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My friend (we did actually meet once) CR Jones wrote a comment on Foolish:
"Be careful, as it’s my understanding that you can get slammed for hiring an undocumented worker, and especially not filing the correct papers or paying the employment tax. The latter may not be an issue if it was less than 30 days– but if you haven’t documented pay stubs, it could be difficult to prove.
I predict you’ll move back to the States in less than two years.
By the way– I don’t blame you, if you . . . → Read More About Less Than Two Years
We fired our third maid yesterday. Maid #1 wasn’t a great cleaner, although I believe she was honest. And, in truth, looking back, she may have needed to come for a full day to get the job done, not just a half day.
Just as I was becoming more and more suspicious of Maid #2, she left to go back to school. She’d probably "raised" enough money to pay for the next semester…
Hal did the firing of Maid #3. I couldn’t stomach it. When she was done for the day, he said: "We won’t be needing you . . . → Read More About Another One Bites The Dust
Our first few months in Costa Rica, we were taken aback by the intense security around homes: high gates, electric fences, massive bars covering every window and door. Many subdivisions (and some private homes) have guards, from casually dressed bicycle guards to uniformed and armed. Most U.S. citizens have a similar response to ours: we just don’t get it.
Fences are topped with all sorts of unwelcoming stuff: sometimes just a roof-over a gate or the fence to make it impossible to climb . . . → Read More About Slipping Off The Rose-Colored Glasses
Last month, Manrique wrote a comment on a post and I loved getting it. Write more, Manrique! So valuable to hear perceptions from his side of the fence:
Hi Saratica!
First please excuse my english if I don’t write it perfectly (I read it more than I write it). I am a Tico (34 years old, live in Heredia, work in Santa Ana, (1 hr drive each day for 20 km) and has recently been fascinated by all the expats blogs and travelogues. There is really an "underground" expat culture going on of which most . . . → Read More About Comments from a Tico Reader!
A couple, Tim and Alice, who are thinking of moving here took us to lunch to grill us about life in Costa Rica. Yes, we can be bought. They stayed at The Pura Vida Hotel and when we spoke to confirm our lunch plans, she said, "We are thinking of retiring here because the cost of living is so much less than in the U.S."
That’s what everyone believes because that’s the way it used to be. The reality is that it’s cheaper, but not so much cheaper you’d definitely retire here. In some ways, cost of . . . → Read More About Living On The Cheap
This is a common sight in Costa Rica. You are stopped behind a bus or a truck, the light changes, they take off and you choke. Exhaust fumes make it pretty much impossible to drive with your windows open. Diesel is cheap and an engine that lives on diesel lives forever. A very popular choice here.
Years ago, I heard that diesel was a cleaner fuel than gasoline. I just googled it and it appears to be true… Intellectually, I can accept that. . . . → Read More About Fuel for Thought
It’s 3:10am Monday. We went to bed last night at about 8:30pm. Like the night before and the night before that. Because there is no TV and no internet here, nothing to keep us awake. When I woke just now, I was dreaming I was in rush hour on a train. It was one of those dreams where no one spoke, all action, moving from one event to the next with no in-between stuff. Like snippets of time. We (strangers and I) got off the train and starting moving quickly up a big hill, in a hurry to get . . . → Read More About Riding the Oro Pendulum
Mom and I have not been able to kick this disgusting, hellacious flu or whatever it is. Today is day NINE. No fever. Just coughing our fool heads off, nauseous (so we couldn’t eat but did I lose an ounce? NO.) Headachy off and on. And so tired. So weak. Coughing coughing coughing. I’d be up a day, then down a day. Then up an afternoon. Then down two days.
I don’t get sick. Ever. I did have emergency surgery once. I guess I save up… Anyway, this had gone on for too, too long. I was emailing a . . . → Read More About Panaceia At My Door
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