A Story of Discovery and the Damas Tree

When you arrive by car and enter the Ocotea Boutique Hotel, you’re welcomed under the branches of the Damas, a mid-sized, flowering tree with a gentle scent and pale flowers. The Damas tree is a favorite for the honeybees and other pollinators in the area, and whenever the flowers are in bloom, you can see them industriously buzzing around in their day’s work. 

Much like everything that has gone into the Ocotea Boutique Hotel, the Damas tree has a story, one that gives it significance to more than just the active pollinators who depend on it. 

A Simple Walk of Discovery

One day, years ago, our founder Karen was taking a walk along one of the trails near her house. When she’s out in the forest, Karen likes to walk slowly and deliberately, stopping to appreciate each detail, observe the changes and states of the shrubs, plants, and trees around her, and allow her senses to fill with the sounds, the smells, and other sensations of the forest. 

In a lot of ways, this intentional walking has parallels to practices like forest bathing, and to hear Karen tell it, these moments of peacefully walking in the woods also offer a spiritual connection. As a woman of faith, Karen has found that simply setting out into nature with an unassuming, humble mentality brings her closer to herself and her peace. 

In the middle of her journey, Karen stopped at a bend in the trail to gaze at some flowers just about to bud, examining them and noting that they might be ready to flower in the next few days. While she was looking, she caught the faintest scent on the breeze, something light, delicate. 

Karen stopped, turned in each direction, and walked a few paces, wondering what that beautiful smell was, but the breeze had shifted and she could no longer tell where the scent had come from. A few more paces along the trail, and Karen was ready to continue, writing off that beautiful smell as just another gift of the forest.

But there it was again, coming back stronger this time, and Karen let her curiosity guide her. There was another small wildlife trail leading into the woods, and Karen followed it, noticing the scent growing stronger and stronger until eventually she stumbled onto a clearing where a young Damas tree was in full bloom. 

It was the only Damas tree in the area, sprouting up in a patch of sunlight between the enormous trees all around it, a little gift from Monteverde to one willing to slow down and pay attention to the signs and signals all around her. 

It was a brief moment of discovery and wonder, and then Karen continued on with the rest of her walk, but she knew that when it was time to create the Ocotea Boutique Hotel, she wanted to honor that story of discovery and give a home for the same type of tree. After all, its faint, alluring smell had drawn her to a moment of discovery, and maybe one day it might inspire others to do the same. 

With Open Minds and Hearts Under the Canopy

To truly embrace and discover the beauty of Monteverde takes an element of reverence for nature, which can be hard in a world where everything is at our fingertips, waiting to be reached out and grabbed. Giving over to the uncertainty of the wild and trusting that whatever your journey brings you will be worth it means giving away a certain amount of that comforting control and power.

It’s an experience that can be deeply intertwined with faith and spirituality — making room in your heart for the unknown, for faith, trust, and a little bit of curiosity — but no matter what you believe or practice, the art of opening up to the wildness of nature is always deeply personal and deeply rewarding. 

After all, if you try to reach out and grab the secrets of Monteverde, they won’t reveal themselves to you. The birds and the animals are too quick and the beauty of nature is too fleeting. 

But letting go, even if it’s just for the length of time it takes you to wander a forest trail, you find something powerful, universal, and deeply worth discovering. 

If you’d like to join us in Monteverde, you can reach out to us or our team at info@ocoteahotel.com.