Costa Rica beach rentals Villas Estival are ideal vacation getaway

The North Pacific Coast of Guanacaste, Costa Rica is known for beautiful beaches. You can pretty much find it all here – white sand, gold sand, gray and black sand, and even pink sand. Some beaches are rocky; others wide and sandy. Some are bustling beach towns, and others are so untouched it may seem as if you are the first person ever to visit. Playa Prieta (Prieta Beach) is one of those beautiful beaches. With a little village and leafy, shaded beach, Playa Prieta stays isolated from the hustle and bustle of other beaches, creating a tranquil holiday paradise. The beach is very pretty with white and black sand curved around a small, clear blue bay less than one-third of a mile long (500 meters). From the beach, you have marvelous views of nearby Flamingo Bay and its surrounding beaches and islands. Prieta’s protected beach is ideal for swimming, body surfing and lounging in the sun.

This is the location of Costa Rica vacation home rentals Villas Estival. These Costa Rica beach rentals are a fantastic place to vacation on a small, uncrowded beach with all the amenities of a modern home. Twelve villas, or individual vacation homes, are exceptionally placed right in front of beautiful Prieta Beach. Managed by All Costa Rica Rentals, fully-equipped villas either have two or three bedrooms, and two or three bathrooms, in one or two-story villas. Villas have capacity for between six and eight persons, and there is wireless internet in each villa. Villa Romantica, or Villa 09, features direct ocean views and is the closest to the ocean. This one-story villa offers three bedrooms and capacity for seven persons.

The villas are spaciously distributed in a lush garden, all with direct access to the beach. Besides the refreshing and fun waves of Prieta Beach, there is a large swimming pool for adults and a smaller one for children. A children’s playground is near the pools, on grass, and under the shade of palm trees.

Nearby Villas Estival there are many other beaches worth exploring, including Pan de Azúcar Beach, La Penca Beach, Playa Potrero and its small village Puerto Potrero, Playa Flamingo, Playa Brasilito, and the spectacular Playa Conchal, whose white sand is formed by millions of fragments of shells.

Vacation rentals in Costa Rica are very popular, and often the most economical travel option for families and groups of friends. Staying in vacation rentals that are rented by the day, week or month give you more space and amenities at a lower price than a hotel room. Things to do in Guanacaste include scuba diving, snorkeling, world-class sportfishing, boating, surfing, horseback riding, hiking, and zip lines. Only 20 minutes from Playa Prieta is the Las Baulas National Marine Park at Playa Grande, where you can see nesting sea turtles.

Contact All Costa Rica Rentals to reserve your Costa Rica villa rental today. Great discounts can be found from now to December in Costa Rica low season.


Article by Shannon Farley

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Why you want this unique eco-community as a Costa Rica property investment

You’ve been to Costa Rica on vacation, and you’ve thought: “Wouldn’t it be great to live there?” Or, invest in a vacation home that you can rent out and visit frequently?

Besides being one of the top five best places in the world to retire according to the 2015 International Living Retirement Index, a lot of people from other countries invest in real estate in Costa Rica for vacation homes and rentals.

But where do you start to look for Costa Rica property investment ?

Location is most important. Two of the main attractions of Costa Rica are the rainforest and its beaches. If you’re a nature lover and sustainability and being environmental are important to you, keep reading. There’s an extraordinary eco-development on Costa Rica’s Central Pacific Coast that’s perfect for you.

Portasol  Rainforest & Ocean View Living

Set on 1,335 acres of pure rainforest along the coast, Portasol Rainforest & Ocean View Living is a unique, sustainable residential eco-community. Portasol’s location is ideal – close to the renowned Manuel Antonio National Park and beaches, the popular surf town of Dominical, and remarkable whale-watching in the Ballena Marine National Park. Minutes away are the beautiful undiscovered tropical beaches of Playa Linda and Playa Matapalo. Rivers and waterfalls flow freely at Portasol making lots of great natural swimming pools. Miles of unobtrusive hiking and mountain biking trails crisscross the development.

Being a sustainable gated community, Portasol Living protects 83% of its land as green space. Two hundred acres of virgin forest have been set aside as a private nature reserve, and there is a community regulation that only 15% of each lot may be used for construction and the remaining space preserved naturally.

