Costa Rica Trip:

What comes to mind when you hear the word “luxury”? Falling asleep wrapped in satin sheets? Sip Dom Perignon while soaking in a bubble bath? Online shopping while taking in the view from your climate-controlled living room? My friend Tara had her own question: Can the word luxury and Costa Rica be used in the same sentence?

Tara recently quit her job trying to promote Costa Rica as a luxury destination in the tourism and real estate sectors. She has lived here for over 20 years, working in various jobs, and as she puts it, she is ready to make the big bucks. In recent years, she has run a personal travel company, taking care of reservations, transfers, and acting as a tour guide herself.

I once took one of her tours and spent a whole day climbing up and down the mountain to see monkeysloth, Toucanand in areas that few tourists have ever been. This is a strenuous trip, trekking through the South Pacific coast and jungle areas of the Osa Peninsula. This is not a trip for the faint of heart.

We are having breakfast together now. “I lived in a small house in Campo, with no air conditioning and most of the rooms open to the surrounding nature,” she tells me. “I don’t know what I was thinking. I had nothing in common with those people who pursued luxury. I thought – can someone without feet sell shoes? Can an illiterate person review books? I felt like a fraud, an actor playing a role but not a particularly good one.”

She showed up for breakfast in the car she’d driven for years, a beat-up 1999 Pathfinder that needed a repaint. “I’m trying to imagine you driving that car to pick up a potential client and show them some high-priced real estate,” I said.

She laughs. “I always lie and say my main vehicle is in the repair shop, so we’ll use my farm vehicle for the day. I’ll give it a quick clean, vacuum up the dog hair, and hit the road. I remember one client who only wanted to see high-altitude ocean-view properties. Every property was accessible only by a potholed dirt road. I was more worried about my car overheating than what the client thought of the property!

“I was like a fish out of water. We were having these meetings, Zoom calls, and the first time I heard a couple of other agents mention a property was asking $3.5 million, it took me a moment to realize they meant $3.5 million! I only had $3.5 million in my bank account at the time!”

But the turning point came, ironically, when she got a chance to, as she put it, make some real money. Her agency was awarded exclusive rights to sell oceanfront lots in a development overlooking the beach town where she had sold tours.

Initial excitement quickly turned to shame when she realized that all of her old friends in town had united to oppose the massive development. They believed that the infrastructure required for the project would not only destroy the local village atmosphere, but would also have a negative impact on the surrounding flora and fauna. So she quit. “At heart, I’m a nature lover,” she concludes, “and when I hear the term luxury real estate, I imagine another small piece of nature being chopped off and replaced with concrete mountains and swimming pools.”

We finished breakfast and she gave me a hug before heading to her old Pathfinder and driving back to her cabin at the campground, where she could stay home with her dog and chickens and wake up to the shrill morning calls of yellow-throated toucans.