1. Private Schools

The most well-known private school in Northwest Guanacaste is the Country Day School on the road to Brasilito. It serves the whole area, lessons are taught in English, and the school is capable of preparing students to enter a U.S. university (see reference section for contact details).

The increase in expatriates with families coming to live in the region has created a need for private schools. In the Tamarindo area, a new private school called Pinilla Academy (nothing to do with Hacienda Pinilla) is reported to be opening soon.

Further south, a new private school, which also prepares students to enter U.S. universities, was scheduled to open in September 2007.

2. Medical Care

If all goes as planned, private hospital CIMA – which already has a branch in the Central Valley – will open its doors in Northwest Guanacaste. To be built opposite Liberia’s airport within the next few years, the new hospital would make the region more attractive to retirees. Nicoya and Liberia already have full-service state-run hospitals, but expatriates often prefer private services with their bilingual staffs.

Aside from hospitals, a handful of medical clinics dot the region, some bilingual and some not. Twenty-four-hour emergency service is also available, and Costa Rica has emergency helicopters for injuries that require immediate attention in San José.

3. Dentists

As with the medical clinics, dentists are scattered throughout most of the region’s small beach towns. Some are bilingual, others are not. For dental surgery, most people take the short plane ride to San José and its higher-quality clinics. For a list of dentists in the area, see Chapter 18 reference section.