Portasol Living is being developed in phases. There are currently 56 lots developed with a total of 180 planned. At present, there are seven new properties available for sale and 11 lots available for re-sale, ranging in size from 1.2 acres up to 11 acres at prices ranging from $46,000 to $300,000. Only six houses have been built so far in the development; four are used as Costa Rica vacation home rentals and two are for sale. Property owners come from all over the world.

Lots are positioned between 250 and 1,800 feet above sea level on mountain terrain covered with forest; each has road access, water, satellite TV, telephone and electricity supplied to the property line. Features include: ocean and mountain views, mature rainforest, river or creek boundaries, and access to trails and public areas. Portasol Living offers financing options for land purchases and home construction, and can assist with architects and building contractors.



What do people say about Portasol Living?

“I first visited Costa Rica in 1998 and fell in love with the people, the climate, and the nature and its beauty,” commented Portasol property owner, Barrett Klutts of North Carolina, USA. “After looking for a place to call home in an extensive search in 2006, I found Portasol Rainforest & Ocean View Living, located in the most beautiful and best climate part of the country.”

Klutts, who owns Klutts Property Management, a large residential property management company in Charlotte, North Carolina, bought a property in Portasol Living and built his dream retirement home – Casa Monos Locos (“Crazy Monkeys House”). He uses the fabulous house in the rainforest with ocean views for a very popular vacation home rental, until he is ready to retire.



Thomas Paul, of Connecticut, USA, owns several investment properties in the Manuel Antonio area of Costa Rica, and runs the management company of the Tulemar Resort. Portasol Living’s commitment to sustainability and land protection are what attracted him last year to buy and remodel the luxury vacation home, Casa de Paz (“Peace House”).

“I really liked the whole concept behind Portasol – the extent of the acreage and the amount that will remain jungle, and the size of the properties themselves. Also very important to me is the fact it is a gated community and is very secure. Portasol is environmentally unique within Costa Rica and is unlikely to be duplicated,” said Paul.

“We offer a unique, real Costa Rican ambience – both cultural and environmental. It is a place of total peace in a strategic location,” summed up Portasol CEO, Guillermo Piedra Gonzalez. Come to Portasol Rainforest & Ocean View Living on vacation and explore the eco-development’s many Costa Rica properties for sale.

Property

Services at Portasol Living

• Water: Numerous springs and ground water at Portasol guarantee an abundance of fresh, potable water.
• Electricity: Residents have 110 and 220 volts available to the property line.
• Security: Access to Portasol is controlled by a private gate and 24-hour security personnel.
  
  
  
  
• Telephone: Land lines are available on most of the lots; mobile phones have reception throughout most areas of Portasol.
• Internet Wi-Fi is available.
• TV: Satellite dish technology is available.
• Garbage collection: Living regulations call for recycling and garbage collection on a fee basis.
• Roads in the developed areas are graveled and well-maintained.
• Rain drainage: The community is integrated with the natural terrain. Engineered planning and construction has created a very successful system of culverts and ditches, making the hydrologic environmental impact very low.
• Sewage water disposition: Portasol has a carefully designed system of septic tanks to be implemented by property owners in their construction.

Article by Shannon Farley

 

Your next Costa Rica vacation destination : Portasol Living

People in other countries pay big money for audio programs like this, while here at Portasol Rainforest & Ocean View Living eco-community it’s real. The sounds of the Costa Rica rainforest: crickets chirping, big bullfrogs burping and booming, Common Tink Frogs “tinking”, myriads of other insects whirring, and the Portalón River bubbling over stones and boulders.

I returned to Portasol Living eco-community on Costa Rica’s Central Pacific Coast a couple of months ago for a much-needed weekend getaway. Set on 1,300 acres of beautiful rainforest along the narrow Portalón River Valley, Portasol is a residential eco-community that also has Costa Rica vacation rentals.



I love enjoying a few days of jungle living at Portasol – hiking rainforest trails, swimming under waterfalls, being visited by a band of raccoons at night, and maybe a coati or two in the morning. Sleeping in one of the Rainforest Bungalows to the sounds of the rainforest is the best. And while I am thankful the rainforest is right there, I also am grateful that I can relax in a nice, clean, critter-free room with soft beds, a hot water shower, and a coffeemaker.


