Our 2016 Annual Cost of Living in Costa Rica Summary

By Paul & Gloria in Blog, Featured It’s time, once again, for our annual cost of living summary. Some of you will find this interesting, but others, not so much. That’s okay— Just read the section below that describes your level of interest. For the Mildly Curious: Our total cost of living for 2016 was $28,225.87, if you include our […]

The Adventure Inn-Our “Go-To Hotel”

By Paul & Gloria in Blog The Adventure Inn has been our “go to hotel” for the last 4 years. It’s where we pick up our Healthcare Tour guests. We recommend it for anyone coming to Costa Rica, especially if you want a hotel convenient to the San Jose airport. You can get an inexpensive tour right at the hotel […]

Paul & Gloria in Mexico: Oaxaca’s Guelaguetza Extravaganza

By Paul & Gloria in Blog If you’ve been reading our newsletter for a while, you know that we have been traveling to Mexico each year for the past several years. This is the first year we visited in July and were able to experience the month-long festival of the Guelaguetza, Oaxaca’s celebration of the culture, traditional dancing, crafts, and […]

Costa Rica Weather–March 2016 Observations, Facts, & Tidbits

By Paul & Gloria in Blog CLICK TO ENLARGE You’ll notice that we now show rainfall and temperatures for eleven towns in Costa Rica: San Ramón de Alajuela Atenas Nuevo Arenal Quepos Near San Isidro de General San Rafael de Heredia San Marcos de Tarrazu El Cajón de Grecia Grand View Estates, Siquirres Volio de Cachí, Orosi Valley Escazú This […]

Retire for Less in Costa Rica – October 28, 2016

By Paul & Gloria in Blog, Featured Welcome to our Retire For Less In Costa Rica Newsletter Paul and Gloria In This Issue:  Paul and Gloria in Mexico What to Review When Considering Retirement Abroad In the Mailbag: What Folks Gave Up to Move to CR, Why Retire Abroad, and Crime TED Talks: A Small Country with Big Ideas to […]

How do you define happiness?

By Paul & Gloria in Blog Happiness can be different things to different people, but what is it really? One definition is that it is a “state of well-being characterized by emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy.” Another says that “Happiness is thought of as the good life, freedom from suffering, flourishing, well-being, joy, prosperity, and pleasure.” And “Martin Seligman, one of the […]

The Businessman and the Fisherman – A Parable for Today

By Gloria in Blog You may have heard this little story before, but we think it is a great reminder of the joys of a simple life well lived. The businessman was at the pier of a small coastal Costa Rican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large […]

Adventures in Shipping: Transporting 13 Boxes to Costa Rica (AKA: Our Big Move – Part IV)

By Paul & Gloria in Blog When we originally moved from Baltimore to Costa Rica five years ago, we came with eight checked suitcases and four carry-ons (including our cat, Cleo). We weren’t ready to ship, nor were we ready to sell our house. So, for five years we rented our house in Baltimore to a series of upwardly-mobile […]

Our July 2018 Costa Rica Cost of Living

By Paul & Gloria in Blog Our spending in July was right on target. Actually, if you take into account that almost $300 was spent to renew our residency, our “cost of living” spending for the month was low, more in the range of $1,700. Transportation – $108.33 We stayed close to home in July, waiting for the call […]

Monthly Costa Rica Weather Report for 8 Towns in Costa Rica–October 2015

By Paul & Gloria in Blog Click to enlarge. You’ll notice that we now show rainfall and temperatures for eight towns in Costa Rica: San Ramón de Alajuela Atenas Nuevo Arenal Quepos Near San Isidro de General San Rafael de Heredia San Marcos de Tarrazu El Cajón de Grecia This isn’t weather forecasting. We report after the fact to give […]