🇰🇪005: Tommy Potterton, Kenya, 4 years
Photos (left to right): Tommy surfing in a wetsuit in Cornwall U.K., a fiery throated hummingbird and surfing the warm waters of Costa Rica.
Born in Kenya and raised on the beaches of Cornwall in the UK, 29-year-old Tommy Potterton made his way to Costa Rica 4 years ago to work as a surf coach for the prestigious Surf Simply. Join us for episode 5 as Tommy shares his decision to leave corporate life in London, his ‘soft introduction’ to Costa Rica along with his newfound passion for birdwatching.
Full name: Tommy Potterton
Age: 29
City of birth: Nairobi, Kenya
Residence in Costa Rica: Nosara, Guanacaste
Instagram: @tommypotterton @birdsofcostarica @birdsofnosara @surfsimply
Email: tommyapotterton@gmail.com
Transcription
Anisa Hill [0:07]:
G’Day friends. I'm Anisa Hill and welcome to the Move to Costa Rica Podcast, where we tell the stories of people who have done just that; moved to Costa Rica. Born in Kenya and raised on the beaches of Cornwall in the UK, 29 year old Tommy made his way to Costa Rica four years ago to work as a surf coach for the prestigious Surf Simply. Join us for Episode Five as Tommy shares his decision to leave corporate life in London, his soft introduction to Costa Rica, along with his newfound passion for bird watching. If you like this episode, please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts by searching for Move to Costa Rica podcast. Before we dive in, remember to subscribe for new episodes released every Thursday, head to triple W dot move to Costa Rica podcast.com. This podcast was recorded in the office of Atlas Trust in Escrow in Playa Del Coco, Costa Rica. Without any further delay, here's your host, Malcolm Hill.
Malcolm Hill [01:10]:
G’Day friends and welcome to the move to Costa Rica podcast. Today I have with me Tommy Potterton. Tommy is a resident down in Nosara but I'm going to head over to him to find out a bit more about you Tommy. Tell us a bit about yourself.
Tommy Potterton [01:28]
Yeah, Hi everyone. My name is Tommy. I live in Playa Ganas, which is in Parliament Asara area. In Guanacaste, Costa Rica. I've been living and working there for the last four years working for Surf Simply, which is a surf coaching resort. And it's a beautiful place is a beautiful place, as I'm sure you know. And we're very lucky to be here.
Malcolm Hill [01:54]:
By the sound of your voice, I don't think you were born in Costa Rica. And I don't think you were born in the Americas mate. But who knows? Like where did it all begin for Tommy Potterton?
Tommy Potterton [02:07]:
So I was born in Nairobi in Kenya. And I lived most of my childhood there before moving to the UK at the age of 10 or 11. And that's where I actually learned to surf. Most people are very surprised by that. But I lived in a place called Cornwall, which is in the southwest like a peninsula. It's kind of like Florida people think of when they think of the UK they tend to think of London and the city and they don't really know much else about the UK. But Cornwall is like a county. It is a county, it’s not like a county. It is a county and we've got in excess of 300 different beaches there. There's a North Coast, there's a South Coast. So you can pretty much regardless of the wind find good waves on any given day.
Malcolm Hill [02:51]:
And I want to hear a little bit more about Nairobi. Is your heritage Kenyan or were mum and dad there working? Tell us a bit more about the childhood.
Tommy Potterton [03:02]:
Okay. Yeah, my mother's side of the family are all Kenyan. They all now live in places all over the world. I was just visiting my auntie and uncle there in a Wahoo. But then I have some family in Arizona. I have some family in Madagascar kind of spread out and move everywhere. Whereas my dad, he comes from a very small family. It's just these fellow brothers and sisters. He's from I mean, his family from the UK. And yeah, so I'm a bit of a mix.
Malcolm Hill [03:34]:
And then what prompted them to move back to the UK and I guess your life changed get like living near a beach and becoming a surfer that’s definitely a change.
