#985 – Costa Rica, Expats, and the Hidden Costs of Living

Automatically transcribed from the original recording; names and wording may contain errors.

[00:00] South of the border down Mexico way That's where I fell in love when the stars above came out to play and now I wonder Hello there all you ex-pat wannabes. I'm Johnny Mueller and you're listening to the expat files living in Latin America The show that tells you just what it's like to live work play and or retire down here in Latin America It's a mix of the good the bad the ugly and the great and it's all right here So let's get started And now from the world has gone mad department and for the proof that the supply of morons and idiots way outstrips the demand Get this news from Costa Rica and you know ever since I've been doing this show some 10 years now I never once recommended Costa Rica as a plan B alternative. Why because I live there more than two years

[00:53] 25 years ago and I saw it collapsing and being gringoized and the locals becoming jaded even back then Not to mention every single one of my gringo expat friends Acquaintances and buddies were continuously gouged and ripped off till they just couldn't take it anymore In fact a lot of them were ripped and gouged so heavily that they ended up moving to Nicaragua next door They had to stay in Latin America cuz they didn't have enough money to move back to the states So to consider Costa Rica for your plan B, that's nuts but you know up till just recently I did recommend Costa Rica for a nice packaged weekend because Even before this cold idiot thing many of the travel Consolidators offered tremendous deals to go for a weekend or two all inclusive resorts, etc

[01:39] Etc, and those things are always fun getaways and Costa Rica is a fun and beautiful country As long as you don't live work play or do business there, but now as of August 2020 I don't even recommend a weekend packaged deal visit no matter how great you think the deal is because Listen to this. It's an article that just came out Well in August anyway in Costa Rica's biggest newspaper the nation La Nación The title of the article is tourism and travel costs in Costa Rica and as usual I'll paraphrase this to cut out the boring parts But believe me, there's not very many boring parts in this article. Listen to this. It says and I'll translate it to Spanish Costa Rica now requires foreign visitors to take out special travel insurance policies issued by the National Insurance

[02:26] Institute of Costa Rica INS the cost ranging from 275 bucks for miners to $965 for those travelers over 70 just for a two-week stay in Costa Rica. What the Are you getting this? All right. Let me give you the details now It says after more than four months of Costa Rica's borders being closed to tourists commercial flights resumed on August 3rd With the arrival of an Iberia plane carrying more than 200 passengers from Spain as far as the rules for arriving in the country foreigners are required to have a negative COVID-19 test and Insurance to cover possible pandemic related events such as medical treatments and the possibility of the country adopting a strict

[03:16] Quarantine once you arrive that would force a person to prolong their stay then it says so far only the government National Insurance Institute of Costa Rica is authorized to market policies with coverage required by the authority Although it says policies issued abroad will be accepted But you must bring proof and translate it in Spanish In other words, if you bought an insurance policy at home that covers all possible medical expenses on your trip You can bring that policy along but it's got to be translated in Spanish and they'll decide at the airport Whether they're gonna accept it or not. If they don't then you gotta buy one of these policies at 275 bucks ahead for a minor around five hundred dollars a person for regular adults and

[04:06] $965 if you're over 70 and traveling for just a two-week stay That means in most cases for a two-week stay in Costa Rica your insurance coverage will cost you more than your plane ticket So if you've got trip insurance and most gringos and expats get trip insurance say wouldn't leave home without it, right? I know for example, if you use any of those travel consolidators like obits or speedy or whatever Right before you click on the final button to pay for the trip during checkout You get a pop-up window that urges you to buy travel insurance and most people do because it almost always costs well under 100 bucks However, what they're saying in Costa Rica now is you can get that kind of insurance But you better have the policy and and and translate it to Spanish and there's no guarantee at the airport that they won't say

[04:54] Hey, you need to get our coverage. We can't accept yours. Sorry gringo. Here comes the gouge Enjoy your stay sucker Pura vida which his reason six thousand three hundred forty six why I'd never want to visit Costa Rica and to live there man You couldn't pay me to live there. Oh and finally the article says in order to control the operation and Acceptability of international insurance policies that may have been taken out before a person arrives at the airport The Costa Rican Tourism Institute ICT will be in charge of verifying that your insurance policy complies with the conditions of our Policies in other words when you're at the airport you'll be confronted with a corrupt lard-ass bureaucrat whose only interest is to gouge and extort money

