About the Publisher
This book was written under the auspicious and watchful eye of Christopher Howard. Besides publishing this guidebook Mr. Howard wrote some of the sidebars and contributed to the reference section.
Christopher has lived in Costa Rica for almost 30 years and is a Costa Rican citizen. He is considered by many to be a pioneer and innovator in Central America and has become a household name among North Americans living in Costa Rica. During the time he has lived there he has had the opportunity to gather a plethora of information about living, investing and retiring in all of the countries in the region. It is not surprising that he has first-hand knowledge and insight into all aspects of Costa Rica’s culture, economy and its people. Because of his expertise, he is a frequent lecturer at investment and retirement seminars.
Mr. Howard has an extensive foreign language background, having earned a Bachelor of Arts in Latin American studies and a Master’s degree in Spanish from the University of California. He also has credentials to teach Spanish at all levels from California State University, San Francisco.
Christopher was the recipient of scholarships for graduate study at the University of the Americas in Puebla, Mexico and the Jesuit University of Guadalajara, Mexico, in conjunction with the University of San Diego, California.
Chris Howard has worked as a paid consultant for National Geographic and published columns in Costa Rica Today, Escape Artist.com, Costa Rica Outdoors, Inside Costa Rica, AM Costa Rica, the real estate publication Casa Galeria, for various newsletter about living abroad and is presently working on a feature action movie script to be filmed in Central America.
In 1985, Christopher Howard founded Costa Rica Books. His first title as author/publisher was the one-of-a-kind Costa Rican Spanish Survival Course. This booklet and cassette were replaced in 2007 by the Guide to Costa Rican Spanish which has become a number one best seller.
Mr. Howard has also written and published four other foreign language books including The Official Guide to Panamanian Spanish, The Official Guide to Cuban Spanish, The Official Guide to Mexican Spanish and The Official Guide to Nicaraguan Spanish.
He also has written and published a series of books for those who want to live and retire in the region including 15 editions of the perennial best-selling New Golden Door to Retirement and Living in Costa Rica, Living and Investing in Panama, Living and Investing in the New Nicaragua and Living and Investing in Cuba.
His forthcoming publications are, The Official Guide to the Costa Rican Legal System and Christopher Howard’s Living, Retiring and Investing in South America. They both promise to be the definitive books on their respective subjects.
Due to a multitude of requests from the readers of his retirement guidebooks, Christopher began to offer relocation and retirement tours to Costa Rica starting in 1997. Since then he has personally introduced thousands of people to Costa Rica through his one-of-a-kind monthly tours, guidebooks, seminars and private consultation services. Please see www.liveincostarica.com for information about his unique tours.
- The Publisher
