Book excerpt: In October, 2000, the author and his wife moved from California to Costa Rica to begin a new life in a new country. Martin had a theory that retiring to a foreign country would present so many challenges as to make it impossible to fall into a rut, to become bored, and eventually depressed as happens to so many retirees. It appears as though his theory was a correct one. At Home in Costa Rica: An Adventure in Living the Good Life is the story of how Martin and Robin gradually adapted to their new country, and tells a fascinating tale of the trials and tribulations of learning a new way of life and a new language, of making unusual friends, of building homes, of rehabilitating animals, of surviving the machinations of alien institutions bureaucracies, of adjusting their first-world pace and needs to those of an emerging country, and much more. Told in an anecdotal style, based on letters they've been sending home for three and a half years, At Home in Costa Rica is filled with funny and touching stories about re-learning how to live in one of the most beautiful, peaceful, and stable Democracies in the world. The book is ideal for anyone who has either gone through this wonderful and at times trying process, for anyone who is contemplating living the expatriate's life, or for anyone who enjoys reading about life in other countries.