All posts by Christopher Howard

To have bad luck

Spanish phrases

Añejo/a: A person who has not bathed. Here is a related expression: Más vale tierra en cuerpo que cuerpo en tierra. It is better to have dirt on your body than to be under the ground (dead).

Caco: A criminal. The expression El/la pinta is also used for criminal in Costa Rica slang

Cien metros or una teja: One block. read more

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(Q TRAVEL) Researchers from the University of Liverpool, Maastricht University, and King’s College London gathered 50 native German speakers, all of whom had recently learned to speak Dutch at Maastricht.

The participants were then either given read more

To Cost an arm and a leg

Spanish phrases
  • Costar un ojo de la cara: To cost an arm and a leg or require a lot of effort to achieve
  • Filo: Hunger. Hambre is the correct term.
  • Dejar el ombligo enterrado: The place where a person was born
  • Guachos or guayabas: Both words are slang for eyes. The correct word is los ojos. Pelar las guayabas means to keep one’s eyes peeled.
  • Paquete: Bull or lies.
  • Pasar raspando: To scrape by. We also say, “Pasar dejando pelos en el alambre.”
  • Pelar los dientes: To smile. Sonreír is the correct Spanish word.
  • Ser un saco de mañas: To have many bad habits.
  • Donde el diablo perdió la chaqueta: Very far away.
  • Ya vengo: I’ll be right there.

Christopher Howard has been conducting monthly relocation/retirement tours and writing retirement guidebooks for more than 30 years. See www.liveincostarica.com.

He has a #1 relocation/retirement blog at: read more