Introduction
Richard Bexon
Good morning guys and welcome to episode 283 of Costa Rica Real Estate and Investments with me, your host Richard Bexon. Today we’re gonna be talking with Pablo Arias. He’s the owner of International Relocation Partner.
He’s been in the relocation and shipping industry for over a decade, helping people and also businesses relocate all over the world, but mainly here in Latin America, and he actually lives here in Costa Rica, but has been spending a lot of time in Panama, Mexico, Ecuador, and Colombia, as a lot of those areas are seeing a lot of demand. So today we’re gonna be talking to him about—which is a bit of a weird topic—Costa Ricans: why Costa Ricans hate gringos. So, not so much that, but I think it’s just more of a like, how do you integrate here in Costa Rica and kind of the impact that tourism has had here.
So it’s a catchy title for sure, one that he wanted, so we’ll use it. Remember guys, we have a variety of different investments available here in Costa Rica. If you’d like to know more about them, it gives you the ability to invest, have ownership and usage rights without all of the headache of actually managing the properties. And you have experts do that for you. So you can just email us: info@investingcostarica.com. All of our contact details are in the description down below.
Also, getting a lot of contacts from you guys looking for our project management services on developments and builds here in Costa Rica. We do manage about 15 homes a year here in Costa Rica from design all the way through to the actual finished construction. We’re not builders or architects ourselves. We just represent you as kind of owners’ reps. So again, email us: info@investingcostarica.com. But let’s get straight into the podcast.
Good morning, Pablo. How are you doing?
Pablo Arias
We’re doing great, Thank you.
Richard Bexon
Not at all, man. Thanks for joining us early here in the morning. It looks like you’ve got a nice background there. Where are you?
Pablo Arias
I’m in Los Sueños. Just having a little holiday with my family. We’re about a week from the kids coming back.
Richard Bexon
Yeah. Now kids go back to school here very soon. So, yeah, definitely. Well, Pablo, let’s jump straight into the podcast. I mean, 2025 was politically and economically volatile, and 2026 doesn’t look like it’s changing at all. But from your perspective, what do you think is going to happen in 2026 in Costa Rica? Because also we’ve got an election coming up.
Costa Rican Politics and 2026 Outlook
Pablo Arias
Well, it’s been a crazy year. What’s happening within the Costa Rican people is everybody is picking their choice for the next president. Yep. So any conversation people are talking about nowadays is like, who are you going to vote for? Why? Why is this person better than another one? And what are their different perspectives on how to run the country?
And that’s one side. But then on the other side, we have the global entire geopolitical—you know, what’s happening in the world within the U.S. and other countries. And I think it brings a lot of uncertainty. I see it in my customers. I mean, I do a lot of consultations with people who are looking to move abroad to other countries. And there is the last year—and we are in the first month of this year—we’ve seen it. We’ve seen how people are pulling the trigger or moving to another country.
Richard Bexon
Yeah. Well, I think that is understandable. I think anyone that was a little bit itchy about the current political situation—it just seems to be getting more and more inflamed, more fuel on it. So people would look and say, “I want to go to another country where I don’t have all of this bad news.”
But look, I think the thing people need to understand about Costa Rica is even with a new government, it’s not going to change that much. Like no government comes in with a majority, like in the States where they have the Senate and also the House—nobody really. I can’t remember the last time a government had control here. So, when you’ve got 25 political parties per se, it’s very difficult for one political party to gain a majority, which again has its pros and cons. Pros are that even the minority has a voice in Costa Rica. The cons are you can’t always get stuff done. So stuff doesn’t move as quickly.
Pablo Arias
Yeah, everything is slow because the government could say or the president could say something, but that doesn’t mean that the entire government would agree or all of the people would agree with that plan. And it happened to this current president. He wanted to do many things, and a lot of those things were never done because it doesn’t depend on him.
