Relocation to Costa Rica

New Theory Explains Why We Find Costa Rica So Darn Pleasant

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Lone woman on a beach thinking

or – How Media Saturation Robs Us Of Our Joy
or – an Original Thought is a good thing

We humans find ourselves intriguing, in fact – fascinating. Theories explaining the experience of being human abound .

One theory that I heard as a young man has stuck with me through the years. This theory now finds a rather interesting application in my life of living as an expat here in Costa Rica. I see the possible truth to this theory as I observe what I have come to know as “4th Day Original Thought Syndrome” or “4DOTS” in Costa Rica. Based on this thing that happens on day #4, many decide that they would like to either make Costa Rica Home, or to at least make it a big part of their life.

Observation:

4DOTS is simple – it’s really nothing more than relaxation. But I need to do a footnote definition here of what I mean by relaxation. It’s more than just having our neck muscles relax and our shoulders lower down by a couple inches, (which they do on day 4). 4 DOTS relaxation has to do with the mind.

The Theory:

It is thought that when we first have an experience as a baby, we fire off a unique circuit in our brain. The experience is profound and frequently pleasurable. We are drawn to the subject experience again and again to get better acquainted. We call this learning.

Let’s say that at the age of 1 year our Mother puts us on the warm, sunny lawn in our back yard to crawl around. A new circuit is fired through our brain and we are fascinated by the greenness of the experience and the warmth of the green. The texture is slightly prickly but not unpleasantly so. There is a humid component and a wonderful smell that we will later on associate with the word “earthy”.

From this point on in our lives this same circuit fires every time we experience warm green grass, causing a familiarity with the experience, and this we call memory. So the theory goes.

(As an aside, i t is thought that the psychoactive drug LSD causes variations in our established and familiar brain circuitry. This can be profoundly pleasurable (or disturbing) and cause fascination with what we adults would consider to be mundane things. This would explain why people on LSD can be seen studying their hand, or marveling at the grass they are standing on. )

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The Most Precious Real Estate

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[Given] the fact that I spend almost everyday at the beaches in and around Uvita, I wanted to highlight some of the most precious real estate in Costa Rica— Parque Nacional Marino Ballena. Home to miles of idyllic beaches, mangroves, islands, and the blue wonderland under the Pacific Ocean, the park sustains a multitude of animals, some of which–like humpback whales and sea turtles–are on the endangered species list. Discover why the park raises the quality of life for those of us who are lucky enough to vacation or reside in The Zone.

Thoughts From The Outfield #1

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I was standing in the outfield at the Saturday Softball game in Uvita, when the feeling hit me. It was the warm feeling you get (and I’m not referring to the direct sun variety) when you are with a group of people having fun. In a word: community. We have a special one down here in the Southern Pacific Zone of Costa Rica. Perhaps it is the international mix of….

Guys In the Zone Talk Show – Episode 3

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Build or Buy in Costa Rica Episode 3 features a discussion on the Pros and Cons of buying a house or building a house in Costa Rica’s southern Pacific zone.  Featured listings in the episode include– Casa by The Pond – #319; a lovely house located in central Ojochal with a pond, swimming pool and … Read more

Sierpe Del Pacifico – On The River, Off The Grid

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Writing a blog about Costa Rica real estate has its perks. We’ve got readers out there who are doing some pretty creative projects and we don’t even know about them… until they get ready to go to market with their project. Such is the case with Sierpe Del Pacifico (SDP). Fred and his son Cassidy approached Rod & I about a month ago to tell us about their project in Sierpe. I think that this type of inquiry wouldn’t normally have much interest to us Guys, but Fred had written such an eloquent and well crafted introductory e-mail that we were intrigued.

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Sierpe is a bit out of the way, on the fringe of “The Zone”. I’ve also heard that it is hot and buggy. I’m not much for hot and buggy, but in truth I couldn’t speak from personal experience regarding the place, so I kept an open mind.

What Fred & Cassidy have done is they have formed a father & son team and are passionately developing a piece of property that offers what, I suspect, a lot of readers of this blog are looking for: a truly unplugged, solar powered, bio-digesting, boat access project, surrounded by some of the best fishing, both fresh water, brackish and deep sea, in the… country? World? I don’t know, but you always catch big, tasty fish when you go out with them.

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The Question on Everbody’s Mind

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How would you describe the current “crisis” impact on the local economy and on Costa Rica real-estate in general?

Yesterday I made the trip up to San Isidro de el General to take care of some things. I was to meet Rod and Lindsay for lunch at “Mexico Lindo”, an amazing genuine Mexican food restaurant there, run by a bona fide Mexican Armando and his lovely wife. I have known them for years and used to frequent their little taco hole in one of the off-the-beaten-path streets of San Isidro years ago. Now they are located right on the central square and my, how things have changed since those days of long ago. I don’t think that there was a single empty table there, and at least 50% of what I heard was English – my, how things have changed.

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Running the gauntlet of greetings as I made my way back to Rod and Lindsay, I looked up to see a couple who are particularly good friends, but that I have not seen for awhile. I greeted them with something like “how are you guys doing in this new world in which we live?” (reference to the economy), to which they responded, “what is going on?”. Working in real estate provides one with an interesting position in life. I didn’t realize it for a long time, but it is now clearer than ever. This industry is at the very foundation of life. We all need to live, play, and work somewhere. I received the above question in an e-mail from one of my clients just yesterday, so I heard the question a total of 2 times over the course of the day, and that wasn’t an unusual day.

Here’s what I think

We have lost a lot of buyers due to the economic crisis. We are gaining some buyers that we wouldn’t have otherwise had. It may look something like the graphic there to the left. It means a slow down for us here in Costa Rica, but not death. I have a client/friend/partner that is a high output kinda guy. I’ll call him Steve, a lawyer in Florida. He purchased a piece of land from me 3ish years ago. Subsequent visits have given us the opportunity to forge a friendship. Steve had a plan.

  • Sell his beach condo that he bought for investment
  • Sell his main home
  • Let the lease on his Porsche run out
  • Finish up obligations at the firm
  • Set up some means of income in Costa Rica
  • Move to Costa Rica

Steve LOVES Costa Rica. This is home to him. Every visit here confirms it to him. He just needed to get the ducks all lined up in a neat row prior to making the move. This is a common scenario. Life was fine. Plans were being made. Then, it all changed.

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