Costa Rica

I’ve been visiting Costa Rica since 2002, and since that time I’ve spent more than 24 months of my life there. I view Costa Rica as one of the most wonderful places in the world to live in and travel to.

But Costa Rica is not perfect — and no country is, really. But sometimes the shortcomings of Costa Rica are frustrating, so I’ve also looked into Panama, Costa Rica’s most affluent neighbor.

After three trips to Panama and a lot of research on the subject, I think the two countries have a lot in common, but also important differences.

Which place is better to live? It will be up to you to decide but here are the most important differences:

Pros for Costa Rica

Let’s start with where Costa Rica excels.

“No Artifical Ingredients”

Costa Rica has positioned itself to the world tourism market as an “eco-tourism” destination. “No Artificial Ingredients” is the advertising slogan. While it’s not always true, I can say that overall there’s a lot more environmental awareness in Costa Rica than in most places in the world. In large part, this is due to the influx of eco-loving expats that have bought huge tracks of lands in order to protect it.

A lot of the locals have also realized that they can make more money by bringing tourists to their area rather than clear-cutting forests or hutting endangered animals. Costa Rica protects over 25% of its territory in national parks.

Costa Rica is overall cleaner, especially when compared to Panama City. Panama City is three times the size of San Jose, so that brings advantages when it comes to conveniences but disadvantages when it comes to cleanliness.

San Jose is a pleasant city that looks more like a large sprawling town. The air is fresh and clean (which wasn’t so much the case years ago when toxic diesel fumes filled the air), and also considerably cooler than steamy Panama City.

Beyond “tree hugging”, Costa Rica feels more pristine and ridiculously beautiful. Panama has many amazing treasures and beautiful areas, but they are more remote and less accessible than Costa Rica, where tourism is a major industry.

More Tourism

Costa Rica gets over 2 million visitors per year, whereas Panama just about 800,000 (and a lot of them are business visitors going to Panama City). That’s a huge difference and it shows when you visit the country.

In Costa Rica, literally every beautiful area has been discovered and there are hotels of all classes to cater the tourism market. I find that an advantage in a certain way because there’s always something new to do in Costa Rica. I’ve been coming here for many years and I still haven’t visited every place I wanted to visit, nor done every tour or visited every attraction I wanted to see.

You can’t really get bored in Costa Rica, so it’s probably a better place to come for a short vacation than Costa Rica.

This also means that Costa Rica tends to be more expensive, and certain popular areas are overrun by tourists. But even in extremely popular places like Lake Arenal, I don’t find that to be a problem.

More Expats

More North American expats live in Costa Rica than almost any other country in the world. The country offered tempting incentives for retirees to come spend the rest of their lives back 20 or 30 years ago. Now most of these incentives are gone, but the country still remains open for retirees and many take advantage of the warm climate and lower cost of living.

There’s a lot of services available for expats, and more possibility to mingle with people who speak your language, which again can be viewed as an advantage of disadvantage.

More Fruit

For raw-food enthusiasts like me, it’s hard to beat the variety and quality of fruit you can find in Costa Rica. Panama has a lot to, but not nearly as much variety as Costa Rica. There are more farmer’s markets in Costa Rica all over the country where you can buy really fresh produce.

Organic produce is rare (compared to the States), but available if you know where to look for it. In Panama, every type of fruit I tasted was delicious (melon, pineapple, etc.), but the variety is more limited, unless you grow your own or can buy from local gardens.

No army

Simon Black, of the “International Man” newsletter writes:

Costa Rica has no military. Technically Panama has no military either, but with so many national police (green uniforms), tourist police (tan uniforms), and Presidential guard (black uniforms) running around the country with automatic weapons, they might as well be an army, albeit a poorly trained, dysfunctional one.

I doubt that the Panamanian police forces have the capability or iron will to go house-to-house against the locals, but Costa Rica lacks the manpower resources altogether.

Pros for Panama

Lower cost of living

Panama is cheaper than Costa Rica, by about 10 to 25%. For example, a plate of food at a local cafeteria in Panama will cost you around $2. In Costa Rica, the same would be $3-4. A medium to small watermelon at a farmer’s market in Panama is about $2. In Costa Rica, it’s $3-4 for the same size of watermelon.

The expat and tourist markets in Costa Rica have driven up the prices, so almost everything is a bit more expensive than Panama, from Real Estate to water bottles.

