Liberia vs. San Jose Airport

In traveling to Costa Rica, there are two airport options to fly into. Liberia is the smaller of the two and flights are more expensive. However, the airport is less than an hour away from Guanacaste, which is the area that my wife and I enjoy visiting.

San Jose is a larger airport and is in Costa Rica's capital city. Flights are usually half the price ($300 to $400) but the airport is about a 4 hour drive from Guanacaste. While the prices are alluring and a 4 hour drive may not seem like such a bad trade-off, driving conditions in Costa Rica are much different than in a fully developed country. Driving at night or in inclement weather is strongly advised against, so it's important to consider flight time arrival and whether you're visiting in rainy season. With rain, low lighting conditions, and rough roads, driving from San Jose can be a more challenging proposition. (Trust us, we embarked on the journey at night and in a strong rainstorm during our first trip to CR - not exactly the best way to start a honeymoon!)



Both airport options have their pros and cons. We have our fingers crossed that Liberia will get some competitive interest from other carriers such as Spirit or Airtran. That should fix the only big con with Liberia, making Costa Rica travel more affordable and convenient.

What measures can one take to help get a new airline to Liberia? Do you know of other airlines or ideas that we have overlooked? Additionally, this post has made me think of ways to more easily stay informed on travel flight deals. How do you do this?

A Magical Opportunity

Ever since April and I first visited Costa Rica, we’ve had our eyes set on owning a spot in this beautiful country. As we explored homes and investment opportunities in the past, we were always left hesitant by the risks and the lack of community around potential homes. Last summer, we had the fortune to be introduced to Las Catalinas, and now through connecting with the team and hearing their vision, we believe that we’ve found the answer to our questions and an opportunity not only for paradise, but for the community we’ve always sought.

Over the past few months, we've been talking with some of our friends about investing together in a home at Las Catalinas. Last Tuesday, we hosted a great group of friends for a meet and greet with Charles Brewer, who blogs about Las Cat here. Charles walked us through a “day in the life” in the community. He detailed the vision for the town, the progress of construction, and the opportunities for home owners. He shared why they chose the country and location while communicating all the riches the region has to offer. Having been there before, he didn't need to sell me very much, but it was eye-opening to see how positively the others responded to his presentation.  

It was fantastic to be able to share news of Las Catalinas with our great friends. I enjoyed watching them learn and hearing the fantastic questions and inquiries they had. Many of them have already followed up with next steps on exploring this great place and we're hoping to take another trip down to Las Cat later this spring. 

I can't wait to see how the development has progressed since we were last there in August and we have a whole lot of hiking, biking and paddle boarding to catch up on! But most importantly, we are excited to share Las Catalinas with the ones we love and to further introduce our friends and business partners to the breathtaking community and thrilling lifestyle of Las Catalinas.

12 reasons that help Costa Rica to be so darn cool!

April & I have been big fans of Costa Rica for a while now. Which by the way means "Rich Coast" in Spanish, which I embarrassingly didn't put together for way too long. Anyhow, we've spent a lot of our time reading blogs and tweets about the country but we've noticed that there is A LOT of noise out there on the web, particularly folks duping content and trying to sell advertising on their site...so we put together some of our favorite fun facts about the country below for you. Hope you enjoy!

1. Even through Costa Rica is just slightly smaller than the state of West Virginia, there are still over 800 miles of gorgeous coastline. 
2. By plane, it's less than 3.5 hours from Atlanta to Liberia international and just around 4 hrs to the capital city of San Jose. 
3. The country is committed to maintaining its green qualities. Over 1/4th of Costa Rica’s total landmass is dedicated to reserves, wildlife refuges, & national parks. This makes for fantastic hiking, biking, and sightseeing.
4. I've read a lot of varying reports on "average temperature"...and although it does depend greatly on altitude, the year-round range seems to be in the range of absolutely perfect, 70 to 90 degrees F. And they don't have hurricanes. For real. 
5. It's a democracy, yeah! It's actually the oldest democracy in Latin America. And they have a woman president...progressive!
6. An estimated 95% of the population participates in election voting. We Americans average around the 60% mark. Shame on us...
7. The country claims five percent of the earth's total species making it one of the richest ecosystems anywhere. 
8. It boasts one of the world's highest life expectancy rates at 78.9 years (and climbing). The US is estimated to be 78.4. Not a huge difference, but definitely a surprise to me.
9. No Army! They abolished it in 1949 and decided to instead invest in public resources & education as well as infrastructural improvements to benefit their people. Can you imagine that?
10. THE VOLCANOS!
11. Costa Rica always ranks top of lists for the world's best surfing, sports-fishing, dive spots and great mountain hiking. No surprise there; thats the reason we love it so much!
12. Costa Rica is the happiest country in the world...so says the Happy Planet Index (HPI) which takes into account how people rank themselves in life satisfaction, as well as other factors like life expectancy and ecological footprint. I believe them.

