By centralamerica.com
The podcast currently has 7 episodes available.
The seventh episode of the centralamerica.com podcast where we speak to saxophone player Lawrence Cohen in Heredia, Costa Rica.
Lawrence is an old friend, and I enjoyed chatting with him today. Prinicipally, I invited him on to plug his upcoing gig with his band The Posion Dart Frogs, a blues, rockabilly, and boogie quintet made of expat gringos in Costa Rica. The idea was, after a year of absolute decimation of the entertainment business in Costa Rica (and all over the world), to welcome back some semblance of normality by promoting live music.
Before moving to Costa Rica in April 2019, Lawrence worked in New York as a teacher and gigging sax player. We talk about the band, but we also talk a lot about how Lawrence came to find Costa Rica in the first place, and how Costa Rica changed his life.
Lawrence came to Costa Rica after losing his job in the US. He traveled around Latin America for a while, checking out different countries. One day, he realized that if he sold his house, he could move abroad and create a new life for himself. After exploring Ecuador, Guatemala, and a few other potential homes, he realized Costa Rica was where he felt most at home.
He freely admits that when he lost his job, he was lost, in a bit of a funk, seaching for something. That search led him to Costa Rica where, two years after arriving, he’s settled, happy, and married to a wonderful woman.
We talk a lot about the path he took, and the decisions we all take in life to either find ourselves on the right foot or the wrong foot. Oh, and Lawrence gives us a quick blast of his saxophone skills at the end.
There's no real theme to this podcast, it's more like two friends shooting the breeze, but anyone feeling that their life maybe isn't working out for them where they are, and/or are wondering if the grass could possibly be greener elsewhere, might find our chat a worthwhile listen. We hope you enjoy it.
If you're in Costa Rica, especially if you're in or around Atenas, the Poison Dart Frogs will be playing at La Terraza Restaurante & Pizzería from 4:00 PM on Saturday, March 27, 2021.
Check out Lawrence's YouTube channel to see the band in action.
The sixth episode of the centralamerica.com podcast where this week, we do something different. This week is a shorter episode because it's James on his own.
There are a couple of reasons why we're rolling solo this week. The first reason is to experiment. We're still trying to get a hang of this podcasting thing, and we want to mix it up a little. Most of the time we'll have a guest, but if we want to get something off our chests then maybe this is a way to do so? Vamos a ver. The other reason is, as we say, for venting purposes. Sometimes events happen and we'll talk about them. This seems like an easy, quick way to do so. But overall, we're just feeling our way through this new medium.
This week, James talks about a couple of (related) things regarding expat life in Costa Rica. Anyone in the Costa Rica expat Facebook groups knows about a series of recent posts by a lady in Canada looking for a "house sitter" to run her tourism business. If you don't, then check out the article below, where we wrote about it:
What's the Difference Between House Sitting and Property Management in Costa Rica?
Today, James admits how this lady is living rent free inside his head and expands on the above article with a plea to foreign tourism business owners to NOT follow her lead in a country with at least one in five people out of work.
Related to the above topic, James touches on another post in the Facebook groups today, where someone posted a 2019 article from Atlas & Boots about Costa Rica coming in at #9 in a Gallup survey about the most stressed-out countries.
In the Facebook post, the author expressed surprise about how Costa Rica could be so stressed out. After all, he's probabaly a retiree down here on a fixed income living in a beautiful place. Doesn't everyone in Costa Rica live like that?
James takes a few minutes to set the record straight, by pointing out that a great many people in Costa Rica don't know where their next paycheck is coming from and how to pay their rent/feed their families next month. All this is especially true since the pandemic began and Costa Ricans begain losing their jobs at one of the fastest rates on earth.
He pushed back at those well-off expat posters who are incredulous that anyone experiences stress in Costa Rica and urges them to remember that Costa Rica isn't a tropical playground for people like that, it's a real country with real people living in it who are facing a hard time right now.
The fifth episode of the centralamerica.com podcast where we speak to Keara Mahoney (@panamahoneyy) in Bocas del Toro, Panama. We talk about Bocas del Toro and focus on the kind of mindset it takes to make a move to Central America, especially when young.
PLEASE WEAR HEADPHONES TO LISTEN TO THIS PODCAST!
Welcome to the brand new podcast bought to you by travel and expat lifestyle site centralamerica.com, based in San Jose, Costa Rica.
We cover travel, news, expat lifestyle, and more in tropical Central America (Costa Rica, Panama, Nicaragua, Honduras, Belize, Guatemala, and El Salvador).
In these podcasts, we talk to people in Central America doing interesting things. He'll talk to expats, locals, and travelers alike, and also those experts who can help make like easier for our listeners.
In our fourth episode, we chat to Nestor Quixtan, a Canadian-Guatemalan teacher, economist, and writer who lives in Guatemala City, Guatemala.
Nestor is one of our key Guatemala contributors and we find his insight into life in Guatemala interesting and invaluable. He's a keen observer of Guatemalan politics and society as a whole.
