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Christopher Howard's Award Winning Relocation
Retirement Tours |  |
Sign up for Christopher Howard's Award-winning Relocation/Retirement Tours NOW!
No other retirement tour covers more territory!
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Christopher Howard's Newsletter
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Greetings!
"Smaller is better! More on-the-ground experience, personal hands-on attention and in-depth information than other retirement tours and larger relocation organizations in order to meet your specific needs. See what it is actually like to live in Costa Rica." |
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Costa Rica Articles, News, Insider Information, Tours and Books
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Where to live in Costa Rica -Part I
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In this series of articles I will discuss all of the areas in Costa Rica which are suitable for retirees. The idea is to help potential retirees and others decide which are is best for them.
 The dilemma one faces when moving to Costa Rica is that there so many nice places to live. However, most retirees and foreign residents prefer to live in the Central Valley because of the large number of services and entertainment that are available. The Central Valley consists of the area from Cartago west through San José to Cuidad Colón, Puriscal, Atenas, Heredia, Alajuela, Grecia, Palmares, Naranjo, and San Ramón Recently, I had a woman who was a resident of Panama on one of my monthly relocation/retirement tours. I asked why she was taking the tour since she already lived in Panama. She replied, "There are so many beautiful places in Costa Rica from which to choose." She went on to say that, "Panama offers very few choices for retirees outside of Panama City and Boquete."
Foreigners and retirees also live in the Central Valley because of its lovely, eternal-spring-like climate. In addition, the Central Valley has the best services and infrastructure, TV options, plenty of shopping and restaurants, the country's finest public and private hospitals, an international airport, good Internet and cable connections and excellent public transportation. For many people Retirement is a huge change since they find themselves with more free time than before . This will not be a problem if you reside in San José or the nearby suburbs, since there is a large North American community and it is always easy to find something to do to keep busy. A lot of time, money and resources have been put into San José to try and attract more locals as well as tourists and retirees.
A good selection of housing is available in the Central Valley for all tastes and budgets. There are gated communities, high-rise condos, plenty of apartments for renters and even small ranches or fincas as they are called here. A recent boom in the construction in areas like Heredia has created a wide variety of affordable new homes from which to choose. Older homes can also be found here.
Deciding where to live in Costa Rica depends on your personal taste and budget. If you are a high-roller and like to live in an area that closely resembles the States then you will be happier in Escazú or Santa Ana. On the other hand, if you seek a more laid-back lifestyle then Atenas, Puriscal, Grecia or San Ramón might be more to your liking.
On my monthly retirement/relocation tours I visit most of the areas mentioned above in order to help my clients chose the best possible place to reside taking their lifestyle and budget into consideration. My guests actually get a sampling of what it is like to live in Costa Rica on my retirement/relocation tours and meet people who have made the move successfully.
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A new form of transportation may be on the way
|  The traffic caos that one encounters in San Jose may become a thing of the past in a couple of years with the building of a street car system. The company Systra which is charge of doing a feasibility study of the proposed project, announced on September 3rd that the municipality's project is viable and will bring great benefits to the country.
According to the study about $250 million will be needed to make the streetcar system a reality. The cost of operating the system will be about $10 million a year.
Johnny Araya, the mayor of San José, indicated that this means of transportation will make it easier to get around the capital. He said, "I am convinced that this project is the first big step to modernize transportation in the San José area.
If it becomes a reality, streetcars will run from 5 a.m. and travel from the Pavas industrial zone in the west to the Atlantic Station just east of downtown San José until midnight. During rush hour a streetcar will run every five minutes. The rest of the day cars will run every 10 minutes. It is estimated that the system will be able to handle 150,000 passengers daily and make 14 stops along the way. There will be 28 streetcars that will each have a capacity of 750 passengers. The cost of a one-way ticket should be about $.60.
The streetcars will be 100 percent electric and thus reduce CO2 emissions in the metropolitan area. At present 19,000 buses and 260,000 vehicles enter San José everyday. These numbers should increase substantially once the new streetcar system is operating.
As you can see the quality of life here improves all the time making the country a good place to liveor retire. Don't forget that during the economic downturn in the U.S. we also built two new major highways in Costa Rica to improve the country's infrastructure - The Caldera Highway and the Costal Highway between Quepos and Dominical.
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Visit our bookstore online at www.costaricabooks.com
A wealth of unique e-books for anyone interested in
living, retiring, investing or visiting Costa Rica
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FREE Spanish lesson
|  Devilish expressions
Abogado del diablo - the devil's advocate. Ser el abogado del diablo - to play the devil's advocate.
