More answers to awesome questions from my readers. This batch is more specific to some of the practicalities of living in Costa Rica, specifically the Central Valley.
Thinking of living in Costa Rica’s Central Valley? Get used to this sight and add it to the collection of daily sightings of wild animals, beautiful plants, amazing sunsets, etc.
Can one find a small one or two bedroom place? Cost?
You can find housing between $150 and up. For $150 you get paper thin walls and mold OR a nicer place far away from all the action with a long commute. For $350 you can find a really nice house or apartment anywhere. The average is $250. Expect to share a place – living alone is not common here. Rent sometimes includes utilities and a housekeeper, so always check to make sure of what exactly you will be paying for.
Keep in mind, too, that distances can be deceiving here. If you are looking for convenience, and you do not own a vehicle, you really need to find somewhere super close to your job to avoid hour+ commutes during rush hour. My house is 10 minutes away from school in a car unless it is rush hour – then it is at least an hour away. During the rainy season, add another 30 minutes.
Regarding transportation, if one is trying to get to their work place, how is the bus system (Mexico’s was confusing for me. Often could never figure out how to get around to various places and drivers weren’t much help with my limited Spanish being a problem).
Ohhhh transportation in Costa Rica…If you were confused in Mexico, you will be confused here. Buses are privately owned, so they all look different, with different routes, different fares, and different schedules. Bus stops are not usually marked – you have to look for the congregation of people in most places. There might be a sign on the bus with the origin and final destination, but you have to ask the driver AND some of the passengers where it is going and where it will stop. Specifically if it will stop where you want to be. Ticos do this too – it can be hard for them, so it will be that much harder for you.
You also have to get used to the fact that Costa Rica does not have street addresses. The directions here are told in terms of cardinal directions, landmarks (that might or might not still be there), and meters. For example: go straight east for 200 meters by the ICE to the church and go straight another 300 meters, it will be by the hardware store = go east for 2 blocks, then go by ICE on your way to the church (whichever way that is!!! You have to use your eyeballs.), then go straight 3 blocks and look for your destination by the hardware store. Any of those landmarks in the directions could be long gone with something else standing in their place. Note that 100 meters = 1 block. You have to keep asking if you are going in the right direction. Good thing is, Ticos are so friendly and will help. But be careful, sometimes they want to help too much and will say they know the way to please you when they actually don’t. Good rule of thumb: ask 3 times, and go with the most popular answer.
Regarding Pay. For a full-time job, is that 40 hours per week? I note you said something about employers trying to get you to work more for the salary agreed to or ignoring Holiday pay, etc. Is $1000 per month about the wage for a teacher? I know it varies depending on exact job and location.
Wages for teachers here vary wildly. Generally, $1000 a month is for 30 contact hours (actual time in class) in the Central Valley. The pay breaks down to about $8 an hour. This does not include lesson planning or grading – you are expected to do that on your own time. There are laws in place that require employers to treat employees fairly, but I have seen time and time again employers trying to skirt the law and take advantage. I won’t sugar coat it. It happens. It sucks. Everyone is trying to get ahead here. You have to love Costa Rica to live and teach here – this is not the place to get rich teaching. Come for the experience, not the money.
One of my pet gripes in Mexico was the constant noise everywhere and the insensitivity in the culture to those who want it quiet so one can sleep. Is noise a problem in the community where you live?
Noise… well, San Jose is a city, so don’t live there. Same goes for any downtown area of any of San Jose’s suburbs, like Heredia, Alajuela, San Pedro… I live in Belen and it is super quiet, but on the bus it takes that much longer to get to the city center where all the schools are. Solution: get a car or motorcycle (they are about twice as expensive in Costa Rica as in the US).
You also need to like dogs. Dogs are everywhere and although I don’t really pay attention to barking I can imagine someone who hates dogs and barking would freak out here. Birds, too. If you don’t like birds chirping, don’t bother coming here. (I actually heard someone complain about the birds chirping. This is Costa Rica. Costa Rica = wildlife!)
Something else I’ve noticed is that a lot of my neighbors enjoy singing at anytime of the day. I actually like that. I love most everything about the culture in Costa Rica.