Also, Costa Rica has a fairly protectionist economy. They derive a lot of their tax income from import taxes on luxury items like cars, electronics, appliances, etc. It’s nearly impossible to find a good refrigerator in Costa Rica from a name brand you can trust, unless you go to the tax-free port of Golfito, where you’re allowed to get $500 worth of goods every year, tax-free.

Cars are also much more expensive because of these extreme import taxes. Panama also has import taxes, but not as high as Costa Rica’s. That’s also why almost every imported item is cheaper in Panama.

US Dollar

One major advantage of living in Panama is the US dollar (especially when you are getting paid in US dollars, like me). Simon Black, writes:

Panama is dollarized, but Costa Rica has its own currency (the colon); you might think this is a good thing, but the colon is so small and thinly traded that it essentially follows the dollar, without necessarily getting any of the benefits of being the world’s reserve currency.

The bottom line is that the Costa Rican colon (CRC) is essentially the worst of both worlds, and in a currency crisis, the country will likely be hit hard between the eyes.

A side benefit of using the dollar is the “change” situation. In Costa Rica, there’s a lot of heavy coins that take a lot of space for all these crazy amounts of colones you have to pay every day. For example, one dollar is worth about 550 colones at the time of the writing, and there’s no 500 colones bill. So you end up with a large amount of change that weighs a lot, but is worth almost nothing! In Panama, the one-dollar bill and small US coins solves the situation. I love that!

Way Better Infrastructures

The current president of Costa Rica, Oscar Arias, recently said “we’re a country of five-star hotels and one-star highways”.

He’s exactly right when admitting a big shortcoming of Costa Rica: the infrastructures. But I can say that in the last 6 years, the roads have improved at least 200%. But they still can’t compared to the Americanized, excellent roads of Panama.

Costa Rica is also burdened by a centralized, socialized public utility company called ICE (pronounced EE-SAY) that handles everything from cell phones to electricity to Internet. It handles everything… poorly!

The cell phone system in Costa Rica is at least 5 years behind the rest of the world, and even though the Internet works and you can get high-speed, truly fast Internet (In my books: 3+ MB per second) is impossible to find in most areas.

If one day your Internet crashes and you need help from ICE, all I can say is “good luck.” I’ve been lucky because I’ve rented places where the owners would handle the situation and wouldn’t mind standing in line for hours at ICE’s offices, but others have often waited several weeks often to get someone to come over.

Want to get a cell phone in Costa Rica? Good luck if you’re not a resident. You’ll need to open a local corporation and put the cell phone it the corporation’s name. Same for many utilities which are difficult to get as a non-resident.

What about the same in Panama? Just walk to the cell phone store and walk away 30 minutes later with your own phone that works!

Less Bureaucratic

Panama overall is less bureaucratic and more business friendly. It’s still quite corrupt like most Latin American countries, but getting things done is easier.

It’s also easier to immigrate to Panama and get your residency under a variety of programs.

Other Random Differences

Here are other little differences I noticed between the two countries.

- Safety: I cannot say for sure which country is safer. But I can say that Costa Rica is currently fighting a rising crime situation. Although I’ve never had any problems myself and I feel safe even in San Jose, increased crime seems to be a problem. I cannot tell for sure whether Panama has more or less crime, but some people say that Panama is at least better at fighting it.

- Taxi: The taxis are definitely better in Costa Rica. They use a meter (and are obliged to do so by law) so you know what you’re paying. In Panama, there are no meters and unless you know the exact fare, you can easily get ripped off.

- Noise. In Panama City, there’s a big honking problems. All drivers seem to be angry and impatient and constantly and madly honk. Costa Rica is at least 1000% better. However, Costa Rica has more dogs that bark all night.

- Society. Panama is a more conservative society, whereas Costa Rica is more Americanized in that regard. In Costa Rica, women wear provocative and revealing clothing (which does not suggest that they are promiscuous, but it’s just the local trend), whereas this would be frowned upon in Panama. In Costa Rica, you can wear shorts in the city and nobody will look twice at you, whereas in Panama wearing shorts in the city will quickly label you as an ignorant tourist or a hobo.

Both countries have a lot to offer. My fiancée and I are still unsure about where we want to ultimately spend most of our time. When we come back to Central America in 2011 after our trip around the world, we might consider Panama as our place of choice. But it would also be hard to leave beautiful Costa Rica behind. We’ll see then!

As part of my course “How to Move to a Tropical Paradise”, I have reviewed both countries in detail. Check it out here.

“San Jose is a pretty noisy city, so we’re looking forward to seeing the rest of the island” is actually a quote I overheard a tourist say when they first got to Costa Rica.

