The Story of Cerro Vueltas Lodge

Tucked high in the Costa Rican cloud forest about 10,000 feet above sea level is Cerro Vueltas Lodge, a living example of self-reliance and ecological harmony. Wendy Seelye Smith, one of five siblings raised off-grid on the family farm, still remembers the early days when milking cows at dawn and hiking buckets of milk up mountain trails was part of their homeschool curriculum.

Her parents, both schoolteachers from Michigan, left the U.S. in the 1970s in search of a country without an army. Fearing their unborn son would one day be drafted into war, and disheartened by the constraints placed on their teaching, both parents chose a different path—one far from standardized tests and bureaucratic mandates. “They didn’t want their children to experience what their peers had in Vietnam or Korea,” Wendy explained. “And they wanted to homeschool, to raise their kids off the grid.”

After bouncing through warmer, buggier regions in Costa Rica, the family migrated higher and higher into the mountains, finally stumbling upon an abandoned roadside lodge once used by travelers along the old Inter-American Highway. “My father got lost in the forest and found it,” Wendy said. “It was still intact, with a wooden floor - a luxury after years of living on dirt.”

The family squatted there for seven years, eventually standing in front of tractors to block deforestation. With help from local villagers, they sparked a movement that led the government to purchase the land and designate it a biological reserve. The family’s activism saved hundreds of acres of pristine cloud forest, but also meant they had to relocate. Still, the forest was protected, and that, to them, was worth everything.

The family relocated to the nearby property that would later become Cerro Vueltas Lodge. They bought it with help from Wendy’s grandmother and by selling homemade cheese from the cows and goats they raised. “We never cut a single tree to build the lodge,” Wendy said. “It was all done with fallen wood and hand tools.”

After years of living off the land, Wendy and her siblings began working as tour guides, leading survival treks and educational hikes. The experience exposed them to a new world of ideas - and planted the seeds for something bigger. “We realized we could build something here,” she said. “A place where people could stay, learn, and experience what we had grown up with.” That vision became Cerro Vueltas Lodge: a family-built haven powered by a deep respect for the land.

Today, Cerro Vueltas is a fully operational high-mountain lodge and farm that embodies the family’s philosophy of closed-loop sustainability. A biodigester turns cow and pig waste into biogas, which powers the cheese room and boils beans and water for the household. The liquid byproduct fertilizes pasture grasses, completing the nutrient cycle. Food scraps go to pigs; compost supports the garden; and hot showers are warmed by solar energy and wood-fire systems.

Cerro Vueltas is still very much a working farm, alive with the energy of cows, pigs, horses, chickens, and even two ponds full of rainbow trout. Visitors can learn to milk a cow at sunrise, try their hand at fishing for lunch, or witness the birth of a calf if the timing’s right. Educational workshops introduce guests to everything from bread baking and BlackBerry jam to medicinal plant hikes and permaculture farming.

Bed and breakfast lodging includes access to more than 20 miles of hiking trails, with terrain for all ages and ability levels, from leisurely strolls through the forest to steep climbs that reward hikers with panoramic views. Every process at Cerro Vueltas serves a purpose and offers a lesson in ecological balance.

“We always hope people leave inspired to make a small change in their own lives,” Wendy said. “If enough small projects like ours exist, there’s hope for future generations.” From leaving the only home they’d ever known to building a biodiverse refuge, Cerro Vueltas Lodge proves that big change starts with small, intentional steps. The lodge doesn’t invite visitors to see nature - it invites them to belong to it, and with every person who leaves inspired, their quiet revolution continues to grow.