Okay, Okay… so perhaps the world isn’t coming to an end due to Covid-19, but it will definitely be heavily impacted as it already has. Many millions of people will lose their jobs. If the projections are correct, then countries like the Unites States will suffer a great deal of casualties in the 100’s of thousands and perhaps well over a million people may lose their lives worldwide, especially in under developed countries. By no means am I suggesting that the U.S. is less advanced than Costa Rica but it sure is more crowded. I have been a ‘doomsday prepper’ for about 15 years now. When I lived in Florida I owned a large arsenal of weapons like AR-15’s, AK-47’s and sniper rifles. I also owned things like straw water filters that you could literally drink water from a dirty puddle and it would filter it through carbon inside the straw giving you fresh drinking water. I learned to hunt by going to Florida’s wildlife management areas and camping out overnight. Yes, I was a hunter but would only kill what I was going to consume. There was no killing for sport, I would not hang any trophies in my house and in my experiences, I actually find people that hunt for sport to be not very nice people, to put it frankly. I didn’t even like hunting deer because I thought they were so cute and there were not many in the WMA where I went to hunt. There was one creature that I hunted and that was wild hogs because they were invasive and caused massive amounts of damage to Florida’s ecosystem. They were also nasty little creatures that were dangerous so they added a bit of excitement compared to the cute white tailed deer. More and more I realized that if something really bad happened, the amount of people and the large amount of those that owned guns such as myself, would pose the biggest problem in a real world survival situation. If the disaster was caused by a war, Florida had many military installations that would be targeted by nuclear weapons. If it was a virus pandemic, the large amount of people would make it a sure thing that you would eventually get sick. The shortages of food would follow along with looting and robberies. I realized that it would turn chaotic very quickly.

I have always loved Costa Rica. I was born in the small town of Coronado near San Jose and as a kid I remembered playing in the rivers and jungles in my area. I remembered playing hide-and-go-seek in the jungle and I was really good at it. Now, the town where I grew up is all built out and the river is polluted. I started trying to find an area where the water and air were still clean and it would not break the bank. I also liked being close to the beach, as I lived in Miami Beach from the time I was 8 years old till my mid 30’s. When a friend of mine, also a prepper, told me he had found such a place and in Costa Rica, I was super excited. It turns out he had been surfing most of his life and his travels had brought him to a secluded town called Pavones, Costa Rica. He shared stories of how secluded it was with me and I was very excited. It’s not for those that want to party all the time (there are no prostitutes or clubs so don’t come here for that), it’s not for those that want to go to different restaurants all the time (yes, we have a few restaurants but they don’t have air conditioning nor are they fine dining or anywhere near). The roads are all dirt and some you will need a 4×4 to get through. The people are super friendly and, unless you get into bad things like drugs, you won’t get into any trouble at all. It’s so secluded that hearing a plane or a helicopter is rare. There are about 4 police officers and they usually have nothing to do because there is very little crime (some minor petty theft and those thieves are forcibly evicted from the town). Pavones and the surrounding towns like Zancudo, Pilon, Cuervito and Punta Banco have super clean rivers that you can swim in and are surrounded by mountains full of wildlife. There is no hunting in Costa Rica but there is plenty if the situation ever got dire. There is also no commercial fishing so the Gulf (Gulfo Dulce) is full of giant fish which you are allowed to catch and eat. The rivers are not full of fish since the local indigenous people fished them out long ago but there are some small fish and lots of giant shrimp (more on that later). I decided to sell all of my guns and ammo, I kept all of my survival gear and I also sold my house and moved to the jungle in Cuervito, Costa Rica.

I have now been living here 1.5 years, the move was not easy but it was effective and was done cheaper than with a moving company. We sent a shipping container with our stuff (if you would like me to write a blog about how we did that please mention it in the comments) and we rented a house in Punta Banco until the home we were building in the mountains of Cuervito was ready. Now here I am, super glad that we moved because of what I see happening around the world with the effects of Covid-19. The U.S. and Europe are particularly being hit hard at the time this blog was written. The infections in the U.S. are in the hundreds of thousands compared to Costa Rica with just 396 and only 3 deaths. Costa Rica has taken this very seriously from the beginning and closed schools, restaurants, bars, clubs and all non-essential businesses early on. Costa Rica also banned driving and put in a mandatory stay-at-home order. Here in the Pavones area we can still go outside because we don’t have many neighbors. I have one neighbor that is about 200 feet from me and the next one is about a half mile away. We have trails in the mountain that we can walk through without seeing a single human. My property is almost 2 acres and has a creek in the back. Our water (and mostly everyone else’s) is from a well so we don’t depend on city water or sewers (we have septic tanks). We get around on ATV’s and dirt bikes for the most part, although I do own a 4×4 truck also. You can have legal firearms here contrary to popular belief, however you will have to jump through several hoops to get one including a psychological test to prove you are sane and capable of owning a firearm. You are limited to 4 firearms and most people don’t have one so you really don’t have to worry about some lunatic running into your child’s school to gun everyone down. On my property I grow a lot of my own food and what I don’t have I can barter with the locals for. I have built a bow out of Pau D’ Arco tree (which is also an excellent medicinal tree that boosts your immune system and even fights cancer) in the event I have to hunt any of the local wild animals like wild Peccaries! We sometimes go spear fishing in the oceans and rivers for fish, lobster and shrimp. Giant game tuna is also abundant here. And in an unprecedented event I feel like we are set up perfectly. We have gained the trust of the local people by being truthful, honest and good people. I help them and they help us. We no longer feel stuck in the rat race as the properties are incredibly affordable and the yearly property taxes are peanuts when compared to what we paid in Florida. If you would like me to share anything else about this area….Please feel free to comment below. Pura Vida!

Thank you

Eric Chavarria
Keller Williams Costa Rica