[05:45] From naive starry-eyed tourists like you by the way, Costa Rica is the only country in Latin America Who's made such a co-vidient policy decision forcing arriving tourists to buy a ridiculously priced insurance policy on arrival? Oh and in the Lone Ranger Department Costa Rica is also the only country in Latin America Whereby if you get a speeding parking ticket or any kind of moving violation in your car It's linked into the airport computers and they won't let you out of the country until you pay it And by the way in Costa Rica the average moving violation for gringos and expats is around $500 notice I said for gringos and expats because that's who the transit cops laser in on gringos and expats The fact is they rarely pull over a car or give a ticket to someone who's got a regular particular

[06:36] Costa Rican license plates, that's what they call them particular plates meaning individual owner In fact for dozens and dozens of years the first letter on the license plates was a P meaning particular Pronounced particular Whereas rent-a-cars are always easily spotted and they're driven by gringos and expats Of course, they have different plate numbers too that the cops can easily recognize now ain't that convenient in other words You're taking a big chance if you're a rent-a-car in Costa Rica But hey people still do it and you know the sad thing is it's not really Costa Rica's fault I mean that it's way too expensive and all the locals see gringos as dollar signs I've had friends recently tell me it's as expensive as living in New York That is if you want a first-world gringo lifestyle and don't want to drink your beer from quart bottles and go Jesus sandal native

[07:24] Nope, the way Costa Rica turned out is not Costa Rica's fault In fact Costa Rica is the poster child for how gringo tourism can ruin a country, but you knew that already, right? Oh And just to revisit a topic that I mentioned, I'm sure six or seven years ago now So nobody remembers it. Let me tell you this little story back around in 2005 to 2008 I was working at a radio station that syndicated 20 something different stations throughout Latin America with headquarters in Guatemala City Located in the top floor of a really big high-rise tower And when you walk into the place to where 20 something different radio studios each with zone engineer, etc And of all those radio stations that broadcast throughout Latin America. There were only four gringos who had shows myself

[08:12] Two gringo guys who worked as kind of a partnership team and a lady gringo a very nice lady gringo who had a nighttime Classic rock show and actually since we were the only gringos there We all knew each other quite well and sort of hung together went out for coffee and stuff when we crossed paths at the studio So anyway, we all knew quite a bit about each other and here's that lady's story She came down initially as a backpack and college student do good or gringo and she was sincere about it She backpacked through Latin America every summer as so many college students traveling on the cheap will do and when she graduated up in the states Whatever that was with her teaching degree She came down to Latin America because she loved it and she spoke Spanish by the way We're talking about a natural blonde tall lady of Swedish descent

[09:00] So man, did she stand out in a crowd and all the Latino guys who were in love with her got to tell you even though She was taller than ninety nine point nine percent of Latino guys She was six foot tall even so she was every Latino guys dream now as for me My sisters all kind of look like that. So as they say in Spanish down here She was to meet when a papa sin sal a potato without salt Loosely translated boring and not my type. So anyway before she even got into the radio biz She was teaching at a helicopter school in Guatemala where she met another gringo teacher At the same helicopter school and they ended up getting married and the rest of the story kind of follows your typical gringo expat success story They ended up starting a private business They both quit their helicopter teaching jobs and now they're rolling in the dough. In fact, they've got so much dough

[09:49] They're sending their two young daughters to University in the States And you know what that's got to cost certainly thirty to fifty grand a year for each kid That's what it costs in the States at a private college when you're out of state or out of country So they're really rolling in the door and I know the two kids. They're very nice kids They're not stuck up children of the rich and the parents never turned into jerk a-holes like many nouveau rich people often do Though there's one thing that kind of nags at me Turns out almost all the gringos and gringas ex-backpackers who come down as helicopter school teachers after that backpack instant They're almost always che loving socialists to a person che t-shirts and all never bothering to study up on the guy They don't want to hear he was a psychopathic maniac who personally ordered the execution in Cuba of hundreds of gays

[10:41] That aside the thing that wears on me the hypocritical thing is that once those do-gooders who come down here as teachers to Latin America once they get a successful business going like my lady friend did and many of them do Turns out lots and lots of backpacker socialists become backpacker Capitalists and start making loads of dough then surprise surprise all of a sudden They're not into sharing the wealth anymore because it's their wealth. They'd have to share Of course, it's all right to spread it around when it's taxpayers money or other people's money It's an easy mindset when you yourself don't have much dough, but you knew that already, right? Anyway, the business her and her husband got into was shrimp farming In fact, I was once invited to a trip out the coast to see this shrimp farming techniques

