Hey guys, I'm michael alan from TravelCostaRicaNOW.com Now, this video.. I got to do a little preface. first of all.. thank you Charlie, we're gonna talk in a minute. Now, this I think this video is for you people that think it's all fun and games
running a business here I think it's about perseverance, I think it's about
happy endings, hopefully, hopefully it has a happy ending.
C: oh yeah m: we did dress the same on purpose. we called each other. C: keep it simple. This and a cold beer. Anyway, here's where we're at. We're at Playa Matapalo, Costa Rica,
Charlie owns, Charlie's Jungle House. a little 5 room, 4 room, B&B type of style thing. Right here on the beach in Costa Rica. Hopefully, D'Angelo can pan the camera and show the beach. To show the
beautiful surroundings. Anyway, he's down in Matapalo, Costa Rica. Which is for you guys that don't know, the Pacific side of Costa Rica in between basically Manuel Antonio and Dominical (Costa Rica). C: Correct m: All right, so we're going to talk to Charlie and why this is going to be very informative... Charlie's lived here for 25 years! C: Correct.. right. m: So we're gonna kind of talk about his story, and maybe give a little light for
some of you people that think you just come down here start a business, it's all fun and games, and it just happens to work out. C: Yeah m: okay, you've been here 25 years.
How did you get to Costa Rica? I always asked that... How did
you end up here? C: Right, well it was all based on, you know, economic conditions in the United States. I was a school teacher in the LA Unified School District. I
taught kindergarten. Between that, and my job at the JW Marriott in Century City.
The income that I was able to make in a month period of time. Was just almost
equivalent to what the cost of living was. So I was like very frustrated after
you know, four years at the University and I said well how is this possible.
You know, I just... my bottom line was how am I ever going to be able to save
enough money to put a down payment on a house, and then I'm going to pay 40 years
of my life to just have a roof over my head. So that I can go back in my car, go
make more money to make the monthly payments on the mortgage, on the
utilities, and I said... I would rather have a backpack on my back, and be free than
to have this kind of routine. So, that was what compelled me to begin the search. I've always, you know, loved living on the ocean. I was in University in
Hawaii. the North Shore there. So, after living there and having grown up
in Los Angeles, in a big city. I decided that I was never
going to live in a city again, and that I had to live on the beach someplace. So
the motivation was that. To find someplace, and, on in the beach area. I
originally went to Puerto Rico, because I knew that they had a Commonwealth status with the United States. I would be able to work there, you know, legally. and the
idea was to find a piece of property in Puerto Rico. I ended up actually finding
a piece of property in Puerto Rico. It was like $35,000 that many years ago,
and one night at my job... I was again, teaching school in the day, At night time I was
working at this bar. At the time, was a very famous bar. Dunbar's. And a lady came into the bar, and had a pack of cigarettes. I was serving her drinks, and working
the service bar, and in our conversation... I said to her.. Where'd you get those
cigarettes from? Because they had a beautiful graphic on it. they were called
a Moo. She says "Oh, these are from Costa Rica." And I was like... Costa Rica, oh...
m: I like the ring to that ... jajaja
C: That sounds good. Where is that exactly, because...
m: What island?
C: What ISLAND, and where is this island? want to go I want to go to this island nation. lol
she says "oh, Well, we're in Central America. Between Nicaragua and Panama.
Then I kind of... I had an idea. I was kind of in that area. Then I started asking the questions
about the economy, you know, And is it democratic, and what's, you know, are there
beaches? and she says....
m: just 800 miles lol C: Hundred..... ..... 800 miles of beaches.
I'm like.... wow! so I started thinking 'supply and demand'.
if there's more Beach coast, you know. Maybe, I'll be able to find something
even less expensive than what I had just found in Puerto Rico.
m: so you hadn't been down here yet? C: I had NOT been down to Costa Rica. m: this was a Pack of cigarettes that brought you down. C: This was a pack of cigarettes.
The BEST THING to ever happen from a pack of cigarettes.
Let's put it that way. I immediately,
you know, at the end of the shift. I went to my manager, and I said. "Julie, do you
think I could take ten days off? I want to check out this place, Costa Rica."
She was like.. "oh yeah, in the next shift I'll give you the ten days off."
The next day I went down to the travel agency and bought my ticket on LOCSA Airlines and
I came. Ended up....
m: 25 years ago?
C: 25 years ago and at the very beginning I went to the
northern coast in the Guanacaste area because I had a friend meeting me from Brazil with his girlfriend, and we went up. We met these people in the hotel lobby... Ended up going to where they were going.