Which is good and bad. You said it perfectly. I wish things moved faster. I wish the country attracts this investment and makes things happen right away. And I wish we had better schools. And I wish we had all of these different things that could happen with a government that executes, which is something that at this stage with this president in the U.S., it’s kind of happening. The president enforces a lot of things. Yep. He’s executing a lot of things. I’m not saying the things he’s doing are good or bad. I’m just saying I appreciate that boldness in a leader. I want to get this stuff done and he’s getting it done.
Richard Bexon
But look, our current Costa Rican president, Chaves, has probably pushed through more stuff than most people have. I mean, I’m not his biggest fan, but I do respect him for what he’s done. I don’t like the exchange rate where it is, but as a country, that’s good for Costa Rica. Exactly. It makes it very expensive to live here for foreigners. But we can’t complain, really, dude. Life is good here.
Do “Ticos Hate Gringos”?
So, look, the title for this podcast was “Ticos Hate Gringos,” which I thought was an interesting one. I’m sure a lot of people are going to listen to this just to be like, “What the hell are they going to talk about?” But when people say “Ticos hate gringos,” what do you think they’re actually reacting to? Is it people? Is it change? What’s your opinion?
Pablo Arias
I think it’s a very interesting phenomenon. A lot of people think, “Well, I’m going to Costa Rica and I’m going to make an investment, and they’re going to love me for that.” And at some point, some people are going to love that you’re coming with money to invest, but not necessarily everyone.
And this is a phenomenon that is not just happening in Costa Rica. You see protests in Spain a couple of years ago. A lot of people went out complaining about foreigners—not just gringos, but foreigners in general. People from England and the U.K. moving to the south of Spain, or Americans and Canadians moving to Spain. The same thing happened in Mexico City last year. They had a couple of protests where people were complaining about why so many people are now living in Mexico City. They’re literally taking over the most popular neighborhoods, like Condesa or Roma.
And this is also something that we’re starting to feel in Costa Rica as well. And somebody will say, “Well, then it’s like the local hates the gringo.” It’s like the local hates the investor. Let’s not generalize, I would say. Not every Costa Rican or every local hates a gringo. You have to remember that a lot of us are really used to listening to commercials. When I was a kid, as a Costa Rican, I remember being a 10-year-old watching a cartoon commercial that literally just said, “You have to be nice to the tourist.”
And I see these commercials in many different formats. I remember a commercial of a Costa Rican taxi driver just being nice to a tourist. And the tourist looks at his wallet and asks about his bag. And he said, “Well, my friend did it.” And he ended up finishing the commercial with the taxi driver introducing him to the factory and the gringo buying and exporting wallets. That was the mentality. The Institute of Tourism was putting a lot of money into educating the locals to be really nice to the gringo.
So, among other places, I think Costa Rica is one of those countries where we are very respectful of the investor. We want the investor. We are a tourist economy country. Therefore, there are a lot of people who want your investment. We want you to come. But that being said, there are also people that are concerned, and it’s not just gringos. Most people are always looking for the reason why things are more expensive, or they are looking for a reason to complain and say, “Well, that’s the reason.”
We have to remember after COVID, inflation has gone through the roof in most countries, not just Costa Rica. And it’s easy to say, “Well, we have all these people coming. That’s why everything is more expensive.” But in reality, when I go to Mexico, Panama, Miami, or Texas, everything is way more expensive than before.
So, inflation is one thing. And you have to remember, people are looking for reasons and excuses to blame it on you or something else. And the expat phenomenon—this exodus of people leaving the U.S. because of so many different reasons—could be one of the reasons that people point at an investor and say, “Well, that’s why things are more expensive.”
But once again, I don’t think that’s the entire reason. I actually think the government of Costa Rica has done very well in the last four years. Economically, like you said—not for the gringo or the investor, but for the local. Having the exchange being under 500—that’s strange to me.
Richard Bexon
That doesn’t happen unless the foreign investor is coming in, if that makes sense. So, you don’t sometimes like the investor, but the investor is the one giving you more buying power. I think it’s just that sometimes you see this explosive growth in areas and the infrastructure doesn’t catch up because it is run by municipalities. And you have to understand that people that run these municipalities—it’s like mom-and-pop style things. No engineer or topographer that’s really good wants to work in the muni. It’s a government paycheck. So, yeah, it’s a very difficult position to be in. The good thing is the money’s coming in.
