Did you know that if you are middle aged and live in the beautiful country of Costa Rica that you have a greater chance of living to a healthy age of 90+ years than those your age worldwide?  And, people who call their home in an area in northwestern Costa Rica live even longer than people in the rest of the country.  Why is this possible? 

This area is known as a blue zone, places in the world where people live longer and healthier lives than anywhere on earth.  Blue zones are also areas where the greatest number of centenarians, those who live 100+ years, can be found.  It all comes down to lifestyle.  Scientists generally agree that a certain percentage of how long we live is influenced by genetics-how long our grandparents lived.  However, the most determining factors in living longer are based on our lifestyle habits day in and day out.   Simply stated, these people live lifestyles that include healthy diets, daily exercise, and low stress.  They also incorporate family, purpose, meaning, and religion into their daily life.

Photo: iStock, used with permission.

La Joya Perfecta, a new wellness resort community that is currently being developed in the Osa Peninsula in Costa Rica, will offer everything needed to enhance and improve healthier lifestyles for its residents and visitors.  This state of the art wellness community will provide facilities for improving fitness, wellness, nutrition, and lifestyle management.  By offering the same type of lifestyle practices that have proven to make Costa Ricans a country with long living residents, La Joya Perfecta is set to capture a little slice of blue zone living!

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Click here to view the embedded video.

CENAC is located across the street from Parque España, and diagonally across from the famous Casa Amarilla. Many local and famous artists will perform for free for the public as a cultural provision from the Minister of Culture and Youth. These artists also perform around the country in the many remote areas often times for indians. Costa Rica has a rich culture to discover and it’s easy to find. Just follow the clowns in the street to CENAC and you’ll see.

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Next time you’re in Costa Rica you may want to visit some book stores before your adventures. There are new books with tantalizing titles for everyone from nature lovers, real-estate moguls, decorators, entrepreneurs, tourists, backpackers, everyone! Yes, Costa Rica has great book stores.

I would like to let you in on a small secret though, and that is that there are a bunch of used book stores, many in little hole in the wall places in the city, others in incredible natural settings, that accept trades and have tons of used and sometimes unused older treasures. They of course have an assortment of new literary topics, sometimes by distinguished local authors as well as great postcards to keep or send home.

I recently perused a San Jose store while walking downtown and found an obscure book by famous Indian Guru Sri Yukteswar. A couple bucks and a stack of books later I looked through practically every Costa Rica guide book produced in the last twenty years and enjoyed seeing how we’ve grown up together. If you speak other languages such as German, Italian, French or any other one prominent here you will find plenty of popular and useful topics at these exclusively used book stores almost as if they were customized for the traveler.

Just be willing to hang out with some real book animals and your in for a great time thumbing through the selection.

Being able to trade in a used guide book for one of another destination is a great bonus for people who want to travel as light as possible. If you have a bookstore that is your favorite in the country let me know and I will plan a visit. You may be able to find the city location of harder to find stores using a combination of social networking and Google maps or something comparable.

Costa Rica definitely has everything you need to explore the country but before you do, its book stores are a must visit.

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La próxima vez que estás en Costa Rica le conviene visitar unas tiendas de libros. Hay muchos libros nuevos de tentadoras temas para amantes de la naturaleza, compradores de bienes raíces, decoradores, comerciantes e inventores, turistas, mochilas, en fin temas para todos. Si, Costa Rica tiene excelentes tiendas de libros.

Sin embargo me gustaría compartir un pequeño secreto con ustedes. Hay gran cantidad de tiendas de libros usados, muchos en huequitos escondidos en la ciudad otros en bellos entornos naturales, que aceptan cambios de libro por libro. Tienen un surtido de títulos nuevos y usados con algunos verdaderos tesoros. Además hay gran cantidad de temas literarios de distinguidos autores locales, muchos solo disponibles aquí, como también bellas tarjetas postales para guardar o mandar a casa.

