We're Not Crazy! The Birth of Mango Baby Beach Rentals...

By: John

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Hi Guys!  This is our first blog for our new business venture.  I read a lot of blogs, but have never written one, so here we go…

In 2019 the Murrays bought their “forever” home in Fort Mill, SC just outside of Charlotte, NC.  The house was everything we thought we ever wanted....spiral staircase, game room, huge master suite...it even had a beautiful backyard oasis complete with a pool.  We absolutely loved it! We hosted parties frequently and I must say, we lived the life.  

Then Covid happened…

We were a family of 4 at the time, with a 3 and a 5 year old.  We had to adapt to working from home, not traveling and all being under one roof 24/7.  Surprisingly we didn’t murder each other, get divorced or lose our minds!   In fact, the opposite occurred, we loved it!  We loved every minute of being together as a family so much that we decided to add another member to the family and became a family of 5 in May of 2021.  

As the world slowly returned to normal, so did our work and school lives.  I returned to traveling for business, Rebecca had to return to the office a few days per week and the children returned to school and day care; however, the post-Covid "normal" was not working for us...

Jack would cry when I would go on a business trip, which in turn would make me cry.  Rebecca and I both felt we were missing out on huge chunks of our children's lives due to work, commutes and travel. The stresses of work and life began to catch up with us and we were not happy, despite on paper having the American Dream.  We had the big house with pool, luxury, gas guzzling SUVs, we had 10 TVs….I am not sure there was a location in the house where you could not see a TV!  We had a trampoline, arcade games in the house, a PS5 and a Nintendo Switch, great neighbors in a great neighborhood. Despite all of the "stuff" we didn't feel fulfilled. More than anything, we wanted quality time together which is impossible to achieve when you are in demanding corporate jobs in America.

In early May of 2022 Rebecca sent me an email of a business for sale in Costa Rica and told me not to immediately say no to the idea of moving there.  I laughed and reminded her that WE HAD NEVER BEEN TO COSTA RICA.  I liked the idea, and thought *maybe* we could do it down the road, after visiting of course.  

A few days later, I went on another business trip, discussed my wife’s crazy idea with my boss and, suprisingly, he said YOLO Bro.  I took his support as a sign and we were off to the races.  Within a week, our house was under contract (thanks insane US housing market!), we sold a ton of our worldly possessions, our gas-guzzlers and we were off to Costa Rica July 19th.  

Our friends and family, while supportive, all thought we were crazy.  I like to joke that Rebecca and I planned our mid life crises at the exact same time.  If one of us was all in on this idea, and the other wasn’t, it would be crazy.  The fact that we were both lock step on this decision, made it not crazy (at least to us).  

So the plan was to self fund a sabbatical for a year.  Allow the children to go to school and become bilingual, while Rebecca and I relaxed and focused on ourselves and our family. We figured worst case we return to the US in a year rested, bilingual and tan. We forgot that we have no chill, and the relaxation lasted for about 10 days  

We immediately fell in love with Costa Rica. We decided we would start a business here to make this a more permanent move. We have a young family and utilize baby equipment rental services everywhere we have vacationed since Jack (our 8 year old) was born.  Instead of lugging a pack n' play, stroller, high chair, carseat, etc. (along with all the rest of our luggage), we would rent those items from local agencies. Here in Costa Rica, we realized that this type of service was lacking and, here we are: Mango Baby Beach Rentals was born in Playas del Coco and we can’t wait to see where it goes from here.  Tamarindo, Jaco, the entire Gold Coast, all of CR, the World…Nah…I don’t want that stress.  I’ll just take all of CR :). We look forward to providing you with exceptional service so you can enjoy all there is to love about Costa Rica. Pura Vida Amigos!!!