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Hi Karen,
My family and I have really enjoyed Atenas.  We've been here 3 months, and feel safe here.  I think this town meets all the requirements you mentioned.  1 hour to the beach.  45 minutes to San Jose (by bus).  We don't have a car, so we walk everywhere here, no problem. 
I've also heard from others that Grecia is very nice. 
My personal opinion - cross Alajuela off the list.  The Atenas buses go there and through there on the way to San Jose, and it is a filthy town that does not feel safe to me, and it is considerably larger than Atenas.   Just an opinion, I don't mean to offend anyone who really likes Alajuela, and some do.  It's just not for me. 
- Michael Whitehead

Hi Michael,

Thanks so much for the quick response! I'm so glad to hear that Atenas fits the bill. If you don't mind, can I ask a few more questions?

Are you doing the perpetual tourist thing? As we will only be there for a year, this seems to be our only option. Just wondering how those border crossings go.

Do you have a healthcare plan? Or do you pay out of pocket? Are there doctors that speak English? I have mild, but ongoing medical issues, so would need at least a good GP to monitor things with me.

How do you manage money? Do you keep your accounts in the US and transfer? Did you  transfer everything to a Costa Rican bank? We will continue to have US clients paying us, so will need a way to process and access those funds.

Mail? Is it possible for us to open a PO Box there? We may not have a CR address until we actually get there, so I'm not sure where to send our mail from the States?

I realize that much of this may be unique to our situation of only relocating for one year, but any advice on the matters would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks again, and maybe we can meet up when my husband and I come scouting in Feb!

Karen

Hi Karen,
We are planning on doing the perpetual tourist thing for now.  My wife is 1/2 Tica, but the requirements to get her citizenship or residency seem to be more trouble than it is worth. 

We went to Panama last week to get our Visas renewed and things didn't go as smoothly as we would have liked.  Long story, but to sum it up & jump to the conclusion we reached... Don't try to comply with the law, it just complicates everything and get's you in trouble.  Better to just come and enjoy all the time you want to here and stay until you leave.  We have tons of friends here that never ventured to leave the country at the end of 90 days, and they've had no problems.  We don't know of anyone whose had any problems just coming and going by air as they like.  But drive to a border to comply, and you're bound to run into problems with ego tripping border patrol agents, who have their own "interpretation" of the law. 

No healthcare plan.  We couldn't afford it in the states, and it's not necessary for us here.  But we don't have any medical issues in the family, and have had no need for care so far.  Reports from other expats reveal that they are happy with the care they've received here. 

Most of my income is received stateside by PayPal or a check mailed to family, who deposits it for me. 

We keep our money in US accounts and get money out of the ATM here for a small fee, usually 100,000 to 200,000 colones (or 200 to 400 dollars at a time).  ATM fees at Banco Popular, Banco Nacional, and Banco de Costa Rica are all about the same and about the same as in the US.  $4 per withdrawal is what my bank usually charges me.   All three banks have branches & ATMs here in Atenas. 

We pay our rent via PayPal to an American landlady.  All expenses are included in our rental.

My first Costa Rican client wrote a check on a Scotia Bank account.  When I left her office in Escazu, I noticed a Scotia Bank down the street and walked there to cash it - no problem, just the teller had to see my passport. 

There is no way for us to get mail at our house here.  It doesn't even have an address!  We got a post office box in Atenas for about $12 for 6 months.  Again, they just needed the passport. 
We use a stateside mail collection office called St. Brendan's Isle.  I had our stateside mail forwarded there, and they held it until I was able to get set up here and have them start mailing it here. 

I understand the questions, and I'm happy to help.  We were there just a few months ago. 

Would love to meet your family when you arrive!

Michael

Thanks again Michael,

Just checked out your blog - sounds like you guys are really the adventure types! I'm thrilled to find there are people around our age, with kids our kids' ages, willing to get out of the rat race and dive into the unknown. I hope to find our family's pulse during our year abroad.

While I'm not surprised to hear that the 90 day border run is a giant pain, I am surprised to hear that many just don't do it! Do they get penalized at the end of their stay for it? My only fear is that when we leave a year later, they'll forbid us from ever re-entering the country. I'm not sure what we'll do, though we were mostly planning on taking flights out of the country, so maybe we'll be spared most of the hassle?

All the other info. you gave us was exactly what we'd hoped to hear. Sounds like this is really going to be doable.

