VerdEnergia Pacifica is located in San José Province, Puriscal, Costa Rica, in a remote jungle. VerdEnergia is a growing ecovillage and regenerative agroforestry project situated within acres of reforested jungle. It is an intentional permaculture community and reforestation project in the mountains of Lanas de Puriscal, Costa Rica.
VerdEnergia is a Cooperative dedicated to ecosystem regeneration and sustainable lifestyle creation, experimenting with practices that serve our land base and withdraw legitimacy from the unsustainable structures and habits of our cultures. We aim to transform today’s convergence of global crises into opportunities to unite, educate, and co-create a more conscious, just, and abundant way of life for ourselves and generations to come.
After a short return trip to the USA to visit family, the flight from Denver, Colorado, to Alajuela, Alajuela Province, Costa Rica was uneventful. We arrived at the Denver, Colorado, airport very early in the morning to make the 6:00am flight. Driving through Denver at 3:00am offers very little traffic, and arriving to the Denver airport by 4:00am had no challenges. The flight from Denver included a short stop and connection in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, where we would board the flight to Alajuela, Alajuela Province, Costa Rica. The very short stop in DFW was just long enough to use the restroom and walk from the arrival to the departure gates. Something we learned to appreciate about American Airlines is the flight schedules are almost always on time and rarely have delays. While flying with American Airlines, we have never experienced lost luggage or disrespectful flight attendants. That is an entirely different situation with Delta and, especially, United. We try to avoid flying with United at all costs.
The total flight time was under eight hours as we arrived in Costa Rica on schedule. Although the airport is in Alajuela, it is referred to as SJO, which is Juan Santamaria International Airport and is approximately a 30 minute bus trip to San Jose. We discussed lodging and visiting San Jose in another post if you are interested in learning more about San Jose, Costa Rica.
We stayed the night at Casa Escondida, a hostel in Alajuela, located on Avenue 7 between C. 10 Leon Fernandez and C. 12 Ismael Chaverri. You can contact the owners at +506 6049 1144 to get booking details.
We boarded the bus from Alajuela to Que Pos via Puriscal the following morning. There are two buses that travel from Alajuela to Que Pos, one to the north on well established roads and the route to the south that, once passing through Puriscal, the roads receive less maintenance due to what is said to be the tourist industry. Thanks to Marie and Chris, Marie provided exceptional instructions on which route to take. The north route would completely bypass VerdEnergia, and additional stops and lodging would be necessary to travel back up the jungle mountain toward Puriscal.
Marie and Chris have since departed from VerdEnergia after purchasing their own organic coffee farm property near San Isidro, San Jose Provice, Costa Rica. Marie and Chris have a branded organic coffee available from their Cafe Y Amor (+506 8979 7283) coffee company.
The bus ride from Alajuela to Salitrales was around 2 hours, where we debarked and awaited Eduardo to arrive and provide transportation to VerdEnergia. The view from Salitrales looking over the mountainous jungle forest was breath taking to say the least. Salitrales is a very small community with a small soda and a restaurant across the street. We had the opportunity to meet Wilbur and his wife and children when we stopped for a snack while waiting for our ride. It is unfathomable what the rigid mountains of Central America hold. Overlooking the valley from atop the mountain where we would be living for three months was incredible.