Tropical Paradises

I’m typing this from the 19th floor of an apartment in Waikiki in Honolulu. My wife and I will be visiting three Hawaiian islands for 12 days each for our honeymoon.

Before that, we spent almost six months in Costa Rica — and I have myself spent most of my winters there for the past 4 years.

I’ve also visited Hawaii on a couple of occasions before, but more importantly Hawaii has been on the radar more than a few times as I was looking for a place to get away from the harsh Canadian winters.

If you’ve thought about moving to a tropical paradise — either part-time or full-time, there’s no doubt that you’ve also considered Costa Rica or Hawaii — or both — for obvious reasons.

Costa Rica is a famous destination for US and Canadian retirees, and Hawaii  is the only true “tropical paradise” in the United States.

The two places are worlds apart — but each has something unique to offer for the right person.

Let’s start with Costa Rica.

Costa Rica: Who Is It For?

The kind of person who will go to Costa Rica and be happy living there will be someone who’s a true nature lover.

You don’t go to Costa Rica to enjoy first-world services, amazing cultural events or even a low-cost of living.

You go there because you enjoy spending time in nature, seeing animals, visiting beaches and tropical waterfalls, catching sight of birds, and spend a lot of time outside.

If you’re not currently spending most of your free time hiking and out in nature, then Costa Rica is probably not the right place for you.

Here are the main pro’s on Costa Rica:

1) Nature. Wild nature is unparalleled. A big chunk of the country is protected by national parks, and there’s a lot to explore in such a small country. Finding your own deserted beach or waterfall is relatively easy.

2) Diversity. There’s over 12 distinct micro-climates, and you can go from balmy tropical weather to cooler, spring-like climate just by changing your elevation.

3) People. Costa Rica’s people are affectionately called the Ticos and are very welcoming and friendly. Even if you don’t speak much Spanish, you’ll easily feel at home.

4) Tourism. Costa Rica is not new to tourism, so there’s a relatively big infrastructure for anything tourism-related. Some might see this as a negative, but if you want some fun things to do, you’ll at least have many options. The farmers markets have also grown to support tourism as well so you can be thankful for the abundance of tropicalfruits being sold everywhere.

5) Climate. I do NOT recommend that you move to Costa Rica to any of the coastal areas because the weather there can be very hot and humid and not at all comfortable for the long term. If you plan on living in Costa Rica for an extended period of time, consider living in the central valley where  the climate is a constant spring-like temperature year round.

6) Cost of Living. Costa Rica can be cheap but can also be expensive depending on how you live. Some things are definitely cheaper, such as fruits and vegetables, taxis and labor. Other things such as cars, imported items, electronics and gas are definitely more expensive.

7) Political stability. Costa Rica enjoys a certain political stability with its famous “no-army” policy. One thing is for sure, you don’t have to fear a revolution or political unrest in this country.

The cons of Costa Rica:

1) Roads. 10 years ago, the roads in Costa Rica used to be REALLY bad. Since then huge progress has been made and the roads are much better, but don’t expect big American highways.

2) Infrastructure. The rest of the country’s infrastructure is several years behind the rest of the developed world. Cell phone coverage works but forget about reliable internet and 3G coverage. You can get high-speed internet, but it might not always work. Power outages are frequent, but they rarely last more than a few minutes to an hour.

3) Mad Drivers. Costa Rica has one of the highest automobile accident rate in the world. A lot of the deaths are from pedestrians getting hit by cars. The roads are not lit, extremely pedestrian UN-friendly, and the vast majority of drivers are extremely careless and seem like they got their licence in a cereal box! This is the kind of country where to feel safe on the road you get the biggest car you can and drive defensively. Don’t plan on cycling in Costa Rica as it is too dangerous, and only walk in safe areas — not along main roads.

4) Bugs. This is more a problem if you live by the beach. Ants and all types of critters are everywhere and it’s a constant battle to try to keep your food from being eaten away by them. If you live in a cooler climate in Costa Rica, you shouldn’t have too much of a problem.