Tommy Potterton [03:45]
Yeah. So since before I was born, they had a house in a place called port Isaac. It's famous in the UK mainly because they film TV shows there. If you're not familiar with the UK, and its accents, if you think of any Hollywood movie that has pirates. That is how people sound where I grew up. I'm not going to do an impression. But that's what people sound like and sometimes look like to be totally honest.
Malcolm Hill [04:13]:
How would you classify your British accent? What category does it sit in?
Tommy Potterton [04:21]:
I mean, for me, growing up in Kenya, I was taught something called Received Pronunciation which is basically supposed to be English without an accent. So it's Queen's English, right? But I moved to Cornwall, I lived in Australia. I've got friends from all over the world. So I've got a pretty mixed up accent I would say. But on the whole I like to think of it as all peers possible.
Malcolm Hill [04:49]:
You went through high school in Cornwall, you lived in the UK and you had all this kind of experience that you developed on the beaches, teaching people how to surf and selling surf lessons and lots of different things when you got out of school, what was the next step?
Tommy Potterton [05:07]
I started working in a surf school since before college and university. And then the way it works in Cornwall is it's such a touristy destination that you know, there's lots to do. And it's a very healthy lifestyle in summer. But when winter comes, the waves appear. But if the waves aren't good, there really isn't much to do. So it's kind of tough to stay there for the whole of winter. So I grew up having a lifestyle where pretty much I would work all year so that I would save money to then go and travel with my winters. So from the age of as young as 15 I did three seasons in Morocco working at surf camp. Then I did France for one winter. I did Spain for one, I did a Portugal one. And so I carried on doing once I went to college, and once I went to university, and so I was just always going to different countries and you know surfing different places in the world. Yeah, yeah. I mean, the moving around. Even when I was younger with my dad, he'd always be taking us to different parts of the world to see animals. He's big on wildlife. But yeah, I did my class degree and I'd be going away every winter. I went back I did a master's and I was still going away. These people are all like studying the like people leavers, Tommy fins go into Sri Lanka. And we're okay.
Malcolm Hill [06:33]:
What did you do it university? What did you study?
Tommy Potterton [06:37]:
I studied history and politics. And then I did a master's in business and politics, where I specialized in sustainable tourism development. Tourism development and policy, I guess was the title.
Malcolm Hill [06:51]:
And this was in a UK University.
Tommy Potterton [06:54]:
Yeah, University of Exeter.
Malcolm Hill [06:57]:
Alright, so you go through college, or university? Had Costa Rica like had that come across your radar at this point? Or like what was after uni?
Tommy Potterton [07:10]:
Yeah, no, honestly, I hadn't. When I left University I just had a really bad football injured. My knee. And I was leaving University. And I was thinking, right, had fun with all the stuffing stuff. But now it's time. And so I moved from Australia. And I moved to Sydney. I was there for just under a year.
Malcolm Hill [07:36]:
Just under a year? Alright.
Tommy Potterton [07:38]:
Yeah, after after I was doing that and when that season kind of slowed up, I got very lucky in landing a modeling job. It paid a crazy amount of money. I made more in a week of that than in six months of the surf coaching. And I kind of met this crush roller where I had to decide, right? You want to go for your second year visa and try and make. Yeah. Or do you want to just go back with this money and see if you can, you know, make life back in the UK. So at that point, yeah, I moved back to the UK. I did another summer on the beach and then I got a job in marketing. I was working for Nike women, I was working for Spotify, in student marketing. But it was exhausting. And by the time winter comes in London especially you don't see the sun because you know you're on the tube. You get on the tube in the dark, you get out you have a little walk to work as the sun's rising, and you're in your office all day. And when you leave, it's dark. And it broke me. I mean, I gave it a really good go. And the money was great. And you kind of get this feeling of all the people around you who are just like determined to succeed, and they're so driven. And that part of it was great. But I just felt like I wasn't living a healthy or an enjoyable life really. When I looked at it now it wasn't. You were driven to hit your targets and to succeed and to work your way up this kind of ladder. But nah, it wasn't the life I wanted to live.
