Is Moving to Costa Rica For You?
Rain off the coast of Tamarindo, Costa Rica. Again this is my series on living in Costa Rica, trying to help you avoid the glaring potholes of uprooting your life to move here. It is named “Breaking Pura Vida because just like what you don’t know can trip you up in “Breaking Bad” so can moving here without accurate information. “Pura Vida” means pure life and happens to be the national slogan and attitude. Previous entry about the banking system can be found here.
One of the biggest questions I get asked about living in Costa Rica is if someone should consider it. I always say ‘maybe.’ Only if you know yourself well.
There used to be back some twenty odd years ago a Buddhist Koan online you could use to try and discover if Buddhism was for you. It was literally a website with the inscrutably smiling face of the Buddha with a fly buzzing around. If you got annoyed and swatted the fly instead of waiting it out you’d get a ‘Try again, grasshopper’ type message. The real message being you needed to develop patience for that particular life.
A ‘koan’ is a Buddhist paradoxical question meant to help students shed their logical thinking and monkey minds to achieve enlightenment. Good luck with that!
So as it is here in Costa Rica. One must be patient. Why? Well, Ticos (local Costa Ricans) have their own distinctive culture. It is not standardized United States culture. As a good friend of mine says here, ‘Never utter the phrase “One would think….” because it just does not apply here.’
It’s the thing I see trip up so many upon moving here, making it something like 90% of Americans leave here, most within the first two years. They move here, move into an almost entirely American gated community and then freak out that the place does not operate like anything in the good old USA!
Many are seduced into thinking that moving here will be an endless tropical party like their vacations here, discounting culture and locals before becoming so frustrated they leave, even if they’ve lost money by doing so. It’s just not for everyone, and that’s genuinely okay! It’s better to know yourself well, know at what point your line in the sand begins.
So why am I starting out negative like this? Because I’ve seen first hand, up close and personal, what happens in the expat communities here. I’m trying to make you think realistically about all of this to save you a pile of frustration and money.
There are big benefits living here if you can be accepting of culture and the whole “Tico Time” thing. Not everyone is capable of that. Recently I was in a local bank and witnessed a couple from NYC who were screaming at the service desk agent. I listened for a minute before intervening. The couple didn’t get that with English being a second language for the bank employees you have to be direct and clear about what you want. They were unloading all of their frustrations about their own failure to communicate what was going on effectively. Plus then some, telling him the whole convoluted history with the bank.
The thing they needed was to pick up ATM card, but kept trotting out petty past grievances. I helped them that day, but when we were done I gave them the above advice, check your entitled American ways and ideas about how things should be done here, or GO HOME! They’d been here mere months and huffed out their ideas that the bank should be run just like in NYC.
Karens and Kens do not fare well here. The employee you are dealing with might smile in your face and promise this or that, but it is merely to get rid of you. Or they might tell you a lie to make you buzz off the second you screech! Your silly hissy fits do not work here. You must truly develop a Zen-like attitude here.
Here’s the biggest and best reason to move to Costa Rica, particularly if you are of retirement age.
Health
This is genuinely number one! We live in one of the Blue Zones where people are long-lived. Eat like the locals mostly unprocessed foods, fruits, veggies and meat. Groceries are cheap. When is the last time you bought 3 pineapples for 2 bucks? Fresh air, good food and a relaxed lifestyle of ‘Just do it — later!’ There is literally very little stress once you let go of the whole ‘they should do it this way.’ That is the true moment of Zen for so many.
The health care system puts the absolute crap show of what is happening in the States to shame. If you’re a legal resident you can participate in the local socialized medicine. It is good basic care, no frills care. But if you’re like us you just carry health insurance that allows you premium private care for a small fraction of the cost Stateside. The costs of a basic visit before insurance is roughly what I paid as a copay and after submission of insurance I am out pennies on the dollar. We’ve had medical emergencies, been flown to the capital city of San Jose, and experienced the kind of hands on care you used to be able to access in the U.S.A.
I’ll dive more deeply into the whole breakdown of your health options the next time I write in this series. Just know this is the biggest benefit here. The people don’t rush and eventually everything still gets done.
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