Why choose Portasol for your Costa Rica vacation destination?

Portasol is exactly where you want to be in Costa Rica’s Central Pacific region – right between the busy Manuel Antonio beaches and national park, and the popular surf town of Dominical and the Ballena Marine National Park. You are close enough to easily visit, but out of the crowds. Less than 15 minutes away are the beautiful uncrowded beaches of Playa Linda and Playa Matapalo. Stay the weekend for a little R&R, or use Portasol as your vacation home-base to explore the area’s many attractions.

“The location is really good if you want to have an active vacation – go to the national parks, to the beach, go whale watching, go on tours – and it is really good if you want a relaxing vacation to stay in nature. Portasol really appeals to any kind of traveler,” remarked Katie Widdowson of Costa Rica. For her, it is a chance to get away from the city of San Jose to relax, breathe fresh air, and enjoy long weekends with friends.

“I picked Portasol because it is mountains and beach, and it is also close to Quepos and Manuel Antonio,” commented Jan Yatsko of Pennsylvania, who lives in Costa Rica. “You can visit the national park, but you’re not in the hubbub; you’re in peace and quiet. I really like the waterfall, and we enjoyed that.”

“This is the perfect hideaway, tranquil and beautiful,” wrote a traveler from New Zealand on TripAdvisor, who stayed at Portasol earlier this year. “Portasol was much more than I expected. The views are breathtaking,” wrote another guest who stayed in 2014.

“We stayed there three nights, this January, my family loved the quietness of the place, right in the middle of the forest and yet great access to the beach and nearby restaurants, very comfortable rooms, beautiful style and spacious. I couldn't have made a better choice,” wrote a traveler from Texas who stayed at Portasol in January 2015.



South African couple Gary Kritzinger and Shayne Mrazek rented Portasol vacation home Casa Monos Locos for a year, in preparation for building on their home site purchased at Portasol. “Portasol has a unique environment. There are not too many people around, but at the same time it is close to all of the necessities. It’s a wild and natural getaway.”

Costa Rica is one of the hottest destinations for 2015 and there are dozens of daily flights to Costa Rica. Contact Portasol Rainforest & Ocean View Living eco-community for an unforgettable vacation in one of their Costa Rica vacation rentals.

Article by Shannon Farley

 

Shhh, don’t tell … hidden paradise on Costa Rica’s Central Pacific Coast

I’ve been to a lot of beaches in Costa Rica. Most of them I like, some of them I don’t. Then there are others that are so off the charts in fabulousness that I nearly don’t want to tell anyone about them.

All right, I’ll tell you. I’ve discovered a hidden gem. A place I had no idea it existed before last weekend. But let’s keep it between ourselves … or at least among fellow like-minded people who will keep this tropical paradise beach in the same pristine condition it is today. To start, for me a beach has to have a few key ingredients to be fabulous:

1. There must be shade – be it palm trees, coastal almond trees, jungle, etc. Since we are close to the equator, the Costa Rican sun is intense. After 30 minutes in the hot sun on a no-shade beach, you’re fried … literally.
2. The beach should be walkable. This means a good, mostly flat, stretch of sand.
3. The beach should be good for swimming. This means sandy-bottomed and I can go in the water at least up to my knees without risk of tumbling into a steep drop-off, being pounded by waves, or eaten by sharks or crocodiles. In Costa Rica, most open Pacific beaches have currents and riptides, but if I can at least go in up to my knees, that’s fine for me.
4. The beach should be clean, quiet, uncrowded and beautiful.

All of this I found last weekend on a little-known beach on Costa Rica’s Central Pacific Coast called Playa Linda. This lovely hidden beach is a little over 20 miles (32 km) south of Quepos and the highly-visited Manuel Antonio National Park, yet it is a complete escape from the typical tourist destination. Playa Linda follows another off-the-beaten-track beach called Playa Matapalo; there are signs for the turnoff to this beach on the Coastal Highway.

