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[quote=”mdpfeifer”]Does anyone know if this is okay or have a link to a website that would provide the information of what types of plants or seeds you are allowed/not allowed to bring with you into the country.
Thanks :)[/quote]This website warns against bringing seeds as customs will cohfiscate them. [url=http://www.trycostarica.com/p/what-bring-costa-rica]Try Costa Rica[/url] 🙁
However, being totally naive, on our first trip to Costa Rica I brought plumeria cuttings And had no problem with customs. Og course they probably didn’t know what they were. They looked like the cuttings in the photo below. 😯
[img]http://www.discounthawaiistore.com/images/plants/pink%20plumeria%20cutting.JPG[/img]
[quote=”xxyzzz”]I enjoy humming birds, and have purchased a humming bird feeder. I filled it with red nectar, but have attracted a large number of small black winged bugs, that drink the nectar, and scare away the hummingbirds. Does anyone one know what these bugs are, and how to deal with them?[/quote]
It would help to have a photo of the bugs to assist in identifying them.
There is a picture function above the text entry area that will allow this.
[quote=”billdog”]”In general, property taxes run 0.1% of the declared value of a home or condo. Thus, a home valued at $100,000 would mean paying $100 yearly.”
[/quote]The municipalidad declares the value of the property and if the figures are correct one of three things has happened in the last 3 1/2 years.
Assuming that the answers are correct either:
1 ~ My property taxes are about .00125% of value
2 ~ My property has increased in value by 33% in that 3 1/2 years. Or
3 ~ The municipalidad is over declaring the value of the property.I wish that the property values had increased by 33% but I don’t believe it 😯 or the tax rate is actually higher than 1%. 😉
I don’t want to think that the municipalidad is over declaring the value. 😡You can take your pick of the above reasons but our taxes here are dramatically lower than they were in the States.
[quote=”smekuly”]super excellent!!! 😀
now thats good. your doing great and learning all the new skills like raising chickens and developing a garden. thats proactvive. I think the climate here is truly wonderful for this. I am working well I should say studying the plans of building a BIO Dome and grow vegetables and herbs to sustain a family of 4. right now i am looking into aquaponics. anyone have info on this???
the idea is preparing yourself to not be wholly or partially sustainable. plus this is great to teach your kids.[/quote]
I am simply reusing old skills learned when I was a kid,, I was raised on a farm.
BioDome is probably the last thing to consider. When you consider our proximity to the oceans I think climate change will have little effect Central America. If it comes to the necessity you can build it then.For information on these items go to these websites:
[url=http://www.aquaponics.com/]Aquaponics[/url][url=http://www.hydroponics.com/]Hydroponics[/url]
[quote=”smekuly”]how about some ideas of
how to make money morally and ethically while living in costa rica???
that would be a great topic. [/quote]I have spent my life teaching the things that I know. My computer education is outdated and unusable now but my construction skills are forever as is my English. These are areas where I can gain income.
[quote=”smekuly”]regarding your experience with hospital san dios. congratulations as I have heard and experienced more incompetence there and dirt there than any hospital here.
that place reminds me of a scary movie and they even warn people staying there not not have any valuables with the because it will be robbed.
of all the public hospitals I think the ew one in heredia is good and 2nd would be calderon. smekuly[/quote]Our only experience with hospitals is San Juan de Dios and Mexico. Mexico is new, clean and well set up.
San Juan de Dios is the oldest hospital in Costa Rica, has been added to willy-nilly and is confusing to those unfamiliar with it but I didn’t have problems with cleanliness.
One of the surgeons and at least seven of the doctors know me on sight and are very helpful.
Yesterday, August 3, I accompanied my wife in SJDD and spent time with a doctor on his rounds getting information about an upcoming surgery.[quote=”DavidCMurray”]I was personally aware of three outright fraud cases one of which I followed to its rightful end. A county judge ordered the fraudster to spend every weekend in jail until the entire fraud was repaid. It took about three weeks for the matter to be resolved.[quote]
My point is that society as a whole is responsible for rooting out thiose who take advantage. When a citizen suspects fraud they should report it so that the case worker has spe4cifics to work with. It isn’t the easiest thing to find fraud when it can be concealed in many different ways.
When someone is on disability because they claim a back injury and someone reports that they are out playing golf it would make it much easier to prove fraud. A video of the action makes it hard to refute.
