Good afternoon, Oren. How are you doing?
[Oren Marciano]
Good, Richard. Good to see you.
[Richard Bexon]
Yeah, I really appreciate you making time in your day to jump on the podcast here and share some of your experience here in Costa Rica.
[Oren Marciano]
My pleasure.
Building a Life in Costa Rica: 16 Years of Experience
Immersing in Local Culture Over Expat Community
[Richard Bexon]
Awesome. Oren, how long have you been in Costa Rica now?
[Oren Marciano]
I moved to Costa Rica in July 2006. So it’s coming up on, what does that come out to?
[Richard Bexon]
16 years. Yeah. Wow.
Congratulations. Usually when you make it past two years here, and then you make it past five, then you’re typically here for the rest of your life.
[Oren Marciano]
So yeah, yeah, I can see that.
Post-COVID Tourism: Exceeding Pre-Pandemic Levels
[Richard Bexon]
Exactly. Exactly. Well, I mean, as you mentioned, you’ve been down in Costa Rica for 16 years, but I mean, what has really surprised you in the last six months, Oren?
And what trends do you think are here to stay?
[Oren Marciano]
I assume you’re talking about in tourism, right?
[Richard Bexon]
I think it could be in anything really, Oren. I mean, if there’s any trends that you’re seeing, I mean, tourism related, or just in general, just for listeners to really get an idea of kind of your perspective of what you’re seeing.
[Oren Marciano]
Sure. I would say maybe it’s less of a surprise at this point because we kind of saw the trend coming late last year too, that this high season was going to be really excellent, but it was probably more positive than many people even expected or had hoped for considering where we were coming out of. And even looking back to historical performance prior to COVID, this high season for tourism for Costa Rica was excellent.
I would say it was quite encouraging to see that in spite of maybe a lack of overall government understanding for the tourism industry here, the industry itself came together. I think the ICT did what it could, as far as the government goes, to really keep Costa Rica on the top of mind of travelers around the world and position it well. And I think the whole industry really came together.
That was excellent to see and really kind of placed Costa Rica, it seems to me, as one of the top destinations worldwide after COVID, which I think for us has been excellent to be able to benefit from that excellent position. And I would say it is a well-earned position. I think Costa Rica does tourism very well and does many things very well.
So I think it all came together and it was quite positive coming out of the depths of the pandemic and tourism doldrums to see that all the work we’ve been doing together for the past 15 years, I’ve been here 16 years, has paid off. I felt it on a personal level with our business that we’ve worked hard over all these years, especially during COVID. As much as we were closed down, we never stopped working on preparation, marketing, strategy and everything.
Running a Business in Costa Rica
The Best Part: Living in “Pura Vida” Culture
[Richard Bexon]
Well, I mean, Oren, I mean, what do you like about running a business here in Costa Rica?
Because you could run a business anywhere. I mean, what do you like about Costa Rica?
[Oren Marciano]
It’s good to start with what you like, right?
[Richard Bexon]
Yes. We’ll get to the challenges later.
[Oren Marciano]
I would say the best part about running a business in Costa Rica is getting to live in Costa Rica. Let’s put it that way. We’ll talk about the challenges next.
But Costa Rica is an excellent place to live. I think anyone, like you said, who’s passed that two year, then especially that five-year mark has kind of called it home. And while there are certain things that are frustrating living here, you know, bureaucracy or just slow pace of movement in some areas, you know, things are a little bit more complicated.
It’s hard to find things that you want. So you don’t have Amazon Prime delivery or anything like that. The life in general in Costa Rica, to me, is just more, you feel like, you know, I don’t want to be, I don’t mind being cliché, let’s put it that way, la pura vida, you know, you really feel that just lifestyle here.
And I think there’s more of an appreciation for lifestyle and just the general attitude in Costa Rica is very different. I came, you know, grew up in New York City my entire life. New York City is a very dynamic, exciting, active place.
You won’t get bored in New York if you’re looking for that. But it’s stressful. It’s crowded.
It’s expensive. It’s noisy. And it’s not so dirty.
Navigating Cultural Differences: Learning Curves and Local Mindset
[Richard Bexon]
What do you think of the challenges that people, well, challenges you’ve experienced, but also challenges that people could foresee when doing business here in Costa Rica?
[Oren Marciano]
I would divide it into different categories. I mean, there’s certainly a steep, steep learning curve, I feel. I would think that anyone who shows up here used to doing business in a business friendly place like the U.S. would be surprised at how business friendly many of the processes are here and how frustrating and how counterintuitive it may seem. And now you hear it so many times, people say, oh, if they just understood how to do things better, everything would work so well in Costa Rica, you know, that if the government or the authorities in general, or just anybody, you know, even private businesses that you have to interact with, everything is a little bit different out here and the mindset is different out here.
