Costa Rica is Fantasy Island for some expats

Airing from 1978 to 1984, Fantasy Island was a television starring Ricardo Montalbán as Mr. Roarke, the enigmatic overseer of a mysterious island somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, where people from all walks of life could come and live out their fantasies, for a hefty price. His assistant was a dwarf by the name of Tattoo, played by the late French actor Hervé Villechaize.

You probably ask, “What does this series have to do with Costa Rica?

During the 40 years that I have lived in Costa Rica I have seen many expats move here, reinvent themselves and adopt a lifestyle filled with fantasy. Many do this by adopting an alias.

Why? Some come because of tax problems, others are misfits, a lot of guys trying to dodge a bad divorce and alimony payments to hold onto some of their money. Very few are hardened criminals have relocated here.

Speaking of aliases even today some expats have nicknames according to the towns, states or countries from which they came. For example, Indiana Dave, Boston Dave, Canadian Mike, Dallas Tom, Vegas Bill, New Jersey Larry, and Miami John, etc.

Let’s look at a few of these characters:

One guy who came here was supposedly a highly decorated Vietnam veteran. When he got here he said that he was a sergeant. Years later he claimed to a coronel. I guess he promoted himself.

Another person got into some trouble in the financial world while living in a Caribbean tax haven. He reemerged here as a real estate expert and salesman.

A corpulent gentleman by the name of Fred Smith claimed to have participated on the Olympic boxing team in 1968. A friend did a background check on him and his story proved to be false.

Then there was a guy from Texas who owned a couple of bars here. He was said to have worked as a chauffeur for a millionaire. In turns out that he was a former hitman who fled here after murdering his wife. He was later murdered in Ecuador.

Stories abound about expats reinventing themselves and embellishing their accomplishments prior to relocating here.

You can learn learn about many of these characters and scoundrels who have resided in Costa Rica over the years in my novel, “The Costa Rica Chronicles from 1980: the good bad and ugly people and places.”

This book can be ordered from Costa Rica Books: