David Argüello Ugalde was born in 1958 in San José, Costa Rica. His interest in nature and surfing brought him over 20 years ago for the first time to the very remote area of Drake Bay/Osa Peninsula, close to the Corcovado National Park. David is an excellent all-rounder fixing everything, driving the boat, fishing, leading and organizing tours and entertaining guests.

Jolanda Hess was born in 1962 in Rheinfelden, Switzerland. Her spirit of adventure and her interest in nature and an ecological based tourism brought her in 1990 for her second time to Costa Rica and for her first time to Drake Bay. Jolanda is responsible for the administration, reservations, staff, groceries, the kitchen and so many other matters referred to their guests.

OUR PURPOSE

In 1991 we decided to purchase an 8-acre beachfront property in the area of "Playas Las Caletas", surrounded by primary and secondary forest. At the beginning our goal was to start our own little project, trying to realize our ideas of eco tourism and to combine our knowledge and love of nature with our ideas and abilities of management, languages (we are both fluent in Spanish, German and English; David speaks also some Italian) and social skills. We started to build our place little by little and are continuously working to improve our business. With just five rooms (capacity for about 15 persons) we try to minimize the garbage and wastewater and still to be able to earn our living. Electricity is provided through a combined system of solar cells and a water-driven turbine. We own a 18 and 22 feet boat with two 60 hp respectively 200 hp four-stroke, low emission motors. Because of the few guests, our attention is very personal and we try to make our guests stay as comfortable as possible, sharing with them our knowledge of the area, the whole country and its people. We also involve our neighbors in the tourism activity, renting their horses and buying their agriculture products if possible.