Posted by Steve Linder on Mon, Jan 18, 2010
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As many of you may know, I was just in Costa Rica leading two back to back property tours. I just returned on the 14th of January and am now catching up on my blogging.
The first group arrived on New Year's eve for a tour starting on December 31st and ending on the 3rd of January, a quick trip to our developments to tour homes, home sites and the area around us. Our trip started at the Martino Resort in Alejuala, a suburb of San Jose. I rounded up all twelve of our tour mates at the airport on various flights, a very busy time at the San Jose Airport, and took them to the hotel. The Resort Hotel Martino was hosting a new year's eve party, complete with live music, a fixed menu dinner, champagne toast and fireworks at midnight. Since most of us had just arrived on flights from across the US and Canada, we all decided to skip the party, opting for a good night's sleep instead.
Did I mention the fireworks at midnight? It seems the owners of the Martino like their fireworks. Starting promptly at midnight, we were serenaded by an hour long concert of booms, kapowees, and blasts of light as smoke and ashes rained down on the hotel. Many of these booms rocked the hotel and shook the windows. As I lay there trying to sleep I thought about how much I love Costa Rica. No one from the hotel complained, welcome to our first day in paradise.
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Posted by Steve Linder on Sat, Dec 12, 2009
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"One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well."
Virginia Woolf
Who, What, Where - The culinary scene on Coast Ballena is not what you would expect it to be-that is, a bit of a mixed bag with great local food at cheap prices 
and expatriate chefs renowned in their homeland who can't get good ingredients. There are several restaurants that indeed deliver great quality food. Ojochal is known along Coast Ballena for having the best restaurants. In fact, it is not uncommon to find people making the drive from San Isidro, Dominical or Palmar to Ojochal to sample the best cuisine around. One restaurant in Ojochal clearly stands out. Lucy and Robert Levesque's Exotica Restaurante would set a mark of culinary excellence and personal grace anywhere on the globe.
Looks can be decieving - As you drive up to Exotica on the main Ojochal road, don't be discouraged by the traditional Pilsen beer sign that bears the Exotica name. When you enter the dining area, you will see that it does have the traditional outdoor configuration of the Costa Rican soda. However, what is also clear is that Lucy and Robert have gone to such great lengths to dress up the atmosphere in elegance that this is a restaurant for quiet chic dining. The candles, centerpieces, and music-among other things-give a comfortable flair that comforts the soul.
Meet the owner - The grace of the restaurant is further accentuated when you meet Lucy, who lives life to smile and serve her clientele. If you make a late reservation you may even be able to sit down with Lucy to talk with her about the positive jolly perspectives she has on living after having been in Costa Rica for over 10 years. Upon opening the menu, you will peruse quite an extensive assortment of world cuisine with a slight bias toward Costa Rican ingredients. For starters, try the generous blue cheese salad, with the best assortment of greens around. The pâté is also to die for. Finally, the Vietnamese chicken soup will make you feel like you are in a jungle in Laos and not in Ojochal.
Choices choices - There are about 20 main courses that grace the pages of the menu, and all of them are worth a try. However, there is a consensus assortment of preferred dishes. The duck loin with orange sauce is a standout, cooked to perfection to order with an always delightfully crispy skin. The most popular dish in the restaurant is the filet mignon, the best cut of beef to be found for at least 100 kilometers. The bourguignon sauce is the popular choice for the filet mignon, but the other sauces (green pepper and mustard) are fantastic as well. Seafood is all wonderful with choices of such delightful sauces as garlic butter and banana curry. A sleeper on the menu is the stroganoff. This heavy cream-based dish with fresh tomatoes and extremely openhanded use of basil make this one a real treat.
On to the desserts - Lucy has a catering business on the side called Dulce Lucy (Sweet Lucy), and the name is well deserved. Desserts are Lucy's personal passion. The thick and rich brownie with ice cream is the popular choice. The mint velvet pie is an extremely refreshing frozen treat with a chocolate crust. Lucy's specialty sugar pie with a sweet custard filling and traditional pie crust is another delight.
