If anyone ever told you that living abroad in Costa Rica, or anywhere for that matter would be a magical, fairy tale paradisaical experience, take it lightly. Yes, living in Costa Rica is awesome, especially being at the beach.
However, when moving abroad you have to come with an open mind and open heart and be willing to be tested and put in tough situations at times.
It’s not easy moving to a brand new place, even if you’re in the same country. Costa Rica is no exception – many people market and advertise it as “living in paradise,” which it IS but that doesn’t mean coconut drinks on the beach and infinity pools everyday.
I think no matter how much research you do and how prepared you think you are, there will always be things that surprise you when you’re finally there. Some are good, some are bad but that’s what the experience is all about!
5 Things that Surprised Me About Living in Costa Rica
Immersing in Spanish – Como Aprender Español?
I’ve had quite a few friends who studied abroad for 6 months or a year and came back completely fluent in the native language. I kind of expected the same when I moved here. I would be immersing myself which apparently is the best way to learn and it wouldn’t be long before I would be watching telenovelas and reading los periodicos every morning.
Didn’t quite happen that easily. Since Coco is such a touristic area, many of the Costa Ricans speak English. And they love to speak English to you once they know you do! Many times I’ll have to ask them, podemos hablar en Espanol? so that I can practice. Plus I don’t expect them to speak Ingles to me at all, I want to learn and practice!
Also this one is kind of my fault but since Yeison’s English is damn near as good as mine, it’s just easier for us to communicate in English than me stammering, sputtering and mumbling inaudible and unintelligible Spanish.
I found that I had to learn on my own – can’t count on other people to do it for me. I buckled down and did my research. I love to learn on my own so I looked up apps and software to help me learn Spanish. I discovered that watching Grey’s Anatomy in Spanish subtitles helps a lot. Derek te amo. Eligeme, escogeme, amame!
Kindness of Costa Ricans
In the States, if you are an immigrant or foreigner and you don’t speak English very well, people aren’t that nice. I’ve witnessed this with my own eyes and ears as some Americans have assumed I don’t speak English, mocked me right in my face and told me to go back to China, telling me I’m not a real American. (I was born in the US if anyone is curious).
So imagine my surprise when I first moved down and how incredibly nice people were when I did try to practice my Spanish with them. Nobody ever made fun of me, nobody ever told me to go back home. Instead they patiently listened, gently corrected my mistakes and when I said the few words I knew, you could tell they greatly appreciated the effort.
Another example of their kindness. If you’re ever in an emergency in Costa Rica, you might be surprised as how many people are willing to help you.
One of my friends and her husband were driving in the middle of the countryside. Their car broke down, they had no cell phone and it was getting dark. A truck full of teenage boys pulled up beside them and instead of taking advantage of their vulnerability, they helped them push their car to the next town and let them borrow their phone.
Stories like this are incredibly common here.
I’ve heard stories where a tourist fainted and a Costa Rican stayed with the couple to show the wife where the hospital was, 40 kilometers away. Yeison is the same way, he’ll help anybody who needs it. They do what seems to be above and beyond for us foreigners but really it’s just normal for them.
Not All Expats Are Alike
You would think that every expat: American, British, Italian, Russian, whoever, would have the same mindset when they moved here. We’re here to experience a new culture, find a new life for ourselves and open our eyes to the world. We want to live in a peaceful country, to escape the rat race and the gossip and to just live simpler and happier.
Nope.
You ever heard the phrase “Some people never change?” It applies to people here too. We live in a small town and a small community where everybody knows each others business or they deliberately pry into each others personal life.
For some reason, some expats here still like to stir up drama. Some really are here to live a different life, some are here to live their same life just by the beach. I’m not really sure why or how they can expect things to be exactly the same as the States or Canada (or even Western Europe).
It’s Costa Rica, things are done differently here as it would be in any other country in the world. Costa Rica’s not a perfect country, there are definitely flaws but what system is perfect? None.
Why move here if all you will do is complain and why move to a country where you don’t even like the locals?
Diversity
Costa Rica has a population of about 4.8 million people. Not a lot but it is a small country.
The second time I visited Costa Rica we went to Limon and Yeison pointed out many Chinese communities to me. In San Jose, we met lots of Taiwanese people which I was pretty surprised about.
