North Face Endurance Challenge Costa Rica 2016 Preview

For its fourth year, the intense ultra-trail running endurance race The North Face Endurance Challenge Costa Rica returns to the Rincón de la Vieja Volcano in Guanacaste, Costa Rica. On Saturday, May 28, 2016, hundreds of runners from all over the world will challenge themselves and each other in four endurance trail-running races of 10 km, 21 km, 50 km and 80 km on the slopes of Rincón de la Vieja Volcano. All North Face Endurance Challenge Costa Rica 2016 races are individual, with no teams. Demanding trails cover difficult yet beautiful terrain around Rincón de la Vieja Volcano, one of six active volcanoes in Costa Rica, spanning altitudes between 850 feet and 3,280 feet (260-1,000 meters). There will be aid stations along the routes.

Rincón de la Vieja is the largest volcano in the northwest province of Guanacaste. The towering ridge-shaped colossus holds several craters, and peaks at 6,286 feet (1,916m). Surrounding the volcano is Rincón de la Vieja National Park, filled with wild dry tropical forest, rivers, waterfalls and hot springs. The Rincón de la Vieja Volcano and National Park are a UNESCO World Heritage site. Organized by The North Face outdoor gear and clothing company in the USA, The North Face Endurance Challenge is North America’s premier ultra-trail running series of endurance races. Launched in 2007, the races test experienced runners in beautiful scenic locations, while promoting a minimum impact philosophy. Part of the Latin America series, Costa Rica – a big destination for endurance races – held its first North Face Endurance Challenge in 2013. Base camp for the race, and the start and finish lines, are at eco-hotel Hacienda Guachipelin – a major center for adventure tours in Guanacaste, Costa Rica: zip lining, mountain biking, waterfall rappelling, river tubing, horseback riding, nature trails, and natural volcanic hot springs. Hotel Hacienda Guachipelin is a top Costa Rica travel destination for adventure and nature lovers. The award-winning hotel next to the Rincón de la Vieja National Park is located 15.5 miles (25 km) northeast of Guanacaste’s main city of Liberia, with easy access from the Liberia International Airport.

More Adventure Races at Rincon de la Vieja

The newest Costa Rica adventure race – 160K Rincon de la Vieja Mountain Bike Race – happens Aug. 20, 2016 at Hotel Hacienda Guachipelin. Racers will compete in three distances: 160 km (100 miles), 100 km (62 miles), and 50 km (31 miles) by the Rincon de la Vieja Volcano. The fourth annual Rincon de la Vieja Challenge extreme mountain bike race will test elite mountain bikers on a 100-mile (160 km) circumnavigation of the active Rincon de la Vieja Volcano on Sept. 3, 2016. The Rincon de la Vieja Challenge is the first international chapter of the National Ultra Endurance Series (NUE) of the USA.

Article by Shannon Farley

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Top Costa Rica Canopy Zip Line Tour At Hotel Hacienda Guachipelin

Ever since the first commercial canopy zip line tour came into being in Costa Rica in 1997, the zip line industry has soared quickly into big business with dozens of zip lines all over the country and across the world. I recently took a friend, who is a bit of an anomaly, on her first-ever Costa Rica canopy zip line tour. She is an anomaly because after more than 15 years of living in Costa Rica, she had never experienced a zip line tour – quite difficult to do given zip lines’ popularity in Costa Rica.

Zip lines are probably the all-time favorite adventure tour in Costa Rica for visiting tourists. There are dozens of zip line tours – more often called “canopy zip line tours” or simply “canopy tours” – all over the country. We were at the Canyon Canopy Tour at Hotel Hacienda Guachipelin by the Rincon de la Vieja Volcano in the northwestern province of Guanacaste, Costa Rica. Designed and built by a long-time friend of mine, Costa Rican architect Jose Manuel Pizarro, owner of the Costa Rica zip line design and vertical training company, Linea Vertical, the one-of-a-kind canopy zip line tour in Costa Rica began operating at Hotel Hacienda Guachipelin in 2000. Besides being incredibly fun and full of adrenaline-charged moments, the distinctive factor about the Canyon Canopy Tour is that it has so much more than zip lines. You get to fly high above the treetops and back and forth between narrow canyon walls over the White River (Rio Blanco) on seven zip lines. You get to cross three hanging bridges and have fun on two Tarzan swings. There is a controlled 20-meter (65-foot) rappel, and two routes on a natural rock climbing wall to come back up those same 20 meters. And finally, there are three via ferrata traverses and climbs. Overall, you will travel to 21 platforms on the whole tour, which takes about 90 minutes to two hours to complete.

