Tropical Moms and Wannabe Tropical Moms

[indigenousmama]

Hi ladies! i'm starting this thread for moms who have dreams of or are planning a move with their families to tropical locations in central america and the caribbean. this discussion originated in the Spirituality forum, Manifesting Mamas thread.

mostly, we want to talk about what it's like to live in these locations with families, logistics of moving, and experiences of other mums and families who have relocated.

for myself, my partner and i are planning a move to Costa Rica within the next two years. for the last 7 years, we have been spending winters in CR, and have been dilly dallying on whether or not we want to move with our two kids. a couple of months ago, we finally decided to start our plans to move and are excited with the prospect of raising our kids in paradise!

so, can't wait to hear from everyone on your plans or your experience of relocating your family. :)

[Annikate]

subbing :)
bbl

[*Devon*]

I have fantasized for years about moving to an island paradise!! Why the hell not, right??

I am so in for Belize or wherever.

[Annikate]

We have good friends who live on one of the CAyman islands. They love it there. We visited to see if it were a place we'd want to be but somehow I just can't see raising dds there.

It's beautiful. I don't mind being in a remote location so it's not that. It's just that there's only that culture yk? No organic foods so it'd be difficult to eat well. One barge comes w/food per week and many times it just doesn't come at all. When it does come to stock the 3 stores on the island, most everything is canned or frozen. blech.

There are lots of pros too though. When the shi$ hits the fan (okay, *if* the shi$ hits the fan) we'd be in a relatively safe place I think. My main feeling though is that I think I would feel stifled and trapped somehow.

Dh and I discuss this almost weekly. I think if we could manifest a house there and a way to travel there whenever the mood struck we'd do okay but for a *permanent* place, I don't know.

(Does anybody else think of moving to such a place for safety reasons?)

[indigenousmama]

We have good friends who live on one of the CAyman islands. They love it there. We visited to see if it were a place we'd want to be but somehow I just can't see raising dds there.

It's beautiful. I don't mind being in a remote location so it's not that. It's just that there's only that culture yk? No organic foods so it'd be difficult to eat well. One barge comes w/food per week and many times it just doesn't come at all. When it does come to stock the 3 stores on the island, most everything is canned or frozen. blech.

There are lots of pros too though. When the shi$ hits the fan (okay, *if* the shi$ hits the fan) we'd be in a relatively safe place I think. My main feeling though is that I think I would feel stifled and trapped somehow.

Dh and I discuss this almost weekly. I think if we could manifest a house there and a way to travel there whenever the mood struck we'd do okay but for a *permanent* place, I don't know.

(Does anybody else think of moving to such a place for safety reasons?)

yes, with the political situation we often feel like we would be safer in Costa Rica. but at the same time, i wouldn't want to make the decision to move there a fear based decision, kwim?

for us, we have been spending winters in CR for the last seven years, which is great since my partner is self-employed and doesn't work in the winter(film industry in toronto). but, keeping up with this lifestyle is hard with two kids and now my daughter is in school. we just really feel the pull to stay in CR permanently. where our house is located in CR, it is quite remote, but we are open to the possibility that we may move to CR, just not to our house right away.

another one of my concerns is school for my kids. there are private schools, but i kind of like the idea of my kids going to the regular schools with the locals. but then, this brings up fears that the education they get might not be up to par with what we have here in Canada. i realize this is probably being judgemental, and i'm working at letting that go.

anyway, it's a lot of stuff to think about. clearly though, i think we made the right decision to make our plans to move. DD talks about CR almost daily!

i think i might be starting to ramble now, so i'll sign off now! :)

[gibsonsmom]

Hey there. I have lived full time with my family in Costa Rica for 3 years. Here is the lowdown on the education system here. First and foremost if considering public school you need to decide if you want your children to be practicing catholics. In public schools here the catholic religion is part of the curriculum, they pray, learn the tenants of it and are actually graded on caticism.

There are tons of small private schools everywhere. Just becasue it is private does not mean your children would not be with locals, locals go to private schools. There are several international schools in the Central Valley but locals go there too.

If you are planning on living way out in the country or jungle you school choices will be limited and the public school has the potential for being horrible. It's hard to staff a school which is 4 or 6 hours away from anything.

If you want your children to have a good education here they will but you need to be active in it just like everywhere else. As for the standard level of education here it is very good, Costa Rica has one of the worlds highest literacy rates and most people go on to some kind of higher education after colegio (high school) even if it just specific training classes and not university.

We live in the Central Valley for the express reason of having more choices with regard to education and working which is what I suggest to people considering the move here. You can always move again after you learn your way around which is very different from US or Canada, and is still definitely different than vacationing here.

Hope this helps.

[rmzbm]

Oh, I SO SO SO wanna move somewhere like this! My cousin & his wife honeymooned in Costa Rica & said it was amazing! But, again, I'm sure LIVING there is different. I'd love to move somewhere tropical. But it's scary. What's the job situation there like, cost of living? What about homeschooling? Would love to hear more about life there! :D

[indigenousmama]

gibsonsmom, thanks for sharing your input.

when i think about moving to CR, moving to the Central Valley feels better to me. my partner however, is more into the idea of moving to Montezuma, where our house is, right away. that would be great too, but we don't have phone lines yet in our area and the school choices are limited.

last year, we stayed in San Isidro, Heredia for about a month to give birth to my son. he was born at Clinica Catolica. we had the time to scope out San Jose and the surrounding area. i could definitely see us living somewhere outside of San Jose for all the reasons you stated.

just wondering if you could tell me more about the school year, like when it begins and ends, what kind of holidays they get, etc?

