The 'Reportage' album unfolds - page by page

Marvin & Alex cutting the bamboo for the roof a few weeks back now...

"Abel"

"Lelo"

"Nuevo"

Playa Pineulas

"Alan"

"Sipping on Coconuts"

Atardecer

"Jupa"

"Suerte"

"Jupa"

"Diego"

"Chef Pepin"

The last week before I'm back on site!

While my wonderful neighbour Zeger continues to make his almost daily 'recce' trips down to the project, snapping away from his many angles - day by day 'the project' is becoming less and less of a building site and more and more like the finished 'Jungle Villa Retreat' that was originally sketched out all those months ago... With this excitement unveiling (or downloading) before my eyes is the anxiety to be back on site for those last few weeks, so as the bamboo doors continue to be installed, the toilets fitted, the glass finished wiped clean, the final electricity wires threaded and the floor of the infinity basin of the plunge pool poured, here we are in Europe preparing our shopping trips - that will inevitably include the traditional Panama visit(s) as well as our many 'to-do' lists...

In the meantime, enjoy a few of Zeger great photos and keep your eyes posted for the launch of the new-look Pura Vida Ecolodge website hopefully in the coming week!

West-facing jungle canopy deck - just about showing the soon to be finished plunge pool at the back

A busy Friday at the project - with the window and doors contractors both on site with their teams

The teak & bamboo sliding panels are slowly installed to the open-plan living area

Ground floor - the sliding doors are eventually added to what is now the almost complete en-suite bedroom number 1

The plunge pool has had its block laid to deck level and the infinity basin is now being laid

View of the back of the Jungle Villa from the deck of the plunge pool

More views of the Jungle Canopy on what seemed to be a very sunny Friday morning

The front sliding panels are installed bit by bit

A peak inside shows Billy Josue adding the locks to the wooden columns

The ocean view through the window of the master bedroom - an on-site tidy up still very much necessary ;)

Downstairs bathroom almost complete - just the glass panels in the shower to come

Pura Vida - Costa Rica!

Week 18 (how did we get this far already!) comes to an end

...And while the doors and windows aren't yet 'fully fitted' they are atleast (for the most part) on site and looking good. The 'plunge pool' continues to 'grow' with the infinity edge basin in place and one can see once finished, with the landscape architecture we have designed, its going to look stunning, really hanging over the jungle canopy.

Back in the Jungle Villa itself - The stucco is almost complete with the walls looking beautiful. Both the door and window contractors are on site, working hard to try and get everything finished, sealed and installed by the weekend. The idea with the 10 teak and bamboo panels is that they cross-over (sliding on rails) really opening-up the open-plan living area.

My own countdown has started...just over a week until I am back in site for the last couple of weeks!
Have a great weekend and thanks to you all for following our progress over recent weeks both here on te blog and on our new Facebook page!

Pura Vida!

Reportage - The two 'foremen' a few weeks back when the bamboo roof first started...

The rich textures of the guadua (locally sourced from a bamboo plantation nearby)

Fearless workers, climbing, clambering, hanging - obviously not a hard-hat in sight!

Back before the roof was on and the 'oven-roasted' bamboo lay in a pile in the sunchine

More reportage coverage, back before the roof was complete. The little metal shack in the middle is where the team live throughout the construction...

Billy Josue and his carpenters arrange the sliding panels for the open-plan living area

The last layer of block is paid, bringing the plunge-pool edge up to the same level as the sun deck

Today (and possibly the weekend) will see the sliding panels installed and the house 'sealed'

View from alongside the plunge-pool, Marvin hard at work laying the new deck - the teak eventually arrived!

Las ventanas (the windows) arrive....Sliding doors supposedly arriving today - better late than never ;)

At last we can start to 'close-up' the house. Andres, the 5 custom made windows and 3 doors make it safely up to the project. Instalation starts upstairs in the master bedroom...Meanwhile 'perra' continues the wonderful stucco finish and the rest lay block for the swimming pool....

Summer's coming to an end and the first of the 'big' rains arrive

As April comes to a close, Costa Rica's lush Green Season starts to make an appearance. This typcially means clear mornings with plenty of sunshine, turning dramatically mid to late afternoon, with dark clouds and heavy rainfall often falling well into the night. The Jungle Villa's wrap around balcony hanging over the canopy really comes into its element now - come rain or shone, it will be the perfect place to unwind and chill in nature...

As with all construction projects, the final phase definitely seem to be the slowest with all the 'finer details', finishes and fittings left to the last couple of weeks. That said, the pool is making speedy progress and the team have now poured the base and catchment basin (the infinity part). The structure of the deck seems to all be in place, just waiting, very patiently for the rest of our teak decks to arrive.

As of today, both the window and door 'sub-contractors' should be on site, so hopefully we'll have the retreat sealed up sooner rather than later!  Enjoy the photos below!

Side teak deck hanging over a misty jungle canopy

The boys finish the front 'tapichel' again finished in our rustic 'oven-roasted' ornamental bamboo

Once the the next batch of teak wood arrives, we hope to finish off this part of the deck with a
corner 'breakfast bar' - the perfect place to see the start of the day!

Hopefully by the end of this week, the teak sliding doors will sit smartly in-between the vertical wooden columns
(right of shot)