When Kema Ward-Hopper and her then-fiancé Nicholas Hopper, both from the United States, decided to get married in Costa Rica, they had no idea that they would end up moving there a few years later.
But a series of devastating events led the couple and their daughter Aaralyn, now 15, to a new life in the Central American country’s own “blue zone,” one of the regions in the world where people live the longest and enjoy greater health.
Ward-Hopper, a health and life coach, was diagnosed with breast cancer a few months before her 2016 wedding.
“[I had] I started treatment and everything,” Ward-Hopper tells CNN Travel. “If you see photos from my wedding, I had no hair and I didn’t really look like me. But he was sick.”
Special place
Although she wasn’t feeling well before traveling to Costa Rica for her big day, Ward-Hopper noticed a change in her energy levels during their time there.
“I felt better than I have since I was diagnosed,” he says. “When we returned.
“That feeling of well-being… I thought I was getting better. But it really seemed like it was environmental, because after about a week, I felt bad again.
“That was the first indicator that there was something special about Costa Rica.”
Ward-Hopper underwent a unilateral mastectomy before undergoing reconstruction surgery and the family, which was based in Houston, Texas, attempted to get back on track.
However, they suffered another blow when their home was destroyed by a Category 4 hurricane in August 2017.
“I had surgery and then Hurricane Harvey hit Houston,” he says. “And we ended up losing our house. So it seemed like a lot of bad things. [happening] back to back, back to back.”
After struggling to find a new home, the couple realized there was nothing keeping them in Houston anymore and decided it was time to move on.
“My husband said, ‘Well, let’s just leave the country,'” Ward-Hopper adds.
They initially considered moving to four potential destinations: Ghana, Sweden, Mexico and, of course, Costa Rica.
“Costa Rica ended up beating the other places that were on our list,” adds Ward-Hopper, explaining that they were impressed by the country’s education and healthcare system, as well as the environmental protections in place: Costa Rica is the first country tropical that has reversed deforestation.
“Since we left there on our honeymoon, we felt like we wanted to go back there and feel good,” he adds. “There is something energetic about being in Costa Rica.”
‘Fortuitous’ movement
Ward-Hopper goes on to explain that the country’s proximity to the US (Costa Rica is less than four hours from Houston by plane) was a major factor in her decision.
“It felt so serendipitous,” he says. “I feel like if we had chosen any of the other locations, we would have done a lot more research and preparation than we did in Costa Rica.”
In 2018, about eight months after deciding to make Costa Rica their new home, the family left Houston to start over in Pueblo Nuevo, a neighborhood located on the Nicoya Peninsula, one of the world’s blue zones, along with Loma Linda. in California, Italy. Sardinia, Okinawa in Japan and Ikaria in Greece.
“My husband and I arrived first and were here for six weeks without my daughter,” Ward-Hopper says, explaining that they had signed a lease on a property a friend had found for them.
“It was like a second honeymoon.”
The couple spent their time tending to their garden, meeting the locals and getting used to their new surroundings.
“We were in the jungle,” he says, remembering how they had to adapt to the sounds and creatures that came with their new surroundings.
“It was an adventure. My memory of that time is very pleasant. When we returned with our daughter, it was already the high rainy season. So it was quite an adventure in itself.”
Because they had entered Costa Rica on a tourist visa, the couple was only allowed to stay in the country for 90 days at a time and regularly returned to the U.S. to renew their visas.
Fortunately, Ward-Hopper already spoke Spanish before they arrived, while her daughter had some knowledge of the language, which helped the family make the transition more quickly.
“I don’t know if we would have gotten some of the deals we got if we hadn’t had the ability to communicate,” she says, adding that her husband, who runs a logistics business, has been learning Spanish during his time there.
When the family settled in Costa Rica, Ward-Hopper, who describes his first year in the country as “a long learning experience,” was particularly impressed by the country’s strong sense of community.
“I had an idea of what I thought a community was, but that completely disappeared when I got here and experienced real community,” he says.
“The locals were helpful whether they knew you or not… It was amazing. “The community really looked out for each other.”
New acquisition
According to Ward-Hopper, Aaralyn adapted very quickly and enjoyed being able to spend so much time on the beach and go on “a lot of walks.”
“My husband and I commented that she could have had a childhood like the one we had in the ’80s and ’90s,” she says.
“Being able to go out and play without the watchful eye of your parents.”
The family also found they felt more energetic, which Ward-Hopper attributes to access to fresh fruits, vegetables and whole foods, as well as cleaner air.
