EXPERIENCE THE WONDERS OF
COSTA RICA bY AIR
Believe in
ADVENTURE W
What started out as a vision board dream for a future life already firmly grounded in paradise, quickly turned to manifest destiny when my vacation plans to fly an ultralight were beached for the low season. No one seemed to be flying. The tour services all made sad faces at me when I inquired. I was beginning to think I wouldn’t make it into the air when I saw a tiny icon on a friend’s post about trees. She owns and operates Community Carbon Trees of Costa Rica and was making a delivery to someone I’d never met. Someone whose profile pic showed him sporting a headset for flying and who was obviously IN Costa Rica. I clicked on the pic without hesitation, rather abruptly introduced myself and went into what could have been considered an imposing inquisition on the availability of aircraft in the area. Luckily, Harlow Newton (aka: Salvador) accepted my friend request almost instantly and was equally excited about the prospect of flying. In fact, it was a life-long dream for him though he was admittedly afraid of heights.
Harlow “Salvador” Newton
He just happened to know someone in the area who had a helicopter and might be willing to do a tour. That someone turned out to be one of our pilots. His name was Jesse. At that moment, I knew it was meant to be.
Jessie & Jesse
About a year earlier I had taken a vision board class with a friend named Barbara Pellegrino who inspires others to follow their dreams. A vision board is where you cut and paste the life you want to see yourself living from pics in magazines. Mine included a woman flying like superman, a motorcycle and a helicopter among other things. You’re supposed to superimpose images of yourself to help visualize. I didn’t have access to a printer living in a small, rural pueblo in Costa Rica but I definitely wanted something that represented ME next to that helicopter. I ended up using a sticker that I had for the local kids’ worksheets when they visited for story time. It was the cowgirl from the movie Toy Story. She looked spunky and happy – a lot like me when I had red hair. By now you can guess her name.
vision realized
This is not the sticker I used, but what I did when I realized, “I’m going to fly a helicopter over COSTA RICAAAAAAAAAA!” YEEEHOO!
theGoodlife “I have to admit, I’m afraid of heights. But I’m willing to take the risk!” - Harlow “Salvador” Newton
Jesse not only flies helicopters, owns an air-conditioning biz in Florida and built his private home/resort called Punta Gabriela in one of the most desirable areas of Costa Rica; he’s a complete character! I guess you have to be a bit over the top to have a helipad on your roof. He’s no less human though and even more likeable for that fact. Meeting Jesse for the first time was like meeting an old friend after years of separation. In the short span of time I spent with him I was completely accepted into his world—lovely, adoring wife, great friends and clients to spend time with working around the house or just relaxing. It’s no wonder he is so successful and not just in the business sense.
Helicopte
GPS Lo N
Counter clock wise from left: Harlow & Jesse discuss the route around Buenaventura before departure. The Savegre River Confluence. Jessie & Harlow planting a tree. The landing zone at Three Seeds from above.
DREAMS TAKE FLIGHT Buenaventura
er Flight Plan from PaciÞc Coast to Buenaventura (Up Savegre & Division Rivers) Upper Savegre River
RaÞki Safari Lodge Conßuence of Savegre & Division Rivers
La Bomba Waterfall 300+ foot fall Division River
x San Isidro (Perez)
Buenaventura & Three Seeds Flight Path Back to Home Base (Fastest way back)
Meanwhile, Harlow was busy designing a remarkably detailed flight plan inclusive of his dream to see a helicopter land at his place in Savegre and use it to survey his kingdom. Complete with GPS coordinates, visual highlights and a history of the surrounding area, I was sold on the idea at once. We would fly along the Pacific Coastline a little south to Marina Ballena to see whales and the Whale Tail. Circle back up to Tinamastes Valley to fly over Diamante and Nauyaca Waterfalls. Then back towards Dominical and fly over Hacienda Baru coastline to the Savegre River using it to navigate our way to Buenaventura. The plan included a touch down in the soccer field to have lunch at his sister Tamara’s place called Three Seeds, tour around BV and see their Ceiba tree, plant some cacao to offset carbon, then fly back to Punta Gabriela.
La Alfombra Matapalo Beach
ocation of Landing Site at BV: 9.430661 E -83.921313
Dominical Beach
Pieces of the vision:
Disclaimer: Graphics from my vision board, NOT Harlow’s flight plan!
FLYing HIGH After a brief pre-flight chat about what we wanted to accomplish on the tour, we departed Punta Gabriela with Adam & Jesse at the helm. A quick drop off the helipad into the canopy below and we were off to the beach. A dozen surfers lined up to wave as we skirted the coastline north from Dominical. I was immediately struck by the vast amount of palm tree plantations like flesh eating bacteria on the face of the earth. There are so-called reforestation projects receiving money to plant trees like this for profit, further depleting the soil and creating food deserts for the native animals. I’m reminded why the work and dedication of my new friend Jennifer at Community Carbon Trees is so important. It is my hope to inform others about real rainforest reforestation like hers. Our hosts Harlow at Buenaventura Eco-Adventure Rainforest Retreat and Harlow’s sister Tamara founder of Three Seeds Eco-Education Rainforest Camp welcomed us along with their families waving and whooping and jumping for joy. I remember how excited I was to see a helicopter land for the first time. I can just imagine how exciting it must have been for them to see a helicopter land in their own back yard – in the very spot where they probably play soccer every day!
Learn More Here!
