Costa Rica

[itself]

We are seriously thinking of moving to CR. Very american friendly, very cheap to live, and the medical care is excellent. One deterrant for me is the poor roads, although they say road cyling races are very popular.

We have a friend who has been going for 7 years and is building a home there now. Would love to hear your feedback if you have been!

Lisa

[Cataboo]

I was there for 2 weeks in November..

The roads aren't as bad as they're usually advertised to be - the main roads are in fairly good shape - so highways and the big routes from city to city are in good shape. Those roads are being shared by horses, cars, tractor trailers, cyclists, and pedestrians, though. There are a ton of cyclists everywhere and people are generally pretty good about cyclists (we rented a car and drove for the 2 weeks)... I will say that costa rican drivers only seem to pass people on roads when there's a blind turn or something like that.

There are a lot of people riding around in like full racing kit (spandex tights & matching shirts) on mountain bikes or something similarily incongruous.

Here's pics that I took of cyclists when I was there:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ImmunoGi...taRicaBicycle#

If you go out to the main directory you'll see more photo directories with costa rica pictures - I think you should take up kayaking if you move down there as well

And rent rooms to me so that I can go down there and stay.

I did see a lot of americans living in gated mansion type communities isolated from the people of Costa Rica - who'd been living down there for 12 years and could barely speak Spanish - so I'd say... please don't be one of those! That's just sad.

If you ask about specific areas of the country, I can tell you what I know about those - they do have a long rainy season, so if you want to avoid that - maybe move to the north west type area. the more rural you get, the worse the roads get though.

[kjay]

I went to Costa Rica several years ago but not for the bicycling, although I'm happy to hear that bicycling is picking up. I just want to tell you to be sure to visit the Sloth Sanctuary a few miles south of Limon. You'll be so glad that you did. Here's the link. http://www.slothrescue.org/

My apologies for not directly answering your questions, but I just had to tell you about this place. :-)

[alimey]

I went mountain biking in Costa Rica a few years ago. I was really impressed - the place was beautiful & the people v welcoming. Virtually all villages had tap water we could drink. It was so fertile that the fence posts sprouted & grew!!

Mountain biking was great - loads of trails & people not precious about trespass.

[itself]

How safe it it there? Its funny, we have been to many of the Caribbean islands and bomb around in our car (we don't go to islands where you are forced to stay on the resort like Dominican).

It seems like there are places where it is quite dangerous in CR, and they warn not to go out at night. I realize this is a "state" of sorts, not an island.

Panama is another area that we are considering as the infrastructure is much stronger.

[Cataboo]

Um. I saw people riding their bikes (kids, whatever ) and walking at all hours of the night. I didn't notice anywhere that I would have considered unsafe.

I didn't spend much time in San Juan, but I went walking that evening without being worried.

The only thing we were repeatedly warned about was not to leave anything visible in the rental car because it would probably get stolen. There were times when we had no choice but to leave all our stuff (luggage) in the rental car - and we didn't have anything stolen.

[itself]

We are looking at staying in Manuel Antonio. I also have a friend that is moving there who lives centrally in Bejuco.

Where did you take those pictures? And thanks for the info all of you!

[itself]

Well, my friends moved there and have been in CR for four months now. There is definitely a problem with thievery, they have had to make sure that there is a good wall around their house. Also, green mold all over their furniture. They have figured out a system to attack it, but they need humidifiers in every room. They love the fact that they are eating all unprocessed foods. They both have lost weight.

All the locals go nuts over their mountain bikes. I've suggested that they chain them in their garage so they won't get stolen.

Funny, they have gone to vacation in CR for 7 years. Now having moved their, there is a lot of "discovery" as far as how life really is. I think I'll stay stateside.

[RubyTuesday]

I went to Guanacaste area in Costa Rica last year. The main roads were not bad, but the smaller roads were not for road bikes. I did see a few bike riders, but most were on mountain bikes or just bits and pieces bikes. During the rainy season, forget riding the roads are flooded and the off roads are running mud and puddles.

[mandymeinst]

Costa Rica isn’t my favorite country in the world. I was biased against it before I arrived the only other time I have been there. In the rest of Central America, the locals tend to refer to Costa Rica as Gringolandia, not only because it is the most popular expat country in that part of the world, but also because it has far more North American tourists than the rest of that part of the world (for admittedly good reasons — the tourist infrastructure is more established there than the rest of Central America and it has a long history of political stability, in comparison with its neighbors).