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06/11/2006, Rancho Mastatal, Costa Rica

Finding a safe place to anchor Guava in Playa Panama, Costa Rica we traveled inland to visit friends for a couple of weeks. Tim and Robin, friends from Seattle, relocated to Costa Rica a few years ago. Finding a beautiful property in the mountains south of San Jose, they have carved a special niche for themselves and the community in the village Mastatal.

With life experiences as well as specific schooling they have built a self-sustained living environment and have nurtured Ranchomastatal into a place to learn and utilize these practices. If you desire a unique experience to visit or possibly volunteer in a wonderful setting this is the place. Visit www.ranchomastatal.com for more information.

After months at sea, a mountain refuge with familiar faces was a treat. The journey from the coast was a challange but with patience and lucky bus connections we were walking the last few kilometers from the road to the property. For years i have anticipated seeing them at the door of their self-made paradise and in reality it was just as i imagined. Smiles, hugs and a cold beer was the greeting followed by introductions of the current ‘family’.

With a small group of visitors and volunteers when we arrived it allowed for some free time to catch up with Tim and Robin, though the work there is never done. Constantly building smaller, low impact structures with local materials and innovative techniques, we lended a hand in the current projects while also exploring the area. We made daily hikes to various waterfalls (more cliff diving) and rivers and walked trails with incredible flora and fauna and this property even has plants unique to its boarders.

Their website will tell more about it than i can say here but for us it was a vacation from our regular travels. Community meals prepared by rotating chefs (actually guests of the ranch) were always delicious and plentyful with everyone sharing a table. Courtney fit right in here and developed her cooking skills as well as breadbaking in the homemade oven. Not exactly like the facilities Guava offers but she still manages to bake a couple of fresh loaves a week onboard. Fortunately during our stay a jug of homemade mead was ready to drink which leads to crazy nights.

Their are a variety of options for lodging. We stayed in the hooch beyond the trail from the bunkhouse to sleep larger school groups which often visit. The hooch, one of about half a dozen sleeping options, is an open air, two story bamboo framed structure. Private and away from the main house it is close enough to hear the dinner bell.