The spectacular setting alone is worth going on the tour. You are deep in the dry tropical forest – a unique ecosystem in Central America – by the Rincon de la Vieja Volcano. The tour starts off with the longest zip line, crossing a wide canyon high above the trees. A couple more zip lines later and now suddenly you are in a narrow, densely forested, rock canyon above the rushing White River. Simply beautiful!

After initial trepidation, my friend loved the tour and said she’d do it again! For me, it has become one of my favorite canopy tours in Costa Rica.

Hacienda Guachipelin’s Adventure Center operates some of the best adventure tours in Guanacaste, Costa Rica. The Adventure Center is open seven days a week from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. for both hotel guests and day visitors. Besides the zip line tour, you can go horseback riding, river tubing, waterfall rappelling, mountain biking, hiking in the Rincon de la Vieja Volcano National Park, and soak in natural volcanic hot springs. For the best day of Costa Rica adventure tours, get the One Day Adventure Pass, which includes four tours and a delicious lunch.

Hotel Hacienda Guachipelin

At the base of the Rincon de la Vieja Volcano in Guanacaste, Costa Rica, Hacienda Guachipelin is an award-winning eco-hotel on a 3,400-acre ranch. It is an idyllic setting of waterfalls and natural hot springs in distinctive dry tropical forest. The hotel is 15.5 miles (25 km) northeast of Guanacaste’s main city of Liberia. A Little History of Zip Lines Zip lines were first invented in Costa Rica. Back in 1974, U.S. resident and California State University, Northridge graduate student, Donald Perry, pioneered the new method for climbing into and moving around the Costa Rica rainforest canopy, the world’s most complex living community, for his field work. It is in the tree canopy where upwards of 40 percent of all life on earth exists. Perry used a crossbow to shoot a rope into the branches of a 120-foot tree in the Osa Peninsula, and then climbed it using mountaineering ascenders. He later strung webs of ropes and pulleys between trees to move freely in the canopy without having to return to the ground. You can read about Perry’s adventures in his book, “Life Above the Jungle Floor,” published in 1986. This led to the invention of the commercial canopy tour — a billion-dollar industry that has been reproduced all over the world. The first commercial canopy zip line tour came into being in Costa Rica in 1997 – the Original Canopy Tour in Monteverde. Article by Shannon Farley

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Hotel Hacienda Guachipelin rescues Costa Rica food traditions

Wouldn’t it be nice to dine in a restaurant that only served freshly-made meals made with locally-sourced ingredients, vegetables picked that same day, sauces that didn’t come from a jar or can, bread hot out of the oven, juices that only a moment ago were whole fruit, and desserts loving crafted by an on-site pastry chef? In fact, you can. This is what is cooking at Hotel Hacienda Guachipelin in Guanacaste, Costa Rica. The renowned Costa Rica eco-adventure hotel at the base of the Rincon de la Vieja Volcano recently renovated its restaurant and kitchen to be bigger, better and fresher! Known in the USA as “Farm-to-table” style, this is the real deal at Hacienda Guachipelin, using ingredients found in Costa Rica and always freshly made.



How fresh is fresh? A large portion of Hacienda Guachipelin’s fruit, vegetables, spices, eggs, milk and cheese are harvested daily from the working horse and cattle ranch’s 3,400-acre farm. Eggs come from 300 free-range chickens in a huge henhouse. Milk arrives in the kitchen at 6:30 every morning, hot and steaming from just-milked cows at the cow barn. Kitchen staff makes its own farmer’s cheese, served at breakfast. The restaurant also keeps almond milk and soy milk for persons with lactose allergies. 







































 In a large area of fields and livestock enclosures, long rows of tomatoes, bell peppers and celery grow organically in the sunshine. Lettuce, basil, cilantro, jalapeno chilies and cucumbers fill an organic hydroponic greenhouse near the kitchen and restaurant. Out in the aromatic spice garden in front of the greenhouse you can find dill, parsley, lemongrass, mint, rosemary, turmeric, ginger, and two kinds of oregano.