5) Crime. This has never personally affected me, but you read about it in the newspaper all the time and it seems serious enough to pay attention. There’s a big problem in the country to keep criminals in jail or out of the country. Home invasions are a daily occurrence in the central valley, and the police are not prepared enough to stop it. Most Costa Ricans will tell you that the one problem they wish their government would take care of the most is crime.

6) Inefficiency. This a wide-spread cultural issue I would loosely call ”inefficiency” although it would take pages upon pages to fully describe and explain in details.

The main thing to understand is that in Costa Rican culture, harmony is valued more than honesty. Here’s one example to describe this. You hire someone to fix your internet. You are told it will be done within a day. However, for some reason there is a delay of some kind (it doesn’t matter what it is). Instead of telling you the truth (honesty), the internet guy will either avoid the situation completely by not calling you OR make up some sort of story to preserve the ”harmony” of the situation and not upset you with the details of the delay.

Of course, none of that is truly understood on the conscious level by Costa Ricans because it’s on the cultural level.

Because of that and other reasons getting anything done can be terribly inefficient and trying to find out the truth of what’s ACTUALLY going on, very frustrating.

7) Language. For some people it’s a problem, for others not. Most Costa Ricans don’t speak English but about 10% of the population can speak decent English.

Hawaii

A great way to describe Hawaii would be first-world comfort in a tropical paradise environment. But this comes at a price.

Here are main pro’s of Hawai’i

1- Beautiful & magical scenery — In spite of the Americanization, Hawaii remains a beautiful place that is truly special.

2- Genuinely nice people — Hawaii’s people are very kind and seem to smile easily. They are also relaxed drivers with some good manners on top of that.

3- Infrastructure — It’s the United States, so the infrastructure is 1000% better than a Costa Rica or even Panama. You can get pretty much anything you need and expect it to work. Because the island of Oahu is small and there’s only a few roads into the big city, traffic can get pretty bad.

4- The ocean — If you like any type of water sport, Hawaii is for you. I’m talking about snorkeling, wind-surfing, Kayaking, swimming, etc. Because the ocean is everywhere, there are so many more options than Costa Rica when it comes to enjoying the ocean.

5- The weather — I find Hawaii’s climate perfect. The temperature hovers between 20 and 29 degrees Celsius year round (Between 68 and 85 Fahrenheit), and if you hate rain you can find a spot of the island that will be pretty much rain-free year round.

6- Safety — We find Hawaii very safe compared to Costa Rica. The crime rate is much less and if you leave your stuff on the beach you don’t have to be paranoid about it getting stolen. I think the fact that it’s an island also makes a different. It’s hard to get there, and if you become undesirable, it’s also difficult to hide anywhere.

7- Shopping Possibilities — Because you’re in the United States, you can pretty much find anything you need (if you’re on the island of Oahu). This makes it very easy to run an Internet business from a tropical paradise.

Negatives

1) Cost of Living. Nobody moves to Hawaii to save money. The fact that you’re on an island AND in the US makes things more expensive. However, in my experience it’s NOT as expensive as you’d expect.

Certain islands are more expensive. Maui is notoriously known as the most expensive island, but Kauai and the Big Island are cheaper. Oahu (where the big city Honolulu is located) also has some great housing deals.

Now you have big chains like Costco that have made Hawaii more affordable.

A lot of things are priced similarly as they are in the US, such as restaurants and electronics, but groceries are more expensive.

The islands’ shops are also not full of affordable tropical fruits unless you shop at  farmer’s markets, and even there the prices will be similar or more than what you’d pay on the mainland.

Honolulu is not the world’s most expensive city. Several cities such as Los Angeles and Toronto are significantly more expensive than Honolulu, but it’s not as cheap as somewhere like the Midwest.

2) You’re on an Island. Some people can get island fever when they realize they are on a big rock and the road ends where the beach ends. But if you’re tired of the scenery, you can hop on a plane for another island for just $60, or fly back to the mainland for around $250+.

3) You’re in the US — That’s either a positive or a negative depending on who you are.

Maybe you’re American or Canadian or accustomed to American stores and conveniences, in which case you will find yourself right at home with places like Jamba Juice, Costco, Walmart, Whole Foods etc.

