Introduction
Richard Bexon: Good morning. Kvon. How are you doing?
Kvon Tucker: I’m well, I’m well, man. I’m excited and grateful to be on your podcast. Appreciate the invitation.
Richard Bexon: Not at all, man. It’s an absolute pleasure. I know we’ve been trying to organise it for a while and both our calendars have been complicated, but hey, we’re finally here.
Kvon Tucker: Absolutely. The hazards of being bosses, you know, it’s like, it’s amazing that we were able to make this work.
Richard Bexon: Yeah, definitely. Well, it’s, you know, I mean, I think this week it’s been for me, La Fortuna and Manuel Antonio. And next week I’ve got Nossara, Tamarindo and then La Fortuna again. So, yeah. Yeah.
Kvon Tucker: No surprise, man. I know you continue to stay on the move. I’m not surprised by that at all.
Richard Bexon: I mean, I think if I’m ever sat still for a week, dude, something’s wrong.
Kvon Tucker: So I know that, I know that to be true.
Richard Bexon: Well, Kvon again. I appreciate your time joining us on the podcast. I mean, I know that you moved to Costa Rica, you know, a while back and it’s just kind of just, you know, a lot of people now with just kind of, I would say the instability and volatility, both economically and politically are, you know, questioning, you know, where they’re actually currently living and going, you know, I mean, and Costa Rica, I think is on a lot of people’s radar.
Recent Changes in Costa Rica
Kvon Tucker: Yeah.
Richard Bexon: But I mean, like recently, what have you started seeing here in Costa Rica?
Kvon Tucker: Yeah. Um, well recently, so I’ve been here for only about two years, a little over two, almost two and a half years, been here two and a half years. Um, you know, what I have seen is, I can’t say that I know a lot about the shifts, but I have seen some, some changes, you know, where I’m seeing, I guess you could call like more gentrification in certain neighbourhoods. Um, that’s a term that we use in the United States. Um, you see more of that. And, you know, that’s, that can be nice, but also can have some drawbacks for some, some of the folks who have been here and some of the locals. Um, but for someone like myself, it’s actually kind of nice, um, because you get, start to have more things that you’re used to in the United States. And so that’s something that I’ve been seeing and noticing that has been kind of pleasant, but also as someone coming from the outside and noticing like shifts in culture, which is a big part of the reason why we came here, um, noticing that some of that culture might be moving away or shifting in some ways. Um, it’s something that I’ve noticed in the couple of years that I’ve been here.
Cultural Adjustments and Surprises
Richard Bexon: Wow. What was, I mean, what have been some of the biggest shocks since you’ve moved here? Cause again, a lot of people listening up, like looking to move here and I’m sure that there’s some stuff where you’re like, I was not expecting that.
Kvon Tucker: Yeah. You know, um, we, we’ve had some conversation about this and I, and I, I have to give you credit because you really told me with your words, how long it can take to get some things done here. But I just coming from the United States, didn’t really fully have the concept. Um, and so that is, I think, been one of the biggest shocks. Like Pura Vida is like a real thing and it has like pros and cons. Um, you know, I appreciate slower paced life and slower living and you certainly get that. Um, but when there is something that you want to get done, like residency, as an example, it’s like, Oh man, like this, this, there’s a whole lot here. Um, this is going to take a lot of concerted effort and a lot of time and a lot of attention, um, to kind of get those things moving through. Um, so that’s been, I think the biggest shock is sometimes how long it can take to get something done, um, has been a pretty big surprise, even though like I was forewarned, I still like, still have been a little bit surprised by it.
Richard Bexon: I always, but like every so often you’ll get shocked. Like you’re like, that was way too easy. Like I got a Costa Rican, I got citizenship here way too easy. I got a passport like way too easy. Like I lost my citizenship card the other week and I went online and filled something out. And the next day someone turned up to give me a new one. Like I was like, that’s not normal.
