"Living my 60 years as a new teenager" : Isabel Otero’s radical life change in Costa Rica (EXCEPT)

Effect of enclosure

Like many people, I went through a phase of introspection during isolation, and that period was almost sold to us as a death emergency. I was approaching 60 and before I left I asked myself what I wanted to live. For a long time I lived in the south of France. Unfortunately, there has been a water problem for years. I had to water it where I lived for a long time. So nature is dependent on me and that stresses me out… I know there will be water shortages not only for the trees and crops that feed us, but for us as well. This stress led to a desire for ample water to find a place where I could see my planting grow. I am a planter. For my 50th birthday, I asked for gifts from the flowers and trees I planted in my garden. I see myself as the protector, not the owner, of a place where I plant and give my time, energy and money.

Costa Rica, no brainer

I wanted a place without the stress of water. I immediately thought of Costa Rica, which I already knew. I knew there were places where it rained and trees grew 3-4 meters in 6 months or even a year. I searched and immediately found a place in the middle of volcanoes that beckoned to me. I came here not for a vacation, but to have an experience unlike anything I’ve ever known. I’m half Spanish, so it was also a pleasure to rediscover this language that my grandmother gave me as a child and that I have barely spoken in my life for 20-30 years. The greatest happiness and greatest gift of this country are its people. They are extremely kind, they have big hearts and they are very open to our contrary. I want to be with sincere people. I think today is a great luxury.

Between the fields and oyster farming

I’ve planted 3000 trees since I’ve been there for 18 months. I also luckily found myself in the far north of the country, in a protected area where whales and artisanal fishermen joined forces to create oyster barns. Today I farm oysters with them. It is not easy because sometimes there is a lack of tools. I also help them at this level. My next project is to make a coral garden and work with the children of this village. Sometimes I do projects with people who have never left their region, and sometimes with people who have never been to the capital San José.

water stories

Either I’m immersed in very rainy and vegetated volcanoes, or I’m at the bottom of the Gulf of Nicaragua in a place full of wind and sun. A completely different life. A friend of mine told me: “You know, you go there to live a water story”. He was completely right. I live stories of the waters, of the floods and waterfalls I swim in, but also of the ocean and the rain. I’ve never been this close to my inner being, who I am. I’m so happy. I’m living my 60 years like a new teenager.

the need to pass it on to grandchildren

I think grandmothers and I are one, we are there to convey. i told my daughter (actress Ana Girardot, editor’s note) : “Maybe I’m going too far, but what I’m going to build will make your son, my grandson, grow up because he’s going to touch and feel something else.” This is a great gift for him. Costa Rica is a young country with 70% forest land. I am part of this tribe that thinks beauty will save the world, but for that we must continue to protect it and help it live and thrive. This is my situation.

Pauline Hohoadji