TIA:)

[gibsonsmom]

indigenousmama
I am not sure which montezuma you are in but I know they are all pretty isolated. are you near Mal Pais? In that area there is definitely a community that you could connect with but you will be way out there and with the current climate here don't count on ICE getting you a phone anytime soon, we have been having rolling blackouts for a few weeks because of an energy shortage and well this is Costa Rica and ICE is ICE. A friend of mine had been waiting 7 years for a phone line and another waited 3 and she lives right down the road from me and we are about 7 miles from Alejuela.

Did Uva assist your childs birth? We are probably an hour away from San Isidro de Heredia.

We live near Los Reyes, the golf course. I call it the suburbs of the suburbs because we are outside of the westside (Escazu, Santa Ana, Belen) but close enough to them to go there regularly for work, shopping, etc and totally farm/country.

The school year is from January to December for public schools with a week off for Semana Santa (Holy week/Easter) Tons of Monday holidays and 3 weeks off on July. The Christmas break which is summer vacation here is about 3 weeks to a month. Right now we use a small private school in our town but are switching to a different one in Escazu.

I have a friend who homeschools, many people do that.

If you want specifics you can PM me and we can talk off the board in more detail.

Hope this helps.

[gibsonsmom]

Oh, I SO SO SO wanna move somewhere like this! My cousin & his wife honeymooned in Costa Rica & said it was amazing! But, again, I'm sure LIVING there is different. I'd love to move somewhere tropical. But it's scary. What's the job situation there like, cost of living? What about homeschooling? Would love to hear more about life there! :D

The best thing to do is start going to places you think you might like, for extended periods of time, like 3 weeks and longer. Costa Rica is totally different from panama which is totally different from Columbia or Nicaragua, etc. The cost of living here is both low and at the same time high. It depends on how you live and what you expect. CR IS NOT, I repeat NOT like the US or Canada and won't ever be. Things are done totally differently and some of it makes sense and some never will. For example, if you shop at the farmers markets food is very inexpensive, super fresh and there is a pretty wide selection depending on which market you go to. On the other hand, cars are SUPER expensive here, basically double what you pay stateside. Also because Costa Rica, for environmental reasons, refuses to drill for oil (something I am fine with) gas is about 6/gallon. So a lot of people drive diesel and propane and bio-fuel alternatives are starting to take off.

Jobs can be had depending on if it is legal for you to work which depends on your residency status but the pay scale is different. The equivalent of minimum wage here is about 2$/hour. We have our own businesses here so it's a bit different. English teachers are always needed and if you speak Spanish there are many opportunities in the tech sector and biz management or customer service.

People home school also but there are some really good schools here and even the most expensive private school in CR is way cheaper than a crummy one in the States. So you can definitely send your kids to an excellent school here and pay like 1/3 or sometimes less than what you might up north.

Honestly I would suggest Panama for first time to Central American visitors. Panama City is amazing, extremely international and is totally beautiful. They have developed up instead of sprawling out so there are all these amazing high rise apartments overlooking the bay, there is the old city which looks like the French Quarter in NOLA but is like 20 times bigger and there is the Causeway which is this group of islands in the bay that have restaurants and cafes and bike rentals, etc. Probably 90% of the people speak English and they use the US dollar but everything is WAY cheaper, the shopping is phenomenal.

There are many expat communities outside of the city in the mountains and on the beaches. It's a great place to start when exploring CentAm because it doesn't feel so foreign that it overwhelms, for example, they love Dunkin Donuts there (scary, I know)

I do warn that it can get pretty f*&%^ing hot and humid in Panama at certain times of year. During the day in the summer, everyone is inside with A/C on. So if you don't like heat it's not for you and should go straight to the mountains in Costa Rica where it's misty and gets cold at night.

Hope this helps.

[indigenousmama]

indigenousmama
I am not sure which montezuma you are in but I know they are all pretty isolated. are you near Mal Pais? In that area there is definitely a community that you could connect with but you will be way out there and with the current climate here don't count on ICE getting you a phone anytime soon, we have been having rolling blackouts for a few weeks because of an energy shortage and well this is Costa Rica and ICE is ICE. A friend of mine had been waiting 7 years for a phone line and another waited 3 and she lives right down the road from me and we are about 7 miles from Alejuela.

Did Uva assist your childs birth? We are probably an hour away from San Isidro de Heredia.

We live near Los Reyes, the golf course. I call it the suburbs of the suburbs because we are outside of the westside (Escazu, Santa Ana, Belen) but close enough to them to go there regularly for work, shopping, etc and totally farm/country.

The school year is from January to December for public schools with a week off for Semana Santa (Holy week/Easter) Tons of Monday holidays and 3 weeks off on July. The Christmas break which is summer vacation here is about 3 weeks to a month. Right now we use a small private school in our town but are switching to a different one in Escazu.

