We moved to Costa Rica in 1999, and one of the most common questions that we get asked is "why?".

They say that a person has 2 reasons as to why they will do a thing. The first one is the one that sounds good. The second one is the real one. So, here is the first one.

1. Family: we had 2 of our 3 kids left under our roof and we really wanted that they be bi-lingual and bi-cultural. So, family related reasons were a strong motivating factor.
2. Selfish: I have always wanted to learn a second language and a second culture, and my wife is a lover of both the beach and simple living. So Costa Rica seemed the place to be.

The rising land values in Colorado enabled us to sell our home and come out a bit ahead, but not that much ahead. The amount that we came down with necessitated that I work. I had done a couple of art related web sites in the states, since my profession there was art. So, I started a web design company called Gallery Webs that specialized in art marketing for the Internet. I viewed working with the internet as a key to our goal of being able to live in a different land - which it has proved to be.

We had no idea if it would work, this idea of moving to a different land and supporting the family by means of the Internet, but we wanted to try. It didn't really matter so much to us if it didn't work out. We felt like we could live off the proceeds of the sale of our home for a few years in Costa Rica, and if the Internet business didn't work out, we'd just go back to the U.S.. I'd be in my mid-40's, in my earning prime, and we'd just do it all over again, but this time with this great family experience under our belts.

We moved to San Isidro de P. Z., not so much because it was the nicest place that we could find in Costa Rica, but because its sum total of features were pretty much what we were looking for. We are far enough from San Jose to not be too affected by its "cosmopolitonization", (not to be confused with "cross pollination"). We had lived in and around that sort of thing for the majority of our adult lives and felt that if we were going to go to the trouble of moving to a different land, it should be... well... different. So San Isidro. It is 35 minutes from the beach, higher up so as to be moderate in temperature, and truly "Tico". Not much English spoken here. (In reviewing this article a couple years after having originally written it, things are changing dramatically. San Isidro is becoming quite "the place" for relocation from other countries.)

Our immersion was complete and the number of expatriates that we encountered during the first 5 years of being here could almost be counted on one hand.

My web site design business morphed during these years from strictly art related, to Costa Rica related, and from strictly design, to primarily promotion. Gallery Webs still exists and employs several great guys and even has an office in San Isidro. The reach of the business extends down to the Panama border. I am currently focused on Costa Rica real estate, and so am a hands off owner of the business, for the time being. I fully intend to go back to it in a semi-retired sort of way. I truly love the business of helping businesses get going on the Internet in this oh-so-Internet-dependant area of the world.

Dominical.Biz came about when I met a man here in the area one day while swimming in a pool at the base of a waterfall. He had a tremendous vision of what was going to happen in the Dominical area, and was taking steps to influence it, for the good, as much as one man can. My experience in Colorado taught me that to complain about development doesn't do much good as it is inevitable. But to work towards intelligent, sustainable development, is a reasonable and pragmatic objective. I thought that if half of the vision that I heard that day, in that pool, in the base of that waterfall, were to take place, that I should probably develop a web site to help the community get itself found on the web, and hopefully, in the process, be a lucrative venture for us.

So here we are, the developments are happening, the area is still rustic, robust in its natural splendor, and business is moving right along. We are hoping that as the development continues that the ones that make the decisions will continue to be guided by concern for the local population, the animal population, the trees and yes, the welfare of the expat community. By the way, since starting this project, I have met too many expats to count, effectively enhancing my Costa Rica experience. I have on occasion been embarrassed by the behavior of some of my fellow U.S.ers here. For the most part, this has not been the case with the ones that live here. I think that some visitors get intoxicated by the fact that you can pretty much do whatever you want here, and so they do. I feel affected when I visit with my Tico friends and they ask about things that they have observed, "is that what North America is like?". I can honestly tell them that no, "those guys would be strange up there as well".

The expats that live in and around Dominical are an honest hard working bunch. I had anticipated life enrichment from getting to know a foreign culture. The experience of working with the local expat community has been an unforeseen benefit to making the move here as well.

Are we glad we did it? Absolutely. And we hope that what you find in the pages contained here at Dominical.Biz are informative and enjoyable. If you want to come for a visit, you will know a little bit better what is in store for you. If you want to come to live, its a place to start. Either one is sure to enrich your life.

Ben Vaughn
Proprietor - Dominical.biz