Not all beach weddings are alike. While they share a similarity of decor – the sun, the surf, the proximity of vibrant nature – the individuals at the heart of the ceremony bring their unique selves to the celebration.
By way of example, here are three portraits from some of our favorite high season weddings.
Daphne and Erik
Michelle and Michael
Teagan and Olli
If you are traveling in Latin America on the first day of May, you can expect to find banks, government offices, stores, post offices and businesses closed as people celebrate the Día Internacional Del Trabajo, or International Workers Day.
Costa Rica joins many countries of the world in setting aside this day as a national holiday. The roots of May Day are quite distinct from the pagan spring festivals of old, and yet both customs are popular in the literal sense – of and for the people.
This year we celebrate the workers who provide our food, and we wish all workers a happy and peaceful May Day.
Yeimy, Adriana, Sofia, Gabriela - the Fantastic Four!
As we transition from Dry Season, also known as High Season, we’ve asked our staff to relay some of their favorite experiences. This one comes from manager Sophia Granados Chaverri, a city girl who has learned to love nature at Sugar Beach
The idea of seeing a turtle is amazing. When the season began last year we got involved with the children of the school and staff of Marino Las Baulas National Park in projects of conservation and protection, a topic that was very interesting to me.
Every morning I would wake up, come to the hotel, and see by the traces of their fins in the sand that the turtles had visited the beach. This was very exciting, though it made me angry to know that people were coming to the beach in the early hours to find turtle eggs so they could sell them.
We started arriving even earlier. We erased the fin traces before they could be seen by the hunters. Then the big day arrived: three little turtles had left their nest and headed home, to the sea.
Newly arrived
It was very emotional to see them, with all the effort and determination that it took for them to plunge themselves into the giant ocean. It was not easy. As they advanced a little a wave pushed them to where they started, again and again, until finally they disappeared beneath the foam.
It is wonderful how nature demonstrates and teaches us about its greatness. These are the memories that marked the season for me. I want to share them, because there is no doubt, wonderful things happen here. Every day is different.
Long journey begins
Some of our favorite flowers and blossoms which reach their peak of beauty during dry season.
Cortez Amarillo
Florblanca
Cortez Negra
Cortez Amarillo Portrait
Just park it anywhere
Semana Santa marked the end of the dry season, when the higher volume of travelers seeking sun, the sea and warmer temperatures travel to Guanacaste. This year, the hotel staff would like to say thank you to all of our guests who stayed with us this past high season!
We entered the high season with a week long retreat led by Miguel Ruiz and his family. This was a week of discovery, love and community. The staff looks forward to future opportunities to host an event that offers this level inspiration and hope. This theme, love, continued through March. Sugar Beach hosted 12 weddings this high season! With so many tropical wonderlands in Costa Rica, we truly feel privileged that the couples chose Sugar Beach. Surrounded by family, friends & the extreme beauty of the tropical dry forest – summer at Sugar Beach can be wild and unruly in the height of the dry season – the newly to be wed exchanged vows only moments before the sun disappeared in a flaming spectacle beyond the horizon.
Michael and Michelle
Wild and unruly seemed to be what the Hikers Group, avid birders, enjoyed this past March, when many trees bare and without foliage, showcased a variety of smaller tropical birds. This year’s notable group forged the trails every day with gusto, with no hindrance from their 80 plus years, marking yet another inspiration for the crew.
Travelers from abroad and within Costa Rica converged for Semana Santa. This busy, sun drenched week at the beach had its moments – from an early morning scramble to claim the shoreline tree shade to heavy afternoon activities and full picnics laid out along the beach. For three days, Sugar Beach took on the atmosphere more known to beaches closer to cities, the wild and unruly applied to the human landscape! The end of the high season is crowned our largest number of visitors.
Now we look forward to returning to the norm, a stress-free, low-key day at the beach. Keep your eye out for our upcoming offers for the green season.
Peace
Procession
Easter, throughout the greatly Catholic countries of Latin America, is celebrated with masses, processions and the traditional rites that accompany the resurrection of Christ next Sunday.
In Costa Rica the Metropolitan Cathedral in San Jose started the week’s festivities with the procession of Palm Sunday—a tradition untouched for over two hundred years.
The Costa Ricans take their Easter week seriously, and to make sure that people are observing the faith, the country still has a “dry law,” which prohibits commercial establishments from selling or serving alcohol on Thursday and Friday. To keep the sentiment alive, scores of police are in charge of going around from one establishment to the rest putting yellow crime-scene tape around the bottles in the bars. (more…)
Welcome to Costa Rica!
Time to Relax
Need an excuse for a relaxing spring getaway to one of the top beaches in Costa Rica? How is this for a tempting bargain:
Beginning April 12 your stay at Hotel Sugar Beach is just $79 per person. For Costa Rica nationals, it’s $63 per person, a 20% discount.
This rate includes room, breakfast, lunch and dinner, as well as all taxes.
Keep your monkey happy with banana pancakes
Don’t miss this opportunity to shed your cares in our secluded Pacific cove. All rooms just steps from the beach. Stunning sunsets no extra charge. We’re a short ride from hiking, snorkeling, ziplining and more.
Contact info@sugar-beach.com for more information or call +(506) 2654.4242
Offer good through May 15.
Back flip
Zipline
Swimming at sunset
Attending the wedding
Heron by Manfred
The photograph of this Bare-throated Tiger Heron, Tigrisoma mexicanum, was taken by Hotel Sugar Beach waiter and up and coming nature photographer Manfred Jimenez. Manfred took this stunning photograph by the estuary on Penca Beach, just two small coves away from Sugar Beach. This particular heron with its black cap, yellow face and feathered throat belongs to a secretive species that dwells along the tropical coastlines of Mexico and Central America, and as far South as Northwestern Colombia. Because of its shy demeanor, the Tiger Heron is not often observed. But armed with his Nikon and watchful patience, Manfred caught the Tiger Heron sunning in the last rays of the day’s sun.
Costa Rica is known the world over for its pristine beaches and its stellar biodiversity. With only 51,100 square kilometers (19,678 Square Miles), the country boasts an avifauna of 878 species, grouped into 75 different families. This is a greater variety of birds than are found in the United States and Canada combined, countries with a total surface equivalent to 383 times the size of Costa Rica. The variety of habitats, concentrated within a relatively small area, make this country a paradise for that singular species of humans that is the birdwatcher. At Hotel Sugar Beach, various other bird species have been sighted, including the fancy-feathered Turquoise-browed Motmot, the Streak-backed Oriole, the Steely-vented Hummingbird, and flocks of cheerfully loud Orange-fronted Parakeets.
Monkey on the bridge
The children were asked to paint monkey figures created by Yeimy. This helped the children to identify with the monkeys so they will be more alert to their presence. The children will also report where they see the monkeys and in this way will let us know where we should install more bridges.
We will report again soon on our progress!
Sophia lends a brush
The artists' way
Illusive blue monkey
Photo by Marco Gonzalez Murillo
Gorgeous photos by Marco Gonzalez Murillo, a wonderful chef we know from San Jose. Please visit his blog to see more.
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