In our previous blog post entitled Green Season,  we wrote about advantages of traveling in Guanacaste during the “Low” or “Green Season”. They’re pretty simple:

1. It’s super GREEN because of the rain! The blanket of broccoli on the hillsides that cascades down to the Pacific Ocean is magnificent! 
2. Prices are lower! (For example: See our 50% off discount available until October 31, 2012!)
3. No crowds! You won’t wait in line for anything – except, maybe the ATM – international rules dictate that there must be a line at the ATM – always. Just sayin’.
4. Fantastic rainbows and sunsets!
5. The Ocean water temperature  is a “chilly” 84 degrees F (~29 degrees C)!
6. Life is “pura vida” (which carries over into the Dry Season too! Pura vida!).

We’re now entering the wettest, greenest, least crowded and least expensive time of year here in Guanacaste (Sept. – Oct.). That’s great news for off-season travelers who want to experience the beauty, serenity, peacefulness, grandeur and solitude that this part of the country has to offer. For those who want to throw their cell phone away and immerse themselves in “the real Costa Rica”, there is no time like the present!

Are you bookish and want to chill poolside, or in the privacy of your hotel room with that killer novel you’ve been wanting to read forever? Or are you adventurous and dying to 4-wheel through the mud and rivers of the Guanacaste countryside to reach a secluded beach where there’s nothing but you, the person you’re with and the nature that surrounds you? Perhaps you want to scuba dive and experience what Costa Rica has to offer under the surface of the ocean – where, whether it’s raining or not, little matters? And you don’t even need a wet-suit this time of year!

Maybe you like surfing or sportfishing. Getting a charter for either is easy this time of year.

There’s a long list of things you can do – or NOT do – this time of year in Costa Rica. And whatever you do – or NOT do – will cost you about half of what it will in November. So come experience  Guanacaste and the Gulf of Papagayo at half the price and with half the people! Your private getaway awaits you!

Pura vida!

The post Green Season (Part 2) appeared first on La Finisterra - Hermosa Beach.

Guest post by Mike Poynton 

Smart phones have revolutionized the way many of us travel. The first iPhone running the iOS was released in 2007 and only 3 short years ago the Android OS was just a buzzword. Since the advent of both, the world just hasn’t been the same. My friend and fellow geek, George McGolrick – owner at Hotel la Finisterra – has his fingers on the pulse of mobile technology, as do most of his guests – they’re a pretty tech savvy bunch! He’s noticed 4 apps that just about all of his guests with smart phones use. Here’s the Hotel la Finisterra’s list of the top 4 mobile apps for the Techie Traveler.

1. magicJack APP:  If you live in North America, travel and have not heard of magicJack, you’re either dead or living in a cave. magicJack is a device that plugs into a USB (Not USB3) port on the user’s computer (or in the case of magicJack Plus, plugs directly into a router), and that has a standard RJ-11 phone jack into which any standard phone can be plugged. It provides Internet-based telephone service (VoIP) to the United States and Canada. Pretty cool, right?!

BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE! Now anyone with an iPhone can use the magicJack APP to call anywhere in the U.S. or Canada for FREE! You don’t need your computer to place calls. All you need is a WiFi connection and you’re able to call and receive calls via your iPhone (You’ll actually get a free telephone number from magicJack so your friends and family can call you on your iPhone). Existing magicJack customers can sign in to magicJack APP with an active U.S. or Canadian phone number on their magicJack account and may use it to make and receive calls with magicJack APP.

I think this one’s revolutionary!

2. Instagram APP: A few days ago, Instagram celebrated the 2nd anniversary of the first photo taken with Instagram. 

Since that date over 50 million people have shared more than 1 billion photos on Instagram. In April of 2012, Facebook acquired Instagram (and its 13 employees) for $1 billion. What’s my point: it’s a pretty popular app, to say the least!

So what is Instagram? Instagram is a free photo sharing program that allows users to take a photo, apply a digital filter to it and then share it on a variety of social networking services [Twitter, Facebook (personal and business Timelines), Tumblr, Flickr and Foursquare] as well as Instagram’s own network. Photos are confined to a square shape – a throwback to Kodak Instamatic and Polaroid images – and the filters allow users to be creative and add even more personality to their photos. I find it, frankly, addictive. Once you start taking photos with Instagram, you probably won’t stop!

The Instagram app is freely downloadable for the iPhone at the iTunes Apps Store and for Android camera phones at Google Play.

3. Google Translate APP: Supports 64 different languages – one of them happens to be Spanish. This little app is not only useful, it’s pretty darn fun too! Travelers can either type or speak their native language into their smartphone and then see the written translation and/or listen to the spoken translation via the app. This one becomes a hilarious bar game after a few Finisterra margaritas! ¡Pura vida!

