Just had great day in zancudo y pavones: rocks, surf, iguana
s, whales and dolphins.
We have returned from our bday extravaganza and its time to get back to work...however we have fallen into a strategic alliance with our friend norielle.
This will now be phase two. With much consideration and soul searching we both realize
the magnitude of our project and have resigned it more to a ten year plan. Phase one will now be trees and forest garden (which we have moving along nicely) and the rock fence around the terrain in volcan. We also hope to construct a bungalow/teepee for us to live in initially and a greenhouse to start seedlings, herbs, tomatoes and other edibles. We have two months now in Volcan to complete phase one. After Halloween, which is very popular here, pure hilarity, we'll
head back to Zancudo to start ramping up to open the hostel in mid November/early December until the season ends in Feb or March. While we were there for a week after my
bday we ventured around the entire bay and fell in love. The peninsula you can see across the bay from us is Costa Rica's biggest national park Corcovado, which is densely populated with endangered species of flora and fauna. The strip of land that makes up Zancudo is uniquely amazing and is the reason the bar/restauarnt is named Esteromar (we'll keep the name for the hostal too as a cohesive operation) because our backyard touches the estuary and the bar is beachfront.
It's amazing everyone has a river in their backyard and the beach in their front. We saw one piece of land about twice the size, down the beach a ways, going for 350,000. Not bad. This allows for maximum fishing. Almost every household had a lancha or motorboat and we saw a small sailboat with a retractable keel for sale...uh oh limon's getting ideas. Many families run successful tours and water taxi operations. You can go by boat anywhere around the bay including Pavones which boasts the longest left break in the world- depending on the surf you can ride the wave a half mile! The top of the mountain behind Pavones is an indigenous reserve and you can hike or repel up any of the many valleys and waterfalls to reach the peak. Many greengos live here as it is one of the best surf spots in the world. It took us about 25 min by car and the boat ride is about 45 min. We are also about an hour from the port town of Golfito and about 7 hrs by bus from San Jose or 3hrs from David, you can fly to David from Panama City for $60 (45 min).
So in this most pristine and perfect of Costa Rican beaches we will open a chill little hostal, right now we have 20 beds and we're planning to buy 5 hammocks and maybe a few cots. Our dentist friend already has it set up very nicely as his family vacation home although the caretakers aren't up to snuff. We'll be taking it over in hopes of building a good reputation and client base for the future. There are plans in the works (sadly) to build a Four Seasons and a Hilton in the next few years and although its already a widly popular tourist destination this will push it over the top and make access to the area easier.
Not particularly good for privacy and tranquility but thats the tradeoff for business. The bar and restaurant are already very profitable especially around xmas and new years.
This is an amzing opportunity- karma is good...almost too good. hehe. I feel very liberated and blessed that we can make money while down here to reinvest in our project. It's incredibly hard to get started without the necessary capital (whew i sound like my dad...) but its the sad truth, even when your plan is to be self-sustaining you have to be smart about how you get to that point- or you can easily crap out. This will "keep hope alive" and keep our project
afloat. Commencing phase 2...
It's amazing when you come to a place with an open mind and altruistic tendencies. We have been proposed two projects to either spearhead or expand. Not to mention our own project. I guess the world really is your oyster.
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