Those who know me joke about the distinct lifestyles led by me and my brother/partner, Scott. I am, by simplistic definition, a city slicker, a townie, an urbanite....I lived on the beach here for several years upon my arrival in Manuel Antonio, and loved every second of it; surfing, the national park, the daily sunsets on the beach, getaways to the waterfalls, remote beaches, and just the slow pace of the coastal life. When life and business presented the tough decision to stay on the beach or head to the city to continue to drive the business, I chose the latter and did not look back. Oftentimes, I find it hard to imagine myself now living on the beach, after all, and years later happily married, two beautiful children, including one in the "pre" teens (not sure about the pre, but that's another story altogether), our life is here in the city, and we truly enjoy it. We love the culture of the city, the comfort creatures, international restaurants, nightlife (at least my daughter does), international first-rate education, healthcare, and the list goes on and on....
As we are blessed to not only have representation, but premier representation at that, in our coastal offices, I find myself getting out to the coast less and less and focusing on building our business...
Yesterday, while admittedly not a true frontier daytrip in the comfort of my air-conditioned 4x4, I regained a little perspective that sometimes gets lost from the polished, corporate center where I call home from 8 - .....Monday through...... An exploration trip. Just one hour away, the day started with about as little sacrifice as one could imagine as I drove into the posh, resort community of Los Sueños, to carry out a site visit on two luxury ocean view estate homes that sit at the crown of the development.
Stunning views, more comforts and luxury that you could ever dream of, and I said to myself....maybe I could just stay a while....the "comfort" was short lived as we packed up things (sunscreen, sunglasses and a slightly adventurous spirit) and we hopped into a doorless, Polaris to start the highlight reels....so when my existing client referred this new client to us, the preface was that he was not a young man anymore, old fashioned so please be patient with him, etc....I envisioned a light-hearted meal from his ocean view estate. I did not envision him behind the wheel of the doorless Polaris, racing through the mountaintops and jungles of the Central Pacific Coast....we started looking at the easy stuff, ocean view estate lots in the resort community and I was thinking, calm day, low heart rate, lunch and a couple of beers before back to the city....he then said, let's get started, and he took us about 15 minutes away up to the crown of the ridgetop behind the central pacific town of Jaco....the views were stunning, spanning 180+ degrees to include the backdrop of the mountains, and endless ocean views. But the peace and quiet stopped what sometimes feels like a nonstop race, and it brought back the early years of being in Costa Rica...when time was measured only by the sunrise and sunset, not by the back-to-back meetings, closings, or appointments. It reminded me of why so many of our clients make Costa Rica their home, or second home....a place to take a step back in time, enjoy the simple wonders, and adventures....Our young pilot then took us 15 minutes on the intercoastal highway, yes in the doorless Polaris with buses and trailers zipping by our seemlessly weightless "buggy."....we then dropped off the paved road and into one of the most spectacular ocean view development parcels I had seen...the perfect combination of lush, rainforest with exotic flora and stunning coastal, mountain and jungle views....but that was what I was expecting. What I was not expecting, was that our juvial driver would be taking us down the steep, mountain ridges and reiterating "this is the most dangerous part of the trip." Needless to say, a man of tremendous wisdom, and a visionary to have pinpointed the properties that he chose so many years ago, and of course, made it safely back home in the afternoon....but as our Jaco agent, Steve Hooven, so wisely said yesterday after our adventurer, "Good to see you out of City Slicker Mode."....yes Steve, nice to be out of it...as I sit back in my city office, getting right back in, I look forward to my next escape to paradise.