Natural juices and marmalade jams are made fresh at the hotel from oranges, lemons, guanabana fruit, cas, guayaba, passion fruit, watermelon, papaya and pineapple that is either grown on the property or bought from small regional farmers. There are no processed sauces from jars or cans, no MSG, nor any boxed juices or pre-prepared foods. Breads and desserts are made on site by Hacienda Guachipelin’s pastry chef, and all baked in wood-burning ovens (the wood comes from the farm). The restaurant even has many gluten-free bread options for people with gluten allergies, including gluten-free pizzas. At breakfast, corn tortillas are handmade in the traditional Costa Rican style.



Hacienda Guachipelin has its own bees and is producing honey. Drinking water at the hotel is natural spring water produced on the property. Coffee served in the restaurant comes from a small farm in Naranjo, Costa Rica that is owned by a friend of Hacienda Guachipelin owner, Jose Tomas Batalla. Tilapia fish comes from a local farm in the nearby town of Canas.



“We don’t cut corners. We make as much as we can homemade,” commented hotel owner, Jose Tomas Batalla. “We want to run our hotel with mindfulness.” Hacienda Guachipelin focuses especially on using typical Costa Rican fruits, vegetables, breads and meals. “We want to give people an authentic experience of being in Guanacaste and Costa Rica,” said Batalla. “We are rescuing the culinary traditions of Costa Rica and Guanacaste.” The Hacienda Guachipelin restaurant has been expanded to seat 250 persons, with a dedicated area for groups, hotel guests and day tour visitors. When the hotel is busy, meals are served buffet style; however, there is always an a la carte menu available.



Hotel Hacienda Guachipelin You can dine at the best restaurant in Rincon de la Vieja when you visit award-winning eco-hotel Hacienda Guachipelin. Recipient of TripAdvisor’s Certificate of Excellence 2015, Hacienda Guachipelin offers some of the best adventure tours in Guanacaste, Costa Rica and nature tours at Rincon de la Vieja Volcano.



Hacienda Guachipelin’s Adventure Center is open seven days a week from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Not only hotel guests get to enjoy Hacienda Guachipelin’s popular Costa Rica adventure tours; many day visitors staying in other Guanacaste locations come too.

Article by Shannon Farley

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La Casa de la Aventura es Costa Rica

Situado en la provincia de Guanacaste, en el Pacífico norte de Costa Rica, se yergue el Rincón de la Vieja. Es el volcán más grande en la región noroeste del país. Con una altura de 1.915 metros, la caldera posee 15 Km. de ancho. Es un sitio considerado como lugar místico y sagrado según la antigua tribu curubandé. Asimismo, el parque nacional circundante fue declarado Patrimonio de la Humanidad por la UNESCO en 1999.

Esta zona sirvió de escenario para la prueba de ciclismo de montaña «Rincón de la Vieja Challenge». En dicho evento deportivo, el representante de Portugal, Luis Leão Pinto, se coronó ganador. La competición inició desde el hotel Hacienda Guachipelín (en las cercanías del área protegida) y concluyó el pasado domingo 24 de agosto. En total, tuvo una distancia de 100 millas (160,9 kilómetros) y fue la primera de su tipo en América Latina. Según sus organizadores, es el único recorrido que da vueltas a un volcán activo.

En medio de este entorno, un grupo de ciclistas internacionales pusieron a prueba sus habilidades y resistencia, atravesando cinco tipos de microclimas. Recorrieron desde planicies áridas, bosques nublados exuberantes y ríos; hasta el famoso volcán Miravalles. Por ese motivo, se incluyeron pistas de tierra, caminos de barro rojo, senderos de roca volcánica y tramos en suave piedra caliza

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Por eso, los amantes de la adrenalina se sentirán muy a gusto en la zona de Guanacaste. Específicamente el hotel Hacienda Guachipelín es el lugar para alojarse en las cercanías de Rincón de la Vieja y disfrutar de unas vacaciones activas. Situado 25 Km. al noreste de Liberia, la capital de la región, resulta ideal para vivir la aventura en medio de la naturaleza. Las actividades son variadas aunque con un factor común: un ambiente propio de hacienda ganadera costarricense.

Leer Más : http://www.guachipelin.com/blog/?p=921

Por: Andrés Figueroa Vásquez.