Recently I’ve been spending one day a week at various hotels to do 3-4 hours of work without interruption.  It allows me to spend more time with my family.

The last hotel I stayed at was the Best Western in Irazu.  A friend told me he had just stayed there for $88 for a night.  It seemed like a four star hotel when I picked up another friend there a few weeks earlier, so I thought I would give it a try.

It is indeed a four star hotel, but I didn’t get the $88/night price.  They claimed only “premium” rooms were available and the best price they could give me was $127/night.  In the end, my credit card was actually charged $229!

The room wasn’t “premium” in any way that I could see.  It was clean and all of the ammenities worked just fine.  I used the air conditioner once and it cooled down in 5 or 10 minutes.  It had a nice view of the pool, but there were no “extras” that would make a room “premium” in my book.

I certainly wasn’t happy about them lying about the price.

I also wasn’t happy about the lack of a restaurant.  They do have a Denny’s attached, but that isn’t anywhere I would eat while in Costa Rica (except maybe breakfast while on an outing).  They did provide free breakfast coupons, but I didn’t use them because I was just there to work for 3 or 4 hours.  I wasn’t there for breakfast.

I did decide to have dinner while there though.  I looked up and down the street to find a typical Costa Rican place.  Right across the street was a Subway sandwich shop with a Costa Rican restaurant attached to it.

That didn’t look all that promising.  I expected something like a Rosti Pollos.  Boy was I mistaken.

I don’t remember the name of the place, but it was fine dining to the extreme.  I started out with a Ceviche de Camarron (Ceviche is a Puruvian method of cooking fish with lime juice… in this case it was shrimp).  It wasn’t that great.  I’ve had better.

Next though I ordered Steak con Jalapeno.  I expected to be disappointed.  You really shouldn’t order beef in Costa Rica.  They don’t age their beef and they don’t fatten it up before slaughter.  That makes a premium cut of beef almost impossible.  Even non-Steak snobs are often disappointed by steak in Costa Rica.  I happen to be a steak snob.

I was very, very wrong!

I have had this dish in Nicaragua before and enjoyed it very much.  It was no comparison to what I was served at the restaurant across the street from Best Western Irazu though.  The chef is a culinary genius!  My eyes shook at every bite.  The steak was a fine cut of fillet mignon and was seared to a perfect medium.  The seasoning was also unbelievably good.  The jalapeno sauce though was incredible.

Jalapenos are not a normal part of Costa Rican cooking.  That is more Spanish, South American and such.  Costa Rican’s don’t generally spice up their food.  I began to suspect the chef was a Nicaraguan or Panamanian.  I asked the waiter.  He was a Tico (Costa Rican).  I asked the waiter to pay my compliments to the chef… something I have only done two other times in my entire life.

The chef came out and introduced himself.  His English was broken and my Spanish was worse, but he did get across that he had studied in Spain and I got across that I thought he was a culinary genius.

Then came dessert.  I ordered a banana filled crepe with chocolate sauce, vanilla ice cream and topped with a strawberry.  Once again my eyes shook and my skin began to tingle (probably from the sugar rush).  It was an incredible finish to an incredible meal.

I will definitely be back!

I won’t be returning to the Best Western Irazu though.  Not only did they overcharge me… their internet doesn’t support FTP which made my normal 3 hour work day turn into 5.

Of course, if that hadn’t happened… I would never have discovered the restaurant.  I’m greatful to Best Western for that.

-James D. Brausch

I have done business with Mail Boxes, Etc. in several countries over a period of many years.  I highly recommended them until I tried them out here in Costa Rica.

Several thousand dollars of scams later, I finally tried their competition here… Aerocasillas.  Aerocasillas has never charged me more than $15 in taxes or weight on any item.  They have never had anything held up in customs.  Every charge has been fully documented with receipts.  They are extremely professional and have an excellent web-site where you can track progress of your shipments.

Mail Boxes, Etc. in Escazu never provides documentation and constantly has bills for several hundred dollars for “taxes”, “weight” and other miscellaneous items they make up on the spot.  One charge was actually $1,200 and they couldn’t explain nor document why I was being charged $1,200.  The next month with only one package, they charged another $800.

During my final visit with them, they wanted to charge various amounts from $150-$2200.  They couldn’t even decide what to charge and why.  They kept saying that I had cancelled my payment for the prior month and I kept reminding them that I paid in cash and it was not possible to cancel a payment made in cash.

I finally cancelled my account and told them to never accept another package for me.  I highly recommend staying far, far away from the Mail Boxes, Etc. in Escazu.  Even though they are run by gringos, they are the biggest scam operation I have ever dealt with in Costa Rica.

Try Aerocasillas instead.  They are an excellent company that has impressed me very much for about three months now.

-James D. Brausch

My favorite driver here in Costa Rica is Francisco Torres.  You can reach him at this number:

++506.8833.8452

His email address is:

frantorres67@yahoo.com

Tell him that James Brausch sent you.

If Francisco isn’t available, he will find you another great driver in his co-op.  He refuses to work with people who don’t share his value of integrity.

I have occasionally had to use an alternative driver that he recommended.  I’ve never had a problem.

In fact, I have only ever had a problem with one person that he recommended for another service.  Francisco went out of his way to fix that problem very quickly.

I highly recommend Francisco.

-James D. Brausch

Today a taxi driver asked me if I spoke any Spanish.

I answered:

Dos Palabras

Which loosely means “couple words.”

The taxi driver started laughing uncontrollably.  When he finally stopped, he started to explain what was so funny.

I had made a Spanish joke unintentionally.