This episode is different from the previous ones about expats "doing cool stuff in Central America". In this episode, Nestor and I talk about the past year in Guatemala and how the pandemic has affected the country on a social and economic basis. we talk vaccine politics in Guatemala and look at how Guatemala's COVID response compares to other Central American countries.
This podcast is a little bit more "under the hood of politics" than previous recordings we've made, but we believe it's interesting listening for anyone interested in life or travel to Guatemala or Central America. Hope you enjoy.
Please wear headphones for this, as Nestor's audio isn't good. It's fine with headphones, but without them, not so much. We apologize for this - we're still learning as we go and will improve next time we promise.
Follow centralamerica.com on:
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/centralamerica
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/centralamericaliving/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/VidaAmerica
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/central-america-living/
Welcome to the brand new podcast bought to you by travel and expat lifestyle site centralamerica.com, based in San Jose, Costa Rica.
We cover travel, news, expat lifestyle, and more in tropical Central America (Costa Rica, Panama, Nicaragua, Honduras, Belize, Guatemala, and El Salvador).
In these podcasts, we talk to people in Central America doing interesting things. He'll talk to expats, locals, and travelers alike, and also those experts who can help make like easier for our listeners.
In our third episode, we chat to Aaron Atkey, a Canadian expat in Santa Teresa, Costa Rica. It's not fair to call Aaron an "expat", although he still identifies as one in a way. Aaron's been in Costa Rica all his life, since his parents came down chasing waves in the 1970s. Since then, Aaron has become a kind of ambassador for the community of Santa Teresa on the Nicoya Peninsula. He also wears various business hats, including co-owning Santa Teresa's La Cevicheria restaurant, private chef, fishing guide, surf guide, and more.
Anyone interested in learning more about Santa Teresa, Costa Rica or about living the Pura Vida in a Central American beach community should find my and Aaron's chat interesting.
Check out the article to go with the podcast right here: https://www.centralamerica.com/living/expat-stories/aaron-atkey-santa-teresa-costa-rica-interview/
Follow centralamerica.com on:
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/centralamerica
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/centralamericaliving/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/VidaAmerica
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/central-america-living/
Follow Aaron and his businesses on:
Facebook (personal) - https://www.facebook.com/TheSausageGuyCR/
Instagram (personal) - https://www.instagram.com/thesausageguycr/
Facebook (La Cevicheria) - https://www.facebook.com/lacevicheriasantateresa
Instagram (La Cevicheria) - https://www.instagram.com/lacevicheriast/
Facebook (Peninsula Fishing) - https://www.facebook.com/PeninsulaFishing
Instagram (Peninsula Fishing) - https://www.instagram.com/peninsulafishing/
Facebook (Cooking Around) - https://www.facebook.com/cookingaroundcr
Instagram (Cooking Around) - https://www.instagram.com/cookingaroundcr/
Welcome to the brand new podcast bought to you by travel and expat lifestyle site centralamerica.com, based in San Jose, Costa Rica.
We cover travel, news, expat lifestyle, and more in tropical Central America (Costa Rica, Panama, Nicaragua, Honduras, Belize, Guatemala, and El Salvador).
In these podcasts, we talk to people in Central America doing interesting things. He'll talk to expats, locals, and travelers alike, and also those experts who can help make like easier for our listeners.
In our second episode, we chat to Robb Stirr, a Canadian expat living in Playa Flamingo in Costa Rica. Stirr is better known among the Costa Rica expat community as The Sausage Guy. He produces, sells, and distributes his own artisanal sausages. The Sausage Guy turned from a small local hobby - started because of a lack of Italian sausages in Costa Rica - into a growing, thriving business using social media and word-of-mouth as his prime marketing tools. It's a story of how an expat can find niches or gaps in the market to create something special.
Follow centralamerica.com on:
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/centralamerica
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/centralamericaliving/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/VidaAmerica
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/central-america-living/
Follow The Sausage Guy on:
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/TheSausageGuyCR/
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/thesausageguycr/
Welcome to the brand new podcast bought to you by travel and expat lifestyle site centralamerica.com, based in San Jose, Costa Rica.
We cover travel, news, expat lifestyle, and more in tropical Central America (Costa Rica, Panama, Nicaragua, Honduras, Belize, Guatemala, and El Salvador).
In these podcasts, we talk to people in Central America doing interesting things. He'll talk to expats, locals, and travelers alike, and also those experts who can help make like easier for our listeners.
In this first episode, we chat to Nico Corea, an American expat living in the Caribbean islands of Bocas del Toro, Panama. Corea owns, edits, and publishes the Bocas Breeze Newspaper. He talks to James about his life in Bocas del Toro, what brought him to Panama, and why these islands work for him as an expat.
Follow centralamerica.com on:
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/centralamerica
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/centralamericaliving/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/VidaAmerica
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/central-america-living/
Follow the Bocas Breeze on:
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/TheBocasBreeze/
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/thebocasbreeze/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/TheBocasBreeze
Shout outs to:
Businesses mentioned in this podcast include Divers Paradise, Paradise Found, Buena Vista Realty, and United Country.
The podcast currently has 7 episodes available.