www.CostaRicaTicas.com

This is truth

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Any opinion or observation in the post above is purely presented for entertainment purposes and does not promote "sexual tourism" or "human trafficking". The laws of Costa Rica apply to all activities in Costa Rica. No warranty is expressed or implied. Void where prohibited by law. Your experience, observations or perspective may be different.

In exile in pu*sy prison

First, I would recommend to to Amazon and buying two books.

One is practical: The Legal Guide to Costa Rica.

You are going to have to deal with more lawyers than reside in Hell, so you need clue what they are talking about while they try to charge you as much as they can while doing as little as they can.

One is reality and philosophical: The Costa Rican Dream.

This is a slightly fictionalized account of a true story. Three Germans who built a jungle / eco lodge near where our fishing lodge is. It is how they were cheated and almost lost everything (by a German expat, actually) then struggled to be successful - dealing with lawyers, government, local workers, etc. Everything actually happened.

The book ends before the real ending. Their bank called their note and they burned their lodge as a big "F U" to the bank, but that was a couple of years later.

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Any opinion or observation in the post above is purely presented for entertainment purposes and does not promote "sexual tourism" or "human trafficking". The laws of Costa Rica apply to all activities in Costa Rica. No warranty is expressed or implied. Void where prohibited by law. Your experience, observations or perspective may be different.

In exile in pu*sy prison

There is good and bad everywhere and 1 instance is not going to make me pack up and leave. Part of what happened was my fault, because I did not immediately close the gate after I drove into our property. I will say though that had I been in the US there would have been a couple of dead robbers, as the first thing I did was reach for my concealed weapon, all I grabbed was my passport....... anyway, I do love Costa Rica and will continue to have a home there. I will probably end up doing some sort of business there, but I have a fiance that I trust and has some business experience in CR, so with our skills together, I think that we could make a decent living doing it. I have never seen as much corruption in my life and the backwards ways things get done but at least you know what you are up against. If you have the money you get what you need quickly otherwise you wait. I hate to see people seperated from their hard earned dollars by scammers and holy crap they come out of the woodwork in CR, and there are a shitload of trees in CR.

yeah i'm not old or pessimistic either
amazing how people feel the need to cast aspersions and pigeon hole people they don't agree with
sign of the times i guess, hope it makes you feel better
i didn't even share a bad experience
to float a flowery statement like "stay vigilant and you'll be fine" lmfao great advice
a lot of ex pats in CR are there to retire and more than a few are snakes hiding from something
if you don't believe that you are highly naive
want to see how quick someone is willing to "help" you out?
talk about investing money around the local bars and see how quick you make "friends"
i've seen more than a few guys that weren't total idiots lose a ton of money in CR
advising someone based on facts isn't pessimistic its shrewd and competent

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im way deep into nothing special
riding the crest of a wave breaking just west of hollywood

Thanks for all your inputs. I'm surprised to see how much activity this forum has.

Not to offend, but I had hoped to find more "love to CR" here and less "halleluja US spirit".

Personally I believe that you have to have an open mind to emigrate. You can't bring your own customs and expect to be integrated. I come from a land where the systems in US and CR (how ever different they are) are considered corrupted, violent and inferior to ours.
If I brought that mindset to CR, it would be certain recipe for desaster. I hope to meet true costaricans, with their hearts on the right place, who can help me to integrate.

I do not know what your background is and what your strengths are, what do you enjoy doing, what do you know how to do. Helping you try and find niche to fit into is almost impossible without having some sort of info about you. The one thing I will tell you though, is to get out of San Jose, and stay away from the tourist locations. Go check out Sarchi, Grecia, Palmares, San Ramon, San Asidro de El General... etc. You will find more of that type of person you are looking to surround your self with, but you will still need to watch your back. Also the best single piece of advice I can give is try and be low key. In other words do not drive a flashy car, do not dress with expensive clothes & jewelry, do not let people in your house until you really get to know them, and even then be careful if you have things that the locals aspire to have. Unless you are living there full time do not put expensive items in your home as you run the risk of having them walk away while you are gone.

I am thankful I have my fiance to guide me with things that you do not want to do in Costa Rica but you would not think would be a problem in other countries. From something as simple as helping an elderly lady with her phone by dialing a number for her. I acutally had her yell at me not to touch the phone of a lady in downtown as I went to help her, she told me they put drugs that can be absorbed through the skin on the buttons, then follow you till they take effect. After that who knows what happens, but you usually would not come back from that sort of an encounter. I do not know if that is urban legend or what, but her reaction was frightening enough to me, that I now think twice about helping people. Good samaritans get killed all the time in CR if you watch the news you will hear occasional stories about people that stop to help then get hurt, robbed or killed. It has been enough for me to change my mindset about being helpful in CR and to really keep my guard up.

I think you may be looking for business advice in the wrong place.
This a monger forum. Try finding ex-pats at www.qcostarica.com and www.amcostarica.com, both have ex-pat news and information.
Good luck.

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Softbob

There is nothing either good or bad
but thinking makes it so.
HAMLET

Good call on pointing him to more appropriate venues

Yeah a very good call
And as you point out that not knowing what kind of business makes it tough to comment anyhow
Most of us that enjoy business recognize good ones and bad ones the moment we walk in the door
I've started business based on being certain I could do something better than what i was seeing
Its that seeing something everyone else doesn't thing that makes us go
Just trying to say it isn't the same there starting w the rules as it applies to you as an outsider
And again if you actually know what kind of business you want to start then go to operating businesses in your field of interest and snoop around like a good spy lol
I saw lots of opportunity for different stuff but was able to understand the error of my ways based on the fact that the average CR resident (while not poor contrary to popular belief) is just not interested in the same things
And you NEED them to survive so there is that
I tried to take one of their ideas to the states
The first time Ingrid ordered a big mac and a guy on a motorcycle showed up the apartment w it a light went off
There was no grub hub, uber eats (or uber) or door dash
Investors liked the idea but it wasn't clear how to network it and find drivers at that time so it never got past a conversation
Anyway obviously i love the subject and will talk about it ad nauseam so good luck however you choose to proceed. In fact my guess is 2 or 3 of us would love to hear your observations and stories of what you find
I love a good success story and will be rooting for you

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im way deep into nothing special
riding the crest of a wave breaking just west of hollywood

Thank you.