"The hunt begins for the foreign retiree"-Headline, La Republica
In mid-February, at the national level, Costa Rica launched a high profile initiative. To the fanfare of articles in national papers, a special government edict, web articles and enthusiastic reverberations through the real estate blogosphere, a plan was unveiled to promote retirement communities for some of the 60 million baby boomers who are starting to sail off into their golden years. It was a classic example of rediscovering the obvious.
Better late than never, I chuckled, recalling a conversation with a prominent politician almost 6 years ago. I argued that the wave of retirees in Guanacaste was bringing in at least $2500/mo. per couple, generating plenty of employment and was worth pursuing as an option for this country given the approaching retirement of the baby boomers. "It would be very interesting to run some numbers on that," he commented. Well, somebody finally did and came up with the goal of 10,000 retirees per year, synchronizing with the current trend of medical tourism and building whole ‘clusters'-or retirement communities-in a number of zones that have been identified as desirable for a variety of reasons.
The President of Costa Rica, Oscar Arias is expected to sign an Executive Decree which will make the attraction of foreign retirees to Costa Rica a National Priority.
By implementing this policy the government can then provide incentives to the baby boomers that want to retire in Costa Rica. The government will also be able to provide incentives and streamline the permitting process for companies that build retirement communities for the Baby Boomers.
In 1971 Costa Rica was at the forefront in legislation attracting foreign retirees. In that year Costa Rica passed the Pensionado-Rentista program which at the time was administered by the Costa Rican Tourism Board. The program was very successful and instrumental in attracting retirees and investors to Costa Rica for many years.
The greatest force in the universe is the power of compound interest--Einstein
Call it ‘Blowback.'
I recently read a piece on US foreign policy where an analyst used the term to describe what's happening in the Middle East. He boiled it down to the nitty gritty.
The past is still here; it's just not widely distributed
As someone who has spent the past quarter of his life in the lower latitudes, the fancy footwork and the tropical rhythms still present a bit of a challenge on the dance floor.
If you want to change the world, change yourself--Ghandi
A good friend recently wrote me that she had gone to see the new film on global warming by Al Gore. Her reaction was succinct "we're screwed-the world, that is..."
Truth is tough. It will not break, like a bubble, at a touch; nay, you may kick it about all day like a football, and it will be round and full at evening. (Oliver Wendell Holmes)
The truth is that it is not raining much this year in Guanacaste. Depending on your area, perspective or source of data, we may be 80% below last year. Recent national forecasts say we'll get something substantial in September and October. Maybe corn farmers will have better luck with their late-season planting.
The truth is, we don't know if this is just a dry year after two wet years, or the beginning of a new pattern. Climate change models show Guanacaste becoming 30% drier but even that misses the point. They have long predicted that rainfall would come in more intense ‘events'. When that happens, more water ends up running off to the ocean, less goes into the ground. Thirty percent less rain may well translate into fifty percent drier. Nobody knows for sure.
When something can go wrong, it will.
Murphy's Law
Now I know how investors feel. You watch it going down, down, down. A feeling of complete impotency. You're suddenly at the mercy of forces beyond your control. It all happens so fast. Later comes the comprehension, the "what if we had only..." Then you pick up the pieces and move on. Fortunately no one was hurt.
For me, it was not the stock market that went into free fall today. It was the 500 lb. concrete culvert pipe that we were gently lowering into a newly dug well. The end of the dry season is the traditional time to dig-or deepen-wells in Guanacaste. The ground water is at its lowest point in the year. Rain doesn't mess up the edges of the hole. The ropes don't get all wet and slippery. You're not flailing around in the mud. And the bonus for the guy in the hole is the refreshing coolness of artesian groundwater springs after a week of sweating through layers of increasingly rocky subsoil. When he hit water, "Papi" came up caked in mud, but elated.
Two riders were approaching, and the wind begins to howl.....
The howling winds of February visited many parts of Guanacaste with a level of damage that made you sit up and take note. One neighbor lost a temporary house. Branches and whole trees were down everywhere and green mangoes literally carpeted the yards and streets. In the next town an elderly gent had his morning routine interrupted when the outhouse blew away from around the throne.
For me it has been a windfall of sorts. One the one hand it provides a convenient excuse to harvest all the bananas that were almost ready anyway. On the other, wherever a tree came down or a big branch snapped, there's a new space on the ground, or a bit more light that will get through the canopy. It's just a question of figuring out what to plant.
If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem
Last month I recounted a lifelong odyssey of environmental learning that led to putting down roots in Guanacaste. (Environmentalist to developer-an Eco-logical Progression, The Howler.......) The surprise in store was the speed at which the sprawling development I thought I had left far behind would catch up with me. I had no idea that tropical tracts, Mediterranean-style MacMansions and neo-New Mexico condos would come to replace the fields and forests of my adopted paradise.
