Pura Vida Hotel

20/08/2026

GOOGLE MAPS SAID THE ROAD WAS OPEN . . . yet not everyone is a fan of WAZE

🤦‍♂️🗺️Google Maps has clearly never spent enough time in Costa Rica. On our latest expedition, we drove deep into northern Costa Rica and discovered a minor problem with the suggested route: approximately ten tons of fallen trees.

🌳The trees appeared to have been there long enough to start growing things. Our highly scientific local measurement system suggested stuff growing on the fallen logs indicated somewhere between one and two years.

Google should know better. What hope is there for AI in Costa Rica? 😂

But this is exactly why we love the roads less traveled. They lead to places like Finca Ecológica San Luis, where Giovani Leitón has a garden overlooked by La Ventana - a remarkable gap in the Continental Divide where Caribbean weather and birds spill toward the Pacific.

🦜 The birdwatching is spectacular.
🌳 The forest is spectacular.
🍕 The pizza is surprisingly good.
🤫 And there isn't a crowd of tourists doing weird things with their phones. This is one cool spot overlooked by most visitors to Monteverde.

That's the Costa Rica we'd hope our guests will discover. Not the beach high-rises and the jungle condos now taking over parts of Costa Rica.

Stay with us your first night at Pura Vida Hotel and ask: "Berni, where should we go where others fear to tread?"

🌿 Start your quest on your first night in Costa Rica a few minutes from SJO at one of the top-rated inns in paradise.

👇 Book your stay or message us directly:
🌐 Website: www.puravidahotel.com
📧 Email: [email protected]
💬 WhatsApp: +506-8701 3411
🏆 TripAdvisor: https://www.tripadvisor.com/TravelersChoice-Hotels...

18/08/2026

If you are over on the Caribbean . . . . time to meet your neighbors :-)

14/08/2026

MONTEVERDE IS NOT A THEME PARK

There is a secret to visiting Monteverde. Visit without guide and you will miss the point altogether.

Don't arrive expecting a theme park.

That's what Ricardo Guindon, son of one of the original Quaker families, helped me understand on our last trip there.

The Quakers and Ticos didn't exactly "merge." They simply discovered that they had something important in common:

Cooperation.

Don't blow things up.

Fix what is broken.

Lean over the neighbor's fence and solve the problem.

Ricardo knows the stories behind this extraordinary place.

And those stories are far more interesting than simply ticking "cloud forest" off your bucket list.

So when you stay at Pura Vida Hotel, ask us:

"What's the road less traveled to (or perhaps in) Monteverde?"
🌿 Start your quest on your first night in Costa Rica at one of the best rated Inns in paradise https://www.tripadvisor.com/TravelersChoice-Hotels... . Visit www.puravidahotel.com or [email protected] or
WhatsApp +506 8701 3411

And you can find Ricardo Guindon (Monteverde Roots): WhatsApp +506 8567 0405

10/08/2026

WHY THEY INVENTED LA FORTUNA

Okay, I think I finally understand why La Fortuna exists.

It may be Costa Rica's greatest decompression chamber.

You arrive from Berlin, Birmingham or Biarritz expecting perfectly paved roads, predictable directions and perhaps a little tropical adventure.

La Fortuna gives you a few days to adjust.

Then, when you're ready, you head toward Monteverde.

And that's when Costa Rica gets interesting.

On our latest wandering expedition, we went looking for the story behind Monteverde: the Quakers, the Ticos, the forests, the people and the strange little chain of events that created one of the most fascinating communities in Costa Rica.

We also found fallen trees blocking roads Google Maps insisted were perfectly passable. 🤣

At Pura Vida Hotel, we think the best Costa Rica experiences often begin when you stop following the obvious route.

Staying with us? Ask Berni about the road less traveled and his 4 routes to Arenal.

We may even point you toward somewhere Google hasn't quite discovered yet.

🌴 www.puravidahotel.com or whatsapp +506-8701-3411 or [email protected]

#1 TripAdvisor B&B/Inn. Tuetal Sur, Alajuela, Costa Rica. Paradise. Let us be your guide to Costa Rica - 10 mins from SJO - free airport taxi on arrival in country.

04/08/2026

An article on Osa/Golfito - or really the Golfo Dulce, a biologically super interesting place visited by so few people https://ticotimes.net/2026/08/01/golfo-dulce-whale-watching-season-returns?utm_source=weekly.ticotimes.net&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=tico-times-weekly-news-update-july-27-august-2-2026&_bhlid=ac61521887859519b5b5edb036485aa7ee83ddd4 . A good friend spent some months in the Golfo running a small lodge - she is a marvelous observer of nature and used to send me chapters of her upcoming book - so much to observe, so little time. You know it is the only place in the world you can visit with a Xanthic sea snake? My friend did :-))

🌿 Start your quest on your first night in Costa Rica at one of the best rated Inns in paradise https://www.tripadvisor.com/TravelersChoice-Hotels... . Visit www.puravidahotel.com or [email protected] or
WhatsApp +506 8701 3411

03/08/2026

Stunning sighting - not sure where but has to be in the Osa

26/07/2026

A magician in the jungla . . .

19/07/2026

Mark your calendar for April 2027 . . . in the heart of the Talamanca region . . .the 4th Ancestral Games. After The Games take some time to explore the territory and wonderful peoples of the region: https://photos.app.goo.gl/fdkYXa7KMT24pMH37 . For more info: https://puravidahotel.com/activities-and-tours/indigenous-games.html

🌿 Start your quest at one of the best rated Inns in paradise https://www.tripadvisor.com/TravelersChoice-Hotels... . Visit www.puravidahotel.com or
WhatsApp +506 8701 3411

19/07/2026

More cool ferrys

Solcito.