Blogs from Costa Rica, Central America Caribbean - page 444

hey this is just a really quick note to everyone but the situation got quite bad here in costa rica in terms of our project not working out. It looks like we´re now moving country!! I think we´ll be moving to either Chile or Bolivia and I´ll try to write on here again when there´s more time´. It´s just been a bit hectic recently and so I´ve not have time. My partner had to go to hospital but everything´s ok now. Let me know how you´re all getting on. I´ll try to update soon. Lots of love jem xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx... read more

Zarcero and around…. This past weekend Jake (a long term guest of the B&B) and I did a one-day road trip up to Zarcero, a neat little town about 20 minutes north of me. We were both curious about the towns surrounding Zarcero as we had both been there before. For both of us, we wondered if any gringos lived in the area and if there were any good real estate deals. From prior knowledge, it was our sense that the Zarcero area was a little remote, and perhaps at little cool for most people. It reminds of the Pacific Northwest of the U.S. more than the tropics! But we explored the area with full anticipation that we’d discover at least something interesting. Jake fortunately found a halfway decent map of the area on the Internet—well, ... read more

We’re often asked about the cost of living in Costa Rica. It’s a difficult question to answer. There are so many variables to consider, location, lifestyle, etc. In a nutshell, you can live as cheaply or as extravagantly as you choose. Here’s what we paid yesterday: Rent: $300; Electricity: $49.57; Water $13.01; Telephone & internet: $29.37; Cell (2 months) $ 7.27 Monthly Total $399.24 I almost forgot, add another $25 for Direct TV (We have that paid automatically so it’s easy to forget about) Our cell phone is billed every two months. It isn’t that way for everyone. We don’t use ours much so ICE only bills us every two months. That’s the only explanation we can come up with. Perhaps they feel it isn’t worth billing for $3.00 per month. Food we’ve decided is our ... read more

Symphonies, concerts, ballets and plays have never been a part of our lives. It isn’t that we don’t like them, it’s a choice. Bill is a sports fan. He likes any and all sports so those are the events we chose to attend while in the states. Some would say we lacked culture. Bill’s mother was one. Before she passed she’d encourage him to take me to see plays at Grady Gammage Auditorium in Tempe. At her insistence, we saw both Cats and Les Miserables and enjoyed them both. After each show, several years apart mind you, we’d vow to attend at least one cultural event a year. Unfortunately, Bill took me to ASU football games instead of symphonies. When you live in a college town, football is often culture. I started a family tradition of ... read more

Nous avons décidé de "skipper" le Venezuella, les 2 Guyanne et le Suriname. Nous sommes rendu au Costa Rica apres un vol de Rio de Janeiro a Atlanta (U.S.A.) de 9h30 et un vol de 4 heures pour San Jose. Nous avons une chambre a 6 lits pres du centre ville pour 20000 colons. Aujourd hui j´ai fait 2 retraits au guichet un de 10000 colons l autre de 14000, je croyais avoir retiré environ 400$ pour m apercevoir que je n avais retiré que 50$. Un 1$ canadien vaut 465 colons, pour faire un chiffre rond on multiplie par 2 et on divise par 1000. Les avocats coutent 904 colons au kilo (904x2=1808=1,80$/kilo). J.P. ... read more