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The advise to sell everything and buy again is suggested in many places but perhaps not strongly enough.
It IS a difficult decision to leave behind “things” you love. I am a craftsman and have a very large collection of tools and machinery, much of which cannot be purchased anywhere, much less Costa Rica. I also have a small library and collection of personal and family art. I have recently made a short semi-move and the problem weighs on me greatly. I have been moving things a car load at a time and the magnatude of a wholesale move is stagering.
I HAD a plan. And if my finances had worked out I would have dove head first into that plan and found MANY major set backs. The big one is that any crating I had done over 2 years with common lumber would be rejected by the shipping company OR the ports. The second problem is that the US government has rules on tracking containers that prevent an individual from buying a container and just shipping it. There are registration numbers and tracking systems that must be adhered to. The planed destination and whereabouts of the container must be known and it cannot be in the hands of an individual (un-licensed shipper) any longer than it takes to load (about a week). If I had bought the containers as I had planned, modified several with heavy steel shelves and racks, and filled them at total cost of about $20,000, ALL would have been in vain. . . A VERY expensive learning experiance and many costs that would have duplicated to make the move. . .
So my two year plan has become a 5 or 10 year plan and I am still researching the move and still searching for the right property in CR. Even with all the help Scott and this site provides there is a LOT to study. Meanwhile my Spanish has not improved. . it is still muy poco.
But happily I will spend another two weeks in CR this February!
SJO:
The last time we left via SJO we had a borrowed knapsack from friends in CR. The security folks found a pack of matches in one of its pockets and was very serious about it. . .
A pack of matches is not a bomb, but it is small.
The fact is that I doubt that another airliner could be used as a WMD over the US. Passengers will do what they did on Flight 93. The 9/11 gambit was good for ONE ocassion. It will not happen again.
So. . most of the “increased” security is a wast of money.
Butch, We have discussed the mover problem off line but you have more details now. Although it sounds like the “customs” clause can be used to avoid ANY recourse by anyone it sounds like a lot of the damage could have occured prior to reaching customs.
Cardboard boxes are not suitable for international shipping unless they are engineered containers (molded foam padding) and are shrink wrapped onto a pallet. Crating should be wood and built with fork lift cleats. Goods should be stabilized in the crate properly to avoid damage. In a move like this by others every box, crate or pallet is handled numerous times moved from truck to truck, container to container, container to warehouse. In your case it had some extra steps but not excessively so.
In customs they often inspect items while still inside the container by crawling over the items in the container (possibly where the foot prints came from) and open crates and boxes for inspection. Tops are ripped off wooden crates but if properly constructed the goods will still be protected. In other cases they move everything from the container into a stack in the warehouse, inspect it (opening boxes and crates) then release it to be put back into another truck or container. It IS known that there is a lot of theft in the CR port system.
The fact is that in international shipping, if it cannot pass the “gorilla” test (air line luggage handlers) or worse (dropped from the tailgate of a truck onto concrete several times) then it is not packed well enough.
Part of the problem is that there will probably be fine print that says you are responsible for packing and crating. Yes, you used the sub contractor recommended by the shipper but the responsibiliy still falls on you. If they did the job wrong then you were the final say. Yes, the shipper should have given you very specific crating instructions but that does not make him responsible.
“I questioned them and said, ‘This isn’t going to stop damage, and they said, It was going to be strapped onto pallets. What could I do. . ?”
The same as when any employee doesn’t do the job right. Tell them to stop, do it right or get out and not get paid. You had a suspicion when the goods left your premises that they were improperly packed.
At this point you need to read all the fine print of the contracts and insurance OR have a lawyer do so. But I think the shipper and the insurance company are going to put the crating on you (one of the other guys). So they they may have two outs, both you and customs.
Sorry your move to CR is starting off so badly.
The problem with this argument is that at its core it is a religious argument. During the cold war the US was against the “Godless communists”. It did not matter if the communist side was fighting against an evil dictator, they were the Godless communists and thus the enemy of everything right and good.
