Guys In The Zone: Costa Rica Real Estate

Hydroelectric power is BIG in Costa Rica.

The Costanera Highway, The Caldera-San Jose Highway, The Cortez Hospital, The International Airport and The Diquis Hydroelectric Dam… it is easy to see that Costa Rica is serious about improving its infrastructure and securing a bright future.

Over the past decade, the dramatic increase in tourism and investment has sparked a bit of a power-struggle between proponents of economic growth and socio-environmental protection groups.  In this case, the “power” is the proposed billion dollar hydroelectric project called “El Diquis” near Palmar in the Osa Peninsula.  This isn’t recent news, but I believe it is worth mentioning as it will affect life in various ways in the southern Pacific zone of Costa Rica.

The Zone Is HOT

This large-scale project, facilitated by I.C.E. (Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad), is calling for the construction of a dam on the Térraba River in the greater Boruca Canyon. The dam will create a lake equaling approximately 25,000 surface hectares (over 6 million acres), the largest of its kind in Central America.  By comparison, Lake Arenal is roughly 8,500 hectares.

This station will generate up to 630 megawatt units capable of providing over one million families with electricity!  This project is about Power, both electric and economic.  According to a Continuum report commissioned by the Costa Rican government, Read the full story

While browsing the storefronts of Quepos the other day, I saw this Hurricane History Map in an office window.  What caught my attention was how Costa Rica was completely free of any direct hurricane/tropical storm trajectories.  People ask us if we get hit by hurricanes, and now it’s nice to have a chart showing just how ideally located Costa Rica is, especially on the Pacific side.  Clearly, the vast majority of tropical storms and hurricanes are born in the oceans to the west and especially the east of Costa Rica, and then almost always track north.  In recent years, only Hurricane Cesar and Hurricane Mitch (1996 and 1998, respectively) traveled all the way across the Central America landmass.

Even though Costa Rica is Hurricane-free Zone, it still feels the effects of heavy rainfall from time to time.

During the hurricane season, June 1^st – Nov. 30^th, Costa Rica will occasionally feel the effects of these major hydro-meteorological events.  Tropical storms are more common than hurricanes in Costa Rica, and it is important to note that heavy rain isn’t the same as heavy rain AND 100+ mph winds!

According to this NASA webpage, “Tropical cyclones are like giant engines that use warm, moist air as fuel. That is why they form only over warm ocean waters near the equator.” The small towns in our area (e.g., Dominical, Uvita and Ojochal) are located at approximately nine degrees north of the equator.  The benefit of being at this latitude, and on the Pacific side of Costa Rica, is the wind is significantly lighter than along the Caribbean storm corridor where hurricane winds can rip off your roof.  I suppose that’s why the famous Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan called the Pacific Ocean, Tepre Pacificum or “Peaceful Sea”.

What Does This Mean For Pacific Zone Residents and Investors? Read the full story

With the rain comes the color...

If you’ve listened to our recent Talk Show #7, you have heard us convey how much we enjoy the rainy season down here in Costa Rica.  As Ben mentioned in that video, “Four out of five people who live here would probably say they prefer the rainy season.”  (Disclaimer- this estimate is not based on scientific data.)  However, there are those visitors to our blog and websites who see the rain as a deterrent for buying here, a sentiment that serves as my motivation to write this article.

First, the rain here is different than in most areas of North America and Europe.  It doesn’t bring a shiver to the bones; it’s refreshing and a welcomed break from the heat.  Warmth is just one of many characteristics that make this tropical precipitation so vital and so magical.

Six Months Of Rain?

Climate is a significant factor for most buyers when determining where to buy their piece of Costa Rica real estate.  In fact, one of the most popular questions Ben and I field is “How many months per year does it rain?”  The quick answer is around seven; however, that number doesn’t tell an accurate story.  The rainy season starts in mid-April and usually runs through mid-November.  Most days start out cool, clear and sunny with some rain in the afternoon and evening.  Rainfall in September and especially October can be heavy.  These September-October downpours, aguaceros in Spanish, lead some residents to make plans to be elsewhere during that time.  That being said, even in October the sun will come out at some point during the day.  We do experience the occasional tropical storm, but hurricanes on the Pacific side of Costa Rica are a rarity.

One of my favorite benefits of the rainy season is there aren’t as many people.  It’s not that I have anything against tourists; we were all tourists at one point in the Costa Rican journey.  However, if you live here full time or part time, the small town, pura vida is easier to absorb without the extra traffic, both automotive and human.  Tourism, and the vacation rental market, is still strong between June and August as most kids are out of school.

I spent most of my life in the relatively dry Bay Area of California, my love of the rain comes as a surprise to friends and family back home.  I try to explain how the rain cools things down, how it takes the dust out of the air, how it replenishes the fresh water tables, and how it summarily brings this place to life.  The southern Pacific zone is SO GREEN that at times it seems like someone has adjusted the color balance.  The tropical flowers and budding fruit pop against an ever-changing jungle backdrop.  Simply put, rain helps everything grow, and that includes the wildlife and the humans walking around.

Like buying real estate in Costa Rica, living here is relatively easy with the right contacts.  It can also be a very enriching experience with some understanding of Spanish.  If you want to be on the Pacific Coast, you have to enjoy the heat to some degree (pardon the pun).  Thanks to the heat, I am now a morning person.  Thanks to the rain in Costa Rica, I am now living a dream.

Water is a necessity.