Both beaches, which actually run one into the other, are immense, long, flat, black volcanic sand beaches framed by groves of mango and coconut palm trees. You have plenty of wide open space for walking, jogging, horseback riding, relaxing and watching magnificent sunsets. There were handfuls of surfers when I was there enjoying long rides on beautiful waves, and families playing in the water close to shore. Playa Matapalo and Playa Linda are kept so clean that they earned the Blue Ecological Flag for environmental purity.

Playa Matapalo is a small beach community with residences, a few restaurants and food stores, and a couple of small hotels – all tucked back from the beach under the trees. Playa Linda is blissfully empty. On the day I was there, families came in cars on the narrow dirt road and parked under the palms to enjoy the day. Some brought picnic lunches, while others grilled on portable barbecues. What I did notice is that everyone carried away their trash.

Playa Matapalo has the distinction of being a nesting beach for three species of sea turtles in Costa Rica that visit the area from July to December. An annual sea turtle festival is held by the Matapalo Sea Turtle Conservation Project to celebrate hatching baby sea turtles in November.


Where to stay:
Since there isn’t anywhere to stay on Playa Linda and only a couple of small places on Playa Matapalo, the best place to stay is Portasol Rainforest & Ocean View Living eco-community. Tucked back in the rainforest along the Portalón River Valley a few minutes from Matapalo Beach, Portasol has comfortable and luxurious Costa Rica vacation rentals and Costa Rica property for sale. The unique Costa Rica sustainable community adheres to green development principles with a 200-acre private reserve and 65% of its 1,300 acres in conservation areas.

How to get there:

Playa Matapalo is 20 miles (32 km) south of Quepos on the Southern Coastal Highway, a little past the Savegre River. There are two turnoffs, both with signs saying Playa Matapalo. Follow the signs to the beach.

Playa Linda is just south of Playa Matapalo. Continue driving the Coastal Highway south past both entrances to Playa Matapalo. When you pass a large cell phone tower next to the highway on your right, in just another couple of miles you will see two more cell phone towers on the right set farther back from the road. There is a small dirt road where you need to turn right, which leads past the towers. If you reach Plantanillo on the highway, you have gone too far. Drive the dirt road straight to Playa Linda; from there the road branches off to the left and parallels the beach. Park anywhere you find space under the trees.

Article by Shannon Farley

Chorro River Race 2015 comes to Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica

The exciting, adrenaline-charged whitewater rafting and kayaking competition of the Chorro River Race 2015 comes again to Costa Rica’s Central Pacific Coast on Feb. 21 to 22.

The second annual event is organized by the Quepos Whitewater and Adventure Association and sponsored by TEVA. The competition in the Chorro Canyon of the Naranjo River, by the Manuel Antonio National Park, will have both whitewater kayaking and four-person team whitewater rafting races and slalom events.

On Feb. 21 there will be training sessions on the river and an evening concert at the race campgrounds. The competition runs all day on Feb. 22. The registration fee is $20 per person, which includes overnight camping near the river, transport to/from the river on race day with teams’ equipment, an evening concert on Feb. 21, and an event shirt.

The 2014 championship rafting team “Savegre,” led by David Orozco, will defend their champion title in the four-person rafting competition. Team Savegre is sponsored by Portasol Rainforest & Ocean View Living eco-community, which is located close by, near Matapalo Beach. Orozco, who formerly worked as a commercial rafting guide on the Naranjo and Savegre rivers, recently joined the team at Portasol.

“We like supporting our community, especially in events for young people that involve sports,” said Portasol CEO Guillermo Piedra, who enjoys rafting. “I love going whitewater rafting. It is so much fun and the best way for me to disconnect from my work, and to relax. I especially like the Savegre River, known as the cleanest in all of Central America. It is so beautiful with nature.”

Portasol Rainforest & Ocean View Living community is one of the best places to stay near Manuel Antonio for spectators attending the Chorro Race 2015. The residential community has comfortable and luxurious Costa Rica vacation rentals, and is a short drive from the Naranjo River. Portasol staff can help arrange rafting trips on the Naranjo and Savegre rivers for guests.

A favorite for whitewater rafting in Costa Rica, the Naranjo River flows from the Talamanca Mountains above Quepos and Manuel Antonio, passing through several narrow gorges – like the Chorro – on its way to the Pacific Ocean. Exciting and challenging class III to V rapids make for a fun day of rafting. The nearby Savegre River is another popular whitewater rafting destination, offering easier rafting and fun river tubing trips in class II and III rapids.