Of course, Costa Rica is not an island, nor is it pronounced “Costa Rico”. The confusion probably comes from another island that we all know called “Puerto Rico”.

“I’d love to spend my winters in the tropics like you, but isn’t Costa Rica dangerous? Aren’t there poisonous snakes?” is another question I often got asked.

I live in Central America during the winters because I love warm weather, beautiful tropicalal beaches and waterfalls, sunshine, inexpensive ripe fruits and vegetables and the outdoors.

But Costa Rica (or Panama) is not Miami! Here are some reasons that might discourage you from choosing this beautiful country as a place to live, spend the winter or retire:

1) There are bugs at the beach. Ants are everywhere and if you leave the smallest scrap of food, they will get it. Snakes are in the jungle and some are poisonous. Mind you, there hasn’t been any death from snake bite in over 13 years in Costa Rica, and drownings are far more commons, but everybody freaks about snakes. Yes, there are snakes in the jungle. I once discovered that a 3-foot boa lived in our attic, and one hotel I know got his parrot eaten by a snake. They’re not after you, but they’re out there.

2) There are no street numbers and often no street names in Costa Rica or Panama, and no to-your-door mail delivery. Street addresses, even for business are something like “100 meters North of the Santa Lucia Church”. It’s up to you to figure out where Santa Lucia church is…

3) Don’t move here if you insist on things getting done… yesterday! Latinos don’t like to offend and will often say that things will be done much sooner than they actually will, just to save face. If you like everything to be done in an orderly, perfect way, and get mad at every employee or clerk that makes you wait, you will not be happy here.

4) Don’t move here if you’re the “control freak” type of personality. When a neighbor throws in a party and cranks the music, it would be extremely impolite to knock on the door and ask them to please keep it down. Here people are expected to be able to live their lives. The good thing is that probably nobody will knock on your door to complain about anything! If they do, it’ll probably be a fellow gringo than a local. If someone doesn’t like your dog, keep it in leash. Your neighbors will be much more likely to poison it with rat poison rather than call the police or complain about it. I am not kidding.

5) Again, latinos don’t like confrontation. It’s a culture of “harmony” under a smiling pretence. Latinos don’t like our version of “honesty” when we confront someone with the truth of their incompetence. Nothing will win you an enemy faster than doing this here. If you ask a taxi driver, “Do you know how to get there?”, he might respond, “Si, señor, no problem.” That may translate that yes, he knows how to get there. Or that may translate to mean “Yes, I might know how to get there, once I ask a few people and fellow taxi drivers”. Or that might in fact mean, “No, I have no idea how to get there, and in fact I’m not even a real taxi driver, I just pretend to be one!”

6) Don’t move to Costa Rica or Panama if you’re easily frustrated by red tape. Something as simple as getting a phone line, opening a bank account or even getting a cell phone can be extremely complicated in Costa Rica if you’re trying to do it on your own. I suggest working with an expert in relocation such as the ones I recommended in “How to Move to a Tropical Paradise”. The positive side of this is that rules are not always “fixed in stone” and you can often talk your way out of something (that may sometimes giving a bribe to a city official).

7) Don’t come and live here if you can’t learn to relax. About once a week, the power goes out where I live. You never know when it’s going to happen, and what caused it. It usually lasts a few minutes, but can last up to an hour. It has never lasted any longer in all the time I’ve lived here, but I’ve also never been able to figure out what caused it. The locals just smile, tell you to relax, “it will be back!”

8 ) People in Costa Rica and Panama speak Spanish, and not many outside of the tourist industry can speak fluent English. If you just come here and talk to everyone in English and expect them to understand, you will be frustrated.

9) There are no hurricanes here, but earthquake and volcanos are the local natural health hazard. You won’t be more at risk living here than living in San Francisco, but you have to be aware than the next “big one” could be tomorrow.

10) Hot water is a luxury. In most budget places, the water in the shower is “warmed” by a little electric device. These showers are known to gringos as “suicide showers” although I’ve never actually heard of anyone electrocuting themselves with them. By the way, I do have running hot water where I lived, but I didn’t the first three years I lived here.

