The   Bella  Blog

Join the Conversation #BlaxitRadio #BlackExpatsLivingAbroad #ThatBellaLife #BlackExpatsLivingLifeAbroad

Good Morning Family Some of you may know that we have been working to establish a radio station especially to meet the unique needs of the black expat and blaxit community worldwide. Our aim is to provide a variety of music as well as entertainment, educational information, interviews, tips and valuable resources for those who are contemplating a move abroad. Today, I am happy to announce that we have launched the website for the new internet radio station, BLAXIT RADIO! The

We did it! We finally left our condo and ventured out on a trip! Four glorious days in Tamarindo. This was our first trip but will definitely not be our last! The weather cooperated and we have 4 very pleasant days. I was prepared for the oppressive heat and humidity but instead we had fairly hot days but cooling a bit toward the evening and a refreshing ocean breeze. Our condo had air (of course) but during the time we were inside I found it freeezing @ 72 and had to turn it

This seems to be the question I am asked most often, so I thought I would take a few minutes and explain how we decided on Escazú. First, let's do a quick rewind, some of you are new to our journey and many of you who have followed us since the beginning have probably forgotten when we made our due diligence trip to Costa Rica in March 2015. (BTW I encourage anyone thinking of relocating to make a due diligence trip) The Gang of 5 (The Aspiring Expats 2015) One of the first s

Hey guys, This is a short video of our house in Grecia. For security reasons we've never filmed our exact location, but since we no longer live there... Here it is! It was our 1st home in Costa Rica. We called it Casa de Coffey (a play on words using Lavanson's last name) and we lived there for 4 years, so we will definitely miss it. The views and the sounds of nature were a perfect introduction to this beautiful country. We also enjoyed the peace and tranquility of being sur

We are finally in our new home!! In the midst of a "pandemic" With the number of Covid cases on the rise and both our city locations on "orange alert", I figured I better change our move date while things were still partially open. I moved the date from Sunday July 12 to Friday July 10. Very happy I did, because on Saturday July 11th, Costa Rica instituted the strictest Covid measures to date! The new restrictions for areas on orange alert cut driving down to one day during t

Let's talk Real Estate!!! (*You might also want to bookmark this page for future reference) We're all set with our choice for a new rental, but there are probably many of you who are thinking of relocating here in the future. Some of you may be interested in the rental process and a number of you may also be interested in purchasing a house or even buying a lot upon which to build your dream house!!! Where do you start? It is with you in mind that I created the Costa Rica Re

We've made a decision on a rental and have signed the lease! Yahoo! Of course I could just announce the winner today but...nah, that would be wayy too easy!! LOL Decided to come back later with another post (and perhaps even a video - who knows) explaining our decision making process. That way I can share some of our thoughts AND hopefully provide some pointers and tips in case you find yourself in a similar situation. But, since you stopped by today, here are a few things I

Note - WARNING -This is an opinion post. If you are currently satisfied/happy with the situation in the states you might want to pass up reading this post. One reason that I am writing this post today is because lately, I have been deluged with incoming requests from people in the states, begging for help as to how to "get out" of the US! I'm serious! Since I moderate and administer at least 3 different sites on FB I am getting their desperate pleas! I think the constant 24/

Can you Salsa? I have to admit it. I can not! I posted this on Facebook today but for those of you who do not have FB here's what I said. Sunday we took ourselves over to Sarchi (next little city over from Grecia) to "Viejillos" a bar, restaurant/discoteque (I didn't know discoteques were still around 😉) For those not familiar, Viejjillos is a HUGE place and every Sunday they have dancing with a live band, from 1-6pm. People of all ages come to dance. It was my 2nd time goin

YAY!!! I have finally completed our look back/4 year Costa Rica wrap up video!!! Or, I guess I should say, vide-O's -- as it turns out that I had to split the original video into 2 parts. In the end, a 1 hour video was just a little too much for my poor laptop to process. Even with the 2 video split, part 2 took half the day and all night to upload! Yes my friends, those are some of the joys of video making and uploading in Costa Rica!!! I will keep that in mind for future u

Happy New Year Everyone! Just a quick check-in to wish each of you the very best for the the new year! Hope you all have something special to look forward to. Celebrating Our One Year "That Bella Life" Blogoversary/Vlogoversary!! Yep, that's right, how time flies. This time last year I was putting the final touches on this website and preparing to launch! The website will remain the same but as I do every year, I am redesigning our videos a bit including some changes to our i