… for looking this good on his 50th birthday, but he probably just end up with some really cool scar.
Jerk.
Why are his Kentucky genes working so well for him?
Monthly Archive for May, 2011
Page 8 of 9
Nancy was browsing the web looking for a fun vacation spot for our daughter’s 40th birthday. We actually ended up in Barbados, but her search led her to discover Costa Rica.
Yes, we still love to travel, the only difference now is, we pay when we play. In our 40s, we didn’t sweat the small stuff, such as “how are we gonna pay for this vacation?”
When Costa Rica popped up in her search and she started reading about all the boomers that were moving to Costa Rica, she said rather off-handedly “You need to read some of this stuff…”
And instead of a vacation spot, we found a retirement spot.
Boomers have been moving to Costa Rica for:
- affordable retirement
- spring-like climate year ’round
- affordable healthcare
Costa Rica is a country the size of West Virginia, the first country north of Panama, just south of Nicaragua. Because it’s 8 degrees above the equator, it is a tropical climate. But because is very mountainous, the tropical climate is tempered by availability of higher altitudes. Its always springtime in much of the Central Valley!
Once I read a few forums and blogs about living in Costa Rica, I was intrigued by this little bit of paradise. Too good to be true, the skeptic in me said.
I had to see for myself.
It was everything we had read. Costa Rica has everything a boomer could want.
Everything. If you need more than what Costa Rica offers, you have your priorities screwed up.
If you are Mel Gibson rich, it has lush, vast ranches with beautiful ocean frontage.
If you are not Mel Gibson rich, it has small, comfortable mountain homes (like Sedolsoder) and a cost of living that makes it possible to live solely on income from Social Security.
If you love nature it has the tropical rain forests and monkeys and toucans… if you are a beachcomber there are miles and miles of some of the best beaches in the world. Adventure? Ziplining above the rain forest or whitewater rafting down one of seven rivers! Just a site-seer? Many active volcanoes, coffee and cocoa and banana plantations dot the countryside. Do-gooder? Plenty of needs are being met by ex-pats.
OK, I don’t have real estate to sell you, so what’s the down side?
Costa Rica is what the developers call a “developing nation.” (He said without a hint of irony.) You and I would call it “third-world.” But it’s not as bad as true third-world countries such as Somalia and Uzbekistan. Costa Rica is more accurately described as a “less economically developed country.” (LEDC. The orange/gold areas on the map – whatev.)
Note how most of the rest of the world lives as the Ticos do? (Ticos and Gringos live in Costa Rica, neither is considered prejorative.)
Like many baby boomers, we decided to give up the life in our advanced economically developed country that is going broke.
We are getting the hell out of Dodge before the blood starts flowing down the streets. We’ll take a LEDC because it’s gonna get uglier in the U.S.
Really uglier.
America, we loved it, but we’re leaving it.
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Part of a series of posts about retiring and moving to Costa Rica.
As luck would have it, an oldie, but a goodie convinced me I’d lose my head if it wasn’t attached.
It was a real gulley washer, raining like a cow pissing on a flat rock, a toad strangler. Realizing there’s no time like the present, it’s better late than never, and I’m long in the tooth, with one foot on a banana peel the other in the grave, resembling a frog in a frying pan, and just in the nick of time, I decided what’s good for the goose is good for the gander.
Am I…
What’s a little stupidity among friends? I may be a few fries short of a happy meal, (I hear you saying You can say that again) but I’ve also been known to be sharp as a tack!
Before I kick the bucket, and while it’s like shooting ducks on a pond, I’m taking the easy way out. You may think I’m All over the map, but if I keep my nose to the grindstone, I can knock it out of the park.
We have become high consumers of plastic storage bins lately. Through lack of planning, sound purchasing practices and poor organizational skills (I was a great General Manager) we just bought whatever bin were on sale at the time.
We are bin Laden.
We now spend too much of our precious time wandering around with a full bin trying to fit the right lid for the right bin. Of course bins are much easier to store stacked when they are empty. Logically one would have kept the bin lids with the bin stack.
Logically. Not realistic.
Note that the lids are all just. a. little. different. These are not orphans. I did not go to Target and buy a bunch of lids one day. I promise. I always double checked to make sure the lids matches the bins in fit as well as number.
ARGH.
We are bin-lid Laden.
What the world needs is a universal plastic storage container lid.
Nancy and I are packing up and moving to Costa Rica.
Why Costa Rica and not Panama or Belize or even Mexico?
These were all on our radar once we figured we could be happy living in an LEDC (less economically developed country.)
We had visited Belize recently, and Mexico in it’s glory days.
Ultimately, it came down to the mountains, the scenery, the beauty and the people of Costa Rica.
Belize has no mountains to make for temperate climates and natural beauty.
In the areas away from the northern borders and tourist areas and the high crime, Mexico has some lovely mountain communities.
Both countries have their share of beauty. But not as compact or as dramatic as Costa Rica. And neither has Ticos. Or volcanoes.
If Costa Rica didn’t work out, Mexico might have had a shot. Belize, probably never because of the year ’round heat and humidity.
We never made it to Panama.
But we will since Panama is “only” a 4-5 hour drive from Sedolosoder.
(Sedolosoder is the corporation name we picked to own our expansive finca – SedonaOliverSofiDerby.)
Property values in Panama seemed to be at their peak. We scouted every real estate website for Panama property and didn’t see any that were in our price range that met our criteria.
Yes, we had criteria for our new home, thanks to Tico Tim’s Tour.
- $100-150,000
- Atenas/San Ramon/Grecia
- 1500 +/- square feet
- Lot with enough flat space for four dogs to poop
- 3500 feet alititude +/-
- Hot water
- Large outdoor living area – or space to add one
- 3 bedroom
- Within one hour of the airport (SJO)
Yes, pooping was on our list.
We almost met every criteria. Almost. We didn’t get as high as we wanted and gave up a bedroom. But we gained a coffee crop!
Life is full of compromises.
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Part of a series of posts about retiring and moving to Costa Rica.