Correr como un diablo - to run like hell
Diablo - the devil
...de los mil diablos - Something that is bad. Este niño se portó mal. Tiene la conducta de los mildiablos. That child behaved badly. His behavior is terrible.
¡Diablos! - What the hell! (An expression of surprise)
Diabluras - mischievous acts
Demonio - demon or the devil
El diablo anda suelto - Evil is afoot
El diablo repartiendo chicha - hypocrite. El diablo metido a predicador means the same
Entre la espada y la pared - between the devil and the deep blue sea or to be over a barrel
Estar donde el diablo perdío la chaqueta - in the middle of nowhere
Estoy que me lleva el diablo - I am really mad.
Hablando del Rey de Roma y aquí se asoma - Speaking of the devil. Other versions, Hablando del Rey de Roma, asomando la corona or hablando del Rey de Roma y por la puerta se asoma
Hacer un calor infernal - hotter than hell.
Hacer un frío de todos los mil diablos - It's hellishly cold
Irse al diablo - to go to hell (to fall through). Sus planes se fueron al diablo. His plans went to hell.
Jamón endiablado - deviled ham
Más sabe el diablo por viejo que por diablo - older people are wiser or the devil knows more because of his old age, but not because he is evil.
Pobre diablo - a poor devil (figurative). José es un pobre diablo. Joe is a poor devil.
¿Qué diablos or demonios pasa? - What the hell is happening? Another example: ¿De dónde diablossacaste eso? Where the hell did you get that from?
Santán or Satanas - Satan
Se le metío el diablo - someone got upset or mad
Tener el diablo en el cuerpo - to be up to all sorts of tricks
¡vete al carajo or al demonio! - Go to hell!
More FREE information on Costa Rican Spanish
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San José to finally gets street signs
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 Hallelujah!!!!
In a few month tourists, retirees and Costa Ricans won't have as hard of a time getting their bearings in the city of San José. Also messengers will be able to make their deliveries much faster. Why? On every street corner there will be a metal plate with the number of the street and avenue.
This will also help business owners and residents give more precise directions and eliminate the necessity of making long detailed and often graphic descriptions about how to find street addresses.In the past directions were often given by the use of a landmark. If you didn't know local landmark, you'd have trouble getting around. For example, from the old fig tree on the right-hand side of the street, 200 meters south. In many cases the old fig tree no longer existed, so unless you were a local you wouldn't understand the directions and probably get lost. Furthermore, many buildings and streets were called by their former names to complicate things even further.
A total of 16,000 metal plaques will be affixed to the sides of buildings. Each metal sign will have the number of the street and avenue and its name. In addition, each sign will have the coat of arms of the municipality as well as those of the Banco Nacional and the Banco de Costa Rica.
More than a million people enter San José everyday and many of them get lost. With the new street sign this will become a thing of the past.
The first street sign will be in place by mid-September.
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Housing Freedom for Retirees in Costa Rica
|  I don't usually include real estate in my newsletter but this bargain is just too good not to feature.
With the U.S. and world economy still in shambles with no sign of recovery on the horizon, savvy retirees are looking to live abroad as a way to stretch their retirement dollars and improve their quality of life.
Costa Rica has been on the radar for years, but now, more than ever, it's becoming an option for anyone wanting a better lifestyle for a lot less. The country's stellar international reputation, unparalleled weather, affordable medical care, low home taxes, affordable hired help, cheap public transportation and reasonable utilities have all combined to make Costa Rica one of the best places in the world to vacation, live or retire. And it has been for many years now. For these reasons, more and more retirees are taking the necessary steps to relocate, and live in Costa Rica on a permanent basis as they see this as a place where they can have a prosperous future.
For more information, please click HERE |
 SPECIAL "FREE" BONUS FOR TOUR PARTICIPANTS!!! All people who sign up for the tour receive a FREE hard back copy of the 16th edition of the bestseller "New Golden Door to Retirement and Living in Costa Rica." At the conclusion of the tour they also receive FREE eBook copies of Christopher Howard's other one-of-a-kind bestsellers "Official Guide to Costa Rican Spanish," "The Official Guide to Real Estate In Costa Rica" and "The Official Guide to Costa Rica's Legal System for Tontos (dumbells)." |
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Almost 2000 pages of INVALUABLE insider information for FREE!
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"Specializing in Extraordinary Vacations to Costa Rica"
Sincerely,
Christopher Howard
Travel Author & Consultant
"The NEW Golden Door to Living and Retiring in Costa Rica"
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Call Chris TOLL FREE at 800-365-2342 / 877-884-2502 toll free
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