It also can be a bit scary to the newcomer. Cultural differences can be confusing, radio stations play unfamiliar music, food is spicier.

But Santa Fe, like Costa Rica, is safe. Principles of bienvenidos and mi casa es su casa have fostered a spirit of tolerance and acceptance of the outsider unlike almost any other place in America. But, like Costa Rica, cultures often exist on parallel paths. They can bump into each other at Albertsons and public elementary schools, but mixing is the exception, not the rule — except on residential construction job sites where new homes are getting built. There, the mixing is necessary and celebrated, at least it has been by me.

As a custom home builder, I often thought one of my best skills was translating the work ethic and cultures of the homebuilding process to newly arrived Anglos with money and little patience for the differences they encountered, including one client who carried a visible pistol in a holster on his belt when visiting the job site. Really.

For me, it was a celebration of cultures on any given day: cholos from Española, Kewa men from Santa Domingo, former hippies from Taos communes, Chihuahuan laborers doing the work nobody else was willing to do and boomers like me looking to start life anew. And that is still the case, although more and more these days the guys from Chihuahua are the bosses and owners of companies employing the highly skilled craftspeople who make it here before we get around to building the stupid wall.

Like expats here on the Costa Ballena, we Anglo contractors have been ambassadors of the Santa Fe lifestyle, eager to welcome the newcomer, reassuring the trepidatious, cautioning the presumptuous, encouraging those who want to get out and experience it all. Whether we’ve been successful is debatable, but I know many of my peers who fell in love with this community and raised our children to believe in its promise as an example of America at its best will agree with me.

I’ve heard them say so.

As a casualty of the great homebuilding depression of 2008, I’m not sure if my retirement years will afford a graceful aging in Santa Fe. By 2026, 40 years may have been enough. The Costa Ballena beckons. My spot in Santa Fe will likely be taken by another wide-eyed 70-year-old expat ready to escape to an exotic and exciting retirement. Bienvenidos and pura vida.

Kim Shanahan is a longtime Santa Fe builder and former executive officer of the Santa Fe Area Home Builders Association. He can be reached at shanafe@aol.com.