What else have you heard about Costa Rica? 

Our Journey to Las Cat

“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new landscapes, but in having new eyes."     ~ Marcel Proust

It’s only three and a half hours from Atlanta by plane and an hour long car ride once you land. It’s often times called the gold coast, and that’s a most fitting description for what we laid eyes on when we arrived in the Guanacaste region of Costa Rica. For many people who have never visited this country, it may seem like just another Central American destination, but for those who have, it is truly paradise.

Nestled in the hills of the peninsula behind Flamingo beach, was Casa Los Monos aka “The Monkey House”, and our headquarters for the weekend. It is an incredible home, but not the attraction we had come to see. Across the bay from the house laid the reason for our trip, Las Catalinas, 1,200 acres of beachfront property that may soon become one of the most beautiful and enjoyable communities ever built!

Las Catalinas is an upcoming development town overlooking the seductive beaches of the pristine Zapotal Peninsula on Costa Rica’s North Pacific Coast and the project of developer businessmen Charles Brewer and Stuart Meddin. We came to visit Las Catalinas and to learn what the future would hold for this community and how we may be able to get involved. 

Our weekend was full of adventure, culture, exquisite experiences and tropical beauty. We snorkeled on Playa Dantita, paddle boarded in the open water, sailed through the bay on a sunset catamaran ride, and ventured to Lola’s, the most quintessential beach-side restaurant you couldn’t even dream up (Lola’s owner, Don, is opening an identical restaurant already in development at Las Catalinas). One of our favorite activities was hiking the property to see available lots and visualize the architecturally rich homes that will embrace the property’s enviable topography. 

Charles and Stuart have described Las Catalinas in perfect detail on their blog and website, and it was hard to imagine such a place existed until we saw it with our own eyes.  

The town is bordered by a pristine curved beach facing the ocean and a vast natural tropical dry rainforest which the founders have pledged to leave undeveloped. Cars are pushed to the background and no massive hotels will encroach on the beauty of this town. The founders’ homes are being built on the main town square, symbolic of their desire and preference for community and interaction rather than seclusion and exclusion. After spending time with the developers, it is evident that unlike some of the mega all-inclusive resorts, Las Catalinas is designed to accentuate the harmony and community of Costa Rica.

The Founders are bringing an unparalleled positive impact to the region. They are improving the surrounding towns, supporting local schools and projects, and prioritizing the importance of green space rather than over-developing the acreage. Their desire to create a paradise that envelops the best of CR will be what makes Las Catalinas one of the most desirable pieces of paradise in the world.  

It was a true honor spending time at Las Catalinas. It’s been less than a week since we returned and we are already pining for the time when we can go back.  We’ll never forget standing on the balcony of Casa Los Monos where Charles and Stuart traced the skyline of Las Catalinas, their budding community and future home.  It didn’t take long for us to see the opportunity for growth of this development.  We truly believe there is a future for us here and we'll certainly be back soon.

Pura Vida!

It’s been almost 2 1/2 years since we first came to Costa Rica on our honeymoon looking for adventure and relaxation. What we found was paradise, and we haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since!

Besides the gorgeous countryside, there is much to love about Costa Rica.  The country is approachable and embraceable because of its proximity to the U.S., prevalence of spoken English, democratic government, and tropical cuisine.

After our honeymoon, we set our sights on moving to CR, but as you can imagine, it’s easier dreamt of than actually done. Most people don’t want to uproot and move away from the life they’ve worked hard to build - and we’re no different. So how do we get our fix of the Costa Rican dream?

We have started exploring ways to find our piece of the country and plan to keep this blog updated with our progress.  We’ll also post about our travels to and around CR, some of our favorite spots, and the insight we gain along the way. 

*	We hope you enjoy reading about our experiences and love for CR. And of course, we hope you get the chance to visit the country and experience all the blessings that make it so unique!