Planning the Escape to Costa Rica!

A family of five looks for a break from the old…and the cold.

The Goals

1. One-Month Trip. The idea here is that we’d spend our time in Costa Rica visiting various places and experiencing life there on a long-term basis, trying to determine where we might like to stay on our larger, subsequent trip. The trip will be, in part, designed to try and find a place in the country that supports our needs as a family and where we can contribute to society. Wherever this ends up, it simply has to feel right to us…
2. Learn and Speak Spanish — Or at least, make a real start. The longer-term goal is to have the family become fluent. My wife is a Spanish teacher and while this gave us a huge advantage, we’ve not thus far been successful in forcing ourselves to use the language at home. Lack of discipline, fast pace lives, whatever the reason…we’ve not been able to get it done. In addition, lack of practice in our day-to-day lives was a factor. Besides, there’s no better way to learn a language than immersion and that’s what we need. We know learning Spanish wouldn’t happen in a month but we need to start somewhere.
3. Find Investment Property — As an investor myself, the idea of renting or staying in hotels is antithetical to my DNA. On our month-long trip, we’d meet with real estate agents, investors, and managers as we begin plans for the next trip! The longer-term goal here is to own a vacation rental property in Costa Rica and to have that investment pay for our lodging when we’re there.

Why Costa Rica?

I first got the chance to visit Costa Rica in 2019. My wife had been there previously with students on a summer language trip and had been raving about it ever since. We flew in, rented a car, and drove pretty much across the country. Before I go further, if you’re interested in what it’s like driving in Costa Rica, this should give you a few things to look out for:

We’re a family of five and — while we don’t do it very gracefully — we’re used to traveling. Our three boys were 9, 7, and 6 years old at the time. Three years later, in 2022, that seems very young! The first trip was only for a week but I knew instantly that I loved Costa Rica.

Most of the people were courteous and kind, the climate was hot and humid, and the waves and beaches were spectacular. When we ventured away from the beaches into the jungles we felt like we were in a movie. In fact, many movies, including Jurassic Park were based here…and it’s easy to see why. The plants are larger than life, the landscape is stunning, and the wildlife is far more intriguing than we’d found in any zoo. In many ways, it did feel as though we traveled back in time to prehistoric days.

Playa Carillo & Las Leyendas

For our first jaunt to Central America, we separated our weeklong trip into two segments. We spent the first few days on the Pacific coast near the town of Playa Carillo at a beachside resort. For about a hundred dollars a day we got a hotel-sized room with two queen beds and a patio. The resorts all have pools and Las Leyendas had several. We received a sit-down, hot breakfast every day included, and we ate our lunches on the beach at a table the staff brought down for us. We ate coconuts straight off the trees sliced by the local machete-wielding vendors, and the hotel staff shuttled us back and forth to the beach whenever we wanted to go. It was relaxing and wonderful.

The wildlife in Costa Rica is different than anything we’ve experienced. One night our kids were playing in the small playground at the resort. My middle son fell off the swingset onto the ground, which is a very normal thing for him. When he got up, there were some pretty sizable ants crawling all over him. He hates bugs! If you do too, let me tell you, it will probably get worse before it gets better…but it will get better. After a while here, you’ll start to be more accustomed to all of the wildlife, including the bugs. It’s not a journey under the Temple of Doom out here, but those bugs in that movie are real and they do live in the jungle. In subsequent trips, we began to feel numb to it…not always…but mostly.

La Fortuna & Volcano Arenal

For the second part of the trip, we traveled northeast to central Costa Rica to an area called La Fortuna which is home to Arenal, one of Costa Rica’s active volcanoes! Approaching the town, you could see the giant red and white striped steam operations taking advantage of the natural geothermal energy. there were also wind farms all around.

Seeing these steam and wind operations had us in awe that this country runs 100% of its infrastructure on renewable energy…for 8 years now! They really do “walk the walk” here.

We stayed in the Los Lagos resort which was right on the side of the volcano. The resort had dozens of naturally heated hot spring pools and baths. Water slides, grottoes, and swim-up bars characterized the places we spent our time. There’s also an on-site spa offering massages and spa treatments.

Trips from La Fortuna to the surrounding rain forests and the Hanging Bridges were where we encountered the most amazing wildlife. For several outings, we chose to take guided tours. The guide picks you up at the resort, drives you to the parks, and guides your trip each step of the way. This is a more costly way to see the country but was totally worth it for the first time.

We also went on amazing zip-line tours through the canopies of the rainforest. By the end of the few days we spent there, we had seen all the animals, including an extremely active juvenile sloth, we’d placed on our shortlist. We were hooked on Costa Rica but admittedly, we’d experienced it in a pretty pampered way. We’d be looking for something different on a longer trip next time.

As soon as we got home, we started planning the next trip. If we were going to acclimate to this country for an extended period of time, the biggest opportunity it seemed would be for the kids and me to learn how to speak Spanish.

Could we somehow make a month-long trip work? How could we afford it? What would happen to our friends, our house, our business? Could we really all start speaking Spanish? What about money?

With three young children, the things that were integral to our ability to make such a trip work would be numerous. We’d have to be in a location where I could work, run my business, and return home on a semi-frequent basis. My wife wanted to make sure the boys could experience an immersive schooling system where they’d learn Spanish but also continue their strong academic curriculum. Finally, if our stay was in a place that we owned, a vacation rental that eventually paid for itself, I’d be thrilled.

Do we have some lofty goals? Sure, maybe. In my forties though, these upstate NY winters are really killing me!

Pura Vida!

Thank you for reading! I write about how I see the world through my husband/father/investor/headcase-shaded glasses. Please consider following me on Medium. Subscribe to receive an alert each time I publish.