Kvon Tucker: Wow. Wow. Yeah. Well, I’m looking forward to that. You know, there are some things that, um, are easier. Um, but when it comes to like paperwork often, I find that it just takes longer than I could have ever imagined having living in it. It’s like not the United States doesn’t have the fastest moving government. Um, but I find that some things just take a lot longer than I expected.
Richard Bexon: Yeah. I mean, as you said, there is that kind of that port of either mentality. So, uh, you know, which is, has its pros and cons always. Um, so yeah. What has been a lot easier than you thought? Are you, or are you still trying to, you’re still trying to figure that one out?
Building Community in Santa Ana
Kvon Tucker: Uh, you know, I had, I had concerns about my level of Spanish and being able to connect with my community, like local community. And I have been surprised by the ease at which it has been to kind of get to know folks. Um, you know, I live in a condo here in Santana and like people are just really friendly and a lot more people speak English and at least in this part of Costa Rica than I imagined. So it’s like their English might be pretty good. And my Spanish is okay. And together we can actually make, make good conversation. Um, you know, we’ve gotten together with folks, um, multiple families and had some good times with folks. So it was like building community has been easier than I kind of expected. I thought it was going to be a little bit more difficult. Um, but it’s been nice to, you know, people would seem to be really interested in building community with like their neighbours and stuff. Um, so that’s been something that has been surprisingly easy, uh, here, here in Costa Rica.
Richard Bexon: Yeah. It’s, you know, I think a lot of people that move here are always concerned of like, am I going to build a community? And I’m like, you’re going to have the opposite sometimes. It’s like, you’re going to have too much community.
Kvon Tucker: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That, that, especially coming from the United States, you know, I think I shared with you before, it’s like we were in Palo Alto, California for four years and we may have had a meal with our neighbours once in those four years here, we’ve had two meals with four or five neighbours, you know, multiple times, you know, so it’s like, we’ve gone to multiple parties and all these kinds of things. So yeah, building community is not difficult here. Uh, to your point, it’s like, you might have to be like, oh no, I can’t go to this party and this party and this party. Uh, that’s the challenge that we’re facing.
Ojochal vs. Santa Ana Living
Richard Bexon: Yeah. You know, I mean, one of the things, you know, when you guys first came here, it was, you bought a piece of land, you were going to build a house, you know, and I, I think I mentioned to you, I was like, guys, maybe just try the city a little bit. Like, it’s a good transition from us to, you know, cause you guys were looking Ojochao, which is like, it’s a little out there, if that makes sense. You know, coming from Palo Alto, Ojochao is one, I wouldn’t say one extreme to another, but they’re pretty far apart.
Kvon Tucker: It is, it is. Yeah. Um, I wish I had, you know, I, I remember asking him like, why don’t you live? It’s like, so many people are living out there. Now I fully understand. So yeah, we had originally, we bought land, which I’m grateful that we did. And I’m glad that we did that. But we originally had this vision of living out kind of in this very remote area with not a lot of access to stuff. And it was kind of like a dream. And then we spent some time here in Santana, you know, in the central valley. And I’m like, Oh, this is, this is great. And we’ve got all these communities, we’ve got good schools, we’ve got access to good food, like all these things that are really important to us. Um, you know, so I, it’s now, I wish we had maybe taken more time to spend in this area. Um, I don’t know that it would have changed much about like how, how we went about purchasing land. Cause I, again, I feel great about the land that we purchased, but maybe it would have changed our idea for what we were going to do with our land. Like that definitely would have been different. Cause now we’re like, well, pretty sure we’re not going to live in Ohochoa. So what are we, what are we going to do with our land? And we’re still asking ourselves that question. And we’re still not sure. Um, cause we love it here so much. Like, this is just such a great part of the world to live in.
