Buy your appliances in the States

We went shopping this afternoon for appliances to take with us to Costa Rica. I just wanted to make a quick note of things to keep in mind if moving to CR.

The electricity there is the same as here but the Ticos (as the locals are called) don't use as many big appliances as we do in the States. Which means you need to be aware of how many outlets your house has, especially 220 volt for say a dishwasher...

We are short an outlet for a dishwasher so we are purchasing a movable one since it works on 110v AND there is no room for an under the counter model. We also probably need to get stackable washer and dryer due to lack of space in the laundry room (many of the Tico homes we viewed had their laundry facilities outside the home).

Of course, one way around this problem would be to only consider buying American standard homes but the price jump is huge for the convenience (and it isn't that important to us!). Our priority was land with privacy over American standard fixtures.

Oh yeah, we are moving everything down to CR instead of buying it there due to expense to ship vs. buy down there seems to lean toward us doing it that way. We saw basic stoves and other appliances for about 3k at the mall in Heredia compared to $600 at Best Buy here. Plus, we have been told the parts used in the States are far superior to those used in CR.

Ok, to close, I have to share my new favorite music site. Pandora allows you to create your own radio station based on your favorite artists/music types. Try it out here: http://www.pandora.com/