A lot of Westerners, particularly Americans and Canadians, fall under the assumption that it is OK not to learn a bit of Spanish before retiring completely in Costa Rica. This is, of course, false because an expat who wishes to do so end up in a social bubble disconnected from the rest of the locals, which is one of the points of living somewhere else as a retiree in the first place.
A lot of these foreigners who refuse to understand the local culture tend to complain that a lot of Costa Ricans only intend to use them and to make some illegal money out of them. We hypothesize that this is all because the self-alienation that these foreigners do to themselves. Had they been more friendly to the locals, they would find the locals to be an asset in being one with the community and not a liability.
What's even worse is that they entrust everything that they have to fellow speakers of the English language without even proper investigation. The general assumption is that in foreign lands, people who hail from the same nation will help out each other. This is not the case. Some of these other people have lived in Costa Rica for decades already. What they speak does not reflect their personalities--though this is not to say that you should not trust anyone.
One group of people that you have to shy away from are those who belong to the 30-60 age bracket but still without any pension. These are the people who would struggle in order to make a sustainable living in Costa Rica. The most common complaint about these people is being "ripped off" and getting pressured to purchase real estate. You should wary around this kind of people.
So if you decide to invest our time and money here, you should always be vigilant. It's good to reach out to the locals to enrich your experience, but always be wary of other people's actions, may they be locals or English-speaking expats like you.
