Where Next? Travel with Kristen and Carol
Where Next? Travel with Kristen and Carol
Costa Rica - Travel with Katherine - One Year Anniversary
Happy Anniversary to us -- we have invited Katherine back, our very first guest from one year ago - August 2021. We continue our conversation and learn about the real estate market in Costa Rica, whale and dolphin watching, monkeys and Costa Rica's commitment to sustainability.
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Hosts
Carol Springer: https://www.instagram.com/carol.work.life
Kristen: https://www.instagram.com/team_wake/
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Hi, welcome to our podcast when Next Travel with Kristen and Carol. I am Kristen and I am Carol, and we're two long-term friends with a passion for travel and adventure. Each episode, we interview people around the globe to help us decide where to go next. In today's episode, we welcome back Catherine from Costa Rica, who was our first guest one year ago. We are so excited. We talk about more great places to explore in Costa Rica, as well as the real estate market and what has changed since the pandemic. We really appreciate you joining us today and we would love if you could support us by simply following, rating or reviewing our podcast in your favorite podcast app. Enjoy. Well, welcome back. Catherine's been a over a year since we first interviewed you.
Speaker 2:You've been doing some amazing stuff too, so awesome hats off to you guys and thanks for taking a chance on us.
Speaker 1:You know we like was this really ever going to happen? You know, so we have seen, like if we're going to go, want to go work somewhere, live somewhere. Housing is very important. And I have interesting story. I just went to Maui. It was amazing and I have a neighbor, a friend, that would go to Maui a couple times a year and they're like we love Maui. I just can't get enough of Maui. And then I was there. I'm like, oh my gosh, I want to stay here forever. And then next thing I know they bought a place in Costa Rica. I'm like, wait a minute, I I want to stay here forever. And then next thing I know they bought a place in Costa Rica. I'm like, wait a minute, I thought you guys were Maui lovers.
Speaker 1:What happened? She goes. I went to Costa Rica. We loved it. And I'm like, what town? How did you decide which town she goes? I just went to one town. I loved it and I just bought it. It wasn't Tamarindo, it was something in between. I remember I think I looked at the map but she's just like it was. It was amazing. And and then like we're seeing Maui pricing skyrocket and then every city I know people in housing is going up. So what? I'm just curious what's going on in Costa Rica? Are you seeing a flood now that COVID is over? People are just buying like crazy there, or is it still affordable?
Speaker 2:Yes, it is crazy here. I just keep saying where are all these people with money coming from? You know it's a cash buy here, like there's no financing unless you have your own financing, and people are still buying. The prices have gone up. So, for percentage of asking price, I think our last not our most recent quarterly newsletter, but the one before that homes were selling at 92% of asking value. In our most recent newsletter, market report analysis, 96% of asking price. So we've seen, I think as a reflection of what's going on in the United States, where they're experiencing multiple offers, bidding wars, pricing over ask. It's not that crazy, but we have definitely seen an increase in buyers understanding that they're going to have to offer at a higher rate in order to be able to secure property because there are multiple people looking and are most people moving there, or is it?
Speaker 2:second homes. It depends. More and more people are moving here permanently. So people who are either kind of semi-retiring early or the one thing that COVID taught many of us is that we can work remotely. So people who never thought they had jobs that could be done remotely or there was that a little trust was lacking on the part of employers to, you know, give their workforce that freedom. I think that's changed. So more and more people are doing that. And other people are buying for investments. I get a lot of questions people who are looking for land or land with maybe one house but the ability to put up three cabinas. Everybody's jumping on the Airbnb investment, so a variety.
Speaker 1:Okay, and I heard from someone in Mexico that was saying Mexico people had kind of an uproar about Americans coming in buying these, Airbnb-ing it, and it's kind of like hurting the local market where it's just rising the prices. Are you seeing any pushback from people upset about that or like no, we love your money.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I haven't heard anything and I stay pretty in touch with what locals are saying and kind of the general feel. I try to anyway and I haven't heard that so much. You know you can't get into a restaurant in my town unless you have a reservation or little things like that. But that's true with. I always say people have short memories, like you know. You forget that, like you all the things that you loved about it. Now you don't want anyone else to discover it, right, so you want it to stay the same and all that. But so you know, with growth comes change, so but I'm sort of like oh, I hope my little town stays my little town. And I think honestly, just more people doesn't necessarily change the flavor or the you know, the nuances of a, of a location. So I'm hopeful that Costa Rica will still remain a magical, magical place and that that all of the features that drew people here will still be in place and that it won't become overpopulated.
Speaker 2:I think the local community has benefited a lot. There's been more work. I mean people who are buying land. Right now they can't get a builder. For two years I asked a guy to help me build a little raised garden bed with just kind of a greenhouse cover on it, just a really small thing. He said he can't get anyone to work with him because they're all on builds like everybody's working. So that's the great side of things. So the restaurants are busy, the hotels are busy, and if the hotels are busy that means they need more cleaning staff. They need more. You know. Just, it's a service industry in general down here. So I think it's good for the economy, but it's happening fast.
