More and more Americans and Canadians are turning their eyes on these laid back countries like Costa Rica as destinations to move and relocate once they have retired from their work.
Finding a house is easy and still very affordable in the mountains or by the ocean. Many beaches are being developed with all the services required to make a good living yet still keeping the magic of the tropics and the slow pace that you only find in Latin American countries.
Healthy food is very inexpensive. Fruits and vegetables can be found in produce in produce fairs in every town where producers and consumers meet and make the best of Price and quality.
Finding help around the house is very convenient as gardeners and house keepers are not as expensive a service as back in USA or Canada.
Why Costa Rica is becoming a relocation destination
The short distance to the U.S. and Canada make it easy to relocated people to go back and forth for holidays and special occasions without unbalancing their budgets.
Have you ever heard the term Pura Vida? This translates into Pure Life but the meaning goes beyond that, it means a state of enjoyment, a mindset for living life in a pleasurable way.
No wonder Costa Rica has obtained the first place in the world ranking of happy people. Yes, very serious study says that Costa Ricans are the happiest people on earth and I will try to explain why to you.
If you think this has to do with life standards as any developed country enjoys, then you are not in the right direction. Costa Ricans are happy because they are taught to be happy.
Yes, that is the secret nobody talked about in the study. They simply looked around and saw smiling faces, they spoke to people and asked them if they were happy and most answered yes. They asked the reasons and the reasons were simple, because they have what they need to be happy.
Then, what is it that they have to be happy? They have freedom and that is a good reason to be happy but dont most developed countries have freedom as well? But Costa Ricans have peace, something very appreciated in an area that was in war for many years with guerillas and insurrections. But dont most first world countries have peace as well? It seems like so far everyone should be even as far as happiness.
Then, you go into a Costa Rican home and you see family gatherings, food, children, grand mothers and grand fathers living with their children or near them, neighbors visiting without announcing themselves. But then again, this is nothing new, you see that anywhere in the world as well. But now that you are inside a Costa Rican family home, stop and watch carefully how important it is to parents that children are gracious to their elders, how important it is to greet, to thank and be considerate with the others.
They say it all starts in a home and that is very true for Costa Rican families. A child is raised to be happy with as mucho r as Little as they have. Because this is mainly a matter of a philosophy of life. When you grow up in a country where most people believe that you dont need material things to be happy but you need family and friends then it wont be hard to find happy people.
Another thing that helps Costa Ricans to be happy people most of the time is the beauty of the scenery. Blue skies, nice weather most of the time and lush vegetation allow people with a more relaxed way to look at life.
So if you are thinking about living abroad, you might want to read more about Costa Rica as a retirement destination.