Category: Vacation

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What Do You Know About Costa Rica?

What Do You Know About Costa Rica?

You wondered it, I answered it. Get inspired by these fun facts.

Unless you have traveled to Costa Rica, there are a few things that you may or may not know.

Costa Rica’s biggest exports are bananas, pineapples, coffee and medical equipment.

The capital is San Jose and was colonized by the Spanish in the 16th century.  

10% of the world’s butterflies take up residence here, including the electric blue Morpho.

The surfing movie Endless Summer was the one to get Tamarindo on the surfing map. Since then it’s been a surfer’s paradise drawing people from all over the world to surf many beaches on the Pacific side of the country. Thank you Robert August!

The average life expectancy in Costa Rica is 79.6, Japan comes in at #1. According to WHO (World Life Expectancy).

Native Costa Rican’s call themselves Ticos and Ticas.

Manana doesn’t mean tomorrow just not today.

Eggs are not washed here, no need for refrigeration. They do need a quick rinse before using.

There are 2 seasons, hot and humid and hot and dry.

Costa Rica is one of the highest perpetrators for the use of pesticides. EVERY fruit and vegetable need to be soaked in a tbsp of baking soda for 10-15 minutes before consuming. Not sure everyone does this though.

Costa Rica’s Pacific Coast is only 1,016 km (631 miles) long. But in that stretch of coastline, boasts some of the best beaches in Central America. The mix of black, white and golden sand beaches are amazing, but the sand gets incredibly hot so you either need to high tail it to the ocean or wear your flip flops. Aside from the weekends, the beaches are almost void of people.

Vaca! The CR cow. Otherwise known as Brahman cows. They look emaciated but they are a sight to behold. They have brown, black or white fur. They are free range, for the most part, and have been known to stop traffic for simply standing in the middle of the road.

Costa Rica is one most eco-friendly destinations in the world as such, eco-resorts are found all over the country. Renewable or clean energy is in full swing with carbon neutrality a close second.

Street addresses are not necessary. Everyone uses landmarks. Waze does a great job but if you don’t have cellular service or Wi-Fi available, you’re out of luck.

Chorreador aka a Costa Rican coffee machine. It uses no electricity. This crazy contraption has been used here forever. It has a metal or wooden tall stand with a “sock” or “bolsita” that is suspended over your coffee cup. Ground coffee fills the bolsita and then near boiling water is poured over it. Why? Simply, it tastes better.

Everyone says “hola.” It’s a fact. When you pass people on the street, in a store, on the beach, etc. all Costa Ricans say hello. A refreshing change from the US.

This country has no standing army. They have not endured a war since 1948. Instead the money was redirected to healthcare, education and environmental protection.

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A Soda? What the heck is that?

A Soda? What the heck is that?

It doesn’t take long to realize the cost of living in the Guanacaste area is expensive. Maybe not California expensive, but more spendy than what I was used to in Colorado. For instance, a box of Triscuits, yes, the Nabisco brand, if you can find them, will run you over $6.00. There are some grocery store discounts (Wednesdays) and no dollar stores to be found. Why you ask? Well, Costa Rica has an import tax on EVERYTHING!

In the past, when it comes to food shopping, I’ve always found good deals, shopped on “sale” days, etc. After moving here, I had to change my approach to shopping and eating in general. I started buying the local or Central American brands versus the US ones, much to my children’s dismay. Some are similar in flavor others are well, just not worth it. I found out about “ferias” which are local farmers markets selling seasonal produce and fruits that don’t break the bank.

This leads me to the Soda. As soon as we moved here, I started seeing signs all over the place that said “Soda”, Soda Marcell, Soda Sueño, etc. Of course, my children were curious about what types of soda’s were available there, “do they have fanta or coca cola?” Neither of which I choose to give them any other time than a special occasion. That’s where my research started. Come to find out Soda’s are a mainstay here in Costa Rica, and a cheap alternative to an expensive night out. It’s easy to find out what is a soda in Costa Rica, God bless the internet, but I will summarize here. Soda’s are a family owned restaurant, often on someone’s patio or porch. They offer a plate called a “Casado.” Casado, $4 to $7, is the staple of the Costa Rican diet. It’s made with a choice of meat like a pork chop, steak, chicken breast or corvina/Sea bass filet cooked to order and served with rice, beans, fried plantains and a salad. The sides tend to vary depending on where you’re at in the country.

My mouth was watering. Our next meal would be a Casado, I was determined.

