Why Costa Rica?

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Having the kids learn Spanish could be accomplished in a number of ways, and many of them do not involve moving to a foreign county. There are many different foreign language programs available that can be used from your own home, including many excellent programs available for free on the Internet. In terms of schools, there are a variety of immersion schools popping up, including some in the Twin Cities area, that could have offered the language education we're seeking for the kids. So why move? And why move to Costa Rica in particular?

Choosing to go live in Costa Rica for a year wasn't a random decision. We have many reasons for making Costa Rica our temporary home. First, my husband's mother is from Costa Rica. She was born there and grew up there and has many siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles and other relatives who still live there. These relatives are by extension my kids' relatives and getting to spend time with them introduces my children to a unique part of their heritage that they cannot fully understand from afar. My mother-in-law and father-in-law spend every winter, from December through April, in Costa Rica so they will be part of our support network while there. Also, Ricardo's brother Roberto and his partner Shelly live there currently and own the ReMax franchise in Atenas, Costa Rica. They are another reason why Costa Rica makes sense for us. Everything we're about to do, they just did a few years ago and so they've been able to offer some invaluable advice and information about our upcoming move. Yes there are some differences - they are planning to stay indefinitely where as we are only planning on a year. But they have been incredibly helpful in securing our rental home, helping us make contact with the school the kids will be attending and answering a million questions about getting ready for our move.

This will not be the first trip to Costa Rica for either myself nor my kids. We've all visited many times so we do have an idea of what the living conditions are, how crazy the drivers there are, how amazing the fresh pineapples taste, and how the ocean at Manuel Antonio National Park is the most incredible shade of sparkling turquoise. Being familiar with the country has allowed us to make informed decisions on choosing a safe place to live. Our children's safety has always been a priority for us, as it is for any parent, and moving a few thousand miles away won't change that.

Here are just a few fun facts about Costa Rica. Costa Rica is located in Central America between the countries of Nicaragua and Panama. (Some people have asked me if it is an island, I think confusing it with Puerto Rico, so I figured I should start with it's geographic location.) It has a population of about 4 million people and is host to approximately 2 million tourists every year, with tourism being one of the most important industires in the country. In the late 1940s Costa Rica abolished it's army and has been a peaceful, democratic country ever since. Costa Rica offers universal health care to all of its citizens and the average life expectancy of a Costa Rican is higher than that of a U.S. citizen. This is seen as significant because Costa Rica spends much less per capita on health care than does the U.S.

Last, but not least I should mention that I have lived in Minnesota my whole life and have now endured just over three decades of winter weather. And I'd be lying if I told you that Costa Rica's tropical climate didn't play at least a small role in attracting me to move there. In fact the motto of Atenas, the town where we'll be living, is "El Mejor Clima del Mundo" which means: "The best climate in the world." Sounds good to me.

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