Where would you recommend living for safety and blue sky's?

Hello husnbmw,

Welcome to Expat.com

To increase your chances of getting answers, I have created a new thread with your post on the Costa Rica forum.

I suggest that you read the Living in Costa Rica guide. Might be very useful.

What is taking to Costa Rica? Will it be your first time there?

Cheers,

Cheryl

Expat.com team

Abbey.........Basically the heat will be on,as soon as you step off the plane and into the Republic of Costa Rica.You'll be seen as a person of $interest$ and more so,as you roll the dice to compromise yourself with a business.

Have you been to Costa Rica yet? As for a place to open a sports bar and American football... I believe Costa Rica loves soccer. A small sports bar that pipes in NFL games or NBA will attract Americans who went to CR to live in a similar version of Orlando just warmer. Tamarindo would be my suggestion. Perhaps Jaco?

I spent a couple of weeks traveling the Nicoya Peninsula this winter and doing a lot of research. Most of the towns are very hippie/bohemian. Lots of Acai bowls, yoga and surfing. I didn't witness a lot of loud night life. Most people are up early to surf or attend a yoga class. They are eating fairly healthy organic/vegan things and then early to bed. Tamarindo on the other hand was a mixture of early 20s Americans drinking and older retirees looking for the perceived safety of a larger centre with more of the same people. I only went on the beach once but it was crowded with horse crap everywhere and people trying to sell you cocaine. We had rented a hotel room for two nights so we stayed but spent the two days in that part of the country driving away from Tamarindo to remote beaches which were beautiful.

The other towns I visited were much more of what I would expect in CR. No sports bars. If a sports bar and Vegas south is what you're looking for then Tamarindo would be a place to check out. If you are open to other types of service industry businesses then travel around spending a few days in each town getting a feel for it. I was a bit shocked and disappointed by Tamarindo. My partner was there a few years ago and she said it has changed immensely. Hopefully the rest of CR doesn't follow that path. Good luck

We had a Tico friend who opened up a sports bar in a small town in the interior of Guanacaste. Yes, it was soccer that the locals watched primarily...hard luck if a tourist happened to come in, and wanted to watch some sport from North America..

What he found was that 'he couldn't trust anybody except himself' to help run it, so he did everything on his own. For a relatively small building, he had 12 screens...

While a 'tourist' you can't legally work until you have gained Permanent Residency  which will take 4-5 years, get a work visa, marry a CR citizen, have a child born in the country or work online. You are not permitted to perform 'any physically work', even wiping tables or sweep the floor. So there goes your profit.

Good idea...however, lower your expectations and prepare extra funds to bribe you way through bureaucracy to run business here, and as stated above, forget you trust to people. Lies is the way of life. Nothing wrong, just a cultural thing..The is not the US.