I have a friend who homeschools, many people do that.

If you want specifics you can PM me and we can talk off the board in more detail.

Hope this helps.

thanks for your response.

yes, Uva was my midwife for my son's birth. small world isn't it? :lol

our house is in Montezuma on the Nicoya Peninsula near Mal Pais. we know all too well the situation with ICE. it's funny, there are such frequent power outages, and they are so slow to fix things, but as soon as you are a couple days late paying your bill, they cut you off! we heard that ICE was bringing in phone lines the end of last year, but we don't count on that and haven't heard anything. we have no idea what the ICE situation is right now, since we didn't go down to CR this winter.

i think i'll PM you in a little bit. i have to get my kids to sleep right now, but i would love to chat with you more about CR.

thanks!:D

[gr8fulmom]

I just wrote a long post and it got lost :( We are in CR right now visiting for the second time, this time for almost a month.. and we are seriously thinking of buying a house here probably on the south Pacific near Dominical and living here part of the year with the rest spent in Vancouver Canada... I want to stay in Canada for at least enough of the year to maintain our medical stuff and school options for the kids etc.... I think its 3 months? We homeschool so I would plan to continue with that and just send in our stuff from CR to Canada, so my kids would maintain a Canadian school record... We have no political reasons to move, but we really enjoy th4e very simple life style here and tranquillo culture... It is so good to get away from the rat race and the buy buy buy mentality of North Amercia... We have friends in the Dominical area which is part of our attraction to this particular spot but also I think my 3 boys might really get into surfing over time which would keep them out of trouble :) My dh has some pretty good business ideas we have been looking into for CR and we were thinking that if we don';t live in CR full time we could probably rent out the hosue some of the time as there is agood house rental market in the south Pacific area...

subbing...

[gibsonsmom]

I have some good friends in Dominical, have lived there for years. They have young kids and can tell you a lot about the area, what to expect and so on. They also have a very reliable real state company specializing in the area, here is their contact info:

Sean McGraw
Coldwell Banker Vesta Group
Chief Operating Officer
Broker/Owner
Plaza Itskatzú Suite 213/214
Escazú, San Jose – Costa Rica
Toll Free: 1-877-826-5830
Business: (506) 787-0223
Fax: (506) 787-0220
Mobile: (506) 839-1832

Email: s.mcgraw@cbcostarica.com
Web: www.cb-costarica.com

Good luck, let me know what happens, if you get down here I am sure we will meet at some point, it's a small country.

Martha

[gibsonsmom]

thanks for your response.

yes, Uva was my midwife for my son's birth. small world isn't it? :lol

thanks!:D

Well, honestly there are only about 6 midwives in the entire country so when you mentioned birthing in San Isidro de Heredia it was pretty easy to figure it out, heehee, but yes, small world, even smaller country.

[indigenousmama]

Well, honestly there are only about 6 midwives in the entire country so when you mentioned birthing in San Isidro de Heredia it was pretty easy to figure it out, heehee, but yes, small world, even smaller country.

:lol yes, and i know one of the other midwives, Honey, who lives in Tambor near us. we go to her organic market every saturday in Montezuma when we are there.

[twogreencars]

subbing...:wink

[gr8fulmom]

I have some good friends in Dominical, have lived there for years. They have young kids and can tell you a lot about the area, what to expect and so on. They also have a very reliable real state company specializing in the area, here is their contact info:

Sean McGraw
Coldwell Banker Vesta Group
Chief Operating Officer
Broker/Owner
Plaza Itskatzú Suite 213/214
Escazú, San Jose – Costa Rica
Toll Free: 1-877-826-5830
Business: (506) 787-0223
Fax: (506) 787-0220
Mobile: (506) 839-1832

Email: s.mcgraw@cbcostarica.com
Web: www.cb-costarica.com

Good luck, let me know what happens, if you get down here I am sure we will meet at some point, it's a small country.

Martha

Wow thanks for the contact :) I will follow that up when I am over the haze of getting home... we only got back last night :dizzy:

I think someone said earlier that gas in CR is $6/gallon I think its anout half that :scratch:... its about 375 colones per litre which is about $0.75 times 4 litres to the gallon = around $3/gallon... I think :scratch: which is actually exactly what we paid in Seattle last night and is cheaper than the current gas price here in BC which is well over $1/litre...

We are really thinking through all the options... I was just looking into house swapping as an idea for getting a place to stay when we come to look at property because I want more $ to go to purchasing ;)

[gibsonsmom]

Definitely follow up with Sean for real estate and location questions. About the gas, it has been lower recently but it gets really expensive here, we have no drilling which is good but that means gas costs more which can be bad.

good luck.

[gr8fulmom]

I just sent Sean an email ;) thanks again for his contact info :)

I didn't realize gas prices fluctuated so much! but yeah, I agree, no drilling is a good thing!