My final 2 cents
Just remember – everyone’s different, so everyone has a different experience in Costa Rica. This is compounded due to the fact that  the law, order, and infrastructure are still developing.
Great informative post, one of the best I’ve come across in a long time!!!
Thanks!
I think the busses are pretty good, but I don’t use them on a daily basis. I travel there a lot and usually people can give me pretty good directions for the bus.
Sometimes I think I get lucky with that too. I’m near the bus depot in Alajuela and I want to go to downtown San Jose and there happens to be a directo right near where I am and it ends right where I want to be or I’m staying at one end of an avenue and need to get to the other (any of MANY buses will do).
And getting from San Jose to (and from) some remote places (like Montezuma) is really really easy and cheap on the directo from La Coca Cola bus station. I’m assuming it’s just as easy to anywhere else.
What makes me cRaZy is in some of the smaller places, finding a local bus schedule is impossible sometimes. I understand the bus is late (quite often) so people don’t want to give you times, but if the next bus isn’t supposed to be until 2pm and it’s 1pm, it really doesn’t make any sense for me to stand at the bus stop (unless I might still catch the noon bus!) so some of this posted would be helpful.
Yeah it’s easier if you live somewhere with a directo for sure. Or if you can get to the highway quickly.
Hi Ms. Morris,
I have a degree in Mortuary Science in the U.S., a ten year old daughter and am expecting another child. Something unfortunate has happened to my fiance, I have been to Costa Rica for vacation with my little girl before and absolutely loved it! The area closest to Panama & Limon as well as San Jose. Can I earn $10 per hour reasonably?
As a side note, are their any jobs teaching about Mortuary Science in English?
I am hoping you can help me with the following:
Is it safe or possible even for me to relocate there with a child and expecting one on the way, to teach English? I just found out I am and was hoping this would not be a problem,
Will my child be safe in school or offered free or paying Spanish lessons? What kind of budget am I looking at for Nursery and/or Child care? Can I hire someone to show me around or live in and teach us Spanish to help us better acclimate? Will a family be interested in housing exchange for my language services?
There was a realty group that gave tours to Costa Rica and offered really good pricing on home ownership within subdivisions where mostly expatriates lived, I do not remember their name but if you know of any please fwd to me to research.
While there on vacation we witnessed several auto and motorcycle accidents in which their were two fatalities. I am not looking forward to driving there especially during Rainy season!
Thank you so much for this site!
No you cannot just come here and earn $10 an hour.
I doubt there are jobs teaching mortuary science in English. But how would I even know? I wouldn’t even know where to begin looking for a job like that… FYI Embalming and funerals and all that is a lot different here than in the States.
You need experience to teach ENglish here or at least the certificate to start. It’s not easy. I don’t know if you could even get hired being pregnant because the business would have to turn around and give you 4 months off of work, paid.
Schools are safe, IDK re spanish lessons. No idea how much child care is. I’m sure you can hire someone to help you out. No one is going to let you live with them only in exchange for language lessons.
There are a million real estate agencies offering tours and affordable housing – real estate is one of the biggest scams here. You really need to do a lot of research and find a reputable real estate agent.
You talk about hiring someone to help you out on a daily basis, buying a house, and paying for child care. All of those things require a lot of money. Teaching English allows a single person to live in Costa Rica comfortably without making any savings and will not buy you all of the things listed above.
Thank you for the perspective Ms. Morris. I think my most important issue is to find a reputable agent for the real estate there. Unfortunately I have experienced what seemed to be but never materialized situations with the real estate there. I hear the Gov’t is cracking down on builders who are misusing the natural habitat on the island. This is great because its the natural surroundings of Costa Rica that I love so much. I decided on coming there as a volunteer for a few months in exchange for boarding and food only and then look for property or a home while I am there. I plan to home school my daughter after this year is out but I have to see how things go.
Thanks for the heads up on the true difficulty of teaching there. So many of the schools online give the idea its really easy once you have their certificate and credit hours. I certainly am not beyond being able to teach but am grateful to know its harder than they say so I can be prepared.
The laws for funeral in Costa Rica are similar or the same as it is for Jewish funerals and Muslim amongst others here in the United States. In this line of work we are all familiar with direct burials and cremations. I will follow up with the international funeral directors network. I have found there is plenty of opportunity in this area as there are lots of Western Europeans who expatriate and retire there and eventually die there.