This is also why people in the US (including congress) do not understand that the Moslems think the US is fighting a holy war against them. The US CLAIMS not to engage in holy wars but the Moslems know the war against the communists was a holy war so why not a holy war against them? One follows the other. The logic or facts may be incorrect but there is no logic in a religious argument.
So like other religious arguments there cannot be a logical solution or meeting of the minds. YOU are wrong, I am RIGHT (and vise versa) and it will never change.
As to Nicaragua. Hopefully folks have become enlightened over the years and will not repeat mistakes of the past. All one can do is wait and see.
Yes there are small fees built into the exchange rates. The difference between buying and selling Colones is posted on the Government Bank sites as noted above. Note however that the devaluation of Colones is often very rapid. It seems to have done well against the dollar this year but in past years it was steadily losing. Each time I go to CR I check the current rates.
Depending on where you shop in Costa Rica almost everyone will take Dollars, especially the tourist places which commonly have prices marked in dollars. When you pay at these places in Colones they calculate the current exchange rate at THEIR rate. Using dollars at these places saves you the excahnge fee. However, it is good to carry some Colones. I use both while in CR. When a price is given in dollars I will buy in dollars but in small places and Tico places I use Colones.
The trick is having a feel for how much you are being charged in Colones as compared to dollars. At the current rate of about 515/1 a mill Colones note is roughly equal to $2 ($1.94). So a ten mill note is about like a twenty and so on. The big 500 Colones coin is roughly a dollar. try to memorize a few of these before going shopping. Often things are bargains but sometimes not. . .
Hard to do business in the US? You’ve GOT to be kidding! Or maybe you are in a business you should not be in.
In the US anything, ANYTHING can be had tomarrow with a phone call or by placing an order online. There is almost no place in the lower 48 where you cannot call a concrete plant and have as much concrete as you desire TODAY. . In Costa Rica you have to find someone with a license to take rock, sand or gravel from a stream and have it delivered to your site. Then you pay several laborers to mix the concrete in small batches by hand or with a portable machine. Hey. . those little machines LOOK like they mix a lot of concrete but it takes nearly a week to mix as much as one truck load in the US.
Yep, in the US there are some places that have no utilities and may never have. It is a very large country with some very wide open spaces. But you make a CHOICE of location.
In the US if I need office supplies, references on ANY subject, an automatic machine tool or all the tooling for it, a fork lift, Oxygen bottles, almost any chemical imaginable. . just a phone call away AND I will have choices. In Costa Rica you MIGHT find what you want in San Jose’ but you probably will not have a choice. Not only will the price be high but there will be a long wait to get it. If you are not in San Jose’. . . there are a couple small towns with a variety of suppliers in CR but in most they cater either to the local farmers or to the tourist trade.
Yep, and if you like real cheeses or light California wines you had better bring it from the US.
I’ll admit I hate the IRS and my state taxes are just as confusing changing every year. I will NEVER operate a business in the US where I employ someone because of the Federal paperwork nightmare. But as others have noted, in CR things are often done illegaly unless you know the right people and how the system works. In the US the systems WORK. You may not like the results but they do work. In CR the bureaucracies are all mostly broken. It took a friend of mine 4 months to get a container of machinery through Costa Rica customs because they tossed some flea market chairs in the load and nobody in CR could put a value on them. AND despite what you would think, nobody offered to make a “deal”.
I have met a few American’s that were leaving CR and the main reason was they expected it to be just like the US but a little “quaint”. CR is notheing like the US. AND they never managed to fit in. Mostly they could not get along with their Tico neighbors. And it IS a fact that if Tico’s do not see any value to their Gringo neighbor in their community they will try to push them out.