Article by Shannon Farley

 

See the video on why you should check out Atenas Costa Rica

Life in Atenas, Costa Rica is always “pura vida” – life is good. The new video about Atenas, Costa Rica by Pure Life Development of Atenas shows this with stunning footage of the mountain town’s natural beauty and attributes.

Produced by acclaimed photographer and videographer, Oscar Protti of Costa Rica, the four-minute high-quality video depicts life in Costa Rica and in the charming centrally-located town of Atenas. Protti used state-of-the-art equipment and remote control drones to produce breathtaking aerial footage.

“The video we created with Oscar Protti is extremely important for us to showcase what the community of Atenas has to offer. Atenas is a small, rural town, but close to everything. This is translated much better in a video format to see the abundance of natural beauty,” commented Dennis Easters, co-owner of Pure Life Development of Atenas.


From checkers’ games at the Atenas central market to the Atenas Railway Museum, farmers’ market, central park, luxury homes and verdant hills and valleys, you get a glimpse of what it would be like to live in Atenas, which AARP and International Living have named as a top international retirement destination. The video also presents Costa Rica’s famous beaches, rainforest, volcanoes and wildlife, along with the popular adventure sports of zip-lining and whitewater rafting.

CNN recently named Costa Rica one of the most amazing destinations for 2015, and National Geographic listed Costa Rica in the top 10 best destinations for adventure in 2015. “Only a few hours’ flight from North America, Costa Rica is a leading travel destination because it has something for everyone,” states Easters in the video.

Less than an hour’s drive from the capital city of San Jose to the east, and some of the best Pacific Coast beaches to the west, Atenas Costa Rica is known for having the “best climate.”

“Atenas offers a wide variety of quality properties in beautiful gated communities and lovely local neighborhoods,” said Easters. The benefits of buying real estate in Atenas: location, convenience, nice international and local community, good climate, low crime rate, high re-sell value, and great Costa Rica vacation rental market.

For Costa Rica real estate and home rentals in Atenas, Costa Rica, contact Pure Life Development of Atenas. Easters and his Costa Rican partner, Gerardo Gonzalez, successfully help people find new homes in Atenas, Costa Rica, and live their dreams.

Article by Shannon Farley

Celebrate New Year’s uniquely Fiesta de los Diablitos in Costa Rica

In southern Costa Rica, the end of the year is celebrated very uniquely at the country’s biggest indigenous cultural event, the “ Fiesta de los Diablitos Costa Rica ” The four-day annual “Festival of Little Devils” takes place over the New Year’s holiday from Dec. 30 to Jan. 2 in the village of the Boruca community on the tribe’s indigenous reservation in the Talamanca Mountains.
The Fiesta de los Diablitos celebrates the Borucas’ historic victory over the Spanish conquistadors. Through their language, legends, dance and crafts, the people of Boruca keep their rich ancestral traditions alive. The Borucas are well-known for their colorful, hand-carved masks made from lightweight balsa wood, which play an important part in this annual pageant.
“This is the largest festival that we have. This festival is our identity. We are reconnected to our ancestors, our culture and our traditions,” explained Santos Leiva, a master mask maker in Boruca. “In this festival, no one is sad. Everyone is happy and celebrating.”
During the festival, village men dress up as warriors and ancestral spirits using traditional balsa wood masks and elaborate costumes made from cloth sacks and banana leaves. One man takes the role of a mock bull, representing the Spanish intruders. Women of the community have an important yet less visible role making food and drink to sustain the participants and visitors.
The event begins ceremoniously at midnight on Dec. 30 when the male warriors – dressed in special devil face masks decorated with natural paint from plants – walk from house to house in the village preparing for battle with the “Spanish”, represented by the bull. The warriors drink chicha – a beverage made naturally from fermented corn – and shout battle cries, while accompanied by drum music. “This is the spiritual moment that the warriors are uniting with their ancestral warrior spirits,” said Leiva. “It lasts all night until about 6:00 a.m.”
The Spanish conqueror, in the figure of a bull, arrives during the day on Dec. 31. All day on the 31^st and 1^st of January, the warriors engage in mock battles with the bull. They dress in specific warrior masks or animal masks, such as jaguars, toucans, macaws, monkeys and other animals of the rainforest, Leiva explained. In the evenings, there are celebrations and dances.
January 2 is the day of courage, the last stand of the battle. On this day, the village elders appear, shouting special cries of courage and wearing masks with feathers and animal figures. The community gathers in a sacred place in the center of the village for the final battle. “Only on this day will female warriors appear. History says that women did not participate directly in the fighting, but were assisting the warriors with natural medicine,” noted Leiva. “The dying or injured warriors drink chicha and return to life.”
Just as in history, at the end of the festival, the bull representing the Spanish conquistadors is “killed” and the costume is burned on a large bonfire in the middle of the village with great celebration over the Borucas’ victory.
A fantastic collection of images from the Fiesta de los Diablitos can be found on this Facebook page by travel writer and photographer, James Kaiser.
Attending the Fiesta de los Diablitos in Boruca is an easy day trip from Portasol Rainforest & Ocean View Living. The Costa Rica sustainable community, located between Manuel Antonio National Park and Dominical, has vacation rentals available in rainforest bungalows and Costa Rica luxury vacation homes. The indigenous village of Boruca is a little over 90 minutes away. Portasol also offers Costa Rica property for sale and yoga retreats and events.
Article by Shannon Farley &

