Living is Costa Rica is like living in paradise. The Costa Ricans make reference to this as 'Pura Vida' -The Pure Life. Costa Rican is a fantastic way, and place, to call home. The hardest part may be the decision on where you can live.
In a very small geographical area, Costa Rica can offer a cosmopolitan urban setting ideal for the socialite in you; tropical beaches for the sun worshiper in you; hot, humid rain forests for the type lover in you; or temperate, mountain living for the adventurer in you. No matter how you need to live, you can find a place to fit your desires, while only living a few hours away from a completely different climate and lifestyle.
Most Americans relocating to Costa Rica prefer to live in the temperate climates offered by the Central valley or the hillsides of the Nicoya peninsula in the Provence of Guanacaste. Both areas are higher in elevation compared to the coastal regions and have a drier, cooler, and more comfortable climate, to which most Americans are more accustomed.
International Living, the magazine devoted to promoting and educating Americans about living abroad, lists both areas in Costa Rica as top places on the globe where to retire. The advantages of Guanacaste are price, proximity to beaches, and development potential. The federal government has made a substantial commitment to boost infrastructure, especially roads, in the area to greatly help promote development in the 'Gold Coast' of Costa Rica,
Once you choose where to live, the next decision will be on how to live in your new country. As in America, you have a wide selection of housing choices. It is possible to rent or buy, live luxuriously or modestly, urban or rural. Here, again, the Guanacaste region offers the new emigrant most of these choices. From modern beachfront condos to rural, agricultural opportunities, the decision is yours.
No matter where your home is, or how you live in Costa Rica; one common denominator will undoubtedly be that you can live the lifestyle of one's choice a lot more inexpensively than you can in the U.S. From housing costs to food to medical expenses, almost anything you should live comfortably is less costly than the same item in America. Even property taxes are less taxing.
About the only items which can cost you more will be imports, because of the high tariffs positioned on imports to the country. For the savvy buyer, the Government has established a duty free zone in Golfito, a little southern Pacific town. The maximum amount you can buy in this tax free zone has recently been raised to $1000 every six months ($2,000 annually). The only real catch is you'll want to spend one night in your community to qualify for the duty free purchases.
Pura Vida is enjoying life as you find it. Which means eating pure, fresh fruit and vegetables available all year round from local producers. Meat, fish, and seafood are all available locally and inexpensively, so eating healthy is one major advantage of surviving in Costa Rica.
Enjoying all the natural beauty the country has to offer is right at your doorstep. Costa Rica consistently ranks on top of every way of measuring environmentalism by numerous rating organizations. If leaving as small of a carbon footprint as possible is important for you, then you will be hard pressed to locate a better place, and way, to live.
Living on the list of Costa Rican people is delightful and rewarding. Costa Ricans rank first on the planet in the 'happiness index', and are ranked very high in Latin America in almost every category that is measured. Most Americans feel right in the home in a very short time of time after moving to Costa Rica. Check out this site and lifestyle is easy to adapt to rather than as completely foreign as other overseas destinations could be. The fact that a quick trip back to the states is a 3-6 hour flight from Costa Ricans airports helps to alleviate any 'homesickness' that could occur.
Come, begin your brand-new life, and help us maintain our number 1 'happiness index' in the world. Pura Vida is Pure Living in Costa Rica.
