97 Raising a family in Costa Rica

[Richard Bexon]

Good morning, Anastasia. How are you doing?

[Anastasia McCulloch]

Good morning. I'm very well, Richard. How are you?

[Richard Bexon]

Very, very good. How's the weather up there in Pleistococcus today?

[Anastasia McCulloch]

A little cloudy today. We got that storm that's supposed to be rolling in, but so far, I mean, it's still a beautiful day. I can't complain.

[Richard Bexon]

That's very true. Very, very true. Yeah.

I was in the, I was at, well, I mean, it's raining here in the Central Valley at the moment, but when I drove down yesterday, I was down in Uvita, Ochoachoa area down there, because I'm developing some land. It was like sunny here. And then I don't know how I got past my monotony and it got cloudy and then just got a little bit rainy.

So Yep.

[Anastasia McCulloch]

Yep. It was beautiful here yesterday. Everybody was like, how could there even be a storm coming?

Like it's gorgeous out there. And it's like, yeah, it's brewing somewhere, but, but yeah, we've had some, we've had some really nice weather up here. It is still a little more rainy than it usually is at this time of year with the Bonito that comes through, but hopefully that means that it'll extend longer in August and we'll get some really nice weather.

[Richard Bexon]

Yeah. I think one of the misconceptions, you know, a lot of people talk about the rainy season just in Costa Rica, but I think it's like, like it's beautiful mornings and usually like maybe get an hour or two in the afternoon and it kind of clears up.

[Anastasia McCulloch]

Right. It's so beautiful in the morning that you're like, there's no way it could rain today. And so you walk without your umbrella and then it dumps for two hours and then sure enough, the rain comes through, but yeah.

[Richard Bexon]

It's nice. Cause it gets a little humid beforehand and then it brings the temperature down. So, well, anyway, Anastasia, you've been in Costa Rica for quite a while now.

How many years is it?

[Anastasia McCulloch]

13.

[Richard Bexon]

Wow.

[Anastasia McCulloch]

Wow.

[Richard Bexon]

I mean, and it's been a crazy couple of last years, of course. I mean, I'm sure during those 13 years, it's been crazy, but the last has really been crazy. But I mean, the last six months, I mean, what trends have you, have you seen and what do you think, what trends do you think are here to stay?

[Anastasia McCulloch]

In terms of anything, travel, people coming, what are you seeing? I mean, people are definitely flocking down here more than they have been in previous years. I feel like when I first came here, it was in 2009.

And that was after the whole financial crisis and things going down in the United States. And so it was kind of a weird, uncertain time then. And then it was like the good years, you know, it was like, we had these blossoming years and lots of construction and new things going on.

And then with COVID, everything slowed way down, but it was kind of a nice pause. And I had a new baby at that time and everything. So I got to kind of step away from work and have a little more of that little blessing in my life.

And then, but now it seems like things are really ramping up again. There's a lot of construction going on out here in Guanacaste. San Jose has a ton of construction going on, new big buildings and this whole new sweep to like Airbnb.

I think that's really been a game changer in terms of, you know, how people are investing in the country and how people are traveling in the country. So it's cool, but there are definitely higher prices. I mean, things have really gone up quite a bit here in the past year, past six months, but it's a desirable place to be.

Like people, you know, people want to be in an area where they feel free to do what they want to do, where they feel like their kids can be safe and have, you know, healthy activities, outdoors, healthy food, all those things. So yeah, no, it's exciting out here, but there have definitely been many, many more people obviously than there were during COVID at this time.

[Richard Bexon]

Yeah. But I mean, if someone was looking to relocate to Costa Rica, because I mean, I think I'm starting to see a huge move towards that. A lot of people are like, look, I want to get out of dodge, whether that's from a political situation or just where they are or like the future, et cetera.

I mean, what advice would you give to them? And then also what do you think would be their biggest shock when they moved here?

[Anastasia McCulloch]

Okay, good questions. So the advice that I would give is come down and try it first, maybe come down and do like a long-term rental. It depends on everybody's individual situation of if they have kids, if they have school, if they, I mean, like if, but if you don't have those things, or if your kids are cool with, you know, traveling around a bit, like I would say, definitely come down and do it for a year and then decide if it's a lifestyle that you really want.