Speaker 1:People are just stuck inside for so many years and they're just dying to travel and then they've been holding all their money because they haven't been spending it. You haven't been able to, and now it's just pouring out. I'm noticing that in the job market right now. I'm usually working on five to seven jobs at once and I've got over 15. Right now.
Speaker 1:It's just nothing I've seen before. So I see that and what I was also curious and learning and listening about was the cost of things. It's driving up the price of just your day-to-day things and that's been tough. You're seeing the same as well.
Speaker 2:We are. So we're seeing inflation. I mean, obviously, gas prices. That's a worldwide problem and I always say Costa Rica follows on the heels of the United States. But really all of our economies are all global economies right now, like we are all impacted by things that are happening around the world. It's not this, you know, kind of segregated world, which is wonderful in many ways, but at the same time, when things are either going well or when there's less oil coming in because an entire country isn't exporting it anymore, things like that that's going to have an impact throughout the world. So we have seen I don't want to call it inflation, I know that's a proper term that I'm hesitant to use here. But my grocery bill I noticed I buy the same things at the grocery store. I mean I'm speaking entirely anecdotally I buy the same stuff and my bill is more. Now we're feeling it, not to the extent that it's not manageable.
Speaker 1:So you are in the Osa Peninsula.
Speaker 2:Yeah well, I'm right at the border. So I guess technically we're not the peninsula. We're in the canton of Osa, but we're not technically on the peninsula yet.
Speaker 1:How far away are you from the Osa airport?
Speaker 2:There are a lot of airports in Osa, so like Puerto Jimenez.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we have, golfito has an airport.
Speaker 2:I guess Golfito is technically. Golfito is technically not the peninsula, it's on the other side of the peninsula.
Speaker 1:That's what I flew into Well now Drake Bay airport, did you?
Speaker 2:we talked about corcovado and drake bay. You were all down in that area, right?
Speaker 1:uh there, and then I flew back up to san jose and went to the cloud forest and up there and then tamarindo and um manuel antonio and yes, yes.
Speaker 2:So drake bay, which used to be accessible by boat and drive, and they have a car ferry which is literally like a flat barge that a guy in a little motorized tugboat pulls you across and it's kind of a scary drive. So you could get there that way, or you could take a boat down the Sierra Bay River and then they would enter into the. You know they enter in the mouth of the ocean and then they come around to Drake Bay that way, so they call them water taxis and the hotels would, the hotels on Drake Bay would arrange that for you. But now the Drake Bay airport has four flights a day coming into Drake Bay. That was like the last frontier of Costa Rica, like that was the Southernmost undiscovered part, and now four flights a day into Drake Bay.
Speaker 1:Unbelievable. Well, I'm curious about Golfito, because when I went there it was literally smaller than a bus stop, Like just this little overhang and a dirt path, and you just got the little biplane and went back to San Jose. Is it still that small, I'm assuming?
Speaker 2:I don't know if Golfito is paved, I know they paved. There's another little regional airport near me. They paved that, but now the pavement has fallen apart. I know Drake Bay is still Drake Bay and Puerto Jimenez, I think, are still grass airstrips. Okay, yeah, they just paved Capos, which serves Manuel Antonio, which is a huge tourist area, and they paved that. That actually can take now international flights. Only you know small international flights but like, let's say, you were coming from Panama or from Nicaragua, or even maybe Mexico. Big jets aren't going to fly in there. It's still small, but they can apparently take international. That's so cool.
Speaker 2:My friends just came in on a flight and took the regional flew to San Jose, then took the regional airplane to Cape Os, and she gets on the plane and they don't have flight attendants. There are, you know, eight people on the plane, maybe 12. And she's like oh yeah, I mean it was a 9am flight, 10am flight. And the captain comes back and he's like well, would you like a beer? And she's like that is the coolest thing. And he like pulls a beer out of the. She's like, well, sure, I'm going to Costa Rica, I don't care if it's 10 o'clock and I'm on a little teeny, tiny plane and the pilot's offering me a beer. Yes, I'd like a beer. So there's still a lot that has maintained. It's what I think is so charming about the country.
Speaker 1:Now did the pilot drink a beer too?
Speaker 2:But yeah, the domestic travel has become easier and that is one of the I think we talked about this a little bit Some of the reason that people are not drawn to this area more for living as opposed to just visiting, is that you know we're four hours. We're four hour drive, three and a half four hour drive from the international airport. So if you're in a situation where you want to go back and forth, you're either on a puddle jumper and the downside of that is that you're limited to how much luggage you can take. So when you're like me and yet stuck up on all the Amazon stuff and come back heavy, you can't get on one of those or you have to pay a lot to get on one of those planes.
