The Gringo's Dilemma in Costa Rica

The Gringo's Dilemma in Costa Rica. Costa Rica is a beautiful country with amazing nature and wildlife, this is the reason why many foreigners are deciding they want to move to Costa Rica. Ironically, in moving to Costa Rica in droves these outsiders coming in may be having a negative effect on the very things they love about Costa Rica. This paradox is called the Gringo's Dilemma in Costa Rica. There are ways we can lessen out impact on the area with sustainable living practices and community involvement. The most import thing is to self aware and realize that Costa Rica is a great gift and must be protected, even from ourselves.

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[PedroEsteban]

Something funny is the fact that most of us ticos are doing the same as foreigners.
We come from San José, working on the Free Zones and the highly developed areas, and we go to Uvita (and similar places) to build our dream house, and we also have the ability to build the mansions with the infinity pools, and so on.
That's why there are so many laws about construction, the need of permits, and so on, so protected areas will stay protected, but we also need to develop the rest of the country, that has very little population.
We ticos are very happy with the foreigners and immigrants coming here, we just want them to be part of the community and the country if they want to stay longer than a few days, hopefully to become nationals so they can be part of the democratic process so they can help us even more.
Very good video, Ed, thank you for fostering the conversation.

[lifewithcats]

Completely agree. Those of us considering moving to a new country should think about how we can help the country, people, and environment not just how the country can help us. Or stay home and do the same. :)

[here-right-here]

The extranjeros aren't even happy buying a huge house with an infinity pool sold by other extranjeros who spent too much money, found they actually didn't like life here and left. I have met so many rich gringos who just HAVE to build their OWN dreamhouse. And this is how the problem continues and grows.

[benedictecarbonnier]

Well said ! Thinking about moving there next year. I am learning Spanish, will purchase a small home already built, and overall will be part of the community, eager to learn the culture ( originally we are from France) and respect everyone . No desire to leave like we live in United States !

[sandrabedard]

Totally agree with everything you said. We are not in an expat bubble living or in an expat community. We didn't move here 3 years ago to be with all foreigners. We emersed ourselves into our all local neighborhood and neighbors and have all local friends!! We support our community and our locals and shop at our local farmers market. I don't like whats happening either with the rich gringo's!! We purchased our cute Tico house in our all locals neighborhood after renting one year in different areas of CR. We didn't want to be permanent in the touristy areas especially beach towns that foreigners have basically taken over and isn't the true Costa Rica feel anymore and its sad . Emerse into the country, culture, people and language!! We are guests here even though we migrated here and are residents ! THE MOST IMPORTANT THING is to RESPECT THE LOCALS AND THEIR COUNTRY AND CULTURE. We left our American lifestyles behind us and live like our locals and simple and love it!! Gringos with inflated egos need NOT APPLY or
Should not live here because it angers us simple gringos that are Not Rich too and we FEEL for the local people !!!

[Mareen]

People who come to Costa Rica, generally choose the southern areas because of it's nature and because it isn't "Little America", and we would like to keep it that way. If you must bring your lifestyle here, look into Tamarindo.

[colesonger]

My siblings and I are visiting this week. Thank you for bringing this problem to our eyes in a gentle way. We definitely need to understand that our presence as tourists isn't always beneficial to locals.

[tpxrp]

In the Florida Keyes, If you buy a lot to build a house, you must buy a 2nd lot and donate it to the county to limit building and that lot is forever restricted by zoning. The code restrictions could put limits on home sizes proportionate to how much land your building on. Only allow a certain amount of trees to be cut for "The View". Lots of things they could do. I met a guy around Jaco, who is a TICO with a hillside lot that built a 3/2 and cleared all the land and never even pulled permits. Let that sink in. That is scary. It may start with corrupt governments...who knows

[directrue]

Let's all work together to keep the Pura Vida... for everyone..🌎🌏

[joules_sw]

I like the calm way you express your thoughts.

My perspective as a tico: we can build and live without destroying the nature, the indigenous did it for thousands of years. We gotta improve our relation with nature, not living away of it to avoid harming it. I invite you to creare your own garden, your own private reserve, plant fruit trees, grow bees, preserve the humidity and fertility of the soil, plant medicinal plants.

It's not staying away from the nature, it's making it flourish around you. There's people that have birds on a cage, I just have flowers and fruits and I watch hundreds of colorful birds across my window😉👌🏻

[elzorrocr]

As a tico living abroad. I have experienced this phenomenon especially when flying into Guanacaste. I do appreciate the objectivity of your comments but more importantly, the fact that you are proposing solutions. I feel this is slipping away from the local governments hands and it is affecting the livelihood of some locals. Not hating here because I am an immigrant in the USA, but like you mentioned, we have to try and take care of the home where we live or there will be less and less to enjoy for everyone.