Cause I feel like by a year, you know, you know, if like, if you can hang or if this really isn't for you and then you've got an out and you can go back. But I feel like the most, well, other, other little things that you should do is like, like get on Facebook groups. I feel like expat groups are super useful.

You can connect with people, internations, just doing all sorts of research before you come is usually really helpful. But then once you're here, like that's where you can do more of that nitty gritty, like as far as buying a car or like looking for something that is a long-term rental or potential to buy. Once you're here, it's easier than doing all of those things from abroad.

And that way you don't have to worry about getting a bank account. You don't have to worry about doing some of these other kind of tedious things that like, I still don't have a Costa Rican bank account.

[Richard Bexon]

Wow.

[Anastasia McCulloch]

You don't need it.

[Richard Bexon]

You don't need it.

[Anastasia McCulloch]

I don't need it. Yeah. I don't need it.

And it's a hassle and there are long lines and everything else. So so I feel like once, I mean, once you're going to be down here, if you are going to purchase and you are going to make it a long, long-term thing, then yes. But I married a Costa Rican.

So as soon as we get into buying property, like we've got his bank accounts and so forth that we can do all of those things.

[Richard Bexon]

Put the work on Giancarlo, right?

[Anastasia McCulloch]

Yeah. I mean, I do the US stuff. But as far as things that will surprise you, I think that just like just slowing down, like the overall pace of life, people are really shocked at like how long it takes at a restaurant here.

And it's like, well, yeah, they went back there and they prepared your food. Like they literally and cut it and peeled it and took their time to prep it. And it tastes amazing and it's really good food.

But but it's not what people are used to in grocery stores and things like the carts are all over the place. People are a little disorganized, whereas in the US it's like you have this nice big aisle and everybody stays on their side and just little things like that. But I feel like life at the beach, one of the things that surprised my parents, I'm trying to get them down here, is how for sunset, everybody stops what they're doing and everybody goes outside and they go to the beach or they get up on their rooftop and you can see you can see people just like everywhere.

And it's like that is the time when you just totally disengage with whatever it is that you're doing and you go out and you appreciate the afternoon. It's so lovely. I feel like they have that during the day.

There's like morning snack and then there's coffee in the afternoon where everybody gets together. Yeah, it is. It is.

But it's some of those things that are like surprising, but they're so nice and just a great reminder of like, hey, whatever you were doing, it wasn't really that important. Like, take a little break. But it's lovely out here.

I feel like moving here, I have added years to my life. Like that's one of those things. And that's what I want for my parents, too.

And I feel like a lot of people can benefit from slowing down and getting out of like all the political madness and the news and everything. I just feel like here it's just much, much, a much healthier lifestyle.

[Richard Bexon]

I agree. I agree. I mean, you lived in the Central Valley for quite some years as well in Eskazoo.

And also now I've lived in Coco for a couple of years as well. I mean, how would you say that life differs from the Central Valley to the beach?

[Anastasia McCulloch]

I feel like biggest things, excuse me, one of the biggest things is traffic.

[Richard Bexon]

Yeah.

[Anastasia McCulloch]

Wow. Is traffic a serious thing in the Central Valley? And it is more hustle, bustle, and it is more city and there are buses everywhere.

And, you know, people running around, whereas here, like I was sitting at a stop sign a few days ago for, I don't know, 90 seconds or something. And there were like four cars lined up and I was laughing with my husband saying like, oh, look, there's traffic. That's our little traffic for the day.

Because here it's just, it's totally laid back. Nobody's in a hurry to do anything, which can be a good thing and a bad thing, depending on if you need something done. But yeah, there are a lot of travelers, a lot of large international influence out here.

I mean, different kinds of food. You hear a lot of different languages, a lot of expats or tourist travelers, people out on horseback, people doing snorkeling tours, ATVs and stuff like that. Whereas in the Central Valley, it is more a little bit like business, school and much more stressful, in my opinion.