Speaker 1:So but isn't like Tamarindo, doesn't really? Is that like much closer than to San Jose and it still looks like it's quite a hike? But I hear about Tamarindo a lot in other places on the West coast or.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, tamarindo is a distance wise it's probably about the same. I think a lot of people for Tamarindo, though they would fly into um Liberia airport, which is very close. Oh, okay, gotcha. Yeah, I flew to Tamarindo on a regional airplane. My stepsister was here at the time and but I was living in San Jose, so we took a regional plane and it was a cow field. I mean, literally the cows were like the plain lands here, and and the guy who is the cow farmer was the one who was managing the airport and running the snack bar, which was, you know, coke and probably a beer or something along those lines.
Speaker 1:Okay, so it's still pretty rustic, is what you're saying. So I mean, I feel like it's rustic, but like. So if I want to go down there for a month and work, I'm kind of thinking maybe like San Jose area Just I heard there's like some nomad community or something and we want good internet connection but really probably only seriously work 20 hours a week because just going to the grocery store could take twice as long as it would. Here. Sounds like things like that, Okay. Or like Kristen's story about just take a nap. The road's blocked, Sorry. Bring a book, your laptop will work from there.
Speaker 2:I think one of the probably one of the greatest improvements, even in the time that I've been in Costa Rica, which is I'm coming up on five years now, has been the internet. So we are in my town. We do have fiber optic. It's not available where I am, but I know plenty of people who do have it. We have a little Internet cafe or I don't know. It's like a. What are they calling them now? They're not calling them Internet cafes.
Speaker 2:Boy, am I dating myself? That's probably like back to the 80s. It's like a workspace. So if you're working space, yeah, coworking space. So we have one at our little I call. Call it the dinosaur gas station Plaza, because they have these big dinosaurs. But I'm back in there and they have 100, like the download speed. It's like I mean nobody ever needs like what would you even do with a hundred? Like I've talked to people who are it professionals and they say nobody would ever need that much speed. So it is available. I don't have great internet but it's always been fine for me. I do zoom calls, I do, you know, I mean I watch Netflix and things like that. So it's been fine. But I would say there are very few areas that don't have internet access. My friend who lives on the Osa peninsula. He has internet but he still doesn't have electricity, so he's off the grid. He still has to produce his own solar electricity and he is a gas generator for when it's not that sunny, and but he has Internet.
Speaker 1:I was noticing the prices on your link, at least the listings I was looking at. They were like six hundred thousand plus from there.
Speaker 2:It's hard now. I mean I do get inquiries where people are like you know, our budget is under $300,000, which I mean it's just it's hard to tell people but like you can't really buy much for $300,000. I mean you can, but people also want an ocean view. People's criteria are also changing. One of the interesting things that more people are asking for is a water source, like access to a water source. I'm not talking legal, like I have town water. Right, most people want town water because you can get a building permit if you have a legal municipality water source. But people are looking for they want a river, a stream, a spring. So I don't know if you know, I don't know what's going on with preppers or I don't know, but it's a common question.
Speaker 1:Like people are thinking like I want to get off the grid and be totally sustainable, like everything gets knocked down or contaminated. Is there a lot of water sources there? There are, yeah, I mean I remember it quite wet.
Speaker 2:It was wherever I was at the end in the Osa. Well, one of the reasons that the Osa was not accessible by car was because there were so many river crossings. So now they have put in bridges and there were some river crossings that you could do in your car, but it was, you know, if it rained. I think I told you guys the story last time of how I got stuck down in Drake Bay because we went and then there was a huge rainstorm and we couldn't get back across the river because there was no bridge. You drive through the river and if the river rises you're stuck. So they've changed that, but, yeah, there's a lot of water there. I think that part of Costa Rica that struggles is the northern part in the Guanacaste region, and with more and more people there, I think there is some concern that there will be a strain on water.
Speaker 2:I was just at a house that we have under contract and my buyers wanted to go for a second look, primarily because these people have their own water source, so they are collecting rainwater off the roof. It goes into a catchment system and it is this like amazing, they've got these three huge tanks that I can't remember the figure of how much water they maintain and collect and they are providing all their own water and it's just from rainwater, that's been. It gets filtered. It goes through like multiple filter systems to filter out all the sediment and leaves and things and then it gets treated with just a small amount of chlorine, because you always have to treat with bacteria. Then it also goes through a UV filter to filter, like a UV light filter system to filter out any other additional bacteria. So it was incredible. I was so and this woman was. She designed it all herself and she went to the municipality and got the water system approved.
Speaker 1:Okay, you both are moms. Any flashbacks to the magic school bus? I don't know if you those are the kids.
Speaker 2:They had like the water system and all the like the plastic bottles, but it's kind of basically the same thing. In fact, I said that to her. I said I was just looking at for my new little garden, thinking about a drip system, and I've been looking online and seeing all these like really basic, you know drip system, because I'm going to collect the rainwater from the roof, go into a barrel and then just a gravity fed to water this little garden.