If you ask the World Bank or one of the mega-water corporations (e.g., Coke, Nestle, Vivendi), fresh drinking water is a commodity.  If you ask virtually everyone else in the world (including the United Nations), fresh drinking water is a basic human right.  Whether it is the encroachment of privatization or Nicaragua’s plan to divert the San Juan River[1], water in Costa Rica is an increasingly lively topic.

One of the most popular questions for potential property owners is, “What is the water situation for this property?” Most of these new investors come from North America and Europe, areas that have hundreds of years of infrastructure development.  However, this southern Pacific region of Costa Rica is still early in the cycle of development.  We continue to see rapid growth in communications (cell phones and high speed internet), power (high tension power lines), and roads (the newly paved Costanera between Quepos and Dominical).  That being said, cell phones are a luxury, but water… is a necessity.

Property In A Development

Most quality developments have a water system that has been installed by the developer.  The most common sources for these systems are high flowing springs, and in some cases surface water (e.g., creeks and rivers).  Some developments, like Osa Estates in Uvita, even have back-up systems and extensive water storage capabilities.  The interesting thing is very few developments actually have a concession (permission to extract water from the ground).  The good news is the majority of them are “in process”.  Either way, the developer usually provides the property owner a prevista (water right document) which guarantees use of water into the future (assuming the property owner is in compliance with established CC&Rs and other laws).  Proof of a water document, like a prevista, is also required by the local Municipality before they will approve any construction project on a property. Read the full story

Ample surface water in The Zone.

Recently, I had the good fortune to visit a friend who gave me an excellent book called “The Heart of Dryness” by James Workman.  Although this particular book is about the socio-political struggles of the Bushman of the Kalahari Desert, it sparked a deeper exploration into a topic I believe will jump to the forefront of everybody’s conversation in the near future— water.  Access to fresh drinking water is already one of the “big three” infrastructure necessities (along with electricity and good roads/access) when looking for property in Costa Rica, hence the motivation for this article.

I will save my thoughts on the impending collision between over population and global warming (two forces which, in a nutshell, will have a dramatic effect on fresh water availability and global food production).  However, I do want to share a few thoughts and discoveries about water in Costa Rica, as I believe it will continue to move up the list of positive reasons why people will be moving to the Southern Pacific Zone.

Unlike some of the coastal areas in Guanacaste and Nicoya, The Zone has an abundance of fresh drinking water.  There are two main reasons for this fact— (1) rainfall and (2) less development.

Rainfall

For the Southern Pacific Zone of Costa Rica, rainfall ranges between 120-160 inches annually, with the rainy or “green” season (May-October) supplying the majority of this annual total.  My experience has been that the sun shines almost everyday in the rainy season, typically in the morning to mid-day hours.  Residents of The Zone thoroughly enjoy the 20-30” of rain we do receive in the dry season (3 hours last night, in fact), and the lush, green vegetation it stimulates.  In contrast, the popular coastal region of Guanacaste (Tamarindo, Flamingo, Papagayo) receives only between 40-60 inches of rain annually.[1]

Population

Approx. 35,000 people live in the Osa Canton of Punta Arenas (think of a canton like a county within a state), which roughly includes the coastal area between Dominical and Palmar.  Unlike The Zone, Guanacaste’s coastal region developed rapidly over the past 15 years.  According to the Minister of Tourism, it is the #1 Canton for tourism, specifically the coastal areas.  This influx of world travelers, especially in the peak dry season, puts an added demand on water resources.  Without question, the agencies and residents are benefiting from these growing pains experienced by our neighbors to the north.

Fresh Drinking Water

Part of the reason for this “gold star” is the government structure.  AyA (Aqueducts and Sewers) is the main government agency that manages water in Costa Rica.  Although many subdivisions and larger farms in the Southern Pacific Zone have their own water sources (springs or surface water like—rivers and streams), most of the towns and pueblos get their water from AyA-managed water delivery systems.  Those smaller, rural communities in the region have been encouraged by AyA to form ASADAs (Administrative Associations for Sewers and Aqueducts) to become eligible to receive AyA assistance in constructing and operating water systems.  ASADAs make up nearly ¼ of the water provisions in Costa Rica.

Rain and a rainbow over Uvita.

“At 82.2 per cent, Costa Rica has one of the highest rates of population with access to safe drinking water in the Latin American and Caribbean region.”[2]

The vast majority of water in the Southern Pacific Zone is either (1) safe to drink from the tap or (2) treated with chlorine and safe to drink from the tap.  There are cases of people living below cattle pasture or near commercial industries where run-off has led to water-born illnesses and toxins, respectively, but these are few and far between along the coast.  I live on a farm where we drink our water from the tap, and I feel very fortunate to have clean, chlorine-free water on demand.

Properties that are served by mountain spring water tend to be fresher and with a reduced risk of water contamination.  Over 50% of the property we sell is located in a development of some kind.  These developments range from those that have received a water concession and those that are at some point along this process.  Either way, these developments have invested in basic infrastructure, or the “big three”– water, roads, and electricity.  We also have many clients requesting information on these larger properties with independent fresh water sources, when they become available.  One beautiful 50-acre listing, Finca Uvita, has two springs on the property and touches the Ballena River for over 1/2 a kilometer (or 1,660 ft).

Whether you buy a large farm like Finca Uvita or a viable commercial piece in central Uvita, you will intrinsically benefit from a growing area and an abundance of water in The Zone.

[2] STATEMENT BY THE UNITED NATIONS EXPERT ON WATER AND SANITATION, March 2009