You see… it literally means “two words.”

And of course, in saying it… I had demonstrated knowing exactly two words in Spanish.

It was interesting to see an example of Costa Rican humor and what at least one Costa Rican found to be extremely funny.

-James D. Brausch

I just finished eating some wonderful Costa Rican style chicken soup.

I didn’t eat at a restaurant.  I ate at home.  We have a live-in full-time cook/maid/nanny.

Before you think we are rich or something… I should tell you that we pay only about $400 a month and we are paying on the extreme high end for domestic help.

You can easily hire a Nicaraguan domestic helper for around $120/month and Costa Rican domestic help is usually around $200-$300 per month.

Costa Rican’s are naturally very loving to children (even complete strangers) so we didn’t really have to try hard to find a nanny who shared our child rearing beliefs.  It’s just the default here.

Extreme cleaning is also the default here.  Although outside looks horrible upon first impressions for most foreigners (including Americans), Costa Ricans are clean freaks inside their house.  Our maid sweeps and mops the entire house about three times per day.

She is also an extremely good cook.  I’m having a very hard time losing weight with having a Costa Rican cook live with us.

This is one of my favorite parts of Costa Rica.  In my opinion, you haven’t really experiences Costa Rica until you have moved here and hired a Costa Rican domestic helper.

-James D. Brausch

The other day, I wanted to escape to a hotel to get some work done for a few hours.  I needed excellent Internet access, a comfortable room, good food on site (I planned to eat lunch there) and I wanted to pay about $100.  I wanted to check-in early (about 10 am) and I would be checking out at 11pm or midnight or so.

Did I hop on the Internet and start searching?  Nope.  I called my personal concierge Francisco and told him my requirements.  He called back in 10 minutes and told me I was all set up and Wilbur would be picking me up in 20 minutes to take me to the hotel.

The cost for this excellent concierge service?  $0. Zip. Notta. Zilch. Free.

Of course Francisco doesn’t call himself a concierge.  He calls himself a driver. If he hadn’t been busy with another customer, he would have picked me up himself instead of sending Wilbur.

The reason Francisco was willing to do that for me for free is that Costa Rica works like an affiliate program.  Most restaurants, hotels and tourist activities will all pay a commission to any Costa Rican who brings in new customers.   He was paid by the hotel, not me.

The commission program is really only available for the Costa Ricans so I couldn’t have really done that myself and collected the commission.  The cost to me is exactly the same whether I use Francisco’s free concierge service or if I go through all of the hassle to find the place myself.

Also, since everyone basically offers commissions, Francisco really wasn’t tempted to send me to an inferior place or anything like that just to get a higher commission.  He was going to recieve a commission regardless of where he sent me and he knew I would call him back again and again if he found me a good place.  He did just as he has done for me dozens of times.

Would you like a free concierge service here in Costa Rica?  Just leave a comment and tell me where you are staying or give me a phone number.  I’ll have Francisco or one of his friends call you right away.  From that point on, I think you will find your stay a lot more pleasant when you always have you own free concierge to call to set up anything you wish.

-James D. Brausch

I’ve only ever had two problems with taxi drivers in Costa Rica.

The first time I had a problem, I should have known when we got in.  When I told him where we wanted to go, he said “mucho dinero.”  I had been there several times and knew it wasn’t going to be more than 5,000 colones ($10) or so.  I shrugged and we drove on.

… and on… and on…

I finally realized that he wasn’t going anywhere close to the right direction.  We were heading into the busiest part of San Jose when my starting point and destination where both in Alejuela.

I finally said “aki” which means “here” and motioned for him to pull over.  I paid him and my family and I got out of the taxi.

I then just hailed a new taxi which took me to the proper destination without the games.  No real problem.

The second time was a bit of a battle of wills.

We often take two taxis when we go a long distance.  We just go to a well-known spot near our final destination and then catch a local taxi to our real final destination.  It avoids the problem of a non-local taxi trying to find an obscure destination in a town he isn’t familiar with.

The 2nd taxi ride is always only 1-5km.  The cost is usually $1-$2… never more than $4.

We did that one day and when we arrived, the taxi driver said “dias miel” (or 10,000 colones which is about $20).

I asked to see the meter.  It was conveniently broken.

We went back and forth a few times with me offering a more reasonable 3,000 colones.  He refused to budge.  He wanted 10,000 colones which was outrageous.

I finally realized where we were and the consequences (or lack thereof) of simply getting out of the taxi.

I dropped the 3,000 colones on the front passenger seat and simply got out and walked away.

You should have seen the look on his face.

Remember that the Costa Rican people are not violent in general.  Also remember that it is difficult to get the police to respond.  Even if they did respond, the taxi driver would certainly get in trouble for not having a working meter and trying to extort an unfair price.

So, if you run into a dispute with a taxi in Costa Rica, you can always do what I did.  You pay what you know is fair and walk away.  What can they do to you?

-James D. Brausch

I’m sorry.  I’m not talking about the adult kind of drinks in this post.  I suspect they are the same as anywhere else.

But Costa Rica does have some interesting drinks to go with any meal.

One thing that seemed odd at first was the question I often heard “en aqua o en leche?”

I’m not sure I even have the right Spanish words there, but they are asking if you want your drink in water or in milk.  It turns out to be a real treat.

You can get just about any fruit drink mixed in milk.  It sounds odd at first, but consider how delicious an orange juice/ice cream mix is.  That is fairly common in the U.S.

Now think about that combination with mango, pineapple (pina in Spanish), blackberry (mora in Spanish) or strawberry (fresa in Spanish).  All are muy deliciouso (hopefully that doesn’t need a translation).

