In 2010, my wife and I quit our jobs and moved to Costa Rica--knowing absolutely no one and having no income whatsoever. I like to say that the decision was made by blindly throwing a dart at a map of the world. Although that's not entirely true, it certainly captures our haphazard style of decision making at the time.

That's why we think we are so lucky to have found a country like Costa Rica. We've since made a family-run organic coffee farm in the country our home for half of the year. In that time, we've come to appreciate five big things Costa Rica has to offer that anyone thinking of moving to the country should know about.

1. They don't hate on--nor are they impressed--with Americans

While the standards of living are well below what most middle class Americans are used to, most people have their most basic needs met. The country also has an effective health care system, college is very cheap, and there's a very strong democratic voting system in place.

That's all nice and good, but I'm only using it to explain this: Ticos (Costa Ricans) aren't impressed with, or angered by, Americans being in their country. My wife has traveled to several locations throughout the world where being an American meant being hounded for money. We've been in others--Europe especially--where we were looked down upon for our nationality.

It was completely refreshing to move somewhere where no one ever genuinely cared about the fact that we were from the States.  

2. Community matters in Costa Rica

This isn't just lip service. Let me relate with a story:

During our second year, we took a tour near the Arenal Volcano. Our guide was very personable, probably in his late twenties, and clearly educated. We asked him where he was from. He mentioned a town that was about 30 miles away (maybe an hour driving). He said that he'd never lived so far from his family before, and that he genuinely missed being with them and his friends.

(The family that adopted us)

We've noticed the same thing with the family that owns the farm that we live on. All of their neighbors are family, and they come and go throughout the day. Now entering our seventh year in the country, my wife and I feel like we're part of the community, because most of the community is related to each other. That creates strong social fabric and a safety net that no government could ever provide.

3. Coffee is a pretty great thing to have as your #1 export...and it has nothing to do with a morning pick-me-up

In America, small farms are disappearing quickly, and agriculture in general has become much more industrialized. That has led to a mass migration to the cities, and a slump in rural life.

While San Jose has certainly seen its numbers grow, the situation is different in Costa Rica. A big part of that is because there are over 70,000 families that grow coffee in Costa Rica. Inherently, this means that each and every one of these farms are relatively small. 

A big part of this is because coffee grows very well in volcanic soil, and volcanic soil is almost always found in mountainous regions. Given this type of topography, the coffee picking process cannot be mechanized, meaning that it simply wouldn't make sense for large multinational corporations to buy up huge swaths of coffee farms.

While farming coffee hasn't--to the best of our knowledge--ever made a Tico wealthy (especially by American standards), it creates a solid middle-class.

4. There is a lot of land devoted to wildlife

Think about this: 25% of the land in Costa Rica is protected--either as a national park or indigenous reserves. To put that in perspective, that would be like the states of California, Texas, Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota, Utah, and Washington becoming national parks overnight. It's mind-boggling.

What most people don't realize is that these parks are not all beaches and jungles. Costa Rica--for the tiny size that it is--has 12 different micro-climates. There're cloud forests, hot beaches, rain forest, and areas that feel like desert savannahs. Hell, the temperature usually falls ten degrees between the farm where we live and the nearest town, just four miles away.

The bottom line is this: there's no lack of nature to submerse yourself in, and the country has a clear devotion to preservation and conservation. 

5. It's affordable

We've heard from other ex-pats that the country is much more expensive now that it was just ten years ago. That being said, it's still very affordable. The general rule to live by is this: products cost just as much as they would in the U.S., but services are much cheaper.

The explanation is pretty simple: most of the products come from outside the country. Combining shipping costs with taxes causes these goods to be very expensive (don't even get me started on the prices and taxes on cars!).

But services of any type are ridiculously cheap. We needed to have a backhoe come to clear land for our house on the coffee farm last year. It ended up being a six hour job, and I was prepared for it to cost as much as $2,000. 

When I went up to the driver to ask what the rate was, he said it was $32 per hour--for a grand total of about $200. Ninety percent less than I was prepared for! The same is true for taxis, massages, labor--anything that doesn't involve an exchange of goods.

Of course, like any other country, the people aren't mono-chromatic. There are areas that aren't so friendly, others that are crazy expensive; some are terribly polluted, while certain towns have no sense of community at all.

But after living and travelling in the country for six years, I'm confident that most people visiting the country, and considering a move, will find these things to be true.

Photo Credits: Pixabay