Celebrate Guanacaste Day at Hacienda Guachipelin
The best place to stay to celebrate Costa Rica’s big holiday of Guanacaste Day on July 25 is at Hotel Hacienda Guachipelin.
Celebrate Guanacaste culture and traditions on Costa Rica’s big holiday of Guanacaste Day at Hotel Hacienda Guachipelin.
Guanacaste Day 2017 on July 25 commemorates 193 years since Costa Rica’s northwest province voluntarily chose to be part of the country. Once belonging to Nicaragua, the area known as Guanacaste annexed with Costa Rica on July 25, 1824, now celebrated annually as a national holiday all over the country. The region officially became a Costa Rican province in 1848 and was renamed after Costa Rica’s national tree, the Guanacaste.
As a public holiday, on July 25, banks, schools and government offices will be closed in Costa Rica. A short drive from Hacienda Guachipelin, there will be big “fiestas” in Guanacaste’s principal city of Liberia all the weekend prior with parades, music, folk dances, cattle and horse shows, fireworks and traditional foods. Costa Rica’s national instrument, the marimba, will feature prominently in traditional music.
At Hacienda Guachipelin, you can listen to the “living legend” of marimba music, Justo Pastor Sanchez Castillo – known affectionately to all as “Don Justo”. He entertains guests with his colorful songs on his legendary marimba nearly every night in Hacienda Guachipelin’s bar, and is planning a great show for July 25. For more than 50 years Don Justo has made magic with his music on the marimba, the foundation of Costa Rica’s traditional folk music.
Guanacaste’s rich traditions of ranching and cowboy life are deeply rooted at Hacienda Guachipelin, dating all the way back to the ranch’s beginning in 1880. One of the most popular things to do in Guanacaste is to go horseback riding around Hacienda Guachipelin’s 3,400-acre ranch at the base of the magnificent Rincon de la Vieja Volcano to waterfalls and natural hot springs. And the hotel’s Adventure Center offers numerous other Guanacaste one-day tours like zip-lining, mountain biking, hiking, river tubing and more.
The family-owned eco-friendly hotel is committed to sustainability and is certified for Sustainable Tourism (CST) by the Costa Rican Tourism Board. Much of the food served in their “farm-to-table” restaurant is produced on the ranch.
Contact Hotel Hacienda Guachipelin for reservations to celebrate the Guanacaste Day holiday with a real Guanacaste adventure.
Article by Shannon Farley