[11:28] And man, if that wasn't one of the most revolting experiences I've had I don't know if I think about it. I can still conjure up that putrid smell I saw acre after acre of plastic pools stink in the high heaven Just teeming with shrimp with guys continuously dumping bag after bag of some kind of feed Along with bag after bag of hormones and antibiotics too because they live in so close proximity They're crapping in their own backyard all the time swimming and eating it too So they just had to be blessed with hormones and antibiotics or there would be no saleable end product So then why am I bringing this up because my lady gringa friend told me although it's a great business She will not eat those shrimp herself now personally I was never a big shrimp eater myself

[12:14] But I eat fish quite a bit though. I'll never buy fish frozen or from a grocery store I'll always either go to a fish market or preferably right down to the pier where the boats are landing and sorting the stuff out Can't get any fresher than that And I suggest you do that if you're lucky enough to live within a half hour or so of the Atlantic Pacific or Caribbean So then knowing so long though that my own friend a shrimp producer won't even eat your own product And you know, I didn't have to ask her why after seeing the process Well, anyway, she told me she loves shrimp, but she'll only eat shrimp caught in the wild in the ocean Then I said how do you know the difference unless you're right there watching them take them off the boat And she said you don't in fact if you go down to one of the big fish markets Even the one set up right on or near an ocean pier

[13:00] You'll see four five six even ten different kinds of shrimp all different sizes and colors too The trick is she said is to ask the seller or the fishmonger Which ones came in from a fresh catch off a boat and which come from shrimp farms because you see most fishmongers Will buy frozen shrimp from the shrimp farms because they can get it on a daily basis Whereas boats on the ocean trolling for shrimp might only come in once or twice a week So don't ever assume the shrimp you're eating is ocean shrimp You'll find most of the shrimp is coming directly from a shrimp farm So you have to find out the origin from the seller and she said, you know The thing is you have to take their word for it, too And though I don't buy shrimp myself I've been in the fish market with some gringos and expats who wanted shrimp and I did the asking and the seller always looks at

[13:49] You funny when you say I only want shrimp fresh off the boat So obviously almost no one ever poses that question only yours truly I guess now, you know bottom line if you're a shrimp lover And I know many people are don't ever buy packaged frozen shrimp because as my shrimp specialist lady friend tells me That stuff's always from a shrimp farm However, if you live in Latin America close to one of the oceans or the Caribbean You can't make a run to one of the fish markets or to one of the piers with the boats on load and get the real Great day naturally caught stuff. Oh and she gave me another depressing piece of news She said that 95% or more of all the restaurants in the world that serve shrimp of any kind They're buying it frozen and 95% of the frozen stuff comes from those hormone and antibiotic loaded shrimp farms

[14:35] So bone at petite by the way for you gringos and expats out there who have ever been on a formal date with a Latina She'll almost always order shrimp. Then again, that might be true for American ladies on dates, too I don't know But the good news my swimming pool shrimp lady friend says is that there are no farm raised lobsters or langostinos Those are mini lobsters. You see them on the menus down here sometime They actually have to be caught by boats or with traps in the ocean Oh and the two worst farmed fish types of all number one tilapia. You probably guess that number two Which comes as a surprise to many people salmon again There are two kinds of salmon farmed salmon and salmon caught in a while In fact, the blonde shrimp lady is the lady that turned me on to a disgusting

[15:23] YouTube video pointing out that the most contaminated fish in the world that's regularly consumed by humans Is tada not tilapia but farmed salmon so she told me about this video that made me Absolutely cringe just go to YouTube and type in farmed Norwegian salmon world's most toxic food Yeah, we all thought that beautifully packaged rendered product that you see in all the high-end food stores Those beautiful pink and expensive salmon fillets coming from all places ultra pure Norway The land of pristine waters glaciers and lakes etc that Norwegian salmon always a number one crowd pleaser at any buffet Well, I'm telling you if you never see another video see this one go to YouTube

[16:11] It's called farmed Norwegian salmon the world's most toxic food and remember I was given this link by a toxic shrimp farmer In a way, I think there was a little guilt behind that suggestion So as to throw at least some of the toxic blame on the salmon industry So there you have it the ugly truth about shrimp and salmon from an expat grinder who's in the business and won't even eat her Own product. Mmm. So what do you make of that? More importantly, what are you gonna do next time? You're at a fiesta and they pass around the shrimp cocktail Then again, you'll always find a crowd of overweight out of shape folks pounding that stuff down at the buffet Who just don't want to hear about it? Especially when it's free except, you know

