A Canadian Realtor on Belonging in Costa Rica

Wendy Stoneham left Saskatchewan nearly a decade ago for a small coastal community in Costa Rica, and says the move changed her life—and her work. After nine years in the country, she now sells property along Guanacaste’s Gold Coast, including Playa Flamingo, Potrero, Tamarindo and Playas del Coco.

This is a sponsored post, and it reads like one. Beneath the marketing, though, sits a question worth taking seriously: what does it actually take to belong somewhere new, and who gets to decide?

Belonging Beyond The Closing Table

Stoneham says she chose a small community away from heavily touristed areas. She wanted to experience another culture and view the world from a different angle. What she found felt familiar: small-town connections, neighbors looking out for one another and a strong sense of community, much like the one she knew growing up in Saskatchewan.

Acceptance, she writes, didn’t come with a deed. It came from showing up, taking part, accepting invitations, listening, learning and appreciating local traditions. Neighbors became friends, and invitations to celebrations and local gatherings followed. Buying a home alone, in her view, doesn’t make someone part of a community. That takes relationships, consistency and a willingness to embrace the people and culture around you.

She doesn’t prescribe one path. Some people find happiness in the international expat community, she says, and there isn’t just one way to experience Costa Rica.

The Paperwork Behind Pura Vida

Stoneham is candid: the country’s famous motto doesn’t make every day easy. “Pura Vida” won’t make paperwork disappear. She points to complications with banking, applying for or renewing a driver’s license, residency and other administrative processes. Every newcomer has to navigate these unglamorous systems, and they test patience in ways a sunset never will.

What she values, she says, is a welcoming neighbor, an unexpected invitation, celebrations and friendships that grow over time. “Perhaps the real journey is not about changing Costa Rica at all, but about allowing Costa Rica to change you,” she writes.

A Financial And Personal Transition

After nearly a decade working with buyers and sellers, Stoneham says property purchases in Costa Rica rarely amount to simple transactions. They can mark a lifestyle change, a new chapter or a long-held vision. She calls moving across borders a profound financial and personal transition, and says she guides clients through legal and market realities, along with the personal work of building a life there. Her author biography lists her email as [email protected] and her phone number as +506 8777 4224.

What Else Was On The Page

Other headlines appeared alongside the feature. One said ICE sent two Costa Rican children, ages 9 and 11, to a Texas family detention center. Trending links said authorities apprehended the children near New Orleans and transported them 12 hours by road to the Dilley family detention center. Other items covered public schools losing 180,000 students in five years and bills that would keep children off social media until age 14 or 15.

The page also pointed to a criminal case over clearing protected land beside Montezuma’s waterfall. Inspectors found trees cut and a hillside terraced on 6,564 square meters, including public heritage land. Another link said more than 400 buildings sit within the proposed right-of-way for the Tibi electric train, and the state must buy 145 private lots by 2028. Police named a 22-year-old suspect in the killing of an American man in Playas del Coco. Costa Rica is raising mandatory vehicle insurance rates for 2027. On Friday, the dollar closed at 452.92 colones on Monex, down from 460.45 on October 1.

Costa Rican farmer Olga Vargas was named among the FAO’s 100 Women Heroes. One headline reported Rebeca Grynspan leading the UN race while facing two potential vetoes. Another quoted Costa Rica’s president saying the U.S. government already operates on Costa Rican soil. These appeared as headlines or short promotional descriptions, not as details in Stoneham’s feature.

Why This Matters: Stoneham’s account is a gentle one. Belonging, she says, comes from showing up and listening, not buying in. That message lands differently beside the page’s other headlines. Two children, ages 9 and 11, hauled 12 hours to a detention center show how unevenly borders treat people. A foreign buyer can cross one with a purchase and a plan. A child can’t.

The same page flags protected heritage land cleared on a hillside and more than 400 buildings in the path of public transit. Both are reminders that property decisions carry public stakes. Foreign-buyer demand meets local needs for housing, land and infrastructure on the same ground. Communities absorb newcomers best when public rules on land, residency and paperwork are clear, fairly enforced and applied to everyone—including people whose families have lived there far longer than nine years.