Si estas dispuesto a compartir tu espacio con unos verdaderos animales de libros vas a disfrutar muchísimo ojeando la selección.

Recientemente paseaba por una tienda en San José y encontré un antiguo libro del famoso Gurú Sri Yukteswar. Par de dólares y un montón de libros después revisé unos veinte años de guías de Costa Rica y disfrute ver lo mucho que hemos crecidos juntos. Si hablas otros idiomas como alemán, italiano, francés u otro idioma popular aquí encontrarás muchos temas útiles y populares como si fuesen arreglados especialmente para usted.

Poder cambiar un guía usado por otro de su próximo destino es un gran bono para los que quieren viajar lo mas livianos posibles. Si tienes una tienda favorita en el país déjame saberlo y haré arreglos para visitarlo. Sitios difíciles de encontrar son fáciles usando una combinación de mapas de Google o similares y la red social en Internet.

Costa Rica definitivamente tiene todo lo que usted necesita para explorar el país, pero antes, una visita a sus tiendas de libros es esencial.

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Everyone is going to want to take a trip on the new Autopista del Sol. The long awaited highway will be inaugurated by central government officials Wednesday, January 27, for use by coastal residents, developers and tourism operators of the Southern Pacific Coastal region.

The tollway will smoothly take drivers directly from the Central Valley to the Pacific Coast for less than four US dollars per passenger car. The four main toll stations between La Sabana and Puerto Caldera are located at Escazu, Alajuela, Atenas and Orotina. There are also several other toll stations at selected exits.

Residents of the coastal area will enjoy easier trips to and from the Central Valley. Developers and tourism operators of the southern pacific region are confident the Autopista del Sol will bring increased traffic to the coast and are counting on it to boost their industries

Pacific coast residents will have quicker access to the Central Valley for shopping, entertainment, trade and other activities. The new route will be a magnet for Sunday drivers out looking at the picturesque Costa Rican countryside. Produce from the fertile Valle del General will have an alternate route and connections to our neighboring countries will be greatly enhanced.

The 77 km highway is primarily two lanes with some passing lanes and special lanes for emergency vehicles. The modern highway is expected to cut an hour off the usual trip to the coast and saves the country an enormous amount of fuel that would otherwise affect air quality in beautiful Costa Rica.

The tollway was completed ahead of schedule to the delight of President Oscar Arias, who has been anxious to officially open the Autopista del Sol for everyone to enjoy.

Get ready to ride the newest and smoothest highway in the country. The Autopista del Sol officially opens January 27th and without a doubt will become a favorite route.

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Source: Info Costarica

Central & Southern Pacific :

Boca Barranca : It’s a river mouth with a very long left. Paved road. Lots of places to stay. Some of the best waves in the country specially for longboards.
Playa Escondida : Its located to the south from Jacó where you can get a taxi and head to an excellent point break that form a very good left and a surfable right.
Playa Jacó : Its 2 hours away from San José. This waves tend to close out when it gets over 5 feet. Close to a great quantity of places like Playa Hermosa, Escondida, Barranca and Puntarenas. Lots of hotels, cabins, restaurants, bars and camp grounds.

Roca Loca : A rocky point next to Jacó with rights that break over submerged rocks.
Playa Hermosa : Very strong beach break. Its a long beach break but the preferred point its located in front of a large tree called “El Almendro”. The waves conditions are generally best when the tide is rising.
Playa Dominical : Good, strong beach breaks with lefts and rights. Very tropical with beautiful landscapes.
Pavones : Excellent left point, considered one of the largest in the world. Good shape and very fast.
Caribbean :

Manzanillo : A very fast beach break located 20km from Puerto Viejo. Easy to get to.
Puerto Viejo : A very thick and voluminous wave that comes from deep water to a shallow reef. Its called “Salsa” for its juice power.
Black Beach, Cahuita : Excellent beach break, not well known and therefore not crowded. You can find waves there all year round.
Playa Bonita : A point reef break. Very thick powerful and dangerous left. 50km north of Limon.