CR is in many ways like the US of the 1950’s. But in other ways it is the worst of any big city of the 20th century. In many ways it IS Paradise but in others it can be Hell. If you have no patience and expect logic from a bureaucracy then it will be Hell. If you act as if you have all the time in the world and value the climate and scenery over access to commodities then it can be Paradise.
The past two years we have rented from EuropaCar through TicoTravel. They rent a variety of cars including the small Daihatsu Terios which is what we rented both years and will rent again this February. They are not the cheapest rental company and finding their place to return the car is an adventure (they pick you up at the airport and return you there). High season is $400 a week ($57/day at weekly rate) everything included.
The Daihatsu Terios is a cheap little car not sold in the US but those we rented took a beating and took us over some pretty rough terrain. However they are straight drive only. The cars were new, clean and relatively low milage.
The Embassy site for Washington DC has two navigation paths and one does not include the information you want. Try:
http://www.costarica-embassy.org/consular/living/rentists.htm
Basicaly you need to prove you have $1000 monthly income OR put $60,000 in the bank in CR. There are several options.
On SS the requirement is only $800/month
But all the above may change. . . or may not.
GPS:
Note that you do not necessarily need the map for the GPS system. If you understand longitude and latitude and how to read a map or use a scale on the map then you do not need the digitized map which will only have the mail roads and the biggest cities and towns.
The National Geographic Explorer Map of Costa Rica is very good. It is soft and designed to be folded and is water proof as well. I ordered maps from 3 sources (other than NG) and they all took several months to arrive. They came a month AFTER my first trip to CR. All four maps of CR I ended up with were identical in most details. The NG map is the easiest to use.
While maps can help you navigate in Costa Rica be forwarned that there are almost no road signs and often you cannot tell what town or village you just passed through. If there IS a sign it will be on a little telephone sign with the name of the village. Also note that almost ANYWHERE that has a church is a place and many are not on the maps. If you are looking at land in a rural area then you will want a topographic map as these are the only maps that have all the small rural roads.
Once I HAD a map I was surprised at how little good one does when you are entirely lost. We are used to the road signs in the US that are so good you can travel the entire country without a map and not get lost. It takes both signs and a map to keep from getting lost.
You may want to invest in one of those hand held GPS units such as made by Magellen and get a global map to upload the Central America portion.
You may also want a copy of the Lonely Planet guide to Costa Rica. Although it is not perfect it DID help us find a place to stay one night when we were getting desperate.
MAPS:
The maps we have of Costa Rica seem to be quite accurate. We have three including the National Geographic Explorer map and they all match. However, like many maps roads and towns of a certain size may not be shown. You need topographical maps for most of the rural roads. We drove all over CR including some very rural areas without problem. However, San Jose’ is a typical big city nightmare made worse by lack of signage.
The lack of road signs IS very confusing and if you get off your map you might be confused for a while until you get somewhere recognizable. And THIS IS difficult. However, each small town has a telephone sign with the name of the town on it IF you can find it. Otherwise you will have to guess by the names of local businesses. Look for the telephone sign. But remember, not all small towns are on the map.
If you want to seriouly explore CR by road do not plan on being anywhere at any given time. Plan for it to take twice as long to cover the same distance as in the US or Canada. If you really want to know where you are get one of those portable GPS devices. These work world wide but you may have to purchase a digitized map as an extra.
ROADS:
Don’t believe anyone’s assement of any particular road unless they drove on it yesterday. The heavy rains and heavy traffic destroy roads rapidly. They DO repair the roads regularly in Costa Rica (we actually saw road crews). So a road that was great for you this year may nearly be a Jeep trail the next. The main road to Cahuita was miserable last year but you could tell it has been better. The main bridge to that road in Limon had holes through the deck big enough to see through as you drove over it. But it has probably been repaired since then.
The best rural roads are the ones leading to big commercial farms. The agri-corps do their own road work. The worse are in small villages where there is no major traffic.
