Ajijic or Costa Rica/ anyone been there..done that.?

Have any of the readers tried to live in Costa Rica prior to moving to Ajijic?
I know...corruption everywhere there...no police....bad roads ect. I do dislike monkeys and snakes also.
But aside....there are numerous Expat communities springing up in the mountain areas and it sounds a lot like living in Mexico.
The medical care appears to be good...housing is somewhat similar to Chapala ..not as nice...but the beaches are closer..and the rules appear to be less as for living there 6 months a year. Any comments?

Friends who did it did not like it although they moved from Grand Cayman to CR and didn't like the lack of infrastructure and services although lived near the beach.

Other options may be Lima, Peru or Ecuador

Costa Rica is definitely better. Unless it isn't.

Rosa Venus wrote:Costa Rica is definitely better. Unless it isn't.

From what I've heard Costa Rica is nowheres near as nice as Mexico and OMG humidity!!! How about Panama where humidity is so high that green algae and black mold grow in the closets and your shoes.

Quito Ecuador and the small town outside of it (can't think of the name) is supposed to be nice.

We joined an expat forum all about Costa Rice, and really didn't like the sound of it. Mexico IMO, is way better, especially this area. They had a lot of crime, very bad roads, and I'm not a fan of humidity. In fact the forum painted such a grim picture we decided not to even visit. Why waste time effort and money on a bad trip?

BTW Ecuador, is not a good place. One friend still occasionally gets sick after her visit there some years back, and another one got a bad infection while there. It eventually killed her.

Chile seemed nice in some areas, but is prone to really nasty earthquakes.

E Raq - Many expats move to Cuenca Ecuador. Nice climate, cheap housing in the mountains. My neighbors friend who lived in Ajijic for 16 years moved there and loves it. Hospital care is cheap too. I saw a travel program on one of the TV stations, forget which one and it looked pretty nice.

johninajijic wrote:E Raq - Many expats move to Cuenca Ecuador. Nice climate, cheap housing in the mountains. My neighbors friend who lived in Ajijic for 16 years moved there and loves it. Hospital care is cheap too. I saw a travel program on one of the TV stations, forget which one and it looked pretty nice.

Really, well it doesn't ring my bells, I wouldn't even bother to visit. All I'm hearing here is cheap cheap cheap. There has to be more than that for any kind of life. T.V. can make anything look pretty, even long over the hill ratty film actors (insert name of choice here).

E Raq - I wouldn't bother either, but others might like it. Few countries could claim our temperate climate and beautiful weather here.

Well we went for a week and hated it, we were on Flamingo beach which is very expensive, no grocery stores you have to buy your meat from the realtor, or shop in stores like 7-11. It was 95 degrees and 95% humidity. We drove to Arenal and it should of been like a 1 1/2 hour drive but because of the roads it took us at least 3, when we got there it was raining and cold, mud slides almost washing out the roads to get back to the house on the beach.
Nice staying on the beach but it was hot.
House rental was $9,000USD a month and that was 7 years ago, they remodeled the house a bit and not it is $12,000USD.
My friend begs me every year to go back and we won't, we did not like it at all, would rather be here in MX where there is an airport close and medical services.

THANKS everyone...every comment was worth it. Ajijic and Chapala just cannot be replaced period. A lot of it has to do with the people who live in Chapala Lakeside. We tried Panama....no color..no local culture...the humidity was so awful I could not breath...let alone the mold ..nope.
The above posts were very helpful.

Hensley wrote:
House rental was $9,000USD a month and that was 7 years ago, they remodeled the house a bit and not it is $12,000USD.

$12,000 US Dollars a month rent? I'd like to see pics of that house.

I lived in San Jose for year about 30 years ago and liked it a lot,the weather's great in the central valley,so is the scenery and the women,the food not so much,I hear it's pretty expensive now.
I prefer Mexico.

Be careful of suggested alternatives to Lakeside here.

Lima, Peru is a huge city on a cold ocean and famous for its coastal overcast but very little rain. Having lived in coastal Northern California for many years, I can assure you you do not wish to retire to drear. I hear the seafood is good, however.

Quito, Ecuador is a city of about 2.5 million people and is the highest capital city in the world at about 9,400 feet. Thus it is quite cool (some would say springlike, I would say bracing and, while splendid when sunny, quickly damn cold when subject to overcast) and crowded. I live at 7,000 feet in the Jovel Valley in Chiapas which is quite a bit higher than Lakeside but lower than the valley in which Quito sits and 7,000 feet is quite high enough for a place in which to reside as you will find out if you move to a higher altitude.

Besides, retiring to a big, congested city or an isolated rural area is for young people, not geezers.

We, at one time, planned to leave Lakeside and move to Chiapas full time but now stay in Lakeside, with its wonderful and pleasant climate most of the summer. Think before you sell off and leave this great place.

We almost retired there. We went three times and explored all of the country except the south western Oso Penn.

The roads are miserable and it takes a long time to travel around because of it - we're talking potholes the size of VWs. Good bus system tho.