Speaker 1:So Colorado, that's against the law. You can't do that here. It's the rain. It needs to go to the farmers.
Speaker 2:Yes, I don't know if California is the same or not, but I'm studying for the Colorado real estate license exam. So I was licensed in New Hampshire years and years ago and I would like to maintain a license somewhere in the States. And since my daughter lives in Colorado and I thought, well, I don't know, eventually maybe I'll go back there for a couple of months or whatever, but it's Colorado is pretty interesting there, the real estate laws, and many of which are set up for exactly that purpose to protect natural resources. And Colorado is such a water provider, I guess for so many parts the Colorado river right.
Speaker 1:Yep, yeah, so it goes to. Yeah, southern California and we and we have this crazy ditch system from for the prairie side and it comes into town and there's a ditch actually in my backyard and they're all like turned on and turned off at different times of the year to filter out to the farmers like way out in the prairies. So it's pretty amazing and somebody has to like go uphill, but there's like they don't. They typically start flowing in like end of May to the end of July and then it stops, cause then all the there's no more melt, right, and you're right outside of Denver.
Speaker 1:Remind me where you are, yeah, and near Boulder Yep, near Boulder, okay. Yeah, going reminder, remind me where you are in near boulder. Yep, like near boulder, okay, yeah, go to arizona for wake surfing and, um the lake, pleasant. We were just there last month and it's freezing and everyone was like why in arizona is this lake freezing and it's fed by the colorado river oh that'll do it.
Speaker 1:Yep. So I'm just looking at a map of costa rica, but what jumps out at me is, above Costa Rica, nicaragua, this humongous lake. It looks like it almost looks like it's not even connect. I mean, it almost looks like another ocean is so huge Lago Cachabalda, or something.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and there's an island in the middle of it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you're a resident. Now you don't have to leave the country to get your no Correct. Okay, okay.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I still know plenty of people who do that. That process has become more challenging because of COVID, so now an added level of that. So in other words, if you're going to make a Panama border run to stamp out and stamp back in, you need to have a negative COVID test to get into Panama. You do not need one coming into Costa Rica. We used to have a health pass. I think you still have to fill out the health pass. I'm not sure on that, don't quote me. I did not have to fill out the health pass, but I'm a resident, so it just adds to the just one more layer of some hoop you have to jump through at a cost, right?
Speaker 1:Okay, gotcha, and do you find that when people move to Costa Rica, is there like a typical longevity that they stay like well, yeah, but once they hit 70 and their health starts to go, you know, start having issues. Now they move back to, you know, be close to their kids and stuff.
Speaker 2:I'm surprised at how many retired, older people there are here. They tend to be very active, healthy, older generations. I think I told you guys, my couple of my dearest yoga clients are 78 and 74 years old. And I'm telling you, this woman and I play pickleball with them. I mean they are, she works out like every day of the week. I just went on a hike with her. I mean they're in amazing shape. So I, you know, I think if, if you're in your upper years and you maintain an active lifestyle, I think it's fine, but it's, I think otherwise it's challenging to live here. We don't have sidewalks, we have gravel. You're walking over. You know roads are uneven. I think it's challenging if you're not in good physical condition. And yet there still are quite a few older people who manage. I think they tend to live.
Speaker 2:There are regions outside of San Jose that are a big draw. I think Atenas is an area that people are really drawn to. The areas outside of San Jose in the valley, like Santa Ana and Escazú, they have beautiful valley views. You could get to a place like Jaco. You could get to the beach in an hour. So you know there's appeal to that. There's a funny thing that we all sort of talk about. It's the magic four-year mark. So when people move to Costa Rica, it's kind of around four years whether they decide make it or break it. And I don't mean make it or break it Like there's some great thing that you made it here, but it's usually after about four years people decide you know, it's been really great, this is enough. But there are challenges or they're just certain things that I miss, but usually after they've stayed for four years, they're probably probably here for life. So I don't know what that says about me.
Speaker 1:I'm coming on five, yeah, so let's go to Colorado a little bit.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, and I would just like to. I would like to spend more significant time rather than just going for a seven 10 day trip. I guess I'd like to spend. You know, if I had the ability to spend two months there, or something like that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and summer is definitely like a lot of places, like summer is so, so hot. Don't come to summer, spring and fall. I feel like so many places we talked to like spring and fall, but but summer in Colorado is amazing, Like it gets hot but it's dry, and so I feel like there's not a day that's ever too hot for me here and it's a nice and it's dry. So nice break from all the humidity and they're like I crave the humidity so bad. I was in heaven in Hawaii. I'm like, oh my gosh, humidity is amazing. I may just need to go to Costa Rica just to hydrate.
