Hey, it is me again, some of you know me by now but just in case, you do not let me introduce myself. I am Jeanetta Owens and the gentleman in the photograph is my deceased husband Charles.

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We came to Costa Rica for just a few weeks more than six years ago. Our plans were to visit Costa Rica for a short time, then move on. Retirement affords you the opportunity to make choices. Choices like living in a foreign country, for no other reason except “just because you want to”.

I am pleased. I did not know retirement was this good otherwise I would have really tried to age quicker. Perhaps, I should say Mama told me there would be days like this, but I could not imagine the freedom of being retired. There is nothing to compare it to. Do you remember how excited you were about turning 21?

If I would have known you could have this much fun and freedom after 60 I would have been saying “come on sixty”. Experiencing the freedom to make a decision to live in another country, travel, or perhaps just sit in one spot. For the first time in our lives we did not have to be located close to a job.

The only drawback to retirement is that time off from work for holiday celebrations and weekends do not have the same meaning any more. You call Monday, Sunday and Friday, Saturday, the only time you think about a date is if you have a Doctor’s appointment or when your retirement check is deposited in your bank account.

Most of us don’t want to live like that so usually we are looking for what we can do to stay busy after retirement. Every time I think about why we came to Costa Rica my story changes. The reason for my staying in Costa Rica is more interesting. We came because we were curious about Central America. Our first stop was Costa Rica and we have been here every since our first visit.

After we came here I really can not tell you why we stayed. I think we stayed not only for the weather but we got bored doing some of the things retired people do at home. It seemed most active retirees spent their days going out for lunch, the gym and Wal-Mart. I know that not having to pay for heat or air conditioning was also a good reason. We were here one year prior to making the decision to stay. Our adventure into the business world here in Costa Rica has been exciting and very liberating.

Charles and I were happy that we have been given the opportunity to employ four full time workers and one part-time worker. You should have seen us when we first started in this business. When we first started, we thought a Bed and Breakfast (B&B) was just having some furnished rooms with a bathroom. Let us just say we learned the business by trials and errors.

We would not encourage anyone to open a business as we did. We had not made any feasibility studies, and did not know about licensing requirements or employing staff. We knew absolutely nothing, but because we have a comfortable retirement we were afforded the comfort of maintaining our lifestyle while making some very real errors in business. We spoke no Spanish and we had to hire and train staff who only spoke Spanish.

Our going into business had nothing to do with a plan for either Charles or I to do a lot of work. We started with no pre-planning. I just had this bright idea that all it took to run a B&B was a couple beds and that you prepared breakfast for your guest. My business experience in hospitality consisted of staying in a few B&B’s. I was clueless and so was Charles.

When we opened we did everything wrong, it is amazing how smart you think you are about things you have never done. In Costa Rica it is not cheap but it is so much more inexpensive and affords you the opportunity to make mistakes and recover.

The opportunities for investing in this country are limitless, there are no restrictions based on ethnicity as I know of. If these restriction exist, Charles and are comfortably ignorant of them. The quick money turn around opportunities have a lot of risk. We decided what type of B&B we wanted to run as we were running it.

One thing we knew for sure we did not want to allow people to smoke in the rooms. We had been victims of being in rooms next to rooms where people were smoking. It is not a comfortable position and very frightening if you have allergies. It is hard for me to say ‘No Smoking’ because I did not want to make people who smoked feel alienated or unwanted.

Our own travel experience, plus experience in our jobs helped make up for a lot of things we did not know about the hospitality business. If we had known anything about the B&B business here in Costa Rica, we probably would have opened one closer to areas that have a lot of tourism.

Our B&B – LaTerraza is in Grecia, which is in the Alajuela Province. This is where the opportunity was given and we accepted the challenge. Business has been good it is steadily growing.

Last year we were offered an opportunity to invest in Limon, but Charles and I have decided that we are happy here in Grecia. Our place was already built, we did not have to build it and we got it for a great price. In fact we purchased the property for our own personal use. If our business was successful that was great but if it was not successful, we still had a great investment. We have worked hard to make it successful, Charles and I love to win.

I feel that the real ground floor opportunities for future growth in Costa Rica are in Limon. Investors have built up Costa Rica from the North, East and West, but very little growth in the South going towards the Panama border.

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I love visiting Limon, that energy to run up and down the highway, long hours and a lot of work, do not excite me anymore. We travel to Limon often and love the beaches there. In fact we have short changed ourselves by not really taking a good look at the Province. What I do know about the people living in Limon is exciting, their history and culture is very interesting.