The medical systems are very very good. Great hospitals in San Jose, medical students come from all over the world to study there.

In terms of weather, you can choose your climate by where and at what altitude you live.

It is a gorgeous country and they are politically neutral. They boast more school teachers than police officers. They have the highest rate of literacy in the Americas. The country values it's eco reputation and strives to protect it's beauty and bio diversity.

We found Ticos to be very nice people and tolerant and welcoming of foreigners. They are more Spanish than indigenous.

There is a significant crime problem with kidnapping, home invasions, and petty theft.

There are virtually no indigenous people, therefore there are few crafts and almost no colorful cultures or people to explore. The food, while good and we really enjoyed it, cannot touch the regional diversity of flavors and ingredients of Mexico.

Costa Rica has become very very expensive to live! Way more so than Mexico.

I loved it there! There are rivers to raft, hikes to take, villages to explore, waterfalls to bathe in, volcanoes to climb, wild howlers, sloths, toucans, and parrots to watch.

For me, Mexico has always been my favorite country and still is.

Holy Suffering Succotash! Even the Dawg broke down and admitted this is a great place to live! (even on the Sump) I admit that there have been times I dream of other possibilities, but then I come home from a walk on the Malecon to news reports of 103 degrees in Santa Rosa, CA.....over 100 in Santa Cruz last week, winter storm warnings way up north and read on here about humidity, awful roads and bugs that'll kill ya.

So, yesterday I swatted the latest skeeter as it did its vampire number on my arm, went off to buy some Big Daddy sausages, his latest meatball concoction and a few potential pot stickers from the Asian lady, came home and yelled:

AND VIVA LAKESIDE!!! This place is LIVABLE for an expat.

That's what it always comes down to...is it "LIVABLE". There are places to vacation in and then there are the places where you can enjoy living. Viva la difference!
We sold our place on the coast to Canadians who live, in the summer, on an island off the coast of Vancouver Island. They thought driving 45 minutes to PV to grocery shop was a piece of cake compared to the ferry ride that they have to take in Canada. All depends on your point of view.

My uncle went on a retirement orientation tour in CR and got "sold" on the idea of living there. They bought a house and moved everything from their home in Phoenix. Within 6 months they were wanting to move back. Being from Phoenix, he didn't realize how badly the humidity would affect him, even though they're in the mountainous area and not near a beach. Also, to afford something, they were living in a small community some distance from the capital, where they had no TV signal, no phone, and no Internet, which made them feel very isolated from family back home.

We also researched CR when considering where to retire, and we felt it was just too far away from "home" to be comfortable. With the airport so close here and having the US within driving distance, we're more likely to be able to visit when we want. We also like to drive around and explore, and felt CR was too small to provide much freedom (and bordering countries might be less safe to drive through).

Lakeside affords lots of options for exploration and travel within the country, good infrastructure, great weather, reasonable visit options for us and family members, and ocean just a few hours away (certainly closer than when we lived in Kansas!).

The monkeys would actually be kinda cool, though! ;-)

OK we have not lived in either place, but have visited both to consider where to retire....Ajijic was better in so many ways. Petty theft in Costa Rica is a sport, even many of the small shacks are covered in razor wire. Visited both coasts and central valley...coasts were hot humid and the rains were unbelievable. Food was expensive and restaurants were expensive. Constant warnings about having your tires slashed, offered to help and then robbed. We were shook down by the police who accused us of speeding. Central valley was temperate and beautiful, but expensive......
Dengue fever prevalent, lots of bugs Roads were horrible, spent time with an expat in Puerto Viejo who bult a house there, has an armed guard walking the premise at night and still lives petrified
We'll be back lakeside

Double post.

LMarkoya wrote:OK we have not lived in either place, but have visited both to consider where to retire....Ajijic was better in so many ways. Petty theft in Costa Rica is a sport, even many of the small shacks are covered in razor wire. Visited both coasts and central valley...coasts were hot humid and the rains were unbelievable. Food was expensive and restaurants were expensive. Constant warnings about having your tires slashed, offered to help and then robbed. We were shook down by the police who accused us of speeding. Central valley was temperate and beautiful, but expensive......
Dengue fever prevalent, lots of bugs Roads were horrible, spent time with an expat in Puerto Viejo who bult a house there, has an armed guard walking the premise at night and still lives petrified
We'll be back lakeside

Interesting, Markoya:

When reviiewing the literature, one gets no clue that Costa Rica is experiencing these problems. We actually never considered Costa Rica because we felt it would be too "white bread" boring and we heard more than once that San Jose was "Fresno with palm trees". Now, it seems, based on your post and others, that crime, infrastructure and corruption are problems as well.

