'It was like a fantasy'
Published Friday February 6th, 2009
UNB student went on a trip with his forestry class to Costa Rica and ended up finding the girl of his dreams; now the couple lives in the Valley and own Simply for Life
When Keith McHugh stepped off a plane and onto Costa Rican soil for the first time, he nudged one of his classmates to look at the beautiful tour guide holding a sign that said "UNB."
"That was the start of it," Keith said of the 2002 trip. "It was my first time in a tropical country. I never got away from home too much and for us it was a dream trip."
Keith, who was travelling with his University of New Brunswick forestry class, had an instant connection with the Costa Rican tour guide and forestry student Nela Ramirez.
"There were plenty of sparks," he said. "It was like a fantasy. We would sit on the beach and just talk and there was the ocean and the palm trees and for me it was just totally overwhelming."
Keith and Nela were married in 2005 and recently took over the Quispamsis franchise of the nutrition clinic Simply for Life.
"When I dropped them off at the airport the last day I got back in the bus and the driver said 'Oh well, there's going to be many more of those' because I was so sad," Nela said. "It wasn't obvious to everyone but we would sneak out and talk in the evening. It was noticeable that I showed favoritism to him.
"I stood there and watched the bus pull away like a movie," Keith added. "I felt like almost running to the bus. I thought 'I can't do that - it's ridiculous' but it was like one of those things that I actually felt like it was going to work out. We really liked each other and we felt like there was a bond. There was something there."
For the next seven months, Keith and Nela phoned and emailed each other as often as possible. Even as Nela worked on her thesis in the middle of the jungle and Keith worked in a forest in Moncton, the pair managed to stay connected.
"There was a delay on the phone so I would get excited and say something and before it got to her she'd say something so we had to get used to slowing down," Keith said. "It was hard."
That winter, Nela was invited to work on a project at the Fredericton university and immediately accepted the offer.
"I wanted to continue my studies and I wanted to travel to North America and Canada seemed perfect, especially after meeting everyone on the trip," she said. "One day I got an email from the professor and the subject was 'Do you want to see snow?' He explained the whole thing so I immediately called Keith and said 'I think I'm coming to see you.'"
The couple, seated in an office at the nutrition clinic, reminisced about seeing each other for the first time after being separated for seven months.
"I wanted it to snow because she had never seen snow so all my roommates were like 'Is this really happening?' and my roommate looked out the window and said 'Oh my god, it's snowing,' Keith said.
"He came to pick me up at the airport," Nela said, smiling and glancing at Keith as she remembered the details. "It was funny because we talked about it - neither of us knew - are we going to hug and kiss or not? I didn't care, I just gave him a big hug.
"She had her dad's blue jacket on and she was wearing a hat," Keith added.
The couple lived together in Fredericton and had two wedding ceremonies - one in Fredericton in October 2005 and one in Costa Rica on Dec. 29 2006, the same date Nela arrived in Canada for the first time four years earlier.
Last December, the couple embarked on a new adventure and took over Simply for Life in Quispamsis, fulfilling a dream of owning their own business.
The opportunity fits into many of interests. Nela loves cooking. Her family is in the catering business in Costa Rica. Keith discovered he wanted to teaching others to live a healthy lifestyle after he took on a part-time position as a personal trainer at the Fredericton YMCA. He has since taken food courses and educated himself on how to prepare healthy meal plans.
Keith will be the clinic's nutritional consultant and Nela will offer healthy cooking classes and food demonstrations Thursday nights at 7 p.m. The classes have started in the clinic, but could expand as interest in the lessons builds. The classes are free to attend but could have an admission cost if the location changes.
"We're going to let this grow," Keith said. "In the future we'll retire in Costa Rica but we want to spend our lives here.
"I love cooking and I find that it's a lot easier to eat healthy if you make something that tastes good," Nela said.
What will the couple be doing on Valentine's Day?
"We never plan anything," Nela said, glancing over at her husband.
"We'll probably do a nice quiet dinner with some wine," Keith said. "We'll reminisce about our first month here."
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