I have a pretty standard morning routine. I’m awakened very early by roosters but stay in bed for a while as the sunrise filters into the bedroom. I start the coffee, open the sliding doors, step out to my deck, and look down into the valley below. I usually see hummingbirds buzzing around my flowers, sometimes a blue-crowned mot-mot.
There I was 140 feet up a tree in the rainforest of Costa Rica's Southern Zone. I'd hoisted myself up using mountaineering gear--it took about 30 minutes. Now, as we rested dangling in our harnesses, we watched a trio of toucans of one species eating nuts on a nearby tree and then a pair from another species fly right by our heads.
Shopping like a local in Costa Rica often means forgoing trips to the supermarket in favor of the feria (farmers’ market), mercado central (central market), and roadside stands, especially for fruits, vegetables, and other fresh foods.
A fter more than four years of living in Costa Rica, we are still taking Spanish lessons. It’s a process; as they say here, poco a poco (little by little). Of course, we could just speak English. Many expats do. Lots of locals speak some English and we have many expat friends. But when we first decided we wanted to live overseas, we knew that we also wanted to integrate into our new home.
My wife, Caryl, and I grew up together in a very small town in the rural Midwest. After leaving for college, marrying, and spending many years in the workforce, we returned to our little community—38 years after we left.
A lot of my friends here in Costa Rica, as well as many people I’ve met in my travels, are moving to Atenas. More than a half-dozen couples and families in the last few months have arrived in this small town in the Central Valley.
Seven years ago Kristin Gilbert Ramirez was living the American Dream. She had a full-time teaching career, health benefits, a home, a car, and fancy electronics. And she was pursuing her master's degree in the beautiful countryside of Maine. Only it wasn't her dream.
My wife, Caryl, and I grew up together in a very small town in the rural Midwest. After leaving for college, marrying, and spending many years in the workforce, we returned to our little community—38 years after we left.
It’s a line you hear a lot on Costa Rica’s southern Pacific coast. “We thought about Panama—we almost bought in El Valle. Then we came down to Costa Rica’s Southern Zone and fell in love.
Anna Fishel, 63, was living and working in Colorado in early 2012, and retirement was still years away…or so she thought. “There was a change in management at my job that made it absolutely miserable for me to go to work. I had bought my house in Costa Rica with plans to move in a few years."