Or you’re not American and the idea of mass consumption on a tiny island makes you want to wretch… in that case you may want to check out the outer islands like Kauai and the Big Island if you’d like to keep to yourself and visit small local towns.

Personally, I wouldn’t want to be on the outer islands for a long stay because of all the conveniences available on Oahu.

5) The Homeless — Hawaii seems to have a big problem with homeless people living on the beach and in parks.

This is not technically legal, but the city does not do anything about it.  You will often see homeless people sleeping in parks, by the beach or tenting by the side of the road.

The good thing is they don’t often pan handle or cause any trouble, there’s just no avoiding them if you’re heading to Oahu no matter where you are on the island.

6) SPAM — In case you don’t know, Hawaii has a major spam addiction problem (and I’m not talking about the unwanted email kind).

Spam is a horrible-for-you canned pork product, filled with sodium and nitrates. Spam was introduced to the islands during the military occupation of World War II when fresh meat was difficult to get, but for some reason they kept eating it after the war even when they could afford much better options.

In every grocery store in Hawaii, you will find spam in all its forms. You’ll even see spam sandwiches, eggs and spam for breakfast, and my favorite: sushi with spam! (It actually is quite revolting looking)

The word “spam” nowadays means “unsolicited email” and comes from a Monty Python sketch, “in which the customer becomes more and more exasperated by the appearances of “spam” in every menu item”.

There’s no doubt that the health of Hawaiian people would instantly improve ten-fold if spam were to disappear off the face of the earth.

7) The lack of inexpensive coconuts -- Try this: you’re on a tropical island. There are palm trees everywhere. Yet, it’s almost impossible to find a reasonably priced fresh coconut to drink! Some juice bars sell them for an impossible price ($5.95 or higher!), but most restaurants will be happy to just get you canned coconut “juice” from Thailand (filled with sugar). On the other hand, fresh coconuts in Costa Rica are very common and only cost about 50 cents each.

You can buy young coconuts from the health food store, but they are the yellow older variety and will run about $4.95 each in Oahu and $2.95 each in Kauai. At farmers markets we’ve seen them from $4 to $6 each.

You will also see a lot of older brown coconuts being sold, some people even sell them as drinking coconuts in food courts… which is odd since there is little water in them and the meat is hard.

Another option is if you’re lucky to have a friend who can climb a coconut tree… well then that might work for you better.  Who doesn’t love a free coconut?

Conclusion

I live in Canada, but for the past 5 years I’ve been spending most of my winters in the south.

Costa Rica has been a great choice for most of those winters, and I’m very happy to have had the experience of spending so many months there.

At this point in my life, Hawaii seems to meet my needs a lot better and I also really enjoy being so close to the ocean all the time while having access to more conveniences.

My wife and I will be traveling the world for another year and then relocating possibly to Vancouver. But when the winter gets cold and rainy on the Northwest, we might just head to Hawaii for a few months instead of Costa Rica.

What about you, considering your values, which place would you choose?

For the past four years I’ve been spending my winters in Costa Rica. Each year, I’ve spent a minimum of four months and up to six months in what most people consider to be a tropical paradise.

That’s in addition to the several months I have spent traveling to this country before, and also visiting other beautiful tropical countries such as Panama, Thailand, Bali, Brazil and French Polynesia.

In just two weeks, my fiancée Veronica and I are also getting married in beautiful Costa Rica by some beautiful waterfalls near Dominical.

I’ve loved Costa Rica so much that I’ve thought several times of moving there permanently, making it my home base. Even this year, I looked seriously into completing the process of getting my residency there.

Yet, I’ve decided not to do this, and even more, when I leave in May I’m probably not going to come back to Costa Rica for many years.

Why this change of attitude?

Was I mugged in Costa Rica and in fear of my life?

Do I feel the country has become too expensive?

Do I think there’s some place in the world that’s more beautiful and more pristine?

Actually, it’s none of the above.

I feel that Costa Rica is pretty safe even though I’ve heard a lot about the rising crime situation in the Central Valley. I’ve personally never experienced any problem though.

As for the cost of living, I’ve always said that if your goal is to recreate the same exact lifestyle you had back home but for cheaper in a sunny third-world country — you better stay home because that’s just not going to happen.