Malcolm Hill [09:09]:
I had a very similar chapter in life working in sales for like five years in Australia, and I know what you mean. There's sort of this sense, a lot of times of like, I'll give up being really stoked now because I'm going to hit my goals and then I'm going to be able to do like all the things I really want to do in life. But okay, so yeah, you did see the time in London.
Tommy Potterton [09:38]
Yeah, Sam Butt a real close friend of mine. He kind of said to me; Tommy in life, you got to kind of work out what you really like doing, but also what you're really good at doing. And try and just base your life around putting those two things into it and building a life around that. And I knew I love surf coaching. You know I always love teaching. I love surfing, but I'm never going to be the world's best surfer and that’s okay. I'm at peace with that. So yeah, at that point, I then started, you know, really looking into the world of surf schools. I'd been to Australia, I've seen what they were doing in the surf camps there. You know, I've seen the UK, I've seen other little operations around the world, but I was trying to kind of work out, where are the best schools in the world, and who's doing the best surf coaching, who's pushing people beyond, you know, just pushing them in the whitewater getting a picture and saying goodbye. And it's kind of then when I came across, or I revisits itself simply, and it's about then that I applied for the job.
Malcolm Hill [10:42]:
I think many surf coaches and surf guides worldwide, look at Surf Simply as kind of the gold standard of of what can be achieved in sur coaching in that type of format. I know I definitely think like that when I look at Surf Simply. So now that's very cool. So let's get back to you know, you start researching into this industry of surf coaching. And yeah, how long did it take till you stumbled across Surf Simply?
Tommy Potterton [11:12]
I mean, it was the one of two that came up and Surf Simply had an opening. And so I applied and I mean, it took about three months.
Malcolm Hill [11:24]:
How old were you then mate? And I don't even know how old you are now.
Tommy Potterton [11:28]:
So I'm 29 now. And I think when I was applying, I applied when I was 24.
Malcolm Hill [11:35]:
So you'd made the decision, you were gonna move to Costa Rica and start working for Surf Simply, how long was that transition? And what was it like kind of making a solid decision to leave the UK?
Tommy Potterton [11:49]:
I mean, I I knew and I think most of the people who know me knew that I wasn't gonna live in the UK for my life. That never was gonna happen. And I moved out to Nosara. And Surf Simply set me up with somewhere to live. They looked after my accommodation for three months. And then not only are they training us, they're paying us to train. This is incredible. This is so unique. And instantly I was like, wow, this is a place that I could be for a while because the job is good, I'm surrounded by nature. And for me, nature is a thing I love. So it just seemed like a dream fit.
Malcolm Hill [12:24]:
The transition into kind of the Costa Rican culture like Nosara, I would imagine for you was pretty different to anywhere else that you'd lived before around the world. What was some of the first things that really stuck out to you in that that first year that you were here?
Tommy Potterton [12:45]:
I think now I've lived here four years. I didn't realize this at the time, but I guess your Nosara is a very soft introduction to Costa Rican like because it's not very Costa Rican if I'm honest. Most of the businesses there are owned by expats. There's a huge expat community. I mean, long story short, that it used to be farmland and after they tried to build a golf course they chopped up the land and sold it mainly to expats. So there isn't a huge Costa Rican community within Playas Nosara and is where I live myself. You know, there's some costa Ricans in Gaza, and in Nosara town itself. But, where I was it's a little bit sheltered. And I've had to work really hard in order to try and, you know, learn about Costa Rica and the people. If you're looking to come to Costa Rica have a very comfortable kind of almost like a Florida experience within Costa Rica, Nosara is kind of that place.
Malcolm Hill [13:45]:
Close it.
Tommy Potterton [14:47]:
Or I should say Flagiaren [Unsure word 13:48] is kind of that place. There's plenty of beautiful places in Nosara. You can just go up to Nosara now and you get a real genuine experience there.