Lunch Treats - A separate lunch menu is served and is of equal quality and value. Highlights are a warm goat cheese salad, lasagna, and a creamy seafood soup in a flakey bread bowl. n fairness, we must mention that on occasion, there is quite a bit of noise coming from the cars speeding down the Ojochal road, and if there is a hard rain on the metal roof, your quiet evening could end up being anything but quiet. However, the culinary experience at Exotica is not to be missed. You will feel warmed by the positive atmosphere and filled with the exquisite food. The quality is unparalleled and compulsively consistent. On Costa Ballena, nothing could be better. (Closed Sundays)
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Posted by Steve Linder on Fri, Dec 04, 2009
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Are there families with Children? There are families who have moved with children to Costa Rica but not as many as you would find in the general population in the states since families at that age and stage of their lives when they are having kids often don't have the desire, money or both to leave their safety net of friends and family. The ones who have moved into our town are very close knit and have frequent get togethers. They typically all go together to the weekends often going to the beach on Sunday. They will do things like hire a surf instructor to keep the kids busy, have a picnic or barbecue or play soccer or volley ball.
What activities are available for children? Costa Rica does not have the same level or types of activities as the states. You won't find a bowling alley or arcade nearby. For us adults, we do have a new golf course opening this year just a few 
miles south of us and there are plenty of bars and restaurants. For the kids, we do have good old fashioned activities, the kind that kept us in shape when we were growing up. The kids in our town swim in the rivers and waterfalls, horse back ride, ride ATV's, hike, grow fruits and vegetables, catch bugs and butterflies, kayak, play soccer, swim in the pool, play at the beach, surf, go fishing in fresh and salt water, make a dam in the river and things like that. There is less TV watching and video games although that is still an activity here. While we do have a small playground in our developments, in reality it is rarely used. The great outdoors offers much more attractive activities and the kids in town seem to prefer swimming in the river or playing soccer to going to the playground.
Where would I stay with children? If you want to come visit for a while, we have a number of hotels in town we recommend that are good for families. One is the http://www.villasgaia.com/ where the rooms are cabins, suitable for the whole family with multiple beds, rates are around a $100 per night and include breakfast. They have a nice pool, good restaurant that stays open late and a great hiking trail that leads across the mangroves to the ocean that is always full of wildlife, monkeys, hawks, parrots, toucans, macaws. The rooms have AC but I don't think they have TV. They offer tours to many tourist attractions, zip lines, river tours, dolphin and whale watching, kayak tours, white water rafting, horseback, nature walks, waterfall tours, hang gliding, etc. Unfortunately we do not allow children under 12 at our guest house visit property tours. Just put them in the kennel for the weekend.
Another popular hotel is the http://www.elbuenavista.com/ which is my preference however it sits on top of a knife edge ridge which leaves a few places around the hotel where kids need to be careful or they could tumble down the hill. They have both rooms with kitchenette in the $75 per night range and family rooms with 2 queens. There is no TV and no AC but the views are great of both the mountains and ocean and we regularly see large flocks of parrots as well as pairs of macaws and toucans. The rate includes breakfast but have no restaurant but we have some great restaurants in the village as well as a good grocery store.
We are a village, not a city. What we have is a much greater sense of 
community. On every other Sunday we have a pot luck brunch that rotates from house to house and typically gets upward of 50 people. We often have poker night for the guys, a women's club with over 400 members that plans regular activities and Pizza night at the local pizza shop on Saturday that is also a popular event. Many of the bars and restaurants have regular events and parties, though these are typically aimed more at adults. We have a small library, a bull ring for our annual bull riding and events like community yard sales, recycling and soccer challenges.
Who are these people? The families with kids get together often and although life is different here than in the US, it is in many ways much better. So the families we have are what I would call "life style changers". People who wanted a different way to bring their kids up, a greater sense of community where they know their neighbors, for their kids to learn Spanish and become multi cultural. This lifestyle is not for everyone.