Northern Pacific :

Potrero Grande : A right point, with very feast and hollow waves. 270km from San José with no road access. You have to go to Playas del Coco or Playa Ocotal and take a boat.
Playa Naranjo : “Roca Bruja” also called “Witch’s Rock” one of the best beach breaks in the country with very strong offshore winds from December to March. Its located in the National Park Santa Rosa so a 4WD is a must.
Playa Grande : Beach Breaks located 20 min north of Tamarindo.
Playa Tamarindo : Here you can find two different points the first one is a rocky one called “Pico Pequeño” in front of the hotel Tamarindo, and “El Estaro” an excellent river mouth break.
Langosta : A right and left point break that curls off the mouth of the mouth of a small river, 1 km south of Tamarindo.
Avellanas : Good beach break, very hollow rights and lefts. 15km south of Tamarindo.
Playa Negra : A right point break with very fast waves. Restaurant and Cabins on the point.
Playa Coyote, Manzanillo and Mal Pais : Beach breaks, with very consistent lefts and rights and several points.

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Con motivo de la celebración de los 10 años del Campamento Artístico Chunches de Mar, que realiza la fotógrafa Nefertiti Ingalls en Montezuma, Puntarenas, habrá una fiesta de celebración este 30 de enero a partir de las 11:00 a.m.

Más

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Wave Height: Head high +

Wave Characteristics: This morning at dead low tide the waves were head high and mostly closing out. As the tide filled in, the waves increased in size between head high and a few feet overhead. The waves were very hollow, but mostly closing out. If you were in the right place at the right time you were getting super fast, hollow overhead barrels!

Costa Rica Three day forecast:

Dominical, Costa Rica is expecting head high to head high + waves the next few days.

Surf Report and image courtesy of Land Assurance

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Source: Visit Costa Rica

Opportunities abound to go horseback riding almost everywhere in Costa Rica, and climbing onto the horse’s back, can be a wonderful way to spice up your vacation.
The choice of horseback excursions ranges from morning trail rides taking you into the mountains above San Jose, which brings you back to your hotel in after lunch, up to all-day expeditions through the rain forest, from which you could leave walking like John Wayne.

Though you might not associate it with a tropical country, Costa Rica has quite a cowboy culture. Guanacaste, one of the country’s first zones to be conquered by Spaniards, is the province with more tradition in this regard, where many cattle ranches cover the forest-draped hills.
Nevertheless, mountain resorts and nature lodges located all over the country offer horseback riding trips, going through pastures, tropical forests, or down the beaches, and often stopping at waterfalls and lakes. Horseback riding tours are also an excellent choice for bird watching and getting close to nature, and the people leading the tours often have eyes peeled for interesting critters.

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Costa Rica's Tree House Lodge

Source: ABC News

Treehouses aren’t just for little kids. Treehouse hotels offer adventure, a sense of fun, and even romance for newlyweds. Destination Wedding Magazine recommends five treehouse hotels in its Fall 2009 issue, some of them offering high-priced luxury. They are:

Lodge Kura Hulanda, Curacao:

Offers a luxurious treehouse mansion with a four-poster bed, high on a cliff overlooking Kalki Beach, from $1,200 a night.

Kanopi House, Jamaica:

Four treehouse-style bungalows near Port Antonio on the island’s northeastern coast, from $300 a person, all-inclusive.

Tree House Lodge, Costa Rica:

A Caribbean-coast retreat in the Gandoca-Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge, where you can relax in hammocks and take canopy rainforest tours, from $300.

Tsala Treetop Lodge & Villas, South Africa:

Located between the coastal towns of Plettenberg Bay and Kynsna on the Garden Route of the Western Cape, from $370.

Winvian, Connecticut:

A Litchfield Hills resort that includes among its themed suites the luxurious Treehouse, a two-story cottage 35 feet off the ground, with a whirlpool, fireplace and French doors, from $1,999.

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