To continue my reflection on completing my first year living in Costa Rica, I realized that there were a few things I wish I knew before moving to Costa Rica.
Maybe they would have helped me adjust easier and maybe not but I’m positive that they sure would have made at least a little difference!
So in case you’re thinking about moving to Costa Rica or wonder what it’s like, here are 6 things I wish I knew before I made the big move.
6 Things I Wish I Knew Before Moving to Costa Rica
How to drive a manual
I honestly regret not learning when I was living in the States because the driving there is so much easier for learning. Many cars outside the States are manual and renting an automatic is more expensive most of the time. So before you move to Costa Rica, learn to drive a stick! It’s incredibly useful for the rest of the world too.
For the first few months when we moved to Coco, we lived in a hotel on top of a very steep hill so I was stuck there quite a few times when Yeison wasn’t able to give me a ride. I would walk to town to get to work which took me nearly an hour under a sweltering 95 degrees.
If you’re planning on renting a car for your first few days before you decide if you want to buy one, take advantage of our exclusive car rental discount!
A basic understanding of Spanish
I came to Costa Rica with basically zero knowledge of Spanish. I wanted to take a class at my university but it wouldn’t fit in my schedule and I ended up studying French instead.
I knew some basics such as “hola” “gracias” and “estoy perdido” but not knowing the language is a huge barrier and made my culture shock much more intense. I did my research online and found a great website, Duolingo.com that helped me learn fast.
I’m not 100% fluent or anywhere near it but I don’t feel lost anymore when we’re having dinner with our friends and I feel confident to talk to people.
Ahorita, yo puedo hablar con más gente! Que dicha!
It’s a great feeling to realize that you can actually understand and you’re not behind the tree anymore. It makes meeting people much easier and I’m not restricted to only talking to people who know English. So before you make your big move, take a Spanish class. Try Duolingo for free! One of the biggest mistakes expats make is not bothering to learn Spanish since they miss out on connecting with locals and truly experiencing the culture.
Learn some basic Spanish with our introductory guide!
How to clean, and cook fish
Here in Coco, it is fairly easy to grab a pole and catch dinner. Yeison and a couple of our friends have gotten into fishing and they take it seriously, like going out to fish at 5 in the morning and coming back at 2pm with three coolers full of fish. He’s also recently gotten into sportfishing and have been catching super big ones!
I love eating fish but I never knew how to cook it. Or clean it. There have been so many times when Yeison comes back with bags of fish and I would toss it in the freezer and forget about it. Then I’d end up throwing it out because too much time has passed and the fridge was getting a funky smell.
Yeison’s fisherman friend taught me how to properly scale and clean fish and I’ve looked up some great recipes so now when Yeison brings fish back home, I immediately clean it and prepare it to make a delicious dinner instead of wasting it all.
I found myself cooking from scratch much more when I moved so I wish I knew more recipes by heart. But thankfully there is the Internet!
How to fix household items
A couple months after I moved, I noticed that my laptop charger stopped working. I was ready to throw it away but there was nowhere in Coco or Liberia to buy a Lenovo charger. Buying electronics is incredibly expensive in Costa Rica too so I was at a loss for what to do! Thinking that I had to order one online and have it shipped to Costa Rica, it never occurred to me to see if I could fix my charger.
This is a very “American” thinking because we are used to throwing things away and buying a new one once something stops working. However, what do you do if you can’t? Yeison opened up my charger and we found the broken wire, cut it and reconnected it. Como nuevo!
Sometimes you can fix it, sometimes it’s a complete loss but there is no 1800 number here that we can just call and have them ship us a new one so you have to improvise a little.
Yeison has shown me how to hot-wire a car, change a flat tire, fix our fish tank’s filter, fix a hot water breaker, clean a laptop fan, fix a hole in my bike tire and more. Wow I really didn’t know how to do anything before.
The world of blogging
We started this blog about 7 months after I moved to Costa Rica and I do wish we had started before I left. I would have loved to have kept a record of my progress since moving here and of our relationship.
I’ve always kept a written journal but it’s much more fun and efficient to have a blog because it just takes a couple of clicks if I want to remember about one of our trips or show pictures to my friends.
A blog makes it easy to be able to share my life with my friends and family back home. Having a blog also got me interested in photography which I wish I would have started learning about earlier so that I could have better photos of my first year in Costa Rica.
Since I moved down in the peak of rainy season, all my photos from the first few months are kinda grey and gloomy and I could have learned how to photograph rainy days a lot better.
Opened more credit cards
I should have looked more into getting credit cards for cashbacks, miles and points. After all the traveling and the money we spent traveling, we probably could have qualified for a few free flights and other benefits. Having a credit card that has no international fees would have been handy too.
Before trips we always stock up on items and it would have been smart for me to have a credit card that gave me more benefits.
What are some things that you wish you knew before you went abroad? I would love to hear your thoughts!
Betty & Jim Stafford says
Sammi,we are going to spend next February in Playa del Coco & we are both taking in all your great information.Do appreciate all your hard work.We look forward to every word you send.Thank you both so much.
Betty & Jim.
