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According to the article I read by an INS insurance agent you need this coverage if anyone is going to be working for you. Even if you have someone come prune your trees for a day, if that person gets hurt you may have some problems depending on the severity of the injury. I guess like all insurance its about risk/reward, I was hoping for some insight on this from people living there, David?
You may be able to find the article on http://www.costaricainsite.com just a vacation guide I found in some restaurant, the print version is Edition 8, Volume 1 2006
We have been going to Costa Rica for about 5 years and spend anywhere from 3-6 weeks each time we visit(twice a year). I had one tire punctured in Alejuela 3 years ago, pulled into a secure gas station..no problem. Statistics will scare the hell out of you, if I read the crime statistics for Brooklyn I would never leave my house!(and you would never visit NYC) In 23 years in NYC I have never been, robbed or mugged, in the 80’s they used to break into my car a lot. Most of you will live in C.R. in a nice neighborhood, with a guard etc..and be fine. There are a lot of reasons not to move here I really don’t think crime is one of them.
I think you can find what you are looking for around Jaco and hi speed internet is pretty available in this area. It is hard to get the “Tico” prices over the internet. Search for Play Hermosa/Jaco there is a great neighborhood called Opera Salvaje. Or in one of the Esterillos you may get a better deal. There are plenty of brokers in Jaco and a Century 21 in Esterillos, you can probaly find a nice place for about $800 a month thru these bigger agencies.
I would not want to live in Jaco but there you could easily find a monthly older condo or Tico style house for $400-$600 per month. The south end of Jaco is a bit quieter.
Edited on Jan 06, 2007 07:43
Gringo as usual I always enjoy your articulate posts. I have surfed around a bit and there really is no other forum that has this kind of interesting, educational banter. Sounds like you were down in CR quite awhile ago, your story would make a nice little read on the home page?
“Known world” is an interesting way to put it. I can not recall his name but I was listening to an African scholar discus this time in European history. His point was that we are so Eurocentric at times that we forget that the world is larger than Europe and during our dark ages Africa was going through a time of abundence. GT I don’t want to argue, my point was to suggest that there are other forces at work and to be considered regarding the “poor” here in the U.S.. Education and a more compassionate distribution of wealth could certainly benefit the masses. The U.S. model is designed to benefit the most aggressive and the pursuit of these policies in the private and public sectors is what is driving the disparity in wealth. I will really go out on a limb here to suggest that a lot of the poverty in the world can be traced back to our(US/European) Colonisation and foriegn policy since say 1492( open to suggestions on that date though)? “The Peoples History Of The United States” provides some interesting information regarding this idea. Sweden seems to be doing things right, except for the drinking(blame it on the weather), the government seems to make sure everyone has a comfortable standard of living and some very interesting domestic policies. And after spending quite a bit of time in France/Europe over the last ten years they seemed to also be doing things much better untill the drive to compete with the U.S. and give big business more “freedom” to compete that things started getting less comfortable for the average person. This is not based on any statistics from a think tank etc…just conversations over coffee or dinner with friends etc..I also got to travel quite a bit as the singer for a band for over ten years and meet”average” people(literaly thousands) and chew the fat as they say. I was sitting in a cafe in little Italy here in NYC and heard one woman remark to another, refering to a relative ” As good as she is, is as bad as she is”, I liked this expression and got a good laugh out of it. I think this could easily appy to America…but i’m not laughing.
I have observed while at the beach our friends have a youngman come once or twice a week to sweep up the leaves that fall off the Almond trees.
From a small seed that large beautiful tree has certainly lived a long life. So proceed with care and if it must be removed get in touch with a good furniture builder. I’m sure there are plenty of folks who could make good use of this tree if it has to be cut down.
Costa Rica did fine when Ortega and others were at there worst. It appears that Nicaragua will continue on the path of development it has been on anyway. Also with all the foreign investment from Walmart, HP etc..and a stable democratic government I think all will continue to be well. Just my two cents…
Gringo a lot of these lazy poor you talk about have been institutionaly kept in shackles by the so called policies that were meant to help them. I live in Brooklyn, NY and can tell you it is hard to blame the inner city poor in neighborhoods like Bushwick, Brownsville, Bedfordstuyvesant just to name a few. They have been locked down in virtual prisons, it’s like the sun light can not even penetrate. These are people who have been neglected and abused for generations, marginalized by a society/government who throws them just enough to keep them from dieing. But you know what I think there are many parasites who get rich off of keeping these folks poor. These people are born into the chaos that is there life and untill you have spent some time as friends of some of these folks or living in there part of town…even then you only get a glimpse of there life. On there little “island” they are surrounded by people who really don’t care or at best are indifferent and the otherside of the tracks can be just a few blocks away. They are outcasts in the land of plenty and all they know is poverty, us and them etc…yes a few make it out but not many. This is called institutionalized brainwashing/conditioning it goes way way beyond being a “lazy Gringo”. When you leave your country to come here you have done so to seek a better life. You may have lived in poverty in Mexico, Guatemala, Ecuador etc…but had a sound intact family, and perhaps your entire village for that matter your entire region was what we would consider”impoverished” you were not a minority so to speak but part of the majority…that was your life. The poor in industrialized nations are in an entirely different boat, IMHOP they are “victims” of our greedy hyper capitalistic systems that put profits above everything and we throw them just enough to keep them fed and sedated. The fact that our poors standard of living may be higher than the standard of living of the poor in Mexico does not make the U.S. a better place. It is unforgiveable that in a Country with so much wealth, where we can spend billions on a useless war(Useless to the people) we have no universal healthcare and we have millions of our fellow citizens living in housing projects, on the streets with out hope.Facts generated by any institution are one thing, I just have to get on a subway and go two stops and see entire “villages” in ruin in the wealthiest nation on the planet and there are no pretty sunsets for them to watch. I know all you flag waving americans will be upset by these comments “we are the best, everyone wants to come here etc.” But we could and should be much better, darwinism should not be the model for civilized societys….love should.
also there is a used book shop in Manuel Antonio called Buena Nota and one in Jaco in a small courtyard mall near a Mexican Joes internet center.
I think Maravilla says this very nicely, if you judge Costa Rica by a middle class suburb in the U.S. you may be very dissapointed. Or if you are looking for the quaintness of a country village in Europe ain’t gonna find it here! You are comparing apples with oranges. Most Gringos I know would not find the little towns of the central valley very livable or charming. Tico homes are all gated up and small and dark..not a lot of charm, but C.R. is so much more than buildings and that is what you must fall in love with. Atenas represents most small towns it is what it is, I just had lunch there 3 days ago and a great lunch at that served by warm and friendly people. Just wait till he gets to Jaco!Lol..You can find Gringo enclaves if you want Costa Ricas weather etc but want to live with Americanos they exist all over C.R., but it sounds like you and your family need to spend some time exploring this country and perhaps then understanding it a bit better.
FYI: I have been in Playa Hermosa/Jaco about two weeks. Mostly just relaxing, surfing etc…But we have also checked out all the new developements as well, and I have been by the Gardens project several times over the last two weeks. There is very, very little done, a small concrete structure that could have been built in a week…even on Tico time. And also there is no machinery at all on site, you would think for a project like this there would be some heavy equiptment around, no workers either. So Ross you came down on me pretty hard for asking a simple question and sort of accused me of a “set up” are you here in Jaco? For all the buyers sake I sincerely hope all is well, but time will tell…
