This is not your typical “resort” but for those willing to take their time and enjoy a spetacular drive on a bumpy road for about 30-45 minutes, you will arrive at Finca la Anita Rainforest Ranch http://www.laanitarainforestranch.com/
The drive takes you over multiple bridges of various sizes and composition --just do it in the daytime! F la A is a very special place with very special people. It is like camp-- just in the rain forest.
The owners, our hosts, Ana and Pablo,could not be nicer people and truly part of this Costa Rican experience. Their marketing agent/travel hostess/ woman I drove crazy with all my emails / DIRECTOR OF FUN--Liz-- is a 24 year old American from the DC area. She fits perfectly here.
Ana and Pablo are “Ticos” (native born CRs) in their late thirties- early forties with two of the cutest little kids you would want to meet. They are both college-educated agrarians who speak perfect English. (Paula thinks Pablo looks like a young Antonio Bandaras--I say no more.) The farm was Ana's father's and is named for her. Besides operating the resort they run the farm. Their resort business is a year old--with 10 very comfortable cabins built in the Caribbean style. The farm harvests macadamia nuts but their cash crops are tropical flowers and greens, most of which are sold to Dutch flower wholesalers. They also plan to raise cacao for chocolate and go organic with the nuts. We learned everything on a very comprehensive tour given by Pablo. He also includes a little cooking class where he cuts the actual heart of palm from the plant and makes a terrific cerviche (which we eat after the tour as part of a delicious lunch. Now I know what the real heart of plam tastes like I know why I never liked the jarred and canned variety.) There was an instant connect when Paula was introduced to their daughter-age 6--Ana Paula! In these foreign places Paula is pronounced quite exotically. Paola. Don't be surprised if she requests this new pronunciation once she learns Spanish!
Like the cabins, the food here is simple but quite good, with all the ingredients grown locally or from the nearby sea. Think--papaya cut from their kitchen garden! I will leave it up to Paula to give more detail about the food since she seems to be enjoying the simplicity of it all…especially the local chicken soup which is a gourmet experience all in one bowl. (and this discovery was a happy accident as she got a cold upon arrival and just wanted a bowl of chicken soup when we stopped for lunch on the way to the farm!).
We are planning to have Liz guiding us on our adventures today and tomorrow but yesterday we were on our own. It was raining hard on and off for most of the day yesterday (it is a rainforest-- DUH!) but managed our way back to the main highway for lunch at a nice local place- Santa Maria Volcano Lodge. We had planned to go on from there to a park and a hike but lost our way --there are no road signs to speak of and Pablo’s map was not exactly precise. We found our way to these huge high-tech windmills on the top of a small mountain (CR is real big on clean energy and conservation) but decided that with dark clouds coming in and the wind howling (good for the windmills) it would be wise to head back.The returning trip was quite pleasant as the rain stopped and we got brief views of the sun. We took our time and Paula got lots of pics.
The owners, our hosts, Ana and Pablo,could not be nicer people and truly part of this Costa Rican experience. Their marketing agent/travel hostess/ woman I drove crazy with all my emails / DIRECTOR OF FUN--Liz-- is a 24 year old American from the DC area. She fits perfectly here.
Ana and Pablo are “Ticos” (native born CRs) in their late thirties- early forties with two of the cutest little kids you would want to meet. They are both college-educated agrarians who speak perfect English. (Paula thinks Pablo looks like a young Antonio Bandaras--I say no more.) The farm was Ana's father's and is named for her. Besides operating the resort they run the farm. Their resort business is a year old--with 10 very comfortable cabins built in the Caribbean style. The farm harvests macadamia nuts but their cash crops are tropical flowers and greens, most of which are sold to Dutch flower wholesalers. They also plan to raise cacao for chocolate and go organic with the nuts. We learned everything on a very comprehensive tour given by Pablo. He also includes a little cooking class where he cuts the actual heart of palm from the plant and makes a terrific cerviche (which we eat after the tour as part of a delicious lunch. Now I know what the real heart of plam tastes like I know why I never liked the jarred and canned variety.) There was an instant connect when Paula was introduced to their daughter-age 6--Ana Paula! In these foreign places Paula is pronounced quite exotically. Paola. Don't be surprised if she requests this new pronunciation once she learns Spanish!
Like the cabins, the food here is simple but quite good, with all the ingredients grown locally or from the nearby sea. Think--papaya cut from their kitchen garden! I will leave it up to Paula to give more detail about the food since she seems to be enjoying the simplicity of it all…especially the local chicken soup which is a gourmet experience all in one bowl. (and this discovery was a happy accident as she got a cold upon arrival and just wanted a bowl of chicken soup when we stopped for lunch on the way to the farm!).
We are planning to have Liz guiding us on our adventures today and tomorrow but yesterday we were on our own. It was raining hard on and off for most of the day yesterday (it is a rainforest-- DUH!) but managed our way back to the main highway for lunch at a nice local place- Santa Maria Volcano Lodge. We had planned to go on from there to a park and a hike but lost our way --there are no road signs to speak of and Pablo’s map was not exactly precise. We found our way to these huge high-tech windmills on the top of a small mountain (CR is real big on clean energy and conservation) but decided that with dark clouds coming in and the wind howling (good for the windmills) it would be wise to head back.The returning trip was quite pleasant as the rain stopped and we got brief views of the sun. We took our time and Paula got lots of pics.
A new couple arrived at the farm from Seattle and we had a very pleasant evening eating family style together with Ana, Pablo and Elizabeth (their marketing "director of fun" from Bethesda who has quite the gift with the language). Small world--the Seattle folks are actually from Redmond--and they have enjoyed eating many times at Jonathan's former place-Pomegranate. Life here is very sympatico...so different from the world in which we live.
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