Imagine you are in the jungle staying peacefully with nature. To get there you spent 2 hours and crossed 5 rivers on the collectativa. There are no big hotels, few places at all, and hardly any people…. and kilometers of black sand beaches. The food was organic and excellent most of it grown on site and the staff made you feel, like you never wanted to leave. The cabins are clean and open to the environment; the architecture is out of sight and is congruent with nature. The shower is outside and perfect for setting. Wildlife surrounds you, macaws, toucans and 4 species of monkeys just to name a few. They have a resident taiper and we saw green and olive ridley turtles.
We are looking forward to visiting again as soon as possible. 10 plus!

Finca Exotica has been my home away from home for the second year in a row. I have stayed here for several weeks, patrolling the beaches of Carate for sea turtle nests, as part of international work collaboration with Osa Conservation and the newly-formed COTORCO sea turtle project. The area is secluded and not at all touristy, but easy to get to, providing the perfect balance of local community and nature. I have stayed a wide variety of accommodations, including several of the cabins and tents, and they are all wonderful. The owners are very well-cultured people, who are excited to share a plethora of knowledge and love of sustainable architecture, life-styles, food, and health. The cuisine is unique and I have never experienced a place that offers such a fresh and diverse array of meals before. Almost everything is grown organically right on sight, or locally acquired. You can view the ocean straight from Casa Grande (the restaurante and bar), and the beach is just a short hop across the road. Although I have only stayed here during the low season, when they are closed most of the time, I have enjoyed a few weekends with guests and other volunteers from around the world, who have expressed as much enjoyment in this place as I have. I am ecstatic to have returned, and it has been wonderful to see the friendly smiling faces of the people I know who work here. Should I return to Costa Rica for any reason in the future (which I will, of course), this is where I want to be!

If all you are looking for is a bed in a remote area of Costa Rica, with shoddy accommodations, substandard dining and limited activities, this is the place for you. I was under the impression that self-sustained Eco farm meant that all the food served would be grown on this farm. Store bought potato gnocchi did not quite fit the bill. Calling this place a farm is a stretch. There are a few fruit trees and two pigs that are not able to leave their cement pen. This place desperately needs an executive chef or foodservice consultant. There was no fresh fruit for breakfast, the rest of the meals were rice, potatoes and vegetables, gnocchi and potatoes, and rice, beans and potatoes. One night they did give us about three ounces of chicken with potatoes and black beans. I felt like I was eating leftovers my entire stay. After passing miles of cattle farms on the way to Finca Exotica, I was expecting better than three types of starch with every meal. Also, it would have been nice to have a snack at 2 PM after hiking 20 km, but no such luck.

There was one hammock on the property, in the main building, that had a big hole in it; there were no hammocks at the cabin or at the beach. I was given one towel that I had to use for three days; there are no dryers and it is so humid that nothing ever air dries. Bring a plastic bag to bring home your wet laundry.

There is a beautiful yoga platform, but unfortunately there were neither yoga classes nor an instructor. They advertised wifi in the main building, but only the staff is allowed to use it. Actually I didn't mind being cut off from civilization, although they shouldn't advertise what they don't provide. Unfortunately, that's the norm at Exotica rather than the exception. Spa services...lol...forget about it.

I hired their guide to take us hiking into to rainforest, but all I did was pay for someone to walk on a trail along the beach with us. We did see some birds and monkeys. It's a three day, two night camping trip to actually hike into the Corcovado Reserve. You can take a plane in for $700, not including the cost of the guide, to hike the center of the reserve and avoid the eight hour hike into and out of the reserve. I wish I saved my money and just walked the beach and the trails on the Exotica property.

This was a once in a lifetime adventure, and once in a lifetime is enough for me. There were plenty of exotic birds and monkeys in the trees very close to my cabin. The driver that brought us out to Exotica was great. I saw more wild life on the drive out there than I saw at Exotica. It was a blast actually driving through 14 rivers--over 2.5 hours from Puerto Jimenez--and streams to reach Exotica. Although Exotica was a cool experience, I feel that my time and money could have been spent better elsewhere in Costa Rica..

My husband and I are in our 60's and I had my reservations when we arrived 12 days ago for a 4 day stay. But this was the most amazing experience of our trip.
Gabriella and Phoebe and the entire staff were welcoming and available when needed. We had the uppermost cabina and wondered if we could make it up the fairly steep path several times daily. The view, magical sounds of the birds and the roar of the ocean made the trek easy, well mostly.

The food was extraordinary, always fresh and yummy and local and accomodated the meat and veggie folks.

The Osa Peninsula is a special place and so is Finca Exotica!

Vicki V Richmond, Ca

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