By Ivo Henfling

When you move to Costa Rica, you will be making new friends in Costa Rica and I can assure you’ll enjoy so many different people from different places, different backgrounds and different interests. Most of us leave the family back home and though communications through email, Skype and Facebook are easy now, you will be away from most friends and family. Most of the friends you have are those you grew you grew up with or from the baseball team or the parents of your kids friends. And now you have to start all over.

Making friends with the Ticos

Most of us come here with the idea of making friends with the Ticos. Let me tell you a secret: you’ll have a hell of a time to become buddies with the locals.  I am married to one, and another Tica before her and I still don’t have Tico friends, even after living here for 30 years. Oh, if you invite the locals to your house, they’ll all come, don’t worry about that. But they will hardly ever invite you back. Sorry, mistake, they DO invite you back but don’t tell you where they live. Most will not get any further than the acquaintance stage.

By Ivo Henfling

Years ago, we would all get hundreds of flyers in the mail, offering all kinds of services and products. Some years later, we would get all these faxes in the middle of the night, because it is cheaper. Then the spam emails started, hundreds of them, every day. The latest waste of time and a huge bother for many is phone calls and text messages from banks, cable TV services and the phone company, offering their newest services.

I wish they were just offering, sorry, I should say PUSH their services. It drives me nuts. I sell products myself; I sell real estate in Costa Rica. But I send you only a blog once a week, and if you don’t want to receive it, you just unsubscribe from the service, you will never get it again. Financial institutions have other ideas though.

By Ivo Henfling

I would like to share this funny story with you, just to show you that when you think you’ve seen it all, you find you haven’t. This is not a fairy tale and though all the actors involved in this novel thought about suing the writer, we decided that this seller either has a serious psychological problem or he is just a great writer, wasting an opportunity to become famous and make a lot of money. When things like this happen, I always think about how boring life would have been if I would have stayed in Holland and wouldn’t have moved to Costa Rica.

Let me tell you a bit about the author first and how I met him. Many years ago, our GoDutch Realty office sold a property in Escazu to a North American client. The single man lived there for quite some years, remodeled the home and then one day called us again that he wanted to sell.

By Ivo Henfling

On New Year’s Day 2012, it was such a beautiful day, Dany and I decided to take a day trip to Poas volcano. As usual, because we never use a sweater in Costa Rica, we forgot to bring any and I was cold for the first time in years.

It is normal that instead of snow, we get a lot of wind in December and January and the weather was no different on this 1st of January.

I always find the trip to Poas one of the nicest daytrips in the Central Valley, no matter if you live in Escazu or anywhere else. Even after 30 years living in Costa Rica, I still enjoy the beauty of this country.  I drive to the courthouse in Alajuela and from there, drive up to Fraijanes de Alajuela (I marked it on the Google Map below).

By Ivo Henfling

Where I was born and raised, December is pretty cold. I’m from Haarlem, a city almost right on the Atlantic ocean, close to Amsterdam. Christmas in Haarlem, when I grew up, was generally under 32ºF and we could skate the famous canals and get really cold. Christmas in Costa Rica is different and that is one of the reasons I liked the idea of moving to Costa Rica.

During the month of December, the temperature in Escazu is around 80ºF most of the time, though we have a lot of wind. Nothing compared to Haarlem, Holland. The rains have mostly disappeared now, though once in a while we still might get a drop or two. So we don’t have a white Christmas in Costa Rica. No snow so no snowman, no snowballs and no ice skating, though you could bring your roller skates if you insist. Honestly, I don’t miss the snow and the cold at all. 

By Ivo Henfling
 

Right now, while I am writing this blog, I’m having a tamal de cerdo, made by my mother in law and the rest of the family (see the picture on the left). This is a Costarican specialty that the locals eat for Christmas, but my mother in law makes them really well (I hope she reads this). I eat about 5 in two weeks and I’ve had enough, but I know people that eat between 5 – 10 a day. For breakfast, lunch and dinner. Like North Americans eat turkey for a week. If you want to feel at home in Costa Rica, you need to try one.

What is a tamal de cerdo

A tamal de cerdo is a steamed corncake made of corn dough, filled with all kinds of ingredients like cooked rice, pork meat (cerdo), peas and sometimes olives, raisins, carrots and many other ingredients, depending on how wealthy or poor the family is.

