January 20, 2011 we landed in Costa Rica for the first time.

And now we live here permanently and are on our way to becoming residents.

Here’s the timetable:

• January 20, 2011 we arrived.
• January 22, 2011 we took TheRealCostaRica.com tour.
• Sometime in March Nancy and a friend returned for a week to look at homes. They found one and made an offer which was accepted.
• We listed our home in Bowling Green, Kentucky with a real estate agent.
• April 2011, I came down to make the purchase of the house. Left Thursday, closed on Friday and returned on Sunday.
• Sunday evening when I walked in, Nancy said: ” We have an offer on the house.”
• We made a counter-offer on Monday which was accepted.
• I quit my job.
• Nancy moved to our house in Costa Rica with two dogs on June 21 with a different friend in tow.
• The container left Bowling Green on July 1.
• I moved with the remaining two dogs on July 2.
• We started construction on a master bedroom addition and bodega on August 1.
• The construction was completed in November.

Did we mean for it to happen this rapidly?

Not by a long shot. What started as a five year plan turned into a five month plan when we were able to sell our house for 96% of our asking price and got a 90 day possession window.

We broke the cardinal rule of “rent before you buy” in Costa Rica. Not because we felt we were smarter than anybody else, but because we had four dogs and we just couldn’t visualize renting a house in Bowling Green. I wasn’t retired, so coming down for more than a month wasn’t possible (I would use all my vacation time on one trip)

We are damn lucky. We love where we landed. Perfect? Pshaw. Is any place? We survived the rainiest October in the country’s history all the while there were construction guys clamoring around. One of our dogs died.

But that is all behind us and nothing but a bright future lies ahead.

Not working in Costa Rica is working out just fine so far.