Why we moved to Costa Rica and Why We're Leaving. Pros and Cons List of living in Costa Rica.
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- Опубліковано 20 тра 2024
- Hey everyone, join us-Matt, Erika, and Shanti from 'Their Happy Trails'-as we dive into our life-changing year in Tamarindo, Costa Rica. Why Costa Rica, you ask? Well, it wasn’t our first choice, but life's funny that way. Come find out why we ended up here, the unexpected hurdles we faced, and why we’re packing up soon. In this video, we’re getting real about the ups and downs of expat life right here in Tamarindo. We’ll share everything from the nitty-gritty on living costs to the cool community vibes and why we fell in love with the local culture (and struggled a bit with the language). Plus, we’re already buzzing about our next big adventure-heading to Europe! If you’re curious about moving abroad or just love soaking up stories of life in different corners of the world, this video’s packed with our personal insights and a ton of heart. Stick around to hear all about our journey and what comes next for us. Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and follow along as we take on new horizons!
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0:00 Introduction & Why We Chose Costa Rica
2:33 Relocating to Tamarindo: Community and Lifestyle
9:15 Cost of Living and Local Experiences in Tamarindo
14:47 Reflecting on Life in Tamarindo: Pros, Cons & Multicultural Aspects
I live in CR and can tell you that this video is dead on! Everything Matt and Erika say is true in my experience too especially the cost of living, learning the language through cultural immersion and the beauty of the country.
Thank you for commenting! It’s sad to hear how dead on the video is though. Lol but it’s still a great place.
@@TheirHappyTrails Every place has pros and cons but the people are probably the most important part. Your family will be truly missed here ❤ Safe Travels!
I LOVED your video!! Thank you for sharing so much great info. Your photography is awesome! We will all miss you in Tama and wish you the funnest adventures ever. So happy I can follow your journey. Pura Vida! ❤
Hey Sierra!!! We love you!! Your energy and smile is contagious!! Thank you for tuning in :)
Hey Matt and family.... I was saddened to hear you're leaving. But happy for you too! Sounds like an amazing adventure! It was great getting to know you while there...happy trails!!
Rob! Hey man, yes we are excited for the next journey as well! That’s the main reason we are leaving! We will meet again!
Holly here! Omgosh you will be missed! Was so looking forward to the van build. In Europe then?
I’m coming for Roundup. Community is amazing but the prices were hilarious. I lived on the oatmeal and protein powder I brought.😋
Much love to you three on your journeys.❤️🤗
(What are your signs😁)?
Hey Holly!! Matt here. Hope you have been doing well!! Welllllllll we changed we are going next again 😂. No surprise for us. We will miss the round up unfortunately!! But next year for sure.
I am Scorpio, Ericka is Sagittarius, and Shanti is Capricorn!
Thanks for the heads up!
You’re welcome! What was the main heads up for you?
Here at the Peninsula in PL for April and have come to the exact same assessment. Absolutely beautiful place and people but as an artist the culture doesn’t run as deep especially coming from the NYC area. AND the groceries! 😂 It reminds me of shopping in Brooklyn…where all the grocery stores are more expensive than the burbs but not nearly as stocked or good. Crazy! Enjoyed learning to surf and eating Poke bowls at that surf house restaurant in the center of town. Best spot has been the Playa Langosta beach near the SF rio near the Occidental hotel. Stunning! Thanks for your vids! ✌️
Absolutely 😂😂 thank you for your perspective. Yes, Langosta is my main surf spot! That where some of the drone shot were from. Tons of great things, but not without their cons!
I have lived in Costa Rica for a few years. I can agree with most of your reasons for leaving, but you did choose THE most touristy, expat, expensive community to live in all of Costa Rica. You even said, English is widely spoken which is not the case throughout most of Costa Rica. I lived in the Central Valley and almost no English was spoken. You got the most Americanized version of Costa Rica. However, it has become very expensive all over Costa Rica, but much more so in Tamarindo. Also, agree with you Costa Rica does not embrace their culture which is sad. Right next door in Nicaragua you will experience much more culture. And, the food, I DEFINITELY agree with you about Costa Rican food, lol, it's pretty bad, lol. Best of luck in your next adventure!
