Friends in Costa Rica, help me out!

Your only real option to avoid gringo pricing is to go there, stay in whatever cheap place you can find, and start asking around. Sometimes you can even get good prices from gringos, if you are in the right place at the right time.

Otherwise, read the ads in La Nacion. You might look around in Puriscal, San Ramon, Cartago, etc. Those are some guesses. $200 might be possible but it's going to be difficult to find that these days unless it's a Tico built dump with lousy electricity and lousy plumbing. I think $400 is much more likely.

Pvros wrote:

I lived there all last year...  And I went back and visited last month.  You will not find a good price.  The prices are high, they are USA type prices everywhere in CR for housing, for food, for all types of goods.

The locals paid the same price for goods that I did, and everything is expensive.

That seems a bit of an exaggeration, although I guess it could be true in some areas. Did you live in an expensive beach area or expensive part of San Jose' suburbs?

Food has gone up and on some things yes it is the price of USA, even more (pizza for instance), and you can get cheap beer cheaper in the USA.

All in all though, veges are cheaper, fruit is cheaper and I assume chicken and fish are cheaper in Costa Rica as well. Housing certainly is cheaper if you look around. I know of brand new 2 bedroom homes being rented for $600/month. Maybe you can get that in Indiana or Oklahoma or etc but not in California or other sunny states.

Prices have gone up in Costa Rica, but still many things are cheaper and the overall cost of living is cheaper than in sunny USA states.

I posted befoe in this string or a similar one, I live near Montezuma cofortably for one thousand per month. I have a modern (by tico standards) two bedroom house close to the beach. I shop at the farmers market and buy fish chicken milk eggs and cheese from the locals and I still have plenty of beer money. Dont try to continue living Ameican style if your funds are limited,if you assimilate you can have a great life here.

Food prices are about double than in the US. That is all across the board: meat, veggies (even bought at farmer's markets) and shelf stable. Fish is super expensive and where I am living now, I can see the ocean and I buy off a back of a truck...and I am NOT getting the blue-eyed tax. A large pizza, which is a medium by US standards, runs $13+. Also remember there is a 23% restaurant tax as well. A home rental for $600 will leave you disappointed. I am not a flashy person by any stretch, but I like a nice toilet, a non leaky roof, and something not covered with ants...hence, I will pay $1000 for a nice 2 bedroom. Sure, some places are cheaper but they are Tico tiny. I like a little more elbow room and places for friends to stay. For people that are new to CR, I highly recommend staying in familiar areas like the Central Valley or Northern Guanacaste. Rent for a year and then decide for yourself if CR is meant for you. God forbid, do not buy anything until you know what is happening and you have a good lawyer. This is a third world country. It is not paradise and we are immigrants. A friend of mine said, the two things you need the most of in CR is money and patience...and in that order.
This is a good place to start looking for rentals. Some friends had success on craigslist too. www.encuentra24.com
Good luck!

Wow DDT! Food prices in my neck of the woods are LESS than the states. I dont buy any American food products though. My once a week farmers market trip costs me around $20, that gets me  two large bags of produce that would cost more than double in the states. Fresh fish right of the boat is $5 per kilo (2.2 lbs for those who dont know) $5 for a whole chicken off the truck. And the local butcher shop is less than half the US price on almost everything! I buy raw milk from my neighbor for $1 per liter. Farmfresh eggs are less than half the US price. One of the best things is that I get to see where all these things come from!

Since you live in Montezuma be very careful where you buy your fish. Currently fisherman are not allowed to harvest from the Nicoya gulf because of a red tide, so I try and buy deep water fish. Farmer's markets are certainly the way to shop, but other than things that are in season, I don't see much of a price difference from the US, where I also used farmer's markets. Also consider that CR is the number one consumer of pesticides...IN THE WORLD. So I am very careful about what I buy too, spending more on organic when I can. Right now, it is the rainy season and there are a lot of "dengue" cases. Personally, I think it is because the septic tanks are overflowing and people are getting sick via contaminated water. That is only my opinion, but there is not a waste water treatment plant anywhere on the peninsula.

Yeah.. I know all about it

Pvros wrote:

No exaggeration.  You need to have been to Costa Rica recently so you could answer the question.  As for location lived, my work site was in Limon, my office was in the San Jose area, Escazu, and I also spent time on the pacific side to golf at Los Suenos in Herradura.  Maybe you should see for yourself instead of guessing.

Thanks for clarifying where you lived and worked. I didn't live there but I know in San Ramon the prices are still lower than in the USA for MOST stuff.

Not sure why you think I'm guessing. I spent a couple months in Costa Rica this year and a couple months last year and keep in close contact with a number of friends who live there full time so they tell me what is going on, on a regular basis. I know prices have gone up, no doubt, but like I said, some things are higher in  Costa Rica and some are not.

Here's some stats on prices in San Jose' Costa Rica vs San Jose California:
Compare San Jose CA to San Jose Costa Rica on numbeo.com