Living in Costa Rica – From San Francisco to Samara to Atenas

By all conventional measures, their life in San Francisco was great. Brian and Melissa had very secure jobs in the marketing field, a new car, a nice house, great health and medical benefits, and all the comforts of being a typical young American couple…

Getting to this level in life had not actually been very difficult for them; they went to college, worked hard and played by the rules. So as far as they were concerned, at 28 years old, they were successfully living the American Dream.

But pretty soon they realized that they were working all the time just to pay bills, and thoroughly caught up in the rat race. Weekends, which were supposed to be fun, soon became full of work too; for laundry, cleaning the house, going to the supermarket, the occasional home repair, car repair, or veterinary visit. Having a totally free weekend day was a rare occurrence.

They soon realized the American Dream of racing around to pay bills with little time for relaxation was less than desirable, and they could not stomach grinding out a living for the next 30 years of their life. In other words they thought they were throwing away the best years of their life just to pay for a dream.

As they began to approach 30 years old, the idea of having and raising children became more prevalent in everyday decision making. They concluded that raising kids in the “consumption” environment in the United States would be a disaster. They asked ‘how could we make time for a family, when we hardly got to see each other?”

The idea of having a full time nanny or a daycare to raise their kids did not appeal to them. Further, they realized living in San Francisco (or most places in America) as a one-income household with kids was virtually impossible.

After doing some research, they concluded that there was no way to survive in the USA without working full time, let alone starting and enjoying a family. The health insurance situation alone made it too risky to try anything. Add on a car payment, rent, and every other monthly expense, and it’s simply impossible to exist without two full-time jobs.

It was then that they began to look outside the USA. They searched countries with a pleasant year-round climate, a stable government, a stable economy, affordable high quality health care, much lower cost of living, and quality education options.

Originally from Huntington Beach California, and priding themselves on being beach bums in their spare time, they began looking for rentals near the coast. They found a rental home for about 1/3 the cost of rent in San Francisco. A two bed, two bath home, with AC, pool, large rancho, on a half acre lot, located in Playa Samara. It was a small charming home, in a safe area, and about a 5 minute walk to the beach.

Playa Samara is on the Nicoya Peninsula which offered a chance for them to go swimming every day, snorkeling, fishing, biking through jungle trails, and having a blast.

However they experienced a few drawbacks to the beach lifestyle. For starters there was the heat. They ran the air conditioning almost non-stop in the bedroom otherwise they couldn’t sleep at night. They would even be dripping sweat watching just movies. During the day they could go the beach and hop in the water, but at night, with the stove on cooking dinner, the whole house felt like an oven.

In addition the home was new and relatively remote. It had no phone or internet service. Brian had secured a part time job, but it would require internet access. Needless to say that meant almost daily trips to the internet café for a few hours, which was less than ideal.

The main problem at the beach is lack of services and infrastructure. There was only one bank in town, one mini market, one internet café (that appeared to open and close at random) and a few restaurants. If they wanted an item that wasn’t in stock at the market, they either had to wait several days, or drive 45 minutes to the loud and crowded city of Nicoya for it.

Furthermore, Samara was at the end of the produce line, so by the time the fruit and vegetable trucks made it out to the beach, the selection was pretty poor to say the least.

They also noticed that a beach town in the high season increases prices on everything. New menus come out at restaurants, beer prices go up, internet café prices go up, and so on. The general rule for these towns is to get all the money they can during tourist season. Since they were Americans as well, the high prices were charged to them just like any other tourist.

They stayed in Samara for about five months, but decided that it was time to make a move. Seeking something a little removed from the beach, they visited towns in the central valley, like Grecia, Heredia, San Ramon, and Atenas.

They were immediately struck by the price differences on everything from restaurant bills which were about 50% less than they were at the beach and internet cafés were about 70% less. In addition the homes for their budget were amazing, and around three times the size of their beach house.

They liked the area of Atenas more than any other place which was mostly due to the size of the town. The downtown area is small, easily walk-able on foot in a matter of minutes. The park in the center of town is nice and clean. There are no traffic lights in town, and there wasn’t the noisy city aspect that they experienced in places closer to San Jose.

Atenas is a nice small town, with friendly people, and it was much more affordable and convenient compared to Samara. Further, it is known to have a really comfortable climate which was truly a delight after the heat and high electric bills at the beach.

Another benefit to living in Atenas is that everything one needs is right in the town center and you walk across town in just 10 minutes. Downtown Atenas has three large, fully stocked supermarkets, four banks, a private medical clinic, many restaurants, three hardware stores, appliance stores, and there is a farmer’s market every week with the freshest produce imaginable for incredibly cheap prices.

Atenas, itself is not a tourist destination. It’s just a tranquil community of people living in a small town. In fact, Atenas boasts the largest per capita expat population outside of the business district around San Jose. In addition to low prices, there are plentiful utilities like phone lines, high speed internet, and satellite TV readily available to almost any home.

Brian, Melissa, and their dog, Pancho, have found that Atenas is home and they have no plans to leave. They live comfortably on the part time income of one person, versus two full time incomes in the USA. They’ve made many good friends in town, and have plenty of free time to enjoy. In addition, whenever they get the desire to head down to the beach for a few days, it’s just a short car ride away to the high heat and high prices.

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Considering The Atenas Area For Your Home In Costa Rica?

The AARP (American Association of Retired Persons) ranks Atenas as one of “The Best Places to Retire Abroad.” For more information about homes and land for sale in the area please contact our Recommended Realtors in Atenas 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.