°µÍø½ûÇø

Hola amigos,

I'm from the U.S. and work for a software development company. Five years ago, I moved to Argentina to open a branch office here. Unfortunately, the unfavorable trend in Argentina between the exchange rate and inflation (running about 25-30% annually) is evaporating the business and personal advantages here. So, I'm in the initial planning stages of moving to another country in Central/Latin America and opening a second branch office.

One thing I've learned... there is a lot more to living and working in another country than you can possibly learn from surfing the net and a few forum posts. I want to know about costs of rent, groceries, eating out, health care, transportation, private education, domestic help, reliability of utilities, ease of doing business and moving money, quality of healthcare, education, and quality of life in general as well as any other insights you can provide. I want to get as full a picture as possible what it would be like to live and work there. Of course, when I think I've determined a first choice country, I would visit and check it out for myself before making the final decision, but I can't afford to travel all of the Americas just to narrow down the choices.

So, I'm asking, pleading really, for someone that's been living in Costa Rica for at least 2-3 years, knows the ins and outs, and is willing to let me bombard them with questions via email and/or phone just out the kindness of their heart and the desire to help another fellow human bean (sic).

Any takers?