Don Mateo

A Costa Rica expat reflects on the lingering summer heat, the late arrival of Green Season, and the disappearing art of living without air conditioning.

Is there any device that humans now use more frequently and publicly than the cell phone? Once merely a portable telephone and text message sender, the cell phone is now an all-purpose communication and life center, indispensable to most, and certainly to anyone living and working on the grid. With more than 4,000 signal towers throughout the country, coverage is thorough, with only the more remote and mountainous areas having weak signals.

A Costa Rica expat reflects on surprising global coffee consumption rankings, local coffee culture, and why the country’s coffee habits seem stronger than the statistics suggest.

I moved permanently to Costa Rica for many reasons, but the political situation in the United States was not one of them. And to this day, I do my best to live unaffected by whatever is transpiring in my home country, as difficult as that can sometimes be. Recently, on a Facebook page dedicated to U.S. citizens living in or considering a move to Costa Rica, someone asked about the political leanings of Gringos here.

Newcomers to Costa Rica have to adjust to certain cultural and lifestyle habits here. A short list might include rice and beans being a breakfast staple, one-lane bridges on busy two-lane roads, milk sold at room temperature, pedestrians walking three abreast with their backs to traffic, and the difference most mentioned by first-time visitors: used toilet paper goes in the waste can and not the toilet bowl.

According to the website Franchisetimes.com, my household income in Costa Rica puts me solidly in the middle class. I live comfortably, if simply. Bills are paid on time, there is food in the fridge and a car in the driveway. In-country trips to the beach or the mountains are within the budget.

A Costa Rica-based fan watches the 2026 World Cup from the U.S., missing La Sele while reflecting on Team USA, 2014 memories and soccer’s oddest rules.

The latest news and information from Costa Rica including breaking news, weather, travel, events, sports and more.

Costa Rica’s new 5,000-inmate maximum security prison is behind schedule, raising questions about whether more cells can curb the country’s crime wave.

With my car doing what it does best– sitting idly in the carport awaiting a part– I walked twenty minutes in the dark down the long incline of the main street of the barrio to line up for the 5 am bus to Quepos. A red taxi pulled up. The driver stepped out and said, “Quepos! Dominical!” The going rate from Perez Zeledon to Quepos is 25 to 30 thousand colones. Not worth it as after 35 years here, I live happily on Tico time. Then he quoted his price. Mil to Dominical, mil quinientos to Quepos. Me and 2 other guys stepped forward. He loaded our gear in the trunk and off we went.