Like it's just very crowded. And yeah, it didn't take me long to get used to the beach life.

[Richard Bexon]

I mean, a lot of people that I speak to, they're worried about finding friends, community, my kids finding friends. I mean, how difficult do you think it is to make friends and create a community at the beach?

[Anastasia McCulloch]

It's easy. I mean, it's easy to make friends at the beach because there are kids out. I mean, the kids here, a lot of people are more like kind of that free range parenting style out here.

I mean, they really do let their kids go run around. All you got to do is sit at the beach for 20 minutes and there will likely be some kids that come over and start rolling down the hill with your kids or start playing in the sand. I feel like people here are super friendly and it seems like they kind of look out for kids in a different way too.

Like there's sort of a known parental, like, hey, let's walk back over here to the park. It's a bunch of mama hens running around, taking care of the kiddos. But there are schools and there are daycares and there are programs and swim lessons and dance lessons and all sorts of things.

Oddly enough, you might find that your kid is going to dance lessons with the man who developed LinkedIn or somebody who's living over in Papagayo and it's like, what? I never would have imagined that there are some very big hitters living out here, living this new lifestyle. And then you happen to run in with them with your kids.

But it's cool. And then San Jose is even easier, I feel like, to make friends and be in different schools and programs and so forth. We're looking for horseback riding out here.

Oddly enough, I can't find anybody who offers horseback riding. So it's like in San Jose, it's just everywhere. You just go and do it.

But it just depends on the kind of lifestyle I think you want your kids to live. I feel like in San Jose, there are many tribes of mothers that get together, as you know, that do things. And that is something that you definitely have more access to in San Jose than you do out here.

[Richard Bexon]

But I don't think anybody should ever be worried about finding friends and their kid finding friends and creating community at the beach because everybody's looking for that. Everyone's looking for that.

[Anastasia McCulloch]

Yeah. Well, and I think that comes down to the whole family unit here, too, and village and community. People are much more friendly here than I feel like they are in the U.S., where everybody's in their separate home and they might not even know their neighbor. Whereas here, you do. You definitely know your neighbor. You see him, you walk, you say good morning.

And if you need to borrow anything or whatever, it's a very friendly community. So I think you're right.

[Richard Bexon]

I can't keep my neighbors at my house, to be honest with you. My door's like a revolving door. And one of my neighbors got a bar in his house and all the neighbors go over there on Friday.

And yeah, I mean, it's I mean, I think community is very strong still here in Costa Rica. And I think that in the Western world, that's what we've lost and it's eroded, you know, because unfortunately, I know every single one of my 60 neighbors. So.

So, yeah. But anyway, anyway, I mean, a lot you mentioned the car earlier. I mean, you know, and people are like, hey, I'm going to come down there and buy my big, you know, Ford Raptor or, you know, something like that.

I mean, what would you suggest people buy when they move down here and why?

[Anastasia McCulloch]

First car, something a little more like a beater, like, especially if you're going to be living out at the beach, you don't want to spend a whole lot of money on a super fancy car because getting parts and doing repairs and things like that can be really tough here. Cars are expensive here, too, like considerably more expensive than what you would pay for something in the US. And so I would say something, I don't know, it could be like a Pathfinder or one of those big Suzuki's or something that that can handle.

[Richard Bexon]

You're saying like Asian cars, though, right? Mitsubishi.

[Anastasia McCulloch]

Oh, well, yeah, you can get way parts are much cheaper for those kinds of vehicles here versus US made cars. Definitely. One hundred percent.

And inevitably, you're going to kind of mess it up. You know, these roads are not for just driving down with no issues. You do.

There are potholes and you you kind of want to go off roading like you do want to go to these places and you want to go see that hidden beach and you want to go find that waterfall. And in order to do those things, you do have to be prepared to go off road a little bit and you might get some dings along the way. So I would just say a used vehicle and something that you're not going to be too upset if you get a dent in the car.

[Richard Bexon]

And also, I think something to be aware of, nobody cares what car you drive here.

[Anastasia McCulloch]

Oh, they don't.