My very favorite though is a fruit that isn’t commonly available in the states.  The fruit is called guanabana.  It is nicknamed the “ice cream fruit” because both it’s texture and it’s flavor is very reminiscent of vanilla ice cream.

Take it the next step and ask for a guanabana en leche when you visit Costa Rica.  It is my very favorite drink.

There is one other fruit here that I like a lot, but it shouldn’t be served in leche.  Don’t worry.  They won’t even offer it in leche.  It is called cass (not sure of the spelling, but that’s how it’s pronounced).   It is a yummy fruit juice that can only be described as a mixture of pear and lime without the significant sour of lime.  Give it a try.

If you like hot drinks, try agua dulce con leche.  It literally means something like sweet water with milk.  The sweet though is a very raw form of sugar that has a lot of taste other than sugar.   The drink is served hot and is a good substitute for coffee, tea or hot chocolate.

BTW, water is completely safe to drink here.  There are no health problems associated with the water.  Don’t worry about the above drinks being safe.  All drinks are perfectly safe here in Costa Rica.  The milk is pasturized just like in the states and the drinking water is generally even cleaner than the United States because they get so much rain and have modern facilities to treat drinking water.

Enjoy your Costa Rican drinks!

-James D. Brausch

I received my first massage several years ago on a cruise.  I was instantly addicted.

Just about all massages were about the same though until I experienced Rick Neumann’s massage.

I was hooked and came back again and again.  Rick is the most thorough and complete massage therapist that I have ever had the pleasure of receiving a massage from.

Imagine my delight when I learned that Rick and his wife Robbie were going to be holding a couple’s massage class on a weekend.

My wife and I instantly signed up.  In just 12 hours, Rick and Robbie taught us both enough skills to give each other a complete full body massage. 

In fact, that is how the class ended.  I gave my wife a full body massage and she gave me one.  We went from knowing nothing about massage to being able to give a basic massage to each other in just two days!

Now, my wife and I can enjoy a great massage any time right at home from each other.

This has changed my life.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart Rick and Robbie!

You can find Rick and Robbie’s massage school on the ‘net here:

http://www.CRMassageSchool.com

-James D. Brausch

Do you have a tourist attraction in Costa Rica?

Would you like us to review it in the same way we reviewed Finca Maquengue Falls and Xandari?

Are you willing to offer the readers of Costa Rica HQ a significant discount if they bring a coupon from us?

Great!  Please leave a comment on this blog post and we’ll get in touch and set something up.

-James D. Brausch

Last Thursday we spent a day at Finca Mequengue Falls near Limon on the Carribean coast.

You can see the pictures here:

http://www.CostaRicaHq.org/Maquengue

It was an great day with horseback riding and climbing down a 400 foot deep gorge to see the perfect swimming hole being fed by an awesome waterfall.

I highly recommend a visit.  We’ll be going  back for sure.

-James D. Brausch

Whenever you travel to another country food questions come up. The first time we came to Costa Rica we weren’t really sure what to expect.  We didn’t know if we needed to be extremely careful about not getting a stomach bug of some kind or if food and drinks were pretty much safe.  We didn’t know what to expect about the diet either - would it be like what were are used to back home in Utah, or more like Mexican food?  Since we are pretty much OK with any food (we aren’t picky eaters), we weren’t too worried about that last point, but it did pop up a few times, and I’m sure some a lot of other people worry about what they will eat.

Let’s be really clear.  The food here is just great.  It is simple for the most part, but very good.  Of course you can get fancy meals if you want, but just regular daily food is good and not too expensive.  A good meal in a decent restaurant will cost you about $20.  If you want to eat in a small Soda (small restaraunt frequented by the locals), you can often get a great meal for only about $2.

If you’re going to rent a place here for longer term as I suggest you do, you’ll be able to get pretty much anything you’re used to back home.  The brand names may be a little different, but you should be able to find what you’re looking for.  If you hire a nanny or cook for your time, you should have no trouble at all.  They’ll take care of all the shopping and cooking for you.

A typical breakfast for us isn’t really all the different from what we might have back in the US except that rice and beans (called Gallo Pinto) are the staple.  Those will often be served with fried eggs and sausage.

In Escazu you can find some of the bigger American fast food restaurants.  But the local food is plenty good enough that I don’t know why you’d ever want to eat at one.  I mean isn’t that one of the main reasons to come here - to try and enjoy local food, culture and nature?  If you’re really into it, you may as well at least try KFC.  You can find one in the Plaza de Cultura in San Jose.  You will be surprised at how much bigger and better the chicken is here… even at KFC.

There are tons of good, clean local restaurants, and the resorts and spas we’ve visited have all had excellent food and service.

Is the food clean?

If you are eating out and established restaurants, the food is safe and clean.  Eating at a market of from a street vendor might not be the smartest thing you’ll ever do.  We’ve managed to stay relatively healthy while we’ve been here, but not 100%.  Did we get sick from the food or water?  Only once.  I was in San Jose and ordered tacos from a street vendor.  That didn’t work out so well.  In the other several months that we have eaten in restaraunts and at home, we have never had a problem.  The water is extremely good here.  There is absolutely no reason to drink bottled water.

If you are careful about where you eat, and avoid greasy spoon joints like you would back home and pay attention to keeping clean hands before you eat that will really help. It is just common sense.

When you travel or live in someplace new the food is never the same as back home.  You can complain about that if you want to, I personally choose not to.  Here in Costa Rica the food is good and not overly expensive.  Can you get sick?  Sure, but then again there are cases of food poisoning every day in the US.  If that doesn’t stop you from going out back home, I don’t see why it should here either.

