There’s a blog called Tenfootsquare that has some good info for folks traveling to Costa Rica and other parts of Central and South America. Two really good reads are

• Top Historical Spots in Costa Rica
• Top Cultural Facts in Costa Rica

If you are planning to move to Costa Rica, get ready to… S L O W D O W N.
People spend hours on the internet learning about real estate, health care, transportation, and restaurants, but they often fail to invest in learning about the culture. This is a grave error because the majority of people who decide to go back home, don’t do it because they couldn’t find their favorite beverage or a suitable appliance. They leave because they couldn’t adjust to the culture. Those planning to live permanently in Costa Rica need to learn how to adopt a new attitude and adapt to the culture.

The term “Culture Shock” has been used to describe the anxiety and feelings of disorientation experienced when people have to operate in a different cultural environment. That’s when a person finds that the ways that things always have been done no longer work in a new culture. For example, the currency exchange, language, traffic and even the sense of humor change when a person enters another country.

Visitors to Costa Rica are often struck with how familiar things appear on the surface, and upon this assumption many make plans to stay permanently. However, the unexpected trials and wide differences in cultural understanding often make the transition much more difficult than expected. As North Americans, we have become accustomed to things such as promptness, efficiency and courteous drivers. That’s our baggage from up north. The expectation that these things exist in Costa Rica is our problem not the Tico’s. I you’re expecting things to be the same as in your home country in another then you’re bound to get disappointed. A move to another country allows you to start over with a new life and experience a new culture in a new environment. That’s why people move to Costa Rica.

A good percentage of North Americans planning to stay in Costa Rica go back. They cannot deal with the inefficiency. Obtaining residency usually takes much longer than expected. You need to hire a consultant to get a drivers license. The list of frustrations goes on and on. The bottom line is they are not able to slow down and adapt to the culture.

Culture shock affects people differently according to the coping strategies each individual employs in order to successfully adapt. After 15 years, I still have to remind myself; “If you don’t expect much, you won’t get disappointed” Then I step back, take a second look at the situation that is beginning to frustrate me and remind myself where I’m at, whom I’m dealing with and why I’m here. Then the situation at hand doesn’t seem so irritating. Expats who do manage to stay for a long time in Costa Rica do so because they possess patience and flexibility.

Years ago I noticed several cultural differences that used to make my life in Costa Rica frustrating. Concept of time, expectations of efficiency and understanding the local language.

North Americans are continually bothered by what we view as a lack of punctuality on the part of Costa Ricans. Costa Rican’s will say, “I’ll come over tomorrow”, but they usually don’t. Often they are not hours late, but days late, with no excuse, no phone calls, no apology. This used to bother me, and sometimes it still does. But I get over it much more quickly after living here 15 years. For North Americans, a person is considered late if he/she arrives 10 to 15 minutes after the scheduled time. For Latin Americans, a person is considered late if he/she arrives 30 minutes after the scheduled time. North Americans often begin to feel tension if a person arrives 15 minutes late, while Latin Americans begin to feel tension if a person arrives 30 minutes after the deadline. These differences in concepts of time often cause misunderstandings between Costa Ricans and North Americans.

The cultural differences in comprehending time can be attributed to the fact that Costa Ricans and North Americans place different value on time. In the U.S., people live to work and time is money. Here in Costa Rica, time is gold. Tico’s live for the moment and occasionally during the week take the time to accomplish some work. In Costa Rica, if you run into a friend, you stop and talk and ask “how’s the family”. Time is for you and not for you to be bound by it. Expats who can slow down and adjust to Tico time, have a much better chance of successfully acculturating.

For new expats arriving to Costa Rica, one of the most frustrating obstacles is dealing with what they view to be a lack of efficiency. In North America there is more efficiency, primarily in the services sector. This makes it particularly hard for North Americans to adapt to life in Costa Rica because they have grown accustomed to the speed and efficiency of services in their home country. If you have the financial ability to hire a consultant to complete these frustrating tasks for you, then you won’t have to go through it and will probably be happier for it.

Culture is embedded in the language, and misunderstandings often arise due to the ways in which people of distinct cultures express and understand language content. North Americans are more direct. In Costa Rica, the Tico’s don’t say things up front. It’s part of their culture and is considered bad manners. Therefore if you don’t understand the culture you get frustrated and some folks become angry and this offends the Tico’s. Misinterpretations therefore arise because Costa Ricans view their North American counterparts as rude while North Americans find Costa Ricans to be indirect or even dishonest. Many expats feel that they have had to learn to decode what their Costa Rican associates and friends are really trying to say. It is not that Costa Rican’s lie more, it is that they are trying to save face. Costa Ricans don’t want to disappoint you. If they don’t know the answer, they say to themselves ‘I don’t know but I want to give my best guess.’ You have to learn to listen carefully and read between the lines. A simple word like “Ya” can mean “it’s already done”, “I’m doing it right now”, or “I’ll get to it soon

