Living In or Out of the City-Make Your Choice
Both have their advantages and disadvantages. Most retirees prefer to live in the cities or very close to them. Reason is that in them they will find more and better transportation and health services, more places where to shop, greater educational opportunities and a larger variety in types of entertainment and amenities.
Small town living is a cross between city and rural living. In the small towns you live a quieter less stressful life. However, too much calmness can lead to boredom while too much noise, congestion, traffic, pollution, a lack of privacy, concrete and other things about the big city can get to you.
Retirees who live in the country and own a few acres do so for a variety of reasons. Peace, quiet, clean air, solitude, growing plants, pets, fresh fruits, home-grown vegetables, and open space make country living very appealing.
Rural residents are those persons whose primary interest is the pastoral setting for their home. Many view the few acres on which they live as an extended backyard. They are often retirees who previously lived in cities and have bought a farm house plus a few acres to keep a horse, some fowl and plant a vegetable garden.
The retiree farmer receives income from his land as a secondary goal, but works a few acres to pursue his recreation and hobby interests. For some it might be to undertake hobbies and devote their leisure time to landscaping. Rodolfo Brenes from California bought land near the small town of Bagaces in Guanacaste and raises a few cows to make cheese to keep busy and make a little money. Likewise, retired neurosurgeon Fred Pitts from Wisconsin owns and operates a farm near Ciudad Colón to raise sheep for fun and profit. More is said about them later on.
Germans Thomas Pferner and Ellen Baron own Tom's Pan in Nuevo Arenal. There they have a bakery and café where they make delicious pastry. Special are their blueberry cheesecake, rye bread and pretzels. They first visited the country to see whether they liked it for permanent living. That was in 1998, and after a few months of travel and search, they decided it was a nice place in which to stay and establish their own small business. Today they're not sorry they took that decision.
|
