Charlie is correct. San Jose has both the nice and the very very gnarly. I don't go to San Jose very often and I fly in and out of Liberia actually which is an hour North of Tamarindo. I do go to San Jose occasionally though for shopping and I stay in the nicer areas like Escazu which is near the only Apple store in Costa Rica ;-) ...
Life in Tamarindo is much different than San Jose and yes as Charlie says that's why I don't live near the big city. Tamarindo is 4 hours North of San Jose and centrally located to numerous amazing and famous beaches like Playa Flamingo, Playa Grande (turtle reserve), Playa Avellanas, and Playa Negra. The town itself is rustic and full of wonderful people and culture. They nickname the town TamaGringo because most of the businesses there are owned by Americans and other foreigners. Everyone speaks english so there is no need to know spanish beyond a few basic words. There is very little violent crime and no vandalism that I have ever seen. However burglaries can and do happen but certainly not any worse than anywhere I've lived in Atlanta. I live in an apartment with gates much the same way I lived in Atlanta except that it's warm all year and the apartment is a few steps away from the beach :-). Internet access and 3g cell phone service are good but there is a little more than normal downtime as compared to US. It's not bad though. Once every couple of months they'll announce an organized power outage which usually is during the week for several hours and all the local ex-pat online workers (mostly SEO's and Blogger types) meet at the local Subway Sandwich shop to work on projects and use their power generators. It's kind of cool actually to see all the faces there of online workers that have transformed their lives into an adventure. There are also two amazing private schools in Playa Flaming and my daughter will be attending one of them in Fall of 2013. Both schools are are owned by Americans and have an American curriculum with a bilingual focus. Dusty On Tue, Oct 30, 2012 at 10:15 PM, Charlie Arehart <[email protected]>wrote: > Wow, wouldn’t that be funny, indeed, if we might have hooked up there and > yet have not been able to for a while here in Atlanta. > > Indeed, when was the last time you got down to a meeting, for everyone to > enjoy your company? :-) > > Anyway, enjoy the trip and the country. Just be prepared: it’s not all > rainforest, beach, and nature’s beauty. The San Jose city and suburbs have > more a feel of South Central LA, with nearly all houses (the nice and the > gnarly) having not only bars on their windows, but iron fences several feet > high surrounding them, then topped with barbed wire and/or concertina wire. > I just can’t imagine living in an environment where you have that sort of > constant fear of burglary, vandalism, or worse. > > But again though, the people and nature are indeed wonderful. I’m sure > Dusty (and others) would say “and that’s why I don’t live in or near the > big city”. Still, just be aware of that distinction (and oh, there’s the > traffic in the city and suburbs, too!)**** > > ** ** > > /charlie**** > > ** ** > > *From:* [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] *On Behalf Of *Erika L. > Rich > *Sent:* Tuesday, October 30, 2012 9:33 PM > *To:* [email protected] > *Subject:* Re: [ACFUG Discuss] How would you feel about doing a contract > job in Costa Rica**** > > ** ** > > Charlie! That's incredible. We are going to just miss each other! Charles > and I will be there for 3 weeks from mid-November. That would have been > pretty funny if we managed to hook up in Costa Rica, but yet haven't been > able to make it down there again to see you guys in Alpharetta. :) > > We are looking forward to Costa Rica and it will be a "research trip" to > scope out great places to live (part-time) and work. I hear many great > things about the country and I am sure we will enjoy ourselves immensely. > > Cheers, > Erika**** > > ** ** > > ------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from this list, manage your profile @ > http://www.acfug.org?fa=login.edituserform > > For more info, see http://www.acfug.org/mailinglists > Archive @ http://www.mail-archive.com/discussion%40acfug.org/ > List hosted by FusionLink <http://www.fusionlink.com> > ------------------------------------------------------------- >