[TheDkidd]

Excellent perspective and valuable information. Thank you!

[eduardovasquez]

¡Bien dicho Mr. Ed!.

Con respecto la gentrificación: en realidad no creo que se esté dando, es un argumento político sin sustento cuantitativo demostrado, y en el caso de Uvita, por el contrario hoy hay más locales que antes, pues encuentran oportunidades laborales que antes no tenían… la menor proporción de unos vs los foráneos está dando la ilusión de desplazamiento poblacional.

Que se cumplan con las normas de construcción, que se mantengan las proporciones de áreas libres vs áreas construídas en los lotes yyyy que se replanten árboles es la solución. Y ¡ojo!: actuales áreas construidas en Uvita, antes fueron bosques NO naturales sino sembrados para la producción de madera.

Bien Mr. Ed., “sacando pecho”, por la comunidad 👏😃👍

[michaeldavis]

How about buying an existing property. No new development, just improve what you own.

[joecitizen]

We purchased a Condo in an already established community, after much searching for the location that suits us best. We even thought about buying into a Condo being built in Jaco and I'm really glad we didn't for so many reasons. We will be retiring there by the end of the year. We have made a few local friends and a few others, not from here. I speak some Spanish and need to brush up and learn more. You're correct in saying we are Immigrants, because we are. I don't buy into this ExPat talk. I want to intermingle with local culture and to do so in their country you need to be open and try to learn the language and culture.

[deadpixeldesigns]

This is a brutally honest, yet heartbreaking video. I visited in 2022 from San Francisco and loved it. I saw the impact before I got there because I did online research during the pandemic heavy years prior. My first thought was( at the most basic critique) rich foreigners buying property and pricing out Costa Ricans. I definitely let out a sigh. Like you said, Ed, you don't know the solution. You are aware that ( for a lack of a better phrase), ..."you are part of the problem." Being that self-aware is a great asset to possess when you are in someone elses' country. Be it as a tourist, visitor, business person or ex-pat. This trend will definitely continue and not for the best. I tried my basic Spanish, and as bad as I was, I was helped, corrected and kidded by Ticos. That was heart-warming. When I was there, I shopped at the farmers market in Quepos and bought meat a local carneceria. All my grocery shopping consisted of South and Central American products. I ate out a little and cooked a little. I was there for a month. If I decide to live there, I would be happy to just rent, surf, eat cheap healthy food, be part of my community and make new friends. I also realise that I may be part of the problem as well. Thanks for your thoughts in this video.

[someoneelse]

Common anywhere including my home state. I live in New Hampshire. People move here from border states because of our states beauty and vibe. Then they want to change it to be more like the area the just left to get out of. Many of the people moving here are from Massachusetts. We have a saying in NH “Welcome to NH, now don’t Mass it up”.

[CaseyMullin]

I moved to CostaRica 16 months ago and I’m the only gringo in my area.

[elementalismproductions]

This subject is something I consider daily. I've been based here for many many years now. I really fell in love with the country and felt good to be here. Much has changed over the years including my own awareness of issues here. Wealth imbalance effects the whole planet but particularly here due to the extremely low wages and lack of increase in minimum wage. The reality being I don't think many places on earth you can support yourself well on minimum wage. This has issue has really grown over the last few years, covid changed so much globally and in Costa Rica many people came causing rental shortages and huge rise in rents. Many of my costarican friends felt they could no longer find an affordable home where they live or even where they grew up. I actually felt similar and during the peak I had to move many times due to it. I will say global cost of living has sky rocketed. In the UK utilities quadrupled in two years. Similar story with food and mortgages etc, many of my friends are struggling to survive there. It's a global issue that is definitely multiplied here due to so many foriegn people moving here and buying land. But it is not exclusive to Costa Rica. The larger costs here include cars etc which is due to almost 100% of the value being added with tax and cost of upkeep on jungle roads. I am in a confusing situation as I finally came to a position of being able to build here and now I have I'm not sure it was the right move. I see the impact of so much development and how it's effecting costa ricans. In fact I feel to sell and perhaps even leave the country. But in doing so I add to the gentrification issue, buying land building then selling it is really a big part of the problem. So what to do. Stay feeling unsure to be here or sell and be part of that issue. I've lived many places here over the years including places with few foriegn people. Now I miss speaking Spanish daily and being part of it all. I see the impact of what is happening but like you I don't see a simple solution.

[donfeenie]

I here what you are saying. Any idea how many of those McMansions are truly occupied 24/7?