This visionary hotel in Santa Teresa has become a meeting point for surfers and creatives from around the world. Co-founder Forrest Minchinton shares its origin story and evolution.
Costa Rica already has dozens of surf retreats. Why open another?
“Costa Rica is a small country, and the surf community here is even smaller. Our goal wasn’t to create a hotel, but rather a hub of culture in our community and a place for travelers who wanted to explore beyond the waves. My friends and I love to travel and always dreamed about bringing back the things we loved from California, Indonesia, and other parts of the world to Costa Rica and creating a business that would foster connections through art, music, surfing, adventure and other passions. We hope people come here to get inspired.”
How did you come up with the name House of Somos?
“Somos translates to ‘we are’ in Spanish. We didn’t want to be pigeonholed into one particular thing. We are a hotel, a restaurant, a surfboard factory and shop, an artist residency. We are a little bit of everything and it’s always evolving.”
What inspired you to have a surfboard shaping studio on site?
“I’m a second-generation surfboard builder. My dad is part of the Huntington Beach Surfboard Builders Hall of Fame. I found a way to travel around the world by going to different surf shops and board factories and I’d build boards to fund my trips. That formula didn’t exist in Costa Rica so that is where the idea came from. I wanted to create a space that celebrated the art and craft of making surfboards.”
What is your connection to Costa Rica and surfing?
“My parents are native southern Californians who met through surfing. Shortly after getting married, they took a surf honeymoon down to Costa Rica around 1990 and never left. Shortly after, I was born. My mom took me surfing until she was nine months pregnant, and I stood up on my first wave at three years old. When my parents split my dad moved back to California and my mom remarried a Costa Rican. I got to grow up going between both worlds.”
How has Santa Teresa changed since the 90s? “
When I first started visiting with my parents in the late 90s there was really nothing there. We lived around 100 miles north in Tamarindo, which was built up, even then, and we’d go down for camping getaways in the jungle. Santa Teresa, like any community that becomes popular, experiences growing pains and maybe loses some of its original charm. But progress is inevitable. The beauty of Santa Teresa is that the community is striving to grow in a more sustainable way unlike decades past in communities that grew too fast and without the foresight of the negative implications of overdevelopment. At Somos, we do our best to contribute to Santa Teresa’s sustainable growth so we do not ruin our little slice of paradise.”
How is the vibe different from other surf towns?
“Santa Teresa has still been able to maintain this end of the earth vibe. It’s located on the Nicoya Peninsula in the Pacific West Coast of Costa Rica and it feels like you’re in the middle of nowhere. It’s quite far from the capital or any major city, which makes it quite special. It takes effort to reach. The saying goes, bad roads lead to good places and that’s true of Santa Teresa. You have to want to be here. You don’t just stumble upon Santa Teresa. People seek it out. That’s helped create this chill, insider-y vibe.”
Why has Santa Teresa emerged as a mecca for surfers?
“The surf scene here is a little bit different. What makes the place unique is the consistency of the waves all year round. There’s always something rideable. The way Santa Teresa sticks out at the end of the peninsula makes it a real swell magnet. And there’s variety: beach breaks, little reefs and points. There’s something for everyone, from beginners to your core surf crew. It’s also a town that is truly centered around surfing. That exists in other towns in Costa Rica, but the only reason Santa Teresa was developed in the first place in my opinion was for surfing.”
What does the future hold for House of Somos?
“Since the beginning in 2020 our goal has been to take the Somos seed and plant it in different places around the world and let it grow in ways that suit its environment. Our flagship is in Santa Teresa but we’ve always had plans to expand within Costa Rica and beyond and to expand to something outside of surfing. We want to evolve around other pursuits we love and that might take us to snow and the desert.”
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