rollinthunder

As a Canadian ex-pat who has lived in Vancouver, let me tell you that it is far from the nicest, cleanest city in the world. In fact there are parts of the downtown core that I would consider to be among the most dangerous and dirtiest areas in the world. Granted you can avoid these areas quite easily, Vancouver unfortunately is the hub of vagrant activity in Canada. Due to the milder (and I use this term loosely as it is cold and rainy for most of the year) climate, Vancouver attracts the homeless from across Canada, particularly drug addicts due to lax enforcement. Of course there are beautiful parts of Vancouver and British Columbia in general but it is not even close to the 'nicest, cleanest city in the world'.

As far as Costa Rica goes, I happen to be a permanent resident (who has the same legal rights as a citizen, minus voting) and while it is true that you can most likely get by without official status, I have been reading about recent enforcement actions against ex-pats who have been running active business on a tourist visa. Not that it happens everyday, but if somebody does not like you and makes a complaint it is not entirely impossible that you will become the subject of an investigation. It is not a place you would want to spend time in an immigration lockup. Anywhere you go in the world it is possible to live as a 'webmaster' without legal status, I suppose that Costa Rica is no different.