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Archives for April 2016

Costa Rica Brings Out the Bohemian

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Costa Rica Brings Out the Bohemian

Costa Rica expat living will change you.

It will change your perspective on things. Well, I guess if you come here with a hard-wired attitude of American-style accumulation, the change might seep in more slowly. But, if you stick it out for awhile, oh it’ll seep in, eventually.

You see, Costa Rica brings out the bohemian in us expats.

What does that mean, you ask?

Let me put it this way, let’s say you opt to live anywhere along the coast…and many expats gravitate towards one of Costa Rica’s gorgeous coastlines. Take the Southern Pacific, for instance, in a popular beach community like Playa Dominical.

It won’t take you long to realize that to fit into the expat community there, you might need to change your appearance a bit…no matter your age. You might find yourself doing things you never would’ve even remotely considered back in the button-downed north…like get a tattoo, or two…visible ones…or grow your hair out into one of those middle-aged-man pony tails…or, god forbid, opt for a few piercings.

You’ll certainly want to attend Costa Rica’s version of “burning man”, called the Envision festival. There you might partake in a mind-altering/expanding drug and dance the night away around a bonfire, like some prehistoric savage.

You’ll probably decide to eat organic. You’ll donate time to save the beaches, or the whales, or the turtles, or the jungle, or something you would’ve considered a bleeding heart liberal waste of time as you struggled up north to grab for yourself as large a share of the “american dream” as you could muster.

You’ll get into yoga, meditate and chant your ohms. You’ll shun commercialism and take up some form of art using recycled materials. You’ll put solar panels on your roof and maybe even install wind or water power, because you now suddenly realize that global warming is real and you must take immediate action to save the planet.

If you continue voting and paying taxes in your country of origin, you’ll certainly do so driven by a more liberal ideology than the one you arrived with.

You’ll become multicultural, as you try to blend in with the locals. You’ll decided that the type of fútbol the rest of the world plays isn’t so strange after all.

You’ll struggle to learn Spanish, even though back home you might have muttered under your breath that those Mexicans should learn to speak American.

You’ll become one with nature and with the universe. You’ll firmly decide, consciously or subconsciously, that Ayn Rand is full of shit.

And how do I know all this?

Because it happened to me and I’ve witnessed the same phenomenon in many others.

Don’t be surprised when you go back home to visit that friends and family notice something strange about you.

Because, you are strange.

Like I said, Costa Rica brings out the bohemian…

and now you’re one of “us.”

Costa Rica is Accessible

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Costa Rica is Accessible

The U.S.A. is a big country, covering a lot of extremely diverse territory from the shores of the East, the plains of the Midwest, the Rocky Mountains, and the Pacific coast.

One of the greatest freedoms enjoyed by citizens, or visitors, of the States is the freedom to jump in a car, or jet airplane, and go anywhere you want within this vast expanse of land. And you can do so without threat of harm.

In some ways Costa Rica is like a microcosm of the U.S. It’s as if the entire U.S.A. were squeezed together into a tight (albeit much more tropical) package.

After all, like the U.S., Costa Rica has two coasts, but only a day’s drive separates them.

Costa Rica has rugged mountains and flat-lands.

Costa Rica is divided into seven provinces, much like the individual States, with freedom of mobility between them.

What’s really cool is that Costa Rica is accessible.

Here, like in the States, one has that great freedom of mobility. You can jump in the car and take off to wherever you choose, granted that the ride might be a tad bumpier.

That’s not true in many other places in this region of the world. For instance, I love Colombia. Colombia is an incredible place with mountains, jungles, amazing biodiversity, the Amazon, etc., etc.

But in Colombia you cannot just go where you want to go. It can be dangerous, although less so these days. There’s still a civil war going on, there are guerrillas, criminal drug traffickers, etc., etc. You can get yourself in a world of hurt if you wind up in the wrong place at the wrong time.

This is also true in many other countries in Latin America, like Mexico, Honduras, or El Salvador.

But here in Costa Rica, if you want to visit some tiny little corner where there are no people, only monkeys, there’s nothing really stopping you.

I really love that aspect of living here, because there’s so much to see and do. I’ve been here for going on 16 years and there are still many things I’ve yet to see and do.

I love that on any given weekend I can throw a dart at a Costa Rica map and take off to parts unknown. It’s a refreshing aspect that’s a gift of the country’s democratic freedom and peace…not to mention the really nice people everywhere!

Costa Rica is accessible and that level of freedom of mobility has been a great boon to the country economically.

It indeed feels remarkably “free” to be able to just get up and go whenever you feel the itch!

The adventures never cease in Costa Rica.

Come and check it out for yourself…

on The Costa Rica Expat Tour, of course!

Costa Rica Lifestyle of Low Consumption

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Latin Low-Consumption Lifestyle

I have written before about my view that “American-style” consumerism is at the root of many problems the world faces.

Often I have contrasted that high consumption lifestyle with what prevails here in Costa Rica. Comparatively speaking, Costa Rica lifestyle is marked by low consumption, although the influx of North Americans in the last decade threatens to change all that.

Fortunately, many of the expats who settle in Costa Rica do so to escape the high consumption “rat-race” that prevails up north.

Granted, low consumption isn’t for everybody. I understand that. But I could imagine that if enough people lived this way, the earth might be a better place, or at least we’d have a more sustainable planet that might remain an enjoyable place for foreseeable generations.

What exactly am I getting at with this idea of a Costa Rica lifestyle of low consumption?

Let me provide some examples. As always, there are exceptions! But exceptions don’t make the rules.

Costa Ricans don’t, for the most part, use appliances, such as dishwashers and clothes dryers, that consume inordinate amounts of electricity.

They often use “suicide showers”, which heat the water nicely at the shower head, rather than energy wasting hot water heaters. These can be frightening experiences for first-time users.

In the higher altitudes of Costa Rica, like the Central Valley, no one uses air condition, nor heat.

Down on the coast that may be a different story, at least for a/c. But not really if you live high enough to cool things down a bit with an ocean breeze, as well as a spectacular view. Yes, there are places where you can “have your cake and eat it too” in Costa Rica!

In Costa Rica, we grow our own fruit, or it could just be growing wild on its own, right in your backyard. We don’t need to buy our fruit and produce from industrialized farms that are depleting the soil and poisoning it, and us, with pesticides.

We often buy our veggies from local farmer’s markets, like the one pictured above in my hometown of San Isidro de El General. Again, food here is usually grown locally rather than by industrialized farms located far away, who then have to ship the food to a grocer near you. There has been a recent push for organic or hydroponic home gardening and many, including yours truly, are growing our own food in this manner.

In Costa Rica we get the vast majority of our energy from renewable sources, like wind, water and solar.

In Costa Rica we generally buy used cars and then drive them to the last kilometer. This is in large part due to the ridiculously high cost of new imports, but it helps keep our consumption rate low compared to other “more developed” societies where consumers buy new cars every few years. Being a mechanic is a very honorable and in-demand “profession” in Costa Rica as a result.

In Costa Rica we protect the environment because we realize it’s the main reason we get up every morning with a smile on our faces. Not to mention the dollars it brings from others who like to visit frequently and enjoy a similar experience.

I could go on, but you probably already catch my drift.

Now, mind you, those living in places like Duluth or Detroit can’t do some of these climate dependent low consumption things and probably wouldn’t even want to.

That’s fine, since part and parcel of a low-consumption, earth-friendly, attitude of life, is maintaining a non-judgmental mindset towards others.

But for those of you who are intrigued by this Costa Rica lifestyle of low consumption, come on down, the water is very very nice!

Take the Expat Tour and see for yourself.

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