It’s been another busy month here at Finca Bellavista and we saw a record numbers of visitors over the month of March! We’ve had several father/daughter duos stop in for visits, strangers, friends we’ve met in various areas of Costa Rica and Panama, and family from afar make the trek to our green little hideaway in the rainforest. It’s always interesting to see who shows up…you never know who will come driving through the gate at dinnertime or hiking up the Calle Publica at dawn. The most wonderful aspect of this project, to us, has been meeting the people that make their way to the finca. We’ve made so many new friends with very interesting backgrounds and stories to tell. There’s never a dull moment here at the ‘end of the road’!

‘Mis Ojos Miran la Catarata', designed by Roderick Romero (romerostudios.com), our tree house overlooking Rio Bellavista, is getting lots of foot traffic as Matt, Dennis, William, Rafa and Guillermo are putting the finishing touches on it as I type this. It’s always exciting to take a new visitor over just to see the expression on his or her face when they first see it. (The views from the ziplines also provide a pretty entertaining variety of responses and facial expressions as well.)

Many changes are afoot at the finca….while some of them seem small, to us they have changed our world (such as running water!). We broke ground on our community bath house at the base area this week…we expect to have this amenity up and operational by the end of April. Those that have visited Finca Bellavista in the past will be sad to know that the old log bridge over Rio Bellavista collapsed a few weeks ago…it certainly signals the end of an era here. That simple twist of fate made us prioritize the construction of the pedestrian suspension bridge at the base area, which is now underway. Next up? Disassembling the makeshift kitchen and dining area, lovingly called ‘Big Blue’, and building a proper community kitchen and dining space.

Finca Bellavista has also experienced a media blitz in the last few weeks with a variety of newspapers, online magazines, television and WeBlogs covering the project. It’s always interesting, and sometimes scary, to see how people will ‘spin’ the project. Our favorite so far has been Gizmodo’s semi-fantastical rendering of Finca Bellavista as Return of the Jedi’s Endor on Earth (the link is on our Press page). Their assemblage of Ewoks, treehouses, spaceships and our visitors makes it hard to tell what is real is what is fantasy. We’ve also had a request to be included in a new coffee table book that will be published later this year entitled ‘Crazy Stuff’. Though some would be offended at being included in such a title, we know Finca Bellavista is a new and unique concept that will take some time to understand and bring to fruition. We thank all of you that have helped to bring us this far along in making our dream a reality…