[Beachlivnmom]

I am glad I came across this board. We currently live in Hawaii but are lokking for somewhere less expensive to live and closer to my family. We have 2 boys 1 almost 4 and a 3 month old. My husband is a fishing boat caotain so everywhere we have lived and will live will be on the coast. Anyone know where to lokk for captain jobs or if Costa Rica or other countries would be good for us to check out. We love the slow laid back life and I plan to homeschool. Just want to be somewhere safe and affordable. We know people in Guatemala, but not sure how safe it is there. Any tips?

[Fyrestorm]

Subbing and dreaming of the day it's easier to buy property on the French side of St. Martin....and working on trying to convince DH that he wouldn't get island fever or miss the four seasons here!!!

[gr8fulmom]

Gibsonmom... I did email sean but never heard back? I know internet can be hard to come by in CR... ??

it's summer hear in BC and I am thoroughly enjoying my temperate rainforest right now :wink but we are still moving forward plans to buy property in CR as well... :D

[freespirited]

Oh, I didn't see this thread and posted on another that I was surprised there was no Central American tribe. This is a good start!

I am married to a Costa Rican and we are moving back there in a year, possibly sooner, to make our lives there. We lived there for two years in Santa Ana (Central Valley) but our property is near the coast in Guanacaste. We are planning to build something there and live off the income from our hotel or commercial centro or whatever we decide to build. We just bought a house here in the U.S. too about a year and a half ago but we just don't see the point of being here anymore. In Costa Rica we can hire a maid and even a nanny if our business venture succeeds, which it should. Here we are just kind of stagnating. Dh's job is awful and pays peanuts and we live paycheck to paycheck. Our life in Costa Rica was waayy better and despite the cons of living there, the pros outweight the pros of living here by far.

One thing that concerns me is a growing crime rate in Costa Rica. When I met dh there in 2001, crime was only of the petty sort, and we camped out n the jungle near the beach and left all of our belongings there for two months and nothing was ever stolen. Most importantly, we always felt safe even though we were quite isolated. Things have really changed in 5-6 years. Crime has become more violent, and there is not an adequate police force due to lack of resources. My SIL had four armed bandits enter her home with machine guns and rob her blind. Thankfully, they left her alone (mostly). This happened in Santa Ana near Escazu. We haven't heard of many incidents like this in Guanacaste (the northern Pacific coast). A lot of people live in gated communities because of the home invasion robbery issue in the Central Valley.

I hope I didn't scare anyone away yet! We are still going. I was watching the news tonight and crime is up all across the U.S., and it seems that it is a worldwide thing. You just need common sense and know what you need to do to best protect your family. Some things are more obvious than others. Don't leave your belongings on the beach or they may not be there when you get back. But then there are things that you may never have thought of. It is a nation with a long legacy of thievery, it is in the people's blood, or so dh insists. There is a reason why most homes have bars on their windows and guys watch your car, when you park in the street, for a small tip. That said, Costa Rica is still a lot safer than Guatemala or Honduras, for example.

I just think there are bad people everywhere, really. If things progressed to a point where I did not feel safe in my own home then I would leave, but at this moment, I think we could do a lot better financially, emotionally and otherwise in CR than in the U.S., given that we have struggled for 3 years here to achieve the "American dream". Good jobs have been impossible to come by, and so now we move on to plan B. I'm also a writer and I feel so much more inspired in CR. Every day it seemed brought about a new sensation of aliveness, an awakening of all my senses, and profound contemplations about life provoked by the people, who are both simple and complex, humble and proud, passionate and composed, and the indescribable nature that is so beautiful as to bring tears to your eyes. From a poetic standpoint, CR is heavenly. From a practical standpoint, it can be aggravating for some, but statistically speaking, about half of the people who move there stay, and the other half find they can't hack it.

It is far easier for me "hack it" since dh is a native. It also helps to have a steady income of some kind coming in or be independently wealthy. You can teach English there, but you won't want to do it longterm. Dh and I stayed at a home and our only expenses were food and gas and entertainment, and we did fine on $500 a month. Rents are fairly cheap. Maids and nannies are very affordable. My friend, a single mom, lived there for 4 years and had a maid/nanny all day, 6 days a week for $250.00 a month. She cooked, cleaned, and cared for the child. My friend returned to the U.S, had a reality check, and now wants to go back to CR. You might complain about it, but you will miss it when it's gone. I miss the wonderful food, my daily breakfast of "gallo pinto" (rice and beans mixed together, lightly pan-fried), with tortillas and sour cream and a bit of hot sauce, and all the wonderful fruits. Most tropical fruits are naturally organic. They don't need pesticides. Bananas, mangos, pineapple and coconut are all in this category. Most areas of Costa Rica that have enough people will have an Automercado supermarket and these supply quite a few imported things that Americans and other foreigners can't live without. I imagine if the free-trade agreement passes, many more things will be available, and for cheaper.

So, for me, Costa Rica represents a chance at a lifestyle I could never afford here, and the time is great to invest in the country. There are many different areas to live in. Many places have such perfect weather you need no heating or a/c ever. My medical and dental expenses have been wayyy lower than the States. In fact, I had 10 mercury amalgams replaced with resin, and a platinum crown put in, all for 1k. Here we can barely afford to have insurance, and the deductibles are ridiculous. They have a special at the Cima hospital in Costa Rica. It's to have your child there, regular delivery, all drugs included, if desired (i.e. epi), plus celebration dinner for two for $1500.00 US. I went to the ER there once for a stomach bug and my total cost was $150.00 including IV drip, blood tests, etc. I had giardia which they didn't know, but was later identified when we had our well water tested and the culprit was discovered.