Malcolm Hill [13:58]:
So tell me a little bit about your wildlife experiences here. Because if I remember correctly, when I was looking you up and doing some more research online about Tommy Potterton, I found a whole bunch of I think wildlife photos that you'd taken.
Tommy Potterton [14:16]:
Yeah. It all happened very strangely. I grew up having a father who was just mad keen on bug watching. And I never understood it. I never got it. You know, to me at that age, it was just the strangest, weirdest, most often it could be done. And then I moved to Nosara. And I worked pretty hard in the morning, but I have the whole middle of the day of work. And I guess when I moved here, Instagram was the new trendy cool thing. So I had my SLR and I was taking pictures for the gram for the followers. And I happened to get a really good picture of the bird and I sent this picture back to my dad and he then sent me a long email telling me what the bird was, what it would eat, why it was there. And I was like, that's really interesting. And I got another good picture of a bird. I sent him that and he did the same thing. He told me that. And soon I realized, you know, I wasn't really taking pictures for Instagram or my social media for just, you know, I was just collecting an album of bird pictures. And it got to the point where I was buying books about birds. I was buying books about flowers. I was buying books about mammals, reptiles, and suddenly I realized, I'm really into it. I'm a bird watcher. That's just a thing. I have two babies. I have birds of Nosara on Instagram and birds of Costa Rica. So it just happened. I really don't know how it happened. But it happened.
Malcolm Hill [15:43]:
Has it surprised you how good it is here for bird watching?
Tommy Potterton [15:48]:
I think that's it. That was another reason it was just so easy to get into. You literally step outside any door here in this whole country, even in San Jose, in the middle of the city. You step out your front door, there's like 10 different birds. And they're all so different looking. They're all doing crazy, different things. It's just so interesting. Yeah.
Malcolm Hill [16:10]:
What's the name for bird watchers? Because somebody tell me there's a name for it.
Tommy Potterton [16:17]:
In the UK, you sometimes hear them referred to as twitches.
Malcolm Hill [16:23]:
Twitches.
Tommy Potterton [16:24]
Twitches. But I'm not sure on what the difference is. But bird watchers like to observe and I think twitches are the ones who have lists. And when I say they have lists, they don't just have like a list of all the birds they have seen. They have like a list of all the bird they’ve seen, they have a list of all the birds they've seen in this location, a list of all the birds they've seen at this time of day. So they have like lists and lists and lists and lists and lists. Those are twitches, I think. It might be the other way around. But I'm pretty sure it's the other way round.
Malcolm Hill [16:51]:
So on the spectrum of like, a guy like me who I think I took a photo of a bird just once the other day. So I might be like a level two. And like the guy who keeps a list of every bird he saw at geotags every location, he's a TED like where do you fit on the birdwatching scale?
Tommy Potterton [17:08]
Within Costa Rica? I would say no, that's not fair. Within Nosara, you could probably put me as Mr. Number nine. Within Costa Rica, I've got lots of goals. And I'm pretty good at identifying by stuff. But there's lots of very, very specialized birdwatchers in Costa Rica. Lots of young people do it here as well, which is that's also made it more interesting for me. So I actually like a seven. I'm still pretty into it.
Malcolm Hill [17:37]:
That’s so good. It's interesting what you say about young people here being into birdwatching. I find in general, the young people here and it must be to do with the education system. But they're really into nature, they're into their country and their environment and knowing the names of the animals and knowing the ins and outs of the different, you know, ecosystems in their country. Epic mate. So four years here now in Costa and that those four years you've been in Nosara.
Tommy Potterton [18:07]:
Yeah, yeah.
Malcolm Hill [18:08]:
And working for Surf Simply which is just awesome. So what about learning Spanish man? How's that gone?