And in all of my travels, I’ve actually never been to a place that’s as beautiful as Costa Rica in terms of pure, wild nature.

French Polynesia was the most stunning place I ever visited, but it lacks the amazing lushness and biodiversity that Costa Ricans enjoy.

So why am I crossing Costa Rica off my list of places where to live long-term?

To put it simply: I’ve realized that I love North America too much.

Not only do I miss North America when I’m in Costa Rica, but I also feel that North America is overall a much better place to live.

Don’t get me wrong: there are lots of things I love about Costa Rica, Panama and all these other beautiful developing countries. But I’m just not ready to make them my home base just yet.

In my course, How to Move to a Tropical Paradise, I emphasized what I called the “snowbird” solution, which is to keep your home base where you currently are, but use Costa Rica or another tropical country with a lower cost of living as a way to spend one or month or a few months every winter, while not increasing your overall living expenses.

I also warned people against making a decision too quick to move to a tropical paradise, because the reality of living there is far from their own dream and pre-conceived ideas.

Before I go into my reasons for not making any of these sunny, developing countries my home-base, let me first review what I like about Costa Rica:

* The climate can’t be beat, as long as you live in higher elevation. The weather by the beach is way too hot and sticky, with bugs and ants watching your every move. But in the Central Valley or the mountains, the climate is a dream, with year-round spring-like temperature.

* People are very friendly and welcoming to foreigners.

* The country is wonderful to visit and there are so many great things to do: visit volcanoes, parasailing, canopy tours, scuba diving, hiking, etc. If you’re on a vacation, you cannot be bored and the country offers so much more than just laying on the beach and doing nothing. Each part of the country is different with over 16 distinct micro-climates.

* It’s still very affordable compared to North America or Europe or even many tourist destinations, if you know where to look. Many things are cheaper including produce, rent, taxis, etc.

* Tropical fruits are incredible and you can go to many farmer’s market, talk to the growers and everyone is very friendly, offering your deals, giving you free produce with purchase.

* Animal sightings are almost guaranteed on a daily basis. We had beautiful Titi monkeys visit us regularly (The rare and smart squirrel monkeys), saw giant iguanas, tucans, sloths, etc.

* The country is very beautiful. Amazingly beautiful in fact.

I think Costa Rica, Panama and other countries such as Ecuador (where I’ve never been) have a lot to offer, and I could easily imagine myself spending one or two months a year in places like that during the winter.

Even up to three months, you can easily relax into the fact that your stay is temporary, and enjoy what the place has to offer that is different from your home country.

But as you move into longer stays (three months+), you start to realize how different the culture is and what the challenges are for living there long term.

I am not your typical tourist.
I speak relatively fluent Spanish, I know the ins and outs of Costa Rican culture, I know my way around most of the country, I know the cultural faux-pas, I read many books about Costa Rican history and culture… and I’m very open-minded.

And in spite of this, I’ve abandoned any project of establishing a long-term residence in Costa Rica, or even in its more modern neighbor Panama.

Here’s what’s on my mind:

1- Cost of Living — First of all, I think that cost of living can be a very relative thing. A busy Internet Marketer like me does not need a lot of the same things as a retired English teacher (expat).

I wasn’t going to move somewhere just to save money, but what I found is that even though there are lots of things that are cheaper in Costa Rica (such as fruits and vegetables!), imported products are more expensive, in a way that probably offset any possible savings as far as I’m concerned.

For a few years, I did indeed save a lot of money anytime I was in Costa Rica. But that’s because I was single and living in a tiny apartment that I rented for almost nothing, and I didn’t drive a car and returned to Canada after four months so I didn’t need to buy many things for the long term.

Last year, my fiancée and I ended up importing a lot of products that we needed (such as a computer we needed to replace) and paid a lot of money in import fees.

People who live in the USA and complain about the prices have NO idea how much cheaper almost everything is there compared to any country in the world. Canada is more expensive than the US but it’s still nothing compared to Europe.

The only things that are truly more expensive in the USA compared to Costa Rica are things like fresh produce, maybe rent and housing, and any labor-oriented services such as house cleaning, taxis, etc.

But everything else, from electronics to gasoline is significantly cheaper in the US.