Where do they go to school? Most send their kids to the "international school" in Uvita, the next town up from us. Some send their kits to San Isidro to boarding school (about an hour away) where they stay for the week and return on the weekends. We also have some that home school their children. We have a brand new school opening in January 2010 that already has 50 students enrolled. There is daily bus service to a large school in Cortez that comes through town and drops off in the afternoon where many people send their children. We do have a school in Ojochal but it lacks good curriculum.
What about shopping, movies, etc? We do have ample shopping, malls, movies, etc but you may have to drive an hour to get there. The movies we have in town are "movies in the jungle" where someone has a big screen in their back yard and they project the movie onto the screen with a DLP projector and everyone sits under the stars. The hosts serve cocktails and popcorn, etc. We also have parties hosted by local restaurants once or twice a month. We are also about 25 minutes south of Dominical, a surf town that gets local live music and has a nightlife scene better than ours. Nearly everyone has DSL, Vonage or Magic Jack phone systems to call internationally, satellite TV with hundreds of English channels as well as music channels. The world is changing and technology is making instant downloadable movies and streaming movies available worldwide.
Why did we choose the area? The appealing thing to my wife and I and the reason we picked this part of Costa Rica over the other places we visited was the sense of community, the friendliness of the people, healthcare accessibility, the cost of living and the accessibility and low cost of airfare (2.5 hour flight from Florida and typically costing about $225 round trip). With American, Delta, Continental, US Air, United, Spirit, Jet Blue and Frontier all flying there daily, airfare and flight choices are easy and affordable. We also believe that in the next 5 years this area will become the most sought after part of Costa Rica. Having traveled to many places on the planet that become very popular and expensive, we have come to realize what attributes make an area attractive. This area is just now being discovered, just now becoming accessible and we already see it becoming a very popular destination for North Americans. We wanted to put some international assets into our portfolio and what better way than owning real property. We've done well in our real estate investments in the past and think this one is a winner. As we continue to watch the decline in the value of the dollar, we're happy to be holding assets outside the US. Come see for yourself before the good lots are all gone.
How can I visit? We are not an 80 acre development or even a 500 acre development. Our projects spread over 3200 acres in 15 phases with both estate and community developments, gated and non gated. If you are thinking about living anywhere out of the country, you should make an informed decision. If you decide you want to com for a visit, we can discuss your options in touring our developments since it really takes a few days to really get a feel for what we offer since we have so many phases and each being different. That is why our guest house tour is two nights. Our projects spread over 3200 acres in 15 phases with both estate and community developments, gated and non gated. We also like to show you a variety of homes we have built and are building to give you a better idea how to work with our topography since we are by no means flat. We have a 5000 foot tall mountain as our backdrop only 5 miles inland from the beach in front of us. Most homes are in the foothills looking at the ocean with the mountain as our back drop. Learn more about the various ways of visiting our properties at http://www.pacificlots.com/visit/ and remember that "it is not what you did in life that you regret, it is usually what you didn't do. We will send you a copy of our free DVD if you are interested, you can find a link to sign up at http://null/www.pacificLots.com. If you have additional questions, let me know.
Steve Linder
Pacific Lots of Costa Rica
Steve@PacificLots.com
305-295-0137 Direct
877-481-0300 Toll Free
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Posted by Steve Linder on Fri, Nov 27, 2009
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We spent Thanksgiving this year with friends from Key West. There were 8 of us all together. We had a crab stuffed Mutton Snapper as our main course and we also had a Turkey. Kristina insisted I buy a "Happy Turkey" one that lived it's life as a vegetarian and free ranged. Happy Turkeys (read expensive Turkey) aren't sold as loss leaders at Publix, Winn Dixie or Stop and Shop. They come from Specialty stores and typically cost as much as a Day at Disneyworld. They don't seem to taste different to me and since Kristina is a vegetarian, I suppose they don't taste different to her. I don't really think the Turkey was any happier once he was in the oven but who knows.
