SO SORRY

Well, firstly, let me apologize. It’s been a solid 3 weeks since my last post. Shameful. But man-oh-man was it a hectic 3 weeks!

2 more trips to Costa Rica taking care of details, and last week I had 4 real estate closings, including two of my own properties. If you’ve ever bought or sold a home, you know how stressful it can be. Just multiply that by 4 and close them all within 24 hours and you get some semblance of the fury that was my Tuesday and Wednesday.

I had to make a quick trip here to sign the documents for our newly formed Costa Rican corporation… I love saying that… Dharma Homes and Resorts, S.A. Exciting stuff!!

I also bought a car here. The bi-weekly rentals were getting ridiculous from both a time and money perspective. But that purchase is another blog post or 10 in itself. NOTHING like buying a vehicle in the states. And someone already backed into the car at dinner last week. And nobody carries insurance here. Awesome! 

COSTA RICA… MUST BE NICE

So, greetings from Costa Rica! 

Paradise right?

Here is the rub. I tell people that I am off to Costa Rica and they immediately envision fruity drinks, infinity pools and sexy bronzed bodies strutting in the sand.

Oh contraire.

Right now I am writing you from Glorious Pital, San Carlos, Costa Rica. What most would deem “the country”. The closest large body of water is 3 grueling, curvy, pot hole filled hours in the car. There are more tractors than Baywatch lifeguards. And while I may indulge in the occasional Imperial…the official beer of Costa Rica… I am more often than not drinking coffee or soda water with fresh lime juice and salt… called Soda Michelada here. And of course eating Chifrijo, daily. Mmmmmm.

I have been to Costa Rica 8 times in 2017. I have only seen the ocean once. This morning I walked to my favorite breakfast spot, for my favorite breakfast. This is what the, er, parking lot, looks like…

But I am ok with that. I grew up in the country. These days I live smack dab in the center of one of the fasting growing cities in the country, beautiful Charlotte, NC. In fact, North Carolina alone has twice the population of Costa Rica (10M vs 4M). But I was raised, literally, in the middle of cornfields in Temperance, MI. My parents bought their house 40 years ago for $35,000, they raised me there, and they still live there.

And maybe that’s what draws me to this place. It feels like home. Real home. Home, home. Rural Michigan. A slower pace, friendly neighbors who all know each other, no Walmart, no fast food. Heaven really.

I recently asked my friend Carlos, who first introduced me to Costa Rica, if moving to “the country” in North Carolina would be the same as this place. Thinking maybe I don’t need to move 3000 miles away. He replied with an emphatic “no!” Granted, he is biased, he grew up here, but I would tend to agree with him. He left when he was a teenager, and has wanted to come back since. Now, after spending most of 2017 here. I get it. Meet Carlos!

When you are here you aren’t just in the country, you are in the country of 50’s America. That’s the best way to describe it. A relatively slow paced way of life, not encumbered by the constant drive for more material possessions. Less stop lights. Less cops. Less rules. Family comes first. Simple pleasures fill the days.

When you hear people say they “want their country back”, I think that is what they want. A time period long passed in America.

But maybe I found my time machine…