We found one nearby, a short beach walk away. Tough life, right?!

We approached Estero Azul at dark. It was on the beach, had some picnic tables set up and the entire Costa Rican family involved. They were either cooking, serving or rocking the babies to sleep in rocking chairs. I was immediately touched by the family environment it offered. Being Italian, everything was centered around a meal. Whether it be my Nana’s fried dough on Saturday mornings or cheese ravioli at the cottage on Sunday evenings. Everyone pitched in. If you didn’t help cooking, then you cleaned up. That was the unspoken rule. Food was the focal point, and everyone jumped in where they were needed. The Soda environment was the same here in Costa Rica.

Once we selected our picnic table and sat down, we each ordered a Casado plate, which turned out to be too much food! But who can say no to leftovers? Every Soda offers a full menu which includes specialty fishes, appetizers, meat dishes, etc. to choose from if the Casado plate isn’t your thing. The next morning, we heated up the pinto gallo and arroz con pollo (rice with chicken), fried some eggs and boom an easy, delightful breakfast! One thing you can’t forget to add is Lizano hot sauce. It’s also a staple with every meal here. Although it’s a hot sauce, it’s not as hot as Tabasco and provides a nice deep flavor to whatever you are eating. It costs about a buck at the Merkado (grocery store) and is worth every penny!

When you make your way to Costa Rica and you see a Soda sign, STOP! Your taste buds will be very happy that you did!

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Pura Vida

Pura Vida (pronounced poo duh vee duh). A word commonly used in Costa Rica to say hello, goodbye, cool, all is good. Simply translated, it means “Simple Life.” Costa Rica has been named one of the “happiest countries” in the world. Why? Because Costa Ricans or “Ticos” don’t stress about things the way most foreigners do. They are happy with what they have.

My life a year ago was far from Pura Vida. I can tell you that with all honesty. The word, stress comes to mind instead. Stress around my job, my marriage, my children (more on them later), our bills, kids growing up too quickly and missing out on their life, etc. My husband and I looked at each other one day and said blankly to each other, “What are we doing?”

It was about a year ago today when my husband started inserting the phrase “let’s move to Costa Rica” ever so casually entered our conversations. When I would start complaining about something to him, his response would be “this might not happen if we were living in Costa Rica.” When we were talking about virtually anything, somehow someway the idea of moving to Costa Rica was part of his response. After the first few dozen times, I quickly dismissed it or gave him a quick smile to show I heard him and then moved on in the conversation. It wasn’t until a few months later that I actually heard him, as if it was the first time, he mentioned it. Funny how the subconscious works.

I finally agreed to indulge his “fantasy” by agreeing to a vacation there, after all I had never even visited the country. I think he booked our flights before the words came out of my mouth!

It was a whirlwind vacation. We coordinated house/condo showings with a local realtor for 4 days of our trip. You can imagine how unenthusiastic my kids were to be dragged from condo to condo when all they wanted was to play on the beach. It was made up to them in abundance on the remaining days, trust me.

We left that vacation without making an offer on a place. I left that vacation knowing this was what I needed, what WE needed as a family. I returned home to Golden, CO and almost immediately started the decluttering/packing process. Now, up until this point in our lives, our house in Golden, CO had been our home for almost 10 years. Do you have any idea how much “stuff” one can pack into a 2800 square foot house? The answer is A LOT! That decluttering/packing process took well over 6 months. A long over due accomplishment I might add. Repeat after me, I will never pack rat (aka hoard) again, I will never pack rat (aka hoard) again.

During those 6 months of packing hell, we bought a condo in Costa Rica. A 1200 square foot condo! Small yes, but…. ON THE BEACH! YES! We decided on a move date in early summer and that was that. We were ALL IN! This was happening. Our new reality was just 4 months away!

Were there obstacles? Yes. Were we scared as hell? Yes. But this is what we all decided would be the plan, at least for 2 years.

Fast forward to our arrival in Playa Potrero, Costa Rica (Guanacaste region). Took a red eye here. ACK, I despise red eye flights. Our container, which included our car, wouldn’t arrive for another few weeks so we did a lot of walking. Walking to the Merkado (grocery store), walking to restaurants, etc. We found out there are a lot of ExPats (folks from USA and Canada) living here which made our transition a lot easier.

We made it. We were pinching ourselves daily to make sure it wasn’t a dream. Was everything perfect when we arrived? No way. But our new life was just beginning and what a long strange trip it had been to get here.

We are Making Life Happen!