I also want to demystify some misconceptions about living in Costa Rica or Panama:

• You don’t need any vaccinations to come here. There are no malaria outbreaks and very minimal risk of tropical diseases.
• There is crime, but not more than in most major cities of North America.
• The tab water is actually drinkable.
• Both countries are very clean. People are better groomed than the average American, and the average restaurant is very well maintained and cleaner than the average restaurant in the States.
• You can get high-speed Internet access in most major cities, and even by the beach. There’s an Internet café almost every street block (costing often less than $1 per hour).
• Your cell phone will work here.
• There is no army, no civil war, no guerilla groups, and a very peaceful political climate.

Don’t let this put you off! Living here has so many things to bring. The dream of the tropical paradise is true! Warm weather, friendly people, beautiful waterfall, low cost of living… just don’t try to go it alone. If you’re serious about relocating abroad full-time or part-time, check out my course “How to Move to a Tropical Paradise”.

I’m certainly not a conspiracy theorist, but I do have my concerns about the future. And that’s why I have a “Plan B.” Everybody should have a “plan B” — a second alternative that you can feel comfortable going back to if your initial plan doesn’t go as well as you thought it would. But before I speak about this “plan B”, let’s try to define what the plan “A” is in the first place.

Plan A is what most people try to do. It’s called the “American Dream,” but also the rat race.

I believe that the American Dream in itself is a noble endeavor. Everybody wants to improve their current circumstances.

Own a house. Raise a family. Drive a nice car. Invest some money so you don’t have to worry about your old days. Live somewhere nice.

I’m certainly not putting down any of these things. I’m not one of those naturalists who think that “materialism” is bad and the desire to become financially independent is not “spiritual”. I believe that the founding fathers of the USA were right when they said that every man (or woman) has the right of the pursuit to happiness.

The problem with the American Dream is when it turns into the “rat race”. When you’re constantly running in circles, trying to achieve the dream but never quite reaching it — and also never being totally fulfilled by it. It’s also the rat race when you can’t enjoy the process of reaching your goal. You’re only focusing on the future possibility of attaining it, but not enjoying the time you have RIGHT NOW. You’re living life in the future.

Of course, it might not be a rat race if there weren’t so many things that stood in your way. For example:

· You do your best earn some income, but the government takes most of it away in taxes — overtly or covertly.

· Inflation eats away the value of your money, things are getting more expensive as years go by

· An entire culture around you is influencing you to spend, spend, spend — and you find it hard to save

It probably would be a lot easier to achieve certain prosperity if there were not all these obstacles in your way. But another problem with the rat race is that even if you manage somehow to get the things you coveted, will you feel fulfilled and happy?

Here, the goal is more than making money on the Internet. It’s about living a live you love — a life that you’ve designed, not one that was designed for you.

Costa Rica and My Plan B

For the past 4 years, I’ve been spending several months of the year in Costa Rica. Previously I would go on rather long vacations in various countries to “break” the winter, but now I feel like Costa Rica is my first home, and that’s where I want to spend most of my time.

Whenever I arrive here, I always feel that I’m becoming a different person every time. First of all, my expenses go way down.

I spend a lot more time outside, so I don’t need so much “entertainment.” Entertainment is going to the beach or the waterfalls, or exploring a new part of the country.

A lot of things are also cheaper. Because I eat mostly fruits and vegetables, my food expenses are cut in half when I’m here.

Last year, I calculated that I actually saved money by coming here for several months, even though I still paid for my apartment in Montreal when I’m gone! (At this point, I got rid of my apartment in Canada to live in Costa Rica with my fiancée).

I don’t spend as much here not just because things are cheaper… but also because I’m more fulfilled.

During a typical week, we might spend 3 or 4 days working at home, where we have my high-speed Internet, and get as much work done as I did back home in Canada.

I might run every other day by the beach, go to the farmer’s market to buy amazing fruits and vegetables, watch the same TV shows I follow at home (such as Lie to Me or Lost, my favorite TV addictions), and read a lot more than I do at home.

On the weekends, we’ll definitely go to the beach, or go diving, or take a “river walk” to bathe in the numerous beautiful waterfalls, go to hot springs, or take a trip to a new area of the country (and there are so many of them).

Costa Rica certainly isn’t the cheapest country in the world. I know I could go to South-East Asia and spend less than I spend here. But I like it in Costa Rica because it’s convenient, extremely friendly, fairly safe and not too far from North America.

The Internet Freedom Lifestyle

My point with all of this is that I couldn’t be doing what I’m doing if it were not for the Internet Freedom Lifestyle. It really isn’t about the cost, because as I’ve demonstrated you can spend less overall by leaving for half the year to a tropical paradise!

It’s more about having the freedom to do it.

Now I know that you probably have some commitments that might not make it easy to leave for several months a year, such as a job or children.

