Finally Finding the Right Kind of Condo (Plus an Amazing Zip-line!)

Every cloud has a silver lining and our disappointing stop meant that we had to quickly find another place to stay. We had previously bookmarked a place in the mountains above the Osa Peninsula called Toucan Valley but had initially ruled it out as it would have been a long journey to get there. However, we were now already halfway there and so we gave it a second look. It turned out that this might have been exactly what we were looking for. It was a kind of condominium which we have stayed in before and they have always struck me as potentially really rich communal living arrangements but the ones that we have stayed in were poorly designed. In standard terms they were reasonably designed but for me there were always so many missed opportunities to make them better. Generally they do well in terms of sharing some resources and communal areas such as swimming pools, gym, play areas and so on but they are otherwise designed around the inhabitants living quite separate and distinct lives. We have never found anywhere that you could compost your waste and they all required a trip to the supermarket to feed yourselves. These are all ideas that I wrote more about back when we stayed at Rio Oro. When we took a second look at Toucan Valley we saw this time that they had an organic garden on site which supplied the residents with food! Our curiosity was sufficiently aroused and so we booked up a few days there to see what it was like and to get one step closer to Sierpe where we hoped to go on a boat tour of the extensive mangroves.

From the very beginning this was a different experience with Airbnb. Our host Jonathan was supremely communicative and responsive, sending us various maps and documents in anticipation of our arrival. Looking over these we saw that not only was there the organic veg garden but there were various trails around the condominium taking you through the surrounding jungle and past a handful of waterfalls. It was about a 45 minute drive from where we had been which took us all the way down the mountain, along the main road and then another very steep climb up the mountain again. As we ascended the track we were getting a bit worried that we’d made another mistake. It had started to rain and as we went higher and higher it was feeling a bit colder as well. We started to imagine ourselves this time with a working pool but in temperatures too cold for it to be enjoyable. Once again it was a 4×4 taxi ride to get there and once we arrived we would be stranded for a few days.

When we did arrive we were greeted by Jonathan who showed us to our house. We had a balcony around the back which looked straight out onto the thick rainforest. It was still raining but we were really happy with the house. In spite of the rain we decided that we would head off and enjoy the pool anyway. We felt very British as we trundled off through the light drizzle in our swim gear, determined to make the best of things. The pool area was really nice and there was also a communal dining area, a table-tennis table and a pool table. After spending a few hours enjoying ourselves up there we went and had a look around the vegetable gardens which were very well kept and impressive.

This was definitely what we had been looking for and it was reassuring to see that other people had been thinking along the same lines. Up beyond the vegetable gardens there was a food forest with a wide variety of fruit trees to which residents could help themselves. When we arrived back at our house we had received a bag of produce from the gardens. It was an impressive selection and any concerns that we’d had about not bringing enough food with us to this remote spot were quickly removed as we now had more than enough fresh produce to keep ourselves well fed.

The following morning was a bit of a mixed bag of circumstance. The rain had stopped and the sun was shining which was great news for the girls to get up and enjoy some time in the pool. Things were definitely looking better! The downside was that my left foot had swollen up and was infected in 3 different places so I wasn’t going to be doing much in the pool and sadly couldn’t head off to explore any of the trails around us. Nevertheless, we were able to enjoy sitting by the pool while the girls played in the water. At the same time it afforded us the opportunity to do more thinking and planning about where we were going in the very near future in Costa Rica plus much needed time to think about what we were doing further down the line. The latter consideration actually had to take priority at this point in time. We were trying to juggle a number of things and had to get a lot to fall into place all at once. Zia had been offered her place back at school and although I was still reluctant to be cutting things short we were exploring all of the paths that we could see ahead to try and find out which made most sense. If we were going to return home then we needed to change our flights but we also needed to find somewhere to live. This was turning out to be quite a challenge. If we returned in September then we would still have another 4 months until we could move back into our old house as we had rented it for a full year. However, when we started to look at properties in and around Canterbury we were shocked to find that the average price for a house that would accommodate us all was between £3000 – £4000 per month! Suddenly it looked like we might not be able to go home after all. We weighed up all kinds of other options – maybe we could find a farm close to home that we could live and work on which would mean we were continuing our adventure and trying out of different lifestyles but the reality of fitting that in around school runs and work made it unlikely. One evening Rachael found a place in nearby Whitstable which was heavily discounted because it was a new rental property. After a quick discussion we decided that we would go ahead and book it. The tricky thing at this point was that we still needed to change our flights and we had no idea how much that was going to cost. We had 48 hours in which we could still cancel the house that we had booked if we needed to so now we had to find out about the flights. This turned out to be more of a challenge than we had anticipated.