[quote=”Scott”]Having said that, it’s been my experience that it’s often an unimaginable (by the general public) and totally unforeseeable (by the general public) catalyst that tends to cause major market moves as will probably be the case here.[/quote]
Truer words were never spoken. Not only the oil producers but the futures players play games with the market to enrich themselves at others expense.
[quote=”Scott”]Some experts believe that the Iraq “war” was a “petrodollar” war and others believe that Iran is next on the table .. [/quote]
I think the Iraq War was an act of revenge against Hussein for the assassination plot against GHW Bush more than anything else. The idea of nation building in an area (both Afghanistan and Iraq) that will revert to what it was when we leave was the height of stupidity. Pray God we do not elect another idiot to the White House.
[quote=”Scott”]”There is a history of challenges to the trade of international oil with only US Dollars. The Shah of Iran flirted with the idea before being deposed. Saddam Hussein in Iraq began selling some oil in euros before being removed by the US by George W. Bush. Currently Qaddafi of Libya is battling for his life for what could partially be his attempts at creating an Africa Gold Currency. Ahmadinejad could be next in line.”[/quote]
Gold was the common denominator up until 1972. The wrong decision was taken for the right reasons. Rather than freeing the dollar the increase in inflation from 1935 to 1972 should have been calculated and the price of gold set accordingly and let float with inflation (or deflation). The value of U.S. holdings would be worth $1.4 trillion rather than the current $490+ billion. Gold would still be the exchange medium rather than the dollar. In any case the dollar is on it’s way out.
[quote=”Scott”]From: Don’t Get It Twisted, We Are Already At War With Iran [/quote]
I will get to the link as I have time but I disagree with the thinking of the author that a collapse is inevitable.
There are corrective measures that the U.S. congress can take to reverse the entire recession and minimize recessions in the future.Since 1913 there are five decisions made by congress that have led to this recession and George W, Bush was guilty of pushing three of them to devastating effect.
1 ~ 1913 – The Federal Reserve should never have existed. The Federal Reserve answers to no one. Not congress nor the president nor anyone else. They simply report their proposed actions to congress. The fact that the U.S. financial decisions are made by a coterie of bankers is insane. The creation of a national bank under the Department of the Treasury would have been proper. Congressional oversight would have been complete.
2 ~ 1972 – Removing the dollar from the gold standard.
3 ~ 1981 & 2001 – Instituting supply side economics. History proves that it is the middle class that drives the economy and supply side has proved to be a failure when you look at debt to GDP history.
4 ~ 1981 & 2001 – Government oversight is required to accomplish only two things and nothing more.
A ~ Removal of crooked decision makers from their positions as decision makers and
B ~ assuring that no business entity becomes too big to fail. No business should be so large that it affects the industry within which it exists.5 ~ 2001 & 2003 – War should never be waged without raising taxes to pay for it. It is inherently expensive and GW Bush did it for the first time in history, not once but twice.
If those who run for public office were required to prove that they have a working knowledge of economic history the above decisions would never have been made and government regulation of commerce would be held to a minimum.
The very idea that one nation or one economy should affect the economies of the entire planet is one born of stupidity.
[quote=”DavidCMurray”]I spent two glorious years as a welfare caseworker managinging the eligibility for over 450 needy families all of whom could and did demonstrate their eligibility for the benefits that the law provided. And I can tell you from much firsthand experience that, in those terms, welfare works exceedingly well.[/quote]
Did you run into cases that had to be weeded out due to ineligibility?
Speaking about all types of assistance, unemployment, disability, food stamps, etc., we all know that there are those who will gull the system when they can. It is not entirely the responsibility of the case workers to weed them out. It’s up to all citizens to report suspected abuse. This I think is the biggest failure of the welfare system.
[quote=”DavidCMurray”]Now, if by “. . . actually work . . .” you mean something about ending dependency, that’s clearly another matter. But one cannot become independent tomorrow if one does not survive today, and that very survival has been assured by more than one welfare system.[/quote]
Although there are those who will never be capable of independence the workfare programs seem to work for many. Training, retraining and education go a long way toward independence.
Here in Costa Rica I think the welfare system consists mostly of health care and training/education [b](INA)[/b] but there are programs to help the indigent obtain property legally and to build homes.
I’ve only been here three years and these are the programs that I am aware of.
First let me say that 2BNCR and I were acquainted before I moved to Costa Rica and it was he who gave me guidance in resolving a legal issue that saved me more cash than most of us bring to Costa Rica. 😀
[quote=”2bncr”]I appreciate Wes’ input and joy de vive here in Costa Rica. Really do. Anyone that moves here and takes in kids and looks at the bright side is good people in my book.[/quote]
Good people or no, the family that lives with us is a business proposition.
