“Inspired” is a word that is commonly used when I describe how I feel about the subjects in the Surf Shacks book series. Janice and Klay Camp are no exception. This young couple from Georgia decided early on that living stateside working a 9 to 5 was not for them, so they travelled the world chasing what felt right. Nosara, a small bohemian surf town in northern Costa Rica proved to be everything they were looking for when they happened upon it over 16 years ago. It takes a lot of courage to pick up and move to a distant country — not to mention starting your own business there. Since settling in Nosara, then drawing on the aesthetics they picked up in their travels, they built the Nomadic Hotel and have planted roots in a home right next door to the property with two kids, dogs, and a revolving door of family and friends who come to visit their little slice of Central American paradise.

Who are you? Tell us a little about yourself.

Raised in Georgia Klay with a stint in banking and I with not much experience in hospitality we felt the urge to break free of the norm. We traveled for a little bit before permanently moving out of the states. When we found Nosara we found contentment, at times we could just stay here and never feel the urge to travel. For us that’s everything! In Costa Rica, we’ve built and ran our hotel, had our 2 children Sandy (7) and Liam (5) here and enjoy living by the sea in our recently purchased home that we plan to make more our own.

What first brought you to Nosara and how long have you been living here?

Originally we came to Nosara in 2008 simply passing through on our way to Santa Teresa to stay for the night. We stayed at the old Gilded Iguana Hotel above the restaurant and met up with my moms cousins who retired in Nosara. From the moment of driving into to Nosara the town seemed so dark and green because there was so much canopy, first words out of Klay’s mouth was I’m going to live here one day without even seeing all of Nosara. We eventually made our way back to Nosara after a house sitting gig in Bajos del Toro, Panama didn’t go as expected rented a condo across from where we currently live now for 3 months and began manifesting how we could move here while making a living. We officially moved to Nosara in 2014 after driving down from the states. In our early years we enjoyed daily uncrowded surf sessions while we planned the birth of The Nomadic.

What are your favorite parts of your home?

We spend a lot of time outside in Costa Rica, so it would have to be our yard. It’s rare to see a big lot in Playa Guiones that hasn’t been built property line to line we are so fortunate to have a small house with a lot of yard space.

What are your favorite parts about Nosara and the area in which you live?

You can’t deny that Nosara has a very special energy. There’s a frequency here that’s hard to describe, people forget just how far out here we are and you can’t fight against the jungle. You can very easily live life here without shoes, surfing every day within a 7 minute walk from our house. I’d have to say the best part about living here is the community, bumping into friends and acquaintances though out the day and all those little conversations.

Tell us more about Nomadic. What is the backstory for how you founded the hotel? Did you have experience in hospitality prior? How did this beautiful property come to fruition?

After Klay and I got married we started feeling a little stagnant in Georgia with an urge to leave. Neither of us had spent much time out of the country when we decided to get work visas and move to Australia. We stayed in Byron Bay for several months, I got a job working in a cafe with no prior knowledge of coffee culture. We quickly fell in love with surf and the lifestyle, after Oz we traveled around Southeast Asia a bit and spent 6 months in Bali, where we really were in awe of the culture and experiences we were having. We met some really awesome people. Most of the accommodations we were staying in were hostels, we’d never experienced that type of community. We met people we had a lot in common with that we still keep in touch with and really wanted  to recreate a space that nourished those types of connections. With no prior knowledge in hospitality, other than waiting tables, there were times when we were unsure about what to do and where to be which landed us on the name, “Nomadic.”

What are each of your roles with the business? How do you divide tasks?

I focus on much of the front of the house roles, delegating tasks with our managers, ordering, design projects, food while Klay stays busy with the accounting and legal aspects. As a married couple running a small business the key to managing all the tasks is the great team we’ve built around ourselves without all them it wouldn’t be possible.

What have been the biggest challenges of running your own business?

Striving to be sustainable has had its growing pains at time. Our wastewater system is supported by grey water which recycled and used to water the gardens. This system has to constantly be managed so that it doesn’t get out of balance. Knowing we are doing our part to keep our ocean clean is super rewarding, but we didn’t even consider the fact we’d have to manage the hotels waste.

On the other hand, what have been the greatest rewards?

Definitely all the rad people we’ve met. People come as guests and leave friends, that’s the funnest part.

Any parting thoughts, words of wisdom, or sage advice?

We’re not here that long, live life as authentically as possible, who cares what people think….go for it!!!!