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Relocating to Costa Rica means more than beautiful beaches - Yes, Costa Rica has beautiful beaches, beautiful mountains, awesome panoramas, but Costa Rica is also a very cultured nation with art museums, good entertainment, ballet, and a wide variety of activities that make living there an ongoing delight. The real estate is a bargain compared with the U.S.A. and Canada and you don't have to be a resident to buy it. And there is more, much more, 147 pages of information on why you want to move to Costa Rica and how to do it. Now a report by Christopher Howard that covers everything you need to know about relocating to Costa Rica - Click Here to learn more about Costa Rica -

Fifteen years ago, I was living in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. As a single parent, I had supported my two children, as a teacher and psychologist, through those difficult high school years and sent them off to college. My mother, for whom I had cared through her illness, had passed away. All of a sudden I found myself free of responsibilities to other people, and full of nostalgia for Latin America, where I had grown up. Ever since I was a girl and young married woman, living in Panama, I had a dream of owning a farm, and now that I could follow my   dream, I happened to see Out of Africa, cried all the way home, and decided to return to Latin America.

The Cove at Miraflores Lodge .

I have always been an adventurer/pioneer who loves her creature comforts. When I was first married, we lived in the mountains of Panama where I led tours, taught English through television to the local communities and cantinas, cooked on a wood stove, washed diapers in the river and always dressed for dinner lit by candles and drank wine from crystal goblets.

As the children grew and needed a more conventional environment, we decided to move to the city, where I started and directed a Montessori School. When I divorced, I decided that the best preparation for my children’s’ future would be to return to the United States.
 

Palms & Sea at Miraflores Lodge .

So here I was, in the eastern Mecca of the ‘back to earth’ movement, hearing a lot of intellectual shoulds and shouldn’ts about conservation and the environment, and I realized that I had been a conservationist and environmentalist long before the concept had become popular. From Albert Schweitzer’s philosophy, I had incorporated his reverence for all life, and from Ghandi’s teachings, I learned respect for a peaceful approach to all cultures. Now was my chance to really develop a place where I could practice what everyone was reaching, a place where simplicity and modern technology could exist in harmony and where productivity and earning a living could be done without harming the environment or the local culture.I could return to the rain forests I so loved, which were rapidly being destroyed, and create a flower farm where I could save some of the endangered plants and propagate them to sell, providing a living for myself and the indigenous peoples living on the edge of the rain forests. How to go about doing this? I could write volumes about all the steps, successes and failures, in achieving this dream, but it boiled down to hearing that the U.S. Agency for International Development was willing to fund projects to help the Caribbean Basin Initiative find non-traditional products for export from the Caribbean. Something other than bananas, coffee and sugar cane. And I wanted to grow and sell tropical flowers and plant seeds.

A marriage made in heaven. I wrote my first business plan, and, wonder of wonders, received funding to collect rain forest plants and seeds and propagate them in test farms in Panama and Costa Rica to see where they would thrive most successfully. I traveled into the Amazon jungles of Brazil, and the rain forests of Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica and the Caribbean Islands, collecting plants and seeds. I visited the flower farms in Hawaii, and the flower markets in Holland, Mexico and major cities in the United States to learn about marketing the tropical flowers.

Although the plants were collected from different types of rain forests, humid, dry and high ‘cloud’, the result of the test farming showed that the majority of the plants were most successful, without costly irrigation, in a climate with no long dry season, such as the Caribbean coasts of both Panama and Costa Rica. At that time, l989, Panama was suffering great political instability and a ban on exports. I found myself in Miami with test flowers for the markets, and couldn’t return to Panama because of the U.S. invasion. I, then,  concentrated my efforts on plant production and exportation from Costa Rica, where land was being cleared for banana plantations and the jungle plants were being destroyed. I was able to build up my collection in Costa Rica by saving these plants. I found a sleepy village, Puerto Viejo, where there was good land on the outskirts for a nursery and farm, available labor and members of the community willing to work on this project.

