We're Fernando and Carolina — both Costa Rican, both born here, and both gone for almost a decade. Nine years of office jobs, European winters, and saving with one idea in mind: come home and own a piece of land. Neither of us ever really believed we'd own a house. In February 2026 we finally did it — a small farm in the hills of Tufares de Puriscal, surrounded by coffee plantations, a few kilometers from the boundary of La Cangreja National Park.
Fernando spent those years behind screens (he still builds software, it pays for the fencing). Carolina spent them doing the opposite: sound healing, ceremony, helping people find quiet inside themselves — work she continues here through Luminous Five. Between us we knew almost nothing about farming, construction, or hosting. We're learning all three at once, in the humidity, against the ants, and we write about it honestly on the blog — failures included. Especially failures.
The land came with gifts: old avocado trees, cas and guava, bananas, starfruit, citrus. We're slowly building the soil and figuring out what actually wants to grow here. The birds needed no encouragement — toucans and tanagers pass through daily, the yigüirro (our national bird) provides the soundtrack, and every once in a while a macaw flies over just to show off.
Now we're building a cabin, so this place isn't just ours.