Canadian Couple To Build Their Retirement Home in Puriscal, Costa Rica.

After searching for four years, a Canadian couple from Alberta, Canada find their dream retirement location in the mountains of Costa Rica.

“We are a couple in our mid-fifties who have resided in Alberta, Canada for the past twenty-five years. Five years ago, we came to the decision that we did not want to live our retirement years in the Canadian climate. We have had enough of the long cold winters, here in Alberta

So we started looking… We travel quite a bit and for three years we looked at several different areas of Mexico, but for many reasons, decided that it was not what we were looking for. We spent the next year researching Belize with the same results.

We had heard about Costa Rica, being a popular choice for retirement, so in 2010 we spent about eight months researching Costa Rica, before we took our first trip in November of last year.

We found the climate (both political and weather-wise) in Costa Rica to be very attractive. When we arrived we discovered an exciting new world with at least eight different micro-climates.

A major decision factor for us was temperature; coming from a colder climate like Canada we didn’t want to retire in a place of extreme heat either. We were able to look objectively at what it was we really wanted and what we valued most.

We spent weeks looking all over Costa Rica to find a place that we could see ourselves living in.

Our criteria for choosing our new home included; an elevation of two thousand to three thousand feet above sea level, close proximity to medical and shopping facilities, reasonable access to an international airport, a small acreage, a Canada/U.S.A. influence within the local culture, and most importantly a solid sustainable infrastructure.

We viewed several properties in many different regions of Costa Rica, the Southern Pacific Coastal areas, Lake Arenal, Orotina, the Central Valley and even the cooler climate of the Monteverde region.

In all we toured eleven different real estate developments and numerous single property parcels.

While some of the properties and developments partially met our criteria, the Altos de Antigua community was the only one that had everything that we were looking for.

Located just 17 kilometers outside of Santiago de Puriscal in a small rural community with two local schools nearby, it didn’t take long for us to realize we had found something special. Having the owner/developer living on site and being a part of the Altos de Antigua community of owners was also very comforting for us.

Brian McLane has a very high interest in making sure everything is well planned, working efficiently, maintained properly and is beautiful as well, because this is his home base too.

The infrastructure of this development was also far superior to all others that we had viewed.

If one has not experienced the sheer volume of a Costa Rican rainstorm you cannot appreciate the drainage systems that must be constructed to handle the volume of water without causing damage to the existing homes and properties.

Altos de Antigua has developed a proven drainage system that works and that we can have confidence in. They have taken great care in designing and building a community where all these important elements are taken care of, so we can relax and enjoy our life knowing we have finally found what we were looking for.

We are now in the process of planning our home and have started landscaping on our property. We look forward to becoming permanent residents of Costa Rica and of the Altos de Antigua community.”

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Written by Terry and Vivian Smith of Blackfalds, AB. Canada.

Andrew Makarik

to@welovecostarica.com

Andrew Makarik is the main editor of WeLoveCostaRica, a fan of this sunny country. He is also a loving husband and a has a lovely daughter. By being a devoted family man and the biggest Costa Rica fan, he wants to make more people feel at home there. WeLoveCostaRica unites people and helps them find new home or a new travel destination. This website is a friendly community where everyone can find not only information, but also new friends and travel pals. Andrew is also passionate about IT and programming, so he himself maintains a friendly atmosphere in this cozy environment of WeLoveCostaRica.com.