Healthy advice for current and future expats in Costa Rica

Over the last years, I have always strived to provide the best possible information and advice for those who relocate to Costa Rica. Many who move here are retired with too much spare time on their hands and nothing to do to keep busy.

Instead of finding constructive activities in which to engage, many expats adopt a self-destructive lifestyle that involves alcohol. I call this the “barfly syndrome”. (Actually, there is an interesting movie written by the late Charles Bukowski called “Barfly”).

Time after time I have seen foreigners, especially single men, destroy their health and lives by spending too much time in bars. Unfortunately, it seems like there is a bar on almost every corner in Costa Rica. (Actually, Costa Rica has the highest rate of alcoholism in Central America.)

Foreigners, especially those who live in beach towns like Playa del Coco and Tamagringo (Called Tamagringo because of the number of expats there) in Costa Rica’s Guanacaste province and Jacó and Quepos in the Central Pacific, gather in the afternoon to engage in binge drinking and to break up the monotony of beach living.

The remnants of the so-called “Gringo Gulch” area in downtown San José, is another place where expats gather to drink their lives away out of sheer boredom.

During the 40 years, I have lived in Costa Rica, I have seen this pattern repeated over and over with mostly tragic endings. I have lost count of the number of expats who have drank themselves into an early grave or undermined their already fragile health. Believe me, the stories abound.

Last year I published a one-of-a-kind 175-page novel called the “Costa Rica Chronicles from 1980: The good, bad and ugly people and places.” Among the many topics are detailed descriptions of a whole bevy of colorful expat characters who spent their later years drinking what was left of their lives away.

Believe me, the worst thing anyone can do is to fall into this vicious cycle.

Here is FREE copy of my one-of-a kind book. Hopefully, you will learn a valuable lesson about one downside of living here.