Speaker 2:Right, always come. I'm getting ready to build a little cabina on my property. I mean, you just need to go to Costa Rica just to hydrate, right, you can always come. I'm getting ready to build a little cabina on my property. I think just my kids said, mom, we really need a cabina. I mean, like I give them my bedroom and I sleep on my hanging bed behind me as a couch and a bed, and I love sleeping out here, like I'm so happy, but like we just need a cabina. And they're like and you got yogis who come in and want to teach, want to have retreats and do yoga, and so you could just short-term rent it.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, that's what I'm thinking. I would like to somehow either put together you know someone that's like I know this woman's like into intuitive readings and she does yoga and just other people that do like wellness thing. I'm like I need to gather those people. I'm like we need to go somewhere. Or I mean like what I think is really really helpful small businesses where everyone works remote. So I work with about you know six, seven people that you know part-time, full-time, like if we could just work together for a week, instead of getting an office, it would make sense to get an office, because we're not all in the same town anyway. So, instead of the expense of an office, hey, go somewhere for two weeks, work, visit, have some fun and spend that office money and do things like that and like Costa Rica. I believe that'd be amazing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's a fabulous idea yeah, that's a fabulous idea.
Speaker 1:I actually feel like I live that because, you know, my kids through the divorce. They're at the house and then I rotate back and forth and then my girlfriend and I we work from home, and so it's almost like you know, we get to work, work, work, and then we stop and take a break, or actually we don't really stop, it's just, oh, we see each other and catch up and then, you know, go back and you know we'll have our covid party tonight, break the spell, but it's fun. I really do like that and you could also coordinate even I thought about, while we're talking is like with all of us folks you know that are on the podcast and go from country to country or place to place, and it'd be fun have a visit go on location yes, yeah, so I didn't realize that.
Speaker 1:I thought everyone had to fly into san jose, but it's like you flew to libera, is that like liberia, is it? And to go to tamarindo, do you like internationally fly into san jose and then just take a hopper over to these small?
Speaker 2:locations. No, uh, liberia is an international airport they have. They may not have as many flights to San Jose, but it's very available. I mean all the biggies, united Southwest, everybody.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay, well, that's different. That didn't exist in 2002. It was just San Jose, that was the only one, and then you took a little plane to the other areas. But that's, that's new.
Speaker 2:There has been talk for many, many years that there would be a large international airport to service the southern region, but I just don't think that's going to happen. There's talk now of moving the San Jose area, the San Jose airport, a little bit to the outskirts. That would actually be a little closer, like, I think, the Atenas area, so it'd be a little closer to get you onto the beach highway. We call it the Costa Nera, but okay, who knows?
Speaker 1:Is much going on. I don't know if we talked about this so much on the Caribbean side, or is it just all the actions on the Pacific side?
Speaker 2:Most of the actions on the Pacific side. I love the Caribbean side. I love visiting there. Their weather is almost I don't want to say it's exactly the opposite of us but the surfers love the option to go there when we're not getting surf here Oftentimes, on the other side, surf is okay and really well there. There are only a couple of places there it's like you know, it's reef breaks, I think, and there you have to be a pretty advanced surfer. You know it's going over rocks and swimming way out.
Speaker 2:I sound so non-surfer, which I I keep trying, and every time I do I get hurt. Last time I had bruised ribs. I mean I literally thought I was like, okay, I have for sure punctured some internal organ, like I was in pain. And then I just thought why do I do this? Like it's so much work for cocaine. But the Caribbean side, I mean I don't think their real estate market has blown up as much. I think they maintain a healthy tourist business. It's just smaller, you know. I don't know if it's because the way the Talabaca mountains are that, I don't know if it's a geography issue. Is it cooler?
Speaker 1:or hotter, it's about the same. Oh okay, is Limon the only town that's really got anything going on?
Speaker 2:Well, it's not a great destination visiting area limon, the cruise ships. Cruise ships come into two ports in costa rica punta renas, which is on the pacific side, and then limon, on the caribbean side, and, other than being a big shipping port, really have much going on. It's not a, not a place you want to go visit. And then Puerto Viejo, which is farther south, closer to the Panama border. That's very desirable. And then there's a cute little town, just I guess it would be north of that Cahueta, and that's lovely. But it's small and it's kind of I don't know how to describe it it's all kind of just centered around a smaller area, around the beach. It's just not. It's not as expansive. And I don't know if that's mountains, I don't know if it's the terrain.
Speaker 1:Okay, is there Turtle National Park? Is that?
Speaker 2:what that is. So that is the other popular. I'm glad you mentioned that that's the other popular destination area, glad you mentioned that that's the other popular destination area and people do go just for the turtles. So I think you have to go. It's like just north of Limon, but then you have to. I think you have to take a boat. Somehow you have to take a boat to get around. I don't think the roads go all the way up there. I do know a couple people who have visited there. It's on my list of things to do. Yeah, they loved it. They said it was very magical.
Speaker 1:I thought there was that was on the Pacific side, so they must have one on the Pacific side too, I do.
