Welcome to Pura Vida dreamin'

Welcome to Pura Vida dreamin'. This blog describes the life of an overly educated tropical forest farmer. My name is Andrew Ogden and I am the co-founder of Finca Carolina and UTSI: The Uvita Tropical Studies Institute. Finca Carolina is the name of our farm which was purchased in 2002 by myself and two cohorts Robert Tate and David Starman. UTSI is the business we have started dedicated to ecological adventure and education. Here you can read about the ups and downs of starting an organic farm and sustainable educational tourism business on a mountainside overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Southwestern Costa Rica near the township of Uvita. At Finca Carolina we grow fruits and vegetables, many of which you may have never heard of. We host tours which showcase the primary rainforest and incredible waterfalls found at Finca Carolina. We bought the farm as absolutely raw land and have spent the past seven years transforming it into our vision of a Tropical Paradise. Our dream is that visitors to Finca Carolina will walk away with a heightened appreciation for Nature and the incredibly interconnected Web of Life. We grow all of our fruits and vegetables without the use of any chemical fertilizer or pesticides. This is done out of respect for our natural environment and the many cohabitants of the Finca which include sloths, white faced monkeys, toucans, parrots, and the list goes on and on. I will also introduce you to the many characters one encounters in Uvita from the good hearted locals who have helped me from Day 1 to the random assortment of international characters who have all been drawn to Uvita for one reason or another. One thing we all have in common is that we all came to Costa Rica with a vision and a dream. Nothing personifies that dream better than the Costa Rican national catchphrase Pura Vida (Pure Life). Hence we are all quite literally Pura Vida dreamin'