Farm of Life!

This has been a difficult post to write. Not because there is nothing to write about, but because we had such a good time at Finca de Vida/Farm of Life, and it´s hard to describe it with words. But I´ll try!

We got a beautiful room with a big bathroom,
a gorgeous view and a hammock!

We booked our stay at Finca de Vida after Thommy showed me a Youtube video where John from okraw.com had visited Finca de Vida. We decided that that´s where we wanted to spend Christmas, sent an email to ask if they had a room for us for 5 nights and jumped with excitement when we got the positive reply from one of the owners, Jody!

We arrived in the afternoon after taking a taxi from Quepos to Dominical (50 USD) and then another taxi, that Jody booked for us from Dominical to Finca de Vida near San Salvador (40 USD). Jody´s husband, Brian picked us up and drove the last 2-3 km to the farm (4WD is a must).

The girl´s favorite: Banana Villa!

Brian showed us around the big farm (37 acres), enthusiastically giving us samples to taste from fruits, herbs and leaves from different edible shrubs and encouraging us to go out and pick our food while we were there.

On our first night the Calvis (Brian and Jody) and their volunteers Itzel and Stephan made a bonfire and we sat there talking and planning the next days. Sunday was supposedly a good day for a tour to Nauyaca waterfalls, because there are no other tours there, which means less people. We decided to go there with Brian as our tour guide the next day.

Perfect for swimming on a hot day.

The Nauyaca waterfalls were beautiful, we went swimming in fresh, cool water and the only other people we met were Eric, a neighbour of the Finca, with his two volunteers. The brave and strong made it over to the waterfall and got a water massage/shower as a reward, while the children and their mom stayed closer to the rocks on the other side. But everyone went swimming!

The next day was Christmas Eve, and the girls really wanted to go horseback riding, which Jody and Brian booked with another neighbour, Linda. So we got up early to ride about 1 hour to a small waterfall nearby and back again. The girls loved it and I enjoyed it too. But I have to say that I´m glad we didn´t stay longer on the horses, because my body was hurting...

For Christmas Eve, some of the Calvis´ neighbours were invited with all the Finca´s guests to a potluck dinner at the Finca! Oh, the anticipation in the air when the chopping, blending and cooking was going on in the Harvest House (communal kitchen)! We had sweet soup, vegetable soup, different salads, stuffed red bell peppers, bean hummus, red beet hummus, sweet mashed potatoes, apple pie, pumpkin pie, raw chocolate and for final dessert banana ice cream with mango sauce!

On Christmas Day a big group of us went on a hike to the Diamante waterfalls. The hike started with steep climbing up to a nice garden, where we had a chance to taste the fruits and plants that grew there. We tasted cacao fruit (delicious), suger cane, a really strong mustard leaf, chili peppers and sweet lime. After this nice break in the gardens, the hike continued up to the waterfalls. We had a chance to jump in (7 m jump), swim and look at the stunning waterfalls from different levels. We also met an American family that were going to spend the night in the caves behind the waterfalls. Exciting!

Sunset view from the Harvest House.

We spent our last day just relaxing at the Finca. We tried the cool pools and had a final raw food demo with Itzel and Stephan. The girls were sad because we were leaving the next day, and so was Thommy and I. The atmosphere at the farm was warm, fun and friendly and the people who were there at the same time as us were such great people. It felt like being at a really healthy summer camp, and who wants to leave summer camp!?! But we had only booked 5 nights, and if we had known what a great place Finca de Vida is, we would have booked a longer stay!

- Line