How are your kids picking up Spanish? Did they have a basic understanding before you arrived? My husband is the only one of us who is conversational, our kids (who will be 9 and 2 when we arrive), have no Spanish, nor do I. I'm hoping that if we put ourselves out there enough, we will pick it up naturally and not have to enroll in formal Spanish instruction. We will also be home-schooling our children (something totally new for us), and we're hoping it allows us the flexibility to make the most of our relatively short time there.

Anyway, thanks again. I'll most likely be back soon with more questions.

And if anyone else has input on their specific locations, I'd love to hear it!

Karen

Atenas sounds very much like what my family is looking for also (we also need to find a "first stop" when we scout places for relocation).  Michael - do you have any knowledge about veterinary care in/around Atenas?  Our "children" all have paws and will need the usual battery of check ups, meds, and vaccinations.  Thank you.

Brad

an observation . . . .
My situation is different as I live in the sticks (Drake) and have no small children,
but as I do permanently live here I 'religiously' observe the immigration requirements.
(I can no longer return to the US economically, have nothing there anymore.)

With no car you will most rarely encounter the police, but my visa was checked in the bank, a first for me. The local cops ran a check one evening (I was at home) and threw everyone who was not carrying their cedula/passport into the local jail, a hoot actually.

Rather than jeopardize the family trip, why not view the 3 border runs just as another outing, try both borders and from SJ there are direct buses to David etc.

Enjoy your visit
Bill

BTW, Panama is now requiring a 5 hour gap between entry and exit, it is a little flexible but makes a day trip by bus (for me) about impossible. SJ-PC-SJ as a day trip on Tracopa should be doable, but a very long day with kids.

Wow. That's interesting. While we went to PA on the caribbean side for a vacation, CR immigration was kicking back to PA some USC's. It was ugly. I don't know how it all washed out but there was lots of drama. The officer gave me the stink eye but I had all my papers. I heard they were cracking down but that was the first time I saw it!
When I got my papers, I had the distinct feeling the door was slamming shut behind me.

Thanks everyone for the great advice! I think we are going to stick to our plan of leaving the country every 90 days by air. I hope that will make things a bit less painful with five kids in tow!

Off to investigate what kinds of bugs and critters we should expect to co-habitate with. My 8 year old is very nervous about sharing her room with creepy crawlies. Any info on this subject would be appreciated!

suggest keeping your options open,
for the expense and hassle you could probably rent a van + driver for 4 weekdays
- and see 2 more countries

Bill

BillA wrote:

an observation . . . .
My situation is different as I live in the sticks (Drake) and have no small children,
but as I do permanently live here I 'religiously' observe the immigration requirements.
(I can no longer return to the US economically, have nothing there anymore.)

With no car you will most rarely encounter the police, but my visa was checked in the bank, a first for me. The local cops ran a check one evening (I was at home) and threw everyone who was not carrying their cedula/passport into the local jail, a hoot actually.

Rather than jeopardize the family trip, why not view the 3 border runs just as another outing, try both borders and from SJ there are direct buses to David etc.

Enjoy your visit
Bill

BTW, Panama is now requiring a 5 hour gap between entry and exit, it is a little flexible but makes a day trip by bus (for me) about impossible. SJ-PC-SJ as a day trip on Tracopa should be doable, but a very long day with kids.

Yea. A hoot. Did they send their families over to clean out the gringo houses while they were locked up ?

Arnold Ziffle wrote:

. . . . .
Yea. A hoot. Did they send their families over to clean out the gringo houses while they were locked up ?

obviously I was unclear,
The local cops checked those at a local dance (bar), and held the local Ticos until they could produce their ID. There were no foreigners involved. No ones house was burgled, though Drake is an equal opportunity place; the Ticos are burgled just as often as the expats (wherever they are from).

Drake is a very small community, 300 families including outside of town; of this perhaps 10 expats (and many tourists moving through). Everyone does know one another, including the cops. That was the joke. ID was established by pointing out how the individual(s) were related to one of the cops.

Hi,

I hope you are having luck with finding a rental.  I was reading your post and I think Ciudad Colon might also be a good option.  It's not far from the big city, you still have lots of services and may be the rent would be lower there since it is not the famour Atenas or else.

If you stay for more than 3 months you know you have to leave the country.  Just make sure you have a bus ticket to some other country like Nicaragua so you can prove that you will be leaving Costa Rica after the 3 months visa.  If not, they can force you to buy a plane ticket back home.

Good luck, Gi