But that’s also why I want to talk about it… so you can know that you can have a “Plan B” if you really want to change your life.

A lot of people say they’d love to be doing what I’m doing, or spend a year abroad, but they can’t because of the money issue.

But is it really about money?

There are lots of places where you can have a great life for as little as $700 a month. Tropical places such as:

· Goa, India (where you can rent a place close to the beach for less than $400 per month)

· Ecuador, where I know a couple who spends only $500 for their entire lifestyle (and enjoy lots of luxuries)

· Mexico, where you can find lots of beautiful and friendly pueblos away from the main tourist areas

· South East Asia, where mangoes cost 25 cents a pound (or less), avocados 10 cents each, and durian (a favorite tropical fruit of mine) $1 each.

And if you like it a bit more like home, Costa Rica is a great, friendly place that costs a bit more than the aforementioned places, but not nearly as much as you could spend in North America.

I personally find it extremely comforting to know that I can always live in great places all around the world, just from the income that I earn with my Internet Business.

And that even if things went really bad… I know I could live anywhere I wanted, and enjoy a much better life than if I tried to stay on the course of the “rat race” back in Canada.

How hard is it to generate $700 in profits each month from an Internet business? Not hard at all, as I’ll show you in a moment.

Isn’t it good to know that you have some options in this world?

Generating Internet Income Anywhere in the World

Now you know you can live in a tropical paradise for a fraction of what you’re currently spending at home.

Even if the whole “relocation/travel” thing doesn’t appeal to you, at least you know you have other options than the eternal rat race.

The first step is to set up a business that can earn you passive income from anywhere in the world.

When I say “passive income”, I’m referring to semi-automatic sales.

You will have to put in work to set things up, and after you will have to put in regular hours to maintain it, but your efforts will also generate sales automatically.

If you want true passive income, you’ll have to put aside $250,000 aside in Certificates of Deposits. Supposing that it earns you 5% per year, you’ll earn a little over $1000 per month in interest.But even that can’t be forever, because interest rates will change, and inflation will eventually eat away a chunk of your nest egg. Plus… who really wants to stop working completely?

If you love what you do, and helps lots of people and earns you what you need to live with only a few hours of work per week… why would you want to give that up?

· So you set up an Internet business. This business has a lot of automated systems built into it.

· You earn X amount of dollars per month — enough to cover your desired lifestyle, plus some for savings and emergencies, or future projects.

· You set this business up in a jurisdiction that works for you. For most people, that means opening a business in the USA or Canada, or Europe.

· You don’t have to create a “company” at this point. You can do business under your own name. But you’ll probably be much better off if you set up some kind of enterprise (such as a sole proprietorship), in order to benefit from tax deductions.

· Money earned will be deposited in your business or personal bank account. A certain amount should be set aside for taxes. Discuss this with your accountant.

· You can withdraw this money from anywhere in the world using your ATM card, or through bank transfers or Western Union, or take enough cash with you when you leave.

· Set things up the right way at home: have your finances, accounting and paperwork in order. Then you’ll feel free to leave for anywhere for almost any amount of time. Almost all paperwork that needs to be signed can be sent remotely with a fax (use www.efax.com for a true international fax number). Worst case, you can use FedEx to send important papers if you’re away from home, but I’ve personally never had to do that.

· The simpler and most systematized your business is, the easier it will be for you to leave whenever you want.

The key with all of this, of course, is to generate enough income with your online business.

I grew up in the cold and snow, but now I have decided I never wanted to experience another winter. This is my story.

In Quebec, the famous French poet Gilles Vignault wrote “My country is not a country, it’s winter” (Mon pays c’est pas un pays, c’est l’hiver). Although it doesn’t translate that well from the original French, I think it still summarizes well the love/hate relationship many Northerners have with the winter.

On the one hand, the winter defines who we are. On the other hand, we despise the hardships of the cold season.

Other satirical comments have been made about the winter in Canada or the Northern states, such as

“We have two seasons in Canada, cold and not as cold”

I was told that the best way to go through the winter is to embrace it. So instead of cursing the weather, make the best of it. Go out and enjoy some winter sports! Ski! Put on some warm clothes and go take a walk when it’s sunny outside, even if it’s below freezing. That all sounded good, but in spite of this advice I still hated the winter.

I do not care for skiing or other winter sports. I much prefer feeling the wind on my skin as I ride my bike or run outside, with sunshine on my face, rather than feeling myself uncomfortably sweating inside of a giant isolated winter coat, while risking getting every unexposed part of my body getting injured by frostbite.

