Are you dreading another dark and icy winter up North, depressed by your country's politics and security issues, anxious about making ends meet or in an dead-end job?Like many others these days, you may dream of alternatives to your current living situation. The idea of leaving behind the stress and expense of the States, Canada or Europe and heading south to the sun has great appeal.
And peaceful, beautiful, friendly Costa Rica seems to fit the bill perfectly. Like any other life-changing decision, however, you need to gather the facts and as much information as possible, but it's also important to get the right attitude before moving to a completely different country.
Without going completely native, learning to adapt and bend to things you can't change really is the path to a new stress-free and fulfilling life.
Costa Rica attracts people from retired or near retirement-age professionals, worried parents disenchanted with the environment that their children are growing up in, rat-race escapees and adventure seekers looking for a challenge.
If you are reading this, then you may recognize yourself among these people. Perhaps you first learned about this peace-loving Central American country through magazine articles, possibly saw a documentary on the television or you have been browsing the articles on this Web site, and have an impression of wonderful climate, welcoming locals, exotic surroundings, cheap cost of living and well... a tropical haven ideal for relocation.
In recent decades, thousands of foreigners have done just that and adopted Costa Rica as their full-time home. For many of these new settlers, it is a dream fulfilled - they buy or build homes, keep busy, get a social life, start a business and happily adapt to life "Tico" (Costa Rican) style.
For the many who have happily settled in Costa Rica, however, there are a few who haven't been able to do so and after a year, they are packing up and heading out again. This can be put down to two basic factors.
1. They have not been able to accept the differences in culture, language and people
2. They didn't do their homework beforehand and carefully plan for the many aspects of relocating to a foreign country.
It's important to remember that things aren't exactly like 'back home'. After all, isn't that why you are thinking of coming here in the first place?
There are similarities of course, but take away the US style malls, fast-food outlets and sophisticated nightspots and Costa Rica is very much a Latin American country, with its own definite culture, society, family traditions and approach to how things should be done. Waiting for an hour in a bank line won't make it move any faster if you rant and rave; needing twelve photos for some residency requirement might seem excessive but there's no point in scowling at the camera; moaning at the traffic cop because you don't understand why he's stopped you isn't going to help.
These are simply a few frustrations to life here, but compared to the 'negatives' you have left back home, are they worth losing your cool about?
That's just the way things are - you aren't going to change the system, so you have to be ready to change some of your own attitudes to work with the system. Be tolerant, be patient, remind yourself of the loads of advantages there are to being in Costa Rica and work around the hurdles in your path.
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