Living Abroad In Costa Rica

In 2005 I was living in Calgary, Alberta, Canada and dreaming of moving to a Spanish speaking country. There was something about the Spanish culture that appealed to me. I had a lot of friends in Calgary who were from El Salvador, Venezuela, Colombia and Mexico and I was able to find out a lot about life in these countries. I had visited Dominican Republic, Cuba, Mexico and Spain so I thought I might end up in one of those countries.

But something attracted me to Costa Rica. I had read several reviews and spoken to a number of people who had visited Costa Rica and it sounded like it could be a good fit for me.

I bought a book called ‘Living Abroad In Costa Rica’ by Erin Van Rheenen. I really liked this book because it gave me a real report on life in Costa Rica for visitors and helped me understand the country and how things work there.

Costa Rica is a small country but there are a variety of lifestyles available depending upon what you are looking for. This book explains these differences in a way that is intelligently written, witty yet honest and down to earth. Some reviews of Costa Rica are written with a hidden (or not so hidden) agenda but ‘Living Abroad In Costa Rica’ didn’t give me that suspicious feeling.

The book has many beautiful photographs of the real Costa Rica. It’s not just beaches and margaritas! There is poverty as well as million dollar mansions, just like everywhere else in the world. But one thing that I think intrigues me and a lot of North Americans is the happiness of the local people even if they are poor. They seem to have a contentment that is lacking in the rat race of North American cities where we are so desperate to make as much money as possible so we can go blow it all on the latest gadgets. I love the fact that hardly anyone in Costa Rica has a big screen TV, an Iphone or a brand new BMW. I think it’s great to live a more simple life and this book really helped me figure this out.

So if you have an interest in Costa Rica either to visit, move to or retire to I can strongly recommend buying the book ‘Living Abroad In Costa Rica’ by Erin Van Rheenen. The cost is only $13.57 and is available at my Costa Rica E-Store.