The winter made everything more difficult

Getting in and out of the house became a big endeavor requiring a lot of preparation, rather than something simple and enjoyable.

Even with good intentions such as taking a 45-minute walk every morning, the power of the elements can discourage the most committed ones.

There were times when the weather was so cold that I remained literally locked in my house for almost a week at a time. Even going out to the gym was something I was not even willing to do.

Some other random winter annoyances included:

• Being cold in the morning when getting out of bed.
• Salt on the streets corroding everything
• Shoveling snow
• Snow melting into slush and brown from the dirt, staining and wetting everything
• Scarf smell! The nasty phenomenon that happens when you breathe your own snot smell from having to wear the scar over your nose and mouth.
• Having to get into a cold freezing car that never actually starts to warm up until you’re about to reach your destination
• Cold feet and toes!
• Snow and how it gets in the way of everything!
• Sunrise at 8:30 and sun set at 4:00 p.m.
• Chapped lips because of dry heating
• The time it takes to get dressed just to go outside for any reason!
• Ice and the dangers in brings
• Christmas songs playing in early November with no respite until late in December

Health Aspects of Living in the North

I found that although it was possible to stay healthy in the North and even eat a mostly raw food diet, the winter made it much more difficult to stay healthy and in shape.

First, there’s the problem of temperature. Setting the thermostat between 65 and 68 degrees (18-20 Celsius) is supposed to be healthy, but it feels too cold. Try boosting the temperature above that and you start feeling the negative effects of artificial heating: dry skin, respiratory problems and discomfort.

So my sad solution was to keep temperature low, but wear extra layers in the house. I always kept the bathroom steaming hot, as I hated to enter a cold bathroom on a Monday morning to take a shower.

The problems of the cold weather were reinforced by eating cold foods, such as fresh fruit. I had to be particularly careful to avoid all cold drinks and fruits, otherwise I would get shivers.

Sometimes after eating a big smoothie with fruits coming out of the fridge that I didn’t have time to warm up, I would feel so cold that I had to take a hot bath to feel better.

The average body temperature of a healthy fit person eating raw is a few degrees lower than the average body 98.6 (37 celsius) most people consider “normal”. A lower body temperature is a great advantage when it comes to all sorts of athletic endeavors, and also to handle hot weather, but can take some time adapting to when you live in a cold climate.

As soon as the weather started getting cold, I would lose my motivation to exercise outside, which is my favorite type of exercise. So I had to find other types of exercises that could be done inside, such as rebounding or going to the gym.

The shorter days with less sunshine meant little vitamin D for the entire winter, which could be hard for the body to bear without supplementation.

I did find however that despite the difficulties of eating raw in the North, the health advantages of eating this way far outweighed the negatives. Most of my friends and relative got seriously sick at least once every winter, and would often complain of stuffed noses or colds, while I remained healthy and cold-free the entire winter. My mood was dramatically improved by the natural “sunshine” I got from the fruits and vegetables I was eating, and the exercise routine I tried to maintain.

Over the years I spent eating raw in Canada, I even came up with a series of recipes and tips for following a raw food diet in the North, called the Raw Winter Recipe Guide.

However, there is no doubt that staying fit and healthy was dramatically easier in a warmer climate.

The Winter Amnesia

Every winter, I tried to spend at least a few weeks in a warmer climate. In 2004, I spent one month in Brazil. In 2005, I spent three months in Costa Rica. In 2006, I went to Bali and French Polynesia. In 2007, I spent five months in Costa Rica. Every year, I was avoiding more and more of the winter… but part of me was still attached to living in the North with four seasons. Call it nostalgia?

I have a different name for it. I call it: winter amnesia.

I came up with this concept with a friend of mine back in 2003. At the time, I had noticed something strange. I would go through an entire winter of hardship, coldness and snow, and when springtime and summertime came, I started thinking that living in Canada wasn’t so bad after all.

I would think to myself: “Maybe I don’t have to move anywhere warm after all. It’s not so bad.”

I would completely forget how horrible the winter was… and that’s why I realized I had winter amnesia, a common psychological affliction most Northerners suffer from, when their minds purposely forget how bad winters are, in order to stay in their comfort zone and avoid any radical move!

So I would set myself up for another cold winter again, without making the necessary move to move to a warmer climate.

