US TV shows

Here is the low down on how to watch your US TV shows and videos in Costa Rica.

Cable and Satellite TV - Some English Language channels but tends to be mostly Spanish language ones.

You can hook up your computer to your TV set, or if you have an Internet enabled TV, you can watch that way. The problem is that many of the shows you want are blocked due to international treaties. There is a way around this and that is to sign up with a Virtual VPN serivce. This type of service makes it look like you are in the US and not Costa Rica. HideMyass and Strong VPN are two such services. You first log onto them and they run in the background. Then use your browser normally and the blocking goes away.
The problem is that it requires you to hook up your computer to your TV each time.
Another way to to get a ROKU box, or use one of the DVD players that also connect you to services such as Netflix or HULU. Unfortunately they too suffer from being blocked (although not Netflix). You can get around this by setting up a virtual VPN through your router. This requires that your router is capable of supporting this, and that you have the technical expertise to set it up. But there is yet a good alternative and that is StrongVPN will sell you both a pre-programed router and their service for a year all bundled together. That way you can hook up any internet enabled device and the VPN service runs directly through the router without needing your computer at all.

An Alternative to hauling all your US DVD's to Costa Rica is to purchase a large external USB hard drive and "rip" your movies onto it. Tow good programs for this are WinXDVD ripper, and 1 DVD Copy Pro. Both will make virtual images of your DVD's and shrink them down by removing a lot of the extras and foreign language options. Some will also remove copyright protection as well.

To play back the videos, some TV sets will permit you to connect up the drive directly, but they really vary in the movie formats they support (i.e. AVI, MPEG, etc). A great device that works directly with your TV (not needing a computer) is a box made by Kdlinks. This hooks to your TV via HDMI or RCA cables, and to your hard drive via USB. It comes with a remote control so it acts just like your DVD player.  You can even have it display a small icon of the DVD cover if you capture them from sites like amazon, and then place the jpg file in the same directory as the movie.

Kitchen Stuff

Plastic storage containers, Coolers, Utensils, glasses and dishes can be outrageously expensive here. One source we found that has cheap stuff is Pequeño Mundo in San Jose. Apparently there are at least three- One located off Calle 23. Another located very near the Mulitplex in Escazu, and another somewhere in Alajuela. 

 Another place for more higher end stuff is TIPA.  It's a restaurant supply store located in a "commercial" wholesale center near the Liberia airport. They have an assortment of kitchen stuff there also.

This is a Blog site devoted to helping expats find great shopping places, food, services, and anything else they might need after they've re-located to Costa Rica. I'm still new at this game, so I am constantly finding people who give me great tips to places to find this or that. Anyone is welcome to post here.