7000 New Hig Tech Jobs Created In Costa Rica

An investment of more than $434 million and the eventual creation of more than 7,000 new jobs will result from foreign direct investment in high-tech industries announced in 2010, according to the Ministerio de Ccomercio Exterior.

The new jobs are roughly split amongst three categories, services (call centers), tech manufacturing, and life sciences.

The latter is usually referred to as medical instruments because that’s what has been the bulk of investment in Costa Rica, but the export promotion agencies are hopeful of attracting biomedical research as well.

Call centers provide more than 30,000 jobs to mostly

young people with English skills, though much Spanish- language support for large telecom companies in the United States is moving here. About 100 call center operators are now in the country, mostly in tax exempt free zones in Heredia. New companies include Teleperformance and National Instruments.

Medical instruments like heart stents and catheters are the main products associated with new entrants. Abbott Vascular recently announced a large investment. General Microcircuits is joining giant Intel in moving production here.

In 2011 a joint effort between the ministry and the private sector export promotion agency CINDE will take effect, with plans to seek investment from North America, Europe, and Asia.

Moran Real Estate Over 50 Years of Tropical Real Estate Excellence



If one advances confidently in the direction of one's dreams, and endeavors to live the life which one has imagined, one will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.
-- Henry David Thoreau

Lazy Days On Lake Arenal Costa Rica

I envied Jeff in his sleek wooden kayak, carefully handcrafted from fine Costa Rican laurel. What a talent and luxury of time to be able to build such a thing! Jeff's wife, Beth, floated languorously ahead and my husband, Dan, slowly tailed along behind. It was my coercion (albeit slight) that had convinced Dan to come, and I was glad to see how much he was enjoying himself. Plus, he cut a handsome figure with the volcano looming behind him.

Volcán Arenal is a picture-perfectly shaped volcano that looms almost 5,500 feet high. One of the world's youngest volcanoes (less than 7,000 years old), it is also one of the world's most active. It is not uncommon to feel or hear its rumbling and see its glowing spectacle of lights as it shoots orange-hot boulders into the night.

Scientists have established a safety perimeter beyond which it is safe to explore. You'll find many hotels and lodges just at the volcano's base from which to set off on foot or by horseback. Afterward, you can soothe aching muscles with a peaceful soak in thermal water pools.

Perhaps it's this sense of adventure, combined with the otherworldly beauty of the area that draws so many tourists here. And why so many of them choose to stay.

A small, friendly group of expats is now settling happily on the periphery of nearby Lake Arenal, formed by damming the river that flows around the bottom of the volcano. Most choose to live high on the mountaintops that afford impressive views of the shimmering lake and the volcano, safely off in the distance.

The 33-square-mile Lake Arenal is about as pretty as a lake can be. The Lake Arenal expats we spoke with say they came to Costa Rica in search of beach living, but after dealing with the heat, humidity and corrosive salt air of the beach, they headed for the mountains. And once they got to Arenal, there was no going any farther.

"This place is special," says Eyal Ben-Menachem, a transplant from Israel, by way of Chicago, who runs the famous Hotel Gingerbread near the town of Arenal and is a top-notch chef beyond compare. "I never want to live anywhere else."

Indeed, some say that the area is a very potent spiritual energy site with "ghost spirit path roads" running through the mountains to an ancient burial mound. There have been many reported UFO sightings in the area, including one as recently as October 6, 2006. A famous photograph purportedly shows a UFO entering nearby Lake Cote. (Do an internet search for all the mysterious details.)

The expats we met at Lake Arenal don't put much stock in these kinds of things. The area is special, yes, they say. But that's because of the perfect weather, the glorious scenery, and the nice, "no frills" kind of people who live here.

After an idyllic Sunday morning spent under the volcano with Beth and Jeff, floating effortlessly on the still waters of Lake Arenal, we understand perfectly.

If you go: Check out Hotel Gingerbread for accommodation and the finest food in all Costa Rica (according to multiple travel guides and our expanding waistlines): http://gingerbreadarenal.com. And be sure to save some time for floating with Beth and Jeff: http://arenalkayaks.com

                                                    Moran Real Estate Over 50 years of tropical real estate excellence 

                                                   International Living - The Greatest Name in Retirement Real Estate 

What On Earth Are You Waiting For

Tired of the rat race, shoveling snow, traffic jams, stress, higher taxes, more government rules and regulations?
Imagine yourself in the hammock on the back porch of this cute Caribbean style country cottage with a great book in one hand and  an ice cold Imperial beer in the other. For $59,000 you can live this dream in this great 2 bedroom cottage in a small village just 30 minutes from the Lake and walking distance to all the basic conveniences.

If your home and your car is paid for, you and your wife can live very comfortably for just $1000 per month. And remember total and complete health care for you both is just $40 per month. The freshest, cleanest air you will ever breath, the cleanest water you will ever drink, in a country that has one of the longest longevities in the world, where a traffic
 jam is 5 cows in the road, where real estate taxes are $100, not thousands,   Where you never need heat or air conditioning. Where your gardner or maid costs $1.50 an hour, where the soil is so rich and the rainfall so ample that you'll discover a green thumb you thought you never had,

Where your neighbors are friendly and invite you in for coffee every time you walk past their door, where you can walk down to a cool, spring fed mountain river for a swim, where the monkeys, toucans, parrots and a thousand other birds and animals come right up to your porch.

Where your friends and family will have to make reservations to come visit you, Where life is sweeter, more relaxed, more full filling than you had ever imagined possible. It is all within your reach, and its not expensive, its waiting for you, this is the time, this is the place, do it now.

Moran Real Estate Over 50 Years of Tropical Real Estate Excellence

Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. And Today? Today is a gift. That's why we call it the present.