Choose Costa Rica for Retirement: Retirement, Travel & Business Opportunities for a New Beginning

by John Howells

Book Overview

Are you investigating retirement locales, looking to explore a new culture, or researching new business opportunities? This book is packed with practical and useful information as you start the next stage of life, with solid documentation on managing investments, real estate, the cost of living, medical care, and safety, whether you are relocating, traveling, or investing in Costa Rica. Six maps help you situate yourself. And as you tour or get settled,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0762781025
• ISBN13: 9780762781027
• Release Date: January 2013
• Publisher: Globe Pequot Press
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.82 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.0" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Great Resource!

Well worth the small investment I made for this book - found a lot of information not available from other sources, and explanations of areas of concern that I had. Would recommend it to anyone considering visiting or living in Costa Rico....

Interesting, well written & up-to-date

I'll mention up front that this is the only book I've read on the subject of living in Costa Rica, but I can't imagine many being much better. I spent 10 weeks in Costa Rica (8 weeks in language immersion school, 4 days a week). Having two full weeks plus several 3-day weekends to travel around, I'm familiar with the basics of Costa Rican culture & geography. Nowhere near retirement age myself, I was impressed to find plenty of information on other topics: Mr. Howells reviews culture & politics, but not in any long and boring sense - really keeping to the necessities. He frequently compares cultural topics with North American analogies, helping to define it better for North Americans. He does take pains to be clear, while concise, about business, legal & immigration matters - all of which you probably find interesting, anyway, if you think you want to move to Costa Rica. He also does a great job covering costs of living for all life styles, health care, transportation, education, real estate and investments. He's interviewed plenty of folks for the content, too. From parents with children in private or public schools to immigration or real estate lawyers. This was clearly not his first attempt at such a book. One thing I repeatedly found interesting were the details about North American & European expat communities all over the country. I'm sure some of those details change in time, but it really gives you a feel for what to expect in the way of finding English (or other European language) speaking friends & advice. (But you are encouraged to learn some Spanish, of course!) Another specific that he gives several pages to is driving to Costa Rica from the US! I've always wanted to do that, and he's done it several times... I'm inspired already! My only concern with the book would be for someone who isn't familiar with the geography (thus my disclaimer @ the top) might like to supplement their reading with Google Earth or a map. The book does a fair job of keeping you oriented as he travels around, though, so don't worry if you'd rather not. It does have some maps indicating the regions he discusses. I found the book so interesting that I actually read most of it while traveling in Ecuador. At no point did I ever feel bored or bogged down and I didn't skip a single page. There's even some comic relief! This book, combined with a good trip, should be a nice spring board into living, retiring or doing business in Costa Rica.

Wonderful

This book has everyhting you can possibly look for in a book and more. I never found so much information in one book. I would recommend this book to everyone...

Chose Costa Rica for Retirement

This is an excellent guide for folks who want to live in Costa Rica either on a part time or full time basis. Good advice about real estate, investments, how to find new friends, great places to go.

A good guide book, even if you're not retiring there!

This was actually a really help guide while traveling in Costa rica. Like the firtst reviewer, I also appreciated the Web link that keeps you abreast of changes in Costa Rica through frequent updates of the information in the book. Another Globe Pequot Press book I bought, "Costa Rica: The Last Country The Gods Made," was helpful before I went. It's an essay-photo book on the country's various histories- political, geological, cultural -that would actually be VERY helpful for anyone considering working or retiring there.