The Bella Blog
Search
The Bella Blog
- Feb 10
- 1 min
Black Expat Relocation Q&A Available via Clubhouse
How many of you are on Clubhouse? How many of you know what Clubhouse is? Clubhouse is an invitation-only audio-chat social networking app launched in 2020 by software developers Alpha Exploration Co. As of December 2020, Currently available only to iPhone users. I was invited to participate as a speaker on one of the 1st Black Expat Relocation forums "Want to Quit America? Ask these Black Expats How" Are you interested in relocation to Costa Rica? Are you on Clubhouse? Join
251 views8 comments
The Bella Blog
- Jan 30
- 2 min
It's Summer in Costa Rica!
Hey everyone! I know it's been a minute but it's been pretty quiet in our life and since we are staying home most of the time, I haven't had much to report -- but I'm back today with a few pics. Still loving our new city even if we rarely get out! The rainy season ended around the end of November and with it came the "dry" season and the wind! The winds can really get gusty during this time of year. Time to secure your plants and patio furniture!!! Its now offically summer
154 views0 comments
The Bella Blog
- Nov 29, 2020
- 1 min
Costa Rica Military Abolition Day
I'm a few days early as the official date is December 1st. That is the national holiday in celebration of Army Abolition Day. This is Costa Rica's 1st annual celebration. President Carlos Alvarado signed the law on May 20, 2020 and established the new holiday. Since it is a 3 day holiday, I decided to post on Sunday. On December 1, 1948, President José Figueres Ferrer of Costa Rica abolished the military of Costa Rica after achieving victory in the civil war that year. The bu
258 views0 comments
The Bella Blog
- Nov 27, 2020
- 2 min
Do they even care about us?
As I have often mentioned, Costa Rica is an excellent jump off point for travel to all of Latin America. We've had the opportunity to travel to several of the countries closest to Costa Rica, along with Peru. We have not yet traveled to Brazil, Argentina or Uruguay, which are also on our bucket list, once travel normalizes. I recently came across a powerful video (which has actually been around a few months) but it hit me hard because it is so closely linked with the struggle
387 views0 comments
The Bella Blog
- Nov 13, 2020
- 4 min
Black Hair Care Products and Services in Costa Rica
*Special Post Today's post is directed to those women (black & brown - w/curly/kinky/tightly coiled hair) currently living n Costa Rica and/or relocating to Costa. When i set out to research the availability of products and services in Costa Rica specifically designed to address the needs of hair care for the black community, I was cautiously optimistic. After having lived in Grecia, (a small agricultural town in Costa Rica's Central Valley), for 4 years I was aware of the d
271 views0 comments
The Bella Blog
- Nov 11, 2020
- 1 min
Life on the Caribbean Coast of Costa Rica (video)
Below is a recent interview we had with expats, Penny & Paul McPherson, as we sat down to discuss their travels and their life in Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica!! Be sure to check Penny out on IG #plantbasedpennylife Big Thanks to Paul & Penny!!! #ThatBellaLife #BlackInCostaRica #BlackExpatsinCostaRica #BlackExpatsLivingLifeAbroad #PlantBasedPennyLife
442 views0 comments
The Bella Blog
- Oct 24, 2020
- 1 min
Our Interview with International Living Magazine - Our Life in Costa Rica
Blaxit: 5 Black American Expats Share Their Experiences Living Overseas BTW - After the article was published we discovered that we happen to know 2 of the other couples who were interviewed for the article. Riley & His wife who live in Grecia and Michelle and her husband who we visited on our trip to San Miguel de Allende - Congrats to both!!! Please check us out (small error - Some of you may know, but the above photo is actually in Escazu) #ThatBellaLife #BlackExpatsLiving
440 views0 comments
The Bella Blog
- Sep 15, 2020
- 2 min
Costa Rica, A Day in the life
Today is September 15th It's Costa Rica Independence Day Some of you may remember this video, which we posted back in 2018 on our old vimeo channel. Now that we have moved from Grecia, it's fun to look back on those days, so, from time to time I'll upload one of the old videos and repost it to our new Youtube channel -- and you can also view it here. I think this will be helpful to our newer subscribers -- and for those of you who have been around for a while, you might like
269 views0 comments
The Bella Blog
- Aug 15, 2020
- 3 min
The"hygge” life
It all started with the concept of hygee. But, what is hygee? Pronounced hooga - hue-guh): a concept of living, derived from the Danish word “hygge”. ... It was created as a concept and lifestyle by the Danish in the 18th century and is now a fundamental part of their culture. The hygge concept cannot be translated to one single word but it encompasses a feeling of cozy contentment and well-being through enjoyment of the simple things in life and as the Danish put it “the goo
552 views0 comments
The Bella Blog
- Jul 24, 2020
- 5 min
Why We Moved to Escazú
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
634 views0 comments
The Bella Blog
- Jul 16, 2020
- 1 min
Good Bye to Our Casa in Grecia Costa Rica
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
430 views0 comments
The Bella Blog
- Jul 14, 2020
- 3 min
