I must be on another page.
Very little of what anybody has said makes any sense to me, nor do I share the same doomed view of this country's future.
1st, I find most things cheaper now than when I moved here.
It used to cost me $1.25 US to call Canada for 1 minute, and now it costs me 10 cents.
in 1991, cars cost 300% to 330%, compared to North america. Now they are approx. 140%.
My 1st cellphone, half the size of a briefcase, cost me $200 US, used !!!
Now, you can pick up a used StarTac for $30.
When I wanted to buy an imported food, or cosmetic, it was 5 times the American price, and now it is double.
Services are no more expensive today than they were when I arrived, if you compare them in US dollars.
Those items like gasoline & propane gas that have risen so much, also rose on the international market and are no reflection on this country. We still pay half what most Europeans pay for gas.
Even real estate has not risen like people would have you believe.
15 years ago, it was just as expensive, if not more.
Then tourism went to pot, some odd 8 years ago, and the market plummeted to an all time low, and it is back up now, but no more than it was then.
When I bought my first vehicle here, I bought an 8 year old Toyota pick up with 80,000 miles on it, no AC, no power windows, as plain jane as one could find, and I paid $18,000 US. Now I drive a 6 year old Lexus GS 300 with 40,000 miles, for the same amount of money.
So what's all this talk about higher cost of living?
As for moving here because it's a beautiful country, well, that had nothing to do with it, for me. It was a bonus, nothing more.
I moved here to escape cold weather.
To escape high taxation, stress, being a number instead of a person, health, beaches, friendly people, slow pace of life, etc.
To summarize, happiness.
I feel priviledged that I was able to find paradise at such an affordable price.