Tommy Potterton [18:18]:
That has gone for me, I would say, someone might argue, but for me, it's gone pretty well, I would say. I am, you know, some people like to fly under the radar. I've heard it described as, but I'm a kind of fast light and I’m putting myself out there. If I'm gonna say it and get it wrong, I'm gonna try anyway. So I've got that working for me. I've also been exposed to lots of different languages. You know, I grew up in Kenya, the number one language is English, but there's Swahili as well. And so I could speak Swahili, which is, you know, that was super useful for me in Sri Lanka, and Morocco. When you speak similar languages, you can kind of pick it up really easily, because they're all from the same root. I found it challenging in school to try and learn French. And I have found it challenging with Spanish because that kind of, I guess you'd say lack of alignment. But I guess having that kind of exposure to different languages is really helpful.
Malcolm Hill [19:13]:
Is Costa somewhere that you could see yourself settling down in? Or do you still have that edge? Like you've kind of had most of your life to go, you know, get to know somewhere new and go live in a different country again?
Tommy Potterton [19:27]:
Yeah, I mean, it's crazy, because my initial plan was to be here, one to two years. Just before COVID happened I had an offer accepted on a lot. I have my plans for building a house and you know, I was pulling the trigger and I just counseled as this unfolded. So at that point, I was really you know, thinking about putting some roots down. And since this has happened, I've been doing a bit more traveling to very remote places with no other people. I’m not risking the COVID but, you know, it's kind of given me that little itch to want to travel again. But, I'm a bit older now I know that my life can't be like it was when I was younger where I'd go and just wing it and spend all my money and then come back home and start from scratch. So I think, for me if I can build a life here, this is where it would be.
Malcolm Hill [20:23]:
What would you say is different, like, in the social realm of living in Costa Rica, compared to maybe the UK or Australia or anywhere else you've lived?
Tommy Potterton [20:34]:
I mean, everywhere I've been has had such a unique and rich culture. The things I really like here is just the passion for music and for dancing, that a lot of Costa Ricans have in Central and Latin America, in general. I mean, in Carmel Wilson sea shanties, but here I've learned to you know, bachata, learned to salsa, and learning different kinds of music to play and learning, you know, all these kind of new things, which is great. And so for me, socially, that's been a huge thing. And, you know, if you go out on an evening, I don't know what it was, like, where you grew up, but a lot of places I went in Sydney and of these coastal backing for more, you go out and you're going out to drink, but you're not doing much else other than that and having like, a wild time. Whereas here, you can go out and you know, we're gonna go out, we're gonna go dancing, we're gonna go out, we're gonna go singing, we're gonna do all these kind of.
Malcolm Hill [21:30]:
It feels like socializing. That's the best way to say it. Yeah, just feels like there's a lot more social interaction out of the getting to the point. But sometimes I wonder whether that's because I'm 30, you’re 29. Sometimes I wonder whether that's just us getting older. And, I sometimes think like, if I was still living in Australia, yeah, maybe I'll be a bit chiller now as well. Just haven't lived for a long time. But anyway, it's a different story.
Tommy Potterton [21:55]:
I tell you what, I went back to Aus. last year. And I went to all the old stomping grounds. Now, I can't do it.
Malcolm Hill [22:09]:
So right have you had any family come out and visit and like how do you stay in touch with them?
Tommy Potterton [22:16]:
Yeah, so my dad's been out twice and the wildlife and biodiversity here has blown his mind. On the first trip he had out here he was looking at a piece of land near a bar now the big lake near the volcano. And he was thinking about moving out and I was like dad you've only seen it one time of the year, maybe come back again. And so he's been out twice and you know in having him come out here has given me an excuse to travel to different parts of the country. And we've pretty much now covered the whole of Costa Rica which is so diverse this country. You know, it’s a small country but you can be in Santa center and like putting on jackets and feeling really cold and three hours later you know, you’re soaked in your T shirt, it’s bizarre.
Malcolm Hill [23:09]:
It's crazy, right? Like here in the dry season, it can be so parched that like a match would just burn everything like in an instant. And then you can drive two hours away and be in a like torrential downpour just up in the hills. That's really cool. Oh mate that's great. So what's the worst thing that's happened to you since you've been here?
Tommy Potterton [23:37]:
Luckily, I've lived a pretty good life there.
