amazing pieces of art.
A lot of people that come to relocate to Costa Rica are not only retirees looking for a place to rest and enjoy life. I have also noticed that a lot of youngsters come here looking for work opportunities to gain experience and in some cases, immigrants from other Latin-American countries come to Costa Rica to look for better living.
In the case of immigrants from neighbor countries, most of them end up working in low pay jobs: cleaning houses, babysitting, as construction workers and such. It is very hard for them to get a job in Costa Rica besides those, mostly because of the background they come from: Most of the countries that surround Costa Rica are in war, or a known to be very violent, so employers do hesitate on hiring them. Yet if they prove to be knowledgeable and have good recommendations they do get a chance. Costa Rica has opportunities for every one but they do take good care of their people.
Don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty
It is also very common to see immigrants from Europe and USA teaching languages: English, French, German and Italian are the top languages taught in Costa Rica. English is however very well spoken and high percentage of inhabitants is at least bilingual. That is actually one of the perks of buying property in Costa Rica: there will always be someone that speaks English nearby. French and English are taught in high school, there are also some schools that teach three languages to kids which they will fully speak by the time they graduate. Education in Costa Rica is taken very seriously and you notice this as soon as you sit and chat with a local.
Now, although there are several call centers in Costa Rica, you need to have labor permission to apply for a job there, so make sure you have all your documentation organized. In Costa Rica listings for jobs are found on the newspaper or online so you shouldn’t have trouble searching for a job. For young people who just want to gain experience or earn college credits, a lot of companies in Costa Rica will hire foreigners as interns for a few months, all you need to do is contact them.
In Costa Rica, real estate agents can al so help you with the requirements necessary to work in the country,they will not be able to find you a job per se, but will make sure you are fully aware on how it works, the documents you need and such. Do not be afraid to ask.
Today we are experiencing the beginning of one of the most expected sports events of this year: The Beijing Olympics. The best Athletes from all over the world will compete for the most important sports honors in the next few days and Costa Rica has send its most impressive performers to show and prove their skills.
In Costa Rica, athletes have been very successful in previous Olympic Games, and nothing less is expected from the group that is participating this year. A total of 8 athletes are right now waiting for their competitions that will take place during the next couple of weeks. All the competitors come from different parts of Costa Rica. These are the athletes and the schedule their competitions will be on:
Kristopher Moitland: Black belt for Tae kwon do. Competition will be held on August 21st at 7:00 pm
Henri Raabe: Cycling Road. He will be the first Tico to participate this year: Competition will be held August 8th (today) at 9:00 pm
Federico Ramirez: Cycling Mountain bike. Competition will be on August 23rd at 1:00 am.
Nery Brenes: Athletics 400m Men. Race will be on August 17th at 7:00 pm.
Allan Segura: Athletics 20km walk Men. Race will be held on August 15th at 7:00 pm.
Gabriela Traña: Athletics Marathon Women. Race is scheduled on August 16th at 4:30 am.
Mario Montoya: Swimming 200m freestyle Men. Competition will be on August 10th at 4:30 am
Marianela Quesada: Swimming 100m freestyle Women. Competition will be held on August 13th at 4:30 am.
All the schedules above are given in Costa Rica time. These athletes have participated for Costa Rica in many world championships and have returned to Costa Ricawith good scores, medals and trophies; they traveled with their coaches and some with their family as well. As you can see Costa Rica treasures are not only in real estate or the beautiful beaches ad rainforests: people are quite valuable too. Good luck for all the athletes in the Beijing Olympics 2008.
After a while “in training to be a Tico” I have come to realize that, when you have a house in Costa Rica, there are certain items that you are almost required to have to be a real Costa Rica homeowner, or least prove that you are living the Tico lifestyle. It is part of the necessities of the area, small details that are not included in any Costa Rica real estate guide or listing, small thing you didn’t think you would need until the time came for you to find it out.
The first thing you find out is that in Costa Rica, mosquitoes come out in evening and when they come out they are hungry and you are fresh blood. Bug repellent might be kind of awkward, but there are also ambiance repellents, make sure you get some of both.
While you are at it, in the supermarket they also have the two main ingredients for a regular Costa Rica meal: rice and beans; you will need these especially if you like to invite your friends over, they will always expect these two legumes to be part of the meal. To cook any Costa Rica traditional meal you will need Salsa Lizano, it is a cheap home made sauce found anywhere, quite tasty if I may add. Fruits and vegetables are bought at La Feria as I explained in previous posts, so you will need your own shopping cart to run this errand.
While in the US, we are more used to wearing slippers at home, let’s remember that Costa Rica tropical weather is warm, for this matter Ticos wear flip flops, yet they call them chinelas. Costa Rica homes do have lots of windows, but if your home doesn’t have air conditioning you will need to get fans for every room.
