YARGH! A serious post from a goofy pirate about Costa Rica.... [pic]

Briefly Chio... the Carbbean cost is very weathly in eco, and, agree, - it very cheap. There is land there for... can't remember, but I do remember a plot with almost a mile of beach going for .20cents/sq meter, tho that was a few years back. There is a tendency for a higher crime rate on the Caribbean coast, mainly due to drugs trafficking north from some South American countries.

But I'd be looking at..... if you want to live in "city world" - don't dream of living in San Jose - it's crap! :-)

If you want to be near a city, check out places like Escazu which is near San Jose and.... well.. is almost "gringo world" with Macdonalds etc. But even from there, - it's only 20 mins till you are in the countryside.

If you like beaches... head for the Pacific coast!

From San Jose westbound.... there is a lot of choice and several eco systems to choose from.

One thing to be very careful about is buying land in CR... it's not quite the same as some other places and think it is still around 90% of the country is not recorded in the land registry. We paid a large lump of money to ensure our land was secured to the hilt, but once it is, - the land jumps up very substantially in value - far more than any legal fees.

YARGH! Safety be # 1 concern. Internet (high speed) be second. I may look to invest heavily into some land. I read that a new International airport is being planned for the South west tip of the country. Not sure of the name, but that's an area I'd like to know more about.

Chio The Pirate:
Sorry.. missed the "cost of contruction" bit! :-) I got this data someplace, but forget the prices!

You can actually build for $25/sq foot, but the higher end is around $50/sq foot depending on the value of the gold taps in the jacuzzi.

Builders will quote $60 to $90, but better ya just refused their kind offer! :-)

Yea.. that's the main reason I suggest you avoid the Caribbean coast! :-) The rest of the country is little problem on safety.

The area you are referring to is around Osa... Only one year ago the land there was *really* cheap, but most of it has been bought up by "foreigners". Osa is a place with rich eco surroundings and ya can swim with dolphins there.

YARGH! Always too late. Damn! I swim with Dolphins here

Sounds like a case of the right place at the right time -- congrats --


The 4th picture I posted is Arenal (the volcano) -- I stayed at the Arenal Lodge.

You might not recognize Arenal peak, though, from that photograph -- it's kinda close -- the dark material in the upper right third of the photo is lava less than 24 hours old -- still steaming. What looks like a gray river bed in front of me is a trench carved by a previous flow that went all the way to the sea. I think I may have ignored a "Do Not Enter" sign or two on that day -- While I was shooting some pictures in that area, the sounds from the volcano were almost continuous -- mostly a staticy hiss, with a very low frequency harmonic that made your feet tickle through your shoes. Occasionally there'd be a proper eruption -- that happened twice while I was that close. I realized, if the shit really hit the fan, there would be very little I could do. The sound of the eruption at that range was exactly like this: I told to my then-wife, then, and I can still hear it -- it was like a thousand 747s passing overhead. Awesome. Every now now and then you'd also hear what sounded like God was hitting the earth with a giant baseball bat -- sorta like kuuuush, kuuUUush, kuuuUUSH! -- we found out later when we got back to the hotel that those are massive boulders from the center of the earth -- some as large as houses -- cascasing down the mountainside when the lava pushes one out over the top. Costa Rica no joke -- Costa Rica got mucho dnagerous nature can fuck you up --



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Where are ya Chio?? :-)

Na.. there is still some land around, but it takes a bit of hunting for farmer who needs some quick money! :-)

There is no, or very little, land left where we are... those who have it ain't selling cos they know the price will.... probably double in three years. Last year.. around spring, the neighbors on our land were selling at around $70K/hectare, but that is something like $120K/hectare now and little interest in wasting time with potential buyers :-)

Webby, since you seem to have a close-line on the state of the country these days -- what's been the general direction of things since Arias stepped down as president -- ? -- He was a bright guy, Ivy League US-educated, a conservationist -- for his progressive thinking (in both political and environmental spheres) he was almost too good to be true. I can't imagine that such idealism, if deemed a failure by the populace, would leave very many "edifices" of significance standing for very long. What's it like there now, versus Arias administration?