Understanding Costa Rican Communication: Yes Doesn’t Always Mean Yes
[Richard Bexon]
I mean, emotional intelligence is very much needed here in Costa Rica.
[Oren Marciano]
Yeah.
[Richard Bexon]
So yeah. I mean, I always say to people, I’m like, there’s no such word as yes, in Costa Rica, someone says yes, it means maybe if they say maybe it’s no, but like, they’ll never tell you no. And yes, never means yes.
[Oren Marciano]
That’s exactly what I mean. Yeah. If someone tells you, oh, everything’s gonna work out, you have to say, okay, maybe yes, maybe not.
You never really know. The longer you get here, it’s a little bit easier to figure that stuff out, I would say. The longer you live in it, and you feel it and experience it.
Growth and Opportunities
Unlimited Tourism Potential: Beyond Traditional Destinations
[Richard Bexon]
But I mean, where do you see opportunity in Costa Rica?
[Oren Marciano]
In general, I mean, I think it amazes me that the demand for new destinations and tourism in Costa Rica seems almost unlimited, which is a positive thing overall. I think one of the things that makes Costa Rica an excellent destination for return visits is that there are so many places to visit. You’re not going to go to the same resort every year.
Rural Tourism Success: From Wood Fire Cooking to Community Experiences
[Oren Marciano]
Even in our area in Caipos, there’s some small towns a little bit off of the coast that you even see that now that there’s people starting to bring tourists out there and the locals are ready and excited to receive them. And you can go eat a meal cooked on a wood fire stove, which is something delicious and unique and beautiful. You visit the person’s house and they’ll serve you a delicious meal right outside there, under their garage or whatever.
And that’s a great experience. So I think there’s that level of opportunity in the sense of there’s always another place that can be offered to tourists to come and visit, which is great for someone looking to move down and try to do something themselves.
Business Insights
Invest Upfront: The Value of Quality Staff and Materials
[Richard Bexon]
I mean, if you had a time machine to go back 10 years and tell yourself something about your business, what would it be and why, Oren?
[Oren Marciano]
This, I would say, is something I could, you know, I can share that’s not related to necessarily working in Costa Rica, but maybe to some extent, but it’s just, I came at this business with no business background, much less a hotel or hospitality background at all. And one of the lessons that I’ve learned over the years is, you know, don’t be scared to invest a little upfront and, you know, in well-qualified staff and even better quality materials when you’re building or repairing things.
Building Success Through Industry Collaboration
[Richard Bexon]
Well, I mean, you guys have done a great job with Los Altos, you know, I mean, and also, you know, a jungle Vista down there. I mean, I stayed there last week. Thank you very much again for that again.
And I mean, just, I’m always reminded when I go back there, I’m just like, wow. I mean, it’s just such a great product that you guys have here.
[Oren Marciano]
Thank you very much. Yeah. That means a lot considering the experience you’ve had.
And I appreciate hearing that.
[Richard Bexon]
No, no. I mean, it’s, you know, I don’t say it lightly. I just, I really enjoyed staying there last week.
And, you know, I mean, it’s a lot of hoteliers always ask for feedback and sometimes, you know, the improvements get made and sometimes they don’t. And I remember months back, you asking for our feedback, we gave it back to you. And it’s been nice to see that you kind of took that to heart, made those improvements.
Future Investment Plans: Expanding Los Altos
[Richard Bexon]
Well, Aaron, my last question for you is I’ve taken up enough of your time here, but if you inherited $500,000 and had to invest it into a business or real estate in Costa Rica, what would you what would you invest it in?
[Oren Marciano]
I would invest it in Los Altos. Would it buy you anything at Los Altos? Well, we’re we’re actively building out some more rooms to to to offer, you know, we want to build up some new types of rooms and expand, as I said, the demand, I mean, we’re counting on a positive future and the demand has been so high that we felt this year, wow, have we more rooms to rent? We would have been able to rent them and people would have enjoyed them.
[Richard Bexon]
That’s a that’s a great response. That’s a great response. Well, Aaron, I really, really appreciate your time.
Anybody that wants to know more about Los Altos or Jungle Vista, I’m going to put all of the the websites and the content basically in the description down below. But Aaron, really appreciate you taking the time to talk to us.
[Oren Marciano]
It was a lot of fun. Thanks for inviting me.
[Richard Bexon]
See you later.
[Oren Marciano]
OK.
