Brian and Melissa were working hard and living the American Dream. They had secure and well-paying jobs in San Francisco, lived in a nice house by the bay, drove a new car, and had excellent health and medical benefits. Everything a typical young couple would want in life . . . .
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 make ends meet, and had become thoroughly caught up in the rat race. Weekends, which were supposed to be spent doing the things they loved, 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 very rare occurrence.
They soon realized the American Dream of racing around to pay bills with little time for relaxation was not how they wanted to spend their life, and they could not stomach just making ends meet for the next 30 years of their life. In other words they thought they were throwing away the best years of their lives just to pay for being part of the American Dream.
As they began to approach 30 years old, they started thinking about starting a family. They decided they didn’t want to set their kids up for the same letdown, and didn’t want to raise kids in the “consumption” environment in the United States. They wondered “how will we possibly be there for our kids when we hardly ever have time to be with each other?”
Their parents had worked when they were kids, and the idea of raising their kids the same way — either with a full time nanny or by putting the child in daycare — did not appeal to them. Further, they realized living in San Francisco (or most places in America) with kids on a single income was virtually impossible. They were unwilling to delay starting a family, but didn’t know what other option was available to them in the States.
After doing some research, they realized that without working full time, let alone starting and enjoying a family, it would be impossible to survive in the USA. Just the risk of going without health insurance alone made it impossible. And, they also had to worry about car payments, student loans, 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 for living options 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. Also, countries in Latin America were attractive since they studied Spanish in high school.
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 a third of what they had paid in San Francisco. After some research they were able to find a two bed, two bathroom home, with AC, pool, large rancho, on a half-acre lot, located in Playa Samara. It was a small Mediterranean-style home, in a safe area, and about a 5-minute walk to the beach.
Playa Samara is a small beach town on the Nicoya Peninsula which offered a chance for them to go swimming every day, biking through jungle trails, snorkeling, fishing, and having a blast.
However they very quickly realized some drawbacks to the beach lifestyle. For starters there was the heat was oppressive. They ran the air conditioning almost non-stop in the bedroom otherwise they couldn’t sleep at night. They would even be dripping sweat just watching movies. During the day they could go the beach and or go for a swim in their pool, but at night, cooking dinner on the stove, the whole house felt like an oven.
In addition the home was new and relatively remote. Phone and Internet services hadn’t been installed, and it didn’t look like they would be any time soon. Brian had secured a part-time job, but it would require daily 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 with a limited selection of food items, 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.
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. Costa Rica is known for its fresh produce, but not way out at the beach towns.
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. Even though they were locals they were still Americans, 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 Heredia, Grecia, 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 they saw within their budget were amazing, and around three times the size of their beach house.
The city of Atenas appealed to them more than any other place, mostly because of the size and charm 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. They had access to just about anything they needed, and if Atenas didn’t have something it was just a quick drive from other, bigger towns. 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, three banks, a private medical clinic, many restaurants, three hardware stores, appliance stores, and there is a farmer’s market every week with very fresh produce at 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. The town even has its own “Gringo” enclave at Kay’s Gringo Postres. 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.