Hey Lisa!! Thank you for your comment. Yes we are in gringo central 😂😂 thank you for sharing your insights from being here for a while 🙏🏼
I have a house in playa grande next to tamarindo, I am from C.R. and of course it is expensive at Automercado and the foods you purchased and restaurants you went, I go to pali, go out to eat sometimes to Sodas, where the costarrican eat, not fancy restaurants and I don't go out to gringo places, I am happy you left CR.
Hey, thank you for watching the video. To address your comment, we liked Costa Rica a lot. We shopped at the Pali also. We ate at sodas and at home 98% of the time. If you compare CR to other countries in Central America, yes it is expensive. It is the California of Central America. But even with that said, this video was an honest opinion and not a negative video complaining about Costa Rica. We had a great experience here, and your comment about being happy we left shows the cultural change of “nicest people on the planet” reputation. We appreciate your comment.
Your hair looks good Matt!
Thank you Ali!!!!!! I was wondering if someone would notice!! 😃😃😃
We just came back from two weeks in Tamarindo. We had a great time. The people are very friendly and helpful.
If you like heat and humidity you will love it. However restaurants are expensive if not more so than Canada.
Groceries and wine are exceedingly expensive. We were hoping to find a place where we could spend an extended amount of time since we are retired. Unfortunately it is much too expensive for an extended stay in our opinion.
Yes absolutely. Puerto Vallarta Mexico is a good place to check out for that!
Saludos y bendiciones.
🤙🏼🙏🏼
Is Costa Rica a 3rd world country? I only ask because they have universal health care - and government paid college (first four years.) I believe that's why Costa Rica is expensive. It just feels weird to call it a 3rd world country - when they have a better system than the US. Just my opinion.
Hey! Yes it is a third world country. Mainly because it is still a “developing” country. Costa Rica has a lot going for it as a Country. The US had great systems, but if you ask an American they all, or mostly, don’t actually work. If you ask a local Tico, they would likely say the same unfortunately. It’s mainly expensive because of taxation on everything here is so high. And US tourism inflating the economy here
But those are really good points
I'm a local, and yes, we are a developing country still, barely in the line of developed and developing country, universal health care works as bad as in Canada, long queues for everything medical, mainly works for big emergencies or illness.
College is not only free but it gives you up to an average salary for your expenses if you are struggling, they even pay for your apartment if you live 30 miles away or more, but it requires you to have good grades.
Also a full democracy, with universal and direct voting system, even more democratic than the US.
The prices are so high because of lack of efficiencies and competition, basically, roads are long and slow, and only a few importers have licenses.
But i'd like to add that prices are even higher if you are a gringo buying gringo stuff and trying to replicate a gringo life, us locals do not buy peanut butter or cottage cheese, those need to be imported just for you. And locals usually don't live in touristy places, so even those supermarkets have gringo prices. You go to Palí or La Nacional, and you instantly save 25% of your money buying the same items.
You can pretty much live with less than 1k usd a month if you don't try to replicate your gringo lifestyle and don't live in a touristy zone. Us locals can live a comfortable life with as little as a minimum wage or 700 dollars a month, of course, with this kind of money you won't do much, but the point is it is possible with this much, with 5k a month, you should be living in abundancy.
@ wow, really great comment and info. Thank you for sharing all of that. And you’re absolutely correct on all of that. The high cost of living is due to trying to live a life we are “used” too. Thank you for sharing 🙏🏼
@ Thank you for your insight. I don't really know what a 3rd world country means. I have a close friend who lives in Heredia. Her cost of living of very small. She came to the US for her masters degree, that's how we know each other. Again, thank you for insight.
Its just gorgeous there. But i bet its expensive.?? Safe Travels Family ❤. Mucho Love Always ❤️ 😍 💖
Yes and yes! Thank you Tammy!
Ive been looking at houses for sale there,,ive read its easy to become a citizen..but i heard its cheap ...maybe not !!
Well it can be cheap if you’re in the middle of nowhere, eating only rice and beans lol. But for most people coming here, yes it’s very expensive. It is kind of easy to become a resident, and no real reason to become a citizen unless you want to vote. But you should totally come visit for a while like we suggested in the video if your thinking of living here 😃
Tamarindo is one of the most expensive places in the country. You could have lived a lot cheaper if you had chosen another place. I mean magnitudes cheaper.
