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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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  […]

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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 […]

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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.  […]

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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, […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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Check this out:
http://acrtours.wordpress.com/2008/01/29/tortuguero-samoa-lodge/
-James D. Brausch

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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 […]

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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

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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