Despite the numerous challenges and obstacles which expats face in Costa Rica, those who have stuck it out here are convinced that the benefits outweigh the hassles. The country’s strong democratic tradition, innovative environmental programs, museums and cultural activities, and cheaper living costs continue to make Costa Rica a popular destination spot, particularly for tourists and retirees. And the option to live a lifestyle similar to that in a large North American city is here if you want it. Check out the selection and pricing in any of the major malls or at Super Serretto or Auto Mercado supermarkets. Most products that are imported here from another country incur duties. These duties are built into the price you pay at the cashier. If you want to live and consume the same products available in North America, they are available here. But in many cases those same products are less expensive in Florida. Perhaps if the new free trade agreement becomes a reality, this will change. I prefer the old days before there were malls and hooters. I don’t miss any of what these new franchises have to offer. I patronize typical Costa Rican businesses and my budget is much more affordable. It’s nice to have options and that’s my new philosophy. Plans tie a guy down. Options offer freedom. You don’t irritate someone because you exercised an option. But there are many times when plans did not materialize as expected and someone gets irritated. Keep your options open and your plans to a minimum. Live like the Tico’s, adopt their attitude and adapt to their culture. You’ll probably live longer and happier! Pura Vida!

This was originally posted by crhomebuilder on the yourville member blogs.

Here’s a snap shot of all the countries that have visited us here at yourville. It’s pretty heavily skewed to the USA, but that’s understandable since we’re and English language site.

The first two weeks of March the Yourville team took a well deserved holiday to Costa Rica. It was a great time a very educational. Personally, I have narrowed my options for what part of Costa Rica that I would like to live. That would be the Central Valley. I discovered that my Irish heritage does not work well with intense sun of the Pacific coast. However, the climate and options of Central Valley fit like a glove. Below are some randoms pictures from the trip.

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Technorati Tags: costarica, travel, community, socialnetwork

One of the great things about the Internet today is that some of the tools and services that are available make your life easier and enables communication that would otherwise be expensive or non existent. Basically, there are web services that are readily available that make life easier for you if you live outside of your home country. The following is short list of some of our favorite products that are custom-tailored for expats, assuming you have a Internet connection.

Grandcentral is a service that allows you to manage all of your phones with one number. In other words, if you have a cell phone, a home phone and a work phone you can use a free Grandcentral number to manage how your calls get distributed. Keep in mind that this only for US residents, but read on and we’ll reveal a great hack for you that will get you a free US phone number that anyone can call and you will receive calls directly to your computer. But first, this is what Grandcentral has to say:

GrandCentral doesn’t replace your phones; we just link them together and help them do more. How do we do that? We give people One Number…for LifeTM - a number that’s not tied to a phone or a location - but tied to you.

With GrandCentral, you can be reached with a single number, answer a call at any phone you want, seamlessly switch phones in the middle of a call, and even know whether a call is important before you take it.

Ok, so why would Grandcentral be great for expats? Just this last week Grandcentral added a new feature that will allow you to receive calls directly to your computer via the Gizmo Project. Now, you can sign up for a FREE USA phone number that you can give to anyone and then, anytime someone calls that number, you can receive that call directly to your computer via Gizmo project. I’ve tried it and it works great. This is a must for anyone who has friends and family in the USA. They can now call your local US area code an you will receive that call no matter where you are, and for FREE. Additionally, if you have business with ties to the US, Grandcentral is no brainier. So, go sign up for a Grandcentral and Gizmo account.

Gizmo Project is a Voice Over IP application that allows you to make free calls to anyone on the Gizmo network and gives you inexpensive options for long distance calls to any phone. Additionally, if you’re in the US, you can make free calls to any phone. It’s a great service, especially if you tie it to your Grandcentral account. This is how Gizmo describes their service:

Gizmo Project uses your internet connection (broadband or dial-up) to make calls to other computers. With the click of a mouse, you’re connected to friends, family, and colleagues anywhere on earth. It’s just that simple. You talk clearly. For as long as you want. For free.

And with inexpensive add-ons like Call In and Call Out, you can talk to any telephone“mobile or landline“on the planet. Any phone? Yes.

Skype, undoubtedly most of you have heard of, and probably are using. Just in case you’re not; Skype is another VOIP P2P service like Gizmo it allows you to make FREE calls between other Skype users and gives you inexpensive options for making long distance calls to any phone. Additionally Skype has a great Video feature that enables realtime video calls to any of your friends, family or co-workers that also use Skype. We have been using Skype for sometime now and are very impressed with its features.

DocumentCommand is a great service for those of you who still maintain an address in the states. DocumentCommand is a for-pay service that acts as your mail forwarding service, but with a twist. Every piece of mail that you receive gets scanned and then you login to your DC account to view each piece of mail and then instruct them to either forward the important mail directly to you, or trash the junk mail. The have very reasonably priced options and a state of the art control center to handle all of your mail. To learn more about DocumentCommand, visit their website.

Bubbleshare is hands down our favorite photo sharing website. Their FREE service allows you to upload and share all of your photos with anyone you want. They have some of the most advanced tools including voice annotation. The team here at Yourville hopes to one day have integerated photo sharing as great as Bubbleshare. Here’s an older video that explains a bit about their product.

