I remember driving into Tamarindo in January of 2007. Wasn’t our first time here but this time, my wife and I had come to Costa Rica to stay.

Bumping down the dusty road and soaking it all in, I could not help but notice all of the beautiful, tan, exotic PREGNANT women EVERYWHERE! I said to my then fiancé’, “Look at all these pregnant chicks! There must be something in the water.”

[custom_script adID=149]

To tell the story I have to back it up a little bit. Years ago after coming to Costa Rica for prolonged surf adventures, I met this amazing little Tica (Costa Rican lady) named Marcela, at the Home Depot in Oceanside, California. After dating her for about three months, she announced to me, in my living room, in front of my roommate, “I want to have your baby, Rob.” Just like that. My first instinct was to run but for some reason, I didn’t.




Fast-forward six years later and here we are. Living “the life”, on the beach, in Playa Langosta. Just the two of us, no baby. I would see my wife looking at friends and family member’s babies and her little lip would stick out. She wanted a baby but didn’t have one.







To be honest with you, I was ok with that. I never really pictured myself as a family man. My wife and her family were not exactly ok with it though. On occasion I would get cornered at family get-togethers to be told we needed to start having kids and at one point I was basically forced into going to the fertility clinic because it was obvious to Marcela and her five sisters that there was something wrong with me.




The appointment was set (not by me) for 9am the following morning. The rest of that episode is hilarious and inappropriate for this article. So, I will spare you the details and move on to say that the doctors ultimately said that there was something going on with my wife’s ovaries that basically made it impossible for us to procreate without the use of fertility drugs.




The thought of me pushing a set of quintuplets down the road in a trailer/stroller was not an option for me so I told my wife,” Honey, it’s God’s will, we weren’t meant to have children.” Apparently, God was listening…

[custom_script adID=151]

Months later, after my wife had become resolved to the fact that we would never have children, she started not to feel well. She was weak, no energy and sleeping a lot more that usual. She was experiencing pain in her ovaries, I was worried. I was thinking to myself, “Is this girl gonna die on me?” I loaded her into the car and took her to San Jose.




First thing we did was go to the clinic where the docs took a blood test and tried to get her to take a urine test for which she could not perform. We had to stop three times, to use the bathroom, just from her sister’s house down the street to the clinic. Now, she couldn’t go?







On our way back to her sister’s house I announce that we have to go to a OB/GYN. I mean, her ovaries hurt, her breasts hurt. She needed to see a “girl’s doctor”. Her sister Patricia made the appointment as I handed glasses of water to Marcela. We dropped her test off at the clinic on the way to the appointment.

[custom_script adID=150]

After a long wait at the doctor’s office we were let in. The doctor sat us down and calmly said that her test results had came in from the clinic and, “Felicidades, esta embarazada” translation; Congratulations, you are pregnant!




My first reaction was such a profound sense of joy and happiness, which surprised me really. I was genuinely ecstatic. I was so happy, truly beside myself! I look over at my wife and she had these glazed over eyes. No reaction whatsoever. Marcela didn’t believe him. Seriously, she that there must have been some mistake. I am hooting and hollering in the doctor’s office, hugging everybody I could get my hands on and she was just sitting there. Numb.




The doctor sat her down on the examining table and rather unceremoniously opened her shirt to show us her boobs, which actually did look like a pregnant woman’s! He then gave us a look that kind of said, “Are you guys stupid or something?”







Still, she did not believe. We had to go to another doctor because obviously this guy didn’t know what he was talking about.




She finally broke down when we saw his little chicken shaped body on the screen and heard the heartbeat of my son, going at 180 beats per minute. It still makes the hairs stand up on the back of my neck when I think about that moment. He was born at Hospital Clinica Catolica on the 19th December 2009 and has brought us so much love and happiness.




So if you have been trying to have kids without success. Maybe you should come down to one of the many beautiful beaches we have here in Costa Rica. Take it easy and get to know the true meaning of “Pura Vida”. And oh yeah! Drink the water…

[custom_script adID=97]


Costa Rica Realtor Rob Goodell

Costa Rica Realtor Rob Goodell.

Written by Rob Goodell: Rob was born in Buffalo, New York in 1970 and raised in Texas and California. In 2007 he moved to Tamarindo with his wife after practicing Real Estate in Solana Beach, California where he specialized in the sales of ocean front condominiums and vacation rentals. Rob is an avid surfer and fisherman and basically loves anything that has to do with the ocean.

Rob was attracted to the area by its warm weather, relaxed lifestyle and of course the perfect surf! In 2009 his Costa Rican wife Marcela and he were blessed with a little boy, Jimmy. Rob says it is amazing to watch him grow up in Costa Rica on the beach and he wouldn’t want it any other way.

If you would like to communicate with Rob Goodell or Becky Clower, our preferred Costa Rica Realtor in the area about buying real estate in the area from Playa Avellanas to Playas del Coco in Guanacaste, please help us to help you by using the simple form below:

Are you into beautiful Costa Rica?

All interesting things you want to know about Costa Rica are right here in our newsletter! Enter your email and press "subscribe" button.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *