One of my favorite parts about owning vacation rental property in Costa Rica is that we have business reasons to visit, making our trips tax-deductible!
It is also fun to experience business in another country and culture. We had just six days in Guanacaste, but we squeezed out a lot of work and play.
Day 1: Sunset at Playa Brasilito
The flight from New York City to Liberia is about five hours, and luckily we had a smooth, on-time journey. As with many of my flights, I passed the time watching the in-flight entertainment, in this case the Robert Redford flick, “The Old Man & the Gun” and an episode of “Love It Or List It” (hey, I cut the cable cord years ago and get my HGTV fix when I can).
The Liberia Airport couldn’t be easier to manage when arriving, and we got to our Budget car rental quickly. Aside from almost taking someone else’s luggage (two identical black bags on the same shuttle!), we had no surprises.
The drive from the Liberia airport to Tamarindo – we stay at Condo Boom on our visits – takes just over an hour. We weren’t going to make it all the way there in time for sunset at Playa Tamarindo, but we did get to nearby Playa Brasilito for dinner at Don Brasilito’s with a view of the sunset there.
For the beer lovers out there, I’ve confirmed with a local that Don Brasalito’s has the cheapest beer around. A bottle of the local Costa Rica beer, Imperial, cost me just 810 colones, or about $1.25 with current currency exchange!
Day 2: Real estate errands
We started our day with a walk on Playa Tamarindo. The seashells were out in force, and I found a particularly bold striped one! We no longer collect shells from the beach, but it is fun to spot them on our walks. We opted to stop at the far end of Playa Tamarindo for breakfast at Breakfast Grinds – huevos rancheros for me, eggs, ham, pancakes and fruit for Scott.
Breakfast Grinds also sits right next to the iconic Iguana Surf, which is crazy busy this time of the year giving surfing classes and lessons, so we enjoyed watching a tour van get loaded up with at least 8 long surfboards as a group was prepping to go our for a surfing excursion at some other beach. Since Breakfast Grinds is on the 2nd floor, there are lots of interesting things to look at on the street while you eat.
The middle of our day was focused on real estate errands for our condos. We did a walk-thru of Condo Reeves as there was a window of a few hours before the next guest arrived. We noted supplies needed (tea, more dishes) and some fixes for the handyman such as paint damage and a tight door lock. The place looked great, and we have no buyer’s remorse from our purchase of it last April. We missed the high season last year, which is December through April, so it is nice to see it almost fully booked this season.
Then it was on to Coopeguanacaste, the electric company, to sort out an account snafu with Condo Reeves. Our condo property managers met us there, as we don’t speak Spanish, and they also have the relationships to get things done.
The interesting thing about Coopeguanacaste is that it is the electric company, but also an appliance and home goods store. You can buy washer/ dryer, oven, refrigerator, or smaller appliances like rice cookers, and finance it for up to three months on your electric bill! We looked around, but as we already had a trip to Liberia planned for later that day, figured we’d get better deals at the Walmart.
Walmart in Liberia is like Walmart in the US – big, brightly lit, lots of different items. Our condo PMs turned us onto a new competitor to Walmart that recently opened, Pequeno Mundo, which seems to sell everything under the sun, so we shopped there as well.
Between those stores, we ended up spending almost $300 on items for our condos – rice cooker, toaster oven, two sets of dishes, beach towels, duvets and covers, sheet sets, decorative goods, and pantry supplies. There is always something needed for a vacation rental property because of the constant turnover and increased wear and tear on the property.
The shopping trip took a little over half the day, and we were back in time for another postcard-perfect sunset on the beach, this time at Playa Tamarindo.
We finished the day with dinner at Longboards and ice cream at POPS, part of the open-air food stands. There were several dessert options at the other stands – smoothies, an acai bowl with M&M’s, chocolate AND Nutella, and a French pastry stand, but simple ice cream is what we craved.
Day 3: Focus on Langosta
Scott went for a run to start his day, and along with the Langosta theme of the day, he incorporated the Langosta loop (above) into his run. The day for the two of us launched with a walk on Playa Tamarindo and breakfast at Café Nordico. Scott had his favorite açaí bowl and an iced tea that seemed to contain an entire lime.