Just in the nick of time! Our Life in Costa Rica
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
425 views0 comments
The Bella Blog
- May 31, 2020
- 1 min
Thinking of Buying or Renting a house in Costa Rica? - The Costa Rica Real Estate Series
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
685 views0 comments
The Bella Blog
- May 29, 2020
- 1 min
And The Winner Is
We're back with an update on which property we chose! It was a difficult decision but we finally made up our minds. In the video below we will discuss the pros and cons of each location which led up to our final decision. While we were in the selection process I thought this might also be a good time to educate people on exactly how real estate works in Costa Rica as it is different in so many ways from real estate in the states, and I figured...you all just might want to kno
568 views2 comments
The Bella Blog
- May 24, 2020
- 1 min
Real Estate in Costa Rica
We'll be posting our next video very soon - In it, we are announcing WHICH rental we decided to take and why. In that same video we'll have our Real Estate Agent on to discuss buying/selling/renting in Costa Rica. Many of you have sent me messages with questions about real estate in CR (which I cannot answer), this is your opportunity to get answers from a professional. Comment below or send me a message with questions or comments. Deadline is this Wednesday May 27th. Thanks
273 views0 comments
The Bella Blog
- May 22, 2020
- 3 min
We signed on the dotted line - Our Life in Costa Rica
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
451 views0 comments
The Bella Blog
- May 20, 2020
- 4 min
Why We left the US - Looking Back
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/
511 views0 comments
{"items":["603a49eeaed9430015095eef","6024297fa8e540002e8a28a5","60146ca3c865a700170918b3","5fc3e19e32077e0017f894f2","5fc1142548e6de001739fa6c","5fad649fe05060001712ad44","5fac0f8c0fab3600180d79ba","5f9420716ea8c10017990f66","5f72796501cb200017c31415","5f6e118bc830e50017402ce9","5f60c4acfe81a40017a94d71","5f3701e25cbaeb0017155c2c","5f16ffc3ea10b9001760aa61","5f1086978c01fe0017dd6f01","5f0d379de3d490001712e605","5ed3e1e3e858120017acb4aa","5ed11283300da20017536400","5eca9b29dc61810017fb4d0b","5ec7f99c0be4470017f8d18c","5ec52bad4af3560018e9b168"],"styles":{"galleryType":"Columns","groupSize":1,"showArrows":true,"cubeImages":true,"cubeType":"min","cubeRatio":2.2857142857142856,"isVertical":true,"gallerySize":30,"collageAmount":0,"collageDensity":0,"groupTypes":"1","oneRow":false,"imageMargin":32,"galleryMargin":0,"scatter":0,"rotatingScatter":"","chooseBestGroup":true,"smartCrop":false,"hasThumbnails":false,"enableScroll":true,"isGrid":true,"isSlider":false,"isColumns":false,"isSlideshow":false,"cropOnlyFill":false,"fixedColumns":0,"enableInfiniteScroll":true,"isRTL":false,"minItemSize":50,"rotatingGroupTypes":"","rotatingCropRatios":"","columnWidths":"","gallerySliderImageRatio":1.7777777777777777,"numberOfImagesPerRow":3,"numberOfImagesPerCol":1,"groupsPerStrip":0,"borderRadius":0,"boxShadow":0,"gridStyle":0,"mobilePanorama":false,"placeGroupsLtr":true,"viewMode":"preview","thumbnailSpacings":4,"galleryThumbnailsAlignment":"bottom","isMasonry":false,"isAutoSlideshow":false,"slideshowLoop":false,"autoSlideshowInterval":4,"bottomInfoHeight":0,"titlePlacement":"SHOW_BELOW","galleryTextAlign":"center","scrollSnap":false,"itemClick":"nothing","fullscreen":true,"videoPlay":"hover","scrollAnimation":"NO_EFFECT","slideAnimation":"SCROLL","scrollDirection":0,"scrollDuration":400,"overlayAnimation":"FADE_IN","arrowsPosition":0,"arrowsSize":23,"watermarkOpacity":40,"watermarkSize":40,"useWatermark":true,"watermarkDock":{"top":"auto","left":"auto","right":0,"bottom":0,"transform":"translate3d(0,0,0)"},"loadMoreAmount":"all","defaultShowInfoExpand":1,"allowLinkExpand":true,"expandInfoPosition":0,"allowFullscreenExpand":true,"fullscreenLoop":false,"galleryAlignExpand":"left","addToCartBorderWidth":1,"addToCartButtonText":"","slideshowInfoSize":200,"playButtonForAutoSlideShow":false,"allowSlideshowCounter":false,"hoveringBehaviour":"NEVER_SHOW","thumbnailSize":120,"magicLayoutSeed":1,"imageHoverAnimation":"NO_EFFECT","imagePlacementAnimation":"NO_EFFECT","calculateTextBoxWidthMode":"PERCENT","textBoxHeight":310,"textBoxWidth":200,"textBoxWidthPercent":50,"textImageSpace":10,"textBoxBorderRadius":0,"textBoxBorderWidth":0,"loadMoreButtonText":"","loadMoreButtonBorderWidth":1,"loadMoreButtonBorderRadius":0,"imageInfoType":"ATTACHED_BACKGROUND","itemBorderWidth":1,"itemBorderRadius":0,"itemEnableShadow":false,"itemShadowBlur":20,"itemShadowDirection":135,"itemShadowSize":10,"imageLoadingMode":"BLUR","expandAnimation":"NO_EFFECT","imageQuality":90,"usmToggle":false,"usm_a":0,"usm_r":0,"usm_t":0,"videoSound":false,"videoSpeed":"1","videoLoop":true,"jsonStyleParams":"","gallerySizeType":"px","gallerySizePx":940,"allowTitle":true,"allowContextMenu":true,"textsHorizontalPadding":-30,"itemBorderColor":{"value":"rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.25)"},"showVideoPlayButton":true,"galleryLayout":2,"calculateTextBoxHeightMode":"MANUAL","textsVerticalPadding":-15,"targetItemSize":940,"selectedLayout":"2|bottom|1|min|true|0|true","layoutsVersion":2,"selectedLayoutV2":2,"isSlideshowFont":true,"externalInfoHeight":310,"externalInfoWidth":0},"container":{"width":940,"galleryWidth":972,"galleryHeight":0,"scrollBase":0,"height":null}}