Absolutely. You’re 100 percent correct. Most of the areas don’t offer what this area does. But we if did it again we might look for other locations 🙏🏼
I can understand your POV, however what you are neglecting to mention is your research was not done prior to moving, you said it yourself, " was different than when i was here 15 yrs ago". "we expected prices to way cheaper" "it was more developed than i thought". Well you also picked the TOURIST spots Jaco and Tamarindo. One day of research could have told you all this. UA-camrs need to be transparent and state the facts of their entire situation, not just that for a 3rd world its expensive. I am moving there and have been there many times and yes some things are expensive however i will be paying less than that of Canada and USA because of research and not believing all the youtubers out there, if you watch 100 videos of 100 people you get a good idea what to expect. eating out in Tam is expensive because its the main tourist hub in the North, but i can buy meat from a butcher in Liberia for example for pennies compared to USA/CAN, 2 pork chops 750 crc(1.5 USD or 2CAD), chicken breasts are cheap as well but on the sales days SAT/SUN (MEGASUPER) all in all it boils down to lack of research and high expectations on little due diligence.
Hey, thank you for your comment. You’re absolutely correct. That perspective is the same around the world as well though. We could live somewhere that’s kind of out in the middle of nowhere and live for a lot less anywhere. That is really great insight, though that you commented about getting better prices on things thank you for sharing.
Of course it’s gonna be expensive if you buy only imported food... If you want jiffy pb, mozzarella, pizza, and gelato why move to Costa Rica and expect to pay less? 😂
Yep lol! Absolutely agree. We wanted to share our experiences. But even veggies are expensive too. Unless you are just eating rice and beans food is pricey here
So obviously you guys have money. People don't just travel anywhere they want and live anywhere they want for as long as they want, with no plan and just Volunteer. Also you make it sound like moving and living in Costa Rica is boring. When in reality there's many of us that would do almost anything to live there.
I absolutely understand why a person would assume that. We are always provided for. We trust in that always.. You probably think not having money is stopping you from living the life you want... we thought the same thing for awhile. But the true reality you are speaking about is the fear of not having money, fear of failing, and many other fears holding us back. If you let go of that you can travel anywhere you want, live wherever you want, and do anything you want. When we let go of that fear, everything has been provided for. Truly.
COSTA RICA 🇨🇷❤️ IS NOT EXPENSIVE FOR ME, i know C,R, since 1993, i know C,R, inside out and outside in, stop acting like a gringo with expensive Nikes shoes , Stop going to Automercado pizza hut, expensive restaurants, expensive bars expensive gringo pleases, why go to automercado to get Monsanto peanut butter, no go to pali supermarket sodas restaurants farmers market. pulpelia and stop living in expensive gringo pleases, I'm SUPER HAPPY, living in Nandayure Carmona Guanacaste ❤️, i'm from Key West South Florida, in C,R, I act like a Tico talk like a Tico think like a Tico, ❤️, I hope this will help
Absolutely you’re correct!! Thank you for sharing your perspective
Hmmnn...interesting. We owned 25 hectares in Uvita for years. When we were there it was rather inexpensive. Lunch was $6 which included the tip and healthy eating. What ruined this was the gringo's. Because prices were so low compared to the US, Americans ruined it by leaving huge tips. The locals got spoiled by this and it ruined things for the locals. It's a beautiful country and it remided me of the US in the 1950's.
Yes, I certainly agree with what you’re saying. That still exists here, but it would be a big lifestyle change for more people
We love you (foreigners) as tourists but don't come and want to live here. There is never a better country were we are from. You want beach and that kind of life go to California it's "super cheap" 🤣🤣🤣 and lots of culture 🌮🍕🍔 Yo soy tica y no tengo la necesidad de irme a vivir a otro país y gracias a Dios vivo bien.
What’s wrong with foreigners wanting to live somewhere else? Happens all the time in the United States. So your statement about the country where you are from is always the best is not really true. I understand your perspective, though. People like us come in and change the locals way of life.