Spending holidays like Thanksgiving in Key West or Costa Rica is very similar. Let me explain. Not many who live in Key West are from Key West. In fact most people who live in Florida are not from Florida just as not many North Americans who live in Costa Rica are from Costa Rica.
When you move far away from your friends and family, you very quickly discover a new circle of friends. One thing you may not realize is that when you no longer live in your familiar circle of friends and family, most of those around you also no longer live in their circle. Expats seek out other expats. We all want to spend times like Thanksgiving with others, in fact even more so than before you'd moved away.
Nearly everyone who moves abroad is surprised how quickly they make new friends. Another plus is that when you move away, you get a new found sense of freedom. Most of us don't realize how much of a slave we are to our stuff, our family and our past. It's like having a clean slate and getting to start over again, pick new friends, get new stuff, clean out all the clutter that muddles your mind and creates stress.
Costa Ricans don't celebrate Thanksgiving and it is not national holiday. There is no black Friday shopping on the day after and nobody has the day off.
Happy Thanksgiving to all of you. We have so much to be thankful for.
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Posted by Steve Linder on Thu, Nov 19, 2009
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Bull Riding Basics
If you happen to be in Costa Rica at the right time of year, a fun thing to do is going to the "bull fights". Unlike most bull fighting in other countries, Costa Rican bull fights do not harm the bull. On the contrary, you are most likely to see damage to the bull fighter. Local cattle ranches provide the bulls for free. There is a makeshift stable set up with a bunch of bulls that have been gathered from their typical free range fields for this once a year event.
Our first time
We had our first experience years ago and Kristina and I climbed into one of the make shift but permanent bull rings found in many cities and towns. There is a ring in Ojochal, full of weeds except for one weekend a year. We were there to see Las Corridas a la Tica, Costa Rican Bullfighting. I was surprised to see the ring full of younger men, between 15 and 25 toreadors (bullfighters) wandering the ring in wait of the bull, as well as a few on horseback. Some had capes while others had short sticks and tin pans. I thought that this didn't seem very fair to the bull. During the festivities the area around the ring fills with food vendors, musicians arts and crafts exhibitors and rides and entertainment for the kids.
This is Crazy!
The announcer introduced the first bull fighter and the crowd waited in suspense. The first bull fighter (loco) appeared in the ring RIDING THE BULL. He had no saddle, just a short rope to hang on for his life. Within a few seconds, the bull had ejected the rider and then tried to stomp and gore the rider as well as anything else in its way. I've never seen people get out of a ring so quickly as the other men (locos) in the ring attempted to keep the rider from getting gored or trampled, as well as themselves. The bull had other plans and managed to quickly empty the ring of all but the few horseback riders, whose job was to corral the bull out of the ring to ready the ring for the next victim (I mean rider). Occasionally the promoters would release a half dozen bulls into the ring when things were slow or the toreadors started getting cocky. Those bulls could clear the ring in six seconds flat. Watching grown men swan dive over 5 foot high cattle fencing is a sight you rarely see.
Why do it?
I turned to the person sitting next to me and commented that they must get paid a lot of money to do this. Nope, no money was his answer. There must be a great prize I said next. No prize was the reply. Why would anyone risk their lives riding a 1400 pound angry bull I asked? He pointed to all the woman perched around the ring and explained to me that this is a right of passage to the best girls in town.
Drunk driving?
A new law requires that all participants must be sober. One has to ask why a sober person would do such a thing! One bull came out of the gate and just wandered around. The toreador rider tried to incite the bull but it just kept walking. He finally got off and made the walk of shame while the crowd cat called and whistled. That's the bull I want I thought.
I can't watch anymore
We watched four or five more riders and got to see the Red Cross in action. We won't let our workers ride either. The Red Cross volunteers their services for the event. They had set up a triage unit for the not so fortunate riders and ring runners. We finally had to leave the ring after seeing the bull find another unfortunate play toy, tossing a toreador across the ring like a straw doll. As we walked around the festival outside the ring, we occasionally heard the crowd groan, indicating that the bull had won another round.
Don't miss this annual event if you have the chance but do try to avoid getting on the bull...
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