Travel trends: Vacation rentals are the new way to stay

Planning your next vacation? You might be used to staying in hotels and resorts, but maybe you should consider vacation rentals. More independent travelers are choosing to rent private homes and apartments these days instead of hotels, using websites like Airbnb and VRBO.

Vacation rentals are often the most economic travel option for families and groups of friends, giving more space and amenities at better value than a hotel room. Living like the locals also helps to give that authentic travel experience.

What is a vacation rental?

Vacation rentals are typically privately-owned apartments or homes that are rented by the day, week or month. They tend to be second homes for owners who live somewhere else and use the property for income and their own vacations.

Most vacation rentals are fully stocked with towels, linens, all appliances, fully-equipped kitchens with the basics such as spices, cooking oil and coffee, once-weekly housekeeping, internet, cable TV, and a property manager who is on call 24/7. Other services often can be arranged at an extra cost, such as daily maid service, private cook, and transportation and area tours.

Why are vacation rentals so popular over hotels?

“In most cases, a vacation rental home is more economical. There is more space, a stocked kitchen, the ability to do laundry, more privacy, and the feeling of being ‘home’,” explained Florida native Dennis Easters, a world traveler living in Atenas, Costa Rica. “Also, a vacation rental allows you to live a bit more like the locals, even if for only a short time.

“For the past five years or so, our family has only stayed in vacation rentals because this mode of lodging best fits our lifestyle. I like to wake up early, have a cup of coffee, check e-mails and go for a walk, all before everyone else rolls out of bed. In a traditional hotel, this is a challenge without waking everyone up. Another advantage is that with a home or apartment, you have enough room to spread out and have a break from one another after a long day of sightseeing.”

Vacation rentals in Atenas, Costa Rica

Over the past seven years, vacation rentals have become very popular in Costa Rica, said Easters, who is co-owner of Pure Life Development of Atenas real estate. The charming mountain town of Atenas, Costa Rica, is a top place to retire and is popular for vacation rentals for the same reasons: location and climate. Less than an hour’s drive away are the capital city of San Jose to the east and some of the best Pacific Coast beaches to the west. The San Jose international airport is only 30 minutes away, and Atenas is known for having the “best climate in the world.”

Planning a Costa Rica vacation or looking to buy real estate in Costa Rica? Don’t miss Atenas Costa Rica vacation rentals and Atenas homes for sale.

Article by Shannon Farley

Costa Rica sustainable development helps schools, youth, turtles & monkeys

A torrential thunderstorm provided the dramatic background for a small group gathered last Friday night at Portasol Rainforest & Ocean View Living in Costa Rica for a charity dinner to benefit their local Portalon Elementary School. A 5-star gourmet 4-course dinner, created by visiting award-winning chef Randy Siles of Hotel Tropico Latino in Santa Teresa Beach, Costa Rica, was served with wine by candlelight to invitees who came from as far away as the capital city of San Jose.