By Ivo Henfling

Many of you might remember Catalina, who was my assistant for quite some time. When I hired Catalina, I didn’t know that she is Manuel Obregón’s sister. Manuel is one of Costa Rica’s most talented musicians and Laura Chinchilla’s government’s Minister of Culture and Art. Manuel Obregón is a verty talented artist who found a way to combine Costarican nature and Costarican music. Simbiosis, piano and rainforest, is just one of many of his cd's that are worth listening to.

About 10 years ago, Dany and I were invited Cora and Marianela to a piano concert by Costarican musician and composer Manuel Obregón and we were surprised by how good he was. If you are not really involved very much in the Costa Rican cultural life, you don’t realize that Costa Rica does have great musicians and artists because they are not very well advertised.

By Isabelle Jones
 

My family and I relocated to Atenas in 2003 and have enjoyed the benefits of living in Atenas tremendously. We moved from Colorado, USA, not yet ready to retire and have been very happy since. Many of our clients, when searching for the right place to live, ask me “why Atenas and not anywhere else?” My answer is that we fell in love with Atenas, that’s why. Let me tell you a bit about it, so you understand why. 

Atenas is not a city but it is still a small Costa Rican town that hundreds of ex-pats from the U.S., Canada and Europe have chosen to call “home”.  Climate, natural beauty and location are just a few of those reasons.  Daily, you see both Costa Ricans and foreigners walking, jogging and biking throughout Atenas. 

You and I are probably both frustrated most of the time with the services some larger corporations give, in Costa Rica and in many other parts of the world. Globalization and the large corporations are taking over. Therefore the client friendly smaller companies and mom and pop businesses cannot compete anymore, unless they take care of their clients.

Personally, I try to give any business I might have to smaller organizations, especially those that give me a good service. If you live in Costa Rica or any other part of the world, we probably battle these same problems.

In October this year I wrote a blog  about the nicest real estate closing of my life, where I complained about the bad service Scotiabank is giving lately and that many of my clients, who I referred to them, are not satisfied at all. In the past, I did put in complaints with the manager, the supervisor and everyone else I could reach in that bank, but nobody cared.

When I grew up, people and companies cared about their clients. Nobody seems to care anymore, at least that is my experience with lots of services I pay for. But soon, there might be a change in this pattern.

By Ivo Henfling

Water in Costa Rica is nowadays pretty clean in the dry season and very affordable. Most households in Costa Rica do not pay more than $30/month. If you spend more than that, you have a large household or you have a leak. No matter where you will buy a Costa Rica home for sale, you will probably be connected to A y A. Today there are very few areas that have water managed by the city or by a  coop. Water in Costa Rica is relatively cheap and is generally managed by A y A which means Acuaductos y Alcantarillados. But if you are looking to purchase Costa Rica real estate with your preferred GoDutch realtor, ask him/her where the water supply is coming from.

By Ivo Henfling 

Costa Rica speeding fines are becoming a major topic in all newspapers and on Costa Rica online forums. The Costarican Ministry of Transport is installing cameras on the roads that register the most accidents and Costarican legislation changes the traffic fines from ridiculously low amounts into serious fines that are higher than you will find in many 1st world countries. The cameras have reduced 90% of the abuse of crossing the speed limit. Eeven though people are talking badly about the installation of these cameras, opposed to some others, I don´t think Costa Rica real estate will be affected by this. In fact, most who will realize that this is done to make the roads safer, will agree with me. For those who complain tourists will get a speeding ticket I can assure that most other countries in the world also have traffic laws and speding tickets. These expensive tickets make Costa Rica living much safer though.

By Ivo Henfling

Getting anything done in Costa Rica, sometimes just needs a nudge and sometimes needs complaining publicly. Aren’t we all used to NOT tell people when things are great? Never give anyone a pat on the shoulder? Costaricans also like a pat on the shoulder, like we all do, I believe in them. But therefore, you first need to complain and then wait for something to happen. Most of us foreigners are used to complain and most locals don’t. AND, as foreigners, we have freedom of speech and people will actually listen to us. And that’s what todays’ blog is all about. AND about the mayor of Escazu deserving a pat on the shoulder.

By Ivo Henfling

I really enjoy my time off and my vacations. My wife Dany and I love to travel and get to know new destinations and when we like one very much we might repeat, once. This time, we went to Las Vegas and really enjoyed it. Impressive city, great shows, lots to do. We even went to see Rod Stewart, who still sings and dances. The food is fantastic, and while we’re not big eaters, Dany and I enjoy the Jumbo shrimp as big as two fingers, Oysters Rockefeller, New England Clam Chowder, Steamed Clams in White Wine & Garlic, King Crab Salad Sandwich, all under $15. Or the all you can eat dinner for $25 each, where you can eat yourself silly with crab legs, all kinds of sea food, Asian, Italian and a ridiculous amount of desserts. You're right, we are both seafood lovers. Meat we can eat in Costa Rica.