Anyway, sorry to ramble on! It's neat that there are several mommas considering the move to CR. I know there are many, many young American families down there, particularly in the area we are moving to. Things are really changing there, for the better and the worst. I kind of somehow feel safer there, at least on a large scale, than the U.S., even though you have to be more cautious in CR about petty theft. It's a poor country, but it has no enemies either. I look forward to a new life there with my kids, challenges notwithstanding, and I will probably homeschool for awhile, but there is a new U.S. quality school being built that my dc will probably attend. Most of them are not cheap but you could probably work as a teacher at one and get decent pay plus free tuition for your kids. Also, homeschooling seems to be a more popular choice. Hope this info helps some. Feel free to ask me anything.

[gibsonsmom]

Try again, he defintely has internet always, high speed even. He also has a US phone number which should be in the contact info I gave you. Good luck.

[gibsonsmom]

Gibsonmom... I did email sean but never heard back? I know internet can be hard to come by in CR... ??

Hmm, thats weird, no problem with the internet for him, definitely has reliable high speed. Try calling the US number in his contact info. I know he is around. PM me your email addy and I can send it directly to him.

Good luck

[fortunecookie]

:hola: :hola: :hola: :hola: :hola: :hola: :hola: :hola: :hola:

Hi all,

We are a family living in Costa Rica right now. :loveeyes: We came back in January and have plans to stay for another year. Our son was born at hospital Cima a couple years ago. We want him to grow up in both cultures, so we try to divide our time when we can afford it. Having him here and giving him dual citizenship was a gift we wanted to give him. A choice for his future, a peaceful country and a war loving country to call home lol. :duck: We love it here in CR and so does our son. We have a maid/nanny/housekeeper who works for us, and that is just a luxury I never imagined. We own property here and plan to build a condo for us and a house to rent out for additional income. My mom recently came down and invested in one of the lots/condos so that she can spend more time with the family. She is an orchid lover and an avid birder and just can't believe the diversity here. Whats not to love, this place is paradise! Yes there is a lot of petty crime, but the country is now trying to address that problem. As for the oil drilling, I think that China is trying to secure some sort of deal as we speak. I hope it doen't happen.:gloomy:

[freespirited]

Hola, Fortunecookie! Are you in Playa Hermosa by Coco? We have a villa in Villas Sol and we will be there in December (yay!), with plans to move there in March. Dh is thinking of trying to get a job at the new Regent Papagayo opening in 2009. He is currently working for the company that owns it. I sooo miss having our maid! I really look forward to having one again. Dh and I have been so stretched thin and dream constantly of being able to date again and have some freedom and use our time enjoying our family rather than cleaning, cleaning, cleaning! Dh and I own some land in Playa Avellanas and we would like to build a hotel or something there. I have been trying to get my parents to invest in Costa Rica but they haven't yet. We lived in the Central Valley most of the time but we will be living in Guana when we move back. I know there are some pretty decent schools too in Liberia and not all that expensive. I think our dds will love growing up in Costa Rica. The crime rate is a bit disconcerting to me because 5 years ago it was so different. Yes there was crime but not like this. But it's still not that bad compared to most of the world, and most of it is theft related at least. Well PM me if you are in the Coco Hermosa area and maybe we can hook up for a beach play date or something in December!

[fortunecookie]

Hola, Fortunecookie! Are you in Playa Hermosa by Coco? We have a villa in Villas Sol and we will be there in December (yay!), with plans to move there in March. Dh is thinking of trying to get a job at the new Regent Papagayo opening in 2009. He is currently working for the company that owns it. I sooo miss having our maid! I really look forward to having one again. Dh and I have been so stretched thin and dream constantly of being able to date again and have some freedom and use our time enjoying our family rather than cleaning, cleaning, cleaning! Dh and I own some land in Playa Avellanas and we would like to build a hotel or something there. I have been trying to get my parents to invest in Costa Rica but they haven't yet. We lived in the Central Valley most of the time but we will be living in Guana when we move back. I know there are some pretty decent schools too in Liberia and not all that expensive. I think our dds will love growing up in Costa Rica. The crime rate is a bit disconcerting to me because 5 years ago it was so different. Yes there was crime but not like this. But it's still not that bad compared to most of the world, and most of it is theft related at least. Well PM me if you are in the Coco Hermosa area and maybe we can hook up for a beach play date or something in December!

Hola freespirited,

We are south in Hermosa de Jaco. We do make it north but usually only a couple times a year. I see your hubby is a surfer too. Maybe we'll be able to hook up through a husband friendly surf trip. :wink

[lanielayne]

Subbing!

Dh is pre-med and wanting to go to med school in the Caribbean. I don't have a clue what it is like to live out of the country so I hope to find some info from you gals!