When it comes to having guests, there are certain items that in Costa Rica are well known: Imperial beer, Guaro Cacique and Tapa de Dulce, these are regular beverages of the area, be careful with the Guaro, since it is basically industrially distilled moonshine. As per snacks, there are many delicious items: pejibayes, deviled eggs and home made dipping souces are always part of the deal, yet my favorite one is the Yuca, which you can make deep fried or just boiled, either way, it is one of Costa Rica’s most tasty meals. In Costa Rica, home owners always take care of their yards and the land is very rich, so if you have any fruit trees take good care of them, because whatever grows on them, you will consume. And don’t forget the Chorreador, although you will find coffee makers anywhere, Costa Rica coffee tastes better if it is made in a chorreador.
If you are planning to relocate to Costa Rica, there certain things you should keep in mind: inflation rate, useful laws, education and common subjects that will come up once you move in. Costa Rica properties are usually the most important matter I refer to in my articles, yet there are some other things that need to be considered:
In Costa Rica, economy grew nearly 5% in 2006 after experiencing four years of slow economic growth, yet it still has the fourth place among Latin American inflation rate.
The government in Costa Rica offers tax exemptions for those who are willing to invest in the country.
Electronics, pharmaceuticals, financial outsourcing, software development, and ecotourism are the prime industries in Costa Rica.
Costa Rica coffee beans are one of the most important gourmet beans in the world.
Costa Rica is an active member of the United Nations and the Organization of American States.
There is huge race diversity in Costa Rica: population includes 94% white (including) castizo, 3% black, 1% amerindian, 1% chinese and 1% other.
The literacy rate in Costa Rica is of 96% and public education is guaranteed in the constitution. Primary school is mandatory.
Costa Rica government is democratic and there are claims that the country has had more than 115 years of uninterrupted democracy.
Costa Rica has not had an army or anything similar since their civil war in 1948.
The main language in Costa Rica is Spanish, yet there are some indigenous dialects spoken in small secluded areas; In Limon it is common the listen a Jamaican dialect called Patois and also a big percentage of the population speaks English. Finally due to the high immigration rates from all over the world it is usual to find people speaking mandarin, Italian, French or German.
As you can see, Costa Rica is not the regular Latin American country, I was definitely not aware I was moving into such a rich culture, with high standards of education and hard working people myself.
If you have heard about Costa Rica, you know that it is known no only because of the natural beauties, rainforests and beaches, but also because in Costa Rica peace is one of the most important treasures of the country. They constantly thrive to keep violence away and one of their methods is not having an army at all. The last time Costa Rica had an army was in 1948 when the last civil war took place, after that battle army was permanently removed until this date.
A few years ago the current president of Costa Rica won the Nobel Prize for Peace, because of his strong efforts to keep violence and fighting away from Central America. Children are often brought up to believe in peace and keep Costa Rica life as simple as possible. It may be harder nowadays, yet there are still many efforts being made to keep it as peaceful as possible.
At this moment, Costa Rica is joining Brazil signing into law a ban on child abuse by parents and guardians. This law is looking to eradicate violence as a punishment and clearly states that they want to change the “Rights of children and adolescents for discipline without corporal punishment and humiliation”. This law has been part of the U.S code of conduct for years now, yet in Latin America it has not been instated until now. With this law, the Costa Rica government plans to teach parents to discipline their children by setting up examples, getting to know them, negotiate and avoid using physical and humiliating punishment.
According to a study conducted by IDESPO 2003, in Costa Rica homes, 65.3% of parents beat, kick and pinch and 74.2% yell and verbally abuse their children. This comes from generations and generations and it is part of Latin American traditions. Also, these changes are part of the struggle people in Costa Rica are making to diminish violent behavior among youngsters, since it has been quite clear that crime rate and violence related issues have been increasing in the past few years and Costa Rica homes, families and mostly children deserve to have a society without violence.
Every year, on August 2nd, Costa Rica embraces its catholic roots and begins one of the most impressive acts of faith I have ever seen in my life: La Romeria. People from all over the place and even other countries nearby walk from their homes towards La Basilica de Los Angeles located in Cartago to pay tribute, thank or ask for favors to the Virgin Mary or La Negrita, as they have nicknamed her.
The story begins in the year 1635 when a young Indian girl named Juana Pereira left her house to pick up wood and run chores. While she was walking in the woods, she found a small stone figurine that look like the Virgin Mary. She picked it up and took it home. The next day, she found it again and when she went back home she noticed “the one she picked up the day before” was gone. This continued happening for a few days so she spoke to the local priest who confirmed Juana’s story. Costa Rica is in fact a very religious country, so the priest, understanding that what the Virgin wanted was to live there where Juana found her started building a church in her honor, which is now the beautiful Basilica de los Angeles.