Richard Bexon: Yeah. I mean, I think if you’ve got kids, you know, at the beach, like it’s beach living, if that makes sense. Like you don’t, you can’t run the cost code. Like there’s, it’s not like that living in this is great. I, I think, you know, because again, if 10 minutes, like you can be in a forest, if you want it, you know, but you have all the benefits of living in like the suburbs.
Central Valley’s Strategic Location
Kvon Tucker: Yeah. I, you know, I, I wish, cause I love the water. Right. And that was like one of the big things when we were talking to you about like finding places to live, love the water, I’d still wish we lived closer to the water, but it is accessible. Right. And it just takes a weekend trip. You know, it’s not something you can just run to like I used to be able to do, but it’s something that’s still accessible. Like living in this part of the country. I tell other folks that I have sold on moving to Costa Rica. I’m living in the central Valley. It’s kind of cool because you’re, you’re literally in the middle of the country. And so most everything that you want is almost like equidistant from where you’re at. It’s like, you want to get to the mountains, two and a half, three hours. You want to get to the beach, two and a half, three hours, depending on which beach you want to get to. You know, we went to La Paz waterfalls and it’s like, it’s like 60, 90 minutes or something like that. It’s like, it’s not far and it’s beautiful. So yeah, this part of the country, I think is really nice, especially if you have family, cause you have access to everything in like 10, 15, 20 minutes. And then if you want to get out into nature, you can do so in like anywhere between like 30 and 60 minutes. And if you want to get deep into it, then it’s a couple more hours drive.
Richard Bexon: Well, and also just the climate. I mean, the climate in the central Valley is spectacular. I mean, it’s like, well, 85 all year round.
Kvon Tucker: Yeah. I love it. My wife’s not crazy about it, but I love it. Like, this is, this is the kind of weather I feel like I’ve, I’ve, I’ve always wanted, wanted to live in a little, it’s a little warm for Jessica. Um, you know, but I, I absolutely love it.
Richard Bexon: Look, the beauty is again, you can travel 30 minutes and the temperature changes.
Kvon Tucker: So yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.
Richard Bexon: I mean, I was up in the mountains yesterday, you know, it was 13 Celsius and now, you know, here it’s nearly 30 Celsius.
Kvon Tucker: So yeah, I know I’ve been trying to, you know, I know you, you and I both like San Gerardo de Delta and it’s like so beautiful up there. I need to get Jessica up there. Cause that’s like more her climate. Um, and again, that’s not far. It doesn’t take long to get up there. And then you’re like, and in a completely different world. Um, so it’s really cool. It’s like being in Europe up there, you know? Yeah, it’s so nice. So it’s, for us, it’s similar to like the Pacific Northwest, you know, like Seattle area, so I was telling Jess, I was like, you know, this place, it’s, it’s kind of magical and you go and it’s like older forest and it’s cooler, it’s very much like the Pacific Northwest for us.
Richard Bexon: Yeah. Well, we finished our Europe project. So you’re more than welcome to go and stay anytime you want to.
Kvon Tucker: Oh man, man. I can’t wait. I can’t wait.
Rental vs. Purchase Considerations
Richard Bexon: I mean, would you say it’s better for people to rent before buying here or when do you think is a better option to kind of buy rather than rent?
Kvon Tucker: I would, you know, I have a client that I think you’ve met that is going to be moving to Costa Rica and I’ve encouraged them and their family to rent first. And I, and I say that because there’s just a lot of things you don’t know about living in Costa Rica and or maintaining a home in Costa Rica. You know, it’s like the humidity, the weather changes, the water, all these things, like the maintenance is going to be very different and it’s like, you just want to go into buying, I think with eyes wide open. So if you like rent a home or you rent a condo for a while, you’ll get a sense of like, okay, this is the investment. It’s not just a dollar’s thing. It’s about amount of work that it might take to manage a home in these different parts of the world. And then also like getting to know your community and making sure that these are like the really the kind of neighbourhoods that you want to be in. To me, I think renting first makes a lot of sense rather than buying a home just based off of a picture and not getting to know the community and the feel and the weather and all these other things. So I would highly recommend folks rent first. Yeah.