[trinimommy]

Hi guys...I would love to move to Trinidad or Tobago or Barbados one day...I am about to make a temp move from FL to PA but I am watching this political race very closely and I am ready to make a run for it...very interesting notes on CR though...I never really heard anything about it...

[Calidris]

So, Trinimommy, are you a Trini?

[RasJi7]

I live in the British Virgin Islands with my husband. He is from here I am from the US. He is from the island of Anegada and we are living on the main island, Tortola while we build our house on Anegada. Once we are on our land we are both interested in growing as much of our own food as possible and maybe even having a little vegetarian restaurant.

If we stay on the main island longer than planned I will send our child/ren to one of the private schools, they have a Montessori here, or if we get back to his island in time for the child/ren to be in school they will go to the local school.

If anyone has questions about living in the BVI I am happy to tell about my experiences and what it is like here. (Better than the US imho!)

This area is still being developed, there are many opportunities here for people that have a college degree or special skills.

[ripcurlgirl26]

I'll join in. DH and I go to Costa Rica at least once (or twice) a year for surfing trips. We love the country and the lifestyle and have talked in passing about one day living there, but it's always a far off in the future thing. I have heard that jobs are rather hard to come by if you're not a local, unless you open up some business of your own. So maybe one day we'll end up there for at least part of the year. We usually go to Manuel Antonio, which is beautiful, and also stay in Jaco a lot, but I'd never want to live there. I do worry about the crime, we've never been robbed by some of DH's surfing buddies that go on big group trips down there have had their wallets stolen and such.

[gr8fulmom]

I am booking my tickets this week to go to CR for March and a little more :jumpers: I love Vancouver, Canada but I am missing CR so much!!! Its time to go back to our new second home :D We'll be in the dominical area and down to the Osa on this trip... will anyone from mdc be there in March/April?

[sapphos]

subbing the forum. Thanks for starting this thread.
We got back to the U.S. last spring and are just waiting to get back to Miami (currently stuck in Savannah). After that we're considering being in central America or Caribbean part of the year, looking at Panama at this time. Also planning to unschool or homeschool our little one.

:D

[RiverSky]

I'm really interested in this thread. DH and I dream sometimes of moving to Costa Rica but it would need to be unschooling friendly. Can anyone point me to the actual laws that refer to homeschool/unschool?

Here's the thread that I just started asking about this in homeschool section before I thought to look here.

http://www.mothering.com/discussions/showthread.php?p=10460769#post10460769

:lurk:

[sunmamma]

Dreaming of CR a lot these days, and starting to plan our first trip there next February into March. We're a home/un schooling family and i am loving the freedom of being able to plan a trip like this! Ds will be 5 and we'll have a 8/9 month old baby.:D
Wondering what the food situation is like...what is available and what is hard to get.

I also really want to travel across to the carribean side, and am wondering if anyone has done this...am I crazy to think about carting two kiddos on some hairy roads across southern CR? I mean, how hairy is it?

[dex_millie]

I live in the British Virgin Islands with my husband. He is from here I am from the US. He is from the island of Anegada and we are living on the main island, Tortola while we build our house on Anegada. Once we are on our land we are both interested in growing as much of our own food as possible and maybe even having a little vegetarian restaurant.

If we stay on the main island longer than planned I will send our child/ren to one of the private schools, they have a Montessori here, or if we get back to his island in time for the child/ren to be in school they will go to the local school.

If anyone has questions about living in the BVI I am happy to tell about my experiences and what it is like here. (Better than the US imho!)

This area is still being developed, there are many opportunities here for people that have a college degree or special skills.

Hi,

I plan on moving make to St. Thomas(not to far from you, that is were I was born and raise), DH is from Trinidad and wants to move there too. We prefer our children raised in the islands. There is a Montesseri school there also but they are so expensive, maybe his last 3 years we can afford to send him there. It will be a couple more years before we move though, DH is doing some school and certificates. We already have land there(I bought from my father) and my father is already starting to build the house(he is a contractor/construction worker). Have to go. I will check back here

[gr8fulmom]

Dreaming of CR a lot these days, and starting to plan our first trip there next February into March. We're a home/un schooling family and i am loving the freedom of being able to plan a trip like this! Ds will be 5 and we'll have a 8/9 month old baby.:D
Wondering what the food situation is like...what is available and what is hard to get.

I also really want to travel across to the carribean side, and am wondering if anyone has done this...am I crazy to think about carting two kiddos on some hairy roads across southern CR? I mean, how hairy is it?

We have driven across to the Caribean side with 3 kids... the roads are no worse than other parts of Cr like the south coast... you just have to pay attention and watch for crazy truck drivers! I didn't find the Carribean side as nice or family freindly though... people smoking crack on the beach near Puerto Viejo! yuck :( I just found it much more seedy than the Pacific side... we find we can get most foods we need including soy and rice milk for my son... I bring some snack food and organic microve popcorn for when my kdis get home sick for Canadian snack food ;) HTH we're down on the south coast in CR for the month and loving it :love

[IslandBoundMama]

I was reading through, very interesting...but I would really like to hear more from the moms in the BVI's or USVI's, especially regarding homeschooling in either/both, or possibly thoughts on public high schools, maybe ST Thomas? My fiance and I are very seriously considering taking our combined family with 5 teens (yes five!) there and living on a sailboat, and starting a business there. Back to basics, away from it all here, out of the rat race (I'm sure you all can relate!). Any and all advice is welcome!!! This has been a long time dream in the process over the last year especially, maybe even a "calling", I could really use some tips and advice!
Thank you - anyone in the Caribbean who knows that area or of anyone doing some similar adventure with teens!
Julia

[sapphos]

anyone in here unschooling in their tropical location? any Costa Rica mamas going to the Pura Vida unschooling Conference in CR?