At the age of 70, I am facing what I never wanted to see in failing strength. It is not my health that is an issue but the ravages of living life at headlong effort in the U.S. have taken their toll.
The first year here cost me 25% of my bodyweight (from 185 pounds to 132) from the stress of trying to deal with a culture that is the opposite of what we Americans deal with all our lives.
I believe it was here on welovecostarica [b](Scott help me here)[/b] that I read an article that explained the differences between a results oriented culture (the U.S.) and a process oriented culture (Costa Rica). From then on I realized that the problem was not Costa Rica, it was me.
[b]The deal with the family[/b] is that we will provide for all the costs of education for their seven kids and in return they provide us with:
1 ~ A Tico face in Costa Rica preventing others from gouging us with the exorbitant prices most expats pay for everything from labor to unpriced goods and services.
2 ~ The muscle need to deal with the heavy work that needs to be done around the property that I can no longer do.
3 ~ Their (the parents) intimate knowledge of where the best prices are for what we need. Marcos also has a passing knowledge of the entire country.
So it is not a one way deal by a “nice guy” like me.[quote=”2bncr”]I don’t see CR easily surpassing the US in incompetence on almost every level. The instances of professional mal practice here is very high speaking per capita. I went to what some say is the best private hospital in Costa Rica for an emergency operation and I was injured by the anesthesiologist.[/quote]
I’m sure 2BNCR intended to say competence rather than incompetence and will respond accordingly with this:
My experience with incompetence had to do with the legal profession rather than medical as I opened with. By the time I was able to get into the Caja system I had come to understand the differences in culture and was better able to deal with it.[quote=”2bncr”]I tried the caja because fairly recently I had to start paying for it. Well I went for an appointment and had to wait in a line at 5 am. So if you are a US citizen, it seems very wierd to wait in a line to get your appointment (outside mind you) and then return for the appointment. Be that as it may, I was not impressed with the general practitioner I saw. Excellence does not have the same importance as it does in the US. Thoroughness seems unheard of.[/quote]
No one is going to get my behind out of bed at 5AM to get a clinic appointment. If it is a clinic issue it is a non-emergency situation and I wait until late morning or early afternoon and request an appointment. The appointment is always within two days and I do not have to stand in line to get it.
[quote=”2bncr”]Just get it done (which it really isn’t, but because you stopped you can call done even when its not done right) and then “next” is the attitude here. And that may be for a number of different reasons.[/quote]
I have experienced the same thing here but in different ways. Overpayment for labor is the most common.
Just an example:
Before the family moved in I was paying 100,000 colons to have the property cared for. Within a month Marcos sent the gardener on his way and another was hired to do the same job for 30,000 colons.[quote=”2bncr”]Regardless I want excellence when it comes to my health. I understand that many who come here cannot afford high end medical insurance.[/quote]
We all want excellence when it comes to medical care. We are retirees living on Social Security and eligible for Medicare with its 20% co-pay and donut hole pharmaceuticals.
We have foregone the expense of Medicare and joined Caja which, to date, costs us under $100 per month for both of us.
Between us we have faced breast cancer, heart blockages requiring four stents and a ruptured appendix, peritonitis, hernis and septic infections. I can only imagine what it would have cost us either in insureance for private care or on Medicare with its 20% co-pay and attendant pharmacy donut hole costs. 😯[quote=”2bncr”]Emergency time. Go to clinic. Wait. Sent to new Heredia hospital. Beautiful building, new facility, walk in and there was disorganization as if they were being inundated from a disaster. [quote=”2bncr”]I was appalled. the trash cans that Ticos use for their toilet paper had not been emptied and there was another trash can full worth of used toilet paper piled next to and around the trash can.
That was my experience with emergency Caja care. Yes I am still alive but I was thoroughly convinced that nobody was taking any of this seriously except the patients.[/quote]
If it is an emergency situation I deal with it in an entirely different manner.
At 3:15 on Saturday afternoon I experienced what felt like a gunshot through my body from lower right above the hip to near my upper left shoulder. It took about 15 minutes to realize it was probably my appendix. The clinics are closed on the weekends so Marcos drove me to the nearest farmacia (4PM) where the doctor advised me to go to the nearest private clinic to get an order to get into the hospital for an exam (4:30). With order in hand Marcos drove me to San Juan de Dios where I was admitted within 15 minutes (5:15). I was assigned an exam room and examined and sent to the surgical area (6PM), waited 1/2 hour to get space in surgery (6:30). I awoke in recovery shortly after midnight. It was 8 1/2 hours from rupture to recovery that I consider as good as the States.
