Sep 21-28, 2024 - Playa Negra, Guanacaste, Costa Rica

Phase 1 (10 possible spots available)

This exclusive destination vacation will be set on the shores of the Pacific, at one of Costa Rica's best kept secrets. Beautiful Playa Negra promises warm waters, gentle breezes, and picturesque sunsets. The lush tropical landscape is home to iguanas, howler monkeys, geckos, and more. We will dine on fresh local fruits, vegetables, fish, and seafood, all while our feet are planted in Costa Rica's Nicoya Peninsula blue zone.

...And of course, there will be mushroom foraging. We will board a shuttle bus to private trails located approximately 60 minutes inland, where we will climb through the dense forests to look for familiar species like chanterelles, hedgehogs, and indigo milk caps, but also exotic species unlike anything found back home in North America.

Once settled in at our luxurious beachfront AirBNB, we will enjoy daily morning smoothies with fresh mangoes, huevos rancheros, and Costa Rican coffee. Afternoons will be spent having cocktails around our private pool, or at the beach, shaded by the thatched palm roof of the adjacent bar and restaurant at Hotel Playa Negra.

Kontiki Playa Negra is a casual, rustic hostel where we will enjoy the amazing pizzas from their wood fired oven, and sip on the delicious creations of the owner, and my good friend Jeronimo De Almenara.

Villa Deevena is a walled garden, containing an upscale boutique hotel and a five-star restaurant featuring classic French cuisine. The culinary creations of New York Times-celebrated Chef Patrick Jamon feature fresh local ingredients, locally foraged mushrooms, and fish netted by his sons Dean and Ari who will also be our foraging guides! After the foraging event, we will return to Playa Negra to cool off. A quick change of attire, and back to Deevena for an exquisite meal featuring our freshly foraged fungal finds.

Surfing lessons, deep sea fishing, a local skatepark, and day trips to volcanoes, hot springs, waterfalls, traditional Costa Rican pottery village, and river tours are also available, and can be arranged individually or for our group.

Recommended flights:

YYZ-LIB - WestJet - WS 2644 - Sep 21 - 0900-1226hrs

LIB-YYZ - WestJet - WS 2645 - Sep 28 - 1325-2046hrs

If you are traveling on alternate flights which arrive later or depart earlier, you may incur additional transportation fees.