It got to the point that I actually asked my friend to send me an email in November of next year. The email I asked him to send me read something like this:

Dear Frederic,

I know that by now you’ve come out of a very enjoyable summer in Canada, and you have completely forgotten how bad last winter was. This letter is to remind you: get out of there before it’s too late! The winter sucks! Your friend,

Yourself

Frederic

Of course, this “winter amnesia” concept was just a joke, but there was some truth behind it. Unless I planned in advance, there was no way I was going to fulfill my dream of living in a warmer climate.

Fastforward to present day: I’m now spending my winters in Costa Rica, and I have no intention of experiencing another winter again for any reason!

Last year, I waited until January 10^th to go on my annual winter trip, and later I regretted it terrible. The months of November and December in Montreal were truly horrible, so I swore to myself that I would never stay for another winter again.

Call me a winter wussy, but I came to the conclusion that the months of November until late April were completely out of the question. I HAD to be in a warm climate during that time. May isn’t so bad, because there’s the promise of summer. June is okay. July and August are the only great months. September is also good because of the sunny weather, harvest time and beautiful trees falling. October is already off-limit. It’s tolerable but not enjoyable. I’d rather be somewhere else!

For many years, I used to keep my apartment year-round in Canada, and spend several months in the tropics. Now my fiancée and I have decided to get rid of most of our possessions in Canada to establish a more permanent base in Costa Rica. We’re here until May, and after our wedding we’ll be traveling around the world for one year. When we come back, we might spend some time in Canada, and then come back to Costa Rica when it’s getting cold.

There’s a lot more to say about this topic… in my next article I will tell you how I ended up living in Costa Rica and how I made my dream of living in a tropical paradise a reality, after years and years of thinking about it. There were many difficulties, but when I look outside my window and take a look at my jungle and mountains… and breathe the warm tropical air, perfumed by the scent of beautiful flowers, I think to myself, it was worth it!

What do you think about living in the North? Do you dream of living in a warmer climate? Did you actually make the move? I’d like to know more in the comments!

My main home at the moment is Costa Rica. I’ve been spending 3 to 5 months of the winter here for the last few years, and this year I’ll be here for over 6 months.

After that, my fiancée and I will be traveling around the world for around a year. Then, we’ll probably come back to Costa Rica to settle here semi-permanently, probably spending 6 to 8 months a year here, and traveling to other places or visiting North America the rest of the time.

A lot of people wonder what the cost of living is down here. They fancy a simple life in the tropics, and would like to be able to do this for a fraction of what it’d cost in North America or Europe or Australia.

First of all, there’s no doubt that Costa Rica is a cheaper place to live than all other first-world nations. However, a lot of the savings come from the fact that Costa Rica is still a developing country.

It may not be a “third-world” country (you won’t see abject poverty here like you do in Mexico or Honduras), but it is certainly not a first-world one either. “Second-world” would probably be the best description, but that doesn’t mean much!

The average Costa Rican (most commonly called “Tico”) is friendly, hard-working, welcoming to foreigners and happy (the Happy Planet Index survey classified Costa Rica the “happiest country in the world” recently).

Most Costa Rican families earn less than $10,000 a year. Even a well-educated person might only earn $1000 to $2000 a month. Construction workers, police men and other similar jobs get less than $500 a month. Yet, almost everyone seems to be well-fed, well-clothed and clean and not lacking in the basic necessities.

Certainly, it would be possible for a couple to live on less than $1000 a month in Costa Rica, with a higher standard of living than in North America, but most foreigners will not be able to do that, and here’s why:

1) You could buy a house really cheap, or rent a “Tico” apartment, but it will be lacking in some basic things that most Westerners (including me) take for granted. For example:

- You won’t get hot water running out of every faucet. Instead, it will be cold water. For your shower, you’ll have a shower heater that gently warms the water as you take a shower, which saves you a lot in electricity but won’t be anything like the good hot showers you’re used to.

- Most Tico families live packed in small quarters, by American standards at least. A Tico house or apartment may be too small for your needs.

- Tico-qualtity construction. It’s not that the houses are poorly constructed here, but rather that the attention to quality and details is not the same. For examples, many Ticos don’t think twice about putting a tin roof that looks terrible and is quite noisy when it rains (more on noise later).

2) Ticos have a higher toleration for noise, but do you?

I found that the average Tico can stand much more noise than the average North American. In many Tico neighborhoods, there’s a big problem with dogs barking at any hour of the day or night. The average Tico doesn’t seem to care, but it personally drives me completely crazy! You might also hear motorcycles early in the morning (most Costa Ricans wake up between 5:00 and 5:30 a.m. and are not tiptoing around just because you like to sleep until 8:00, fireworks at night, roosters that seem to have lost their inner clock and announce the “day” at around 3 in the morning, and more.

