Wide open spaces

At the beginning of this year, January 1, almost everyone I know had huge expectations. Business was booming, the economy was on fire, stock markets at an all-time high, unemployment at 50 year lows and the predictions were insane. Everyone was making more money than they ever had, their businesses were at peak performance, tourism numbers were through the roof and life could not be any better. It had been an absolute banner year, and the sky was the limit. Personally, I was planning on having the best 12 months I ever had and most of my agents had the same goals as well. The first 60 days, were record breakers for real estate in Costa Rica, and it looked like nothing could stop this bullet train. Then the conductor pulled into the COVID-19 station; the locomotive was put into park; the engines were shut down; and everyone had to get off and go home. The globe became silent.

Now here we are, 8 weeks later, and Costa Rica is one of the leaders in the world, in its handling of the virus. Countries all over the planet are pointing to us as the exception to the rule; how we have contained it and lowered the curve; at the astounding low numbers of active cases; as we start to reopen our economy. Most countries and or cities, with 3 to 5 Million inhabitants are seeing thousands of deaths, compared to our mind boggling number of only 10. People are taking notice, and we are flooded with inquires and phone calls. So many individuals rehashing the same comments; I should have bought; why didn’t we just come; why did we cancel our trip; why did I procrastinate; wish we were there! Well, hindsight is 20-20 they say, and it just happens to arrive in the year 2020.

Costa Rica Coronavirus Food Drive May 6, 2020

I want to take this moment to THANK everyone who has donated to our food drives. So many individuals and organizations have gone into overdrive to make sure families in need are getting the essentials to survive. Just a couple months ago, Guanacaste was at the top of the world. Tourism was at an all-time high, and the Costa Ricans were living better than they ever had. You have to understand, that Ticos are very proud people; they are workers. They don’t beg or ask for handouts, there is no government social services like welfare or unemployment; they take care of themselves and ask very little from anyone else. Then literally overnight, everyone in the industry, was out of work; with no way to earn a living. Many times these are highly educated people, bilingual, who had incredible jobs and businesses, and now they are struggling to even feed their families. To go from having the world in the palm of your hand, to having to open your palm and ask for a handout is very humbling.

TANK TOPS FLIP FLOPS along with PATAS Y MANOS and the local police, have been organizing weekly deliveries to some of the neediest families in the area. We are going into some of the more remote locations, where many times these people have been skipped over by the government and school food drives. Many people have offered to assist in the delivery of the food and we appreciate it. But due to health concerns, we have limited the amount of vehicles and drivers who can go with us on our supply runs. Sometimes we go into some very dangerous locations, which is why we coordinate with the police, and they keep a list of every home and individual we visit, along with the names of all the volunteers who were with us, in case someone is infected. This way they can stop the spread and isolate. This is exactly why Costa Rica is doing so well; everyone is taking this threat very seriously here and it shows by our low active case numbers and mortality rate.