Immune to Hurricanes!

By Eric Robinson

Why invest in a property that has a chance of being blown away by hurricanes? Why chance your vacation that part of it will be clutching loved ones hiding under your bed, or getting killed?Like super-soldiers marching westward along the Atlantic's 'hurricane alley' from June to November, the Caribbean is relentlessly slammed each year. The hurricanes are invariably forced northward by the presence of the Central American Isthmus before reaching the Costa Rica coast. Northeast Nicaragua, the Yucatan Peninsula and western Cuba stick out like sore thumbs, catching more than their share.

Costa Rica's lush Central Valley seems like a great place to be, and is slowly becoming recognized as a safe destination of choice for both tourists and investors. Though both coasts of Costa Rica receive some rain during the traditional hurricane season, they seldom make a direct hit. In the rare event that the eye of a rogue hurricane reaches the Costa Rican Caribbean coast, it would have to then climb a mile over the towering mountains (cordilleras) to reach San Jose hiding in the bottom of the Central Valley a kilometer above sea level.

Several hurricanes form annually over the Pacific Ocean west of Costa Rica, but continue westward out into the Pacific, causing little damage. Though rules are made to be broken, up here in San Jose, we can relax year-round, fairly confident that the worst we will get from a hurricane is a few days of drizzle. But then it's already the rainy season during hurricane season, so who cares?