Episode 25
Katherine Stanley Obando

It’s pitch black. The constant chirping and buzzing of an unseen world envelops you. And there it is. You finally see it. A snake, curled up, in a tree. Until now, you heard the insects and scurrying of footsteps on the first floor, pushed away branches and slapped away insects. Your nerves are now three dimensional, now that a snake can strike from above.

One of the others in the group as point to that snake for a few seconds, but it is nighttime in the jungle and it took your eyes time to adjust. When they first flashed their light on it, you were taken aback by the deep darkness on either side of the beam slicing through the night, and the size of the bugs flying into the light.

And, well, your mind hadn’t bounced back from the massive tarantula you just saw coming out of it’s nest through a massive hole in the ground.

This is much more of a wildlife adventure than you imagined, on this night hike in the cloud forest of Monteverde, in the central highlands of Costa Rica.

During your time in Monteverde, you have seen a butterfly garden and an orchid sanctuary and a sloth sanctuary. You have also seen countless actual sloths, and monkeys, and quakers making cheese. You’ve walked miles up boulder and gravel paths and roads, watched thick droplet of mist clear in the mornings, and massive clouds roll in over the tree tops in the afternoons, in just one small pocket of one of the most biodiverse places on earth.

Although small, just 19,000 sq mi, the size of West Virginia or Denmark, and a population of just over 5 million Costa Rica is home to over 500,000 species of animals.

That is due, in part, to such diverse microclimates in pockets of mountain tops and valleys, beaches, bays and long stretches of ocean on both the western coast (that’s the Pacific) and the eastern coast, which is the Caribbean. Along with geographic diversity, Costa Rica is also home to an interesting and under-acknowledged cultural diversity. Much of the Nicoya peninsula is made up of cowboys on ranches and rural farms inland, while the beaches are home to a laidback surf culture, local ticos mixed with expats who come for the eco-friendly lifestyles and off the grid living. There are pockets of indigenous locals left in Talamanca and the Osa Peninsula, and, according to the latest national census, 8% of Costa Ricans are black, half of whom live in Limon, on the caribbean side and speak English. The central valley ,home to the capital of San Jose, Alajuela and Heredia, among other cities and towns, is the most urban, with several large universities and most job opportunities that aren’t reliant on farming or tourism.

When you live in a country like Costa Rica, it is easy to get sucked into the nature and the notion of Pura Vida, or Pure Life, but it’s always important to keep the nation’s complex and layered history in mind.

Living in Costa Rica, you get used to the slow pace, the manana attitude, and the colectivos. A colectivo, or collective bus, is a local bus that stops where you ask it to along a given route. At first, these rides might seem incredibly slow or inefficient, but you get really used to just getting where you need to go, without doubling back from a predetermined stop.

In Costa Rica, things somehow just seem to work out. That’s a sentiment my guest and I today talk about. In her 17 years living and thriving in Costa Rica, Katherine Stanely Obando got much more than she bargained for, including a beautiful family and a top notch career leading the most well known english language newspaper and launching not one but at least two businesses during the pandemic.

After interning at La Nacion national newspaper, she became a writer, then editor, then Managing Editor of the Tico Times, the English language newspaper of record for Costa Rica and all of Central America. She worked as a speechwriter to Costa Rican President and Nobel Laureate Oscar Arias during his second term in office, then penned a book called Love in Translation. During the pandemic, she launched a much needed business called El Colectivo 506. You heard that right - colectivo, like the bus.

Listen to Episode 25 to hear why she and her co-founders chose that name and what the company is, plus find out how this American from Maine sent 40 college internship applications, 39 were rejected, and the one accepted in Costa Rica changed her life.

five reasons why people move abroad to Costa rica

Five top reasons why expats choose to call Costa Rica home

Reason #1: Nature

You can’t live in Costa Rica without becoming one with nature. Because nature is everywhere, from the 500,000 species of animals across the country to the relative few who visit you in your home. But the sight of sloths and monkeys hanging or swinging from the trees while you drink your morning coffee… well, there is nothing like it.

Reason #2: Peace

Costa Rica is often cited as one of the world’s most peaceful countries with minimal conflict due to the fact that they have no army. That’s true, and there is also a much less confrontational approach to life here in general.

Reason #3: Easy Spanish dialect

As far as dialects go, the Spanish here is quite easy to understand and to learn. There are many slang words, of course, that could take you your life to learn, but in general conversation, the dialect is very easy for new language learners.

Reason #4 Universal healthcare

The healthcare system in Costa Rica is generally quite good, and the country is home to a public healthcare system. This is a safety net helps many expats in their later years feel comfortable choosing this location as their destination. Costa Rica was voted in the 20 healthcare systems in the world, and number 1 in Latin America.

Reason 5: The beaches

Contrary to popular belief, Costa Rica is not an island. That said, the beaches run the entire length of the Pacific and Caribbean coasts, plus there are are peninsulas jutting out that make for even more beach around the horn. While getting all the way from the Pacific to Caribbean or vice versa is a time investment (the roads in Costa Rica require slow traveling), from the central valley you can be on placid blue Caribbean water or surfing the Pacific in 4-5 hours.

I also just want to point something out. You know what I didn’t say? the food. Unlike more familiar Latin American cuisines like Mexican or argentine meats and wines, you have to search high and low for a Costa Rican restaurant in your town. But when you live there, and you eat your gallo pinto or rice and and beans for breakfast, or fruits that you’ve never heard of before, or Ensalada Rusa - a delicious beet salad, or licuados (fresh fruit in water of milk), you realize that this not so spicy, not so cheesy fresh food is perfectly sustainable, delicious and fun to discover. The longer you live in Costa Rica, the more often you probably eat at least one meal from a ‘soda’, which is a small restaurant that serves up a perfectly balanced, delicious combo with rice, beans, plantains, a protein, and some kind of cabbage.

I could go on and on about the benefits of living in Costa Rica, but I’ll leave it there for now. If you have questions about moving to Costa Rica, or moving abroad in general, DM me and I’ll make sure to get you info you need to inspire and inform you to follow your dream.

About Katherine Stanley Obando

www.atherinestanleyobando.com
On Twitter

Find El Colectivo 506
ElColectivo506.com
On Instagram @elcolectivo506

Find Katherine's book
Love In Translation

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About Adventure Calls

Adventure Calls is produced, edited and written by me, Jessica Drucker. Thank you so much for listening. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, then head over to iTunes or wherever you listen to podcasts and rate and review the show. Every single rating helps so much for me to reach and inspire more people.

If you're feeling really inspired and want to start thinking about how you can actually make your move abroad, pick up a copy of my book on Amazon, How To Move Abroad And Why It's The Best Thing You'll Do is essentially a masterclass in book form. Taking my 15 years experience living abroad and distilling that into 300 pages, you'll get step by step tips on how to move abroad in 90 days, how to get your paperwork together, how to get a visa advice on how to blend in like a spy, how to learn any language in the world and more, head to Amazon.com and pick up your copy of How To Move Abroad And Why It's The Best Thing You'll Do today.