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When arriving in Costa Rica 36 years ago on a 65 ft. yacht the last thing on my mind was settling in Costa Rica for the rest of my life and for 30 years Costa Rica was my life. At that time Playas del Coco was a sleepy little fishing village. Only dirt roads, one telephone, no city water and very little electricity. We had to take the bus to Liberia because there was no place to shop even for food. Very basic staples yes but the good stuff, forget it. During the rainy season we sometimes could not make it down the hill by the cemetery because of the water from the tropical rains rushing down the road. Those were the days we could buy Guaro, the local rum, by the five gallon jug. My have things changed in Costa Rica. As the years went by and the waves crashed on the beach low-en-behold came city water, telephones, paved road, electricity everywhere. With all these amenities came tourists and with tourists came developers and with developers came real-estate agents to serve the growing amount of people that wanted to stay for longer that a week or two. So now Playa del Coco has big hotels, nice restaurants, a bank, supermarket, and sport-fishing boats. There is a local Marina project on the drawing boards and golf courses with in 20 minutes.
The biggest project, The Papagayo Project, across Snake Bay ( Bahia Culebra) has hotels open and many more are being built now, The famous Four Seasons Hotel has been open now for 8 years. When looking for Property in the late 70’s most people thought I would purchase on the beach because of my nautical background. But I found a place 2.5k from the beach mostly with an ocean view and it gave me a larger chunk of land to play with. Being from Texas I needed my space. 400 meters from the beach there is the turn off to Playa Ocotal. In the 70's from that turn off to my property there were 3 homes on the two kilometer drive, today there are homes right up to my main gate.
You probably already know that beach front land cannot be owned 150 meters from the high tide line, it is leased from the government, and a home cannot be built within 50 meters. So that means very one can camp on what is basically your front yard because all beaches in Costa Rica are public. So the place I found was ideal for me because I could see the ocean from about half of the twenty-five acres. The property was totally virgin so the land scapeing was done with hours of love and care. Of course before city water I had to build a well and run electricity for about 600 meters from the road to the main house. A telephone was not available for another 5 years.
Not to bore you with personal history but because of a life changing motorcycle accident I was forced to
move to San Jose for a while. During this time I maintained the property with maid and gardener who ended up
working with me for 16 and 20 years respectively. Eventually I moved back to the Estate and turned it in to
a small B&B and as time and eventually a boutique hotel.
So the next plan? Well to do it all over again but where the fishing is better.
Here is a story that I respectfully request all my clients read.
So you arrive in Panama, you stay one maybe two weeks, you fall in love with every thing you see.
You know this is the place you want to spend the rest of your life.
So you return home, sell every thing and prepare for new horizons. So you pack your three suitcases.
Your smallest suitcase is for your clothes, this is your carry on bag. Hey you have found out in this tropical
climate you just do not need that many clothes
Your second suitcase is full of your money, Central America is not like it was when I arrived here 35 years ago,
today you will need a bit more to get started.
Then for your biggest suitcase, the one with wheels, the one you will need help with is full of your patience.
Enjoy!!
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