[Richard Bexon]

Like if you drive around in a Porsche, they're like, you're an idiot. You're an idiot. That's a city.

That's a city. Someone coming from the city.

[Anastasia McCulloch]

Yes, absolutely. It's so true.

[Richard Bexon]

No, no offense to Porsche drivers in Costa Rica, of course.

[Anastasia McCulloch]

But, you know, you know that like, oh, that person obviously does not care at all about money. And those cars are more likely to be like vandalized or things like that. You know, like like somebody being like, oh, who is this kind of kind of a deal?

But yeah, having a car that doesn't look like it has much in it is probably a good thing.

[Richard Bexon]

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, what do you think of the I mean, we've covered some of this anyway, but do you think there's anything else of like why Costa Rica may be a better place to bring up a family than the US?

I mean, we've mentioned community. A lot of people have questions about schooling, Anastasia, like is the schooling as good down here? You know, I mean, I mean, what's your viewpoint on that?

[Anastasia McCulloch]

So I would say with regards to schools, there are some excellent schools down here. And so like over in my neck of the woods, there's Lakeside, there's Delfines, we have internationally accredited schools, like we have CRIA, which is the Costa Rican International Academy. We've got La Paz, we've got the Christian Academy over in Liberia, Earth University opened up a new say over here.

So there are a lot of options. And there are a lot of like, outdoors, classrooms, and like, you know, real life learning, project based learning, things like that, that go on that aren't happening in the United States. Like, it's not mandatory that every kid have a tablet down here.

And so I think that it's just a different, it's kind of like going back in time a little bit, but with new knowledge about what kids need, and how kids thrive. And I think people are really concerned about the mental health of kids too, because they see what's happening in other countries, they see some of these problems that are coming up with so much technology. And they're like, well, we don't really want to do that.

You know, we want to enrich these kids with different ways. And we want them to have community. I think that is super important in schools here.

So I feel like there's a lot of opportunity, you might want to supplement here and there without with other programs, extracurricular kind of activities. But overall, I've been impressed with what I've seen in terms of schools here. But yeah, and then other other things that people probably worry about with a family is like, you know, having healthcare, having access, if you've got an emergency, I feel like we have excellent care.

Like I walked my dentist's office, my house, and it's excellent care. And it's super cheap. We have a large hospital, US style hospital in Liberia, which is like 35 minutes away.

We have clinics down here, like you, you can get care, different levels of care. Obviously, if you need something pretty serious, San Jose is the way to go, because they just have the best. The Children's Hospital in San Jose is like world renowned.

I mean, it's very well known, excellent care. So I think in terms of all of those things, and another big thing is just like health, physical health, and your access to outdoor activities and good food, like food that tastes like food tastes like it was grown in the ground. And it really is like that instead of this sort of plasticky.

I don't know, it's beautiful, brightly colored, but it doesn't really have a flavor of space food. Yeah, there you go. So for all of those reasons, I feel like it is an excellent place to raise kids.

And I do like the fact that for my son, we have the option to go to the US, right? Like we, we aren't stuck here, we can travel, there are flights everywhere, right? Costa Rica is also really lucky in that is that you can easily jet out to just about anywhere in the world.

If you want to take your kid and expose them to something else, whether that's in the US or in Europe or in South America. So yeah, I think it's an awesome place to raise a family. I'm looking forward to perhaps extending our family a little bit, growing the family a little bit.

And then, you know, being able to talk even more about it, because right now, he's just, he'll be three soon, but we're getting into the fun stuff.

[Richard Bexon]

Nice, nice. Yeah, I mean, I again, you know, I mean, I'm biased as well. But I think Costa Rica offers all the options.

I don't really think anybody should be really worried about moving here. You know, I think it's again, you've just got to, if you've not been here before, come and visit, you know, for a longer period of time and really figure out, you know, whether you like it or not. And different areas of Costa Rica offer different things.

I mean, you know, Oaxachao, Uvita down south is different than Jaco El Eduro, which is different than Santa Teresa and Osada, which is different than Tamarindo, Flamingo, Grande, and Playa del Coco and Hamosa, very different communities.