Richard Bexon: I agree, unless you’ve spent quite a bit of time in those areas. The difficulty becomes at the beach areas. It’s so expensive to rent and finding something decent is not easy as well. I mean, here in the city, very easy and very affordable.
Kvon Tucker: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Very different scenario. It’s like if you’re thinking about moving to Costa Rica, honestly, I would I would try the city for a while and see how it feels and then like go visit to these like the beach towns and see how that like kind of commute feels. And if you’re like, no, actually, actually, I really want to spend more and more time at the beach like I want to be on the beach, then you can make a wiser choice about like, OK, well, do we buy or do we rent? Right. And you’ll have some sense of what it’s like to be in Costa Rica and all that kind of how it is to work in Costa Rica. So I would I would encourage folks to rent like in this area and then decide how they want to spread out and adventure into the rest of the country.
Santa Ana: Not Your Typical City
Richard Bexon: And let’s be clear when you say city. I mean, it’s not really city like, you know, no, it’s not.
Kvon Tucker: Yeah, I try to explain that to people. I’m like, yeah, you know, we’re we’re technically in like a suburb of this city. We’re like 20, 30 minutes from downtown proper, 15 when there’s like no traffic, which is hardly ever. But we’re in a suburb, but it’s it’s not like a suburb in the United States. You know, it’s like sometimes especially it’s like very much kind of like an old farming community. So it’s like you’ll have a condo and then you’ll have like we’re literally next to a farm, you know, and so I have a condo and a farm and then a home with some land and then another farm and then a condo. So it’s very much this like very different kind of transition community. You know, I’m looking out my window here and I can see just mountains, right, that are just mostly untouched. So it’s it is it’s a suburb, but it’s a suburb that’s not fully developed yet. It’s still being developed in a lot of ways.
Richard Bexon: I mean, it’s not like the U.S. where you have these huge, monstrous subdivisions, if that makes sense, you know, where everything’s direct, nothing straight in Costa Rica, nothing’s flat, nothing’s straight.
Kvon Tucker: No, absolutely. Well, this is the thing I love about my daughter’s school is something I didn’t really notice before when living in the United States, because it’s very normal to go to a school and have there like not be any grass or land, whereas my daughter’s school is kind of like you just just kind of pull up and you pull in and it’s basically just looks like nature. It’s just like all nature. And then there’s a couple little domes, but these domes sit on just land. Right. So they step out of their domes and it’s just grass and trees. We don’t have that in the United States. It’s like concrete and asphalt. That’s what the schools look like. So it’s again, it’s very different. You look left and you can see trees. You look right. You can see trees, even though this is technically, quote unquote, the city.
Education in Costa Rica
Richard Bexon: Yeah. Well, let’s talk about schooling a little bit, because, again, a lot of families that come here, you know, I mean, they’re like, oh, are the schools any good? You know, what about U.S. standards? What about going to U.S. college? I mean, how have you guys felt and kind of dealt with those questions?
Kvon Tucker: Yeah, for me, when Ayana goes to a private school, a very, very small private school, which is also extremely affordable relative to what you would pay for in the United States. And so putting her in a private school, like when it took getting to know some of our neighbours and seeing what schools they were in. So like understanding what schools are available does take talking to some folks here. At least that’s that’s what worked for us. But like they’re using and referencing like Common Core. And so they’re bringing kids up at the same with the same kinds of curriculum requirements as what you would have in the United States. But their approach is very different. And that’s what we’re really excited about. And like Ayana’s school, it’s a great school. Their focus is first on like wellness, emotional well-being, social, emotional learning. And academics kind of come second to that, which is something that we are really, really aligned to. And then they spend like 60 percent of their days outside, like connected to nature. And that’s also supportive of them as little growing human beings. That’s the kind of stuff like just doesn’t really exist in the United States, like these organisations or these schools that are really centred on connection to nature. And, you know, there’s social, emotional learning in the United States, but the emphasis is a bit different. You know, it’s more emphasis on academics as well. And so it’s like finding schools here will take a little bit of work, will take a little bit of conversation with your neighbours, a little bit of searching. But in terms of quality, I would say it’s at least on par. I can’t really say because I, you know, wasn’t looking for schools for my daughter while in the United States. But I know what kind of school I went to. And I know what school my wife went to. And neither of us went to a school that is as great as the one that Ayana is going to. So that that much I do know.
