Patas y Manos with Amy Lentz

Tank Tops Flip Flops has been a long time supporter of Patas y Manos; helping raise funds on various occasions for their cause mainly because of their work to help animals.  Amy Lentz is the founder of Patas y Manos who came to Costa Rica 20 years ago to learn spanish. Like many of us who came here and fell in love with the area and the people, Amy soon knew she had to figure out how she could stay here full time.  She developed a tourism based business and has never turned back – in fact she mentioned that she was recently back in the US and it had been 10 years since the last time she had visited!  There is no one more committed to being in Costa Rica than Amy.  

Amy soon saw that there was a need to get involved in her community by helping disadvantaged animals and people.  She started informally helping in any way she could but soon realized that it was important to create a formal, legal organization with a clear vision of what they wanted to accomplish and who they wanted to help.

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.