By Ivo Henfling
 

In my first years of living in Costa Rica, I was always surprised that Costa Ricans have an amazing quality that most of us don’t have: patience. Over the years, I have learned there is more freedom of speech in Costa rica than in many other countries.

Costa Ricans have a huge quality that most of us foreigners don’t have. They can stand in line at the bank in Costa Rica for hours, no matter how long it takes or how bad the service is, they can stand stoically in line forever. I don’t know if it’s my Dutch up bring or that I am just an impatient person, but I generally cannot put up with it longer than 10 minutes. My wife does most such things that need standing in line. She is Costa Rican though she seems to starts complaining too. Even my 24 year old son is getting impatient. Impatience seems to be contagious. But if we get to change those things, everything would be just like we were back home again. It’s all about balance, and that is what we look for when relocating to another country.

By Ivo Henfling

Most Costa Rica realtors are afraid to write about topics like home invasions, robberies, squatters, expensive prices in the supermarkets and many other negative things you will read and hear about Costa Rica and most other places you might be researching to retire to. Most of you who follow my blogs, know by now that I am not. I just think people should be aware of what is going on around them and it will make them be a tad more careful.

The shooting neighbor

To start this blog, I want to call your attention to something that happened a couple of weeks ago: a good neighbor heard some noise ourside, found out his neighbors were being robbed and shot one home invaders dead, wounded another and saved his neighbors. Oh my God, I hear some of you say, how can anyone live there? Is it that dangerous to live over there? Where is this place?

By Ivo Henfling

The famous Costa Rica rainy season, also called the wet season but baptized some years ago by tourism gurus "the green season" has just started. For most days, we have nice weather in the mornings and might have some rain in the afternoon. Some days might be a bit gloomy or fogged up and it doesn't rain all day long.

Yesterday, we had so much rain come out of the sky, I thought of Noah and his Ark, I was waiting for that Great Flood. As many of you know I am not very religious, but I almost started praying. Then I thought of the gutters and drains at my house and the damage rain can do to your property, which is when I though to write this blog. if you own Costa Rica real estate, you should read on....

By Ivo Henfling

I was just checking the statistics on the traffic we get on our GoDutch Realty website and saw that Rudy’s blog about dishonesty attracted a lot of interest from our readers last week.

I just realized that even though I have traveled quite a lot in my life, I am also guilty of not knowing the customs in some other countries and careful of not to be taken advantage of. Allow me to explain.....

When I grew up in Holland we used to go to a nearby beach during the summers, which was much visited by the German tourists.

By Ivo Henfling

Moving to another country and another culture is sometimes harder than we think it is because we have to adjust to 101 issues. Well, moving to Costa Rica that doesn't have addresses is another adventure. Years ago, I sold a property in Heredia to a client, who instead of writing down his address on a scrap of paper, wrote down my phone number, so the taxidrivers could call me for his address. At one point the taxidrivers stopped calling me, so he either got married or he learned who to say his address in Spanish.

For most of you, an address and driving directions are two different things. In Costa Rica, they're both the same thing.

by Ivo Henfling

One more time, I'd like to prove to you that climate and real estate are definitely related to each other, especialy Costa Rica real estate. When you purchase a property in Costa Rica, you should not only look at the property you are buying, but also at the surroundings. In a former blog, I wrote all about checking our the surroundings of a property before you buy and the damage water can do to your property. In another blog, I told you all about the mess of an unfinished job by irresponsible engineers in charge of a constract that they are doing for A y A (The Costarican Water Company). In another blog, I have told you about sending an email to the Mayor of Escazu, complaining about it.

by Ivo Henfling

The 10 commandments for easy living in Costa Rica

GoDutch Realty agents and staff relocate people from all over the world every day. Depending on where they come from, they adjust easily or they don’t adjust. There is nothing in the middle even though some think otherwise. Most of us complain sometimes, it’s hard not to.

We all strive for a better life for ourselves, at least all of us who moved from somewhere else to Costa Rica. The question is what is the reason for moving to another country and are we successful with the move and adjusting to our environment.