How 3 Expats Turned Life into an Endless Costa Rica Vacation

“I Could Never Afford Anything Like This in the U.S.”

Name: David Hirabayashi
From: Dallas, Texas
Living In: Orosi, Costa Rica

“I felt no stress from the moment I arrived. And I looked around and I saw no stress in anyone, in anything, anywhere. Everyone was always smiling.”

David Hirabayashi first came to Costa Rica to visit friends who had moved there. “When they told me they were retiring and moving to Costa Rica, I thought they had a screw loose,” he says. But when he visited them, he was astonished at the lifestyle on offer.

That visit convinced him to move to Costa Rica too. He wanted to be in the mountains, near his friends, and the town of Orosi fit the bill.

This quaint pueblo of 9,000 people is only 35 minutes from the country’s capital of San José and all the city offers. But David says everything he needs is right in Orosi—grocery stores, restaurants, mechanics, dentists, doctors, a pharmacy, and even volcanic hot springs. And there’s a good mix of international expats all living among the friendly and helpful locals.

“I love it that everyone knows me and they wave to me as I go by,” David says. “My Spanish is improving all the time. But right from the start, with my limited Spanish, a few comical hand gestures, and the obliging hospitality of my tico neighbors, I’ve never had any problem communicating.”

Only after moving to Costa Rica did David realize what a toll the pace of life in the U.S. had been taking on him.

“As a professional magician, I was performing more than 400 shows a year. I was killing myself and didn’t even realize it. My weight was up, and my knee had gotten so bad I was told I had to have a knee replacement before I moved to Costa Rica,” he says.

Living in Orosi, his stress levels have dropped and so has his weight. And that bad knee? “I’ve never had another moment’s trouble with it,” he says.

David found his piece of paradise in a 6-acre mountainside refuge. He sold his house in Dallas and was able to use the proceeds to buy the property, do all the improvements it needed, and still have money left over. He built his house, an additional guest house, a swimming pool, a large covered patio, and a storage garage. “I would never have been able to afford anything like this in the U.S., even if I could have found it.

“The weather is so perfect here (temperatures rarely go below 60 F at night or above the high 70s during the day) that everyone basically lives outdoors,” David says. “From my covered terrace, with a cup of delicious locally grown coffee in my hand, I’m surrounded by mountains covered in coffee bushes. The distant city lights twinkle in the evenings, and a herd of wild deer often passes through. But my favorite view is tropical flowers around the swimming pool, with the soaring Irazú volcano in the background.”

David lives without want on about $2,500 per month—and that includes his twice-weekly maid service, two gardeners who come once a week, and his global health insurance.

“I love my place, love my neighbors, love this pace of life,” David says. “It’s where I need to be and where I want to be. I’m so thankful I was introduced to Costa Rica.” —John Michael Arthur

“Healthcare is Actually Affordable Here”

Name: Jennifer Petrizzi
From: Long Beach, New York
Living in: Playa Negra, Costa Rica

“I went to Costa Rica on vacation in 1998,” Jennifer Petrizzi explains, “and the way things just fell into place, I never left. Before I came here, I hadn’t even considered leaving New York.”

Jen’s visit to Costa Rica prompted her to take a good look at her life. She wasn’t happy with the nine-to-five lifestyle in the U.S. And she never liked cold weather. Sometimes it can be as simple as that; staying in Costa Rica just made sense.

In 2000, Jen bought her first piece of land (a 4,300-square-foot lot) in Playa Negra, on the northern Pacific coast, with two other friends for $3,000. And over the years, she built a business and a home here. In 2007, she opened Cafe La Ventana, and for Jen, the business has been about cooking, sourcing local products, learning Spanish, and adapting to Latin culture.

Jen’s natural food café is open Mondays through Thursdays for breakfast and lunch, and she does catering for clients on the weekends. But there’s plenty of time left over for doing what she loves—taking yoga classes, going for beach walks, swimming, and getting out and about, meeting with the locals. “There’s a pulpería (a small grocery store) in town,” Jen says, “and I like to support them, so I often shop there. Supporting the local community is a priority.”

In Playa Negra, like a lot of Costa Rican beach towns, watching the sunset from the sands gives you a chance to meet up with everyone and socialize.