“I think the health benefits of the blue zone manifest later in life,” he says.
“But we have noticed that we feel better when we are here. Our heart and lung health seem to be better.”
In August 2019, Ward-Hopper found out she was pregnant with her second child.
“It was a strange turn of events,” he admits. “She didn’t expect to get pregnant.”
When the global COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, shutting down much of the world, the family was granted permission to remain in Costa Rica on their tourist visas.
Ward-Hopper welcomed her son Nicolai into her Pueblo Nuevo home in April 2020.
Aside from not being able to have family with her due to border restrictions, she says giving birth in Costa Rica turned out to be a wonderful experience.
“The birth of my son was like a meditation,” he adds. “It was all so intentional… I wish I could have had the experience with my daughter.”
Sadly, Ward-Hopper’s sister passed away suddenly a few months later.
Due to complications surrounding border restrictions at the time and the fact that Nicolai was born in Costa Rica and would not have been able to leave at the time, Ward-Hopper made the difficult decision not to return to the US to be with his family.
“That was also a really difficult point in our journey,” he says, before recounting the way the local community rallied around them to make sure they “felt loved and supported.”
“That’s the kind of community we live in,” he adds.
The family of four, who have since moved to a larger home in Nicoya, are now settled in Costa Rica and their lives couldn’t be more different than in Houston.
For Ward-Hopper, one of the best things about the Costa Rican lifestyle is the way children are embraced in virtually every aspect of daily life.
“I feel like in America you feel pressure to take your little kid out to dinner or something,” she says.
“Here, if your child wants to play and walk around the table, then they tell you to leave him alone and let him. So it’s just different.
The family is first
“They love children. And I don’t necessarily know that I felt the same way when my daughter was little.
“It is a very family-oriented nation. Families definitely [come] first.”
Ward-Hopper, who has been “cancer free” for several years, has adapted to a slower lifestyle and learned not to “be so tense.”
“In America, everything is super fast,” Ward-Hopper says, noting that she’s had to learn to stop apologizing every time she’s a few minutes late.
“You know the saying: ‘If you’re on time, you’re late.’ But here that is not the case.”
The average life expectancy in Nicoya is said to be around 85 years and the region has several centenarians.
“They are [the centenarians] They are lovely to talk to,” says Ward-Hopper, noting that she is always touched by the way local families look after each other, with the elders looking after the young and the young looking after the old.
“Older people are part of caring for the younger generation: their grandchildren or great-grandchildren, because they are in very good shape,” he says.
“And this is because they are hard-working people, they walk around a lot and they eat very well.
“I think all of those things contribute to his long life. They also live with the land and not in spite of the land.
“So they don’t try to eliminate all of nature so they can exist. They simply exist with nature. At least where we live.”
While Ward-Hopper says there are endless benefits to living in Costa Rica, she emphasizes that it’s not necessarily more affordable than the United States.
“Costa Rica is the most expensive country in Latin America,” he says. “But I also think that depends on how you try to live.”
Ward-Hopper notes that the cost of living in areas of the country where there is a “high ratio of expats to locals” is probably about the same as in the United States.
“Where we live, it would be much more expensive, [to have the same] quality of life living in Houston,” he says.
“So for us it is more affordable, it is becoming more expensive as more people move to Costa Rica.
“But there are still places you can go and live cheaper. But it is far from the most popular places.”
Even after several years of living in the countryside, Ward-Hopper says she is still as amazed by its incredible nature as she was at the beginning.
“I’m very grateful because I was worried that all of this would become the norm,” Ward-Hopper says. “But it’s not like that yet… We still see new creatures after so many years. So it’s fun.”
Ward-Hopper, her husband and daughter became permanent residents of Costa Rica after the birth of Nicolai, who is a Costa Rican citizen.
Although they do not wish to return to the U.S., Ward-Hopper misses her “friends, family and Amazon” and longs for a traditional American winter every now and then.
“When Christmas comes around, sometimes I just want to put on fuzzy socks and a big hoodie and curl up somewhere cozy with a cup of hot chocolate while it’s cold outside,” she says. “But that doesn’t happen. [here]. It’s a warm Christmas.”
And while they’re happy to stay where they are for the moment, the family doesn’t necessarily plan to stay in Costa Rica indefinitely.
“I think Costa Rica will be [our] base of operations, but we have plans to travel and experience other parts of the world,” adds Ward-Hopper, explaining that they are considering spending time in Colombia and Brazil.
“I guess we’re more nomadic than stationary, but Costa Rica feels like home.”