To be honest, I never thought of Costa Rica being one of the more popular places for people to move to. But in reality, it is.
I learned that Costa Rica has always been a popular country for people to immigrate to, especially from Asia and the Caribbean islands due to the huge appeal of the ability to make a new life and good money in the city.
Costa Rica is a large melting pot. You can find people from all over the world – heck Yeison is half Korean half Costa Rican! We’ve met many half Costa Ricans half Italians, half Costa Rican half Russian, half Costa Ricans half Chinese. Just all sorts of diverse people.
And if you’re born in Costa Rica, you’re a Tico or Tica. That’s it. Doesn’t matter where your parents were born, if you have an accent or if you speak a second language.
Subtle Culture Shock
It probably helped that I visited quite a few times before I moved here so I had an idea of what things were like. Living at the beach helped a lot too for sure. You always had a great central place to go to meet people, always had somewhere to go and something to do.
Besides the language, the rest of the culture shock was not as intense as I thought it would be. This time, I already had amazing support and experience which was more than anything I could ever ask for!
There’s always ups and downs to living abroad but I’m loving it everyday. I suggest everybody to go international for a little bit! It doesn’t have to be for a long period of time but just to experience something completely new and see the world in a different light.
If you enjoyed this post you might like my other living in Costa Rica stories!
Things I had to get used to living in Costa Rica
Oksana | Drink Tea & Travel says
I moved to Costa Rica about a month and a half ago with my new husband, Max, (we actually got married here on New Years Eve) and I can 100% relate to this, especially #1. Max speaks fluent Spanish (he grew up here), but English is still his first language, so, of course, we speak English to each other, and a lot of our friends here (we are in Avellanas) are also expats with really good English. 1.5 months in, I am struggling to practice… maybe I too should start watching Greys Anatomy in Spanish. Love the idea!
Sammi says
First, congratulations on your marriage!! Second where are you living in Costa Rica? Would love to meet up! Always keen to meet other bloggers 🙂 But yes, it’s so difficult sometimes because the locals really want to practice their English, especially in touristic areas so it’s easy to slip into speaking English a lot more. I made myself go out and find locals who didn’t know English to practice and that helped soo much. Definitely try watching English TV shows with Spanish subtitles, I learned a lot from it!
Sammi says
Hi Diane, if you’re looking for somewhere close to surf for your son, I’d suggest either the Nosara area or Tamarindo. Nosara has a huge expat community (the first in CR) and has some good surfing beaches like Guiones. However it is a bit more “rural” and not close to a city or major airport so it’s a bit “out there.” This type of expat community is one that is very into the organic, vegan/vegetarian, surf/yoga lifestyle and has many retired expats. There are still many foreigners there who are younger but mostly looking for the surf/yoga culture.
Tamarindo is a big surfing beach town that has a fairly large expat community. Many tourists who go there are young backpackers (and I notice a lot from Europe). It has more of a party atmosphere than Nosara because it is more developed and has more tourists that aren’t into the same type of lifestyle as Nosara. We have an article on Tamarindo here: Playa Tamarindo
Diane says
We are close to retirement, and blessed with an almost 18 year old son. We are currently in Texas (land of guns – ugh), but wondering about relocating to Costa Rica this summer after our son graduates from High School. Our dream situation would be to find a nice location where our son could take a “gap” year between high school and college, and maybe learn to surf, before starting college (hopefully in C.R.!).
My question is….are there safe communities with plenty of 18 year olds, expats and locals? If it was just us, we could settle into an expat retirement location, but we are looking for an area where he can make friends his age too. None of us speak spanish yet, but are starting on Duolingo.
Thank you! Hubby and I, our dream is to move to C.R. and retire there. But, we need to make sure C.R. will be a good fit for our son too.
Daniel says
I am not quite sure if by this moment you are fluent in spanish, let me say just one thing: Thank you! We Costa Ricans really appreciate when a foreign try to speak costa rican spanish, which is not the same spanish from spain or mexico. If you end up talking using mae, vos or usted, you will be more than set, keep it up and welcome to the heart of the americas!