Richard Bexon: Yeah, I mean, I agree. Like my kids are, you know, nine and 12. They’re in a school. We started our eldest kid out in like a more European focused everything curriculum here. You know, and it’s she’s a little bit more relaxed, should I say, than our European style of doing stuff. And it didn’t really fit with us. We moved up to more of kind of like I would say a projects based school with more stuff that’s like instead of doing exams, everything’s kind of projects. But like you’re physically doing stuff like they have chickens and those kind of things. So you learn biology and everything through actually like figuring out like how the chickens are made and the eggs and like, you know. Yeah. And as you said, affordable. I mean, I think I pay six hundred dollars a month for each kid. Like, you know.
Kvon Tucker: Yeah. You know, this is. A huge difference. We were thinking about like the child care in the United States and we’re in Palo Alto, California, which happens to be one of the most expensive places in the world. But if we want to child care, full time child care, similar to what we were getting, you know, what we’re getting at Balele at Ayana’s school, it would be multiple thousands of dollars a month. You know, for Ayana, it’s I want to say. 30 percent, 20 percent of that on a monthly basis, but you’re getting so much more getting education, getting community, getting community events, we’re meeting families to get a lot more for a lot less. So it’s that is not a part of the reason why we moved to Costa Rica, but is a very much appreciated benefit. Well, this is absolutely it means like schools, any parent out there that’s wondering about quality of schools, I would say, don’t worry, you’ll find lots of different options that are actually very, very affordable.
Richard Bexon: Yeah, I mean, I mean, we’ve got Texas Tech here, man. I mean, like they have a campus.
Kvon Tucker: Yeah, that’s what I heard about that. Yeah, it’s interesting. So I think it’s I think this is a part of the reason, part of your job, right? And as part of the outcome of your jobs, like a lot of people are realising that Costa Rica has a lot to offer. You know, it’s a it has been a slower growing country, but I think it’s growing a little bit faster. And there are some downsides to that. But it’s such a beautiful place, beautiful people, beautiful culture, lots and lots to offer here.
Cost of Living Considerations
Richard Bexon: But it’s not cheap.
Kvon Tucker: Let’s be clear of like living here is not cheap. It is not cheap. Again, if you’re coming from a place like Palo Alto, California, it is relatively very affordable. But if you’re coming from other parts of the United States, no, it is not cheap. And as I as I think it’s like the most expensive place in Central America. Right. You know, we’ve been to some local countries and like, oh, wow, so it’s a lot more affordable here. So it’s not cheap. But there’s reasons for that. Similar like why California isn’t cheap or why places like Palo Alto, California aren’t cheap. There’s like lots to offer. So there’s going to be some costs that that are incurred.
Safety and Security Perceptions
Richard Bexon: But people sometimes are concerned about security, like, am I going to be safe? What’s your viewpoint on that? Because I tell people, I’m like, it’s safer here than probably anywhere else.
Kvon Tucker: Yeah. My wife has said as many times she feels safer than she ever has in her entire life. We live in this condo. We it’s a funny story. This is also a very Costa Rican thing. We don’t have a house key right now.
Richard Bexon: My door’s never locked.
