How I got to Costa Rica

Living on Cape Cod, MA. I was sick of paying so much in Real Estate taxes and was looking for investments outside of the United States. I went to Belize, Jamaica, Honduras, Mexico, and they are nice places to visit, but I did not want to invest or live there. 

So, I and three friends (Phil, a great guy, later purchased a property in Jaco, but has since passed away) went to Costa Rica on 9/11, from Boston. We were at the gate next to the plane that hit the Towers and we talked to some of those passengers. We were stuck in Florida for five days, then went back to Cape Cod.

American Airlines was great, they rescheduled our trip to Thanksgiving. We stayed at the Best Western in San Jose center, and back then the police and the cab drivers told us not to walk the streets. So, we decided if Costa Rica was that unsafe, we should just go back home. Not thinking it is a major city. The Best Western was great; they changed our reservations to Jaco and told us if we do not like it the last night was free. What did we have to lose so we took the road adventure, and that it was. We rented a car and headed to Jaco.

We got lost and ended up in Tamarindo and Flamingo. We made it to Jaco at 11pm. The Beatle Bar had just opened, but we went to the Divas instead, and the drinks for the girls were $27 each, for us $4 and in five minutes our tab was $287. We went crazy, and almost got arrested, we never went back again. 

The next day we drove to Quepos, and Manuel Antonio to look around for the day, got back to Jaco and we all agreed, this is the place to invest. We agreed to put up $25000 each and buy something. The next I went into a Real Estate office and looked at about 45 properties and that night had offers on six properties. The next morning, we had breakfast, here at Sunrise, even thought it was included at the hotel. We all signed the Purchase and Sales agreement, but I was the only one to put down a good deposit, and to close in 30 days, the end of December.

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You know the story, the others backed out, and I had to close, or I would have lost my deposit. I closed, and I am extremely glad they backed out. Of course, all the government agencies are closed from December 15th to January 15th, so I closed I had to hold everything in escrow till it could be recorded on the 20th of January.

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Murphy's Law, Murphy must have been born in Costa Rica, and retired here in Jaco.