I know some Americans that can live in the middle of all of this, and I even did it myself for the experience of living in a Costa Rican community, but  habits acquired during years of upbringing in a quiet subburban Canadian neighborhood are impossible for me to eradicate.

I can stand some noise, but dogs barking all night drive me crazy. So like most expats, I live in a quieter part of the country, and of course, I pay a premium for that peace.

3) The average Tico lives on mostly rice and beans, some meat, and not a whole lot of fruits and vegetables.

You could live on almost nothing in Costa Rica if you ate like the Costa Rican. Then, your monthly food bill would probably not be higher than $100 for two. This would buy you a lot of rice and beans, some vegetables, some meat, and cheap sodas. This is not the worst way to eat, but certainly not the healthiest. (They consume a lot of sodium on a daily basis in seasonings)

Because of my extreme diet of mostly raw foods and fruits in massive quantities, my food bill is much higher than if I lived on the Costa Rican diet. However, I calculated that I still save about 30 to 40% in my food costs by living here.

Fruits and vegetables are dramatically cheaper than in North America, and much fresher too. However, buying any imported foods will jack up the price. I could spend a lot less if I didn’t occasionally indulge on some imported organic seasonings, organic dates for recipes, and other treats.

4) The average Costa Rica lives without a car. Can you?

Driving a car is obviously a big expense. The average Tico doesn’t own one, because they are too expensive. Brand-new cars in this country are more expensive than in America by about 30 to 50% if not more, because of high import taxes. Most people get around by bicycle, buses and sharing rides.

I did live in Costa Rica for two years without a car. I would occasionally rent one in order to do some weekend trips. But I also lived in a more densely populated area where owning a car wasn’t as important.

However, not owning a car can seriously limit what you can do and where you can live. Most nice places are a little out of the way on little dirt roads.

I now have a used Toyota 4Runner and honestly I couldn’t be without it. First of all, the beautiful place where I live would not be reasonably accessible without a car. The car allows us to easily shop at the farmer’s market, go to the beach hassle-free, visit the country, pick up our mail, etc with enough room for us and all of our stuff.

The good news is that although brand-new cars are expensive, there’s a good market for used cars, and they are often well-maintained and will last you a long time. With no cold and snow, cars can be kept for longer than up North.

So let’s be honest:

Most Westerners are used to a high standard of living. There’s nothing wrong with that, and obviously you can’t expect to suddenly lower your standards when living in another country.

I do enjoy the slower pace of living in Costa Rica, and my life is a lot simpler when I’m here. I don’t care as much about the latest gizmo, and I spend a lot more time in nature enjoying simple things.

However, I do also enjoy beauty, convenience, peace, quiet, security and comfort.

I rent a condo that would be completely out of price for most Costa Ricans, but quite inexpensive compared to what the same thing would cost in North America (we basically feel like we’re living on a little resort, with a pool and jungle nearby, and a completely modern furnished condo with two bedrooms and modern ameneties, for less than $40 a day!).

I drive a car, but spend a lot less time driving than I did in Canada, and more time walking and exercising.

I buy quality food, but it costs me much less than in Canada.

I order stuff on Amazon (like books and kitchen gadgets), and get it shipped to a private mail service with an address in Miami that redirects to Costa Rica and handles customs for a reasonable fee.

I enjoy a great standard of living, but overall spend about 25 to 30% less than I would in Canada, and considerably less than I would in Miami or other more expensive city in America or Europe (where the savings would probably be in the 40% range).

I could spend a lot less than that if I lived like the average Costa Rican, of course, but then I would be giving up a lot of quality of life.

Overall, Costa Rica is an affordable destination for living and traveling. Basic but clean rooms can be rented for less than $20 a night, and the mid-range options will give you more for your money than you would get in Western countries. For those considering retiring, a couple could live pretty well on $1500 a month. It would be a pretty frugal lifestyle, but quite luxurious by Costa Rican standards. $2500 a month for a couple is more realistic for the standard of living most foreigners are accustomed to.

If you own your own house, or grow your own food, you can considerably cut down this monthly budget! If you have other questions about living in Costa Rica, let me know in the comments.

Interested in the topic of Moving to a Tropical Paradise? Get more information at www.fredericpatenaude.com/tropicalparadise.html