[dex_millie]

I was reading through, very interesting...but I would really like to hear more from the moms in the BVI's or USVI's, especially regarding homeschooling in either/both, or possibly thoughts on public high schools, maybe ST Thomas? My fiance and I are very seriously considering taking our combined family with 5 teens (yes five!) there and living on a sailboat, and starting a business there. Back to basics, away from it all here, out of the rat race (I'm sure you all can relate!). Any and all advice is welcome!!! This has been a long time dream in the process over the last year especially, maybe even a "calling", I could really use some tips and advice!
Thank you - anyone in the Caribbean who knows that area or of anyone doing some similar adventure with teens!
Julia

Hi,

I am going to try and give you a little info quick while DS is being quiet for St. Thomas. I plan on going back in a few years.

There is homeschooling but I am not sure what kind or how many they have. The people I know are using one from their church. But I am sure their should be others.
Public school would be a culture shock to your teens at first. There are only 2public high school (grade9-12) the best one in my opinion is the one in town (Charlotte Amalie High School). I didn't go to a public school but my brother went to the other one. I am not sure the age of your children but of course their are the public schools for the rest grades, I just cannot think right now which ones is the best. I don't know how the public school compares to the states, but hey we all survived, went on to college and got a degree.
There is a Montessori School if you can afford it though. And a few other good private schools.
St. Thomas does have a good University though if your DCs will go.

The island is very very relax and slow. Depending on how involved you where in activities in the states you might miss it. But hey you can also try to start stuff down there too. I acutally can't wait until we are able to move down there.

Other little info. The BVI is ok but is quieter. I know Tortola you have to catch a boat(there is no airports there).

St. Croix is bigger than St. Thomas and I think with the schools it maybe the same. They do have nice fairs and stuff but you can always catch a boat or a plane over. My parents go over for the fairs sometimes there's is better than St. Thomas.

It is expensive down there. Sorry to say they get paid less but the food and things cost more.

I do like that it has alot of fruit trees though. On the piece of land I have my father has started planting fruit and vegetable trees.

Good luck w/ your decesion. Let me know if you need any more info. I just rample off as fast as I could. DS only gives me so much time on the computer.

HTH

[snowgirl]

Dh found out about a contract job position in St. Thomas for 1-2 years. After that, the company would move us to Florida. We were just there for a short vacation. Although, it is a great place to vacation, I am not sure about living there. I really love my community in Vermont and I don't feel that I could find it there. I do love to sail and would love to be able to sail the islands again. I think I would homeschool, b/c I heard the 2 public schools are Christian and Catholic. I really don't want her going to them. Montesori would be fine, but it is a lot of money. Also, I am not a fan of the heat. I think the summers would just kill me. Would I find any other moms like me there?

[gr8fulmom]

anyone in here unschooling in their tropical location? any Costa Rica mamas going to the Pura Vida unschooling Conference in CR?

when is it? I would love to go if we are in CR at the time ;)

[dex_millie]

Dh found out about a contract job position in St. Thomas for 1-2 years. After that, the company would move us to Florida. We were just there for a short vacation. Although, it is a great place to vacation, I am not sure about living there. I really love my community in Vermont and I don't feel that I could find it there. I do love to sail and would love to be able to sail the islands again. I think I would homeschool, b/c I heard the 2 public schools are Christian and Catholic. I really don't want her going to them. Montesori would be fine, but it is a lot of money. Also, I am not a fan of the heat. I think the summers would just kill me. Would I find any other moms like me there?

Huh?? We don't have any public christian school. We have private christian schools, which includes catholic, sda, non-christian, ect... But the public schools are not christian or catholic. The % of people that believe in God may be higher than the US put the public schools themselves are not christian.

Oh where did your DH find a contract for down there? What field is he in? We would love to get a contract down there also? As we plan to move in a few years.

[snowgirl]

Oh, I must have misunderstood. A employee at the spa I was at told me that. Dh is a software engineer. He found out about the contract through a recruiter. I don't think it is going to happen as he has heard anything back from her.

