Note to the Board: This is a slightly modified, more general, version of a recent post I made in response to a mamber planning for retirement in Mexico. I hope it proves useful to some of you.

Over the years, I’ve met quite a few members of this board who have told me they are interested in living in Costa Rica, or in other Latin American countries. I have lived in Costa Rica on a more or less full-time basis for about two years and I know quite a few other Gringos who live here.

Following is the single most important piece of advice anyone can give you if you sincerely want to make a successful transition to living abroad in any Spanish-speaking country: Do everything you can to become reasonably fluent in Spanish and to gain a basic understanding of the culture before your relocation!

Don't try to tell yourself it will be easier to learn Spanish and to begin to gain an appreciation of Latino culture if you wait until you're living here before doing this. Your first few months living abroad will be the most stressful, difficult, and important. If you can't communicate effectively and don't understand some of the subtle but vitally important cultural differences in behaviors, attitudes, expectations, and values you are increasing your difficulty level enormously.

If you are like most people who try this, you will quickly discover that you can't get by relying on basic Spanish, or putting yourself at the mercy of English-speaking residents or other Gringo ex-pats who speak Spanish. This is a sure-fire recipe for being victimized by con-artists of both sexes and both nationalities and for feeling isolated, lonely, powerless, frustrated, and confused - not the best circumstances for building a successful new life abroad.

Unfortunately, most Gringos who come to live here never learn more than the most basic Spanish and, as a result, always feel like outsiders and are thought of as such by Costa Ricans. Surprisingly, despite their unhappiness and isolation, many of them remain here. Perhaps they don't have anyplace else to go. They are (or become) the epitome of "ugly Americans" - bitter, lonely, disappointed, culturally-insensitive drunks! You can see them every day sitting around on park benches and in bars in San Jose and throughout the country. They aren't living - just waiting to die, and making themselves and everyone around them pay the price of their misery. It is a sad but common situation. Don't let it happen to you.

On the other hand, foreign residents who speak Spanish and who are interested in and sensitive to local culture generally find themselves comfortable with their lives here and are treated with respect, consideration and friendliness by the locals.

Of course it is easier to become conversationally fluent if you are totally immersed in a Spanish-speaking culture, but there is still a lot of study and preparation you can and should do beforehand. It will make a huge difference!

If you have a chance to visit your intended country of residence for a few weeks and study in a language school there, I certainly recommend it. However, whatever your situation, you can study, learn, and prepare yourself before your move. If you can motivate yourself to do this, it will pay big dividends when the time comes to make your move.

However, if you are like the majority of potential ex-pats who dream about living a great life abroad and meeting beautiful women on a modest, fixed-income budget, you are dreaming the impossible dream. If you lack the motivation and sincere desire to prepare yourself in advance for life in a foreign culture, chances are you will have (and deserve) a highly unsuccessful experience.

Best wishes and good luck to all who have the dream and desire to experience a new culture. I’ve done it and have no regrets, but it wasn’t easy or without major problems and adjustments. Please don't take my advice the wrong way but I've seen too many men fall for the dream and the inevitable disappointment of attempting to live out an unrealistic fantasy, without serious preparation and planning. If you are serious about living overseas, be serious about preparing for it.

Pura Vida,
TG

TG - what an utterly cool post. I'm like 100 years from retiring, but I've always thought it would be fun to live in Latin America. Your post was an excellent reality check.

Thanks! It is fun living in Latin America and I'm certainly not trying to discourage anyone from giving it a try but, you're right, a healthy reality check is in order before taking the plunge. I've been fascinated with foreign lands and cultures all my life. I've been fortunate to have been able to do quite a bit of traveling and can honestly say I've never been anywhere I wouldn't enjoy visiting again (even Haiti, which is by far the worst, most depressing travel experience I've had).

However, living in another country is a very different experience from vacationing or business travel. I thought I knew Costa Rica pretty well when I came here to live. I had been visiting off and on for almost 30 years, had friends here, and, even though my Spanish wasn't great, I could get by. So, my transition was probably easier than most but it still had its rough spots. Even today, although I'm reasonably fluent in Spanish, am married to a Tica (who doesn't speak English), and have lived here for two years, I still face language and culture problems almost every day. I enjoy it! To me, it's part of the challenge and interest of living in another culture.

However, many men aren't prepared for it and don't want it. They seem to expect everything to be like it is "back home", except a whole lot cheaper and, of course, with an abundance of pretty, young women who want to have sex with them. This is about as far removed from the reality of ex-pat living in Latin America as you can get.

Sure, if you want to try living in Latin America, have a little money, and don't really care about building any sort of real life for yourself, you can have a good time for a while - so long as you are satisfied with meeting hookers in bars and making "friends" with hustlers you meet in the streets.

I certainly don't want to live like this, and don't think many people do. Unfortunately, I think this is the situation many ex-pats find themselves in, whether they want it or not.

TampaGringo

Su puesto era muy bien y imformativo. Que lastima no hay bastante gentes que tienen actitud como usted. Como le dije voy a retirar problamente en Mexico pero my plan antes era de Costa Rica. Vamos a ver que van a pasar. Tengo muchos anos antes de mi pension entonces lo es posible que sera mas opportunidades.

Espero que tienes buena suerte con su vida en Costa Rica y quizas un dia podria tener una cerveza contigo. Vaya bien y para su informacion soy un gringo cien por ciento pero tengo mucho tiempo practicando en espanol. Todavia falta mucho pero dia a dia voy a tener lo. Pura Vida. Dale saludos a su esposa.

Beavis