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When I first saw that volcano and realised people actually had homes there at high values, I thought... shit... they gonna be looney! :-)

It was a few years back that there were deaths... but they were people who elected to live below the thing.. odd choice for a home! :-)

Yea.. know these massive bolders!! A while back when the Monseratt volcanco in the Caribbean was active, we took a copter in there. It was desolate, but still steaming. All the land around it had been evacuated and there was a home and garage below it - we lowered down to look at this home and it had a massive bolder the size of a bus on the roof. The garage door was open and a Volvo car still inside :-) There were about eight people who decided they were not leaving their homes at that time and ended up beneath the lava.

I dunno if this was risky or not... the pilot took the copter inside the volcano walls - tho he upped the engine speed to get out quick if shit started.

The main thing in CR to be fussing over is one snake in particular.. Ferdelance, but you are probably lucky if you see one! A friend had a ferdelance "demo" from one of the animal experts - told to hold an unbreakable glass sheet up in front of him and let the snake strike. He says this was like a punch from a 300lb "heavy" on the glass!!

But.. sometimes it's the really small critters that can be more dangerous! :-)

That made me laugh out loud. I know what you mean... the kind of beauty you just can't describe with words and pics don't do it justice. You can just sit there and say DAMN that's beautiful, and take it with you in a memory.

Little doubt Oscar will be back at the next election! :-) He is an honorable man and plenty common sense.

The constitution only permits one term of four years for a President, but they actually changed the constitution to allow Oscar to stand for the Presidency again.

The current Admin, Pacheo is .... probably a well-intentioned man. He is not really a "politician" in the true sense - was trained as a shrink. I get the feeling he is not strong enough to lead cos the inherent nature of people here is to put "people first" along with all "people's rights" blah... and it's not easy to keep a load of people happy all the time! :-) The prime thing about CR people is they have a peaceful country and have all rights afforded to em.

Oscar achieved a good bit during his term - including a settlement re Nicaragua for which he got the Nobel Peace Prize. I was at a dinner... about 18 months back where he was doing a speech. Sheesh.. he ain't holding back from "offending" folks he thinks should be "offended". He ended up with the US Ambassador at the front tables and ripped em apart... but in a very nice way! :-)

More recently he was in Washington giving another one of em speeches ... which went like... "I have many wonderful friends in Washington, but it would be nice to see higher moral standards than those currently on display..."

Despite all that stuff... he is a very nice person and only has the well-being of everyone on the planet in his mind. Yea.. he's almost unreal!! :-)

Currently Oscar is busy on several fronts internationally and doing good stuff - but he'll be back doing another term of President shortly!

Shit.. I'll add.... Tho the current President may not be as "strong" - he has already pushed thru legislation which effectively gives any individual the right to sue the govt for the air they breath if this is "contaminated" :-)

CR was the first country to do this and it's being picked up by several others now..

YARGH! South West Florida. Gulf.

Very nice!!!! :-)

I used to live near Tampa and down Fort Myers way... there are some very nice islands off the coast there!!

YARGH! Sanibels nice

Yea!! Know it well!!!

That was one of the first "nicest" places I've been :-) Tho never got used to the concept of eating gator!!

San Jose is the only real city and the temp there is around 74 with a high of 80 something tho that is on higher altitudes. On the coast it can hit over 100.

The micro climates basically mean you can choose whatever temp you want. Example... 30 mins drive from where I am (it's about 72 despite the middle of the night)... you can be in "Switzerland" complete with Swiss cows and chalets and temps to match Switzerland. Odd when ya consider it's about 8 degrees off the equator :-)

From San Jose westbound there are probably about 6 micro climates, each getting warmer as the altitude drops.

I've not been to Bogata, but suspect it's very similar temp.

YARGH! I was glad to find out Mahi Mahi wasn't Dolphin. It was Dolphin Fish.