Living in Samara, Costa Rica. Interview with Samara trailblazer Franz Werkstetter.
A while back I sat down and spent a wonderful morning with a true Samara trailblazer Franz Werkstetter. Franz shares his story with us:
“In 1984 the first time I came to Sámara, it was an enchanting place at the end of the world. Electricity was brand new, public water too. Television was very snowy, you couldn’t see the ball in a soccer match and nobody had a bicycle.
Sámara and Carrillo together had less then a dozen cars. 3 kilometers outside of Nicoya the asphalt stopped and the last 20 kilometers of the road to Samara were muddy or dusty roads with no bridges. There are many rivers that are all still there, but today you don´t notice them.
When it rained a lot, which was normal, Sámara was isolated for 2, 3 or 4 days and there was only one public telephone, when it worked. You waited in line for half an hour to make a call, if you had very good luck.
To send a fax you had to go 38 kilometers to Nicoya. A lot of people went to work in banana plantations in the south for a month once or twice a year and fishermen, like all over the world, would be drunk for days when fishing was good or hungry the other days.
On summer weekends, the buses from the Central Valley came, sometimes many more than a 100 people. We would have great parties and suffer Monday depression.
There were very few basic cabins for tourists with chickens running around inside while dogs were kicking out the pigs. Even today as then there are horses everywhere. But the cattle that were so plentiful are now mostly gone.
And the people? Tranquil, rural character, rural language, no vulgar words, respectful. I felt back in my early childhood in my grandpa’s very little village in the southeastern corner of Germany.
I feel like I have returned to my childhood and in paradise, not only chicken, pigs and cows, but also monkeys, parrots, wildcats, mangos, oranges, bananas, jungle, and the beach!
So came what had to come, and in 1989 my oldest daughter Rebeca was born and I got more serious and bought a farm, 3 kilometers from downtown Sámara and the beach. Now I had my own paradise and a hell of a lot of work!
A third of the land was untouched forest, a third was cattle lands and the rest was upcoming new forest. I planted about 45,000 trees, in part with commercial trees and about 25 native species. I became a pioneer in this field and introduced bamboo from Colombia. I also brought from India the famous Neem tree, a source for organic insecticide.
Today I need three minutes to get to the beach on paved road and over bridges. 8 years after I bought my property, we got electricity, then a telephone. These things were very difficult to get in those days. Today I have an excellent Internet-connection and instead of paying $4 a minute for international calls, I have it for free and wherever I am on the property. Sometimes I still can’t believe it.
So much has changed and so much is like it always was, howler monkeys do what their name says at 5 o’clock in the morning and 5 o’clock in the afternoon. Often they are in the trees in front of my veranda, so I can look in their eyes from a 3-meter distance.
Many, many different birds are around like always. The ocelot is hard to see, but they are around. Like many other animals, the armadillos make a big mess when they eat in the garden.
A system of walkways connects the creeks and the river on my finca. Often I hike with friends to enjoy a unique natural setting, each time enjoying a new experience, seeing what I didn’t see before, and often seeing things you would not find in a national park.
Only a small part of my farm is developed now for building lots and no forest has been touched for this. However luxurious my buyers may construct their homes, the greatest extravagance here always will be the surrounding nature.
And all this while being only 3 minutes from my favorite beach bar!
Living in Samara, Costa Rica. Interview with Samara trailblazer Franz Werkstetter.
Article/Property ID Number 3329
Andrew Makarik
to@welovecostarica.comAndrew 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.
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