At night, from the hilly headlands of Costa Rica’s Central Valley — a mountain-flanked plateau home to nearly three quarters of the country’s population — the view down to the horizon-speckling lights of San José, the capital and most populous city, is mesmerizing.
Just as astounding is the quiet calm of the area around Santa Bárbara de Heredia, some 20 kilometers to the city’s northwest. In fact, the contrast between the imagined urban cacophony below and the tranquil urban removal is part of what makes the latter so glorious. That and a sensory-rich flight-of-fancy boutique hotel called Finca Rosa Blanca, owned and managed by Glenn and Teri Jampol.