I spent considerable time in the after surgery dormitory due to other issues related but none the fault of the hospital or the medical care.
The dormitory was neat and clean, the cleaning crews were constantly busy emptying trash, sweeping & mopping floors, carrying out laundry and all the other chores necessary to a sanitary environment. I had a completely different experience from that of 2BNCR to be sure.[quote=”2bncr”]Maybe your experience differs, but that was mine. Any how who I will never use the caja for anything unless I have no other choice. And by the way, there were no other foreigners there and all the Ticos were looking at me like “what the hell are you doing here?” Not the worst night of my life but in the top 50.[/quote]
Neither my wife nor I saw any other expats during any of our experiences with Caja. Possibly in the future they will learn to deal with the differences in culture. It is a matter of being flexible enough to make the changes that need to be made fit in. For a type “A” Leo personality like myself I have found that it is possible.Life is what you make of it. 😀
[quote=”costaricafinca”]In fact, I think [b]waggoner[/b] himself, expressed this elsewhere on the forum. In the USA is one required to bring their own pillow, towels, soap and toilet paper?.[/quote]
The things you bring to the hospital to provide for your own comfort are part of the ways that Caja has cut costs in order to make it a viable and affordable health care system. I have yet to find the need to supply my own toilet paper or pillow. My biggest issue was with the bland hospital meals and my wife supplemented that with the necessary spices. Being woken hourly at night by the lights for medications to be dispensed wasn’t a great issue as it was done quietly. I slept during the day without problems.If you feel it is outrageous to supply these things I would suggest the private health care system. They will provide you with all of the comforts of home and a private room at a cost.
Tell me one way that Caja has cut costs that affect medical care So far I have seen none and the fact that the patients assist one another in their trips to the bathroom is one of a willingness to help others in the same plight as thay are themselves not out of necessity.
[quote=”costaricafinca”]An elderly ex-pat died earlier this year, when as his wife put it [i]’he was put in a storage room because he was upsetting other patients’ due to a reaction of being given the wrong medication[/i]. He was then ‘forgotten’ and was severely dehydrated and then died. This was confirmed by an autopsy and charges were recommended..[/quote]
The same type of occurrences have happened in the States and appropriate action should be taken against those who were responsible as they would be in the States.
There was one individual who was very fearful of being out of his home and in the hospital environment and was quite noisy about it. Rather than complain about him the others in the dormitory talked to him and comforted him. There was never a thought of shutting him away somewhere. I appreciated the compassion that the patients showed toward one another.[quote=”costaricafinca”]CAJA for emergency care is good and if you are lucky to live in an area where the doctors/ebais are good, you are indeed ‘blessed’ but this does not seem to be ‘the norm’.[/quote]
‘The norm’ as I see it is what I have seen and experienced during my stays in the hospitals here. My local clinic is in Cuidad Colon and I receive the same care here as I received in the States. The idea of early release for patients is something that I appreciate. Having been hospitalized under an insurace program in the States with Kaiser-Permanents I felt that I was kept in the hospital twice as long as necessary.
No matter where you are you hear about individuals who do not perform their jobs as they should even in the States. Although medical care is more crucial than other industries it applies to every walk of life.
Let’s hear about your personal experiences utilizing the Caja. Picking apart the Caja system utilizing one instance is, I believe, unfair and I would be interested in seeing a citation for this situation on the internet. If you check out medical complaints in the U.S. you will find there is no lack of information.
One mans opinion.
The density of the rock formations between you and the epicenter determine how much of a shock you will feel.
and yes, I’m no seismologist.
[quote=”DavidCMurray”]What I think is likely to change is the cost of enrollment. As costs rise, and as demands for a broader range of services escalate, there has to be found a way to finance the system. Either the government can devote more general revenue money to it or they can raise taxes on enrollees and their employers. My guess is that it will be a blend of the two.quote]
I rather doubt that the government has the funds to spare from the general fund so expect to see costs rise for all. For us expats though, it is unlikely that costs will rise so high that Medicare would look like a viable option. My wife and I could tolerate as much as a 50% increase and pay it willingly.
ARCR members are paying even less than we are and the majority of them are much better off financially. Remember that all of us, as expat residents, are required to pay into the Caja system whether we use it or not.
