A Single Woman Retired in Costa Rica 2/4 – Jan’s decision to leave New Mexico for Costa Rica in late 2008

I am one of the lucky ones.

Fear and loss and realness came upon me early and forced me to start thinking about some new approaches. I was single and 54 year old.

I woke up in May, 1996 in pain. My skin even hurt! I got up and showered but knew that something was fearfully wrong. Living alone in my beloved Ranchito San Pedro I called a friend to take me to the local clinic. Unable to afford health insurance then I depended upon a local sliding scale clinic for my medical needs.

By the end of the day I had been sent on to the local hospital emergency room and then rushed to a Santa Fe hospital where I underwent emergency surgery to try to identify the cause of an overwhelming bacterial infection centered in my spine and threatening my life. An antibiotic resistant strain of Staph! (I had unknowingly contracted this staph infection during a previous back surgery 18 years before and my body had kept it isolated.)

6 1/2 weeks and 3 surgeries later I emerged with a tortoise shell brace, a walker and a quarter of a million dollar medical debt. Having no health insurance or follow up care I depended on friends and the generosity of other artists who helped raise some money to cover my rent and living expenses while I healed.

Paying off my medical debt was out of the question and I was forced into bankruptcy. (A study reported in the American Journal of Medicine found that illness and medical bills contribute to a large and increasing share of US bankruptcies) A big wake up call of change and fear for a basically optimistic person who had always enjoyed good health and worked hard for a fairly stable lifestyle!

I began to fear the future….

First I had to get past denial. If I don’t listen to the news or talk to others I can believe that everything is just fine! This was one of the coping mechanisms taught to me by my mother.

In their later years my parents nearly wore out their video copies of ‘Mary Poppins’ and ‘Sound of Music’ so that they could stay happy! Personally, I think that Denial and its next door neighbor, Distraction are perfectly fine short term strategies. But in the long run they don’t help you move forward.

Eventually the rational mind will try to find appropriate actions to take. I once bought the book, Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway just to have it in my bookshelf. I never read it. I pretty much knew what it said inside and I just appreciated the reminder!

The next 12 years brought more changes as I struggled to fight my way back to success and the Middle Class. I taught watercolor, hosted workshops, got a loan to buy my New Mexico home and published a book.

But my pre-existing condition made me unable to qualify for health insurance.

When additional surgeries were needed I again fell into medical debt. I refinanced my mortgage to pay. The last refinancing was in response to one of the almost daily unrequested phone calls that I received from mortgage lenders just 2 months after my last surgery.

Later I found out they were called ‘Predatory lenders’ and that they obviously had access to my private financial information. Suddenly I was living in a financial ‘house of cards’.

At the base of the balancing act was a mortgage swollen by medical debt – a shaky foundation. The entire structure was contingent upon continued good health, optimum rentals for the casitas and plenty of students for workshops and classes.

At 65 I had a small social security income but the $670 per month would be impossible to live on. I had Medicare — but my last surgery for degenerative disk diseases still left me $3,000 in debt. My savings were minimal — just for emergencies.

So, in the pre dawn moments of early 2008, as my sleepy mind sifted through my ‘what if’ list, I felt an initial jolt of warning — like the first tremor of an earthquake. All it would take is one slip on the ice covered porch outside my front door for the entire, magical house of cards to come tumbling down.

While watching television a few nights later I saw the too familiar economic line graph showing a rise followed by the precipitous downward turn and it occurred to me that I could superimpose that graph over my accumulated ‘wealth’ of things! Instead of ‘supersizing’ my life, I would ‘downsize it’!

I would make the pre-emptive strike for a manageable life before I was forced to live in the rubble! I found online and signed up for a tour, Live in Costa Rica on Your Social Security and a few months later walked into the little Tico house in southern Costa Rica, with the only horizontal surface other than the floor being the toilet seat — and I knew it was perfect.

Here was my blank canvas for the creation of a new downsized lifestyle. Here I might be able to live just on social security. As soon as I embraced the idea it became kind of fun. Like — how could I make enough money to move myself, two dogs and four parrots to Costa Rica?

5 huge garage sales showed me how to let go of stuff I thought I’d never part with. When my sons decided they didn’t want the old, unsorted photographs — they got thrown out. I gave away paintings and clothes and furniture I couldn’t sell.

Each time I would feel a twinge as I let go and then turned my attention to the next thing. I decided to walk away from my house that wouldn’t sell. My goal was to get enough money to take as little as possible to Costa Rica and start over – simply.

At the same time my house moved into foreclosure I took my first solo steps into my new life in a new country. It was Christmas Eve, 2008 and I had just turned 66.

To Be Continued…

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Written by VIP Member Jan Hart who is an American artist/teacher/writer living in a little Tico house above San Isidro de El General in southern Costa Rica. Jan has built a studio and two cabinas at her home and offers watercolor workshops and adventure opportunities described on her www.JanHart.com website which you can see here.




Jan’s workshops are open to all levels of experience and include opportunities to see and experience the life she lives. Her book, The Watercolor Artist’s Guide to Exceptional Color is a widespread favorite among watercolor painters and published in 5 languages. Jan’s 200+ page ebook about her first year in Costa Rica, What Do You Mean I Can’t Move to Costa Rica? Is available through WeLoveCostaRica.com here.

If you have a serious interest in buying a home, a farm or land that’s for sale in the San Isidro area, please contact our Recommended Costa Rica Realtors: Daveed Hollander, James Drews and John Wieland, by using the simple form below:

Andrew Makarik

to@welovecostarica.com

Andrew Makarik is the main editor of WeLoveCostaRica, a fan of this sunny country. He is also a loving husband and a has a lovely daughter. By being a devoted family man and the biggest Costa Rica fan, he wants to make more people feel at home there. WeLoveCostaRica unites people and helps them find new home or a new travel destination. This website is a friendly community where everyone can find not only information, but also new friends and travel pals. Andrew is also passionate about IT and programming, so he himself maintains a friendly atmosphere in this cozy environment of WeLoveCostaRica.com.