BLUE ZONE
LIVING THE BLUE ZONE EXPERIENCE:
I’m really glad that my family and friends introduced me to this unique lifestyle, that although I could have obtained in essence, I wouldn’t have been able to materialize otherwise.
This is the type of experience that refreshes your soul. It makes you appreciate what’s really important in life, without giving up good gastronomy and a good cultural exchange. I can see how children who live according to this lifestyle are much more determined and smarter than those who live glued to an iPad.
After this experience, I was able to understand how the environment changes you, affects you and molds you. This is a clear example of how life is in Nicoya and why it is one of the 5 BLUE ZONES in the world.
WHAT IS A BLUE ZONE?
Nicoya, in Guanacaste, has a privileged climate and is one of the five zones in the world classified as Blue Zones: specific regions of the world where its habitants live longer than the expected average (+100 years of age). The other 4 Blue Zones are: Okinawa (Japan), Sardinia (Italy), Icaria (Greece) and among the Seventh-day Adventists in Loma Linda, California.
Life expectancy is based on the local diet, climate and way of living. There is always a strong contact with nature and animals,and no trace of a sedentary life. Here families normally have their own crops, farms and cattle. Horseback riding is still one of the main means of transportation along with bicycles, and more recently motorbikes and cars.
BEFORE AND AFTER.
The truth is, when I first arrived in Costa Rica, I was a completely different person. Not in essence, but in form. I had more damage and evidently knew much less about the important things in life, about nature and the wonder of being able to enjoy and live with it.
The first time I arrived at my French family’s house in Costa Rica, I was amazed because I found something I had never seen before. I discovered luxuries I did not know of. To have a 360-degree view, a Bali-styled house made entirely of wood, which highlighted the greatness of the environment. There were no doors, no windows and no AC, but we had a house with a style that took over the essence of what is known as BLUE ZONE.
WHAT IT MEANS TO LIVE THE BLUE ZONE LIFESTYLE
The beauty of this experience and the main thing we must understand is that having an expensive house or a cheap one will not affect the end result. The streets and the roads, the mountains, the beaches, the neighbors, the locals… they’re all the same for everyone. Wind and nature don’t make any distinctions. It is true though, that some will always live better than others even when they are in equal conditions, but that’s a matter of attitude and how to face life.
WHAT TYPE OF PROPERTIES CAN I FIND?
For all those who often ask themselves: how do you do it? Where is that? How much will it cost? How can I buy it? What do I need?
What really matters is invisible to what’s established by society.
There are still semi-virgin properties, where people with greatvision for a good quality of life have been building their houses. Where the roads are still dirt and vegetation take over the human imprint. Rather, it’s us humans who must learn to live in harmony and balance with nature, which we somehow come to alter and modify.
In the following images, you can see how one can build and develop housing in detail, right in the middle of a mountain with amazing ocean views.
A property like this, with running water and electricity, ready to capitalize your dream (and with the right contacts) can be on the $120,000 to $150,000 range. That’s 5,000 m2 (+16,000 ft2) in an organized "urbanization".
Once you own the property, it depends on the type of construction you want to build, from something modest (like awarm, cozy wooden cabin) to something much more detailed and elaborated, like the house in the photo, which was acquired several years ago for $2,5 million.
