Puppy Pura Vida ~ Harley’s adventures to Costa Rica ~ Retirement or Rebirth?

As I write this I am high among the treetops with hummingbirds fluttering around the flowers and pairs of scarlet macaws screeching by like Pteradactyls, amid loud buses honking and motorbikes with no muffler rumbling by on the road below. I’m sitting by the rooftop pool reflecting on how we got here almost 2 weeks ago.

My 3 months in the States were coming to an end and although we’d been preparing the house slowly the entire time; painting, decorating, cleaning, giving away most of our worldly belongings, well Johnny’s years of stuff accumulated over a lifetime and my 5 summers worth of shiny objects. We packed up the camper van with the few things we did want to keep. Still those last few days as the impending flights to Costa Rica grew closer the to-do list seemed to keep getting longer.

I must admit, it always gets a little stressful the last few days before a trip for me, a mixture of excitement and panic making sure I don’t forget to pack anything. After all these years I haven’t quite perfected the minimalist pack light vibe, with my essential oils, Tibetan singing bowl and too many shoes in tow…. Cue the overweight baggage fees.

This year we had decided we couldn’t live without Harls, our beautiful super mutt of a dog. Johnny’s best friend for 13 years - his whole adult life. The past few winters we have entrusted his care into the hands of Johnny’s sister and Harls shared the hibernation season with his dog and cat family at Liz’s house but now we were feeling perhaps a more grounded permanent move, we decided to go for it. Plenty of people had brought their pets from the States to Costa Rica and we’d read every blog and government info page out there. How hard could it be, right?

Well in the end it really wasn’t too bad, we left the vet appointment a little close to our departure date which caused a heightened stressful state of panic at not getting the endorsed forms back from the USDA in time. Had we started the process closer to the 2 week window you have to visit the vet before your flight instead of 1 week this could have been a more laid back situation.
We went to the vet on Wednesday and were flying the following Tuesday… plenty of time we thought….. but Columbus Day on the Monday meant government office closures - reducing our window a little more. After 3 hours at the vet we’d missed their Fedex post that day. So with 20 minutes until close we rushed around to the USPS to get the form in the post ourselves and overnight it to the USDA office in Lansing.
Eagerly tracking the delivery online the next day, unfortunately the guaranteed delivery time of 3pm Thursday was missed and the USDA office was very difficult to reach by phone, for some reason they would call back the vet when they left a message on our behalf but not call us back. Anyway, we finally made contact Friday morning by email explaining the urgency of the situation and they called us back to confirm they had just received it. We decided that it would never reach us in time if they put it in the post, so instead we drove the two and a half hour round trip to Lansing to collect it in person.

This went without a hitch, we walked in and received our stamped and endorsed paperwork stating that Harls was USDA approved and ready for export to Costa Rica.

So other than the time pressure the cost of this process was around $400. The vet charged $168 to fill in the paperwork plus vaccinations and parasite prevention that are required to enter Costa Rica, total vet bill was $340. The USDA cost was $38 to endorse the form plus $25 to next day deliver the paperwork and $25 for a stamped return envelope (which we didn’t end up using and couldn’t get a refund on) but on the plus side we got the other delivery cost back as it didn’t make it by guaranteed time. Apparently they offer a money back guarantee on express delivery. So that’s just some facts and figures for you if you are looking into taking your furry four legged family members into the tropical wonderland.

We previously had a mental health practitioner assess Johnny online to see if we could get paperwork for Emotional Support Animal to bring our best buddy on the plane with us, this went well and Johnny was approved for Harls’ to support him emotionally for this journey. This had additional cost of $149, so altogether the costs mount up but the airline didn’t charge anything for Harls to fly.

We flew on Spirit Airlines (a budget, no frills, easyJet type of airline in the US) some people have complaints about them but we have always found them excellent. Possibly the route we take from Michigan to Costa Rica that they just don’t have too many issues with. The staff are always happy, helpful and even playful with good sense of humour usually. We’ve made this same journey numerous times over the last 4 years and it’s always on time, great flow even with short connection time through Fort Lauderdale.

So the day of our flight came around, it was technically Tuesday 6am but we had to leave for the airport Monday night at around 2am so all day Monday we were finishing off last bits of packing and preparations to leave the house as empty as possible. The day was interspersed with a few brief visits from family and friends baring gifts and well wishes for our journey.

There were a few challenges that day I won’t lie, it was going less than smoothly. At one point I even locked us all out, we were getting ready for one last walk around to the lake for Harls to have a swim, it was unseasonably warm after a cold spell. Felt like a beautiful summer day in October with temperatures soaring to 87oF in Michigan. Usually we kept a hidden key outside so I locked up and closed the door (this key was no longer there as we had given the keys to our friends that will be moving in) all the windows locked and back door secure we were getting nervous. Johnny remembered the spare room window may have not been locked, he climbed the ladder and clambered in - phew! Crisis averted!

Finally, around 11pm we lay down to see if we can get a couple of hours sleep, our efforts unfortunately futile we were up again at 1 to freshen up and get ready to leave.

Liz came by to give us a ride so we loaded up her little Ford Focus with a massage table, 2 suitcases, 1 carry on, 1 guitar, a large handbag and a dog!

The vet had given us something to help Harls stay calm for the journey so we slipped him that on the way there, half an hour later we pulled up at departures and he rolled out of the car like jelly, unable to stand or walk. I am now cursing the vet and getting a little worried, but Johnny scoops up his 50lb dead weight little buddy and we make our way inside. I somehow shuffle my way through the queue with all the luggage and get us checked in, nobody asked to see proof of his ESA status and off we went, dog in his arms through security and off to the gate.

Turned out to be an incredibly smooth journey, easier than we could’ve imagined and pretty uneventful after the initial hiccups.

We all landed safely in Costa Rica, all the baggage made it through the short connection, we handed the customs guys the USDA approved paperwork and were welcomed in with open arms by a swarming pit of taxi drivers outside the door fighting to take you to your onward destination.

We chose our guy and made the 3 hour journey down to Manuel Antonio, where we had decided to be based this year. Exhausted and hungry we finally arrived after a long couple of days to our new home complete with rooftop pool and walking distance to shops, restaurants, cafes and the beach.

Last year we lived in Uvita, an hour further south along the Pacific coast, I will share more about why we decided to make this move in my next post. Get in touch and share your experiences or if you have any questions, I’d love to connect with you!