Vicki moving to Costa Rica?

[Pirate]

Vickie, sorry to hear you might move, but you could'nt have picked a better place. I'm considering the move myself within about 2 years I've been there several times since 1989 and fell in love with the place. Besides all the natural wonders the locals are great(Ticos) and the government is the most stable around, not your typical banana republic. I don't know about the sqawters right issue, but I will be filing for a pensionato status. You show you are on a pension or post a bond and you have all the rights of a citizen except voting. There is another status also.The health care is excellent and happens to be the place for plastic surgery with most procedures costing a fourth of here and the doctors are US trained. Check out a paper for gringos called the TICO TIMES which is online. There are 30,000 plus Americans living there, 3rd next to Mexico and Canada. See you there ......neighbor?

[hondarobot]

That's all great input, I'm pretty sure she can figure things out for herself. None of my business . . .

Phoney swindler jerks.

Hehe. I'm just kidding. I'm just saying be careful.

[Vicki Richter]

Ok, so why choose panama on top of other options.

- Daily flighs to major cities in the US (NY, Miami, LA, Houston, Atlanta, etc.), and to every major destination in south america and europe.

- The national currency is the dollar. (not colones or pesos or whatever).

- You can buy condos in sky high buildings (non existing in other countries in the region due to possible earthquakes, the highest building in Costa Rica have no more than like 10 stories). Check the trump ocean club project in panama www.trumpoceanclub.com to get an idea about what you can buy. There are a ton of projects like that, just like boogiecrew says.

- Communications, you can get anything from toll free US 1-800 phone numbers, to cable modem, to adsl, to GSM, to wireless, to plain old phone, you name it, from different companies at very cheap prices. (I doubt you can get anything above 128 kb in costa rica, since the only internet company is the government owned racsa, and that is the most they offer).

- Everything is cheaper than in costa rica, or buenos aires.

- Foreigners are excempt of all import duties and taxes for the first 5 years.

- The banking centre is the biggest of the region, and allow you to do transactions to whatever banks you like, you name it, bahamas, virgin islands, NY, london, etc.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask, I know very well what I'm talking about.

Thank you and thank you also Pirate. You guys are really helping out. Another concern is personal safety. I was thinking Costa Rica would be safer because it is more of an island community. I will admit I am totally making that up. I am terrible with geography. I just know in a lot of South America they like to kidnap Americans and ransom them. I would think this would be a lot more limited in an island nation. Again, I am showing my geographic ignorance. Yes, I want to move to a place I don't even know where it is.

[blahblahblah]

Ok, so why choose panama on top of other options.

- Daily flighs to major cities in the US (NY, Miami, LA, Houston, Atlanta, etc.), and to every major destination in south america and europe.

- The national currency is the dollar. (not colones or pesos or whatever).

- You can buy condos in sky high buildings (non existing in other countries in the region due to possible earthquakes, the highest building in Costa Rica have no more than like 10 stories). Check the trump ocean club project in panama www.trumpoceanclub.com to get an idea about what you can buy. There are a ton of projects like that, just like boogiecrew says.

- Communications, you can get anything from toll free US 1-800 phone numbers, to cable modem, to adsl, to GSM, to wireless, to plain old phone, you name it, from different companies at very cheap prices. (I doubt you can get anything above 128 kb in costa rica, since the only internet company is the government owned racsa, and that is the most they offer).

- Everything is cheaper than in costa rica, or buenos aires.

- Foreigners are excempt of all import duties and taxes for the first 5 years.

- The banking centre is the biggest of the region, and allow you to do transactions to whatever banks you like, you name it, bahamas, virgin islands, NY, london, etc.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask, I know very well what I'm talking about.

Thank you and thank you also Pirate. You guys are really helping out. Another concern is personal safety. I was thinking Costa Rica would be safer because it is more of an island community. I will admit I am totally making that up. I am terrible with geography. I just know in a lot of South America they like to kidnap Americans and ransom them. I would think this would be a lot more limited in an island nation. Again, I am showing my geographic ignorance. Yes, I want to move to a place I don't even know where it is.

Choose Iceland, then! Safe & secure island, stable democracy with me on it

[popperluv]

I think it a smart move Vicky and the part about renting out to tourist can be real lucrative.


Would you become a citizen of costa rica?

Whats there heath care like?

[the_corner]

Hello,

Just to point a couple of things out.... Neither Costa Rica nor Panama are (at least in their capital cities) Island Commuties.

San Jose, the main city in Costa Rica is like a big town in a valley, because of the valley geography the city have a very nice weather, but no beaches, no water, instead lots of rivers with activities like rafting and such.

On the other hand, Panama City (the main city in Panama) is on the Panama bay in the pacific ocean (not an island either), everything is near the beach, and because of that the weather is hotter, and the landscape is not like a valley with mountains, but more like south beach, the bay, the ships, the ocean, the high buildings.

Both cities are very very secure. Colombia is a beautiful country but very dangerous (south of Panama border), and so is Nicaragua (north of Costa Rica border), yet both Panama and Costa Rica are both very secure.

In terms of health care, I don't know for Costa Rica, but Panama is fairly well developed, there are 4 major private hospitals that have all of the equipment you'll find in the best hospitals in the U.S., and most of the panamanian doctors do their specialties in the U.S. There is also a John Hopkins Medical Center with all the facilities you can think of in a hospital.

About renting, I know a couple of friends that rent their places in Panama, and always have people in, the whole activity is quite lucrative.

If you are looking for something more island like, a very popular destination is "Bocas del Toro", on the north west of Panama near the border with Costa Rica, you can buy your own island there, or live in the main island (Isla Colon). Check this site http://www.puntacaracol.com/ to give you an idea about Bocas del Toro, and http://www.visitpanama.com/ to see a couple of pictures and get the whole picture about the city.

I know Panama very well, and have been in Costa Rica a fair couple of times, so if you have any questions feel free to ask.

[boogiecrew]

Also, keep in mind that Panama is rated one of the safest countries in the world by several different agencies. There are only a couple of areas to stay out of in Panama, and they are easy to recognise.

[ptyseminole]

Panama is much more cosmopolitan than CR, of course my opinion is somewhat biased!

[hondarobot]

OK, I just don't get this thread.

"I'm might be moving to Costa Rica!"

"I want my friends to visit me in Costa Rica!"

"Maybe I'll move to Panama, or somewhere!"

"I don't even know where Costa Rica is. . . because I couldn't just look at a map, or something. . . actually I'm just kidding, or am I?"

I've (virtually) known you for nearly two years, online. I've hung out with you in real life. I'm not bragging, I have. I have no idea what you're talking about anymore.

It's none of my business, of course, but this whole thread is just goofy. Feel free to attack or ignore me, I'm just curious as to what the hell this thread is suppose to be about.

[Canucklehead]

^^^^^^Finally, someone making sense. lol^^^^^^^^