Everyone in Costa Rica knows what upe is. Or uuuuupeeeeeee, when you yell it. If you don’t say upe loud enough, nobody will hear you and they won’t come to the door. Do you want to know what Upe in Costa Rica is? Alf Giebler, in his book “A lo Tico”, says that is means…
Estimated Reading Time: 9 Minutes My blogs are meant to make things easier for you when you live in Costa Rica. That’s why this time I have tried to find 5,555 genius household hacks that should work in Costa Rica. I decided to start with only 20 of them and leave a few for some other…
Estimated Reading Time: 8 Minutes When you first arrive in a new country, there are concepts, habits, and unique facts that everyone notices. They might be the reason you move to Costa Rica or not, but you assume you’ll do all you can to enjoy them. After a while of living in Costa Rica, you…
Do you think that as soon as the real estate contract is signed, you can take the day off and celebrate? Had you heard about those horrible contract killers than can happen to anyone? I’m sorry but unless you have the perfect real estate contract and everything else falls in place, you will not be…
Estimated Reading Time: 5 Minutes Did you know that you can save a lot of money buying liquor in Costa Rica in the right place? If you don’t drink before you move to Costa Rica, there might several reasons to start doing so pretty soon. It can be pretty warm some days and for…
Estimated Reading Time: 6 Minutes Did you know that a landmark can be incredibly important so visitors can find your house? Few things are as hard as directions or finding an address in Costa Rica if you have recently arrived. Even if you are fluent in Spanish. Our addresses are weird. Even if you use…
Do you think you will be able to adjust to the food in Costa Rica? Moving to another country is a much bigger step than most think it is. Especially when it’s about trying to adjust to the food in Costa Rica. There is so much information available online. Nonetheless, I find that only a few…
Estimated Reading Time: 7 minutes Unless you love to suffer, do not sign an exclusive listing agreement for your property in Costa Rica with any real estate agency, no matter how sexy, famous, smooth, handsome, or successful the agent who promises to sell your property next week is. Why would you put all your eggs…
Many homeowners forget to give their property manager the necessary powers of attorney to do the job. Then they find out when it’s too late. This is more or less how it happens: Everybody involved in the real estate closing is exhilarated, the buyer most of all. Of course, she is. Susan just closed on…
Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes Have you ever wondered what luxury homes in the Central Valley can look like? Depending on your timing, you can find great listings of luxury homes for sale. Maybe you’d like to hire a buyer’s agent or run around with 10 different agents? How does the luxury home market in…
Estimated Reading Time: 6 Minutes If you’re planning to move to Costa Rica, we would like to mention that living costs in Costa Rica are below average, but you better learn how to make things work. If you were born and raised in a developed country, you are used to going to the store and…
“Darling, I love that luxury condo in Escazu, all those appliances are included; I just sent you the link so you can have a look at the photos. I asked the realtor if that 36” Sub-Zero side-by-side built-in is included in the sale.” “And you should see the rest of the appliances in the kitchen;…
Do you know what a chilera is? Costa Rican cuisine offers quite a variety of vegetables. You can purchase those at any farmers market or grocery store as you all know. What many do not know is that those vegetables are also used in one of the most important ingredients of that Costa Rican cuisine:…
Estimated Reading Time: 5 Minutes Moving offshore with your family is much easier than it was ever before. The internet made the world smaller and Costa Rica is now home to thousands of expats and retired foreigners, many of them Americans. Costa Rica is not just a place to hide dirty money anymore like it…
Estimated Reading Time: 6 Minutes In Costa Rica, people have weird ways to transport stuff. Planning on moving to another home in Costa Rica? Are you remodeling your home and need to purchase large building materials like cement, gypsum, steel beams, and others? Need to take your cow to your sister’s house? Organizing a wedding…
Yes, you can use US Dollars to make payments for almost everything in Costa Rica. BUT, they’ll always give you a horrible exchange rate. Here are some tips. Although I sometimes wish we could get rid of the local currency, the Colon, I must admit that they designed beautiful bills. Money is not something you…