Speaker 2:We have lots of them. One one Tortuga. Playa Tortuga or, I'm sorry, reserva. Playa Tortuga is literally five minutes from me, so it's right on my it's on the beach that I walk all the time, and they do so. What they do is they actually collect the eggs for a couple of reasons the chances of a turtle egg making it with either being washed away or natural predators getting to them, and then, once the eggs do hatch, then the turtles getting into the water and surviving once they get there, very, very slim odds. And the other downside is that some people still believe that eating turtle eggs is good for your sexual health. So they, yeah, they believe it makes you girl.
Speaker 2:So is that actually?
Speaker 1:true, no. Okay, I expected a no, but just had to ask.
Speaker 2:It's illegal. I mean there's it's illegal to eat, to sell or consume turtle eggs. But I remember in San Jose there was a little place I used to go have ceviche and they had a little cardboard sign that said you know, huevos de tortugas. Sometimes it would be out, Sometimes it would sort of get moved to the side, like maybe when a gringo like me walked in. So yeah, it still happens. And so they do have poachers who will go and look for the eggs. So we actually have turtle watches, volunteers that go out with their flashlights.
Speaker 1:I do it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I know Right. And so they walk it like at two in the morning and they go out to look for nests, to try and get there before poachers get there and to scare off any poachers, and then they will, they report the nests to the biologists at Tortuga and then they go and they collect the eggs and they have. They've built this whole hatching ground which is still on the beach. It replicates their natural habitat, I mean, it's just in a different area. And then they watch, and then they wait when they hatch and then they do turtle releases. I've been on a couple, a couple have. Just I've been walking on the beach and I see a crowd of people standing around. I'm like turtle release, turtle release. And so I'm like you know, running and they release the turtles and just guard the area so that they can safely get into the water.
Speaker 2:And how big are these?
Speaker 1:turtles. Are they big turtles or?
Speaker 2:like just when they're when they hatch. Yeah, they're probably the size of smaller than your fist even, and uh, but they're the, the. I think we have the olive Ridley's, oh, I can't remember. I'll send you a link to the turtle reserve that lists all the different turtles. I think mostly on our beach we have the olive Ridley's, I'm pretty sure. Um, a couple of people have actually seen the when the mom turtles and they come back to the same beaches every year. So these mom turtles come back to their favorite nesting spot.
Speaker 2:So this beach that we walk on. My friend, my friend in world's best massage therapist, she and I walk there a lot and some people there's like a little road that goes down to the beach and so people have these four by fours or they have, you know, cars that'll make it, and so they drive right onto the beach and it is not legal in any part of Costa Rica to operate a motor vehicle on the beach. So we actually did a fundraiser. She gave chair massages at our local bar and restaurant two doors down from me, and we raised money and we bought signs that you know say no driving on the beach, because we got tired of chasing people off. We were kind of.
Speaker 2:We were known as, like, the turtle police. You know you can't park on the beach, but the sad thing was is that, genuinely, people didn't know you know they weren't doing anything awful, but they didn't know you couldn't drive on the beach. And then we explained we're like, well, turtles nest here, you know you can't drive on the beach, like you just can't drive on the beach. And they're like, oh, we didn't know that. So we thought, well, we should have some signs. So we bought the signs and then one sign has already disappeared and but yeah, it's a part of. I mean, it's a. Really, it's one of the things that I love about this area and the whales come here.
Speaker 2:I mean it's just, it's amazing.
Speaker 1:Oh, you have whale watching there too.
Speaker 2:The whale watching. There too, the whales come. So on this side we have the whales that are coming from the North right On the Caribbean side, that they get the whales that are coming around from the South, like the Antarctic right.
Speaker 1:And then what time? What time of year is good for whale watching on either side?
Speaker 2:Late August, starting in late August and it goes all the way until probably up until December, but the best month is October In this area we have all the kids have a day off from school and it's whales and dolphins day, so they have a day to go and, you know, go on a whale watch or whatever. So I think the local culture definitely is aware and celebrates the incredible like natural habitats that we have. I mean like we're so lucky to have this in our backyard.
Speaker 1:Literally, I could walk there, yeah. So how big do the turtles get that, you see?
Speaker 2:They're big. Yeah, I mean I haven't seen them, my friends who've seen them scuba diving, but they're I don't know. We're on a podcast Three feet atop three haven't seen them.
Speaker 1:I have friends who've seen them, scuba diving, but they're I don't know, we're on a podcast. Three feet atop Three torso size at least, oh, bigger than that. Oh, wow, three feet across, I'm assuming-ish. Yeah, yeah, that's like when I've got a place in Maui and right down on the beach and we'll just go and swim and they're that they're about that big too, which is just really cool.
Speaker 2:And you see them, just you're swimming off the shoreline.
Speaker 1:Oh, right there, yeah, and actually you're not supposed to touch them. And of course, my son, who was, I think, 10 at the time, was like wanting to touch stay away, because you're just swimming right there and they're just swimming with you?