DRIVING:
Those who recommend that tourists do not drive at night in CR are absolutely right. Don’t do it until you are familiar with the area. Even then, be carefull of the herds or lone cows in the road at night!
Besides the current strike you can never tell when the truckers will go on strike in Costa Rica. You can also not predict how long anything will take to go through customs in Limon. A combination of the two cost a friend of mine a four month delay on an equipment shipment.
Among the things my friends have shipped to CR was a used automobile. A popular Toyota 4×4. Despite all the testing and paperwork being properly processed in the US it all had to be done again in CR at a significant cost.
One thing not mentioned above is that you can get a great deal more by building rather than buying. In CR as elsewhere the developer makes a huge profit for the headaches of building. AND by building on your own, it will be what you want.
Scott’s book coveres a LOT of details and is the place to start.
As far a Scott’s problems, they were more than minor. They were the kind of things that you have to be there for every day (as he recommends). Clearing the lot, laying out the house location (they reversed Scott’s view). . . They were things that I would have fired the builder early on. Even though you have hired a builder you need to be the person in charge and check and approve everything at least until your wants are clearly understood and being carried out.
Yes, it is a daunting task. But if you (or your husband) are retiring what else do you have to do??? Unless this home is just a vacation spot and you are going to be world travelers then you will be spending a LOT of time there.
On the other hand you may find exactly what you want and be willing to pay the premium for being able to just move in.
The children and schools in CR are like traveling back to the 1950’s in the US. This is good and bad. The children are quiet and respectful. Your 5 year old may already have the bad US habits of being loud and demanding. That will not be accepted in CR. If your child is sweet and polite then he will fit right in and probably STAY that way.
Socialy the custom that children should be seen but not heard is common in most of CR. At least it is so outside of the Central Valley.
Most of the schools are church related and all require school uniforms. This avoids a lot of issues (consider little girls in the US that get hair dye jobs at kindergarten age. . ).
Children in CR almost universaly walk to school no matter what the distance. Small children are often escorted by their mother or older siblings. But by age 10 or so they are on their own and it is safe to do so.
In many parts of CR the schools are overcrowded and the children go to school in shifts. Even though US schools have the hardware and science labs, teachers are overwhelmed with paperwork and pressure to “teach to the test”. This combined with huge disclipline problems is greatly lowering the quality of public education in the US. A 1950’s education in the basics will be a better start. The advantages of technology can be picked up quickly at a later date.
It will also be no different in CR than in US when it comes to what YOU bring to your children’s education. Where the schools are lacking you will have to make up. At your young children’s age you will have to stress English to keep them dual language. Be aware that they will be taught Central American and Costa Rican history. If you want them to know about Jamestown, Williamsburg, Phillidelphia and the American revolution you will need to teach them.
I think CR will be a wonderful place to educate your children. Just be sure YOU don’t get left behind. Kids learn fast and grow up faster. My twins are almost 30 now and it seems like yesterday that I was reading Cat-In-The-Hat to them. .
I second the above post. We were looking for a carved wood angel for a gift and all we found were molded ceramic pieces that could have been from China for all we knew.
So we asked the operator of the crafts co-op in Sarchi and he sent us a block down and one off the main road to a small house. There a carver of religious icons had a small shop. The artists wife met us at the gate and his daughter who spoke more English than the wife negotiated the price. Out of the few pieces he had available was the standing angel sculpture we wanted. It was about 14″ tall carved in a blond wood. The piece was signed and one of three similar pieces the artist had made.
We did not negotiate at all. The price of $75 US for a piece that would take a week to carve with machinery was outstanding. I’ve done quite a bit of carving and sculpture and know about how much time it takes (4 to 5 days minimum for this piece). This was good money by Tico standards but did not take the ART into consideration.
Although Sarchi is considered the crafts capital of Costa Rica, the work there is done all over the country, particularly near supplies of wood (logging and saw mills) which is everywhere. Much furniture is made near Ciuidad Quesada. Ask around.