“It takes me 15 minutes to walk to the beach from my house. My property has three buildings and plenty of space. I have two commercial buildings on the road and behind them is my tiny house; it’s two bedrooms, one bathroom, and a living/kitchen space.” Jen is planning to build another house on a different lot and rent the place where she currently lives on Airbnb.

Jen’s internet access costs about $50 a month, her water $25, and her prepaid cellphone service costs $10. Electricity, her biggest expense, runs to almost $550 a month, but that’s for three buildings and air conditioning. The property taxes on the 4,300-square-foot lot are $600 a year, and that includes garbage service.

Another area where Jen makes significant savings compared with the U.S. is healthcare. She uses the CAJA—Costa Rica’s socialized healthcare system—and also has private insurance coverage so she can make appointments with specialists in San José if needed. “Healthcare is actually affordable here,” she says.

But healthy living and plenty of time in the sun comes with the territory in Playa Negra, and helps to keep the doctor at bay.

For a small beach town, Playa Negra also has some excellent options for dining out. La Vida Buena is an old-school casual bar, “It’s my Cheers,” says Jen. “There’s also Café Playa Negra for great food and atmosphere, Kon Tiki for yummy pizza, and Villa Deevena for French-inspired cuisine. If good waves and a small-town vibe are your thing,” Jen says, “you should check out Playa Negra.” —Bekah Bottone

“I Was Amazed By How Welcoming People Were”

Name: Rose Aletti
From: Greensboro, North Carolina
Living in: Tilarán, Costa Rica

“I knew I was never going to retire in the U.S.,” says Rose Aletti.

After a career in medical coding and data input in Greensboro, North Carolina, the adventure of Latin American living called to her…

“I was always the one who went off on my own day trips from the beach when I was on a girls’ vacation in Cancún,” she says. “Everyone else would be happy on the beach or beside the pool, but I’d be off on the bus to some little village or market.”

Rose first visited Costa Rica in 2009 on vacation with her then-husband, Brian. It was a beach trip centered on Jacó on the Pacific Coast, and while Rose didn’t fall for Jacó, her habit of taking solo side-trips brought her into direct contact with the natural beauty of Costa Rica, and the gentle friendliness of the people.

“I was just amazed by how welcoming people were to this tall, pale American woman traveling around on her own and asking dumb questions. I was taken to meet newborn babies, and secret waterfalls, and into little tin-roofed shacks for rice and beans. Everywhere was full of smiling, laughing people just cracking up as we tried to communicate in sign language. I had such fun.”

Over the years, Rose let the idea of a Costa Rica retirement bubble in her mind. After a divorce in 2017, she took early retirement at 58. Knowing she would have to move somewhere more affordable, Rose returned to Costa Rica on a scouting trip. When she saw the countryside around the popular expat spot of Lake Arenal, she knew she’d found her place.

“I’m not interested in living on a beach, it’s just not for me. I prefer to be up here in the mountains. It’s much cooler, and the views are amazing—the lake, green hills and grazing horses, the perfect cone of the volcano…”

The main expat hub in the area is the town of Nuevo Arenal, with all the amenities an expat could need: banks, a pharmacy, a medical center, bars, restaurants, and cafés. “There’s an Italian restaurant called Casa Italia I’ll go to for an occasional treat, though I mostly shop at produce markets and cook from scratch at home,” Rose says. “For anything more substantial, it’s about 90 minutes to Liberia, where there are big stores, an international airport, and hospitals (both CAJA and private). There’s also a small public hospital in Cañas, about 10 miles away.”

Rose rents a one-bedroom casita for $200 a month, on the grounds of a larger home owned by a Canadian couple who plan to retire there eventually. “We came to an arrangement—I organize any maintenance work that needs to be done on the big house, and keep the place in order, and in return I get to use the pool, garden, and get a better deal on rent.

“Most of the expats live over on the north side of Lake Arenal, around Nuevo Arenal, and the roads and amenities over there are better. Things are a bit more rural here on the south side, but I have a little motorbike and I can get around the whole area easily.”

With just one bedroom and bathroom, a small living space with kitchen facilities, and a deck, the casita suits Rose’s needs. “There’s no heating or air conditioning, but there’s a ceiling fan and that’s enough to be comfortable,” she says. “I can hook up to the WiFi from the main house, and I could watch Netflix if I wanted to. I’m more of a reader than a watcher though. Evenings are just me and my Kindle. People sleep early and rise early around here. It’s mostly farmers, and that’s a farming schedule!” —Sue Woodward