My Move To Paradise

How is it that you became a citizen?

I presume that he meant he gained legal residency when he first moved here. One cannot apply for citizenship until they have lived in the country for at least 7 years.

I was married to a Costa Rican lady for a period of time. Now divorced.

I came here married to a Costa Rican she left for a guy in Kentucky to get her green card. I remained here because I love everything about Costa Rica and the people.

Hi Herbert L
I am an Australian and have a plan to work or another 2 years ( kids finished school) and then want to start a working farm in Costa Rica for people seeking a break from the pressures of society mainly targeted people from USA and Australia and locals.
How did you manage with the language and finding a good area to live. I have already gone through my second divorce and i need to have a different lifestyle.
Love a few pointers so as i can start looking at areas and learning Spanish, paperwork,  applications, cost of land .   Would be greatly appreciated

I live in the middle of coffee plantations.
Google: Naranjo
The soil is so rich and climate is perfect.
Centralized transportation.

Only crime is that you can't come for 2 years.

Many thanks.
I will look up the area. I will visit to have a look around when travel is allowable.
Would it be advisable to learn some conversational Spanish after all i have got  a few years to wait!!

Yes it would be helpful if you learned spanish. I've traveled here, Colombia and Nicaragua using google translate. Bought property and had a house built using a tralslate app

I'm waiting now to return to the Philippines. Spent last year there and loved it.
Beaches and women are incredible. Google
Dumaguete PH

Philippines sounds like paradise too. I will have a look at that also. Thank you for your help. Anything else you think of let me know and i will do the same.

Moving to a beach area will not be the best place to farm. Look towards Cartago in the mountains, where most of the veggies are grown.

I suggested the coffee growing region not the beach

HerbertL, I know Naranjo well. It is a nice place.

I  mentioned going to a cooler area, since  Puerto Limón, Limón is mentioned next to Safetydaves name, and that location is hot, humid and prone to flooding.

Great story Herbert. That is indeed a lovely area. I visited a friend who had a finca up in the mountains near there several years ago. I have also spent considerable time in the Philippines in the past decade as I have a GF there, but personally I do think Costa Rica is a much nicer place in many ways. Cleaner,  and less polluted for one thing, and probably safer. The Philippines is still the wild west in some ways.

Herbert L wrote:

Yes it would be helpful if you learned spanish. I've traveled here, Colombia and Nicaragua using google translate. Bought property and had a house built using a tralslate app

I'm waiting now to return to the Philippines. Spent last year there and loved it.
Beaches and women are incredible. Google
Dumaguete PH

Have to agree with that.. 

Yes thats a very true statement.

If you're checking out Narajo, also check out San Ramon.  Town is great - lots of needed amenities (doctors/medical/dentists, etc.) and tons of shops/markets - everything you need in town with great mountain properties just outside town.  If you want anymore information, PM me.

Hello Herbert,
I would love to see some pictures of your glass house. I am building a house in Samara right now and, complicated, would be an understatement to describe it.
Thanks!

Hi Herbert.

It sounds like you made a move for the best to Costa Rica. My name is Andrew and I currently live in Mukilteo, WA, and have lived in Washington for 13 years now, originally from Southern California, Hacienda Heights to be exact. I have pondered the idea of moving to a tropical paradise, whether it be the Yucatan area or further south. Most recently, roughly year to year and a half Costa Rica has caught my eye. When I joined ExPat, I reviewed what seems to be a bunch of hoops to jump through in order to become a citizen in Costa Rica. I guess it's no different than other foreigners moving to the states....if they can do it i can do it LOL  I love my country but we are truly going to hell in a hand basket, faster than we were when my grandfather, and my father used that same term. I have always done well when relocating. I left home at 18 to the Army, moved countless times throughout my 20's around the southland, before settling down and marrying. When that ended in 2005 i moved to Boston to work for a family relative for about 6 months and then to Washington in September 2007. I believe it's time to make my next move, probably the biggest move of my life, but if I don't do it in the near future I may never do it. If you don't mind, or if it's not too much trouble, I'd like to communicate with you to get some pointers. Where to begin would probably be best, and then gradually moving down the checkoff list. I look forward to hearing back from you, and if for some reason you choose not to, I completely understand. But if you do, I want to thank you in advance for any suggestions and assistance you may have for me.     Take care, Andrew Garcia
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