Summary of Costa Rica retirement research

Summary after travel to Costa Rica in December 2021: peaceful third-world country, for peaceful country living. Costs seemed same as Portugal, but infrastructure worse, with more obvious poverty.

Costa Rica impromptu visit 8-14December2021: tropical except for higher-altitude coffee-growing areas; capital San José is not pleasant, though not threatening either; secure, friendly feeling, though poverty is obvious and widespread, unclean. Infrastructure is minimal. Expats are not obvious at all. Tourism is important. Coffee is important. Little public transport, inter-city transportation only by car, small roads. Costs, a bit less than Portugal. Summary: place for retiring to your tropical paradise on beach or mountain or gated community, or coffee farm.

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EUA: tanto estrago em tão pouco tempo

As part of my effort to learn about Portugal, both the country and the language, I'm subscribing to the centrist newspaper, O Publico . There are plenty of newspapers: conservative tabloids, and socialist and communist-sponsored daily papers; I find O Publico to be most sober, with consistently interesting columnists and opinion pieces, in addition to some local (Porto) news, with just enough sporting news to keep me chatting with the taxi driver. Today's opinion piece sums up, I think, European pundits' view of the U.S. government. As the title puts it: so much damage in so little time. I shudder at the rank incompetence and corrupt behavior, demonstrating a cynical attitude toward public service, showing indeed that the cruelty is the point. What scandal, what damage will be the tipping point to collapse this government? And what will it take to recover from the damage? Who will be able to trust the US government again, ever? Only ni...

Riding the Bus often

From 201010 Saudi scenes It is ironic that this land of cheap gasoline has so much group transport -- buses. From 201010 Saudi scenes Our housing compound has a Toyota-Coaster bus that takes some to/from school (we usually go earlier and return later, on a similar bus that the school provides). Driver Yahya takes residents on the 90-minute trip down to the Big City shopping every Thursday morning. The above picture shows our group one Thursday, usually going to Ikea or the new Lulu's Hypermarket , or the Dhahran Mall. Coleman rides a different bus every day to and from school -- usually 100 minutes there, 80 minutes back. His bus is evidently an old tourist bus, usually comfortable but a bit dusty. The air-conditioning usually works too well. I've ridden it with him several times, to attend business meetings at the district office. From 201010 Saudi scenes There he is, at 5:45am every morning, at the start of the bus run. Fortunately only about 20 stu...

Fleeing Trump, Americans go to Portugal

Fleeing Trump, Americans go into exile in Portugal. “I'm afraid to go back” Not only minorities feel threatened by the Trump administration. Three couples, a mother and an academic tell us why they chose to live in Portugal. Some say: the American dream is over. The above is today's headline article in our favorite trusted newspaper in Portugal, O Publico . It's a centrist newspaper, owned by a big supermarket corporation. Let's combine this with the recent news that Portugal's Air Force is now shifting away from its planned purchase of F-35 jets. Even though Trump has not even mentioned Portugal in his various diatribes against former allies, Portugal and the rest of Europe are reeling from the attacks. We hope it has the ironic effect of freeing Europe from American dominance and improving the chances for centrist leadership (against Trump-like parties that have been gaining prominence). The original text follows: Em fuga de Tru...

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