The Place Called Perez

I was living in Santo Domingo de Heredia when I began to think hard about where I really wanted to live in Costa Rica. I was running a travel agency making online sales and entertaining customers upon their arrival at the San Jose airport. For a long time I felt as if I needed to be in the big city. I had an apartment in the business district of Paseo Colon, before moving to the Sabana Park area, and then finally out into the mountains of Santo Domingo.

Santo Domingo is in the shadows of the Barva and Poas volcanos. It’s a higher and cooler altitude than downtown. All in all, it’s a lovely place. But there was one problem…my office was still downtown and to get to it I had to drive right through the worse traffic San Jose offered at the time (and it’s still pretty bad), the infamous rotunda of Juan Pablo Segunda. In short, it was a nightmarish commute.

I began to romanticize about all those locations around the country where life would just be, well, perfect. Of course, we all know that there is no “perfect”, but I often would catch myself fantasizing about life in a small pueblo, surrounded by a mesmerizing array of flora and fauna, and offering the quintessential “pura vida” existence.

I knew that I loved the mountains and the beach. Could it be possible to have both, I pondered? I grew up surfing, but I’d arrived at an age where there were more important things in life, like general comfort. The beach is where the waves are, but it’s also where relentlessly oppressive heat is, where the highest prices are, and where the most pretentious gringos tend to congregate. In short, I knew that I didn’t want to live AT the beach, but close enough.

Perez is in a gorgeous valley at the foot of the highest mountains in Costa Rica, the Talamancas. The trail head for the highest peak in the country, Chirripo at 12,500 feet, is less than an hour from downtown. San Isidro is also less than an hour from the beach.

I thought I’d identified my proverbial “shangri la”, offering the best of both worlds, mountains and beaches!

I moved to Perez in 2011 into a cozy apartment in the barrio of La Palma. Rent was $400 per month with utilities included (Perez is also much cheaper than San Jose). My wife and I were separated at the time, which made “getting out of dodge” even more appealing. And I’m still here in the place called Perez with zero plans to move any time soon. On a side note, my wife and I are together again and living very happily in Perez.

I must say that I’ve been very pleased with my decision.

First there is the city itself. It’s actually not a small town, even though it has that feel. It’s the second largest city in the country outside of the “gran area metropolitana” of the Central Valley (which encompasses San Jose, Cartago, Heredia and Alajuela). I often characterize center city as one giant outdoor mall. The streets are lined with small stores of every kind, all mom and pop owned. I remember growing up in small town North Carolina when it was like that. San Isidro offers a hearkening back to those days of old. And here you can find everything you could possibly need for the pura vida life, and more. We even have a mall with a cinema…we call it our “small.” In short, it definitely has the convenience factor going for it.

Then there are the people. The P-Zetas, as they are often referred, are mountain people…kind and considerate, but also on the whole honest no nonsense straight-shooters. Many work in agriculture or some type of trade where they earn a livelihood with their hands. Some are business owners, or wealthy land owners. The canton of Perez has a very entrenched middle-class of ticos who live what I would consider a relatively high quality of life. If you want to understand why Costa Rica consistently ranks as one of the happiest countries on earth, look no further than Perez Zeledon.

However, the city is not where the real magic of the place called Perez can be found. The population of the city proper is perhaps 50,000, maybe less. But the canton (or county) of Perez is quite large, with a population approaching 200,000. The beauty of the place is found in the many mountain pueblos that dot the folds of the Talamancas, as well as the smaller range that slopes towards the gorgeous coastline of the southern Pacific.

I’ve since settled in one of those pueblos known as Quebradas. The community rests along the banks of a picturesque river of the same name. The altitude is around 900 meters, or just under 3,000 feet, offering a perfect climate at all times of the day and year. I should mention that the valley, where the city is located, can get quite warm during the day. But in a small mountain pueblo like Quebradas, which is only about 10 minutes from downtown, it’s an entirely different story. That’s the magic of the micro-climate in Costa Rica, where temperature doesn’t vary by time of year, but solely by altitude.

I work as a real estate agent for Coldwell Banker down on the coast in Playa Dominical, where some of the most consistent surf in the country can be found. It takes about 45 minutes for me to go from my front door to the office down there. And the drive offers breathtaking panoramic views of the mountains and ocean. That’s quick enough to make a day trip to the beach on a moment’s notice an easy thing to accomplish. So, if the waves are good, I can grab my board and be in the water within an hour!

My real estate motto has become “live in the mountains and visit the beach.” I realize that for some folks being 10 minutes from the beach, let along almost an hour, just won’t work.