Julie, thank you again...

- CR weather: Costa Rica is at roughly 10 degrees latitude, so the temperature doesn't change much at all. Likewise, the sunrise and sunset times don't change much (~5:30 a.m. to ~6:00 pm); this is also the reason we don't use daylight savings time (no valid reason for it).  There are basically 2 seasons, rainy (or "green"), and dry (or "summer"). Rainy season is approx May-November.  Weather / seasons vary a bit depending on the region, but this is essentially true for most of the country (the Caribbean, for example is very different).  Temperatures depend on altitude. Our area of the central valley is at about 3000 ft, at the temperatures are usually low 70's - year round.  Humidity is usually upper 70's during rainy season, and is now bouncing around between 55 You do not have to go far to find a change in either.  Alajuela centro is (for example) roughly 10 degrees warmer, and a bit dryer.

- basic CR info: I would suggest some reading - any good guide book will have a few pages on history and weather, as well as short descriptions of the different areas.  That would be a good start. Then you could also read books like "Choose Costa Rica" and "Living Abroad in Costa Rica." Since both of these books have been around a while, and get updated each year, they have good basic info. However, I have noticed that the updates are often incomplete - so take some of the info (particularly on cost of living) with a grain of salt.

- due diligence: yes and no . Yes - We spent a *lot* of time and effort on deciding whether to retire early, and what sort of place we hoped to find.  We had a list of "needs," as well as a list of weighted "wants."  We had a long list of countries, and started ranking them. Costa Rica was at the top, so we finally decided we should visit. (I'd say everyone has a different method for deciding to come here).  No - after less than a week, and staying in only one town, we decided that we would start the paperwork for residency. Some might say that was jumping into the deep end.  But, in our case, it was low risk, and it was important to beat the deadline on an immigration law change (there have been several since then). We did spend the next several years moving around CR, checking out different towns and types of towns, deciding what suited us. (I'd say that puts us back to "yes" on the due diligence question.) For posterity, I captured our pros and cons for each place.