For some reason when we logged onto the British Airways website we weren’t able to make any changes to our booking from within the client area so our next option was to call them on the phone. However, making that call from Costa Rica involved setting up a Skype account. That was a small challenge in itself but we eventually got it all set up and working. I’ll mention now that back when we were in Uvita my phone had got wet and I had a patch of deep purple which was expanding across the screen making it progressively harder to use. With this in mind I decided to use my laptop to call them. Here it was a blessing that my foot was hideously swollen as there was nothing else for me to do but spend time on hold trying to get through to someone to work through our options. The first morning I spent 1.5 hours on hold to eventually get through to someone who couldn’t hear me and so they hung up. Bugger. Next time I decided I’d chance it and use my phone in spite of the broken screen. Another hour on hold and I managed to get through to someone who this time could hear me and set about trying to help us. The tricky thing here was that they asked us which days we would like to change to so I picked a couple of random days. Then we were told that they couldn’t see how much it would cost to transfer the flights and it would need to be sent off to the fares department to price up and get back to us within 5 days. With our 48 hour cancellation period on our house in Whitstable things were getting even trickier. We had somewhere to live when we went home but we didn’t know if we could afford to go home!

There were a number of things which had conspired against us to make this more of a challenge than it would normally be. Firstly, that we were looking at changing our flights to somewhere at the end of the school holidays when they are more expensive. Secondly, we had bought our flights a year in advance when the prices were super low and we were now looking at swapping them for flights only a month or so in the future which made them even more expensive. Thirdly, this was in the midst of thousands of flights being cancelled. In addition to this we had the difficulty of getting through to anyone at British Airways plus the time difference making the window of opportunity even smaller. A perfect storm. There was no way that we were going to get our quote within the 48 hour period we needed and so we had to be creative. We looked at how much new flights would be to give us an upper limit on what it might cost. In some respects returning home early would be saving us some money and so we were able to offset this against what we would spend on changing the flights. Our return flight would be going via Madrid so we had an additional backup where we had looked at cheap places that we could stay there for a few weeks should we need to. Once again we were in one of these situations where multiple pieces of the puzzle needed to come together for the plan to work out. The best we’ve found you can do is to make lots of plans and then try to piece it all together as you go. Although I hadn’t been very enthusiastic about going back early this did all have a good feel about it. The fact that we were going back but living somewhere else for the first few months at least made it a soft landing – we were heading home but it still felt like a bit of an adventure to be in another house in another town and close to the beach. From where we were as a family in Uvita we had come a long way having taken our time to go through all of the options available to us and finally find a conclusion which everyone was happy with.

All in all things had worked out about as well as they could – our bad stay before had led us to Toucan Valley where we were happily enjoying the space that we very much needed to see clearly the path ahead. We had also discovered that the kind of condominium that we had been thinking about was possible and was proving successful. I had a good conversation with Jonathan one morning to find out more about how it all worked. They had been there for around 14 years (if I remember right) and they had a total of around 40 houses. These were fairly evenly divided into those that were owned and permanently occupied, owned and rented out and about a third of them were currently on the market. They had a team of about 6 people who carried out all of the work in the gardens, plus any maintenance and improvements. As soon as we joined we were added to a Whatsapp group where there were invites to a weekly session of food and a movie. Sadly we weren’t able to join the event partly as we had so much to sort out back home but also because the film was going to be super boring for the kids! Nevertheless, it was great to witness the resident community and also how readily they integrated and welcomed the temporary residents into all that they did together. I was even happier when I asked Jonathan what we could do with our compostable items and he said that twice a week we could leave a bag out and one of the staff would collect it to add to their communal compost which was feeding the vegetable gardens. Finally, we had found a place where the design was aligned with the kinds of joined up thinking that is so desperately required.