Kvon Tucker: Yeah, we don’t we don’t need a house key right now because we’re not going anywhere, but we don’t need a house key. So we have to get a replacement. But it’s like totally fine. It’s totally fine for us not to have. We hardly ever lock our front door. I often leave my car unlocked and we feel very secure. Like we have security here, but I wonder how much we really need it. We just feel super, super safe and safe. Even walking down busy streets, we just feel super safe. Like I, I personally have never felt safer in my life either. Other than like maybe the small town that I grew up in is also kind of like quiet, very community orientated town. But if you’re coming from any major American city, I’d say just about any place that I have been to in Costa Rica is likely going to feel a lot safer than than any major American city in the United States.
Richard Bexon: Yeah, I mean, I think there’s just a lot of noise around like the insecurity in Latin America or whatever. But I might tell you, you have to understand Costa Rica is very different than a lot of Latin America.
Kvon Tucker: It is. It is to me so different. And you and I have had some conversation about why that is. But it is so different from, to me, any other place I’ve ever been to. This is part of the reason why we landed here. It’s like the people are the kindest people I have ever met. So in my mind, they’re the kindest people that exist. This place feels safer and making communities so much easier. Again, I’m here. I’m completely sold on here. And I love living here and we’ll be here for the foreseeable future. We have no plans on leaving anytime soon. But it’s for all of these reasons. One, it’s not cheap, but it’s not also not expensive relative to what we’re used to in the United States. But you get so much, so much for for what it does cost to live here.
Who Should NOT Move to Costa Rica
Richard Bexon: Who should not move to Costa Rica?
Kvon Tucker: Thinking about this question, I think it would be unwise to move to Costa Rica if you don’t have a stable life. Yeah. And it’s like if your family is not stable and secure, if your finances aren’t stable and secure, if you’re kind of in this place where things are unstable for you, I think it would be unwise to move to Costa Rica. People have fantasies about moving to a place like Costa Rica, like it’s going to fix their problems. So I think if you move to a place like Costa Rica, it might make your problems more pronounced, whatever issues you are. So don’t come to Costa Rica if you’re trying to escape something. I’d encourage folks to move to Costa Rica if they’re trying to make some part of their life even more fuller. Like we moved to Costa Rica because we were already feeling very much aligned to the culture here. And so we just want to like put ourselves in it and it’s worked for us. Yeah, but I wouldn’t I wouldn’t recommend moving to Costa Rica if if you’re not really stable and secure in your life in general. I also wouldn’t move to Costa Rica if you don’t have a true, deep appreciation of the culture and the people here. And I think this is a part of like what I know some people who are, you know, some ticos and ticas are feeling is they see people moving in and not really appreciating, not really trying to become a part of the local culture and local community, just kind of like coming in and doing their own thing essentially and not really connecting. If you’re not interested in that and you’re not familiar with the culture, I’d say maybe take some time to get to know the culture before you move here.
Richard Bexon: I completely agree with that last statement, but also as this country will find a way to also reject you as well, if you don’t kind of assimilate, because if you try to get stuff done here with a non Costa Rican mentality, good luck, man, because I mean, it’s a passive aggressive environment here. So if you come at it a little bit more Western aggressively, they’ll just shut down or they’ll say yes and just don’t do it.
Kvon Tucker: Yeah, yeah. And I think that’s what happened to us when we first moved here and try to get our residency through like rapidly. I think people were just like, no, I don’t like your energy. I’m going to put some things in front of you to slow you down. And now that we’ve taken some time and took a break off of trying to push some of this stuff through, things are starting to move better for us. So, again, that’s been a learning process for us, like, oh, OK, we were really we were stressed, you know, we were stressed when we first got here and trying to make stuff happen. And we didn’t realise the dynamic and the energy of us ourselves and how we were impacting the people around us.
Richard Bexon: I mean, I think you just have to understand if like Costa Rica is like a river just flowing, just float with it, man, because if you try and swim or stand up against the current, it’s just going to take like just go with it. And when things happen, they will happen.