In the same central office plaza as Café Nordico, there is a new co-working space, so we checked it out and chatted with one of the owners. The founders are a husband-and-wife team from White Plains, which is not too far from where we live in New York City! Husband also works in IT! It truly is a small world.
The rest of the day was focused on our vacation rental in Langosta. We met our house property managers (different from the team that manages our condos) and did a walk-thru of Casa Salita. Our place is booked back-to-back through end of March, so we had a very small window to check things out and huddle with our property managers on needs and priorities.
We always spend the bulk of our time in Tamarindo, but given that Langosta is right next door and the location of our rental house, we took advantage of being there to walk around and familiarize ourselves with the commercial establishments, which included a yoga and art studio, a souvenir shop and a small grocery. We had a delicious lunch of bruschetta, salad and meat lasagna at Fish & Cheeses, an Italian gourmet store and restaurant in Langosta.
Speaking of Langosta, the most exciting development since our last visit is that about half of the road from Tamarindo to Langosta has been paved, as well as the western side of the Langosta loop road. The first part of the road in Tamarindo is under heavy construction as they put sidewalks on the street and build drainage under the road. We understand that will be paved next as well as the rest of the road to and in Langosta!
It’s the dry season in Guanacaste currently, so it gets quite hot during the midday. We headed back to Condo Boom for some virtual work before taking in another sunset at Playa Tamarindo. We caught low tide sunsets during our trip, and so walking the beach was easy and there was tons of space. We tried out one of our new beach towels, setting up in front of one of the open-air restaurants with live music.
Then it was dinner with our house property managers at Green Papaya (another Costa Rica business for sale!). The chips and dip were amazing – my favorite part of a delightful dinner all-around. The outdoor seating area was full – seats are swings instead of chairs! So we sat indoors on a very heavy set of table and chairs carved from logs.
After dinner, we did a quick trip to the new grocery that was built since our last visit here. I’ve been to Tamarindo four times in the last two years, and new restaurants, stores and residential properties are popping up all over the place.
That grocery, called Vindi, is a big step up from the other groceries in town, with a large fresh produce section, bright lighting and wider aisles. It had more of a supermarket feel than a corner bodega like the other grocers. This will definitely be our choice for shopping on future visits.
Day 4: Sick Day
A combination of strong coffee and more ice cream than I usually eat knocked me out with an upset stomach. We skipped our morning beach walk, and I stayed indoors all day. Scott still ventured out and was able to do more exploring since I like to just stick to my routine paths to the beach.
Scott explored the one last part of Tamarindo we had not been to before, which includes a zip line on the top of a hill with an ocean view, and a nicely prepped but empty subdivision of lots where homes can be built. The subdivision is really nice in that it has nicely paved sidewalks and roads, lights and underground electric lines. We are not sure what the timetable has been for these lots, but they look ready to be built on. Apparently the area is slow to provide ‘water letters’, which are required before building a home can start.
We had a standing dinner date with our condo property managers, and it was also the weekly Night Market, a new community event that started since we last visited, so I got myself out of the house for these. Of course we also walked the beach first to see another great sunset.
We had dinner at La Esquina, one of our favorite Italian places, and then headed to the Night Market, which was hopping! It reminded me of the pop-up holiday markets in NYC – food, crafts, jewelry, vintage clothes, artisanal products, street performers, wall-to-wall people, and some unrealistic prices to match.
We had a delicious cup of watermelon and pineapple juice and a French chocolate tart (both reasonably priced). The Night Market is definitely on our list for our next trip.
Day 5: HOA Meeting
This was our first HOA meeting for the condo complex where we have two units. Call for quorum was at 7a but we were told not to come till 8a – Tico time. Even at 8a, the conference room was locked, and the meeting was called to order closer to 9:00.
The complex has 60 units, and there were about 20 attendees at the meeting. Three were from the condo management team, and one was the accountant, so at most there were 16 owners there. Since some people own more than one unit, like us, probably almost half of the units were represented in the meeting.
