Jeff and I recently spent a week in Costa Rica on an exploratory mission. We have been many times as tourists but are cognizant of the fact that being a tourist is VERY different then being a resident. I mean who is not going to love a place while sitting on a beach, with no kids, drinking a cerveza and listening to crazy sounding birds argue with one another? However, when the regular day to day stuff kicks in – like getting kids to school, grocery shopping and work, well even the most beautiful place can be less attractive.

We wanted this last trip to be more about living there and less about sight seeing. I’m not insane – we did get a day on the beach and one or two touristy meals. I wasn’t going to waste a kidless trip entirely on research. But we did do quite a few mundane things, like checking out grocery, furniture and “craft” stores. (I am a crafter after all and if I can’t get paints and yarn, we are going to have a problem). We ate at local sodas more than tourist restaurants. We spoke in Spanish as much as the very patient Costa Ricans allowed.

And after 2 nights in touristy accomodations, we moved into what I can only call a sketchy casita. My husband made the reservation because we had seen the place on realtor.com and thought it would be interesting to check out as a potential place of residence….room for all 6 of our kids and visitors too. We got a crazy email before we checked in about bugs and animals and toilet paper and trash. It’s not that I hadn’t heard the same info prior from different accomodations but the presentation left a little to be desired. The tone was set. This place was going to be a disaster. I begged Jeff to change our reservation but it was too late – we wouldn’t get our money back if we cancelled at that point. And while I am admittedly a spoiled American, I am also cheap.

When we pulled in, I was honestly a bit concerned (I had also left my purse with our passports in it at the place we had lunch, which I hadn’t realized until we got there so I was also dangerously close to a full mental breakdown). We were the only guests. The casita was dated. And, we could hear the singing pastor next door practicing his craft along with his myriad of dogs singing along. I was not confident that I was going to last the remainder of our trip at this place.

However, I gave it a go. You know what? It was awesome. The place was clean. The AC worked. The little kitchenette was well equipped. The owners were super friendly and provided us with a lot of great info about living in Costa Rica. We walked to an awesome pizza place on more than one occasion. And the best part….the singing pastor serenaded us many an evening as we ate our pizza under the stars….until we got too hot and tired of being attacked by the bugs – we are spoiled Americans after all.