They have a Black History week celebration in Limon. We went a couple years ago and we saw the Black History day parade. Marching in the parade we saw a mixture of many races, people of every color were represented. It was exciting to hear them talk about Marcus Garvey.

You limit yourself if you do not take the opportunity to research the history of black people throughout the Americas. Perhaps you are retiring and you have always wanted your own business but never really had the opportunity to pursue it.

You need money to invest, but there are opportunities here that exist for anyone welling to accept the challenge. What you need more than money is a vision and patience. Vision to see how and what things could be and the patience to make it happen.

The Limon Province has the most important port in Costa Rica, but you would think it was the least important. Most of the investments in Costa Rica have been to the north Guanacaste and Puntarenas. Why Guanacaste? I can not figure, because they have water shortages and being bordered to Nicaragua has proven to be a problem.

One day soon the face of Limon will change, it is actually one of the richest areas in Costa Rica. The climate is hot, that is the only reason we did not decide to live in Limon.

If you look at the map and follow it from the Province of Limon into Panama, all of this is on the Caribbean coast and all along here you see people of color. These areas have the most beautiful beaches. Don’t take my word for it, research it for yourself…

We offer our B&B guests a tour to Limon and then from Limon to Boca Del Toro in Panama. Some of the most beautiful people you want to see are living in these areas. That is another reason for not living in Limon. The women are very attractive and I did not want to have to put blinders on Charles when we went out.

Most people think when their cruise ship docks in Limon that, that small town is Limon. No, Limon is a Province; the blacks here in Costa Rica have a Province. Costa Rica has seven Provinces and Limon is one of them.

You are ignorant until you get educated on a subject. I used to wonder why blacks coming from other countries to the US always seemed to be filled with a special pride. When in my mind I was thinking what a great opportunity they have been given to be rescued from a country where poverty runs rampant.

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Now that they have been given the opportunity, they are going to act high minded and stuck up to me, a citizen, born in the USA. Since living in Costa Rica I understand, because even though they were poor and needed jobs, back at home they are land owners. They have real estate, the country or Province belongs to them.

We have opportunity but we don’t own anything, we have good jobs, but we don’t own anything. The country is not ours; the real estate is not ours. We participate but we don’t own anything. We die for a country that they question our allegiance to.

Now I understand their indignation and haughtiness towards us. I thought it was because they spoke Spanish or French, I had no clue their pride was because they may have left their country, but in their country they had ownership. Here you see black people with a certain pride. They are poor but they have pride because they have ownership.

There are many opportunities in Limon, if you can see beyond what it appears to be. If you were wondering where you can invest your retirement money and see a return, Costa Rica has the opportunities available. A lot of small companies have opened their manufacturing businesses in Costa Rica.

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There are some privileges afforded investors that make starting a business here very attractive. I’m partial to Limon because of the potential that I see; it makes me wish that we were younger. I know you are going to tell me the guy who created the Kentucky Fried Chicken business was 80 when he got started.

Costa Rica is growing, and not only Costa Rica, growth and opportunity is all over Central America. Costa Rica is a great place to start because of the political atmosphere. When developing a business in any country the political climate is important. I was too young in the US to get in on the revolutionary changes in the late 60’s and to stupid to take advantage of it in the seventies, by the eighties it was too late.

Here in Costa Rica there is opportunity and fortunately that opportunity has no barriers other then your ability to envision success and your willingness to pursue it.

It is not all about Costa Rica, this is just a start, and many of these Central American countries are stretching their way out of poverty. When that happens someone gets motivated and they think of ways people can live better. These ideas turn into jobs and growing businesses. This excites me because the opportunity for business is here and nothing can stop you.

Most of us want to know about progressing and accomplishing our goals. Very few of us are looking for somewhere to go just to wait for the time when we disappear from the planet. The opportunity is here, but everything should be practiced with caution.

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The same theory works here as it does in the USA, if it looks to good to be true or if it sounds to good to be true, then it is not true. Nothing worthwhile is easy.

Written by Jeanetta Owens who owns the lovely La Terraza B&B in Grecia which is about one hour from San José, Costa Rica. For a taste of living the good life in Grecia, Costa Rica, may we suggest you to book yourself into Jeanetta’s B&B for a nice long vacation.

Jeanetta’s B&B has been rated the #1 B&B in Grecia, Costa Rica by Trip Advisor. You can find her website here at La Terraza B&B

Call Jeanetta’s B&B from the U.S. toll-free on (877) 298-7439
Calling within Costa Rica (506) 2494-0970 or (506) 2444-5778

African American Couple Living and Investing in Costa Rica

Article/Property ID Number 1840

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