Retiring to costa rica

Hi Palmtree, I see by your profile that you are considering retiring in Mexico. My wife is Mexican and we are retiring in Costa Rica so I'll give you my view as to why Costa Rica is the better option.

As I'm sure you know Mexico's crime has increased dramatically in the past few years. I'm not an alarmist, am a brave traveler, yet I will tell you that Mexico is no longer on my short list of places to travel and when my wife goes there to visit her family I worry about her now. Mexico's crime is more of a violent type whereas Costa Rica's crime is more against property (breaking and entering to steal stuff).

If you're a nature lover Costa Rica has a lot more of that, and that's high on my list of things I like to do: hang out in forests, see wild animals, see rainforests and cloud forests, and of course beaches.

To me Costa Rica (except for San Jose') is much more peaceful and tranquilo than Mexico.

Yes prices have gone up the past few years but it's still cheaper than living in the U.S. Is Mexico cheaper? Yes. But Costa Rica is still very affordable if you look around.

My best advice to you - if you can afford it - is to spend a month or more traveling around Costa Rica and see for yourself. Compare it to Mexico. I see from your profile that you - like any single straight male - are interested in women. Well Costa Rica's Ticas are beautiful and warm and can be very friendly.

Is Costa Rica for you? You need to spend some time there, and read up about it on the net to find out, but to me it's a better choice than Mexico and we will retire there despite not having a huge monthly income in retirement.