Moving to San Jose in Jan '11. What to expect?

Hello Flower*20!

Welcome to Expat-blog! .

Your discussion has been moved to San Jose forum, enabling you to communicate efficiently with other active members.

Also, i would recommend the San Jose expat network where you could start to establish new contacts.

All the Best!

Regards,
Sheetul

Hi flower*20,

Living in Costa can be awesome at first because everything is new and it like your on an adventure. With time it becomes like any other place, you clearly see the flaws and realize it's no paradise. I don't know what part of San Jose your going to live in, if it's the city, well I've never really liked the city. There are many things for you to do all over C.R. even if you live in San Jose. What will you miss the most? That hard to say,I miss my friends and family at times, sometimes I just miss the comodites the U.S offer.
I recommend Rubiatica's blog since she is also a TEFL teacher as yourself, you'd probably enjoy reading her experience, my blog is Costa Rica On My Mind if you'd like to stop by, I'm also in my twentys and have been here for about 5 years now. This is a link to a post of my top ten : Why I Love Costa Rica
j-costarica.blogspot.com/2010/08/top-ten-why-i-love-costa-rica

Hope it helps, I wish the best to you!

Hola, we are about the same age. I've been in Costa Rica for 6 months now.
Best thing about living in Costa Rica is the people - they are incredible. So genuinely nice, laid back, and respectful. The landscape and climate are awesome, too. So is all the fresh fruit!

San José is not the cleanest or safest place in Costa Rica, but an advantage of living there is that you will have access to more creature comforts than you would if you were living on the beach or in the mountains. Plus you have access to the central bus station if you want to get out of the city! I live in Alajuela, which is very close to San José.

What I miss the most is my tennis team - I use to play 4 or 5 days out of the week. So far here I have only found one person to play with and he was way more advanced than I ever was, so it really wasn't that much fun. I also miss cheap yoga classes.
Sometimes I also miss bathtubs...and big bathrooms...and big kitchens...not too much, though.
pura vida!

San Jose' is not for everyone. It's dirty, crowded, has a certain amount of crime, and traffic is horrible and pedestrians get hit regularly, and the sidewalks have holes in them so you have to really watch where you're walking, oh, and the diesel fumes will choke you.

Now the bad parts...



Sorry, I see no reason to sugar coat this...

But now the good parts:

San Jose' is a lot of fun if you like to watch people and meet people and drink coffee and have access to decent restaurants and culture and so on.

I actually am one of the few people who like San Jose' (in spite of my 1st paragraph's criticisms). Many people really HATE it!

As to the downside, if you're careful you can avoid crime, you can learn to avoid most streets where diesel fumes are worst, and you just have to learn to be careful of holes and traffic.

I would not personally want to live in San Jose' but I have lived on the edge of town and I did enjoy it just fine. I recommend living somewhere like Zapote where you can take a bus into town and be there in 10 minutes or take a taxi for not too much money. Zapote is much more rural/quiet (at least it was 15 years ago when I lived there) and is much more livable. I'd definitely look towards living outwards from San Jose', not IN it.

Hope this helps.