“We ran scenarios in our head of how we thought the trip would go, but we never expected it to go the way it did—that’s for sure,” Abel Contreras, 24, says. 

Contreras is apart of a collective group of entrepreneurs living in San Luis Obispo, California. The group consists of entrepreneurs from all walks of life, but was founded by two filmmaking brothers—Eriksen and Soren Dickens.

“We’re a group of like-minded people providing both education and entertainment pertaining to entrepreneurship,” Soren Dickens, 23, says. “We produce value driven content by telling entrepreneur’s stories reality style. The platform is called Hustle Hive TV.” 

In December of 2019, the group ventured to Costa Rica to relax and reset for the new year.

“There were seven of us total,” Eriksen Dickens, 25, says. “We were all stoked to get out in nature to revive our creativity. 2019 was a long year.”

The group traveled to the Nicoya Peninsula. They were going to what’s known as a blue zone—a geographical region with an abnormal amount of centurions. With only five in the world, blue zones are known for being incredibly safe and inviting.

“When we first got there, we were thrilled. I mean it was like a paradise. We stayed in a Airbnb off the ocean tucked away in the jungle,” Eriksen Dickens, 25, says. “Unfortunately that blissful feeling didn't last long.”

On day two, four of the men traveled to a beach an hour from their Airbnb.

“We got out of the car and walked maybe 100 yards, for ten minutes at most,” Eriksen says. “When we got back, our car had been broken into and all our backpacks were stolen.”

The men lost their passports, some lost their wallets, their cellphones, laptops, drone—all together over $6,000 worth of stuff.

“It was devastating. You never think it’ll happen to you, “Owen Hughes, 24, says. “Luckily one of us was able to use the find my laptop app to track their laptop. We found out the thief was 45 minutes away in the actual town of Nicoya.”

The men then drove to the town and spoke with the local police force.

“The police told us that the man was a bad guy. They knew who the thief was just based off the location we showed them on the phone,” Soren Dickens says.

The police then took two of the men on a ride along to the location to see if they could locate their stuff. What they saw shocked them.

“The place we pulled up to was a compound. It had huge cobblestone walls, barbwire fences, and video cameras.. It was insane,” Owen Hughes says.

The police ended up speaking with the owner of the compound who denied knowing about the robbery. Regardless, there was enough evidence to raid the compound the next morning, where they did find a few of their things, but not much. The men had to travel five hours away to the US Embassy in San Jose to get new passports.

Meanwhile, the other three men were having an adventure of their own.

“When the other guys were getting robbed, we actually got in a car accident in the jungle,” Abel Contreras says. “And then the next day, we went deep sea fishing and our boat broke down. We were stranded for hours until another boat finally gave us a tow. Luck was not in our favor this trip.”

The Hustle Hive did eventually manage to make it back safe to America in one piece (although one was rushed to the ER upon arrival due to illness).

“I think the trip taught us that although we experienced some not so pleasant things, we also met a lot of super nice people. We got to experience a different culture and broaden our perspectives. We learned a lot. We didn't have the trip we expected to have, but man did we sure make some memories.”

If that’s not looking at life with the glass half full, I don’t know what is.

This event will not stop Hustle Hive TV from going back to explore the rest of the country.

Follow along at @hustlehivetv to watch the 11 part series of Hustle Hive in Costa Rica.