-James D. Brausch

Costa Rican corporations end with the abreviation S.A. which loosely stands for Anonymous Society.

I recently formed a corporation here.  As you may know, all jurisdictions have rules for number of shareholders, directors, etc.

In Costa Rica, you need two shareholders, four directors and four officers to form a corporation.  The two shareholders must be different people.  The four directors must also be different people (but can be among those who are also shareholders).  The four officers can theoretically all be the same person.

Among the officers, only the President and the Secretary have any power.  The other two officers are window dressing.

One of the directors must be a Costa Rican.

In the corporation I formed, my wife and I were the initial shareholders.  We are also part of the initial team of directors.  A Costa Rican friend and his wife filled out the other two mandatory director positions.  I am the first president of the corporation, my wife is the initial secretary and my Costa Rican friend and his wife are the other two officers.

Of course, now that it is formed, everything can be switched around with a vote of the shareholders (my wife and I) to reorganize the directors or a vote of the directors or shareholders to reorganize the officers.

As in most jurisdictions, the corporation required a registered agent who had to reside in Costa Rica.  Shareholders and all but one director and all officers may reside outside Costa Rica though.

Also a real physical address was required.  I tried to use a Mail Boxes Etc address which I have been able to do in every other jurisdiction I have ever formed a corporation.  They are a physical address. 

Neither attorney said that would be possible though in Costa Rica.  It had to be a real physical address that wasn’t being utilized by a mailing company.  We used the home address of the Costa Rican friend who is also serving as a director and an officer. 

Six books are provided.  Required corporate paperwork appears to be much more complicated than a Nevada corporation (as an example).  However, attorney services are very inexpensive here (around $20/hour), so I suspect I will simply turn over all of the books to an attorney to comply with the corporate laws.

I was first quoted about $300 to form a corporation.  That attorney never got around to the task though (a common Costa Rican business complaint).  I then went to an expediter who came to my home and made everything happen in two weeks for $600.

I’ll be happy to facilitate the formation of a couple of other Costa Rican corporations for readers of this blog.  I would like to do that just so I can see if there are any other hangups.

Just leave a comment (which won’t be moderated, so your comment will remain between you and me) and I’ll contact you to set it up.

-James D. Brausch

Costa Rica is attractive on many levels.  You can bring your family here safely to travel or live for extended periods.  Your kids can go to school and get a decent education.  Medical care is top quality and virtually free.  You can hire people to help you with almost all of your needs - drivers, nannys, cooks, guides, translators are all available.

The nature is also simply amazing.  My favourite place on earth is here in Costa Rica, a place called Tabacon.  It is a hot springs in the Arenal Volcano National Park.  Here in Tabacon you can enjoy hot springs, a walk through flower-lined paths, or eat a great dinner while watching the smoke and ash steam out of the Arenal Volcano nearby.  Howler monkeys can get a little noisy at times, but that is a tiny price to pay.

The Arenal Volcano National Park is one of about 20 national parks they have here in Costa Rica.  I’ve read that they have a larger pecentage of land set aside as national parks than any other country.  That should tell you a little bit about the country right there.  They are quite progressive and forward minded here and take a lot of pride in their nature.

There are national parks surrounding several other volcanos.  There are several marine sanctuary national parks for whales and sea turtles, and several others setting aside jungle areas to protect rare birds.  In fact where you’re down here, you’ll find that a lot of the tourists from Canada and the US come here to birdwatch.

While it isn’t a national park, the Monte Verde forest reserve is another fun place to go with the family.  It is a cloud forest and has some great trails for walking and bird watching.  It is one of the very few places left in the world where you can actually hope to see the Quetzal.  It also has zip lines set up that let you fly through the forest canopy.  We did this on our last trip here and it was one of the highlights for sure.

One more I’ll mention is the Chirripo national park.  It contains the highest mountain in Costa Rica.  It has limited access because so many people were going there that a lot of damage was being done.  It is a two day affair to climb the mountain, and you’ll need to make a reservation to do the climb, but it is a climb that is well worth the effort.  The climb is hard, but doesn’t require any technical skill.  I spoke with two seventy year old Canadians the other day who had just finished the climb.  They said that even though they ached all over, it was the best thing they’d done on their trip so far.

There are many other parks that you can visit or stay at while you are here.  You’ll just need to decide what you want to do and see and then choose the park that suits you best.  If it turns out to not be exactly what you’re looking for, there are lots more to try.

-James D. Brausch

High in the hills of Escazu in San Jose is a restaraunt named Le Monastere which means The Monastery.

It is called that because it used to be a monastery.  In fact, the chapel is still a part of the restaraunt and you can visit it and see some very old relics after you enjoy some fine dining.

This is one of my favorite fine dining experiences in Costa Rica.  It sits on top of a hill looking over Escazu, Heredia and San Jose.  The view is incredible.

The food is even better.  This is true fine dining by any standards.

The cost?  Only about $30/plate.

Just tell your taxi driver “Le Monastere restarante en Escazu” and he’ll get you there.  Choose a newer taxi because the hill to get to the restaraunt is very steep and can’t be climbed by an older car with a weaker transmission.

It is well worth the climb though.  This is my favorite place to visit when I’m yearning for something less typical of Costa Rican food.

Here is their web-site:

http://www.monastere-restaurant.com/

-James D. Brausch

I’ve driven in Costa Rica in the past.  It wasn’t nearly as scary as it looks.