Sammi says
Hi Daniel! I am ashamed to say I am not completely fluent in Spanish but hey it’s my third language and I do pretty well, I can understand majority of words. I need to practice the tenses and grammar since that is the hardest part for me. But I always try to speak Spanish to the locals and it’s usually pretty funny because if they speak English, we end up doing a Spanish English mix which actually helps me learn. I don’t say “mae” though, Yeison told me that he doesn’t like to hear girls use “mae” so I refrain hehe. But I do use many other slang words he has taught me 😉 Muchisimas gracias!
Eva says
Great article! My husband is originally from San Ramon and we have recently been considering moving closer to his family’s farm. (Although I think I want to be closer to the beach…. financially it is a no-brainer to build on the family farm in San Ramon) We have been there many times but I am scared of actually moving from the US. However I think it would be a great adventure for our family and great for the kids to learn about their father’s culture. I know that there are plenty of retired expats all over CR however are there many younger families? We are in our early 30’s with small children. Do you know of an expat group in San Ramon or surrounding cities?
Sammi says
Hi Eva! I know there is a small expat community near Concepcion and there is a very big one in Grecia, actually most of the Central Valley expats I know are in Grecia so you’ll find plenty there with several families. You can join Expats in Costa Rica FB groups to connect with others but yes, there are a lot of retired expats here! I was definitely nervous when I first moved here especially since I’d barely been outside the US so it took awhile for me to get used to living there but it was a great learning experience. I think it’d be wonderful for your children to learn about their father’s country and culture! If anything I bet they will love the adventure and nature here 🙂
Bailey says
Hello!
I have just returned from my second trip to Costa Rica in 4 months and I’m in love ! I was in Coco both times, I can’t believe you live there. Instead of making this post too long I’ll cut right to the chase, I would like to move there within a year. I have a car lease up in less then a year and that is the time frame I’m giving myself to get my stuff together and leave . Now, obviously my major question would be what do I do for work ? I have read many posts that said it would be near impossible to find a job unless hired illegally. I do have an MBA with experience in my field but I am only 24. I have a good job now that sadly I could totally do with just a laptop and wifi but my job would never go for it.Do you think trying to find a job that lets me work from home would be my best bet?
Sammi says
Hi Bailey! Yep we lived there for two years and we are back again this year. As for work, most foreigners who move to Costa Rica work online as they don’t need to worry about work visas or working illegally and you can make more since the average salary here is much lower than North America with long hours. If you aren’t fluent in Spanish, your options are very limited if you want to have a corporate job or something like that plus it’s damn hard to get a work visa for it – you have to show that you can fulfill a position a Costa Rican cannot. Therefore many foreigners work online or open their own business and in Coco, you can work illegally at a restaurant or bar or something but the pay to be honest, sucks. If you can find a job online, that’d be better.
Daylana Vargas says
Hola!, de verdad que me encantó la publicación y saber que le gustó mi país y como somos acá me alegra mucho. Espero que disfrute todo lo que Costa Rica tiene para ofrecer al mundo.
Saludos y Pura vida 😀
yeison says
Pura vida Daylana! Si Costa Rica es un chuzo 🙂
Sammi says
Hi Rony! Costa Rica is quite different throughout the country so it really depends on what you’re looking for. I know many families at both the beach and the mountains and that is largely because of weather. Some people like the heat from the beach, some people prefer a cooler climate. Some of the most popular places for expat families in CR are Playas del Coco (beach in Guanacaste), Grecia (mountains in Alajuela), Escazu (near San Jose). The beach areas are definitely more touristic and is a bit harder to blend in with local culture – the small towns in the Central Valley are best for this such as Grecia and San Ramon.
Rony says
Hi Sammi,
I have been looking at moving to Costa Rica along with my wife and 4 young kids. Looking for a slower pace of life. All we do right now is work, work, work, we don’t want to raise our kids in such an unenjoyable environment. We are looking to move somewhere where we can blend in with the Ticos and learn their culture. We currently own a pizzeria and I think of doing something that has to do with restaurants there. Any recommendations/ suggestions on what part of Costa Rica I should investigate more.
Cheers,
Rony
Nancy says
Having the opportunity to speak Spanish every day, and Sesame Street Spanish at that, I discovered I knew more than I thought. Will continue with Duolingo and some conversational Spanish CDs to listen to and repeat. So many folks in Coco speak English, and the locals seemed to appreciate your effort to communicate in Spanish even if they habla ingles.