Which was Playa Grande up by another Matapalo (Tamarindo area)
we spent the majority of time there probably out of the ten day vacation
we were up there seven days. I investigated here, the cost of buying a
property on the beach, which is where I wanted to be was much more expensive
than I had anticipated it was a hundred thousand dollars.
m: that many years ago
C: yeah, 25 years ago.
years ago I was like oh wow boy I'm in I was like, Boy I'm in the wrong place.
So I had a couple of days left. I was very cognizant of the fact that I was renting this car. (rental car)
I didn't want to waste the money on the rental car. I looked at the map, and I found
on the map... Quepos. And I said 'wow that's an interesting name. Quepos (Manuel Antonio, Quepos, Costa Rica) I wonder what that's like. At the time, had I understood how long it was going to take me to get from Tamarindo to Quepos, I would have never done it! Never!
but I got in the car, the rental car.
and drove maybe 8 hours. Something crazy, and I got into
Quepos, Manuel Antonio area, just about sunset, and what I did...
it was just so beautiful verdant green, jungle, you know, because
up in Tamarindo, the Guanacaste area. it's a drier dryer area and so I ended up
going to Manuel Antonio and I loved it. I loved the feel, the sunset, the little
islands out around the Manuel Antonio National Park, and I said this is what I
really want. So, the next morning I went down and at that time there were no
real estate offices. There was no Century 21, and Remax, and all those.
So, I said... but I did find this lawyer's office and they had a hand-painted sign
that said 'Real State", and I was like, I think what they're trying to say is "Real Estate", lol
m: LOL
C: and I went in there. Told her... I said, 'Well, I'm looking for something. It
doesn't have to be big. It doesn't have to be, you know, I just want my own little
spot. Where I can have my own home.' and she says, we'll go down this road too
towards Dominical and there's his property for sale. And I did. and I
got lost actually, because at the time there were no signs on the road plus the
highway was real bad,
m: the highway was... there were no highway
C: it was no highway, You had to go through the jungle and through the palm trees, the African palm
trees, and and ended up coming down that road. At that time, two hours just to get from Quepos down to Matapalo, but like I
said, there were no signs on the road, so I actually got los,t and ended up here.
I had passed the address where she had told me to go to. Playa el Rey like 20
minutes previous, and I got here but I found a little sign that said Playa Matapalo,
and said, 'Well, it's a Beach. well why not.' and I came down... found a local bar there
where a lady sitting next to me says 'Oh, you look like you're looking for property.'
I said... 'Well, actually I am.' she says, 'Well let me show you around.'
So we get in the little rent-a-car, come down this same Beach Road, and I looked at
this property here, and it was so beautiful. it was about 10 o'clock in the
morning. The ocean was just beautiful... clear skies, the verdant green, and I said
'Oh my gosh, what would it be like to live like this.' and on our way back, I pulled in, because I just wanted to sit. and enjoy
it for a moment. and when I did this little old man came out of the existing
structure that was on the other side of Street and said how would you like to
buy this place I'm like... 'Wow, this is just too serendipitous.
m: Yeahm really.. hahahaha and I said... 'Of course I
would like to buy this place.' but I said, 'You know, I'm a school teacher, I
don't have a lot of money. ' 'Oh don't worry about it. it's not a problem.'
so he takes me. shows me the perimeter of the front of the property. Now, I'm really
hooked. Now I'm really scared, because I'm thinking... he's going to tell me some like
outrageous figure like up and Guanacaste a hundred thousand dollars... and he says
to me. I don't know why I'm telling you this, but I'll sell you everything from
the beach all the way to the back, with the cabin, for ten thousand dollars/ and I
just like... whoa... whoa... I took out the last hundred dollar bill that I had in my
pocket.
m: deposit.. lol
C: closet his hand, and I said 'Here's my deposit, Here's my word that when I go
back tomorrow,' because the next day I was going back to Puerto Rico. 'I will send
you what I have saved.' it was in total blind faith, and I drove back to Quepos. happiest man.. like, I had just hit the jackpot in Las Vegas. m: You want scared at all? C: No.
m: You're in another ,down here, not knowing anything. Just a pack of cigarettes? just like... boom-boom boom, and sometimes when people ask me how did you end up here? I say, well the truth is, it was a
very spiritual divine kind of intervention, but the mechanics of it... Well, here it is.
m: It was like the perfect storm. C: It was the perfect storm, that happened to me. m: Okay, I want to get into it.
You've had some issues. You've had some problems. C: Oh yeah. Yes
m: So anyways, you have this nice property now. Let's fast-forward.... you've built. You've made this property here. You have a couple houses or a couple....
C: Rright. Structures. We have
structures... I made structures. m: What happened??
