Originally Posted by WarChild

I live in a suburb of San Jose called Escazu. I am from Vancouver, and while I would love to see I spend 8 months in Costa Rica and 4 months in Vancouver, it so far hasn't worked out that way.

Being a declared non resident of Canada is a bit of a tricky thing, and you have to really cut your ties to Canada. Owning a house would make things more difficult, and setting up a rental every year for 4 months is a pain in the ass. It's safe to say I'll be in Costa Rica on a pretty full time basis for the next few years, and then after that who knows what the future holds. I'll visit Vancouver soon, but no extended stays.

Right now I'm renting while my residency is finalized. After that I will buy a place, but probably at the beach. ADSL is not available in most beaches yet, but will be soon. Until that day, I'm suck in the city with two cable modems. They are 1024/256 connections as the cable company just upgraded them to twice as fast for free.

I highly recommend you visit here, then consider moving to Central or South America. Not all countries are as safe and secure as Costa Rica, it's kind of a jewel in that respect.