We prefer to "experience local" and rent houses instead of staying in hotels or resorts. WeI found a house on VRBO and selected it simply from the beautiful pictures on the listing - We really didn't know anything about the area it was in except that the house was perched on a mountainside above the Pacific ocean - We booked it! We arrived in San Jose and already had a car hired to take us southwe
st to the beach town of Dominical close to the VRBO home. We arrived at night and it was raining hard and very dark. The rain soon subsided and we took our cocktails out to the pool, but could'n't see a thing due to the darkness. Suddenly a loud, guttural evil sound wafted through the jungle and we quickly retreated inside - not know what type of creature that horrendous sound was coming from. Later found out it was just a harmless howler monkey - but to a neophyte, that sound was LOUD and who knew it came from a monkey! After more drinks, we took to bed and thought we drank too much since that bed was really spinning and moving. We found out later the next day that the bed movement was actually due to an earthquake! We awoke early the next morning, with the help of a "Tucan alarm", and opened the doors looking out to the Pacific and it was truly life changing. We had never seen such a beautiful view and immediately knew this was a special place. It was on that 3 week trip that we investigated the country and the real estate market, made contact with a local realtor and returned in November of 2009 and bought our property - about 25 miles south of our first VRBO rental
This page documents our 10 year experience which will culminate in the completion of our long awaited retirement home. For those of you who have come through this long journey with us, we apologize for the ad nauseam discussions of Costa Rica and our plans, but hope you will come visit when our home is finally completed!!
