Taking a LEAP of FAITH!
Bienvenidos a Finca De Los Colores!
We are an expat family from the USA living in Atenas, Costa Rica. 2020 was a doozie, and it also gave us time to step back and reevaluate the things that matter most in life. For our family of four the slower pace of life and more quality time together stood out the most, as well as not taking the short time we have in this magnificent world for granted. Several factors in our life lead us on the search for a place to raise our kids that aligned more with our values and goals for our lives and our children’s.
Central America immediately came to mind due to the affordability and the fact that we had traveled to 5 counties in that part of the world and absolutely loved the culture. We tossed around Panama, but ultimately, I had fallen in Love with Costa Rica at the age of 16 and if we were going to move our children away from everything that they had known and loved, Costa Rica was going to be the place.
Once our decision was made the research began, YouTube videos galore, endless internet searches and several discussions about whether we were making the right decision for our family. Before making the huge leap, we decided it would be best to take the kids on an exploratory trip and try to pin down what part of the country we we ultimately want to live in. The trip consisted of several beach towns down the Pacific coast. Of course, all were great in their own ways, but in the end, we decided that Samara was the place for us………. until we spent two nights in Atenas.
My Husband and I have always been whimsical people, we get gut feelings and go with them, we moved from Washington to Austin, Texas together after knowing each other for only eight months. Neither of us had jobs waiting for us there, family or friends, we just wanted warmer weather and an adventure. We purchased our first home while I was on bed rest with our first child. It was like the tv shows, we went out one time, looked at three houses and chose the one we liked the most. 3 years later we moved into our friends basement with our one year old and three year old, where we lived for almost two years, while we built what we thought would be our forever home. It’s our Mo, if it feels right, go with it.
Well, that one full day we spent in Atenas was all it took for us to abandon all our previous plans and research, once again we got that gut feeling and messaged the owner of the Airbnb we were staying in to see if we could rent the house long term and made sure there was a bilingual school for the kids ✅✅ and just like that we made a life changing decision!!
We returned to WA, it was May at the time, and started arranging things for the big move. We made a year commitment with the owner of the Airbnb starting in January and decided that we would rent out our house and put everything we wanted to save in storage, we purged most of our clothing, kid’s toys, furniture, etc. and still ended up with two storage units. Time flew by and it was a roller coaster of emoticons, when it was just the two of us a move to another country would have just been another adventure and we wouldn’t have blinked an eye, but the doubts we had about doing the right thing for our kids were constantly racing through our minds. Would they be happy in Costa Rica, will they get a good education, will they make friends, how will they do width the new and wide variety of new bugs, the language, will they be safe, but we knew that if it didn’t work we only a one year commitment and after virtual school and isolation during the peak of Covid, we knew one year living in a tropical county was not going to kill them.
January 10, 2022, we said goodbye to our family and friends, which was by far the hardest part of moving, loaded up our 4 large suitcases, 4 carryon suitcases and 4 backpacks, boarded the plane and ultimately changed our lives forever. After settling in we instantly knew we had made the right decision and after only four months of living here we started looking for property to build on. Our goal was to find land big enough to build a house for ourselves and a couple rental casitas. We saw several properties, all with great views and potential and even started doing research on some of the properties to see how feasible building would be. But as fate would have it, our relator took us to one last property, it was love at first sight. Instead of buying a piece of raw land, we found a beautifully landscaped property with every fruit we could imagine, a river flowing through it, a stocked fishpond, stunning views, electricity, water and a pool and rancho already in place, all we had to do was pick where we would build the house!
We made a contingent offer allowing us time to sell our house in WA and it was accepted! Not only did we buy our own little slice of paradise, but we also bought a new dream for our family. The potential we see in our property is endless and we aim to create a unique experience that will highlight people’s vacations. We look forward to hosting travelers from around the world and sharing our new way of life.
About Finca De Los Colores
We take pride in offering our guests a rare chance to not only experience staying in one of our newly built casitas nestled near a calming river and all the beauty that Costa Rica has to offer, but also the chance to experience staying on a working farm. Although there were an abundance of fruits, vegetables and flowers established when we purchased the land, we have made it our mission to turn a large portion of the property into an organic food forest utilizing permaculture and agroforestry principals.
About The Owners
We are an expat family from the USA that made the decision to find a way of life that better suited out personal values and goals. We moved to Atenas in January of 2022 and in the short time that we have been here we have been busy! We have adopted 2 cats and 3 dogs (the amount of animals here in need of homes is endless!), purchased a farm, traveled to Panama, Nicaragua and Guatemala, experienced the building process of both a casita and our personal home, we’ve seen more insects and wildlife than we knew possible and have made the most amazing life long friends!