Thanks again!
Volunteering for a few months while you check things out is a fabulous idea if you can afford it. Try to make some strong connections during this time in order to find a truly respected real estate agent. If you end up in the Central Valley, contact me – I know a really fantastic one.
re: schools giving the impression everything is easy… You’ll find that about everything here – most people want to put a rosy spin on things. It’s part of the culture. Kind of nice in a way, like forcing you to always think positive 🙂 Just remember to be patient.
Good luck!
Hi Erin,
Absolutely love your site!! My wife has her certificate in TEFL and is going to drag us down to Costa Rica so she could gain experience 😉 We have 2 boys ages 4 and 6 and of course myself. I have my own business that is internet/phone based. My main concern is the reliability of the internet/cell service. In order for this to work for us I need to have access 24/7. Are there much outages if any? In general, how is the housing near the schools? We would most likely rent a home, do you have an idea of pricing?
Thanks!!
Thanks Ben 🙂
Internet service in the Central Valley is good. You can’t rely on it 24/7, though. It goes out sometimes when it rains…I see that less frequently in the Heredia area, though, as opposed to Alajuela. The speeds are probably slower than what you are accustomed to. As for cellular phone service, ugh. The phones don’t really have outages, but there are times when it takes 3 or 4 tries to connect, or a text message takes several hours to go through. I think the landlines are reliable, they were always functioning when I was having problems with my cell.
housing: you can get a 2 bedroom 2 bath in a tico-style gated neighborhood around Heredia for $600 a month. Look on Costa Rica craigslist or encuentra24.com. Most of the areas around Heredia are great. San Pablo, Santo Domingo… You should live close to downtown Heredia if you are planning on using public transportation. If you are going to have a car, you can look at other areas like San Antonio de Belen, San Joaquin, Pavas…
My husband and I are reconsidering … again … we have before, relocating to Costa Rica. Anyone know what the regulations are for bringing animals into the country? We have two purebred Maine Coon cats we’d want to bring along. Also, what opportunities exist for someone with a master’s in library science and another as a graduate gemologist (degree conferred through the Gemological Institute of America.)? Thanks!
I emailed you a lead on a job opening for a librarian.
Bringing a pet into Costa Rica is easy. Here is a link to the US Embassy website which has all the requirements: http://costarica.usembassy.gov/catsdogs.html
The only tricky part for me was dealing with the airline. They have their own set of rules, different for each airline, so you will need to check their website for that information. It was tricky for me because they changed the rules a few times after I booked my ticket and they also booked me on a flight once that didn’t allow pets. My ticket ended up being changed 4 times because of that. My dog was also cargo which is more complicated than bringing a pet in-cabin.
Erin we are planning a back packing trip to Costa Rica in January, can you recommend any travel hot spots for 3 27-35 year old guys to travel to? We are looking to stay at hostels, and bounce from town to town on a 11 day excursion staying at each town for a day or two. Do you have any travel tips for going from town to town and using public transportation. If you have any other travel tips at all they would be greatly appreciated and welcome!
Travel hot spots… it really depends on what you are looking for. Costa Rica has so much to offer. The best thing here is exploring all the nature so I would say go to a volcano or two, check out one or more of the coasts…
Using public transportation is going to eat a 1/2 – a whole day, so take that into account. If you are arriving to SJO, maybe you can go to Monteverde, Arenal, then hit the Nicoya Peninsula. Santa Teresa, Montezuma, that whole area is awesome. So is Samara and further north on the coast in Guanacaste – Playa del Coco, Flamingo and all the little pristine hidden beaches in between. <-- that is my suggestion for a nice laid back vacation that shows you volcano, cloud forest, rain forest, and beach. Stay in the little towns next to the ones I named if you are looking for a place with less tourists, although the bigger towns are easier to get to on a bus. The bus is cheap and will take you anywhere, you just need to pay close attention to the schedule. Make sure to ask the attendant and maybe 2 other people to make sure, because a lot of times the schedule is not posted or is missing information.