However, I really don’t drive here anymore.  It’s not necessary.  The public transportation system, taxi system and daily driver system is excellent.  However, renting a car or purchasing a car is extremely expensive.

Life without a car is certainly different than the U.S. lifestyle.  The fact is that it is the best way to go in several parts of the world including many parts of Europe and latin America (including Costa Rica).

Why?

Well, the roads here are horrible.  They aren’t very well maintained and are full of pot holes.  In addition, they are narrow and there are deep gorges on each side to handle the massive run-off that occurs from tropical storms.  You will never be able to relax and drive on auto-pilot here like you probably do in the U.S. (I know I did).  You must be constantly extremely alert and concentrate on driving without thinking about anything else.

The alternatives are all much, much better.

Let’s start with a private driver.  You can generally hire a driver with a van for an entire day for around $100-$140.  That is for a bilingual driver with a nice vehicle.  Fuel is included in that cost.   So if you are planning a trip to the coast or the border… or some other day trip to a tourist destination, consider a daily driver.  Leave a comment here and I’ll be happy to give you the contact information to a couple of drivers I recommend.

For shorter trips (but including intercity trips in the central valley between San Jose, Alejuela and Heredia) the taxi service is excellent.  The official licensed taxis are all red with a yellow triangle on their side.  You can hail a taxi in just about any town from just about any street if you wait 10 or 15 minutes.  Just put out your arm to hail a taxi. 

If you are on a street that doesn’t have a taxi coming by every few minutes, look around above the roof line of the houses.  In some direction, you will likely see the Catholic church in that town since it is usually several stories tall.  Walk that direction and the number of taxis that go by will continue to increase as you get closer to the church.  On one side of the church, there will even be a line of taxis waiting for you to select one.

The cost is low.  Going between the major cities of the central valley generally costs less than 10,000 colognes ($20).  Short trips become ridiculously inexpensive.  We like a restaurant in the next town over that is about 10 km away (6 miles).  The cost is generally about 1,000 colognes ($2).

For even more inexpensive service, try the bus system.  It is very easy to understand.  There are 7 provinces in Costa Rica.  The three in the central valley are San Jose, Alejuela and Heredia.  There are several major cities in each province.  The main city in each of those three central valley provinces is named the same as the province (so there is a city called Heredia in the Heredia province).  The cities are then divided into barrios.

So let’s say you are in the San Pedro barrio of the San Jose city in the San Jose province and you want to go to the San Francisco barrio of the city of San Isidro of the Heredia province. 

First, you will see a bus labeled San Pedro/San Jose coming through your barrio.  You are in San Pedro and this bus goes between San Pedro and San Jose so it will take you to the city center of San Jose.

Then you will see a bus that says San Jose/Heredia.  Since you are in San Jose, you know you can take this bus to the main city in Heredia (which is also called Heredia).

When you get there, you will see a bus that says Heredia/San Isidro.  You are in Heredia, so you know this bus goes to San Isidro.  When you get there, you will find a bus labeled San Isidro/San Francisco which will take you to your destination.

BTW, I made up city and barrio names in the above example.  It was just an example.

However, it allows you to see how simple it is.  It’s just a hub and spoke system of provinces, cities and barrios (neighborhoods).  You just go toward the hub of your own province until you get there and then go to another province and work your way out on the spokes to the destination barrio.

Of course, you can also mix it up.  You can always take a taxi to the main bus stop in the main city of your province and then take the bus to another province and then go back to a taxi for your final trip.  That way you get the relatively inexpensive local taxi rides and make the main part of the trip on the very inexpensive bus system.

The buses are very clean and relatively safe.  If you are standing, you should look for pickpockets… especially if you are in San Jose.  The chance of a violence problem on a bus is extremely low (probably much lower than driving in any U.S. city).

Get out there and have some fun without a car.  There is really no need for one.  The transportation system in Costa Rica is excellent!

-James D. Brausch 

Check this out:

http://acrtours.wordpress.com/2008/01/29/tortuguero-samoa-lodge/

-James D. Brausch

Yesterday we visited Tabacon in Costa Rica.  We’ve been there several times before and it never disappoints.

Tabacon has a number of natural pools heated by the volcano Arenal.  It sits at the foot of the volcano catches the water run-off that comes down that very active volcano.

As you sit in the hot springs (average 40.4 degrees celsius), you might hear some rumbling as the volcano erupts.  From my favorite pool, you can even see the puffs of steam and smoke that are spewed into the air whenever it erupts.

There is a swim up bar and an excellent spa.  A deep tissue massage is $130.

The entire area is covered in typical Costa Rican foilage and lots of wild life can be seen.  Don’t be surprised to see a howler monkey in the trees above you or a basilisk lizard running across the water.  Both are very common.  Toucans and other birds are even more common.

Tabacon is my favorite place on earth.  I’ll have a page up with pictures soon.  I highly recommend a visit to Tabacon whenever you visit Costa Rica.

-James D. Brausch

Last week, we visited a very special paradise in Costa Rica called Xandari.

You can see our pictures here:

http://www.CostaRicaHQ.org/Xandari

This is truly a heaven on earth.  Check out the pictures for yourself and let me know what you think!

-James D. Brausch

In general, Costa Rica is an extremely safe place.  Crime statistics are much, much lower than in the United States (for example).

However, there are some caveats that I will share to increase your safety even more.

There are bars on the windows of houses here for a reason.  Theft is barely against the law here. 

I have heard (but not confirmed) that it is simply not against the law to steal something worth less than $500.  That is similar to laws in most states in the U.S. that make theft below a certain amount a misdemeanor instead of a felony.  However, here… it is apparently simply not against the law to steal something with a value less than about $500.