This act of faith proves that Costa Rica traditions do cover a huge variety of topics and it very interesting to experience how close everyone in the country is to their beliefs, how strong minded they are about keeping their roots and the power of faith that holds Costa Rica. Highways have been full the past few days because of all the Romero’s walking towards Cartago. Costa Rica celebrates this special date every year and lots of activities take place in the church surroundings. One of my favorites is the dressing of the Virgen de los Angeles: during the year, lots of dress makers from all over Costa Rica send in a specially design dress for the small figurine and one is selected as the most beautiful one and she wears it during the official Mass on August 2nd.
If you are in Costa Rica right now and were planning on driving through any of the main highways, be careful with the Romeros, move aside and let them through and be aware that some main roads near the Cartago area will be closed today after 2:00 PM.
Everyone is familiar with the phenomenon American Idol has been over the years and I am pretty sure that some of you have even follow at least one contestant at one point. In Latin America, they also have their own version of the show and at this moment Costa Rica has a very talented contestant participating. She is a very lovely 17 year old girl named Maria Jose Castillo from Heredia. Costa Rica has had two other contestants in previous editions of the show yet; it was not possible for the fans to vote since the telecommunications in Costa Rica were not compatible to the ones used for voting.
The girl is quite talented and I decided to make a small space here for her in case you are in Costa Rica lands next week. She will be featured on the show next Wednesday and voting will be enabled as soon as the show ends that same day. All of Costa Rica will be cheering for the teenager, if want to get a glimpse of her performance, be my guest, this was her audition:
As you can see, there are even more Costa Rica treasures besides properties, beaches and rainforests. Although Maria Jose is the only Costa Rican participating she can definitely brighten a room with her voice. In Costa Rica, music has always been a big deal and you can actually feel it: lots of the most important compositors and musicians were born in Guanacaste; real estate wasn’t the most important thing after all.
If you liked Maria Jose’s audition, don’t miss her performance next Wednesday and if did like her and want to cheer for the little Costa Rica idol, voting will be enable after the show and you can access it sending the word MARIA to the number 43657.
This weekend there are a lot of activities planed and some will even last all night long. It is a great opportunity to check out the true Costa Rica party spirit and enjoy traditions and celebrations like you never have before. Costa Rica typical music, food and arts will be also joined by international artists such as Luis Enrique Mejía Godoy from Nicaragua, Infected Mushroom from Israel and Los Pericos from Argentina. Trust me, this will be a nice opportunity to enjoy yourselves and check out the scenery and real estate. Costa Rica has a very warm way of celebrating and being part of it is quite an adventure.
Don’t be surprised if you see one or two “Topes” going on this weekend.
Most of the activities will take place either in Liberia or the NicoyaPark, so make sure you swing by during your stay. There will be dancing, food, shows and a nice variety of entertainment. If you live in Costa Rica and have not had the chance to see how the traditional celebrations are, this is your chance. In Guanacaste, Costa Rica history will be portrayed by the music and the joy of these celebrations.
One of the most happening parties of the weekend will occur at Las Delicias property; Costa Rica is still a small country and this finca proves it, since it is hosted by one of the most opulent families in Guanacaste: The Espinar Brothers. Although it is quite an event, it mostly a party for youngsters and it lasts all night long, so if you are planning on going wear comfortable shows, there is going to be a lot of dancing.
A few years ago I decide that I was no longer going to put up with the crazy lifestyle of the U.S and decided to look for a place to rest and spend my golden years. After much research I found what I call now my home: a nice Costa Rica Villa in Guanacaste. I didn’t know being here was my dream until I actually came in the front door. When I first heard of Guanacaste, Costa Rica seemed like a huge rain forest to me and I honestly thought I will not be able to find good real estate. Costa Rica seemed like a dark hole with lovely beaches, but not a place to actually live in, wasn’t I wrong.
At this moment I can tell you that there are many housing projects in all of Costa Rica: San Jose is being remodeled, sort of speak, and tall apartment buildings are being developed in La Sabana surroundings, providing lovely housing arrangements downtown. Also, if you take a quick look to real estate listings, Costa Rica is including more and more residential projects on the Alajuela and Heredia provinces. Cartago, especially Tres Rios, has been developing lovely residential areas for the past ten years and getting a big house near malls and offices is no longer a dream for anyone.
This could be your backyard….
But in Guanacaste, real estate choices are better, cheaper and so much nicer: A villa, like the one I live in, has beautiful sceneries surrounding the property, trees, palm trees, the ocean; fun loving animals of the area are part of your neighborhood and everyday life. The peaceful breeze and the fresh sea water smell cannot be compared to anything. Getting relocated can be quite stressful, but once you see that Costa Ricais in fact that dreamland you had always on your mind, you will see the effort paying up. Right now, there is a boom in Guanacaste, housing projects are all over the place and the prices are worth to look at. Most of these properties are built due to the fast development of the Liberia area, and since the industry is cleverly locating properties where the natural resources are not affected, you can be at peace and still enjoy Costa Rica nature close to your new home.