4. Google Earth APP: OK… So this one is just plain cool. If you’re like me and so many others like me, you can immerse yourself in Google Earth for hours without knowing the time is passing. I didn’t list any GPS APP’s here because there are so many. But if you have one on your smart phone, like most techie travelers do, you can plug in your coordinates and zero in on your location on the Google Earth APP and see what’s interesting nearby. I love taking screen captures and posting them or tweeting them out to my friends, family and followers to make them jealous! Have fun with this one!

So even though your SIM card may not work in Costa Rica and you may not have cellular coverage, there is plenty of WiFi available – especially at the Hotel la Finisterra. And with these apps you can stay connected with friends, family and co-workers and have a wonderful time here poolside or at the beach, sipping a cold tropical drink while you make everyone jealous back home.

¡Pura vida!

P.S.: Stay tuned for the Hotel la Finisterra‘s upcoming Goecaching contest! Woooooo hoooo!

The post Hotel la Finisterra’s Top 4 Mobile Apps for the Techie Traveler appeared first on La Finisterra - Hermosa Beach.

The annual phenomenon gets its name from its association with El Noche de San Juan (“Saint John’s Night”). According to the tradition of the Roman Catholic Church, St. John the Baptist was born 6 months before Christ, thus putting his birthday on or about solstice time on June 21 each year.

El Veranillo de San Juan manifests itself south of the Tropic of Capricorn not only in Costa Rica and Nicaragua, but in the South American countries of Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, and Uruguay, where colder winter temperatures abruptly rise for a month, then fall back to their chilly regularity. In Costa Rica, it’s less about temperature than it is about precipitation, when suddenly the skies turn blue, the rain abates and the humidity drops. 

So we and our guests will be enjoying a couple more weeks of “Little Summer” here at Hotel la Finisterra. It’s a time of year when we can “have our cake and eat it too”. The landscape is deep green with dense canopy while the skies are deep blue with few clouds. The balmy breezes compensate for the temperature increase, as does the drop in humidity. And perhaps best of all, the ocean temperature hovers right around 80 degrees F (27 degrees C) – perfect for swimming, skim boarding, and scuba diving!

Come enjoy the “Little Summer”, el Veranillo de San Juan, with us! ¡Pura vida!

The post El Veranillo de San Juan: Costa Rica’s Little Dry Season appeared first on La Finisterra - Hermosa Beach.

The post Yuplón.com… Traducción: ¡GANGA! appeared first on La Finisterra - Hermosa Beach.

The terrain surrounding Bahia Culebra (Snake Bay) and making up the Peninsula Papagayo is dramatic in the way it undulates in and around the Pacific Ocean and is best experienced and explored by lancha (an open hull boat) with someone who knows the territory. Some beaches are known for the cara blancas (white faced monkeys) that come right down to the tree tops at the beach. Others have sea caves and wave tubes. One of my favorites – Playa Jícaro (see Google Earth map, upper left image) – has an archeological site: an ancient burial ground that teams with pisotes (coati mundi).

At low tide the sand on Playa Jicaro is white with gray shells. It makes an excellent campo de fútbol (soccer field) because it’s relatively flat and the sand is soft. At high tide the sand all but disappears under the tide that rises to the base of the trees whose branches reach out over it. You can sit in low hanging cradles while dangling your feet in the calm water all the while in the shady protection of the canopy.

All of the beaches on the map can be experienced in a day without rush. Our guides can have you to Playa Jícaro in about 12 minutes with an ice cold beer in your hand! So bring plenty of sunscreen, your camera and a relaxed attitude, and come see what makes each beach around Papagayo unique. Then decide on which one is your favorite!

To “beach” his (or her) own. ¡Pura vida! 

The post To “Beach”, His Own appeared first on La Finisterra - Hermosa Beach.

In November, Mother Nature flips a switch, the sun comes out and continues to shine brightly each day during the “dry season” until the following May – nothing but blue sky and sunshine GUARANTEED! By mid-December, the tropical dry forest loses its leaves to conserve energy and the landscape turns from bright green to golden brown, peppered with the bright colors of  the leafless forest in bloom. This is the flowering period for the tropical dry forest, and a great time to spot birds and other wildlife.

So why does “green season” edge out “dry season”? Well, that blanket of green really makes things beautiful! There are also less travelers here as our ‘winter’ coincides with the summer in North America, when many travelers are enjoying the warm weather in “El Norte” and staying close to home.  Hotel and rental rates drop during the “green season” too, making it more affordable for a lot of folks, especially families. Then there are the spectacular cloud formations that produce unbelievable sunsets and rainbows! No rain, no rainbows.

At Hotel la Finisterra, we typically offer promotions for Costa Rica nationals and residents to offset the drop in traffic during this time of year (visit our Facebook page to find out the latest). But we’ve noticed an increase in July-August reservations over the past 3 years as people begin to find out via word of mouth and through social networking how uniquely beautiful, less crowded and less expensive it is to travel to Guanacaste during the “green season”.

So give us a call and come find out one of the world’s best kept travel secrets – “green season” here in Guanacaste, Costa Rica! ¡Pura vida!

The post Green Season appeared first on La Finisterra - Hermosa Beach.