Resentment, Entitlement, and Attitudes
Pablo Arias
Yeah, I do believe there is a sense of resentment sometimes. And it doesn’t have to be anything with gringos or not. Anytime you see somebody with a lot of money—driving a really nice, fancy car, buying a nice property overlooking the ocean—you’re going to feel some resentment. You know, “Why does that person have more than what I can get in my entire life?” So, there is some resentment. It has nothing to do with where you’re from.
But I do see how this entitled attitude that somebody could bring to Costa Rica could make things worse. I see sometimes people that are super nice—the nicest, very respectful. They try to learn the local language. They try to integrate. They try to help in a charity or local community. They get involved with the local church. I see a lot of really nice people. But I also see people that are wanting to force their ways on how things get done back home.
Richard Bexon
They’re not going to survive, though, Pablo, because Costa Rica doesn’t change, man. I mean, you can try that. You can upset some people. But it’s like swimming against the tide. You can’t change this country very easily, unfortunately.
Pablo Arias
But I mean, if you come to my house and you tell me how to cook, or tell me if I should have the AC on or off, or what day I should do the trash this way—I’m going to hate you, man. Not Richard—sorry, I love you. You’re a very nice guy. But if you come to my house and tell me how to run my household…
Richard Bexon
So that’s my point. But, Pablo, it’s like me coming to your house telling you what to do when there’s 50 people there. Maybe one or two might listen, but no one’s really changing. This is how it’s going. So I think that, yes, it’s a pain. But they don’t stay that long because the community rejects them. It’s just a pain while they’re going through that sometimes.
But let me switch this and say to you: what small actions instantly earn respect from Ticos? 100%.
Small Actions That Earn Tico Respect
Pablo Arias
One thing that we love to see is when you try to learn the local language, you try to at least say “Pura Vida” or “Buenos Dias.” You know, in Costa Rica, we say “Buenos Dias” every day to any stranger. I jump into my Uber: “Buenos Dias,” good afternoon, good morning, good night. We are always saying hi to people and we smile when we do it. It’s very genuine. And other cultures are like, “I’m paying you for the Uber drive,” and they just get in the car.
So just a little bit of understanding the local culture and how things get done. If you want to get things done in Costa Rica or Latin America, you have to be kind to everyone. Regardless if this is a person that cleans the floor or whoever owns the company, you are nice and kind to everyone. That’s just common sense for us. I don’t know if it should be common sense for everyone, but just understand the local culture, how we do business, and how we interact. Be nice to people. That will get you along.
It may sound very simplistic, but I promise you, I have people calling me with an issue at customs, or crossing the border from Nicaragua with their car. They’re telling me their story: “I’m stuck with my car” because they came to the immigration officer and presented their passport—American, Canadian, whatever—pulling their chest out. And the immigration officer asked a basic question like, “Do you have a place to stay?” And you haven’t booked your hotel yet. And then you say, “Well, I didn’t know that I have to have a place to stay.”
And then you start making an argument with this person who is making less than $1,000 a month, making minimum wage, that has got a line of people to take care of. Frankly, he doesn’t really care if you’re getting into the country or not. His job is to ask maybe two or three questions. And then you’re just making this big complaint about how nobody told you you have to have a reservation. I’ve seen it many times. With customs, the same thing.
They come to me saying, “I have a problem with customs.” They go to the inspector like, “I need my car right now. This is my own property. I’m going to sue you.” That’s not going to do any good.
Richard Bexon
“I’m going to sue you.” People just laugh at you, man. Good luck.
Pablo Arias
That’s not going to happen. You’re wasting your time. If you are nice and you smile, then you’re going to get your stuff out of customs in a week or two. If you’re not, that file is going to get put to the side and buried somewhere. Maybe in six months, you’ll get to see your stuff.
