an adventurous life in Costa Rica
three years ago, the Jacobus kids were living in the middle-American city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Now, they have become immersed into the eco-friendly lifestyle of Costa Rica. The Jacobus family consciously stepped out of their traditional American lifestyle and comfort zone to pursue a dream of expanding their world by moving to a foreign country. The parents, Maggie and Steve, wanted their three children to absorb another language (Spanish, in this case), feel comfortable in another culture, with people of varying socio-economic backgrounds and, of course, to appreciate and value nature. ’ÄúIt’Äôs been a wild ride, not without its challenges, but it was a dream we had and we went for it,’Äù they say. Maggie, a journalist, and Steve, a business owner, brought their skills over to Costa Rica. Maggie (aka ’Äújungle mama’Äù) now directs their website supernaturaladventures.com and blogs at gypsyjournalist.com, while Steve runs their coastal resort Tierra Magnifica and their travel business Activated Life Experiences, which offers popular family camps. The boys have truly immersed themselves in the culture by attending the local school and becoming fluent in Spanish. Here’Äôs a glimpse into the life of the Jacobus kids.
KidsLA: First off, why did you move to Costa Rica from Milwaukee, Wisconsin?
Ryan: I was ready for something new. We had lived in Wisconsin for a long time. What harm could it do to check out a new country? It’Äôs a good experience. We decided to move to Costa Rica because we’Äôre all really into nature and the environment and this is a country that’Äôs all about nature. So it’Äôs a good place for us to be!
Michael: To help people, to be with the nature and the forest and to experience something different from life in a city and life in the US.
Will: I’Äôm glad we moved because I like to travel, and I like the experience of being in a different place, learning a new language and making new friends.
KidsLA: Describe your typical day.
R: Get up and surf at 6 a.m., get out of the water at 9, drive over on the ATV to home school, dry off, eat, and then start school around 9:30 a.m. I finish school around 2 p.m., and hop on the ATV and go surf again until around 5 p.m. Then we eat and go to sleep at 8. But that’Äôs only a typical weekday. Weekends are usually time for more exploring ’Äî camping, or heading into the deep rain forest, or even driving to another nearby country, like Nicaragua or Panama, which would be like someone from LA driving up to San Francisco. But for us, it’Äôs a totally different country we’Äôre going to!
M: I get up, eat breakfast, play around in the trees, ride bikes, or maybe swim in the pool until home school starts at 9 a.m. We do that until about 2 p.m. then go to the beach, swim, explore the tide pools, play with our dogs, play in the sand, play coconut football, then go home, eat dinner and go to bed. No homework!
W: Sometimes we even take school on the road and go live in another part of the country for a few weeks, like when we went and lived at Tirimbina Rainforest for six weeks or when we lived on the Caribbean side of the country for two weeks.