Sharing is caring
After a short tour of the facilities including the small school room where the local kids make crafts and practice English together while their moms learn to sew useful souvenirs to raise money for themselves and their families; we sat down to eat. The food was as good as the conversation. We ate – no more like devoured (flying works up an appetite!) freshly harvested home-grown 100% organic and prepared by loving hands and hearts:
“Se hace con amor, se hace bien.” What is done with love is done well.
Gallo Pinto with organic brown rice and black beans, yucca hash browns with herbs, fresh off the farm seasoned scrambled eggs, a mixed fruit salad of papaya, pineapple, mango and banana, whole wheat-homemade- strawberry and banana tarts. And to wash it all down: Banana with farm-fresh milk smoothies, coffee with warm milk, Thai Basil tea hot and fresh spring drinking water. Regaled by fantastic stories of bravery, pilgrimage and community helping spirit we learned that life at the camp was not always so easy. Eleven-year-old Daniela had survived a snake bite two years prior, not to mention the 45-minute ride into town for treatment with only a calf-length scar. Harlow built a bridge and an internet tower to connect the little community with the surrounding area. Tamara married a local and became the matriarch of fertility tending the food gardens and the children with equal care and compassion. Volunteers Jay and Angela (right) wore their machetes proudly and led the way, happily marching to the orders “Take these people to plant more trees!”
I’m told that guests will be provided with rubber boots for slogging in the mud next time. To be fair, it was rainy season and you can’t bring much under the seat of a helicopter. The holes were dug for us in predetermined spots designed in a Fibonacci spiral that will eventually become a labyrinth of cacao destined to be chocolate in the pockets of visitors and helper trees to provide shade and enrich the soil. Everyone has a slightly different technique for tree-planting in the sub-tropics. This one was a little more tender and thoughtful than the usual drop and plop I’ve seen on larger plantings of 300+ trees. It felt nice to take some time with an individual tree though I wish we could have planted more than just three to offset that carbon footprint! Not just a symbolic gesture, planting a single tree can offset one ton of carbon on average over its lifetime. *Community Carbon Trees
We didn’t have time to stay long or see nearly as much as we wanted since the rains threatened to arrive anytime and we still had to do the survey of Harlow’s Kingdom – Buenaventura, a rainforest retreat center and 160-acre private wildlife preserve! The first take-off was every bit as thrilling as the first landing. Adam was our singular PIC on this leg of the flight. Harlow counted no less than eleven waterfalls in the surrounding area, Jay inspected his planting patterns from the proper perspective. We all ooed and awed and whooped and hollered as Adam (pictured above) dipped us over blue lagoons and whipped around ravines into the canopy as close as we could safely go. It’s near impossible to describe what you will see if you go but here’s the official version.
From the website: Recognized by Conservation International as holding most of the Earth’s biodiversity, Buenaventura is located in a serene and hidden valley within the greater Savegre River Valley of Costa Rica. Along the north and south sides of Rio Division, with 40% of the property inside the southern border of Los Santos Forest Reserve, an area north of Buenaventura with over 150,000 acres of protected primary and secondary Tropical Cloud Forests and Humid Rain Forests. Many endangered animals (Jaguars, Tapirs, Sloths, etc.) and plant species live in this reserve located on the western valleys and foothills of the Talamanca Corridor.
It’s nothing short
It’s nothing short of a real life Disney Jurassic adventure tour for grown-ups who grew up on Willy Wonka and Dr. Seuss. You’ve seen nothing like it before in your life. No one had, until this day. You won’t be the first but you will be the first of many more to come and every day is a new experience in the jungle. It’s not an over-statement to say there is no other way to experience this area, because there isn’t. There are no roads and even if there were, you’d only be looking up at canopy so dense it blocks the sun. It’s completely new territory never before seen by human eyes from the elevation only a helicopter can achieve. These are the moments that make history.
of a miracle
For Harlow and his family, it opens up a whole new avenue of income in adventure tourism that can be truly aligned with their mission to educate the world about ecological living. For Jesse and Adam, it’s a way to do more of what they love – flying to bring people to new heights of fun and consequently, new heights of awareness. For me, the flight opened up a whole new world of experience, new friends and new lifestyle choices that have changed my ideas about my own future. Living consciously comes in so many costumes; some simple, some outrageous and everything in between. At first I thought this was the end of a dream—the fruition, the culmination—the peak of the mountaintop. Now, I see that it was only a small but nonetheless miraculous proof of faith to keep me moving forward and that my journey has just begun. Luckily, it’s much more efficient in a helicopter!
every time we fly
If you would like to take an Eco-adventure Helicopter Tour or visit Buenaventura to plant a tree (or three) and have brunch with the Three Seeds family, contact Harlow or Tamara.
Make it convenient for yourself and stay at one of the Villas at Punta Gabriela located under the departure helipad. www.puntagabriela.com
While you’re there, visit the nursery where the trees you plant originated and say hi to Jenny at Community Carbon Trees of Costa Rica.
Feeling like you want to go NOW, but don’t know where to start? Contact Harlow directly for expert travel assistance.
Higher aims Community Carbon Trees is Jennifer Smith, founder and Juan Mendiola, partner.
Find them at: www.communitycarbontrees-costarica.com
Harlow “Salvador” Newton is Buenaventura, Tico Guide Travel and so much more.
Find him at: www.buenaventuracr.com www.ticoguidetravel.com
Three Seed’s one and only Tamara Christine Newton-Saenz can be found on Facebook
Or online at: www.experiencecostarica.org
Brought to you by Jessica Manley @ JM Publishing
Keep the love alive. Click the envelope to share your story of a dream come true or one in progress! Support one or all of the worthy groups that made this vision reality -
Take a vacation. Go on an adventure. Get inspired!