So You Want to Retire in Costa Rica -- 2017 UPDATE

[Music] in Costa Rica West Virginia sized Central American nation of five million people the suburbs of the capital San Jose have been home since 2009 to us retirees Lucinda gray and David Truslow former Californians they currently enjoy a spacious condo in a gated development for the guard house and the watch cap the mountainside views of the temperate Central Valley are unbeatable still interviewed in 2011 Lucinda and Dave expressed some misgivings about life among the 70,000 American expats in Costa Rica it just hit you you know like oh my god you know I don't know anybody I'm I'll my friends are in LA now I'm there's a language I don't speak the language it's a real it's a real issue I feel like I don't understand the culture heavy theft is very common we've lost a camera we've probably left it on the table and when we came back it wasn't there nobody's seen it and another time we left the cell phone in the car we left the car and walk still there and obviously comfortable now this couple is happy to describe retirements joys and challenges in a new land the most important thing to understand is pro Vita which is the the save of Costa Rica which means the Pure Life is a is a a little deceiving because what it really means is this things happen and you're now delayed because and all you paperwork wasn't in or something you know something that's not something that's not right well that's just life you know per Vita kept out what patience was and so it's actually been good there's no Big Pharma here jacking prices up there's no AMA there's that and now there's Trump I feel like either going back as a soldier in fighting for liberty and fighting for democracy just staying away and and hanging out and saying you guys you know messed up and I'm glad about you would think that being in a socialist country that it would not be that attacking for Republicans but most of the people we need to desire or Republicans the Democrat the working class those that are here are not that you know not that well on to to help with things I do a little training and then the Cinda has her practice we can make it on our social security and did and did do it but now you know with with the with these extra monies we you know we live a lot better we have a maid comes in twice a week a very inexpensive places the story is beautiful so just that sense of well-being is it is is almost enough there's Women's Club there's newcomers club there's wine club there's investment club there's book groups there's Democrats abroad what they do have here which is people are not ready for this trauma tape and trauma Tate here means paperwork or red tape and because it's a coal Anna claw everything is done in triplicate nobody has Authority everybody you have to do by the book almost enough to drive you back to the United States because it's just so unreasonable but then that's per Vita that's the way it is if you accept it then you just hope that's the way it is you can think of everybody it's expensive to live here in terms of clothes fact most people go to the United States to buy clothes is cheaper to buy clothes or a car is much more expensive here they charge 25 percent yeah this is the highest highest cost of living place in Central America [Music] Lucinda and Dave's Puzo diesel SUV leaves the cool 4000 foot elevation of their place in Santa Ana for a weekend on Costa Rica's tropical Pacific coast where beaches and the biodiversity of Manuel Antonio National Park attract vacationers at their hotel Lucinda who has been ambitiously learning Spanish takes her turn in recounting her experiences it's very peaceful here I don't have to worry about Donald Trump it's you know a really comfortable semi-retired life I am practicing psychotherapy I work about eight to ten hours a week and I'm really extremely happy with my work I get I have a chance to work without working full time we have friends we we've developed how to cut several couples that were friendly with that we hang out with we're in Democrats abroad and we have a lot of friends in there we go to the theater there's a little theatre group here and it's really excellent we live much better than we could afford to live in the u.s. way way better over the top better we pay twenty dollars a month each for our cell phones with unlimited calling and internet and our house phone we pay $10 a month for groceries depends on what you want you want Danish cheese or American cheese you pay but if you want to eat Tico cheese inspirati I mean that that means cheese we wanted to live like the Tico's we can shop at the Feria and get delicious chicken and wonderful actually people buy fish there - I've never done that I'm kind of afraid but we we used to go to the ferry all the time the vegetables are just like they're heavenly and so cheap we come home with 20 or $30 worth of wonderful food that really would be we could eat for an entire week on that but instead we go to the Americanized market where everything is where the local food is still pretty cheap but they have everything imported you might want to have I'm still not sure we're going to stay because as we get older I keep thinking we need American healthcare I am tremendously healthy but I need a knee replacement and we're going to have to go to the states you know for a month so that I can have that taken care of and eventually I know that there will be more serious medical problems they have national health and we as residents are required to pay into it but we haven't used it because it's very poor they are required to go to the hospital in the area where we live and it's very old built in with like 1920 or something and very decrepit and very crowded and we've heard terrible stories about people lying in the hallway on Gurney's for hours but it has been defunded and defunded by the oligarchy there's very wealthy families that run the country and they don't want to pay taxes if we do not have the rule of law they're very rich do what they want but for maintenance which I seem to need quite a lot if dermatologists gynecologists that but we have a tremendous internist who gives us quality attention it's really I never had a doctor in the u.s. take care of me in that way he's Harvard educated he speaks English he spends a full hour with us and the fee is a hundred and eight dollars there is a great private hospital our internist practices there well we can't afford it I don't think we could I think a friend of ours had a hip replacement done there and they screwed it up they gave him the wrong size hip their most distressing problem a collision with a motorcyclist and it's fall out in the courts their trouble started with Dave at the wheel near their home the signal on slowed down and started into the left turn and all of a sudden bang something hit I saw and motorcycle hit the side of the card it was obviously that guy's fault he was trying to pass us on the left in an intersection but he had witnesses false witnesses there was nobody there if your gringo you're screwed the first hearing just David had to go in alone and the translator told him well because they have witnesses they will win david was considered a criminal because and notified as a criminal because the guy was gravely injured and the guy claimed he was off work for over a year but our attorney called him at work and he was there so we don't know what's going on there will be three hearings and we will have to go all the way through we can't just say okay and give it to our pterence company they do not defend us they don't do anything to help us of course our fee for the insurance is like a hundred and twenty-five dollars every six months it's very cheap we have to go through all three hearings and our attorney is going to charge us $1500 per hearing and then we can turn it over to our insurance and they'll pay it that the auto accident is a nuisance and it will be expensive to pay the lawyer but it's a nuisance it's not a threat I can't think of anything that's terrible really if we got sick we flew home so we could have Medicare other than that we miss our children and then sometimes it's great that we're not on top of them and they're not on top of us we see that we go back and we see the children at least once a year checked out and back home Dave and Lucinda toast to new grandson in California and their own success in adjusting to Costa Rica's portal Vida is retirement age you're you're really looking for a lot less to do you're looking for time to read your book and you know time to talk and time to be with brands what a lucky happenstance to say okay well we're going to go to Costa Rica and try that and then find out that you know the things that you really want in retirement or hear what you learned is that life is so final then yourself cavity and they're still welcome you [Music]

Channel: Martin Kasindorf

Views: 261,366

Rating: 3.0827887 out of 5

Keywords: Costa Rica, Retirement in Costa Rica, Costa Rica retirement, Retiring in Costa Rica, American expatriates, Living in Costa Rica

Id: vqsXoV4zQMY

Length: 12min 23sec (743 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 29 2017