Richard Bexon
I think it’s as you said there, man. Smile and just ask, “Hey, can you help me?” People want to help people. I believe all around the world people want to help people. Just sometimes you need to ask. But look, I agree, dude. I get frustrated sometimes. I was in the bank the other day and they’re busting my balls over where the funds come from. And it’s like, “It comes from another account, which you guys have already asked for documentation for.” And they’re like, “Well, we need it all over again.” And I’m like, “Guys, you have the documentation.” I have to tell myself, “Rich, don’t threaten to move your accounts because you know how much work that’s going to be and you’re not really going to do it. Just smile and say, ‘Guys, can you help me here? Who do I need to talk to?'” A lot of the time, that’s it. You just talk to the wrong person.
Pablo Arias
So, I would say just try to understand you’re not in your place and you need to be kind. You’re a guest in another country. Learn the small cultural behaviors in order to thrive. And that’s going to take you a long way. Another thing that I respect a lot is when somebody comes to me—even though I speak English—and says, “I want to practice my Spanish.” You can see the effort. Somebody is trying to really integrate and just learn a little bit of Spanish. It’s not just because it’s going to make your life easier and make people like you better, but it’s also that you’re going to have a better experience. You’re going to enjoy your time more in Costa Rica.
Richard Bexon
You know, one thing also is just picking up rubbish sometimes. There’s enough rubbish in this country, and picking it up is a way to gain respect because a lot of the time people don’t pick it up here. But I agree that the “Buenos Dias” goes a long way because now, when I go back to the UK—I’m going back actually today—when I say hello to people, they stare at me a little bit weirdly because they’re not used to doing it. That’s kind of been erased out of the communities now. Whereas here in Costa Rica, we still have that.
So, what do you think is the difference between a foreigner who extracts value from Costa Rica and one who contributes to it?
Extracting vs Contributing as an Investor
Pablo Arias
A lot of the people that we serve as investors come and make an investment in a property on the coast. I think they’re bringing a lot of value to the local economy. Let me give you an example. I was talking about this with an attorney law firm in Nosara. They have roots in Costa Rica. Grandpa was an attorney, then the dad, now it’s third generation.
And it was interesting that we were talking about gentrification. Guanacaste, 50 years ago or more, was just a ranch for cows and horses. It was completely dry. Now, when you have tourism, properties are being developed. Plants and trees are being planted. Ecotourism has brought a different way of economy that is a lot more lively. It integrates more people. It used to be that Guanacaste was owned by a few families here and there. Now it’s owned by lots of people which allows for smaller properties and allows for locals to also own pieces of land. So our customers, I believe, are doing an incentive to the local economy.
What I’m afraid of—and what some Costa Ricans are afraid of—are the big investments. The ones where they own hectares and hectares of property around the coast and are literally blocking the access to public beach areas. That is affecting the locals and affecting people’s access to the most beautiful places. Those are places that are limited. They’re just really controlling the beach. And that’s a big corporate investment with fancy names. Usually they take the best spots—not just one little area, but they take a lot of that.
It could be also in San Jose. When you have a big, gigantic mall that takes over a couple of hectares, that creates jobs, but it makes the entire surrounding area more expensive. In San Jose it doesn’t affect as much because everyone needs the work and there are 2.5 million people there. But primarily in the tourist areas, that’s the type of investment that I think hurts the local. Most of that money goes away.
Richard Bexon
Definitely the large branded hotels. A lot of people, when they go there, they never leave, if that makes sense. All the money stays there and doesn’t really get distributed between the local economy. A little bit filters out here and there, but a lot of people just say, “Hey, dude, I went to the Ritz-Carlton, and Costa Rica was beautiful,” but they never really got out there.
That’s not Costa Rica, though. No, it’s not. My biggest concern for Costa Rica is that everything is so expensive now. From a hotel point of view, the only numbers that work now are the big, large hotels. If our landscape is now just large branded hotels, that’s great for branding, but is it sustainable? I’m not overly worried about it because it’s so difficult to do here, man. It’s only the big luxury brands now that are coming. You’re never going to get a Barcelo or a Riu doing it again. The numbers just don’t work.