[16:57] Wedding or all-inclusive resort people are always lined up five to ten deep at the shrimp bar They just can't get enough of that stuff because you know, it's expensive at home Right and when I see that I'm thinking if they only knew Then again, most people don't want to know life is simpler that way, huh? I guess that's why shrinks will always tell you the higher the IQ and the more knowledge you have the more Pessimistic even fatalistic about the world in the human race in general and you know, I had one shrink tell me no I didn't visit him. We were at a party. I never had been to a shrink. Anyway, he told me only smart people off themselves That means I guess there is an advantage to being a dumb Then again, he said dumb people reproduce more and look where that's gotten us The fact is I've never met an expat gringo or someone who's well along on their plan B

[17:45] Who wasn't way above average and in the end, that's a good thing After all aren't we all trying to get far far away from the morons sheep and lemmings? Just to drive that point home when I do one-on-one phone consults and I've been doing a ton of them lately One of the questions I have on my questionnaire form is do you have any like-minded friends or neighbors? You can sit and talk about this stuff with this stuff being getting the hell out of dodge because you don't want to go down with the Titanic and The shocker is the vast majority of people say they don't have anybody around That they can sit and talk over this stuff with no one who's actively putting together a plan B Though most have some like-minded people they can converse with on the internet. They're all far far away

[18:31] People tell me there's almost no one nearby in the neighborhood to share this stuff with so when they're around their neighbors They keep their mouths shut about this stuff But things are changing witness what happened before this co-videa thing if there was a prepper in the neighborhood Everyone figured he was kind of an extremist and kept their distance, right? But now more than likely he's sort of a go-to guy when it comes to food water solar and self-protection anyway Now when it comes to meeting like-minded people face to face, you can't do any better than it come to my expat insider seminar We're all on the same page We've got quite a network now in regards to the seminar if you want the full information sign up details, etc Just go to expat plan B calm and click on the seminar link and if you need a roommate and want to save some money

[19:20] We can probably work that out for you to just shoot me an email the expat files at gmail.com Oh, and you know lately we've been talking a lot about the real estate bubble It's popping and since I've been going through lots of upper-middle class and upscale homes for sale and penthouses, too I'll tell you I've been through at least 30 to 40 of them in the last couple of months Anticipating this big bubble so I can clue you guys and gals in on what's happening next and what to do anyway I just want to point out I'm seeing some very disturbing Construction trends that I really hadn't noticed before but now that I'm checking out properties I got my eyes open and man letting contractors are doing some strange things You regular listeners heard me on the last show or maybe the one before it talking about how people put in jacuzzis in their house

[20:06] And they think that's gonna add value to them It doesn't just one more thing about jacuzzis and hot tubs Whatever you want to call one of the dumbest things you could do and Latinos do it all the time I'd say in probably 85% of the cases They put their jacuzzi outside somewhere usually on a patio or a terrace directly in the Sun and the Sun is Absolutely killer here in Latin America and after a year or two that jacuzzi looks like crap Now if you got a nice property with a veranda and a garden, etc You probably want to have your jacuzzi outside But you want to have it in the shade with some kind of permanent roof over it because if not I guarantee within a year or two. It'll look so washed out and grungy You won't want to get in it anymore Now I know you could buy a nice expensive cover for your jacuzzi too

[20:52] But most Latins don't do that either They buy the jacuzzi but never put a cover on it and still if your jacuzzi is not in the shade and you have A cover the cover and the edge of the jacuzzi and everything around it that's in the Sun will get destroyed Another stupid error is to build a wooden enclosure around the jacuzzi that gets destroyed in the Sun and with the water, too But you knew that already because you have a Ferrari live in Hollywood and have jacuzzi for 10, right? Man, who'd want that now again the houses and condos and penthouses that I've been looking at know last couple of months They've all been nice upscale properties in the range of about a hundred to four hundred grand with the average price And these are nice places from 200 to 300 grand talking list price here But I fully expect by January when the desperation sinks in you should be able to get most of these places for 50 to 75

[21:43] Cents on the dollar. So for example, you should expect to get a four hundred thousand dollar property for two to three hundred Two hundred grand property for a hundred to a hundred fifty, etc, etc Again, you'll have to do a cash deal because the banks down here as they are up in the states They're dragging their feet and don't want to approve loans There's just too much chaos in the market for them to be doling out home loans when they've got loads of defaults coming online And that's why I say in the next couple of months It's gonna be a great time to buy because I've already noticed that when checking out properties Quite a few of them are already owned by the banks, but you won't know that until you actually view the property Alright, so another very bad and stupid trend I'm saying is that in these nicer upscale homes

