Our friend Sean Armstrong sent us this article last week….

Beware: This Could Happen to You

International Living Postcards—your daily escape
Thursday, Oct. 14, 2010

Dear International Living Reader,

Daniel has a great story about Costa Rica. Even though his tale is unique, it's a type of story I'm hearing a lot these days.

You go to Costa Rica…maybe for a vacation…or to visit friends…and then WHAM! Before you know it, you've quickly fallen in love with the place and make it your new home.

There's something about this country—its coasts in particular—that can seduce almost anyone who goes there.

Read the story below and see if you agree.

Len Galvin
Managing Editor, IL Postcards P.S. If you want to pick up a copy of that free Costa Rica report I told you about yesterday—this could be your last chance.

Costa Rica Might Get You, Too

By Daniel Hodges

I went to Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica, to attend the TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) class. There is ALWAYS a job teaching English in virtually every corner of Costa Rica.

After school I traveled to Cahuita to check out the Caribbean side of the country…and immediately fell in love. We figured we already knew enough about living in Costa Rica—so my wife and I sold everything and made the move!

Cahuita is about 45 minutes south of Limon and a stone's throw from the Panamanian border. The road to Cahuita is lined with emerald green rainforests blended with mountains and clear fast moving rivers.

I stayed at a hotel on the north side of town, about a 30-minute walk to Cahuita. (You can rent houses here for $350 - $800 per month.) The black-sand beaches here were mostly deserted save for the wildlife that lives comfortably alongside the people. From my hotel I was able to watch sloths, iguanas, monkeys and toucans. There is no better experience on earth than waking up at sunrise (5.00 a.m. in Cahuita) to the haunting screams of a howler monkey troupe.

I have visited beaches the world over—but nowhere compares to this. I can hear the crashing waves from inside my room (400 feet from the beach).

The coastline here is lined with a plethora of sun bleached coral reefs. As I snorkeled just steps off the beach I was taken aback by the colors, shapes and sizes of the marine life. Vibrant yellows, greens and blues stood out against the bleached white backdrop of the coral and I found I only yearned for more.

My passion in life has always been to travel the world and explore cultures and customs that enrich my life in so many ways—and none more so than the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica.

Ok, Armstrong.Maybe it's happened to us a little bit.But its just because we have really good living and work situations, and know every expat in this city.And have know the spot where the fresh meat is shipped in every week (as in tourist boys at HBH, not dog meat at the butcher).

We love Ha Noi, other than when it Hannoys the s*** out of us, but we had a plan and we are sticking to it.Timelines will change but geography wont.When we saw your email we realized that we had caught a serious condition and that we need to check ourselves to make sure that if we ever post up in Ha Noi permanently, it's only after we seen and lived in Latin America AND Africa.Things change so suddenly here that we could be gone tomorrow, but we could also be here forever..So we promised ourselves today that we would be out of Ha Noi by March.And we always keep our promises!

As for why we've been gone for so long, you'll hear about it….We've been through crazy times, good and bad.I've been keeping a bulleted list of what's been going on and our last guest just left us so we'll be able to keep everyone updated again, and I'll try to keep the chronology going form when we arrived in Viet Nam on Friday the 13th of August.But some random things will be in there as well.Our new blog is having trouble at the moment but will be up as soon as possible and we will post the new address on this blog when it's ready!