Sam and I white water rafting in Costa Rica 7 years ago

At Arenal Observatory Lodge 7 years ago

It has been 50-days ever since we moved to Costa Rica. I had not realized how crazy (or brave) we were for taking this leap until I met an American tourist at a restaurant here who responded with “that’s different” when I told him about our move. The guy asked if we decided to move here because we had been visiting Costa Rica a lot before. The answer is no. Sam and I’s first international trip together, seven years ago, was to Costa Rica and we were only here for five days. We split the time between San Jose, Puntarenas, and Arenal. If you’ve been to Costa Rica you’ll know that that’s not a lot of time at all. Especially when you have that much packed in a little amount of days. It takes FOREVER to get everywhere, especially back then when GPS was nonexistent in this part of the world and paper maps were our best friends. Not to mention the no street signs in Costa Rica. Sam had also spent two weeks in Costa Rica previously with his parents. Neither one of us, however, had ever been to the coastal towns of Guanacaste – where we live now.

Our home sweet home in D.C.

50-days ever since we finished selling our belongings and left our support system and one-year-old newly renovated home in Washington, D.C. Most people we have met here spent years planning their move to Costa Rica. Sam and I, however, decided within a week. We felt like we needed a break from the U.S and when Sam got a job offer at a school that sounded amazing in Costa Rica we figured it was time to pack up and move to the “tropical paradise.” I mean, how bad could it be… right? What made me more confident about the move is the fact that I had previously done two big unplanned moves in my lifetime and they both worked out great – one was when I moved away from my parents in Zanzibar to the U.S at the age of 12 (more about that sometime in the near future) and the second was when I packed everything I owned in my car, left Massachusetts, and followed Samuel to Washington, D.C. Both moves were risky but completely worth-it.

16-months Abey helping us pack and clean the house (and probably thinking – “these fools are crazy!”)

A week after weighing the pros and cons of staying in D.C. versus moving to Costa Rica on a piece of paper, we decided to accept the job offer and take the leap. Besides, we have always planned on living abroad at some point. We just did not think it was going to happen when our toddler was 16-months-old and we were 5-months pregnant (more about why this fact influenced our move in a later post). Is there ever “the perfect” time for anything though? Plus, life is too short so why not, right?

After accepting the job offer, the reality of everything that had to be done and all the changes that needed to happen in the next three months dawned on us. In fact, we only had two-months because we had month-long summer travels to New Hampshire, London, and Zanzibar pre-planned. Two months to let the fact that we are moving abroad sink in, find tenants for our house, undo all of the home décor I had just finished putting together, pack or sell our belongings including our cars, buy plane tickets, figure out how to get Squiggles (our pup) down, and take off to Costa Rica.With help from our support system, we managed to do all of the above (although getting Squiggles down has been more complicated than we thought). At 4AM on August 22nd 2017, after a sleepless night, with our life in eleven bags (including big items such as car seat, stroller, pack n play and mattress, and hiking back pack), we picked up our sleeping toddler from his crib, buckled him in a super shuttle, said goodbye to our home,  and headed for the unknown… new beginnings.  

We were so excited to see how green Costa Rica is… with mountains everywhere.

Right after we arrived we went for a stroll around our new neighborhood

Our first sunset in Costa Rica – Pura Vida!