As we reached the end of our stay we finished on an ever higher note. We had spotted first of all on the very helpful maps that we’d been provided with that there was a canopy tour nearby. Initially we were unsure if we would be able to get there without transport but on our first morning we heard people whizzing along cables right behind our house! The zip-lines ran right alongside where we were staying and Jonathan told us that it would be easy to arrange them coming and collecting us. Back when we visited Santa Elena and Monteverde we had wanted to try a zip-line but a few things had prevented us. Firstly was that Rosa was only 4 at the time and most of them required a minimum age of 5. Secondly, we were watching our budget carefully and decided that it would be better to do this towards the end of our stay when we could see better how much we would have left. Now that Rosa had turned 5 we were ready to go. With my careful routine of cleaning my infected foot throughout the day it had healed just in time to allow us all to finally have a go.

So we booked up a session for what was due to be our last day at Toucan Valley. Once again Jonathan was an exemplary host saying that it would be fine for us to checkout later so that we could all go. That morning we waited by the pool at 8:30 and our ride turned up. We all jumped into the back of the pickup truck (turning down the seats inside the cab for the more exciting option) and made our way further up the mountain. The staff were a team of young men who were simply amazing. They got everyone into their harnesses and made the whole process fun.

Once we were all strapped up we made our way down the path into the rainforest which we had been living next to for the past few days. The girls were both super excited to be doing their first zip-line. Getting clipped on for the first time and setting off is an amazing and unforgettable experience. I was the first of us to set off so that one of us would already be on the other side to meet the children. To be honest I didn’t take in very much of the first line as I was focussed on following the instructions; keeping my legs tucked under, not going into a spin and putting on the brake in time to stop at the platform. It was utterly exhilarating to be flying through the treetops! I waited on the platform and next saw Rosa zooming towards me with one of the members of staff. She was pretty much speechless when she arrived but she had obviously enjoyed the ride. Next Zia came whooping towards us. She has always been a bit of an adrenaline junkie and we didn’t have any doubt that she would enjoy it. We were right. After a bit of a wait with the girls we saw Rachael making her way along to us. Out of us all she probably had to do the most to get over her fear of surrendering herself to a harness and a big steel wire but she also knew that she had to come and meet our children on the other side!

In total there were 7 zip-lines, 2 rappels (where you abseil down from one platform to another) a few wobbly bridges to cross and finally a Tarzan swing. All the way through we were really impressed with the staff who continued to take the girls across each one; one time they even had both of them go along with one member of staff to make a human train!

At the very end it was time to have some fruit and then finish up with the Tarzan swing. When the lad asked who wanted to go first Zia was already up on the platform getting strapped in before anyone else had a chance. Not a huge surprise (!) but nevertheless she showed her fearless nature in getting straight up without a moments hesitation. What probably surprised us was that Rosa was next up. From when we first came away she has grown and grown in confidence and this was one occasion where it really showed, following right after her big brave sister. It was the perfect ending to our stay up in the mountains and we all made our way back feeling absolutely wonderful.

We didn’t have long once we were back so we collected up our things and got into yet another 4×4 taxi to make our way down to Palmar Sur where we would stay for the next few days to allow us to get to Sierpe for our tour of the mangroves. All in all this had turned out to be an unexpected highlight of our time in Costa Rica. We had been welcomed into a wonderful community for a few days and experienced great hospitality both at Toucan Valley and with the team at the Osa Canopy Tour. We had definitely reached a place within ourselves where big decisions had become easier; we were able to find our way as a family and it really felt like another occasion where we had gained the clarity that we had been seeking in coming away on this adventure.