Mandarin Oriental Exclusive Villa Costa Rica

THE STORY BEHIND VILLA SUEÑO …

Fair warning, this is a bizarre story, and it starts with a treadmill…

Villa Sueño, ‘Dream House’ in Spanish, is a name that some of you may find corny, but the tale behind its creation brought hope and marked a new chapter in our lives through a time of negativity.

During covid lock-down, we found ourselves stuck in a monotonous and unhealthy routine. That is until we decided to invest in a treadmill. In order to provide a more engaging workout, we opted for a NordicTrack treadmill with a built-in iFit app.

For those of you who are not familiar with iFit, it is a clever app that gives you the choice to select the type of workout, the intensity, your coach, and a location to devise a tailormade training session. The treadmill also dynamically adjusts (speed and elevation) to the pace and terrain of the trainer.

Thanks to the variety of training destinations on offer, despite being confined to our house, we found a way to travel the world during the long and monotonous Covid lockdowns. One of the many destinations we explored was Costa Rica, which particularly caught our eye and interest and prompted the genesis of a wild idea.

Our intrigue with the country, its biodiversity and focus on sustainability, its culture and pura vida lifestyle values as well as its culture increased with every fitness session, as the trainers would coach us through training sessions from Tamarindo Bay, Samara Beach, Nosara Beach, coffee plantations, Monte Verde Cloud Forest, Arenal Volcano, La Fortuna, Manuel Antonio National Park, Hermosa Beach in Puntarenas, Corcovado, Bahia Ballena National Park, Nuayaca and Rio Celeste Waterfall and much more. The fitness coaches would educate us about the country in parallel with the training, which sparked an interest to conduct further research on the side. The more Michael and I learned, the more we got interested in Costa Rica as we started perceiving it as Earth’s paradise.

Soon, our interest turned into serious curiosity that prompted us to further educate ourselves on Costa Rica beyond the information provided on iFit. Maybe also bored from the lack of entertainment during lockdown, we started enjoying evenings conducting research and eventually looking at properties for fun over the internet while sipping some wine and started developing the dream to one day grow old there.

To cut a long story short, we stumbled across an opportunity and proceeded to buy a plot to build our dream home.

Finally, lockdown eased, and travel was permitted, and we visited Costa Rica for the first time, while the build was well in progress.

Admittedly, we were a bit apprehensive before embarking on our trip. We departed from London with a mind full of expectations and a heart filled with hope and emotions.

With the greatest relief imaginable, our virtually acquired judgement of Costa Rica during lockdown materialised into veritable and genuine love at first sight.

We completed construction, designed the interiors, and equipped the house with everything and anything we always dreamt of having in our dream house. In the gym you will find a NordicTrack treadmill just like the one that instigated this story. Try it and see - maybe you will find your own dream destination if it is not also Costa Rica!

Welcome to our home. We hope you will enjoy our beloved luxury treehouse, the sounds of the jungle, the sightings of wildlife and the beautiful views of the ocean under the trees' canopy as much as we do and that you will have an unforgettable vacation here.

Pura Vida!

Giovanna & Michael