[22:28] They're installing these non-standard European style custom sinks. Some are sculptured tinted patterned glass Then there's oblong Asymmetrical porcelain jobs really custom looking expensive stuff But man, they're inconvenient to use and murder to clean In fact, I've seen a lot of them that are solid pieces of cut glass that look like a big bowl Sitting right on top of a marble countertop. They look very nice But in no way easy to use on a day-by-day basis We're shed. I'm seeing all kind of weird ass custom faucet fixtures Some of them look absolutely stunning too But they're weird brands that you're never gonna be able to get parts for washers gaskets You know the usual parts that start sticking and leaking a couple of years down the road

[23:13] That's why I say always stick with a name brand like Kohler Pfizer American Standard Chicago faucet mowen, you know brands that have been around 30 40 50 years You can always get parts for them and they always have a high-end line that's made out of solid metal And that's really the only way to go because if you've got any plastic in the faucet housing sooner or later It's gonna scratch and break and look pretty grungy sort of trailer park style Nothing against trailer park construction, but it's not quite the style I think you want to have in your home now I know that Latinos who have these oddball custom sinks and faucets installed think they're high-end and a selling point Well, maybe if they're brand new they look great, but don't get sucked in I know a couple of expats who bought houses with such sinks and now they're looking at having them torn out and be done with

[24:02] Standard ones, like I said, they look nice, but they ain't functional Especially if you got kids in the house and other thing Latinos and their contractors are still Morons when it comes to closets, you know here in Latin America with the heat and the humidity You have to have some airflow in your closets or you're gonna get mold That's why I say you have to have louvered doors on your closets or even better a skylight Even if it's just one foot by one foot that would be enough to burn off the humidity every day though Unfortunately, I'd say only about one in 20 closets has a skylight or even louvered doors. It's a funny thing I know many many gringos and expats who moved into upscale homes Then after about a year when the ladies clothes and shoes or anything that's leather or even synthetic leather starts to mold

[24:48] First thing they do is run out buy a dehumidifier at Sears or Costco or whatever But you know, those things are like a refrigerator or an air conditioner. They really use the electricity Sure, they work, but man to have three or four of those things running 24-7 around your house That's just nuts. Especially when all you've got to do is buy a louvered door In fact one expat guy I know took the boxer fan off of one of his old tower computers and installed it in his closet It runs 24-7 behind the louvered door that computer fan is completely silent And I think it's drawing only something like 10 watts like a very very efficient LED light bulb and if you figure 20 cents a kilowatt hour and that thing's running 24-7 for a month the cost to run that thing is a dollar fifty a month

[25:34] Which is a hell of a lot better than throwing away an armful of clothes and shoes and belts every year Oh, and here's another tip that sounds quite anal, but it really is a good idea When you put your clothes on hangers in the closet, don't allow them to touch up against each other In other words give each garment an air gap of an inch or two So there can be some natural air circulation to minimize the humidity and mold Now of course in Latin America if you're living on the coast or the lowlands You're certain to have air conditioning at least in your bedroom And then if you've got a louvered closet you won't need to do anything else Because AC naturally pulls the humidity out of the air like a dehumidifier plus it's always circulating the air, too But really you'll find one of the most annoying things about living in Latin America It's the fact that mold will eventually get to the clothes in your closet and though there are ways to eliminate it

[26:23] It's almost impossible to completely get rid of it So that means for example, if you've got clothes you haven't worn for let's say a year and they're hanging in your closet It's a good idea to have your cleaning lady go through the closet wash them all dry And if you don't have a cleaning lady, well tough luck Then I guess you'll have to do it yourself now as for me since I've built a few houses the trick I use for closets because I don't like the look of louvered doors Not when the rest of the house has all solid doors. Well, you know since houses down here I made of cement blocks and stucco I just have to build or remove one of the blocks way above the top of the door by the ceiling Then of course, they stucco off the hole and finish it off nicely Then there'll be an automatic flow or current of air coming under the door and up and around through that black sized hole

[27:11] That's up close to the ceiling Do that and it goes a long way to preserve the clothes you have in your closet Though like I said, it's still about once a year should pull everything out and have it clean Oh and one final thought forgot to ask you are you wearing a mask right now while listening to this? Well, I'm not wearing one and you know, why? Because I'm not crazy You've been listening to the expat files living in Latin America If you need some help with your own plan B We can schedule a one-on-one phone or Skype consult Just send me an email the expat files at gmail dot com And if you want to get on the waiting list for my next week-long expat insider seminar in Central America Where you're guaranteed to get a two to five year head start on your plan B Send me an email the expat files at gmail dot com. No spamos