Speaker 2:Wow? No, we don't. I have never seen any while I've been swimming. But I do watch the little ones and it's kind of sad when the little ones get released into the water because the waves are coming and you see them and then they get like flipped over and they're like struggling and you're like, go little man, go go. They make it, they get past the waves and then you see them sort of figure out how to swim. It's really cool. How many do they release at a time? Typically in one. They literally carry them in like a black plastic bucket. In one bucket it's usually anywhere from high eighties to just over a hundred. Yeah, so it depends on the size of the nest and then also, I think with every nest you might have a couple that just don't hatch for whatever reason, or they don't make it.
Speaker 1:But so in a nest there's like 80 to a hundred yeah.
Speaker 2:That's a lot. From that one nest there's like a chance that maybe one will make it, and that's with the reserve collecting them and incubating them in a safe spot, that's, you know, it's fenced off so pezzotes and other natural predators can't get to them. And even then the chances are so slim that's with 80 to 100, know, 80 to a hundred being born and hatched of that in the ocean, maybe one will make it. So, odds aren't in their favor.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's amazing. That sounds so much fun. Well, I definitely want to come back.
Speaker 1:There's so many things to see. I remember, you know just, I did a lot. I was there for almost a month and I went. I did not get to the Caribbean side but stayed on the Pacific side. But there's still so much and, wow, what changes with the airports and the cost of living. I don't know what the cost was back, but it was, you know, 2002. So it was a long time ago, 20 years ago, and it is kind of a wow that it's gone to prices like here locally in California.
Speaker 2:A lot of tourists will say we thought it was going to be much less expensive here in Costa Rica and are surprised that it's not.
Speaker 1:And then I've also seen in your newsletter a lot of homes. Are there a lot of condos there, just generally speaking, or is it more just single family homes?
Speaker 2:It's mostly single family homes or, you know, one property with multiple dwellings on it, so smaller. We do have one set of condos up the road from here. It's a pretty small development. I want to say maybe 18 to 24 units. They are on the beach. Well, they're not on on the beach, but they have a path that has access to the bayena national park. You know we have a sea coast. One of our national parks is the sea coast what's it?
Speaker 2:called, just out of curiosity, elan the the condo development. It's called elan and they're nice, yeah, um, ocean view, but you're in the jungle and they've got a nice common pool area. I think people who are not going to live here full time, who might be retired, really enjoy, enjoy those. There's also we have a small nine hole golf course not too far from here and they have condos not very many, fewer than 20 for sure. And then once you get into Hako, playa Hermosa, up north a little bit, and what are the costs?
Speaker 1:of those.
Speaker 2:I would say I think the condo I sold in Manuel Antonio was $249. It had a great rental history and it was I don't know. We went in there and it it said it slept. I want to say it slept like eight to 10. There were kind of two units, so there was like an upper and a lower and it slept to eight to 10. And I went in there and it was like my daughter's. She wasn't in a sorority, but if she had been it was like she and all her sorority sisters had moved in there. Like I mean it was crazy. You could just tell it was like young women. There was stuff everywhere, beauty products everywhere, and they were just practically camping. I mean it was probably three people in a bed. I was like, oh my gosh.
Speaker 1:Okay, okay. Well, that's pretty roomy for that price. That's awesome. So I just like to ask some final questions right after question, right through the rapid fire, since we know what you need for breakfast, um, but what are, like, the top five things sorry to catch you off guard um that, like, maybe you didn't get to do in covid, or that you know you find is special, that you know you want to do in costa rica over the next year, or that you have done since, or they have done, yeah yeah.
Speaker 2:So a couple of places where I have not been, that you really want to go Diamante Waterfall and a bunch of friends just hiked there. You can do an overnight where you actually sleep in. It's almost like a cave behind the waterfalls.
Speaker 1:Where is?
Speaker 2:that Diamante Waterfall? I don't. I couldn't tell you exactly where it is With a V or D as in Dia Dia, like Dia Diamante.
Speaker 1:You exactly where it is with a v or uh d is in data.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like that. Um, that is definitely on my list. Um, can I talk about non-costa rica things focus, sure, yeah, in panama, which is just this little outcropping of islands on the Caribbean side. I really want to go there. I haven't been there.
Speaker 1:Bocas del Toro. It's literally right at the border. Yeah, bocas del Toro. Okay, gotcha, I see it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's amazing the pictures I saw. So that's on my list, what else? So what haven't I done? You said you want to go to that, that turtle place on the Caribbean side or go to the turtle place on the Caribbean side.
Speaker 2:I did finally go to Corcovado National Park when my daughter visited, so that was huge. That's down in Drake Bay or near Drake Bay. We saw a tapir. We saw every all four species of monkey that we have in Costa Rica, so that was something great and any festivals or anything like like national events that are a big draw.
