禁漫天堂

@zencorgi..Escazu ?...Why even bother coming to Costa Rica for that, crowded and congested....Keep on going west to 'Villa Colon/Ciudad Colon'...Still has a nice feel and not to way out there and still close enough to 'Cima'...

Thanks for the quick reply. I can only base my original comments on what I read about being an expat in CR and Escaz煤 kept popping up. I'll look into Ciudad Col贸n.

Best

Edwin Mora is correct about the congestion. We are living temporarily in Cariari, Heredia because our daughter is attending classes at Instituta Aeron谩utica. The traffic is insane. To go anywhere within a half hour hour, we need to give ourselves an extra hour or so. We're from the coast, and the traffic is not normally that bad. She graduates in June, can't wait to get the hell out of here, Pura Vida 馃槑

Thank you both. This is the information we are looking for. Perhaps the items we read saying Escaz煤 has everything you need including shopping should be a red flag. Our goal is more walking (or minimal driving), especially to a town center and varied choices for eating out.聽 When we visited Manuel Antonio it seemed casado with fried chicken or fish was about it for choices. : )

@zencorgi

I agree with above comments. We were living in Santa Ana for two months and often driving to nearest towns like Heredia, Grecia, Atenas, Escazu, including malls or even to Poas volcano and the traffic was terrible. Also, walkability is an issue. In Santa Ana there are hardly any crossings for pedestrians (you basically run on the other side of the street), sidewalks are narrow and in bad conditions, no parks. We concluded that it is better to move away from Central Valley perhaps to a coastal town if you can keep busy by going to the beach every day or maybe playing golf.

@zencorgi

Hola,

You mentioned Escazu and a walkable area. My suggestion for those 2 is Trejos Montealegre in Escazu.

It is basically at the entrance to Escazu from the 27 highway (on the north side). It is an upscale neighborhood that is pretty flat for Escazu and it is close to many restaurants (walkable), shops and other things. It is not a commercial area per se - it is a nice quiet neighborhood but with easy walkable access to the commercial things. I live in this area and have a few friends living here. Most do daily walks in the neighborhood. There is Escazu Village that has 2 department stores and about 12 food outlets. Escazu Walmart is also in this area (just behind Escazu Village). Avenida Escazu is about a 10 minute walk to the west (staying within the Trejos neighborhood) and there are numerous restaurants, clothing stores, a NOVA theater, and much more there. CIMA Hospital is also a easy walk just on the other side (west) of Avenida Escazu.

The ares is safe (never any guarantees) and there are 鈥渨atchie-men鈥� (informal guards) on many corners. There is very little crime in this area as it is an old established area.

There are a few AirBnB鈥檚 in the area so it is easy to stay here and get a feel first hand for the area.

As you move south in Escazu (towards Escazu Centro and San Antonio de Escazu) you start to get a bit more hilly and more congested.

Hope this helps and gets you started.

Saludos 鈥�.

To follow-up on what others have said especially about traffic - I totally agree in general terms. If you want to be where the action is then part of the action is traffic. As you get away from the action (as some have mentioned) then traffic and congestion are obviously less - there is a trade-off.

The reason I recommend Trejos Montealegre is because it is kind of a little hidden gem within Escazu. Yes, the traffic getting in and out of Trejos can be bad but when you are there it is a quiet neighborhood with little traffic and congestion (almost none). I don鈥檛 drive (I use Uber) and when I venture out and really don鈥檛 mind the traffic since I鈥檓 not driving. Low stress and a perfect time to hone my Spanish with the drivers. Pura Vida ! Also as I mention above there are a ton of things walkable from Trejos that don鈥檛 require a long distance or crossing any major roads.

Again, I hope this helps. (FYI, I have lived in Escazu for 15 years and 6 years, of that, in the Trejos area).

厂补濒耻诲辞蝉鈥�..

JW, great info about Escaz煤 and accommodations. We liked the homes and condos in Escaz煤 because we could find some with chef-style kitchens which we ant because we love to cook.

Uber/Lyft is what we use when we visit our daughter in NYC and it works great. We like you can walk to almost anywhere if you are up for it and it's not 25F and windy.聽 I speak Spanish (BTW, the Spanish is Costa Rica is quite good or used to be), but my wife is just starting to pick it up.

Atentamente

@zencorgi

per your post ... Spanish in Costa Rica is quite good... ???聽 聽

What does that mean??聽 聽

Do you consider some Spanish to be bad, and other Spanish to be good??

Like, which countries speak the 'bad' Spanish??聽 聽Which speak the 'quite god' Spanish??

I haven't run across this frame of thinking.. so I'm really curious?

