Who are you?
Doron Nadivi, Chief Commercial Officer of Pruvo.Where, when and why did you move abroad?
In October 2013, U moved to Costa Rica because I was dating a Costa Rican for three years and we decided to get married.
What challenges did you face during the move?
The two main challenges were:
1) Source of income
2) Social life – Costa Ricans are very nice, but no one seems to be interested in expanding their circle of friends.
How did you find somewhere to live?
I knew I wanted to be close to the metropolitan area, but not actually in the big city. So I searched for small towns between 15K-30K residents and with a socioeconomic level above average, till I found Grecia, Alajuela.
Are there many other expats in your area?
Not really.
What is your relationship like with the locals?
In Costa Rica you have acquaintances, not friends. My wife is a local and even through her circle of influence, it has been very hard to develop true friendships.
Prior to Costa Rica I lived in Guatemala and Peru, and I did not have this problem at all.
What do you like about life where you are?
Being close to spectacular nature landscape and the laid back mentality. Since everyone is laid back, it makes it easy to excel and to stand out from the crowd.
What do you dislike about your expat life?
Bureaucracy and lack of social life.
What is the biggest cultural difference you have experienced between your new country and life back home?
People here prefer to lie rather than to tell you “no”. You hear answers like “yes, someday”, or “anytime soon”, or “for sure”, which all basically mean – it’s never going to happen.
What do you think of the food and drink in your new country? What are your particular likes or dislikes?
It’s fine, not one of my top seven cuisines.
My favorite dishes here are: tortilla alineada, empanada de platano, chorillada, all foods derived from plantains, and endless, cheap coconut water.
What advice would you give to anyone following in your footsteps?
• Learn the local language
• Before making such a move, have a concrete plan to generate income
• Try to search for expat communities within the country you plan to move to. Birds of a feather flock together, and you might find it easier to mingle with other foreigners.
What are your plans for the future?
All in all, I like Costa Rica. It´s a great country to work remotely from and I plan on staying here for the rest of my life.
You can find out more about Doron and Pruvo at pruvo.com, and connect with Doron on LinkedIn.
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