LIVING ABROAD COSTA RICA ERIN VAN RHEENEN Contents Index List of Maps At Home in Costa Rica Welcome to Costa Rica Introduction History, Government, and Economy People and Culture Planning Your Fact-Finding Trip Daily Life Making the Move Housing Considerations Language and Education Health Business and Employment Finance Communications Travel and Transportation Prime Living Locations Overview The Central Valley and Beyond Guanacaste and the Nicoya Peninsula The Central and Southern Pacific Coast The Caribbean Coast Resources Photo Credits Copyright AT HOME IN Costa Rica You wake to the roar of howler monkeys and the smell of locally grown coffee. Mug in hand, you pad barefoot out onto your front porch, breathing in air supercharged with green. You gaze out over…waves breaking on the beach, or a steep-sided volcano across the valley, or scarlet macaws like flying rainbows winging toward the rainforest canopy. There are dozens of Costa Ricas, and all are alive with more than their fair share of the world’s biodiversity. Most people who visit or settle here come—at least in part—for the flora, the fauna, and the land itself. But the country is also justly famous for being one of the most stable, peaceful, and just downright enjoyable places in Latin America. The so-called Switzerland of Central America has made the right choices, eliminating its army and creating a thriving nation with enviable national parks, high education levels, and excellent health care. It provides a model of green development for other countries and is high on the World Happiness Index, which ranks nations on quality of life rather than gross domestic product. Yet this is still a wild place, especially outside the heavily populated Central Valley. Where else can the country’s own environment minister get lost in a famous national park (Corcovado)? And despite facile comparisons to retirement havens like Florida, Costa Rica will never be a pink-hued place to nap away your golden years. There’s a bit of an outlaw quality here. “Totally straight people and outright criminals won’t last here,” a long-term expat tells me. And while he may be joking, I think he’s hit on something. Costa Rica is not for the faint of heart or for those who insist on imposing an old order on a new experience.