The ranch is the living incarnation of the dream of a Chilean man named Juan, who wanted to be able to live without the necessity of the outside world and in a fashion that would not be harmful to the environment. He's spent the last 5 years building on that dream, and now that the ranch is a reality, Juan rarely leaves. And why would he need to?
The ranch is run on its own power, which is created by harnessing the flow of a small river. The two hydroelectric damns Juan and his team have built are enough to power the large central buildings, the dozen or so bungalows, the field house where the workers live, and the bunkhouse.
Nearly all the food at the ranch's scrumptious daily meals are produced at the ranch, organically (while the coffee was not yet produced there--surprising for Costa Rica, which is known for it's smooth brews--they are working on growing coffee plants, which take several years to produce their first fruits. Also, they need a master brewer on location. Hint, hint).
Gardens...
I think I ate this chicken for dinner...
The food...This was an (overexposed) breakfast. 
The ranch builds everything on site: from the windows to the floors. They still bring in the wood right now, but they're reforesting areas that will then be used partially for building as well...
They have yoga twice a day, the way yoga should be done...outside, with the breeze (or the fresh morning mist) blowing at you. This is the yoga studio...
Not only can visitors do yoga at the ranch, but can milk cows, ride horses, go kayaking in the nearby Lake Arenal, hike, go waterfall rappelling, hang out at their natural pools and learn about the huge array of tropical flowers at their extensive gardens.
But...the hot water for the entire ranch is my favorite part. It is heated by the collection of thermal energy from the decomposition of compost. That's right. My hot showers were the product of plants biodegrading and cow/horse/pig poo. Here's the apparatus (they're building a new, bigger one).
The idea is that water is run through the coils (which are deep within the compost, where it gets pretty hot, we felt it) and eventually collects at the end. It's then piped out all over the ranch, including heating the pool.
Cool beans, eh? Have I convinced you that you want to go? Too bad. Juan's ultimate dream is to turn the ranch into an educational center, where people can learn how to live sustainably and provide for themselves in ecologically sound ways. He was just using tourism dollars to get the project up and running. And it's worked. Apparently, they're done booking tourists, they're revamping the bunkhouse into dorms with desks, etc for the students to move in next season.
So, if you tell me to go to my happy place, this is where I'll be...but unfortunately, only in my memory.
1 comment:
This looks awesome. It also proves that you really were down there instead of at Wisconsin Dells.
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