Your story about the expat who built a dream home in Puerto Viejo reminds me of a friend with whom I was discussing retirement options back in 1999. We were living in San Francisco and he in the small coastal town of Bon Secour, Alabama. I told him we had decided to retire to Mexico and had narrowed our choices down to Lake Chapala, Oaxaca, Cuernavaca and Merida. He responded, "Are you nuts? You don´t speak Spanish and they´ll cut your head off!" I responded that those seemed like self-cancelling problems as,without a head, I would find language skills unimportant. He then informed me that he had purchased a beautiful home in the exclusive Garden District of (pre-Katrina) New Orleans and planned to retire to that city and "let the good times roll" eating great food and consuming copious amounts of intoxicating beverages. I reminded him that New Orleans was, perhaps, the most dangerous city in the U.S. and that the Garden District was beset by serious crime including repeated home invasions and street assaults. He told me that he was not worried as his neighborhood association with its many well-to-do members, had hired full-time armed guards who patrolled the neighborhood streets 24/7. Well, he found that there are not enough oysters and sazerac cocktails on the planet to compensate for living in a city on the edge with rampant crime and corruption and, fortunately for him, he sold that mansion and moved back to Bon Secour before Katrina, getting his investment back in the bargain.

We are still in Mexico and stlll live at Lake Chapala and in the Chiapas Highlands - heads intact and becoming more proficient in Spanish daily while he boats about on Bon Secour Bay wondering what possessed him to think New Orleans was such a great idea. To this day, I would rather deal with the petty corruption of the Chapala transitos at Lake Chapala than stare down the barrel of a police special .38 revolver in the hands of a corrupt and dangerous New Orleans thug in a cop uniform.

When considering such retirement places as New Orleans, Costa Rica or other retirement places with a good press as opposed to Mexico with its bad press, exercise caution. Things are not always as they seem.

Why the hell would anyone want to retire to New Orleans with that humidity and dangers of hurricanes? Last place I would even think about. That's the way I think about all the southeastern states. And Florida with it's humidity, forget about it. Even NC is humid in the summer, but nowhere near as bad as FL and southeastern states. But NC has 4 seasons.

Interesting, Markoya:

When reviiewing the literature, one gets no clue that Costa Rica is experiencing these problems. We actually never considered Costa Rica because we felt it would be too "white bread" boring and we heard more than once that San Jose was "Fresno with palm trees". Now, it seems, based on your post and others, that crime, infrastructure and corruption are problems as well.

Costa Rica looks great on paper....but we found it bad in a lot of ways.....there are abandoned real estate projects everywhere, wlth lots of americans and canadians loosing their shirts on investment property, and remaining down there are the scavangers (american and canadian) trying to sell you their problems and profit from the massive loss of others. Spent a few days with a Canadian in Grecia who explained the three tierd pricing of all goods in Costa Rica. Friend price, native price and gringo price.....nothing has marked prices, so you are at the merchants mercy. Sure, could be the same in Mexico, but the story gets only worse. He warned us not to leave a basebal cap in our car, as the windows would be smashed for the cap. While he lived in a gated B&B, he was woke one night by sounds in his carpot (locked and gated woth tall iron fences) Locals were trying to steal simple$5 plastic chairs with a long pole that had a hook on the tip....I could go on...but, its not a place for most. I am certain there are retires living a good and happy life....but it is not what we found there.

johninajijic wrote:Why the hell would anyone want to retire to New Orleans with that humidity and dangers of hurricanes? Last place I would even think about. That's the way I think about all the southeastern states. And Florida with it's humidity, forget about it. Even NC is humid in the summer, but nowhere near as bad as FL and southeastern states. But NC has 4 seasons.

Ah, John; if you wonder why anyone would choose to live in New Orleans, whether in retirement or at any other stage of life, then you will not comprehend any explanation as to why one would make that choice so I won´t bother trying to enlighten you. Dawg is too old to spend the valuable time I have left trying to re-mold a personality cast in stone many years ago in a stodgy New England mill town. Besides, your response to my comment on crime in New Orleans in which you decry its infamous sultriness misses the point of my posting altogether. I must say that when my fresh young banking career in Mobile began to show a lack of promise for the future, I had the choice of taking jobs in New Orleans or San Francisco and chose San Francisco which turned out to be a good decision for reasons I never anticipated but that was just the luck of the draw. I am sure New Orleans would have been a blast for a boozing young man in love with creole cooking.

Now, it happens that New Orleans is, when measured by its murder rate, the most dangerous city in the United States. However, it is, according to a survey by the Mexican think tank The Citizens Council for Public Security & Criminal Justice, only the 22nd most dangerous city in the world among those where statistics are considered reasonably accurate and not in a state of open warfare, with a murder rate of 58 per 100,000 residents. The top ten in the world are:
1) San Pedro Sula, Honduras (157 per 100,000)
2) Ciudad Juarez, MX (148)
3) Maceió, Brazil (135)
4) Acapulco, MX (128)
5) Distrito Central (Tegucigalpa & Comayaguela), Honduras (100)
6) Caracas (99)
7) Torreón, MX (88)
8) Chihuahua, MX (83)
9) Durango, MX (80)
10) Belém, Brazil (78)

Five outta ten...Que triste...