Kvon Tucker: Yeah, that to me, that’s you know, I’m still learning what Pura Vida is, but that sounds like it’s a part of it for me. It’s like, let’s go with it. Don’t resist it. That’s when you create suffering for yourself and everyone around you. Like, OK, you know what, just let go, let go and things will start to work for you when you do.
Richard Bexon: I mean, I had it this morning. I went to see a house up in the mountains just because me and my wife are thinking about buying another house up in the mountains for weekends. And the woman sends me the link for it, the realtor. And dude, it’s a kilometre away from where we’re at. And she’s like, where are you? I’m at the point that you sent me. And she’s like, well, can you close it down and open it back up? And I’m like, it keeps sending me to the same point and I’m like, come and get me like this is where I am. And she came and get me and drove a kilometre. It wasn’t even anywhere close to real estate is a mess here, of course, as you know, anyway. So, yeah, you know, but what do you miss? What do you wish that you had in the US, like here in Costa Rica? And I’m going to ask you the other thing, like when you travel, what you miss, but like, what do you miss from the US that you wish that you had here?
What’s Missing from Life in Costa Rica
Kvon Tucker: The first thing that comes up for me is just people. Yeah. You know, it’s like you can’t I can’t move all of my friends and family to Costa Rica, but I wish I could. That’s the biggest thing. You know, the other thing that comes up for me is like access to some specific products. So it’s like something really big, important, like people in community. And then, like, I just wish that sometimes I could order something from Amazon and then got here the next day and it didn’t cost me an arm and a leg. Yeah, not honestly, not a lot beyond that, we’re really enjoying being here. Also miss, and this might be more to do with like the kind of neighbourhood that I live in, but I miss sidewalks. Yeah, we don’t do sidewalks that well. They’re here and there in different parts of the Central Valley. And it’s like you walk through Escazú and it’s like, oh, wow, they got some nice sidewalks here. Here are sidewalks up and down. They disappear. They come back because we love to walk and we love to walk in our community. And so I miss being able to just go for long walks in the community. That kind of stuff. But yeah, that’s it.
Richard Bexon: Parks, like parks, like parks to walk around in. Oh, yeah. You know, like huge one where it takes a while to like, we don’t have that as much here because we have parks, but they’re national parks, they’re huge jungle and like the trails through them like sometimes don’t exist.
Kvon Tucker: Yeah, yeah. That to me, there’s a. We miss we miss being able to walk in places like that, like having green spaces that also like have shade because it can be, you know, with eighty five degree weather year round, sometimes it can be unbearable. And this is something that we learned is like when when twelve o’clock, twelve one hits, like people disappear. That’s because it’s just like really too hot to be outside. But we like to go on a walk. So we were like going on walks in the afternoon. Why isn’t anybody outside? And then ten minutes into the walk, we realise no one’s outside because it is scorching and there’s no shade. There’s no reprieve. So we miss stuff like that, like having green spaces that are shaded and easy to walk through. It’s really important for us.
What’s Missed When Traveling Abroad
Richard Bexon: What do you miss of Costa Rica when you travel?
Kvon Tucker: Similar question, similar answer, the people. Yeah, I. When we when we go to other places, it is it’s become so apparent to me how much Costa Ricans love kids. You know, when we first got here, we felt it right away. Wow. Costa Ricans love kids. They give our daughter so much attention. And, you know, restaurants always have spaces for kids to play and so thoughtful, so considerate. And then we go to other places and I’m like, do they care about kids at all here? There’s nothing for kids. They don’t even have a children’s seat. Like what’s going what’s going on? And I don’t give your kids any attention at all. And like this is it just feels like community and love here. And that’s what we miss whenever we travel somewhere else. And it’s like just the feeling of community, the feeling of like wanting to get to know one another, wanting to connect. You know, you you know, there’s like you get to know the people around you, the people that you visit. Like I feel like we have our friends at all the local shops.