Hearing complaints that Caja killed a family member or a friend are, so far, nothing more than opinion. I have yet to hear that anyone has grounds for their beliefs. I question whether they would have the same views if it happened in the States under Medicare.
Our preventive care is as good as it is in the States with regular visits every three months. Emergency care is immediate but non-emergency hospitalization waits until there is an bed available. Last month I scheduled surgery for a hernia and the appointment is set for late November.
Our care for breast cancer, heart attacks and a blown appendix was immediate and thorough.
Hospital stays, except for the heart unit are in dormitories and we both enjoyed the companionship of the other patients. If you find it necessary to have a private room then the private medical system is available at their exhorbitant costs.
[quote=”sapronov”] Does anybody have any details about what is going on?[/quote]
I think the details, quite frankly, deal with inflation if you have not felt it.Yes, medical care in Costa Rica has been affordable. Vastly more affordable than care in the U.S. particularly if you had Medicare.
The prescription “doughnut hole” in Medicare would cost my wife and I many times what we are paying for medical care in Caja. Under Medicare part D we would be paying ten times annually what Caja costs us for two years of care.
Each of us has been hospitalized three time for a total of 37 days. I’d call that very affordable.
I would not be surprised to see an increase in our monthy payment to Caja but our experience has been that the medical care is equal to any you can find elsewhere. The private system is still covered out of pocket or by health insurance providers who gouge their customers with outrageous costs and limitations.
[quote=”smekuly”]no what I mean are people that are moving towards the realization of a worthy ideal. and document the journey so others can learn from the experience.[/quote]
I don’t own a business, I came here to retire in a beautiful country with friendly and helpful people. I own my own home, pay low taxes and have the help of my Tico friends
My wife and I belong to the Caja and are satisfied with our care at San Juan de Dios and several other hospitals that have been involved in our care. San Juan de Dios has dealt with heart attacks requiring 4 stents, breast cancer which is cancer free and an appendix blowout. Each of us has been hospitalized three times. I find the medical care to be equal to that in the U.S. and if we had gone through all of that on Medicare we would be in debt for the rest of our lives. Cost of Caja is under $100 per month total for both of us.
I have never had an experience when the Ticos were not helpful but no matter where you go there are those who will take advantage of situations where possible.
Each of us has our own experiences and view those experiences in our own light. What I am saying is that everything you mention could have happened in the States. My mother died at age 62 as a result of a hospital forgetting to prescribe a needed medication. Criminal activity is far more prevalent in some places in the States than it is here in Costa Rica.
The toughest thing for me was acclimating to a culture that was totally alien to that in the States.
We raise chickens and are planning to get a couple of pigs. We have started our own garden and are learning about a new climate and what is possible. We are planting fruit trees with an eye to having some kind of fruit available on the property at all times of the year.
I have never hesitated to respond to questions on which I have personal knowledge and never respond with hearsay without stating that it is such. Although there are many whiners here there are many with answers and willing to share what they know.
So stop whining and work on solutions. No matter what the issue there is probably someone here who can give direction or specific information.
[quote=”ladytravelnurse”]I think you guys are getting the wrong impression here!! Didn’t mean to stir up the nest, but I’m thinking of RETIREMENT!!! I’ve been a nurse for 35 years and if I don’t save the next broken heart (Cardiac nurse), it’s perfectly fine with me. I just want to contribute what I can.[/quote]
Don’t worry about stirring up a controversy here. It’s a common occurrance.
But as far as contributing there are many other areas that might interest you. There is a need for those interested in animal care, reforestation and many ecological issues that can be satisfying and challenging.
Retirement isn’t just kicking back in a rocker which you, as a nurse, know is a death sentence.
Next time you come down look into alternative possibilities. You may not be able to hold a paying job but you can sure find many ways to fill your time and pay back to society a little (or in some cases a lot).:D
[quote=”Disabled Veteran”]Falling out of favor, I think not. After having traveled around the world, in the military; I chose to purchase a home in Costa Rica, and retire there. The flora, fauna and Tico/Tica helpfulness and warmth; are priceless. Not to mention, clean air, clean water, and fresh ocean seafood. Sitting on my terrace, surrounded by my lush tropical garden, and viewing the ocean day and night, is heaven![/quote]
Hear, hear!!!
I don’t have the ocean view and never really cared for it. I was born and raised in Colorado right near the Rockies and spent a lifetime wanting to get back to it.Here, I have it all. A beautiful country, the mountain views and wonderful people and the country lifestyle that I grew up with.
