Costa Rica
Tyler Marsh (left) and brother Tim both grew up surfing and run their own surf school together now in tropical Costa Rica.
Who: Tyler, 40, and Tim Marsh, 46
Launched: Surf school, plus a hotel, bar and restaurant
Tyler Marsh grew up surfing in Hawaii, so he's used to living in what many consider an ideal vacation spot. But after visiting his older brother, Tim, who was living in Costa Rica in 1997, he found his paradise: "It was just someplace that was a little foreign and really open," Tyler said.
So Tyler decided to stay in Costa Rica, while his brother eventually returned to the U.S. After a few years, the brothers decided to join forces and open a surf school in Nosara, a small town on the Costa Rican coast with no pavement and no street lights -- although it does have Wi-Fi.
Safari Surf School has now been open for 10 years, making it one of the longest-running in the area. And it's succeeded enough to allow the brothers, along with two partners, to buy the hotel where their students were staying, as well as the hotel's bar and restaurant.
Tim runs the business from San Diego, so his kids can go to school in the States.
Tyler, meanwhile, is still in Nosaro and gives surf lessons every day. He watches monkeys and green parrots from his balcony and eats fresh fruits and vegetables from his garden. "I can't think of it as work," said Tyler. "I go surfing. I meet lots of people from every, every single angle of this world."
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