Tag Archives: Travel and Tourism

Border trip to Panama

4 Oct

It’s a nice excuse for a day trip, and it’s exactly the sort of bureaucratic bobbing and weaving that is essential to living in a socialized country.

Today, we bought bus tickets that we will never use, from Costa Rica’s border town of San Vito to Panama, for 90 days from now. These will replace the plane tickets that we will not use in two weeks, and allow us to stay in the country for another 90 days.

Sounds confusing? It is.

Lemme explain.

Or, in the words of Inigo Montoya,

No, there is too much. Let me sum up.

Costa Rica does not allow you to enter the country indefinitely. You must have a prepurchased ticket out of the country (as in, say, the second leg of a round tip ticket) upon your entry.

Your passport is stamped to authorize you to stay in the country for a maximum of ninety days. If you are found to have extended your stay beyond this limit, you can be deported to your home country and not allowed back.

(more…)

Costa Rica!

15 Apr

We are repatriating!

As I recently told my friends (as in, those who subscribed to my newsletter…hint hint) I am moving to Costa Rica at the end of the summer.

My whole family is coming with me. My wife’s parents, my two kids, my wife, and me, all going down south to live in Tropical Paradise, where we can afford health care and there is a decent standard of living for a moderate cost.

There are so many advantages it seems stupid to try and count them all. But I will try and go through a few of the big ones here:

  • Our kids will grow up outside in the sunshine, instead of in a rainy city
  • We will learn a new language by immersing ourselves in it
  • We get the excitement of living in a new culture
  • There is a strong expat community that has already welcomed us
  • The weather is amazing
  • The beach, fer cryin out loud!
  • Amazing mountains
  • Amazing coffee (coming from Portland, this is a huge plus)
  • Simple lifestyle as the norm for the surrounding culture
  • Statistically the happiest populace in the world
  • No armed forces in the country, meaning no war
  • Advanced telecommunications network – many international companies have their Central American hub in Costa Rica for this reason
  • Educated populace – since education is free for citizens
  • Active democracy
  • Lower costs for rent, property, goods, and labor
  • I can work in American dollars and live on Colones, taking advantage of the currency difference
  • When American citizens have a baby in Costa Rica, all first-level relatives get dual citizenship
  • Citizens get full health care for about $70 a month, and free education
  • Everybody there is so nice!

I could go on and on, but these are some of the biggest reasons I am excited about going. Pura Vida!

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