In 2009, as my husband Rick approached retirement, we had many lengthy discussions about how and where we wanted to spend our “golden years”.

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There was no doubt that we wanted to escape our cold Canadian winters. Rick hated bundling up in 40 degrees below zero weather to move snow for hours. I was tired of the pain my arthritis gave me every winter. So… someplace warm!

We’ve travelled extensively in our ten years together so we made a list of places we’ve been to see if they could be on a “short list” as our retirement destination. We also had a list of criteria that our new country would need to meet:

  • Warm climate that still had some definitive “seasons”
  • Availability of quality, affordable health care, including dental and optical
  • An affordable cost of living
  • An English-speaking ex-pat community for contact and resources
  • Readily available volunteer opportunities
  • Ability to purchase land and own and/or build your own home at a reasonable cost
  • Reasonable tax rates… both personal and property
  • Diverse topography (beaches, mountains, valleys, forests, farmland) flora and fauna
  • Reliable communications
  • Stable democratic government
  • Relatively low crime rate

Was it possible for one place to meet all of these criteria? The places we crossed off the list included Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Europe, Thailand, Belize, the Bahamas, the USA, the Cayman Islands and the Turks and Caicos. In fact, there was only one country left on the list – Costa Rica.

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After doing a lot of research on the Internet and reading numerous books geared toward retiring and living abroad in our new country, we took a month-long trip to Costa Rica.

My husband studied maps for countless hours. We rented a four-wheel drive vehicle with a GPS & set out to explore seven different areas of the country. We stayed in small bed and breakfast accommodations and talked to locals and ex-pats. We didn’t want the “tourist experience”…we wanted a taste of what it was going to be like to live here.

We knew after that trip that Costa Rica would be our new home. We took two more trips after that, each time narrowing down the area we wanted to live in.

We settled on the Atenas area because of the climate, the people, the services and the fact that it still felt like it had a “Costa Rican soul”. With the help of great Realtors and other friends that we had made in Costa Rica, the wheels were set in motion. We were moving! Let the adventure begin.

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Peggy and Rick Stewart retired in Atenas, Costa Rica.

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Written by VIP Member Peggy Stewart. Peggy Stewart and her husband Rick, both retirees, along with their German Shepherd Tonka, made the move from Rocky Mountain House, Alberta, Canada to live full-time in Costa Rica in September 2011.

Peggy has a long history as a trade Union leader and social activist, also working in group homes with troubled teens. Rick worked for almost 40 years as a forest officer with the Alberta government. After first exploring Costa Rica as a retirement destination in early 2009, they made three more trips to Costa Rica before settling in the Atenas area. They currently reside in Santa Eulalia.

Choosing Costa Rica For Our Retirement. Peggy & Rick Stewart from Alberta, Canada escape to Costa Rica.

Article/Property ID Number 3516

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