My husband and I started exploring retirement in Costa Rica in early 2011 while we were still working in the U.S. Before moving here in mid-2015, we spent countless hours studying Costa Rica on the internet, making friends online, and taking two exploratory trips here, first in April/May of 2012 and then in September/October of 2013. During our seven year love affair with Costa Rica, I created this website to organize the information that we’ve gathered and to share our research and our journey in hopes of helping others who are not as far along the path as we are. We’ll share our experiences, introduce you to some of the people who have helped us along the way and share links to valuable resources.

We started our exploration of Costa Rica by taking a three-day Retire on Social Security tour with George Lundquist. George’s mantra, and one that we frequently heard from the many helpful expats we met in Costa Rica is “Rent before you buy”. We found it very challenging to find long term rentals before moving here, so I thought I might make a hobby out of seeking out affordable rentals and listing them on this site to make it easier for others to find places to rent. But alas life and enjoyment of this beautiful country got in the way of that. Now that we’ve lived here for a few years, we’ve learned that the best rentals are rarely advertised and get swooped up through word of mouth. The best advice I can offer is to find a short term rental to stay in for a few months in the area where you think you want to live and use it as a base to explore that area or other parts of Costa Rica until you find your own slice of heaven.