Pablo Arias
We have this small investor who had the dream of coming to Costa Rica and owning a small Airbnb. They are incentivizing the local economy because they are hiring local people. They’re having to source their food and everything closely to their surroundings, versus this other big investor, which is just venture capital. That money is coming into that hotel—it could be $1,000 per night—and 80% of the money is going back to big capital. It’s not staying in the local economy.
And if they source locally, they will negotiate and basically extract the products as cheaply as possible because they have a buyer’s department. They even negotiate payment terms: “I’ll pay you in 30 days.” So even for the cash flow, whoever is selling to these big companies is not getting it. They’re having to wait. Versus the small business owner who is making a small purchase of a property to retire and put a little pool there. They need a guy who cleans the pool, and that guy is going to charge for his service. And if they’re good and learn to speak English, they may even charge a premium to this newcomer.
Richard Bexon
I think it’s always going to be a bit of a pendulum. Just over the past couple of years, I think we’ve seen so much explosive growth. The country and the people in it haven’t caught up yet, Pablo. And I think that’s why we’re seeing some of these issues. But it is slowing down, for sure. It’s becoming a buyer’s market—not as much development and construction, which I think is a good thing. We’re taking a bit of a breather here. The problem is things happen so slow here that we’re probably not going to see that catch-up for another five years.
Local Backlash and Gentrification Fears
Pablo Arias
You know what’s funny is you see me make a lot of content about reasons to move to Costa Rica. I get hate. I did a video about San Marcos de Tarrazu, which is an area that has never been exploited touristically. It’s a coffee field. Beautiful area. And I said in the video, “Well, that’s interesting. There is this beautiful area and there is no For Sale signs. There are no REMAX signs.” I started getting hate: “You’re selling your country.”
So there are these small little haters out there thinking gentrification is a negative. But I do believe it’s a very small group that are just trying to make noise. In reality, the country needs investment. It’s a way of having a dynamic economy with money coming from outside.
Richard Bexon
Yeah. I agree, man. Integrate and invest smartly, where you’re raising the tide of Costa Rica. And the beauty of it is that to come here and make quick money is not easy. There’s so many easier countries to do it in. But I don’t think Costa Rica hates gringos. And when I say gringos, I just say foreigners. You just need to integrate really.
But OK, Pablo, my last question for you. If you inherited $500,000 and you had to invest in a business or real estate in Costa Rica, what would you invest it in and why?
If You Had $500k to Invest
Pablo Arias
I had many ideas. Specifically for real estate, my brother and I are talking about getting a little bit into buying and setting up a ranch. Run a farm. You need some land for it. We already have some money allocated to putting cows and animals in somebody else’s property.
We like the return of buying and selling these cows for meat or competition. In the last two years, we have seen the return on that. I’m very impressed. It could be around 18% to 20% on the investment. If you want it to scale and make it big, I think it is an interesting investment.
Buying a property that is not that expensive—maybe Guapiles or some areas in Guanacaste—is still affordable. There’s some areas in the country that allow for this to happen. It’s an interesting way of investment. There are many other ones. You are in a business that is very sexy to me, which is developing boutique villas. I always see that and think, “Richard is doing an interesting business.” I really like that. I know it’s very difficult.
Richard Bexon
I was chatting with someone the other day about it and they were like, “Rich, I don’t know anyone that has developed that boutique, from land development through to design to construction, then management afterwards—at a boutique level, there’s no one doing that.” And I’m like, “Because it’s really difficult, dude.”
You know, it’s like a barrel with a bunch of holes in it sometimes. You’re just patching holes up. But I’m a believer, Pablo, that boutiqueness is what made Costa Rica great and keeps the port of business.
Pablo Arias
Let me pick your brain on this. Because developing a small project, an Airbnb—I don’t want to ruin a business or a hotel. But it could be a really interesting thing to have a million dollars or $700,000, develop something small—I don’t know if it’s an app, but something very small—and then just flip it. I don’t know if there’s a market for this, but I see some of these small boutique hotels selling for a couple of million dollars.