The meeting was about 3.5 hours and included a review of the previous year financials, project budget for next year, voting on priorities for different renovation projects for the complex, and some open time to air grievances (e.g., Unit X has broken furniture out front!).
It was interesting to hear about the various maintenance needs for the property and get a sense for the personalities involved. About a third of the participants were English speakers, about a third Spanish speakers and the rest bi-lingual, so it was interesting to hear the meeting conducted in both languages, switching back and forth so that the English speakers could get translated the Spanish conversation, and then vice versa.
We’re definitely coming back for next year’s meeting – we want our voices heard, and it’s a trip to Costa Rica!
After the meeting we headed to what I thought was Lydia Beech Arts, where I bought a couple of pieces in a previous trip. The doors were boarded up, and I panicked. Luckily, our condo PM who knows all the goings on around town pointed us to Lydia’s new location, which we visited during our final sunset walk. She has a new spot with an absolutely gorgeous view of the beach, and that view is the inspiration for a lot of the art she is creating these days. We also chatted about her private and group art classes – perhaps some of our AirBNB guests might be interested.
We also checked out Panga’s Beach Club, a fancy restaurant that we still haven’t tried, but at least now I’ve seen the menu. We also saw another stunning sunset, this time from far up the beach near the estuary, which is where Panga’s is located.
Dinner was at Surf Shack, which like every other visit did not disappoint. I had a plain hot dog, as I wasn’t yet 100% recovered from being sick, but it was still delicious. Of course, I had some of Scott’s chocolate peanut butter milk shake. I can’t wait to go back and try more flavors.
Our waitress was Filipina, and she pointed us to another place to get Filipino food. Though we had just eaten dinner, I had to check it out, hence another stop, for pancit noodles at Anthony’s Asian, which is in one of the outdoor food courts.
Apparently, if I give them some notice, they’ll make one of my favorites, sinigang (the advance notice is required because they need to get hold of tamarind to flavor the soup). I got some of the family backstory (they’re related to the owners of Asian Fusion, another place to get Filipino food that we tried in a previous trip). Small world!
Day 6: Afternoon flight out and discovering Utopia
This was a sad day for us, not just because we were leaving, but because we discovered Utopia, our now favorite breakfast place, unfortunately on our last day and after multiple trips!
Utopia is an open-air French bakery that is spacious to hang out in and full of delicious treats. Our condo PM had recommended the chocolate almond croissant (excellent), the ham and egg croissant was decadent, and even my ginger ale was something new (at least for me). They serve Evervess – I only knew Canada Dry and Schweppes before!
We loved Utopia so much that we went twice that morning. We had to leave our condo early – last-minute booking, so a happy reason – and decided to return to Utopia for more chocolate almond croissant and ginger ale. We picked up a chocolate croissant to bring home to our youngest, and she gave it her enthusiastic approval (which means a lot coming from a jaded high schooler).
The drive to the airport was smooth, so we had time for a stop at Café Europa, a German restaurant near the airport with wood-fired pizza and lots of menu variety. We had schnitzel, Hawaiian pizza, and a visit from an iguana and lizard who seemed to be traveling together.
The flight home was smooth in the air, and I almost squeezed in three movies. I watched the reboot of Predator (much more fun than I expected) and the Mark Wahlberg/ Rose Byrne comedy, Instant Family (cringey but in a good way). I was about 10 minutes away from finishing A Simple Favor, which I liked a lot, so I’m pulling it from Netflix – I have to know how it turns out.
Deplaning out to a bus at 11pm in a cold NYC was a shock to the system! Thankfully the weather was warming up from the polar vortex earlier in the week, (clearly not Tamarindo-style warm!) and got home after midnight.
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We are already counting the days to our return to Costa Rica.
We are Scott and Caroline, 50-somethings who spent the first 20+ years of our adult lives in New York City, working traditional careers and raising 2 kids. We left full-time work in our mid-40’s for location-independent, part-time consulting projects and real estate investing, in order to create a more flexible and travel-centric lifestyle. 
Financial independence and early retirement is not something we originally focused on, but over time realized it was possible. Our free report, 
