Business negotiations with Costa Ricans can be tedious, circumspect affairs, and in keeping with the general cultural aversion to confrontation, it will take a while for talks to get down to business. The health of family members will be inquired after, and small talk will ensue. Bear with it. It’s the only way you’ll eventually

There’s always quite a bit of talk in the expatriate community about the importance of greasing palms to make things move. Undoubtedly, that is the case, though bribes are illegal and you can never be sure if you’re even bribing the right person. However in many other cases, and especially in rural areas, friendship is

For whatever reason, it is often difficult to get Ticos to return calls and E-mails on a timely basis, if at all. This especially holds true when the communication would involve bad news, a difficult decision, or any sort of uncomfortable issue. It also holds true, believe it or not, when you are the customer. Of

The old bromide that “family is very important” to Latin Americans is true here, though maybe not as true as in Mexico or other places in Latin America. This means that families live close together, children live with parents until they’re married (often into their 20s or 30s), and family businesses are held closely. Costa

Ask four different expatriates what they think about driving in Costa Rica and you’ll get five different answers. One expat best summed it up when he said driving in Cost Rica was like playing a “video game.” The one thing everyone can agree on is that it’s different than most developed countries. Street signs and

Once again, the rural roots of Costa Rican culture show themselves. Streets do not have names in Costa Rica (or anyway, no one uses them), houses don’t have sequential numbers, and all addresses and directions are given based on landmarks, cardinal directions, and “meters,” wherein 100m equals roughly one block. A typical direction, then, would

Costa Ricans have a tenuous relationship with time. As in many societies with warm climates and rural roots, punctuality is rare and efficiency is not in the vocabulary – what’s the rush? For many expatriates, this is one of the main attractions of living in Costa Rica. Life is slower, you know your neighbors, and