[Bob Siegel]

I will be making a preliminary visit of four weeks length this coming March to determine in which town in the Central Valley I will be purchasing my new retirement home -- this trip is not to purchase the but simply to investigate the Central Valley so that I can select my future town of residence and then look for a home after that. There are many towns in this area listed in both Christopher Howard's and John Howells' books which I have read which appear to be suitable. However, I don't see how I can visit all of them in only four weeks. At this point I would appreciate suggestions and inputs as to how to go about doing this.

Should I stay in San Jose all this time and make day trips back and forth? Should I go from town to town by bus? Should I contact from here in the U.S.A. different CR Realtors and work my itinerary and procedures out with them? I really don't know how to organize this March preliminary trip. By the way, my Spanish is very weak and I am concerned that I cannot by myself use it effectively for traveling. I would like to live where it is neither hot nor humid but warm and dry is fine. I do not want a town where there are no expats but a mixture of Ticos and expats living harmoniously together would be great. I am a health 73 year old widower, by the way.

Any suggestions as to how I could go about visiting a number of these towns in this limited time period would be greatly appreciated as I want to waste as little time as possible, then select a town, come back there and either purchase my new home or rent for a period of time in that town before making an actual house purchase.

[Epicatt2]

Hi Bob,

You will be fine in Costa Rica using the public transportation system. It is inexpensive and goes just about everywhere you will want to go in the Central Valley. By riding the buses you should be able to see the greater portion of the Central Valley in your four weeks that you have planned. The taxis are great for getting around in town until you have learnt the busroutes satisfactorily.

I would suggest that you really consider staying in Alajuela. It is the second largest city in CR and is safer and less hectic than San Jose. You can watch the ticos going about their daily business and get a good feel for livving in Costa Rica by doing so.

Alajuela has everything (well, almost) that you should practicably need and it is in a good location to use as a jumping off point to explore the western portions of the Central Valley by doing day trips. If you want to go further afield like to say, Ciudad Quesida (San Carlos) or to the La Fortuna/Volcan Arenal area, that will require a two to three day overnighter. You can make it to Cartago, Paraiso and Orosi to the east of San Jose (but still in the Central Valley) as a day trip from Alajuela. So Alajuela really is a good point of operations.

And it is convenient to get to San Jose via an easy busride of about US 70 cents one way, and afterwards you can easily escape back to Alajuela for the night. Don't get me wrong, I like San Jose, but I really no longer want to immerse myself in it 24/7. I just nip in to do what I have to or want to do and then get back out. Actually there are lots of interesting things to do in San Jose: movies, museums, galleries, concerts, rstaurants, etc.

If you decide to make Alajuela your base of operations, there are a number of modestly priced accommodations in the town. Staying in them is useful from the standpoint also that you can reach them from the airport in only a few short minutes rather than the 35 to 45 minutes -or rather longer at rush hour- that it takes to make it to San Jose.

I would recommend Vida Tropical to you as a suitable B&B to start your explorations from. Weekly and monthly rates are really attractive, and has the added benefit of allowing you to leave your excess things there while you are nosing around all the little towns. The extended rates make it economically feasible for me to go on overnighters and hold my room at VT while I am gone. And if I get back really late I have a key to let myself in and go on to bed, without having to worry wher I am going to be able to find a room somewhere.

Your VT room rate also includes breakfast each morning. But one of the real benefits is that you get to meet and schmooze with all the people coming and going at VT. I have always learned the neatest things from them about their travels and adventures in CR that I never saw in any of the guidebooks. We did and saw some really wonderful things that we heard about from talking to other guests at VT.

Here is their URL: www.vidatropical.com

Hope you have a great trip on your exploratory and maybe we'll see you. I'm already booked at VT for the last two weeks of March. When will you be in CR... the whole month of March?

You are welcome to contact me off-list if you like:

stanhopi [arroba] aol [punto] com

Cheers!

Paul M.
[ counting down the days 'til March ]

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