I have also heard (but not confirmed) that a caught thief is given the chance to repay the victim on the theft in lieu of going to jail.  That applies even if the amount is greater than $500!

With that kind of legal system, you can see why you could easily become the victim of theft.

We have!  Our first visit here, my wife left a $300 ring on a nightstand while we went to lunch.  This was inside a hotel room.  There was only one maid who had access to our room.  The ring was missing

The hotel responded by helping us look for the ring.  We offered a $300 reward (because it had sentimental value).  We didn’t get the ring back.

However, we have now spent over 3 months here with no other incidents.  Once we understood that theft was barely against the law here, we took simple precautions and have never had a problem.

Those precautions are:

When downtown in any crowd, carry your pack or purse in front of you.  Carry your passport and money in a front pocket, not a rear pocket.  Don’t wear expensive jewelry or watches.

Avoid downtown San Jose (the capital city).  This is the location of most violent crime in Costa Rica.  The perpetrators are usually foreigners (Columbians and Nicaraguans are blamed for most violent crime).  Don’t visit downtown San Jose after dark.

Lock your car.  Make sure there is a person with an orange vest in the area (they watch cars).  You should point out your car and promise them a large tip.  A large tip is 500 colognes or about $1.

Actually, I don’t recommend having a car here, but that is the subject of another post.  Taxis and buses as well as private drivers are plentiful and cheap here.  

But follow the above if you do have a car.  Don’t leave it without a local watching it.  Don’t worry about that local being in cahoots with a group.  That doesn’t really happen.  The orange vest is enough to let you know you can trust them.  A large tip promise keeps them vigilant.

Outside of San Jose, violent crime is almost unheard of.  Don’t let the above scare you.  This is an extremely safe country. 

-James D. Brausch

Yesterday was date day for us (the day my wife and I set aside for just us… the kids go to a babysitter… or in this case are left home with their nanny and we go out and spend the day with each other.)

Back in Utah, we usually just have a date night. That’s because it’s difficult to find an all day babysitter. We also generally just go to a movie or dinner or sometimes get a massage or visit the temple or something. All of the activities we generally consider in Utah only take a couple of hours.

Somehow, here it has migrated into a date day instead of a date night. During this trip, our first date day was the horseback riding. I planned that one.

Kristi planned yesterday. It was a blast. We went to Xandari in Alajuela. Xandari is an upscale hotel/spa/nature area owned by an excentric gringo who does all of his own art and design on the place. It has a very special atmosphere.

We started with a massage. The massage rooms have only three walls and a thatched roof. The fourth wall looks over an immaculate garden of several acres. It was very nice to have a massage while occasionally feeling the warm Costa Rican breezes as though we were completely outside. The sounds of birds making happy noises contributed to the effect.

My wife chose a 90 minute massage. We had one the day before, so 90 minutes ended up pretty much turning both of us into jello.

Then we had a one hour facial which included a hand treatment in warm gloves. I remember the therapist asking me how I liked it at the end and it took a full minute before I could use speech to answer her question. It was fantastic!

We then had an awesome lunch at the hotel. Our server was our driver’s niece (small country) so we had fun exchanging embarassing stories about Francisco (our driver). I had ceviche de camarrone (shrimp marinated in a lime, onion, tomato and cilantro sauce) for a first course and tacos de alambre de pollo (a special kind of Costa Rican chicken taco which is muy deliciouso) for the main course.

My drink was pina in lecha (pineapple juice in milk) which is another Costa Rican specialty (although my favorite is guanabana in leche). A coconut flan for dessert topped off the meal. We ate outside overlooking the Alejuela valley and watching the various wild life play.

The rest of the afternoon was spent swimming and laying around the pool-side. I’ll have pictures up either here soon.

If you ever make it to Costa Rica, I highly recommend a day at Xandari. It is a very unique and satisfying paradise embedded in the larger paradise called Costa Rica.

-James D. Brausch

Costa Rica Internet is currently socialized under government control.  Normally, you would take that as a red flag.  However, I haven’t had any real problems in Costa Rica with Internet service.  I am quite sure that if I ever have an outage, that I will have to deal with the normal problems of dealing with any government who doesn’t really care about their customers.

In addition, CAFTA (TLC) passed here and one of the criteria was opening up telecommunications to international competition.  Several companies have already started to implement alternatives to the government service (called ICE) here.

How about costs?  I pay $60/month for 500K upload and 2mb download speed.  I actually get that or at least 75% of that almost all of the time.  I have had no outages that lasted longer than 5 minutes.  I use ICE’s DSL service.  Lower cost services with lower bandwidth are available and much more common here.

Getting Internet set up in your home takes quite awhile if you just go through standard channels.  I have a neighbor who has been waiting for several months.

This is something you should learn very early on in your dealings in Costa Rica.  Tips or service fees are very important.  If you receive very good service from anyone, you should give a tip or pay a service fee.  If you want very good service for a future event, you should pay a tip in advance.

Maybe that’s about as far as I can go to explain that concept.  The equivalent of $10 or $20 goes a very long way to ensuring that you will receive excellent and prompt service here.

Of course, you don’t need Internet access in your home here.  Internet cafes are as common as small restaurants (called sodas), tiny grocery stores (called minisupers) and abogados (attorneys).  You literally can’t walk 2 kilometers in any town in any direction without finding all of the above.