Sammi says
Hi Betty and Jim! So great to hear you enjoy the blog and thank you so much. Take care and thanks for commenting 🙂
Sammi says
Hi Barbara! When I buy things online I always mail it to my house in the US or if any friends are coming I mail it to their place. I always use Amazon so you can get free shipping for a lot of the times. We got our furniture shipped in Costa Rica and it’s not too expensive to have it transported to you from the city or wherever you bought it if you know people/move it yourself and don’t go with a company.
As for your Yorkie, you can check this post out for how to bring him here: Taking your pet to Costa Rica
For firearms, you need to have a special international permit to have a gun in Costa Rica, it’s quite of a complicated process because Costa Rica is a peaceful country and I would suggest not bringing one since it’s complicated to get a permit.
As for leaving every 90 days, you can check this post: Costa Rica entry requirements A tourist visa only lasts 90 days.
Barbara says
Hi Sammi, I am thankful for your blog. I so want to move someplace tropical when I retire. Costa Rica is beautiful We plan to visit next April. You talk about ordering things on-line. Do you have it mailed to you or to friends that mail it on to you? Is mailing expensive? You also talked about having your furniture shipped. How did you go about doing that? Was it costly? We will also want to bring our Yorkie? How do I find out about that? Also about bringing firearms? So to overwhelm you but I am so excited to think I could move there. I know there will be so much to need to check into. Yeison mentioned you have to leave every 90 days. What is that all about? Any information you can give will be greatly appreciated.
Jo says
So do you have dual citizenship or do you take a 3 day trip out of the country every 90 days?
yeison says
Hi Jo,
For now she needs to go out of the country every 90 days but it works for us because we are travel a lot 🙂
Sammi says
Definitely! Live a simple life and you can. See how we did it 🙂
Living in Costa Rica for $2000 a month.
george says
I am thinking seriously about moving as well. I have a couple of questions and hope to get some help and thanks in advance.
1. how is the crime rate?
2. i was thinking of getting a scooter when there to travel around – is that wise or are there crazy drivers?
3. do the apartments come furnished?
4. what would you recommend i do before i even think about moving to cost rica?
5.what do you miss from the US?
I know it’s probably too many questions….thanks!
Sammi says
Crime rate is fairly low in Costa Rica but there definitely is crime here. Most you will find is theft, robberies and break ins. Just use your common sense and be aware of your surroundings. You’ll find good and bad people in every country so just always make sure to have your belongings with you, don’t go around flashing wallets full of money, yknow normal stuff like that.
As for scooters…. honestly it is not highly recommended unless you plan on living in a small town. People drive quite crazy here and the drivers don’t respect motorcycles/scooters at all and I always hear of accidents with bikes. It’s really up to you and your level of experience but honestly, people drive really crazy here!
Depends. Like the US or Canada or any other country you will find furnished and unfurnished places.
Start learning Spanish before you come. Learn the basics at the very least. That’s the biggest regret I have is not starting before I moved. Also if you haven’t been here before or at least traveled around, I’d do that before moving because Costa Rica is so different and their system is very different than North America. You have the beach, the mountain, the city and everywhere is different. So find out where you want to live, do your “due diligence.” I suggest visiting the bank or the ICE office to see what their system is like because the service here is not the best. This is something a lot of expats (and locals) find incredibly frustrating about Costa Rica and it’s something every person has to deal with at some point when they’re here.
I miss a lot of food since food is expensive here. I have to cut out a lot of things I normally buy in the US like cheese, healthy cereal and I eat a lot less meat. I also miss the price of electronics in the US. Costa Rica is ridiculously expensive when it comes to that. And I miss good wi-fi. Internet here, well to put it frankly, sucks and again it’s expensive.
Nancy says
I am also 62 and recently quit my job with only a small nest egg. After visiting and checking things out, I am confident I can live well on $1500/month social security!
Steve Custer says
Really enjoyed your blog. At the present I’m just fascinated by the idea. Plan to come down for a week in fall. I’m sixty two don’t have a lot of money. Just sick of working. Thanks.
Sammi says
Hey Steve! Thanks for checking out our blog. You can live pretty well in Costa Rica without a ton of money, the cost of living here is much less than the States. Many people come here to check it out for their retirement and fall in love. I think you’d really love it! It’s a different pace of life and lifestyle, all good for the mind, body and soul 🙂 If you have any questions feel free to ask us!
Greg says
Excellent Article – just found your blog and just started blogging myself recently. we moved to Grecia in June and I can relate to a few of these items. Thanks for the duolingo plug – will have to try Spanish is next up to start learning. I wish I would have listened to everyone who told me to start before we moved. Better late than never.
Sammi says
Thanks Greg! And congrats on moving! Duolingo is a great site/app, I highly recommend it. It really only takes an hour a day and you can see so much improvement in just a few days. I really wish I started actually learning before I left as well but as long as you make the effort, you’ll learn fast 🙂
Lindsey Monge says
Those are very good tips! I just started using Duolingo on my phone since they have a nice app for learning Spanish. Do you know of any good card companies that don’t penalize for overseas transactions?
Sammi says
Thanks Lindsey! I love Duolingo, it makes learning fast, fun and easy. My friend has a card with Chase that has no international fees, counts for miles and it also covers all car insurance. (pretty awesome). I just found out that it is Chase Sapphire and it’s definitely one I would have gotten if I’d known about it!