If you lived a simple life in Costa Rica, there’s no doubt you would save some money. But if you’re young and busy and you want some comfort, I don’t think those savings will show. Overall it will average out to about the same cost of living.

Panama is cheaper, there’s no doubt about it. But it still suffers from the same shortcomings as Costa Rica in other areas.

2- Latin Mentality — There’s no getting around the fact that people in Latin America are just not as efficient as in North America. You can call it “Island Time”, or “A Different Pace of Living,” but the fact of the matter is that a lot of things don’t really get done very well.

From getting a decent internet connection to regular errands such as banking, the bureaucracy and inefficiency can be frustrating.

A lot of Ticos (Costa Ricans) will be the first to point it out. I remember a taxi driver who kept ranting about Costa Rica being a “culture of mediocrity”.

You can criticize a lot of things about Western culture but I do think we know how to get things done in reasonable time frames, and with the least amount of headaches.

Personally, the inefficiency of the latin culture didn’t bother me that much. I actually got used to taking my time. But in some key areas it was annoying:
a) Internet Service. It’s hard to get fast Internet service in the first place, and when you manage to get it, it might mysteriously stop functioning at the most random times, and there’s nothing you can do about it. Just reset it and cross your fingers it will start working again shortly.

Power Outages. Again, the power could go out once a week or so at a random time, with no explanation. Usually for less than an hour, but still annoying when the timing is wrong. No power means no lights, no fan, no internet and in a hot climate this can be frustrating and you don’t really have anywhere else to go.

3- Food Selection and Shopping.

Again, a lot of people who have never left the US or Canada complain that the food selection sucks in their respective countries.

The reality is that North America (and other Western countries such as United Kingdom) have the best food selection in the world, period.

In Costa Rica, I must admit the local fruits are delicious. But you are usually limited to the basic varieties of pineapple, banana, papaya, watermelon and mangoes. Everything else is seasonal (including mangoes, but they are available half the year).

When it comes to vegetables, the selection is not that great outside of larger supermarket chains such as Auto-Mercado, which are more like a small high-end market in the US.

You can still get most of what you need, but the selection in North American stores is way better.
Also, you might think that organic food is widely popular in Costa Rica, but it’s not the case. Most of the beautiful fruits you see are grown with generous amounts of pesticides, and organic food is hard to come by, unless you have know some people or you grow it yourself. The heat and insects pose a number of problems for farmers and they’re not as informed about safe farming practices.

As for health food stores, they are non-existent in Costa Rica. The closest thing they have to a health food store are these mini-stores called “Macrobiotic” stores (which have nothing to do with the macrobiotic diet) selling all kinds of medicinal herbs and more natural body-care products with no food whatsoever.

Some supermarkets carry imported organic products such as almond butter (not raw of course), but the selection is pretty random and the products generally cost 20 to 30% more than in the US.

As for shopping in general, you can certainly find what you need but you’ll need to look hard for certain items.

For example, we couldn’t find a salad spinner anywhere, so we had to import one from Amazon. The Costa Ricans had ZERO idea what we were talking about when we asked everywhere.

Clothes you’ll find in stores are either one of two categories:

Name brand American clothes (mostly surf and skater designer brands) that will be way more expensive than if you bought them in North America.
Ultra-cheap clothes and fabric (think sub-Walmart quality)

As for electronics, a brand-new 13-inch Mac-Book Pro of the top of the line configuration can be purchased for about $1450 or Amazon.com in the US, but will sell for almost $2100 in Costa Rica!

Cars are also more expensive, by about 50% or more.

4- Driving in Costa Rica

Costa Rican drivers have a reputation for being some of the worst and most aggressive drivers in the world, and it’s not far from the truth.

The truth is that driving in Costa Rica is an adventure. Streets have no names and you have to rely on stone-age types of directions such as “100 meters south west of the Santa Elena church in the city of Curridabat” — it’s up to you to figure out where that is!

I must say I’m impressed to see how Costa Rican taxis know their town so well, for getting around everywhere without ever relying on a street sign anywhere!