The Costa Rica sustainable development of Portasol is dedicated to its social responsibility program. Over the past 10 years, Portasol has worked actively within its community on the Central Pacific Coast, between Manuel Antonio and Dominical, on conservation, community education and projects, and small business help.

“If the community benefits from our projects, we benefit. We want to help create a better life and opportunities and education for our community,” noted Portasol CEO, Guillermo Piedra Gonzalez.

The Sept. 19 charity event raised $1,050 for the local school, which is gathering funds to build a roof over the children’s play area for sun and rain protection. There are 107 students attending the school from the agriculture town of 450 persons. Piedra, who is on the Portalon School board, said that over the past decade, Portasol has lent a hand with the school’s computer lab, conservation education, recycling program, sustainability program – on on-site hydroponic garden provides fresh vegetables for the school kids’ lunches – and holds an annual fundraiser with Portasol property owners to provide textbooks for the school.

In the larger area community, Portasol supports the Matapalo Beach Sea Turtle Conservation Project run by the NGO Association of Volunteers for Service in Protected Areas in Costa Rica (ASVO); and the Titi Conservation Alliance in Manuel Antonio that is restoring biological corridors for the endangered Squirrel Monkeys (“Mono Titi” in Spanish) by planting 85,000 trees to help solve the problem of in-breeding among the monkeys in their development-reduced habitat in the Manuel Antonio National Park.

Additionally, Piedra is the vice president of the Association for Prevention, Security & Peace in Aguirre County (COPAZA), which operates a modern dramatic theatre in the town of Quepos to involve at-risk youth in extracurricular activities. The program also helps drug addicts seek rehabilitation.

To contribute to Portasol’s social responsibility program, or to get involved in any of these programs, contact Portasol at info@portasol.net. Portasol offers Costa Rica vacation rentals and Costa Rica property for sale.

Article by Shannon Farley

Don’t miss the Whale & Dolphin Festival 2014 in Costa Rica!

The Festival of Whales & Dolphins is once again making a splash at Uvita Beach in Southern Costa Rica at the beginning of September.

You definitely don’t want to miss the 6^th annual festival marking the peak of the annual migration of Pacific Humpback Whales to the Ballena National Marine Park in Costa Rica. This year’s 2014 Festival of Whales & Dolphins will be held over the two weekends of Sept. 5-7 and Sept. 12-14.

Festival activities will include whale-watching tours, a beach run, mountain biking race, sand-sculpture contests, photography exhibits, concerts, environmental workshops, crafts and food sales. A 6k and 10k beach run will be held in the national park on Sept. 6, and the mountain biking race takes place on Sept. 7.

The Ballena (“whale”) National Marine Park covers 110 hectares of land and 5,375 marine hectares, and was created in 1989 as the first marine park in Latin America. It is an important sanctuary for migrating humpback whales, pilot whales and false orca whales; resident Pacific Spotted, Common and Bottlenose dolphins; along with stingrays, hammerhead sharks, and several kinds of sea turtles. The whale refuge is famous for its sandbar isthmus formed perfectly into the shape of a large whale’s tail.

Whale watching in Costa Rica lasts from August to October for southern Pacific Humpback Whales from Antartica (the largest population), and from December to April for northern humpbacks from Alaska. The endangered whales swim thousands of miles to the shallow, warm coastal waters of the Ballena National Marine Park to reproduce and give birth.

Biologists consider the protected area a perfect setting between the northern and southern hemispheres for the birth of new marine life. 

The park is located in what is known as the Costa Rica Thermal Convection Dome, a large “bubble” of shallow, oxygen-rich warm water layered over the top of colder water with less oxygen. The conditions create an ideal habitat for marine life.

The Costa Rica sustainable community of Portasol Rainforest & Ocean View Living, in the coastal mountains between Manuel Antonio National Park and Dominical, is offering a special promotion in their vacation bungalows during whale-watching season. Stay two nights, with full breakfast included, and receive a whale-watching tour for two persons.

Portasol offers Costa Rica property for sale and tourism hospitality with unique vacation rentals. Stay in one of Portasol’s vacation bungalows or Costa Rica homes for rent while you explore the southern Pacific region of Costa Rica.

Article by Shannon Farley