Provincia de Puntarenas, Costa Rica

Costa Rica is known for its beaches, rainforests, volcanos, biodiversity and friendly people! In fact, the people have often been rated as the ‘happiest’ people in the world and they are very proud of that. The country has often been described as the ‘Little Switzerland’ of Central America’ by visitors. It is a place where you come to spend time in nature and if you love plants, birds, and animals it will be a real treat.

The Costa Ricans (Ticos) are also very proud of their stable democratic government, and the fact that they eliminated their army around 1950 and directed their funding to education and health instead. We can attest to the fact that health care is excellent and readily available. In the education domine their goal is to become a bilingual Spanish-English country, and this is reflected in the English abilities of their teenagers and young adults. However, they still appreciate your interest in using the Spanish language and it is common to receive a small Spanish lesson in a grocery store or gas station.

The phrase ‘Pura Vida’ reflects their love of life and nature; it is a phrase that will make you instantly appear bilingual! It has a diversity of meanings from hello, goodbye, great, fantastic, I’m good, no worries etc. It will always bring a smile to the face of Ticos.

Costa Rica spans from the Caribbean to the Pacific with San Jose, the capital, being located on a central plateau between the two oceans; our home is on the Pacific. We are at the junction of the northern dry climate and the southern climate with its more lush nature, meaning that the southern areas receive a greater annual rainfall. There are many public and private parks and reserves (about 25% of the land) throughout the country with beach access being for everyone! Park entrance fees are reasonable for internationals but much cheaper for the Ticos so everyone enjoys them.

The climate is diverse between areas and during various months. Below is a link to a weather map of Costa Rica. Scroll down to the bottom of the blue cell. Put the mouse over a city and it will show you a circular graph identifying the sunshine/rainfall by month. We are about 20 minutes north of Jacó so just put the mouse over that town to gain an idea of our weather. http://costa-rica-guide.com/Weather/WeatherMap.html

While there are several Playa Blanca beaches in Costa Rica, the one 5-minutes from our house is one of the more famous ones. It is a swimming and snorkeling beach but of course snorkeling is better on the islands. It also has surfing waves for beginners and easy boogie boarding waves depending on the season. The beaches in Jaco and Playa Hermosa (30 to 40 minutes away) offer more challenging waves.

A variety of restaurants and grocery stores are located within 15 to 30 minutes from our house with a large store (Automercado) in Herradura that offers groceries and alcoholic beverages as well; they even have a delivery service.

Our area is a tourist area for Ticos as well as internationals so there are a variety of common tours and activities available from horse back riding, ATV tours, Zip-lining and fishing, to crocodile tours, arial tram tours, waterfall tours, a variety of park and sanctuary tours, and individualize boat tours. The tours are normally organized in vans and often include pick-up and drop off opportunities. You can be as busy or relaxed as you would like to be, and you will likely never tire of looking at the sunset colours across the ocean.