I named the business Miraflores (Look at the Flowers). We built a place in the local BriBri style for me and my employees to live, with a plant packing area below, using mostly reforested Laurel wood from the rain forest brought in by oxen and milled with a chain saw. We used fast growing bamboo cane for walls and ceilings, and surrounded the building area with flowers.

At that time, there was practically no place for visitors to stay in Puerto Viejo, and many travelers, among them students, biologists, bird watchers, and others interested in the rain forest, as well as the beach and coral reefs, wanted to know if I had rooms for rent. From the plants rescued from the clearing of the banana plantations, I was able to propagate and sell enough rhizomes and flowers to expand my house into Miraflores Lodge, which started as the first ecological bed and breakfast in the area.It was the beginning of the Green Revolution, and my visitors were delighted and amazed that they could live comfortably and safely in the heart of nature. They could watch hummingbirds fly through their rooms, which were built in such a way as to capture the breezes from the sea and the Talamanca Range. They had no need for air conditioning. At first I had no refrigeration or electricity, but everyone was fascinated by the wonderful meals prepared over a wood fire with locally grown products, such as yuca, fish, plantains, fruits of all kinds, and coconuts.  Bread was baked on the wood fire. We picked cacao from our own trees, and roasted the beans to make hot chocolate and fudge with coconut milk.

I had learned from my indigenous neighbors, who are Afro-Caribbean and members of the BriBri community, the uses of the local plants for food and medicines, and I shared this information with my guests, adding my own gourmet touch. I also supported and encouraged my neighbors to lead guided walks, teach traditional ways of crafts, foods and herbal preparations, and generally share their wisdom, which they have turned into many productive businesses. And I continue to use my china and crystal, and, although, my guests can be as informal as they wish, I dress for dinner.

Speaking of which, what constituted my life as an inn keeper?  For starters, the world came to me. I had no need to look for stimuli outside of the Lodge, as people from all over the world were my guests, and we always found a common interest, whatever it might be. New friendships were formed among widely diverse guests. They inspired me to continue to discover more about the flora and fauna of the Talamanca. Guests send pictures of their lives and homes; they have invited me to visit them, and many return or send friends to Miraflores. I was able to keep up with the world and its events through the guests.

The interests of the guests were varied and because of their interests I presented workshops on such subjects as sweat lodges, basket making, chocolate making, planting medicinal plant gardens, organic foods, flower decorations, yoga, a visit from the local Shaman, massage therapy, and  the Course in Miracles. I had student groups to come and learn about the area, dive groups, bird-watchers, beach clean-ups. Every morning I gave an orientation talk to my guests on the history and culture of the Talamanca. I taught my staff some English and a lot about Eco-Tourism. And, of course, all through the years I continued to develop my collection of plants, selling them to other hotels and eco-lodges. I became the “Johnny Appleseed” for the Heliconia plants in Costa Rica.

I was already a member of The Heliconia International Society, and became a founding member of ATEC, Talamanca Association for Eco-Tourism and Conservation. I attended national and international conferences to share our experiences on how to maintain a balance between development and the environment. The Miraflores model has been a pioneer in sustainable development in tourism.

Through the years more and more people from all over the world have come to settle in the area, appreciating the beauties of the jungle and the simple life, bringing with them parts of many cultures, building small guest cottages and sharing their  cuisine with visitors in their intimate rancho cafes. There are also a few more traditional guest facilities with swimming pools and cable TV, but Miraflores remains unique with its flowers, tranquillity and beauty attracting visitors looking for these qualities.

As I said earlier, I am a pioneer. I came to the jungle and created Miraflores. As I read the comments written by my guests in my guest book, I realize what a positive experience this has been for so many people, myself included, and I feel that is has been a success. These comments and the loving appreciation of so many have kept me going for many years, but the time has come to move on. I completed my dream.

My new dream for Miraflores is that someone who loves nature will purchase it. There are so many opportunities for growth and for new adventures in tranquil living in this beautiful coastal region. I’ve made many life long friends here, and I will always carry the warmth of the Costa Rican people of Talamanca, and the magic of the rain forest in my heart.

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