BTW...聽 I'm glad that you received so many bits of info about 'living' in Escazu... but here is one bit that you didn't get...

Escazu is the least Costa Rican place to live in... in all of Costa Rica. 聽 聽It's not really any different than living in a suburb of Miami, Fort Lauderdale, San Diego, Houston, or LA.聽 聽Why bother leaving the states, or spending the time learning 'quite good' Spanish??聽 聽 Sure, you'll be living in Costa Rica... but you won't be experiencing it.聽 聽Maybe you don't care.

Even some of the most cheesy touristy places in CR still have some Costa Rican Identity.聽 聽Maybe that doesn't interest you... but there are a lot of really great 'walkable' places to live in CR safely, without 'gates' nor "watchie men" outside of the central Valley that have, yes!!, restaurants, Walmart, and Healthcare, but no traffic and are more authentically, Costa Rican.

I'm just guessing here, but a little authentic 'culture' is why most of us come.

Good luck with the hunt.聽 Your happiness is most important.

Pura Vida.聽 聽

@rainagain....Authentic Costa Rican Culture ?....That means pedestrians have no rights !....At one time in San Jose, they painted big red/yellow hearts on the street, where pedestrians were mowed over...Nobody is looking out for you here and if you get hit, it is your fault...You should know by now, this is a culture of faultlessness..

@rainagain

Being part Chilean I feel I can comment on "good" and "bad" Spanish. : ) In my experience, who speaks the best Spanish around the world has long been a topic of discussion at least among South Americans. By "good" I mean spoken relatively slowly and with good pronunciation, which in my opinion is easier for non speakers such as my wife to understand and learn. Current Chilean Spanish is (again in my opinion) anything but because it is spoken rapidly with the heavy use of Chile-only slang. There was no deeper meaning in my comment.

Also, not sure how Escaz煤 is less Costa Rican than other parts of CR. Although I don't shop at big box stores, I would argue having a nearby Walmart might permit expats to shop in a familiar place until they become more comfortable with more local options. We have gotten some great suggestions for other areas to explore when we visit and we are grateful for all the replies we received.

@zencorgi

My comment wasn't about Walmart, but if you want to cherry pick; go for it.

You'll find out when you visit.聽 Best of luck finding what you need.

Also... there is no 'Costa Rican' Spanish... like most countries, the language differs from one area to the next... the 'spanish' in the central valley (Mira! Mira!) is far different from what is spoken in the far north (Vea! Chilas y Mangas), or along the Caribbean coast.聽

But I guess you're probably right... there does tend to be a certain way of speaking any language, that tends to be the most 'accepted' as being quite good, in most places.聽 Actors in the USA spend a lot of $$$ to overcome their regional accents and speak like somebody from ???... generally to sound like somebody from a generic 'northern' area.聽 But things can change from neighborhood to neighborhood when it comes to older cities...聽 I lived in central Philadelphia long enough to witness, multiple times, people looking down their noses on 'folks' from NE philly neighborhoods, South Jersy suburbs, and of course, South Philly.

I got used to the amputation of final vowels in many Italian words...

But I never found, "youz Guys" endearing.聽 Just couldn't.聽 聽

@rainagain

I suppose we have different experiences. Have a great evening.

Not sure what you want me to learn from your comments. My experiences are different from yours, which you ignored, and there is such thing as generalizations. Enjoy where you are in CR. Perhaps I will also enjoy CR soon.

Best.

@edwinemora

I hear you Edwin.聽

I consider the faultlessness aspect of the culture here as a great Reminder, or even, a Guiding Light聽 to always be careful... even more so than I ever was in the states.聽 Even a cop here told me that it wasn't the farmer's fault that his cows escaped and trampled part of my garden and toppled a stone wall... but he added, with a grin, that once those COWS were on my property, I owned them.聽 聽He even asked me to invite him to the barbeque... next time.

At times though, I do find it just a little bit 'refreshing' ?? to live in a non-litigious culture/country/place.聽 聽Imagine having that "you're going to get sued" monkey off your back !!!聽 聽 聽My Tico friends don't even know what 'sued' means.聽 聽

I couldn't even explain "Jury Duty' to them... one guy asked, "But what if everybody on the Jury is stupid?"

LOL!!!

Just another part of the Pura Vida.聽

@zencorgi

Hmmm...聽 not really... I happen to love my Walmart here!!!聽 聽The bakery has excellent breads (my experience), they have a good selection of 'ethnic' foods, the Liquor and beer section is far better than what I expected, and it's clean and convenient... again, that has been my experience.

I probably went to Walmart 3 times in my entire life before coming to CR ...聽 but it is my go-to place for many things.

@rainagain....You captured it ! !