Man, 71, who left the US to live in Costa Rica hoping to save money reveals his living costs have actually DOUBLED since relocating

An American man who had spent his life in Albuquerque, New Mexico, decided to retire to Costa Rica almost a decade ago, but discovered that the cost of living is not nearly as cheap as he had thought.

Nine years ago, after a divorce, Gary Keenan, 71, decided to sell his business and leave the country, settling in Costa Rica’s Central Valley.

For a time he was thrilled by the change in environment, from the urban sprawl of the Southwest to the vast, natural tropics of Central America.

But now, almost a decade later, it has become undeniable to him that offering the lifestyle there is not exactly as easy and breezy as the region’s idyllic setting.

Compared to the United States, he said Business insider his car cost twice as much, groceries are about one and a half times as expensive, and rental prices are as high as ever, especially in areas popular with tourists.

“I’ve read several articles in the last four months saying that these are the countries where you can live for less money than in the US,” Gary told the outlet.

“That’s terribly wrong.”

Born and raised in Albuquerque, Gary practiced law for much of the 1980s before taking over his father’s insurance business and running it for 25 years.

Gary’s first exposure to Costa Rica occurred years before his move there, when he attended a retreat at Playa Zancudo in the south of the country.

When planning his retirement, he fantasized about what he considered the “easy” lifestyle of the locals.

Under his initial retirement plan, he stayed in Costa Rica for three years, learned Spanish, then moved to France and learned French.

However, the plan changed after he started dating someone – and in any case, he is still struggling to learn Spanish.

“I discovered that neither my desire nor my ability were enough to allow me to learn Spanish in three years,” he told BI.

“During that time I also met a woman who I am still in a relationship with, so that nipped the move to France in the bud,” he added.

He admitted that even now he still struggles with the nuances of local dialects.

“I started with a tutor, went to her for a year and a half, but I realized that even though I learned a lot of verbs and their conjugations, I still couldn’t understand a word of Spanish spoken by the locals,” he described .

“If you are lucky enough to understand Spanish as a rule, you will still have problems because they drop syllables and speak very quickly.”

But, he told BI, he speaks fluently enough to move around the area and go through daily business without any problems.

For the first two years he had lived in the small town of Santa Ana on the outskirts of the capital San José.

There he had found a large population of expats, but perhaps as a result he noticed that the city was becoming more expensive and commercialized over time.

Seven years ago he moved to the town of Cariari, known for its golf-related facilities, where he has remained ever since.

He added that nine years ago, prices for basic items across Costa Rica were slightly — but not dramatically — cheaper than U.S. equivalents.

But since 2022, inflation in the country has caused prices to soar, reaching levels far above those in the US.

What makes this worse is that Costa Rica also imposes import taxes on goods imported from the US.

This is most clearly reflected in food prices, he explained.

The cost of the cheapest beef per pound, he cited as an example, was locally about $5.50. Beef per pound isn’t priced that much differently in the US, but it isn’t significantly cheaper in Costa Rica.

In 2023, he bought a car for $34,000, even though the Kelley Blue Book listed the model as worth between $16,000 and $18,000 in the US.

He used to pay $1,000 in rent in Costa Rica, but now his rent has increased to $1,500.

More touristy areas are more expensive, he pointed out.

He added that safety has become an important consideration.

“If anyone is going to live down here, there has to be security almost 24 hours a day,” Gary said.

“There are many opportunities for crime and an unattended home is ultimately a prime target.”

Of course, the cost of living also varies drastically from place to place and state to state in the US.

DailyMail.com has previously reported on the top 10 states where people are moving in search of a lower cost of living.