[michaelsmama]

Hey all-
Just wanted to say hi and share our story (briefly) - though i see most of you are in costa rica or wondering about moving there. This is our second time in honduras, first was 10/04-12/06 at the Farm of the Child www.fincadelnino.org a catholic orphanage in rural honduras on the north coast (onn the caribbean). I was a social worker there and my dh school administrator. ds1 was 18m when we moved there and ds2 was born in the US during our time there, spent first year there. loved it though many challenges to living so rurally, but living in such a strong community was a blessing and joy.

now we're back, dh is working for catholic relief services and we're in the capital, teguc. it's a huge city and not my favorite place to live, as it has all the problems of any major city. i spend most days at home with ds2 and dd, though after 4 weeks we're making many friends among the embassy and state dept community. ds1 goes to an american accredited private school here which so far we love, and has given us lots of families to be friends with.

with dh's job we'll be moving a lot over the years which should be interesting as well as challenging. but for us, the draw to have our fmaily experience such different cultures and environments is great. tegus is a huge noisy city, but we could just as easily be in a smaller city in some other country this time next year.

if you're interested in learning more about our life, check out my blog (in signature). if you want to email 1:1, post a comment and i'll come here and find you (i'm not on here as often so don't always receive pm's).

[zubee]

I think if we could manifest a house there and a way to travel there whenever the mood struck we'd do okay but for a *permanent* place, I don't know.

[Jasmyn's Mum]

I haven't been on MDC for a while and I am so glad I found this thread. We are now living in CR. We have been here for over a month and I am in love with this country:joy:. We are in Ojochal so, Gr8tful Mama, I will be here when you come for a visit if you want to look me up :)

We really want to stay here and have found a great community here. We just need to know that we can prosper here. My DH does IT stuff and is a Web Master. I do Nutrition, Homeopathy, Reiki, Iridology and other alternative medical modalities. We have an opportunity to run a hotel for the high season. It's a good opportunity for us to stay some place for free and get the inside on the hotel biz. It's more of a B&B with 5 rooms.

We thought about CR for a long time even though we had never visited before. 9 months of Winter in Calgary last year lit a fire under my behind to get moving. Also, we want to grow our own food and get off the grid and all that other stuff that I think would be more difficult to do in Canada. I can't stand the cold. What can I say? I am Arab :cold:

We are still getting to know how things work around here. They are planning on building a private Spanish school in Uvita so I am excited about that. DD is 4 1/2 so I "homeschool" her. I don't have a curriculum or anything yet. She can read and write and is extremely artistic. That's all I think is necessary at this point.

I would love to connect with any MDC Mamas in my area. Please PM me and say hello. The hardest part about moving is the beginning when you don't really know anyone. I will keep my eyes on this thread.

[gr8fulmom]

Hey there... we'll definitely look you up next time we're down that way... most of our friends live closer to Dominical than Ojochal but we know that area very well too... we actually stayed down that way on oour last trip for a week or so... I'm not sure exactly when we'll be back... by April for sure! I wav hoping to be back in November but now its looking like Jan/Feb for a month or so... my very close friend is due with her first baby at the end of Jan... she lives just east of Dominical in the Lagunas area... she wants us to come down for her birth but we'll have to see... right now its a maybe ;)

have you found the talapida farm where you can fish for your lunch and then they grll it for you? Great fun for the kids and adults too! and great eating after :wink its down your way... ask around if you haven't heard of it...

glad you're enjoying CR... its a beautiful place... hard to not enjoy! pura vida :D

[ckmannel]

Hi all! I'm new here but I thought I'd throw my two cents in. My husband, infant son, and I live on a really small island called Sint Eustatius. It is part of the Netherlands-Antilles. We are here so my husband can do his medical school class work then back to the US for clinicals. It's not a touristy island because there really aren't sandy beaches. Overall, I would rather live elsewhere, but it has its charms.

The pros: slow pace (I never wear a watch), cheap cigarettes and booze (if you're into that), awesome snorkeling and scuba diving, an opportunity to live in a place totally different than where you were raised (priceless).

The cons: expensive energy, low health care standard, limited access to fresh/nutritious food, tons of roving livestock (don't even get me started about roosters!), very limited mobility (unless you are a really strong swimmer :) ), and it is tough to describe, but there is a different work ethic and standard here. If you want something done quickly and done correctly the first time, this is not the place for you.

If you are considering moving to a Caribbean island with little ones, I would recommend looking into the hospital/medical facilities available and make sure that they meet with your standards. Our hospital only has 3 general practitioners and no equipment, not even x-ray. If you need emergency care, you are SOL! To end on a more positive note though, I am glad that we had the opportunity to try tropical living. I always wanted to do something like this and as a life experience it was valuable. I just had an overly-romanticized view of island life.

[AlpineMama]

I would love to live in the tropics. When I was little we used to spend a few weeks down on the islands every year. I could totally see myself chilling there. However, DH is very much against the hurricanes, the feeling of being "trapped" on an island, and thinks that the locals don't really accept you as one of them unless you lived there from birth onwards. Oh, and the whole job outlook thing seems hard too. Oh well, a girl can dream, right? I wish we could make it down there for at least a vacation, but we're broke right now. Sigh. One day. :)

[EMS]

We will likely be moving to cr this summer, and i'm interested to have the perspective of someone who's lived there with a family. my husband is applying to various teaching jobs around the country. many are in escazu (though I imagine we would live somewhere else in the san jose area). one is in monteverde. we would love to live there--our main hesitation is that we will be moving with a 3-month old baby (as well as a 3 yr old and 5 yr old), and the nearest hospital is several hours away. also, in monteverde the salary is almost nothing.
any thoughts about either of these situations? anyone live near either of these places? what's it like? eager to hear your perspectives.
thanks!