My friend Eladio Soto has helmed the fields at Hacienda AltaGracia since the land was only comprised of a coffee plantation. Soto, along with a group of five full-time farmers from the local community grow crops like asparagus, passionfruit, chayote squash, and mustard leaf, making my job as a chef much, much easier.

Good foundations are the premise of every Costa Rican meal. Our ecology in the Pérez Zeledón region is perfect for sourcing rice, beans, and tortillas and growing sugarcane and coffee, but most people don't know we're experts at transforming the savory empanada into a sweet treat. With corn from Hacienda AltaGracia's farm as the base, we make viscachas - sweet empanadas made with sugar instead of salt. It tastes delicious with picadillo made from chayote squash, a pear-shaped green fruit packed with fiber, antioxidants, and even weight loss properties.

What feels dense inside, appears light as a tuft of cotton, but weighs up to a million pounds? Find out when you glide your fingers through them during an Ultralight flight above the mountains of Pérez Zeledón. When you buckle-up in the two-seat, fixed-wing Ultralight aircraft you can discover what clouds feel like as you glimpse whales, dolphins, and turtles of the Pacific Ocean from above.

“Am I really here? Can you pinch me?” said my husband almost every morning during our coffee-sourcing trip to Hacienda AltaGracia. We came to select the perfect beans for our shop in Vancouver, as Costa Rica is considered one of the best coffee growing regions in the world - it's the only country where it's illegal to produce any type of coffee other than 100 percent Arabica beans.

I've been traveling to Costa Rica for almost 30 years, and I've been to plenty of the country's resorts. In all that time, I've never seen a place where both kids and adults can have equally incredible experiences than at Hacienda Alta Gracia. For kids, the stables are the best in Central America. Well-trained and easy for kids to ride and enjoy, my granddaughters fed and brushed the horses following their ride. Plus, a huge bonus - there are almost always baby horses on the property, which are always a hit! Back at the resort, the kids played at Kata Grande, conveniently located near a bar where parents can enjoy!

I don't just plan trips, I change lives. When a couple comes to me in need of a romantic getaway, it's especially exciting to plan a travel experience that is not only out-of-the-box and inspiring but that also stops time. An insider tip I love to give my clients is the special opportunity to make their own scrubs at Hacienda AltaGracia's spa. The team of massage therapists assist you in mixing your bathtub blend with lush tropical oils, bottling the scent of Costa Rica for you to take home.

“Am I really here? Can you pinch me?” said my husband almost every morning during our coffee-sourcing trip to Hacienda AltaGracia. We came to select the perfect beans for our shop in Vancouver, as Costa Rica is considered one of the best coffee growing regions in the world - it's the only country where it's illegal to produce any type of coffee other than 100 percent Arabica beans. Though we tried the renowned Tarrazú Geisha coffee before - the most expensive coffee ever sold by Starbucks - we came for the bird-friendly beans found in the Perez Zeledon mountains, an area where mountainous terrain and warm temperatures collide to form the ideal conditions for Arabica beans to flourish.