Gmail is the best FREE email service available. Up until recently, the only way to get a Gmail account was to receive an invite from an existing user. Now, they have opened their service to everyone. You can go here to sign-up for an account. Additionally Gmail will let you POP any other emaill account that you have so that can manage all of your email with one account.

If you know of other web services that would benefit someone that lives outside of their home country, please let us know.

Well, it’s been a little over a month since Yourville.com was
launched and we’re ecstatic about our response. Our original
Yourville concept was to design and implement a website that
would bring expats in Costa Rica and expat wannabees together
in a viral community that would enable our members to stay in
touch with friends and families while they make new acquaintances
online. At this writing, we have surpassed our goals.

Here’s a breakdown of our present Yourville membership:

36.0% Live in Costa Rica
45.2% Live in the U.S.
18.8% Live in the Rest of the World

69.1% Are Male
30.9% Are Female

15.0% Are age 18-34
25.0% Are age 34-50
60.0% Are age 50-77

It seems, from our calculations, that a vast majority of our members
50 years of age and above have sought and/or or seeking a Tico/Tica
type of life in Costa Rica. It appears to be a glowing testimony to
the growing popularity of Costa Rica and its special allure and as a
final venue for the adventurous and those seeking the pura vida experience.

I read an interesting post today on SocialDegree.com called “Is Facebook Killing Real World Social Interaction?”.
Brian from SocialDegree made a statement about how he thinks Social Networks are great communication tools but are not an acceptable substitute for real world interaction. That is very true, I find that while using Myspace and being ale to stay in touch with my friends all over the world that it’s easy to get stuck in that way of thinking. It’s no substitute for real world communication. In my case I think it would be helpful to pick up the phone and make a call every once in a while, instead of relying on your preferred social network. Don’t get me wrong, I think a great communication tool such as Yourville.com will empower people to meet other like minded folks and give friends and families a quick snapshot into your life.

Well, last Sunday we launched the site live to the public. We did it kind of quietly because we still weren’t ready to handle large amounts of traffic. On average we’ve gotten 3 new members per day since Sunday. That doesn’t sound like much but it is, considering we haven’t really promoted it. We did, however, take advantage of the $100 in free clicks from the new MSN Ad Network. Actually, I had a coupon code for $200 worth of clicks but, apparently, it was only good for the first 2000 people. Either way, unless you have a really large budget, don’t expect to see much return from PPC (pay per click) advertising. We’ll keep experimenting with key words to see what works. Maybe, we can find a diamond in the rough. Beyond PPC advertising we’ve chatted with a few bloggers, did a Costa Rica Craigslist announcement, and participated in a few Yahoo group discussions. There is no magic button to push to get people to visit and join yourville.com. Online marketing is all about persistence, doing many things, and doing them routinely well. Additionally, we decided to not try and reach all Expats but, instead, focus only on one Expat community and then expand from there. I have experience with Costa Rica and aspire to move there in the near future, so that was the natural place to start. So, moving forward, here are a few things that we plan on doing:

1. Develop relationships with Costa Rica expat bloggers.
2. Contribute information relative to discussions at existing Exapt community sites.
3. Personally engage every new yourville member. Inform them of all the great features of yourville and encourage them to participate.
4. Encourage members to invite existing friends and family to yourville. Maybe come up with some sort of incentive program.
5. Do everything we can to make sure we have fresh content on the site daily.
6. Execute a PR campaign with the anticipation of getting local and national media to do a story on Yourville.
7. Evangelize yourville in every way possible.
8. Continue blogging and discussing business topics here.
9. Continue to explore other no/low cost methods for spreading the word about yourvile.com
10. Listen to our members and, continually, modify/change the site to fit the needs of the community.

The following are some great sources for online marketing tips, ideas and advice:

• Snap.com did a launch contest that encouraged people to submit their marketing ideas. It’s worth it to take a look at all of the ideas.
• Wickedfire.com is an Internet Marketing forum.
• Seomoz.org is a great source for all kinds of traffic-building content.
• Searchengineguide.com has some good resources on all aspects of Internet marketing.
• Threadwatch.org -Another good resource for all things internet marketing.

If anyone has additional ideas for us on how to reach more people, please let us know.

Technorati Tags: marketing, SEM, SEO, socialnetwork, community, expat

We finally went live with the Beta version of Yourville this morning. Our testing period went well and we received some great feedback from our test group. Now it’s time to evangelize and spread the word of the benefits of yourville. Thanks to everyone who has helped out so far with this project. We would like to invite all current expats, expat wannabes and curiosity seekers alike to give yourville a spin. If you have questions about yourville please feel free to contact us.

We’re about a month behind where we wanted to be for launch. However we’ve been hammering the site and trying to break as much as possible. So far everything is working great. We still have a couple of kinks to work out before we start inviting expats to be a part of the yourville community. Until then, here are a couple of screen captures for you.