Is Doug a fool? Let me explain.

As a former computer software employee, I traveled up and down California and the Pacific Northwest route. During my travels I’ve found that Seattle has much more in common with Canada’s Vancouver than it does with Los Angeles. In fact, Seattle has more in common with Vancouver than any other city in the United States, as well as all of the Americas for that matter.

My point is simple: The essence of a geographic region transcends its borders. Miami and Boston are entirely different lifestyles. To live the ex-pat life you must find 3 key factors: beauty, interesting culture, and affordability, rather than finding the right country. Daily lives are not lived in a “country.” You live in your immediate surroundings.

“Country” is too big of a term.

Take Doug (the questionable “fool”), who moved to Costa Rica for the famous beauty of its Pacific coastline. Doug has more in common with me than he does with coffee growers in the far away mountains of central Costa Rica.

Likewise, as a homeowner in this Pacific Southwest paradise, I have much more in common with Doug than I do with the cigar growers in the central area of Nicaragua.

In fact, just as Seattle and Vancouver make up the well known and traveled Pacific Northwest, this whole region, stretching from Northern Costa Rica well into Nicaragua, is what we call the “Pacific Southwest.”

The facts: Doug and I share the same Pacific shoreline, view the same gorgeous sunset over the Pacific each evening. Our families watch the same great blue whales stop by in January to give birth, blowing water high in the air. Crispy and salty plantain chips are the snacks found on both our tables in this region, as well as red snapper with beans and rice for a typical meal. I work with guys like Jim Ryan, a wind power expert, who lives 50 miles down the coastal road in Costa Rica but swings up here for work all the time. Costa Rica’s international airport on the Pacific is just a drive down south from Rancho Santana. From work culture to food culture, Doug and I relate very easily.
I could go on. My point: In real life, there are no borders, just areas of living.

Yet, we cannot relate on a few critical things. Doug pays higher property taxes (Mine are $100 a year, no joke.) I can also employ a full time cook (keeps the wife happy) for $150 a month. My U.S. dollars are as welcomed as his, but mine go further! And the cost of buying land or building in my part of the Pacific Southwest is considerably less expensive than his Costa Rica lot. Why? Costa Rica hired Madison Avenue to market itself for the last decade, and it worked. Nicaragua, on the other hand, is the quiet neighbor. So, our daily lives are very similar in “look and feel,” yet my wallet gets tapped a lot less.

So when Doug wrote to us at Rancho Santana, and said, “I live in Tambor, Costa Rica, not far from you. I’ve been thinking of moving to Nicaragua.” I wrote back, “join the Club!”

Based on that, I’d say Doug’s nobody’s fool.