Malcolm Hill [23:40]:
You haven't purchased like a lemon of a car or rented a place that just sucked or you know snap the surfboard the day you purchased it. I don't know if those are bad things.
Tommy Potterton [23:54]:
I first moved here and before I kind of was streetwise about play it’s like I rented and it was a studio. It was nearly $1,000 a month. And it just about had room for the bed. The kitchen was actually outdoor on a road front so it's covered in dust the whole time. And it stank. Honestly, the whole building so but no, I've been pretty fortunate. I mean, there are difficult parts of living here. I'm sure you've experienced in there also. That's you know sometimes and then this is not specific to Costa Rica. This is any surf town across the world. But there’s always those alpha dogs who are just trying to give everyone a hard time, trying to snake everyone, trying to say that they have more right to wave so they have more right to breathe, I don't know. You know, it's sometimes hard to deal with it. Especially when you've moved around the world and you've seen the same little people. Sometimes they're big people, but they're little people, right? You've seen those same people, those same characters all around the world. And you just think dude, imagine if you could go to another place and someone treated you that way. And you've got to kind of learn all the characters, you've got to learn who's the person to stay away from. You've got yeah. So that some people never grew up, I guess.
Malcolm Hill [25:16]:
We'll wrap up in just a second right. But a couple of things. First of all, how can people find you online if they want to?
Tommy Potterton [25:28]:
Okay, well, I am on Instagram, at Tommy Potterton. Potterton has no accents. It’s all t’s, there are three T's and that's P-O-T-T-E-R-T-O-N. And pretty much if you type that into YouTube, I have a YouTube channel. And Facebook I'm Tommy Potts, but I don't really use Facebook anymore. So on social media, I guess it's YouTube and Instagram.
Malcolm Hill [25:54]:
Is there anything else you want to share with anyone listening about, I guess, day to day life in Costa Rica for you?
Tommy Potterton [26:02]:
Well, I'm currently in a place called Santa Teresa. And the waves would double overhead today it was pretty solid. And so I had a great morning here. Not just take it easy. I'm at a restaurant called Kooks and they have great food and drinks. So set for the day.
Malcolm Hill [26:22]:
And how long you down there for mate. You're just taking a few days away from Nosara?
Tommy Potterton [26:27]:
Yeah, we have had five days here now. And we're going to head back tomorrow. A friend of mine is looking at a hotel he wants to buy here. So we are checking it out. And we're seeing if it makes sense for him to do.
Malcolm Hill [26:40]:
Yeah, I think anybody who has the funds to invest and is interested in investing in Costa Rica, now's probably a better time than ever, right? August 2020. Right, thank you, Tommy, so much for coming on the show today, man. It's like been a real pleasure. And you're very much an international man. And I think that it's a huge compliment to Costa Rica for someone like yourself who’s looped so many places and experienced so many different cultures that this is where you're pretty keen to put your roots down.
Tommy Potterton [27:16]:
Yeah.
Malcolm Hill [27:17]:
That's really cool, man. So, yeah mate, I'll wrap up and por la Vida.
Tommy Potterton [27:24]:
Thanks so much for having me.
Anisa Hill [27:31]:
So here's a sneak peek of the next episode. In Episode Six, we hear from 20 year old Jonathan Nils Van der Spruit. Born in Amsterdam, Jonathan shares some special memories of his late father, his high school experience in Costa Rica, and how to find peace of mind.
Jonathan Nils Van der Spruit [27:47]:
You wake up at 5am with a good cup of coffee. You're looking outside, you hear the monkeys go crazy. You see the sunshine coming up. You see your wife, girlfriend, person you love smile, and you just feel trump.
Anisa Hill [28:03]:
If you enjoyed this conversation, please rate, review, and share it with your friends on social media. For a full list of show notes episodes to your inbox, information on becoming a guest on the show, and how to support the show on Patreon, head to triple W dot move to Costa Rica podcast.com. Remember, new episodes are released every Thursday by 6am Costa Rica time. Thanks so much for joining us. Until next time, Pura vida.