Speaker 2:Well, I was disappointed that I didn't get to see Coldplay. I was actually flying to Colorado and Coldplay was coming in, but Coldplay this was the start of I haven't read much about it, but their tour, um, apparently what they did is they wanted to make the whole concert, uh like self-sustainable. So they set up this system where they had the standing area in front of the stage. It was like a platform, and so the more the audience jumped and danced and moved around, it created the electricity to power the concert, so the lights would get. I mean, so Coldplay, right, but just so fitting with Costa Rica too, that they were really embracing our sustainability, you know, which has always been a huge thing, this country is going to be relying on entirely sustainable renewable energy sources within, I think it's two years. We're down to two years now.
Speaker 1:Really. Yeah, I did some work with the Department of Energy the loan program office on funding for clean tech space out of Washington DC, and it's a huge, huge push here in the US. Yeah, and it's been really interesting listening to all these companies and what they're doing, and that's the big push as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you can get people excited about it. You know, I think that, like, the locals and people who are coming to this country have really embraced that, and that's one of the draws is that they want to be in a country where, you know, I mean, if you have all this natural flora and fauna and all this great stuff to look at, what are you doing to protect it? So you know, costa Rica has done that. Where was the Coldplay concert In San Jose? At the National Stadium? Yeah, oh, that's so great.
Speaker 1:Do you guys get a lot of good music there? Is it common or not? Really no, not really, no. Okay, so do a lot of people drive electric cars in, or is there a push to electric cars or does it really matter?
Speaker 2:Very few electric cars and I don't think. When I was in San Jose I was at the tile store and they did have a couple powering stations, so I was pleased to see that. So I think it's probably taken off more in the city and I think there's a concern that there's. It's quite a distance, not physical, but at the time it takes to get because you're driving over mountains and around hills, there is a concern that you know you got to really be organized and make sure you've got a power station and all that. So I think the country's just not. I don't know that the mechanisms are here to support that yet. Hopefully soon, though.
Speaker 1:Wow, and they call this the blue zone. Right Is all of Costa Rica blue zone or just part of it?
Speaker 2:No, it's not, and I don't really understand entirely that blue zone. It's based on the longevity, how long people live, and they're relating it to lifestyle, diet, overall surroundings.
Speaker 1:Are there a lot of people vegan down there.
Speaker 2:It's becoming more popular. I'm sort of an outlier vegan. I try not to apologize about it, but oh, I know I want to. I want to hike Mount Chiripo and it was closed down. They actually closed it down and they were doing park maintenance and I do believe it is open again. So it is the highest point in Costa Rica and you really have to train for it. I mean, you Coloradians, coloradians, whatever we call you you probably wouldn't have to train as much. You're used to that. What are the hikes? My daughter talks about doing niners, no Fourteeners, fourteeners. There you go, fourteeners. So it's kind of the idea of doing a fourteener. You have to train a little bit for the change in altitude and I have been up in that region but I've never actually done the full hike up the mountain.
Speaker 1:So that's on my list and what's it called.
Speaker 2:Chirio, chirio C-H-I-R-I-P-O. If you find San Ysidro, degeneril or Perez Zeledon, it's the same. It's above that, it's in the talamaca mountains and it's the highest, highest peak.
Speaker 1:It's a national park oh, so it's south of san jose. Is that right, or did I'm pulling the wrong one? Uh, yeah, it would be kind of southeast maybe okay, yeah, I think chiro chimp, chiripo, yeah, oh, so it's not too far from you, like as a bird flies.
Speaker 2:It looks like Right. Well, I was just up in San Ysidro this morning. That's about an hour and a half, so it's probably another hour from there, okay, near Buenos Aires, yeah. And then Rivas de Los Angeles. Yeah, I know, everything's in Costa Rica. Huh, everything's in Costa Rica. It sounds amazing, this is awesome. Okay, so much to learn.
Speaker 1:I'm so glad we got to do this again.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we'll just say the office is always open for you to come visit or send your family members or whatever. Like I love when people just say you know, and it happens a lot, you know oh. I know someone who lives in Costa Rica. Just send them my way, I'll help them find good spots to stay and recommend, you know, good restaurants and all that and it just makes the. It makes the trip so much better. I mean, you know, you get all the secret, all the secret insider places to go, exactly.
Speaker 1:That's what I love.
Speaker 2:That's what made us want to start this whole podcast in the first place. I know well and if you plan any cool events that aren't in Costa Rica, keep me in the loop. I'm trying to do a trip to Peru. Um, I don't know if I'll be able to do that, but um, yeah, trying to do a Peru trip and we'll see great all right, well, thank you.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you so much. It's been so great to talk with you and, all right, have a great weekend. If you enjoy our podcast, be sure to subscribe to our show, rate us in your podcast app and follow us on Instagram at where next podcast. If you are interested in being a guest on our show or would like to nominate someone, please contact us on our website at wwwwhere next podcastcom. Thanks for listening, thank you.
