The negatives about CR is that the people tend to be quite snobbish / carry an unwarranted attitude considering how ignorant they actually are (especially in San Jose; a generalization), the laws favor Ticos more than foreigners (especially in the case of getting a Tica girl pregnant = be prepared to payout child support for life & remember abortion is illegal), & crime (including armed robbery, especially in the streets of San Jose) is a serious problem that doesn't get talked about enough because the government / tourism board doesn't want to stop the flow of tourism dollars / scare off the tourists.
The best things about Panama is the people tend to be very friendly, and it's conveniently close to Costa Rica, but with a much better modern / multicultural capital: Panama City - a great area to explore with diverse zones like: Clayton former US military base, Ancon Hill for amazing views of the skyline, Amador Causeway for bike rides out to 3 islands, Parque Metropolitano; a giant national park with tropical animals / bird watching-right smack dab in the middle of a metropolitan city, Casco Viejo for the newly restored touristy colonial town, Panama Vieja Ruinas for the old ruins of the original 1519 settlement, Avenida Balboa for the lovely 4 km promenade along the pacific waterfront, & Punta Paitilla for the modern CBD area with the tallest skyscrapers. In the rest of the country you'll find national parks / islands / beaches (on both coasts = pacific & caribbean) / waterfalls / hot springs & Volcan Baru (the only volcano). There's also great fishing & surfing, & it's not as crowded as Costa Rica.
The costs of living are slightly cheaper than CR too, & there's a huge volume of imports coming thru the Canal everyday, which means = cheap goods (clothes / food / motorbikes / electronics, etc.). The modern malls in Panama City are packed with high quality stores selling clothing items for the lowest prices in North America (new jeans / pants = 3 $ ... baby clothes / shoes = 1 or 2 $). Also Panama uses the US dollar as it's official currency (very convenient), & you'll find alot of things have a price tag in cents (under 1 $).
As for Mexico it's too dangerous right now (drugs / gang wars) & Belize is a nice place to visit (for about 2 weeks - check out the Mayan pyramid-ruins / the Caribbean cayes / San Pedro touristy island-beach town / Placencia touristy peninsula-beach town / & Punta Gorda in the south for waterfalls & indigenous villages) but I wouldn't want to live there long-term (too overpriced / under-developed / not to mention uneducated).
So don't go to CR (unless it's just passing thru) ! *Stay in PTY (Panama City) :) it's better, believe me...
Costa Rica is your best bet of the three, Belize probably lacks the infrastructure to support an online business in the places where it is affordable to live. If money is a major concern Nicaraugua and Panama are significantly cheaper and are quite safe countries.
Costa Rica then. Mexico has very bad problems right now, Belize is under developed.
There a quite a few places. You can try Chile and Argentina, but things can get expensive there as well.
I like nicaragua cheap and beautiful
I've been considering moving to a Latin American country recently. I'm 27, I have about $10,000 in the bank, own my car outright (though it is a bit older, but brand new engine). I'd like to start an online business and write a book or two while waiting to be accepted into a PhD program for next year. I'd like to do it while living as cheaply as possible, and I've been thinking of either flying or driving to a decently priced Latin American country. I could brush up on my Spanish, live as cheaply as possible, and most importantly, escape from the 9-5 that I've been doing for the past few years and give myself time to work on projects I really want to work on.
I've been considering Costa Rica, Mexico and Belize, in that order. From what I can tell, Costa Rica is the nicest of the three. Mexico is nice but a bit more expensive, and Belize is under-developed.
Does anyone have any suggestions?