C: well my problem was, that I came here
before there was any infrastructure. There was no legal infrastructure at the
time, 25 years ago, to be able to get what is called the 'Concession'. The Concession
and the 'Maritime Zone' in Costa Rica is a contractual agreement between you, as the
concessionaire, and the government to exploit a parcel of land in the Maritime
Zone, and it is renewable each year. m: Like the government owns.
C: The government owns anything... m: Like, we'll let you stay there.
C: 'We'll let stay there if you give us rent money. I'm like, okay.... Hey well, how do we whip it all together?
The problem was, that there was no infrastructure set up yet.
m: When you bought? (in Matopalo, Costa Rica) C:When I bought there were no engineers that had done the study. There goes a school, here goes the shopping Mart, here goes the business.
Excuse me. ... So I just bought in blind faith. It already had a cabin. The
guy that I bought it from, I say 'Well how can I build? I don't even think
my intention was to build. My intention was just to teach school here locally,
and maybe rent a couple rooms out of my house, and I actually did. I went into the
school here. I was teaching school, but you know, at that time it was... i made
$200 a month, and I couldn't make my bills, and I was like... I'm going to have
to do something else. And the most logical response to that 'need', economic
need, was lodging because there was nothing here. I'm pretty much the pioneer
on the beach (Matapalo).
So fast-forward to finally the (Costa Rican) government puts in the
infrastructure which was seven years ago. They actually did it in '97. There was an..
m: But it was never enacted.
C: Right, it wasn't enacted m: Like everything here. lol There's a law, but mean they ... C: That they go and they apply the law. So, I was able to stay here without any problems until ...Aaaaa
m: Seven Years ago. C: Seven years ago. And at that time we were all as a community, informed. Not just here in Playa Mata Paulo but throughout all of the coastal areas including Dominica which was scheduled, slated to
be completely demolished. Aaaaaa... m: They bulldozed his property.
C: They Bulldozed everybody here in the Maritime Zone in Playa Matapalo. m: And how depressing is that?!?!?
How didn't you just go... Man, done, done, done, and DONE. C: Well, I had no choice, you know, a lot of the other people who
m: Thank you for the honesty! lol C: Yeah .. I had no choice.
m: "I couldn't go anywhere."
C: Yeah, there was nowhere I could go. Other people who had interest here, they
always went. They had a second home in the U.S. So this was actually
now they they gave me a chance to write you you were telling me earlier that you
have a chance to deconstruct your property or write down yeah keep your
keep some of your things right I've had they technically came in and kind of
bulldoze properties c: what happened there was that I worked with sisters Sister Cities
International and I was the translator for the mayor at the time we would do
these trips to Fort Lauderdale in this case I would translate for the mayor
with all the civic leaders and I had a rapport with him where he was able to
come to me and say look Charlie the central government has informed us as a
municipality that we have this order to whoever does not comply with the zoning
as it is now being approved will have to have their structures removed. m: So you knew. C: i knew this was going to happen, and I tried to inform the
community here. Half of the folks took heed took their structures down
voluntarily conserved their materials and the other half basically were
completely bulldoze down out of the blue we didn't know what day this was going
to happen we knew there was a suspicion but one day a big bust came full of
police officers and then followed up by backhoes and m: Guy's this wasn't 20 years
ago. this was seven years ago. What, and real
quickly, what about the guy at the end of the road bulldozed his property, he's
sitting under a little tin thing. C: Yes it was an older gentleman that was a land sitter he was watching over the property for the the people from University of
Costa Rica were the actual owners of the parcel, or the owners of the rights to
the parcel. Because until you get a concession, you don't have anything so
yeah they went down there bulldoze him down left him under a corrugated zinc
piece of roofing, and I was real upset about the whole thing
was just a complete.... m: So what happened okay so this happened
to you. How did you cursor seriously? I would I can't even imagine. it's like a
hurricane, a fire, you know whatever. C: Well there's no doubt about it, it was
very tough, and the way that I was able to get back, and of course it took seven
years, and we were just now getting back on our feet. Where we can receive guests
again here at "Charlie's Jungle House" m: Jungle House Montepalo! Shameless plug. C: We've earned it seven years of just whoo!!! m: What advice would...? Do you have any advice for people that would kind of, or thinking about doing the same? They
want to kind of do the same thing you're doing, they got a little bit of money not
a lot but want to come down here maybe invest in a little business. A lot of
people do the hotels little restaurants little bars. C: Well my suggestion has
always been, to come down first, don't invest in anything. Come down, there's a lot of properties available throughout the country, where the current administrators,
or owners, are looking for someone to manage these properties. Come find
yourself an opportunity to like that. Go to house sitters dot-com, or any of those
type of websites, where you can check out Costa Rica. Come see how you adapt to the culture, see how you adapt to the language. If you don't have any language
