Jo Stuart

Jo Stuart: Butterfly in the city

Where and what Jo was BCR (Before Costa Rica)
She lived in San José (California) and was the director of San José State University International House; she was also a writer.

How Jo came to be in Costa Rica and what she's doing now
Jo says she knew she would not/could not live in the States after retirement, for both financial and personal reasons.  She first became interested in Costa Rica when she learned that President Oscar Arias had won the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1987; she went to a dinner for him in San Francisco. She was further attracted to Costa Rica because it has no military and spends its money on education and medicine. 

She now lives in San José (Costa Rica) and is a columnist for amcostarica.com. Recently she published a collection of her columns titled Butterfly in the City: A Good Life in Costa Rica. She loves that in Costa Rica she has been able to do her three favorite things and be paid for them: To write; to act; and to cook. She counts getting the part of “Grandma Prudence” in a radio novela aimed at teaching children in the campo as one of the high points of her life here.

Jo, do you have any advice for people thinking of moving to Costa Rica?
“Learn Spanish. Visit first and try different parts of the country to find where you will feel ‘at home.’ Rent, don’t buy for the first months. Don’t be too eager to invest in property here.  Be very sure of the integrity of people you are dealing with.” 

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