Labor in Costa Rica is very affordable compared to the U.S., Canada, or Europe and many ex-pats employ a full or part time gardener and house cleaner. Since the jungle grows so fast around here, a gardener can keep the property and the landscaping maintained. Same for a finished home, having some help cleaning windows, sweeping, mopping, and more helps maintain its beauty. After all most people move...
Blog
Fractional ownership is a new concept for the Southern Zone of Costa Rica and the Casa Big Sur is the first of its kind. This model has worked in Manuel Antonio and other areas in the Northern Zone of the Gaunacaste Peninsula. A buyer can purchase 6 weeks in this house per year with different times each year so all owners get a fair chance to enjoy holidays in the house. The time can also be...
About 40 minutes South of Dominical in San Buenas, Cortes there is a huge Mamones farm we like to visit to pick fresh Mamones. It is lots of fun to bring the whole family and get as much as you can eat to last a week, not to mention filling up while you are picking them right off the tree. The Mamone is a golf ball sized fruit with red peal and soft spikes also called Lechies in Asia. Inside is a grape...
High speed internet in the middle of the jungle is a beautiful thing, but up until a few years ago was almost impossible. The only options back then were to go to an internet café (which was usually dial up speed) or try and hook up your cell phone (if you had signal) to the computer and use snail pace internet. Well, all that has changed thankfully and it is possible to work online from your house in...
Costa Rica is a mecca for surfing with miles and miles of secluded coastlines on both sides of the country. There are numerous World famous breaks such as; Witch’s Rock up North, Playa Hermosa by Jaco, Pavones in the Southern most part of the country, and Salsa Brava the Costa Rican pipeline on the Caribbean coast. Witch's Rock in Northern Costa Rica Accessed Best by Boat The 'Costa Rica Pipeline'...
This can be an overwhelming endeavor looking for a quality used car in Costa Rica. Many of the cars have been driven on bad roads and are super expensive compared to their comparable U.S. make and model. There is a heavy import tax on cars here, which is reflected in the prices. It can be discouraging when looking for a car and may take several trips to various dealerships and looking at for sale by...
Having a green thumb has never been so easy if you live in Costa Rica. Basically during the rainy season just cut and plant or buy your favorite flower from the nursery and plant it anywhere. I recently wrote a blog about planting fruit trees, in this entry we will discuss exotic flowers and plants that are available and great for landscaping in our area of Costa Rica. We have recently been planting at...
It seems like just yesterday it took well over 4 hours to get here and the last stretch of spine rattling bumpy dirt road from Quepos to Dominical took an hour and a half. And the bridge in Uvita had holes you could see straight through to the flowing river below! The first time I came to Dominical on vacation we were at a local breakfast spot up in Playa Hermosa near Jaco and were reading a free...
The local soda has great taste and the best prices around. Not a soda beverage, but rather the local small restaurant they call “Sodas” around here. They are typically family owned and many times operating right out of their home kitchen. Talk about good ole’ home cooking. As with most Costa Rica restaurants they are open air and there will surely be a dog sleeping in the corner, but do not...
Now you have a home and property or even a lot ready to build, and want to plant some flowers and fruit trees. This is one of the best aspects of living in such a tropical environment, you can usually literally cut off a branch and stick it in the ground and it will grow. You will notice driving down the road though out the country, some of the fence posts have started growing branches and become trees...