Driving and getting around in North America is at least 1000% easier. Equipped with a GPS and an address, you can get around anywhere stress-free. But there’s no way you could use a GPS in Costa Rica the same way you can anywhere else! You can’t even use google maps for directions to ANYWHERE in Costa Rica.

Also, Costa Rica is just not safe for pedestrians. Driver’s don’t respect anyone’s safety and the streets are just not designed for walking. There are almost no sidewalks or shoulders on roads and no pedestrian crossings or lights. Therefore, taking a leisure walk is just not fun in most places, unless you go to a park.

Driving at night is also not safe because of the poorly lit roads and drunk drivers, and almost every road is a two-way lane.

5- Other Factors

I could go down the list of other minor factors, such as the fact that the sun sets at almost exactly 6 p.m. every night (which is not as fun as a later sunset! ), but the main factor for me are the ones that I have discussed and also isolation.

I love big cities and I also love nature and the country.

The best situation is when you can take advantage of both.

The dream of relocating full-time to a tropical paradise is most often a pipe dream for most people.

Hopefully, that’s never what I’ve promoted. My course and my approach has always been about generating passive income from your online business so you can live anywhere you want, and travel to the place you want, when you want it.

Some people might say, why not Panama? Why not Thailand?

I love all these places… but only to visit for 1 to 3 months at a time.

After our trip around the world next year, Veronica and I will probably relocate to British Columbia where there’s the most fruit and organic food in all of Canada, and where the climate is pretty mild compared to my home town of Montreal.

From there, we’ll continue to travel many months during the winter to tropical countries… but for now I’ve abandoned any idea of relocating to any of these places permanently.

How do we manage this lifestyle? If you want to find out about my method for building an online business that gives you complete freedom to travel and do what you love, go to www.dowhatyouloveuniversity.com/new.html and sign of for a trial membership of my Success Group program. You’ll get over $1700 in products immediately that you can put to use to make your dreams a reality!

I might have told you this before, but in case you don’t know, I hate the winter!

I’m from Montreal, Canada, and one thing Canadians know very well is the snow. And the cold. And the long, dreary winters.

I never really liked wintertime, but as I spent more and more times in sunny and tropical places, I started disliking it even more.

At first, what I needed was at least a few weeks away from the cold and somewhere warm every winter.

Then, I increased that amount to a month or two.

At some point, it became clear that I wanted to avoid the months of January, February and March completely.

Then I realized that December also sucked, and so did April. So I made it a rule I would never come back to Canada before May.

But November is also pretty bad, so last year I decided to leave *before* the end of October.

So at this point, I’m avoiding winter completely.
And let me tell you, I’m not missing it one bit!

This morning I woke up and as usual, I went outside to take a dip in the pool.

I’m living at the moment on the pacific coast of Costa Rica, and it’s truly tropical. The temperature rarely goes below 72 Fahrenheit (22 Celsius), even at night!

Because my birthday is approaching, I was led to think that the weather was always cold on my birthday in Quebec.

At that point it struck me that I had completely forgotten about the winter!

Usually when I first get to the tropics, I compulsively check what’s the weather back “home” to see what I’m missing (for some reason it makes me enjoy the sunny weather even more).

But at some point I stop doing that, so I become completely out of touch with the reality of the winter.

I know the fantasy of moving to a tropical paradise is very real for many people at this time of the year.

My advice if you’re dreaming about this is to start slowly.

Do like I did and start a little bit at a time, rather than deciding to move somewhere completely like many people do (and often regret).

Do some research about certain countries, and then take a “field trip” there to investigate what it’s like to live there.

If you like what you see, consider staying for a longer period.

It’s not that hard to do if you work for yourself. The trickiest part is to find a place that you can rent for a few months only to keep your costs down.

But if you spend the winter in a place like Costa Rica, Panama or Thailand, you can save even if you keep your apartment and house back home!

Because the cost of living is much lower in these countries, even though you might spend extra on a plane ticket and extra rent, you’ll save in other areas such as food and entertainment — so in the end it often balances out and your total expenses stay the same.

If you’d like to find out more about my method to do so, make sure you check out my course: “How to Move to a Tropical Paradise”, available at:
http://www.fredericpatenaude.com/tropicalparadise.html

“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 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