[Anastasia McCulloch]

Absolutely, absolutely, very diverse. And getting in on those Facebook groups is another good way to find out. There's like Tamarindo chit-chat, Coco chit-chat, Capos chit-chat, those, I find those to be very, very helpful in terms of looking for and gaining a sense of the community.

[Richard Bexon]

Yeah, definitely, definitely. And I just, I always like to ask people, but I just wanted to, you know, I mean, there's a lot of developing beach towns here in Costa Rica and not the main ones. But I mean, over the next five to 10 years, what do you think of those beach towns that are really going to begin to develop that aren't as developed at the moment?

[Anastasia McCulloch]

I think that Nosara, I think that Santa Teresa is going to boom. I mean, it's already booming. They don't have that much more land that they can use, but I do think that it's going to continue to grow.

So that Nosara Guillones, possibly Portrero.

[Richard Bexon]

Yeah, yeah, Portrero is really taking off. They have a water issue at the moment, so it's not going to, they can't build that much more anymore. But yeah, I mean, and it's amazing that when you look at stuff that like everything is based on water availability.

[Anastasia McCulloch]

Right, yeah, yeah, it is.

[Richard Bexon]

We have tons of water here, but they do like, that's how they kind of control the development of beach towns is by not giving them too much water availability.

[Anastasia McCulloch]

And that's how they do it, you know, so it's kind of more of a land so cheap when you see really cheap land, it's like, oh, you're not going to have water for eight years or whatever. So yeah, absolutely. But I think also the Southern Zone is another just booming area that Uvita, Orochal, Dominical.

And they have, that's a lovely, lovely area. The people are very interesting down there. And I think health and wellness, mindfulness, you know, outdoor.

Yeah, yeah, it's a whole other world down there versus what it is up here, which is beautiful and interesting. And I think it's a great place for kids to grow up as well. My issue with that area is that the nearest hospital was like kind of far away and get into the airport.

That's another thing is like, I want to be close to an airport. So, but we'll see, we'll see if they ever get another airport built down there. They keep talking about it.

[Richard Bexon]

I don't think they'll get the airport done anytime soon, but yeah, I mean, I, you know, it's a three, three and a half hour drive from San Jose or, you know, Kepos is, you know, which is like 45 minutes away is your nearest airport, your nearest airport and also nearest hospital. But yeah, it's, it's, yeah, I mean, it's, again, I mean, I like to say it's horses for courses, different horses for different race courses. It's different people for different beach areas in Costa Rica.

And you just have to, that's why you've got to come down here and see it to be like, that's not for me. Yeah. I mean, it's like, and you'll know instantly, you'll get to an area and be like, yeah, this is it.

Or they'll be like, no, this is not me. This is, this is just not me, you know, so. Yeah, exactly.

Anastasia, my last question for you, if you inherited $500,000 and had to invest it into a business or real estate in Costa Rica, what would you invest it in?

[Anastasia McCulloch]

Oh, dear. Hmm. I think that I would do something that is a, not a high-rise, something that maybe has like a couple of units, just a few units there.

And I would rent it out as an Airbnb. I would probably look maybe around Flamingo or Uvita. I think either one of those areas, they're not too, too big.

They have beautiful ocean views and they're places that people aren't like afraid to go. You know, I feel like sometimes people are a little concerned about going way far out of the way, but I feel like those ones are far enough out of the way, but still close enough that you have creature comforts and, and it doesn't feel like you're going into the bush.

[Richard Bexon]

I think that's smart. You'd make good returns for that for sure. You know, on either, in either of those options, but well, Anastasia, I really appreciate your time for coming on the podcast today.

Anyone want to contact Anastasia? She is a, she does do planned vacations, luxury vacations here in Costa Rica. So anybody looking to vacation in Costa Rica, I'll put our email address in the description and you can reach out and contact her, but really appreciate your time Anastasia.

[Anastasia McCulloch]

Thanks Richard. Always lovely to chat with you.

[Richard Bexon]

Have a great day.

[Anastasia McCulloch]

All right. You too.

[Richard Bexon]

Bye.