Estimated Reading Time: 11 minutes Do you know what makes Escazu unique? Living in Escazu is different than it is elsewhere in Costa Rica, anywhere, really. I moved to Escazu in the 80s, when we had cows and horses in the streets. Now, living in Escazu is comparable to urban living in other parts of…
Estimated Reading Time: 6 Minutes What and what not to pack when you move to Costa Rica? Probably half the stuff you plan to pack you do not need. But there are other things that you don’t see the need to bring but you might kick yourself in the head later. The title of this…
Estimated Reading Time: 8 Minutes To make it easier for you to decide if urban living in Escazu is a better lifestyle choice for you than other parts of the country, I have come up with 15 benefits. When I moved to Costa Rica in 1980, Escazu was the most attractive community for expats. In…
Some expats do miss access to American products once they’ve moved to Costa Rica. Expats who live in the beach areas often find a drive into the valley not worth the hassle. Shopping around for days to NOT find the American products you’re looking for doesn’t make sense. Others ask around on Facebook groups, such…
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 Many of you know that the cost of living in Costa Rica has gone up a lot in the past few years. One of the reasons is that the Costa Rican government decided to stop with the mini-devaluations in 2006. They then moved to exchange rate bands that kept…
I’m sure you’ll love these grocery shopping tips that I have for you. Just to make grocery shopping in Costa Rica easier for you. Every culture has different ways of doing things and as soon as you move to Costa Rica, you will find out that a lot of things are different than they were…
Costa Rica News published The real reason behind Costa Rica’s high product prices on April 8, 2015. This is a really interesting article about the fact that Costa Rican produced products are cheaper in neighboring countries than in Costa Rica itself. This article explains that commercial protectionism of certain Costa Rican industries, the high import…
Who would have guessed that we have Black Friday in Costa Rica now too? Black Friday in Spanish is Viernes Negro, but almost nobody uses that. Last Friday, I saw no Black Friday signs on any Costa Rica real estate offices. I have asked a couple of sellers but they didn’t think I was serious.…
Estimated Reading Time: 4 Minutes In this blog, I will cover used and new clothing shopping as well as leather. When clothing shopping, you’ll learn that some of those are inexpensive comparing Costa Rica and North America. Costa Rica has quite a low labor cost. The result is inexpensive goods and services. Many more…
Sometimes it’s really hard to find articles in Costa Rica. I’m going to mention a couple of more non-perishables before leaving the territory of hard-to-find products in Costa Rica. Here’s an eclectic list of a couple of expensive and hard to find articles plus a bit about cellphones. Luckily, we shipped a couple of box…
Estimated Reading Time: 6 Minutes I needed some specialty goods and really had a hard time finding them. There are other food items to cover on Costa Rica’s hard-to-find list. But I thought men are less interested in edibles. So today, as a men’s section of blogs, I’ll explain how I found a shortage of…
Do you think you will miss your customary delicacies after moving to Costa Rica? If you are going to reside in Costa Rica, there is one adjustment you are probably going to be required to make. It is learning to find or invent substitutes for delicacies that don’t exist here. Other delicacies are so obscure…
A Costa Rica real estate client asked me to write about medicinal herbs in Costa Rica. This, fortunately, comes pretty easy to me. That’s because my dad, together with his partner, Hendrik Stins, opened La Buena Hierba in 1986. This was the first real medicinal herb store in Costa Rica, although you could find medicinal…
Estimated Reading Time: 7 Minutes I’d like to show you 8 Grocery shopping secrets. That’s because shopping in another country like Costa Rica is a science. In today’s blog, I’d like to give you a hand with your grocery shopping in Costa Rica, you know how to get started and what to look for. Costa…
Estimated Reading Time: 7 Minutes Online shopping is now becoming a routine for most. My past three blogs discussed shopping in Costa Rica. Let me now spend a bit of time on online shopping. About what happens when you decide to give up looking for that special something. Or if you believe it is easier…