The Internet cafes open early and close late.  Some are 24 hour.  The cost is about $1/hour (500 colognes/hour) and the speed and conditions of the computers is excellent.  Many Internet cafes are operated by English speakers.  Many have Skype installed on one or more computers and have headsets (although for sanitary reasons, you may want to bring your own headset).  You can make telephone calls for about 2 cents per minute just about anywhere in the world with Skype.

In fact, many Costa Ricans have a Skype phone at home for making international calls.  Skype isn’t just for geeks here.  Just about everyone knows what it is and if they have any international friends or relatives, have a Skype number and a Skype phone at home.

Internet access is excellent in Costa Rica.  A lack of reliable Internet access is definitely NOT one of the reasons that would rule out Costa Rica for a visit or residence for anyone.

-James D. Brausch

Would you like to live in Costa Rica either part-time or full-time?

There are a number of things that need to be done to make that happen. It always takes some time getting to know a new country and how to get everything set up. I recently did rent a place in Costa Rica and get settled here so that I can live here a majority of the year.

It took me two months. It occurred to me that if I had known the ropes, it could have been set up in just a week and had much more time to just enjoy being here. Costa Rica is an awesome place to live part-time or full-time, but the annoyances of getting settled are never fun. This package will help you get through all of those annoyances in just a week with a very minimal investment.

Included in the pre-paid package price is:

1. Hotel stay for a week until you can find and secure a rental or purchase a home (I recommend renting at first).

2. A driver to all of the other services listed below for that week. Driving in Costa Rica is not for the faint of heart. I recommend using a driver. This package includes all costs for a driver including gasoline, guide and translations services for the week it will take to get settled. This is all included in this package price.

3. A one hour appointment with an attorney to brief you on your immigration options. Plan your first trip for 90 days or less… everything else will be explained at this appointment. There is no additional charge for the attorney fees for this appointment. It is part of the package.

4. Assistance in finding a rental or purchasing a home (I recommend you start by renting a home… you can do that with a month-to-month rental agreement with no obligation to continue after the first month). Before you arrive, we will ask you for your requirements (ie: location, bedrooms, bathrooms, budget, etc.) and have a list of potential rentals or homes available for sale for you to look at. We can handle all budgets. I pay only $320/month for a large 3 bedroom 2 1/2 bath. Assistance in finding your rental or home purchase is included in the package price. Of course the actual rent or purchase price of the home is not included nor are any deposits. Those are between you and the landlord or owner. We will assist you to find a house in your budget that meets your requirements though. We will drive you to each location to inspect the potential home and provide translation services between you and the landlord or owner.

5. We will also provide three hours of attorney time to prepare rental or purchase agreements for the home you choose to rent or purchase. This is included in the package price.

6. We will provide assistance with electricity, telephone and Internet setup. You will need to pay for the services, but we will give you bilingual help to get them set up and show you how to pay them on the Internet or in a grocery store.

7. We will provide assistance with purchasing furniture for your new residence. The cost of the furniture is not included, but a driver to the furniture store and delivery and setup at your new residence is included. I paid $1600 to completely furnish my residence. You can declare your budget to the driver and he will take you to the appropriate store.

8. Help in hiring domestic help. I suggest that you hire Spanish speaking domestic help for two reasons. One is that the cost is less. The other is that it will help you to learn Spanish faster. Your guide will speak both Spanish and English though and will assist you in the interview process. Your guide will also show you how to use online services to translate with your new domestic help. We keep a laptop computer on the kitchen counter at all times for that purpose. You will have to pay for the domestic help, but we will help you hire a good person if you wish. This is important because your domestic help really becomes a part of your family during your stays in Costa Rica. The going rate for domestic help is about $300-$500/month. Lower rates are also possible. Just tell your guide your budget and they will set up interviews with domestic help in your budget range.

9. We will provide help in getting your drivers license. Your guide will drive you to the MOPT (equivalent of the DMV here in Costa Rica). Your guide will show you all of the steps to get your driver’s license. The cost will be about $20 and it will take 1 to 3 hours.

10. We will help you get two references and documentation (utility bills) required to open a bank account. Your guide will tell you the steps and explain the differences between the Costa Rican national banks and the international banks. Most Costa Rican banks require the above to open an account. It can take some time to meet two people willing to be references and to get your utility bill documentation so your guide will help you with both of those tasks.

All of this will take approximately one week. You will have three days to select a house during that week.

At the end of that week, you should be settled and able to live in Costa Rica for the rest of your 90 day stay. You should be familiar with all of the resources you need to do that. You can then live comfortably in the tropical paradise called Costa Rica until the end of your 90 day stay. You can then leave for 72 hours and then return to Costa Rica for another 90 days.

Many people repeat that for the rest of their lives. Others travel half of the year or spend summers in their original country. Still others start the immigration process. You will have been briefed on the immigration options by a qualified attorney during your week of orientation so you can make an educated decision.

I spent two months getting the above done when I decided I wanted to live part-time in Costa Rica. The goal of this package is to allow you to do all of the same for one low cost in only one week.

The cost for this package will be $3,000. During this 24 hour special though, you can get it for $2,100 if you agree to write a one page letter giving feedback on your experience once you are settled. We want to use your feedback to either improve our program (if you have any negative feedback). We want to use your positive feedback as testimonials for those wishing to take advantage of this program in the future.

To reserve your week, please send $2,100 to PayPal@JamesBrausch.com before noon tomorrow (Costa Rican time which is GMT-6). This offer closes at noon and the price will be $3,000 for this package after that time.

I would have personally jumped at this offer when I made the decision to move here part-time. Instead, I fumbled around for two months trying to figure out how everything worked. I also spent far more than $3,000 to get settled… more like $7,000-$8,000 because I didn’t know the ropes.

