I heard a segment on a radio show  today about a school teacher from the USA who moved to costa rica and in doing so jumped class. Went from a small house to a big ass manor with a few servants.

Interesting.

I researched it awhile back. They have some folks down there called "parachutists" who squat on your land and take it from you.

Everything is cheaper in the third world, but do you really want to live there?

+1 to both

its just like the PI

you earn some cash here, you can retire in luxury w/ cheap labor overthere

leave your property for too long, squaters can LEAGALLY take your property

The squatters are mostly a problem for those who don't live on their property full-time and are too cheap to pay a caretaker.

The American presence is very high in Costa Rica, and the cost of living is cheap.  $100,000 and a federal retirement and you too can be spanking young campesino chicks and having the servants beaten in the courtyard for serving you lukewarm beer.

The country is probably the most stable in the region, with the possible exception of Belize.  Of course, Belize is a swampy shitstain of a third-world backwater.  But they do have good diving...and Costa Rica really doesn't...

I noticed a change for the worse, however, on my last visit in 2002.  My prior visit had been in 1994.  The capital, especially, seemed less alive and more run-down.  Lots of Americans have chosen to retire there, but I'd do some background into any economic and social tensions they may be experiencing right now.

Panama is much better

Two words - Assassin Beetles

Cota Rica's favorite insect.  One bite and 20 years later (to the day) you drop dead. (No Shit!)

Death by Beetle in Lovely Costa Rica

Quoted: Panama is much better

You couldn't have paid me to live in Panama 10 years ago.

In the last few years, however, it's become more attractive.  After we pulled out, Panama had a massive influx of outside investment (mostly Chinese) and has really thrived.  I've looked at buying property there in the last year, and if you're going to do it, do it soon.  The specultors have arrived....

I'd look at property in the west, along the Pacific shore or up in the mountains around Boquete.  Very nice country, and fairly nice people.

Stay away from the Canal Zone, PC and Colon.  Shit.  Holes.

Quoted: Two words - Assassin Beetles Cota Rica's favorite insect.  One bite and 20 years later (to the day) you drop dead. (No Shit!) Death by Beetle in Lovely Costa Rica

This is a topic I can speak on with some authority....I had Chagas Disease.  Caught it in Honduras.

Long story short...I left the country and went back 18 months later to fly a MEDRETE...basically a medical team sent in to remote areas to screen and treat the locals.  This particular team I was flying happened to be screening for Chagas.  After seeing some of the people brought in who had had the disease for years, I asked the docs about it, thought about how many times I had slept under thatch and woken up with bites on my face.  So I got tested then and there.  And popped a positive.

I had to go tthrough a fairly intensive treatment protocol, but I became parasite-free.  The article is wrong in that respect.  They can kill the bugs, they just can't reverse any damage done.  Luckily, in my case, no heart damage was detected.  I still get a heavy screening every year to look for problems, but after 11 years, I doubt anything will pop up.

I shudder to think of what my life would be like if I hadn't been the one flying those docs around on that particular MEDRETE....

Now.  Onto the real issue....

The bug that carries this disease is very prevalent in the US.  Most places call it an assassin bug.  It just doesn't carry the parasite, and Chagas Disease was unheard of in the United States.  

Until the explosion of illegal immigration in the last 10 years.  

This is a decades-long chronic disease, and illegal immigrants who receive no medical screening are bringing it with them into the US.  Chagas-positive assassin bugs have been found in Georgia, Texas, New Mexico and even Illinois.  A baby in Texas was diagnosed positive after her mother noted swollen bug bites on her face after sleeping in her crib with a window open.

Nasty stuff....

Is this something along the lines of the BULL-CLAP?

Quoted: This is a topic I can speak on with some authority....I had Chagas Disease.  Caught it in Honduras.

ughhhh ... good thing you got checked out

And you guys thought I was BS'ing ya'!