Lots of folks have written to ask us about our experience shipping our 13 boxes of belongings to Costa Rica after we sold our house in March. Now that all of the expenses have been tallied, we’ve written an article on our research, our experience, and all of the costs involved — both for the option we chose AND the options we could have chosen. So, stay tuned to our next newsletter for our article on partial container shipping.
If you read our last couple of newsletters, you know that we traveled back to the U.S. to finally sell our house and deal with all of the “stuff” we had stored in the basement for the last five years. Therefore, our expenses for March were broken down into our Costa Rica living expenses and our expenses for the trip to Baltimore (see graphic at the end of this article). We returned to Costa Rica on April 1st, exactly five years to the day that we moved here originally!
There were some relocation expenses that did not appear in last month’s expense, including our travel expenses on the first of April and, more substantially, expenses associated with our decision to ship 13 boxes of our belongings to Costa Rica which we paid for in the month of April. Let’s talk about these expenses first.
There are a couple of things to mention about our shipping costs. First, we are working on an in-depth article about research into methods of shipping, the choices we made and why we made them, and lessons learned. The second point is that the shipping expenses above include customs duties and related expenses, though we didn’t actually pay them until the month of May. It just makes more sense to show them together rather than broken down by month paid.
Even though we were in Costa Rica for the entire month, our overall expenses were a bit lower than normal, mostly because our trip to Baltimore left us exhausted so we pretty much stayed home. Our “household” expenses were higher than usual because we paid to have the windows of our house cleaned. You can see from the photo that there are some windows that are too high for us to safely clean. So, it was a no-brainer…hire someone who’s done this before. We hired a Tico who works for the local window glass company and had assured us that this is what he does. We expected him to arrive with special equipment and possibly safety gear of some kind. What were we thinking?? He arrived with a ladder and…nothing else. We provided the hose, bucket, squeegees, liquid detergent, rags and everything else he needed. Paul was so concerned for his safety that he helped him the entire time, holding the ladder and handing him whatever he needed. (Luckily, for our peace of mind as much as anything, wehad purchased the Costa Rica equivalent of “Workmen’s Comp” insurance the month before to protect our housekeeper and any other temporary worker at our home.) Though it wasn’t what we’d expected, we have to admit that the windows looked MUCH better and it was well worth the 40,000 colones ($74.07) that we spent.
The only other notable expense for April was the $49.00 we spent to renew our Witopia VPN account for another 12 months. While we mainly use our VPN connection to allow us to access U.S. programming (Netflix, network television, Hulu, etc.), there are a lot of
As usual, to help put things into perspective, here are our expenses for the previous two months:
For our healthcare needs, our first stop is always the Caja, Costa Rica’s public healthcare system. We’ve learned how to use it, both in our town of San Ramón and beyond when the need arises for more advanced or specialized care. If you’ve read our website for a while, you know that we have paid privately for certain tests and procedures to speed up the process. We understand how to make the system work for ourselves and others. And our goal is to demystify the Caja so that you also can learn to use it when you retire in Costa Rica. (That’s why we’re offering our Healthcare Tour which you can read about below.)
Recently, Paul has an appointment at Hospital San Rafael in Alajuela for a CAT scan. We were impressed with the facilities, the equipment and the staff. Luckily, we were allowed to shoot some video to show you what it was like:
by Paul
Today I went to the hospital in San Ramon to make an appointment for an ultrasound. I just had a urology appointment the other day and the doctor wants to see me again.
I had to wait 30 minutes to schedule the appointment. There were about 8 other people waiting with me to schedule appointments. While waiting, I did what I always do, observe the people, learn the system, and strike up a conversation with someone. In this case, a woman sitting next to me. Since arriving in Costa Rica, I’ve realized how few people in the smaller towns speak English. It’s different in the more touristy areas, but here, you really need to know some Spanish to communicate with the general public and with your health care provider.
Costa Ricans are always willing to do this, play along and talk to strangers. We spoke about the appointments and the Caja system. I asked her if she was happy with the public medical system. She said she was. I informed her that many foreigners have little faith in the public system and use it sparingly. I also mentioned to her that many Costa Ricans don’t have much faith in the public system either and prefer to use the private system. She replied that they were the same doctors, so why not use the public system? I then let her know that we were happy with the Caja and that . I believe that joining and using the Caja is a great way to meet Ticos and begin to integrate. You will rarely see another expat face. Use your Spanish, even if it’s just a few words, though often, they will want to practice their English with you!
We’re busy putting the finishing touches on our newest tour, the Ultimate Tour on Healthcare in Costa Rica. We’ve lived in Costa Rica for five years and have used the Caja, Costa Rica’s public healthcare system, extensively, as well as the private system, when needed. We’ve learned the system because we’ve had yearly checkups, and have been referred up the ladder to see specialists in the maze that is the Caja system. Gloria’s even had surgery here. Our blend of personal insights and on-the-ground experience combines to answer your questions about whether or not Costa Rica’s healthcare system could meet your individual needs.
But, while it is focused on healthcare, you will learn a lot more about living and retiring in Costa Rica’s Central Valley. Our tour is designed to save you both time and money, packing a lot of information into a short period of time. We also want to show you what is possible if you choose to retire in Costa Rica.
Our tour lasts two days and 1 night. Prices include: lodging, transportation, meals and non-alcoholic beverages.
You’ll notice that we are now showing rainfall and temperatures for four towns in Costa Rica. This isn’t weather forecasting. We report after the fact to give you a much better picture of the weather in each of these areas.
You can still click on the map to the right to enlarge it and check out the average rainfall for the towns you are interested in. Remember that the areas shaded in darker blue tend to be higher and also the places most expats choose to live.
Meteorology has been Paul’s lifelong hobby. As a child, he devoured books about the weather and earth sciences vigorously. Later, he took a few college courses in meteorology, and still later, he served as a meteorologist for the U.S. Army in Vietnam. Now, Paul gets to practice his avocation in Costa Rica, albeit on a very small scale with just temperature and rainfall data, probably the two most important factors regarding the weather. He wanted to include weather info on our website to help people decide where to live, although weather is just one of many factors to consider in determining where to relocate. Current weather data is from our current home at about 3,000 ft. elevation and 10 minutes outside the town of San Ramón. Weather data prior to December 2012 is from our previous home at about 4,000 ft. elevation and 10 minutes outside the town of San Ramón.
Lance and his wife, Diana, moved to Costa Rica about 2 years ago after living 30+ years in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia (Vancouver and environs). They live in the Central Valley near the town of Atenas and are at an elevation of about 2700 feet. They have no need for air conditioning or heating. Overnight low temperatures are comfortably cool (low 60’s). Daytime highs can be relatively hot (high 80’s, low 90’s), but rarely uncomfortably hot.Lance started to keep track of daily temperatures and rainfall in order to have factual ammunition to help disabuse friends, relatives and acquaintances of any misconception that the weather must be like that of a tropical jungle.