Don’t make that mistake. Get a quality Costa Rican bilingual guide who is an expert at all of the above and just get it done in a week… then relax and start enjoying the paradise called Costa Rica as a resident instead of a tourist. It’s a great life. I know. I live it myself.

-James D. Brausch

I received an interesting question from a Norte-Americana (that’s what Costa Rican’s call U.S./Canadians… remember that Costa Rica is in America, so it’s not very polite to call yourself American and pretend that Costa Rican’s aren’t American).

They asked me if home schooling was legal here.  It’s a funny question to a Costa Rican.  The government just doesn’t meddle in the private life of residents here.  The government still believes that it’s purpose is to serve it’s population here in Costa Rica.  I know that’s a pretty big shock to the average U.S./Canadian citizen who has the government regulating everything from what kind of milk you can drink to whether you can home school your kids, but it’s true.

So… yes… you can home school your kids here!  I know a family who does.  They home school both their kindergartener and their teenager.

Their teenager also attends a public school part-time in a program called “Spanish Immersion.”  The program is free for touristas (tourists and residents who are using a tourista visa… meaning they leave every 3 months for 72 hours to stay compliant with the immigration laws, but have not applied for residency).

From what I’ve heard, the public schools aren’t that strong on education.  You could have a problem if you partially raised a child in the public schools here and then moved back to the U.S. or another western country with a higher education standard.

However, the private schools are often excellent and costs start at just $300/month.  You would also want to consider a private school if you wanted a English language curriculum rather than having your child learn Spanish for school.

Private tutors are also readily available.  A college educated private tutor would cost somewhere around $600-$1,000 per month.  Remember that the average salary for Costa Ricans is about $600/month, so if your income is coming from U.S. sources, you can afford the very best here in Costa Rica.

-James D. Brausch

Many people are concerned about health care.

The good news is the Costa Rica’s health care is much better than in the United States by just about any measurement we could find.  The World Health Organization, infant survivability rates, overall life expectancy and every other measurement shows Costa Rica to be a much healthier place to live than the United States. You’ll have to look up the statistics if you want to compare to another country.

There is a free universal access health care system in Costa Rica.  I’m not sure if it is available to tourists or residents.  I suspect it is, but I have never tried to access it.

Running in parallel to the free health care system is a very low cost and high quality health care system.  Most doctors that work for the state sponsored health care system also have private practices in the afternoon in their own offices or in one of the private hospitals.

I developed a cough during one of my stays and went to a private doctor.  The cost was $15 and he thoroughly examined me and gave me several prescriptions.  I was apparently alergic to one of the prescriptions and had a bad reaction.  I returned to that doctor and received replacement prescriptions.  On the way out, I asked for the bill.  There wasn’t one.  The doctor felt that his first consultation hadn’t worked out for me, so there was no charge for the 2nd consultation.

When could you ever expect to see a doctor for $15 in the United States?  When would you ever expect a doctor to take responsibility for the outcome and not charge for a follow-up visit in the United States?

The cough spread to my two children a year old and two years old.  I wanted them to be seen by the best doctor in the country.  I couldn’t risk an adverse reaction like I had.  After asking around, I got an appointment at Clinica Biblica which is one of the private hospitals in Costa Rica.

It was very modern and typical of a United States hospital except that the ceilings were low (Costa Rican’s are shorter on average than U.S. residents).  The wait was only 15 minutes.  My boys received a very thorough exam and received shots and oral prescriptions.  The total cost was $50 each.  Try that in the U.S.  The treatment worked just fine this time.

Recently my 14 month old who is learning to walk climbed up on the couch arm and took a dive for the tile floor head first.  This was the most tramatic need we have had for medical service.  We live in Heredia and it is 45 minutes to Clinica Biblica.  I was worried about a concussion. 

We immediately took a taxi to Clinica Biblica and was seen in 10 minutes in the emergency room.  The doctor agreed that we needed xrays to see what was under the 1.5 inch lump on Peter’s forehead.  We were in and out of radiology in 20 minutes.  The doctor saw us again immediately to review the xray.  There was no fracture.

He prescribed pain and inflamation medication for Peter and we went to pay the bill.  The bill was less than $100.  I paid $100 and received some change.  I didn’t notice how much, but I suspect the total bill was about $90.  Try that in an emergency room in the United States.

Also, they have no address for us… so we absolutely know there will be no additional bills.  In the U.S., you can receive new bills for various services up to a year later.  They also have no credit card information.  The $90 was it.  It’s done and paid for.

An additional benefit to healthcare in Costa Rica is that most things that are prescriptions in the U.S. can be purchased over the counter at any farmacia in Costa Rica.  Farmacias are as plentiful as grocery stores and small restaurants here.  You just go to the farmacia and tell them what ails you and a qualified pharmacists (who usually studied in the U.S.) will give you what would be a prescription drug in the U.S.  You completely bypass the doctor, the associated costs and the waiting.  You just get the medication you need.  Try that in the U.S.?

Downsides?

All of the major hospitals are in the central valley area.  If you wish to live on the coast, you may have a 2-3 hour drive to a major hospital.

The roads are horrible in Costa Rica.   In a true emergency, even living close to a hospital can result in being stuck in a traffic jam or trapped by weather.

The ambulance service is reported to be very poor both in terms of response time and in terms of quality of care.  They just aren’t as well trained on average as U.S. EMTs and paramedics, nor do they have as much specialized equipment.

As you can imagine… even with those downsides… We love Costa Rica when it comes to healthcare!

-James D. Brausch