ability, that's going to be your number one challenge. Because it's one thing to
live in a structure that is you know very comfortable, and that you're used to
like where they may have come from Canada, or United States, or Europe, and
it's another the moment you walk out of the structure and you get in your car
and you go to the town here. If you don't have the language ability it's going to
be tough from the get-go. If you are serious about considering making this
type of a move, take a course in Spanish you know. The first thing you should
do is take a even if it's online course two to three months get some Spanish
ability. Because if you don't, it will be very challenging and then the second
thing that you have to adapt to is, of course the culture you know,
and and try something out for six months first. m: At least and I we tell everybody
do not buy nothing or buy anything no buy a car don't buy nothing. C: You don't need to in order to make the transplant. so that would be my recommendation
yeah. m: Man you have a fascinating story man. C: well I'm just happy to say that I'm still
here. m: because you're close you were close not to C: yeah it had it not been
that I had been here that many years and that I had a contact down the street
which allowed me to run their hotel and another one in Manuel Antonio or the
mon-sol m: yeah okay actually I want to ask that question... So okay bulldoze yeah you
kind of knew they were coming in but you still you you weren't wealthy at this
time C: No, No No I've never been wealthy m: you obviously had to make money, and i kind of want to explain to some people, that you you just didn't rebuild because
you had a million dollars sitting in the bank. C: No no it was it was very
challenging m: you took jobs you'd had to C: I had to get loans the the very beginning
the first thing is... How do you pay the labor to take down these structures
piece by piece? I'm imagine like fifteen fifteen to
eighteen thousand dollars so... I was lucky I had a friend Mike from Indiana, I had
another friend, that somehow I got the money, to slowly take the place down, and
then on my property, I had what would be considered a warehouse, a bodega, and here we had wood, and here we had toilets, and here we had electrical, and here we had
windows, and here we had towards everything was meticulously you know... m: But I'm sure how are some people like I was thinking you're thinking well the
government did this they should give you some reparations or they should help you
or they should... C: none of that, no, there was none of that. Though unfortunately I
was the in fracture of the law I was the one that had built without permits I had
built because there was no legal infrastructure. You know at the time when
I did these things and m: You've been down here for eighteen years, this is the problem with Costa Rica C: Eighteen years I had lived here before they
actually enforced what was the zoning, and I knew that the future was going to
come I just didn't realize it would come so fast when I say so fast it's like
eighteen years goes like that, but all of a sudden, it's like in front of you, and
you got bulldozers looking at you in the face like what? m: So the government didn't help you they do this you're not independently wealthy, and you
have to get back on your feet, because you have no other option basically. What did you do? C: well the first thing you know charity starts at home. You go to
your brother, you go to your friends, you go to wherever you can get any cash... m: I'm glad you didn't ask me dude! C: yeah right we'd all been in the same boat
right? Um, it wasn't that they had to have a big check for $15,000, but you
know it's $1,000 a week and labor, just having two carpenters, that are taking
things down meticulously, and putting them away. And and in the meantime it was
like... m: well so you're not even rebuilding yet? C: No we're only tearing down taking it
down the cost of just tearing it down, and then it was like well now how do I
live you know, and fortunately I had friends that had a hotel down the street,
and I I managed that hotel for them for a while. m: So you're bargaining now. You're bartering and bargaining C: Absolutely using my talents, my whole life has been in hospitality my whole my
life has been in hospitality so it's like where can I get a job to try and
make the money to start rebuilding my life. Worked at Manuel Antonio at another
hotel there, eventually had to go back to Miami and work waiting tables you know
to get more money, and the problem was is that all this money I was making working
running this show. Cost of living it's beer like money
it wasn't even rebuilding it was just everything just paying the light bill or
whatever it was there was no working capital and that was a problem. In the
end I had to take loans out on my property in the mountains,
I had to sell a property here that I had on the beach, and in the end it took a
chunk of money. I'm almost embarrassed to say how much when it took to get these
cabins back up to where they are, but thank God I was able to do it yeah. m: man I don't know I think it's a fascinating story and I'm not sure all the lessons
that we just went over, but there's lessons in this story.
C: Yeah m: We'll let the viewer decide what they are when they decide maybe Costa Rica's for me, and
maybe business is for me. You're so many videos, but we're going to stop it
here, and we're just going to go man thank you so much! C: My pleasure m: Guys, this was a good one and I want to watch it a couple times.
Anyway guys I'm Michael Allen with TravelCostaRicaNOW.com Peace guys hope it helps. you