Think your blog is very useful Erin. A book that I found with some very practical advice on living in Costa Rica is called “Beside the Mango Tree” by Celia Coleman, I got it on Amazon. It is written after having lived in Costa Rica for many years and shows a good understanding of the CR mentality.
Hi Erin,
Thanks for the blog. This was a very helpful post for me! I just came across your site when I Googled “living in Costa Rica”. I’m leaving October 27th to teach English at a school called Maximo Nivel. Have you heard of it? It’s near Universidad de Costa Rica in San Pedro, which luckily, is an area I know pretty well from studying Spanish there in 2008. I do have a question for you…is housing relatively easy to find? The school is setting me up with a host family the first week I’m there, so hopefully it won’t be too hard to find one. I know a couple of Ticos also, so I think they’ll be able to help me, but it’s nice to have an outsider’s view on things too. Thanks again for your blog! 🙂
Hola! I haven’t heard of your school before, there are so many here! Plus, I’m mostly familiar with the schools in the Heredia area.
Finding good housing can be difficult, but you are already doing something right by living with a host family and using your Tico friends as resources. I’m surprised they only set you up for one week… you might want to extend that to two weeks or even a month because the last thing you want to do is pressure yourself into getting a house or apartment that you end up hating. It takes a lot more time to look for places here when you factor in transportation time, Tico time, etc.
I’ve had a ton of emails asking about finding housing in Costa Rica and I actually just finished writing a ridiculously long article about it and am posting it tomorrow morning. You can subscribe for email updates, check my fb page, or just come back to my site later to find it. I hope it helps!
ok I posted about finding a place to live in Costa Rica – it was a really long article, so I divided it into 2 parts. Part 1: https://www.delapuravida.com/2012/how-to-find-a-place-to-live-in-costa-rica-1/
I love Costa Rica!!! My Costa Rican wife recently died here in the U.S.A. I am devastated! We had planned to retire to CR. I am a Special Education teacher in Trenton, NJ, holding a Master’s in Education. If I retire in 2014, my pension will be about $2,800 per month. I would like to work part-time, to supplement my income up to the “magic” $3,000 per month. I want to live the simple “Pura Vida”, NOT in a gated, gringo community. My late wife’s family lives in the greater San Jose area (Desamparados). Given this background information, will I be able to “pull this off”. (i.e., accomplish what I’ve set out to do)
Sorry to hear about your wife.
I really can’t say whether you can live here on $2800 a month or not. The required monthly income amount changes (or has changed) and Costa Rica doesn’t grandfather people in when they raise it. That could change of course, but who knows. I think if you have savings you can set that up to pay yourself each month and add it to your pension. I really don’t know much about this retirement business here though because I’m not retired. If I were you, I would find a lawyer in Costa Rica and ask them. Maybe your wife’s family can make some recommendations?
Good luck!
Hi Erin
My name is Tanya. My question is should my daughter and I take a Telf program in Costa Rica, then look for a job? We attended a Spanish immersion program 5 yrs ago at intercultura in heredia and would love to teach English there? We know some of the instructors there not sure if they would remember us or not. We would probably come in November. If so which Telf programs would be the best to take?
Thanks so much
Love ur blog
Tanya
If I were you I would contact Intercultura and ask them which TEFL programs they accept teachers from since you want to teach there. Heredia is wonderful, that’s where I live. 🙂
Awesome blog! Finding this super helpful…. I’m planning a trip to central america for 7 months using sites like workaway, WWOOfing, and couch surfing. I’ll be in San jose from the end of October until mid December. I’m wondering what the chances are of offering tutoring services to students, professionals, etc. and what that might pay and secondly, what kinds of sites or methods one might use to find those looking for english lessons. I lived in Madrid for a year and it was very easy to find individuals looking for English conversation lessons and tutoring, especially before exam time. Basically, I’m just looking to freelance and pick up some extra pocket money. If you’ve got any experience/knowledge about this, that would be amazing. Thanks!
Thanks! My friends that tutor are always complaining about how hard it is because the students will often not show up or when they do, they “forget” to bring payment. There are a lot of people willing to exchange English/Spanish conversation lessons, but I don’t know of any willing to pay. Your time in San José isn’t long enough to get a job at an institution… I think you’d be better off freelancing online somewhere like openenglish.com. Do you have a TEFL or TESOL?