Richard Bexon
I mean, the numbers… I was looking at a product the other day with a client and I was like, “Rich, can you just quickly look at this?” Their gross is like $250,000 a year and they’re asking $2.9 million for it. And I’m like, “Dude, the numbers…” Usually it’s one or two times revenue at best. EBITDA might be $150,000. So a six-time multiple is $900,000—the numbers don’t support $2.9 million. Typically it’s an emotional investor that’s coming in for that.
And I think Costa Rica always is an emotional investment, unless you’re partnering with experts. Foreigners that come in and try and do it on their own—I can’t believe you do that. You should partner with someone that’s already lost a million dollars and learned how to do it. I don’t understand why that doesn’t happen more, but I’m not in the flipping business.
I’m legacy building here. I kind of learned everything I needed to. Costa Rica is a special place. How do I preserve that? What made it great needs to continue to make it great. Just the model needs to adapt a little bit. Because the boutique hotel model doesn’t work, but the boutique villa development that operates like a hotel does, because there are individual owners. Meaning that the hotelier, say me, doesn’t have all my cash invested in it. And I’ve already exited and I’m able to do the next one. That’s why you don’t see this network of the same level hotels throughout Costa Rica in the same group. I can name a couple, but there aren’t that many hotel brands that have multiple destinations in Costa Rica.
Pablo Arias
Yeah, I think that’s a really interesting model. I just thought maybe flipping is a way to go. But I totally understand. And you say you don’t understand why people are not looking for that expert advice. I do believe the psychology of the people who are looking to move to another country involves a risk-oriented mentality. Like if you have the guts to just move to Costa Rica or Belize. You have to be a risk-taker.
I see it all the time. I have people call me. “Yeah, I’ve got the shipment on the way. Can you help me?” It’s like, “What are you talking about? You cannot have the shipment on the way. You need to talk to an expert first.” Taking risks is maybe how you made your money your entire life, but it could be too much risk if you’re doing it on your own, especially with a million dollar investment in another country with other rules in another language. It is completely insane trying to think they’re going to pull this off and not lose half a million dollars in the process. It is insane.
Richard Bexon
It’s like people when they first come here and invest in a piece of property or build and they don’t really know. You just need a good team, man. You better have a really good team in Costa Rica. This country is full of amazing people, but it’s also full of people that are happy to take your money and not do the work sometimes. You just need to have a great network of people.
Closing Thoughts on Ticos and Gringos
So, well, Pablo, this has been an amazing podcast. I appreciate you joining us on it. I know the topic was a little bit—you know—probably, hopefully we don’t get too much hate on this one, but I think we need to discuss all of these things. Sometimes people are like, “Wow, Rich, you can be a little pessimistic on Costa Rica. You should be more rainbows and unicorns.” And I’m like, “If you want that, there’s tons of other scenarios out there. This is the reality.”
Pablo Arias
If you can accept the reality, everything is great. But I do appreciate that balanced approach and hitting people with the truth upfront—it’s going to attract the right people. And that’s what I want for my country.
Richard Bexon
Yeah. Look, sometimes if it’s too good to be true, it usually is. Anyway, Pablo, all of your contact details are in the description for anyone that wants to chat with you. And very much appreciate you taking time to join us on the podcast. That’s amazing. Thank you. Have a good one.
Guys, interesting podcast with Pablo. As a Costa Rican to jump on the theme of “do Ticos hate gringos?” Because gringos are just foreigners here. Look, Ticos do not hate gringos, guys. Some maybe, but that’s a very obnoxious, loud kind trying to imprint a foreign culture on here. It’s the quickest way to turn a Tico angry is to try and imprint someone else’s culture.
This is a country that’s chilled. It’s more of like love and harmony, smiling, and I think you just need to bear that in mind whenever you’re doing anything here in Costa Rica. If you get upset or anything like that, it just doesn’t work. People just close down here. The passive aggressiveness can be sometimes infuriating. But again, we’re visitors or tourists in here. This is not our country per se, even though I’ve kind of adapted it to be my country.
