5.30 Friday, the weekend begins!

Proposed location of our plunge pool- with sunset view of course

With the plaster work almost finished, the spaces start to take shape

Still very much a building site, but starting to take shape

Getting the angles in...

Looking up towards our very "open area" living area

The walls have been plastered- the panacor way

First details of roof installed as Friday's sunset approaches

Bedroom sliding door entrance

View across lounge and out onto side deck (hanging over jungle canopy)

With most of the heavy work now complete- access is clear and we can start with the finer details & finishes

The plantel, home of our team and supplies- Bambu just arrived

Looking across the lounge and the entrance to bedroom 2

Alex preparing first supports for the roof

Week 9 is over

View from above-2nd floor

The "deck" seen from below

View from the balcony

Peones on the second floor

Framing the window of the ensuite bedroom, 2nd floor

Stop for ceviche on the way to San Jose

Week 7 - Our water supply goes missing again & toilet smuggling!

The view from the kitchen

The week started well, how we have reached week 7 already I have no idea! After some careful negotiations with our contractors Alex & Marvin, they agreed to throw more labour into the project as things were starting to slow a little. 

In the meantime Don and I successfully managed to paint the better half of the rear of the ever so important retaining wall with a thick impermeable, supposedly waterproof, layer of bitumen. With a battered roller & paintbrush, we were done by lunchtime and then proceeded to spend the rest of the day trying to clean ourselves up while the workers cheekily smiled, the penny slowly dropping in terms of why no-one had opted to do this messy job so far!

Back to admin - getting final quotes for stone finishes for the bathrooms, talking with glass suppliers (gone are the days that glass is actually just called 'glass', nowadays one has to choose from tempered, raw, natural, frosted, polarized, pure, re-inforced, semi-pure, naturally tempered, 6mm, 8mm, clear, bronzed, bla bla bla then translate these all into 'Costa Rican' spanish and you start to understand how long things can take!

Then came the drama of no water - AGAIN! Unfortunately just when we are ready to pour concrete - AGAIN! Understandably, the team starts to get vexed, turning to me for answers and solutions. We had already invested 'mucha plata' in the repairs last time round, just a few weeks ago (our water supply coming from a river a couple of kilometres up in the mountains). While the 'developer', who initially put in the infrastructure, is on the other side the world, there is/will be no long term solution, we have no choice but to re-schedule events and play the waiting game to see if the tricks we pulled will result in the arrival of the much needed constant flow of river water one requires for a successful construction project.

As the week progressed, our patience was continually tested as we now waited for the final architectural & electro-mechanical plans to come through from San Jose - I know, it does seem a trifle strange not to have the complete set by now, given that we are already 7 weeks into the project. How we have managed 'improvising' and bouncing between 5 sets of 'old' plans is a miracle - I guess that's where the 'mas o menos' (more or less) Tico culture comes into its element!

Second floor

By Wednesday afternoon we had the 'all clear' that they would be arriving via 'Encomienda' to Cortes just a half hour from the project. This 'encomienda' system - Costa Rica's answer to Fedex (obviously without the door-to-door service within 24 hours!) seems to work via the public transport & bus system. (I say 'seems to' as nothing ever happens the same way here, the words regular and consistant have been replaced long ago with, yup you guessed it, 'mas o menos!')

View from the deck into the jungle

With another useful 'inspection' with our engineer, where we confirmed the designs and implementation of the giant columns that will seemingly grow from the canopy below the jungle villa, supporting our rather large western facing 'hanging' deck I was starting to feel very excited of the form the house is taking. 

The second floor

With the 'structure' almost complete, one can now walk around both levels of the house (albeit clutching onto poles and climbing up ladders) and genuinley feel how the 'experience' will unfold - happy to say it is just like I had visualized, with the real 'impact' coming when you climb the stairs, 'dar la vuelta' (turn around) and are presented with a 250+ degree  view of the jungle canopy and then the open valley below leading to the River Terraba and the Pacific Ocean - very 'pura vida mae'!

Boquete, Panama

After staying up all night Wednesday, going through the electrical plans, (Alex wanted ANSWERS before we disappeared on our second shopping trip to Panama) a blurry eyed Joe and Don swung by the project to check all was clear before we hit the road for Panama. 

Thank G-d for good Panamanian roads otherwise I don't think my poor 23 year old Toyota Hilux would have made it back! There are a 1001 great things about Costa Rica, but the roads aren't really one of them! After all the regular dramas, chaos, form filling queues and stamps required to cross the border, our depleted team was now reduced to three as our unprepared muppet Tico friend tried to cross the border with nothing more than a half filled in customs slip - the whole idea was that with more people, we can 'import' more tax-free Panamanian goods, with the limit being strictly controlled at $500 per person. As Elcer sheepishly headed back to Costa Rica by foot, we headed onto David.

Two days later, with the car loaded with AC units, 'cagaderos' (toilets - unfortunately not of the hanging kind), door locks, aluminium rails for our sliding doors and the remainder of the showers and taps that weren't in stock first time round we confidently headed back 'home'. Yet again, another productive road-trip with a well needed visit to the beauriful hot springs of Boquete in between.

Naively arriving at the border with the car quite clearly overloaded (I'll assume no-one from customs reads this blog!), our 'excess' shopping clumsily 'hidden' under the seats, we are again waved through at the border and police check - having stopped for a juice just before, a local had told me they had recently found a truck full of guns, I guess a couple of 'gringos' branding a 'I've been to Panana' shirt and a shiny white Panama hat, loaded with one too many toilets (to say the least) wasn't their main priority - apparently we don't look like gun runners...

Week 5 & 6 - Shopping trip to Chepe, Panama & Costa Rica's largest bamboo plantation!

Has it really been two weeks since I 'blogged'??? As things heated up in Tres Rios and progress was going relatively fast at the site, it was time to make some final decisions (and purchases) for the first Jungle Villa. With such limited selection in terms of finishes & 'griferia' (taps & showers) available at the coast a recce was in order up in Costa Rica's capital San Jose. The drive up was long, dusty and emotional, as Kika was leaving after 3 brilliant weeks only to be 'replaced' by a much less attractive Israeli architect friend of mine 'Dondon' - buen rosho ;)

Running round San Jose for a few days was both exciting and maniac. Emotional Airport drop-offs, broken computers, endless queueing for new car number plates eventually made way for more productive 'reuniones' first at Ziruma where we eventually made final decisions on our natural stone 'finishes' for the bathrooms, shower areas and even the plunge pool (for when we get the building permits through!!) We have also 'reserved' two custom made 'lavamanos' (sinks) that are carved out of a smooth and creamy natural stone, that will look beautiful on top of our contemporary poured and polished concrete units.

My car with the new plates, at last!

Next step was ConstruPalaza, with the contractor wanting final decisions on toilet fittings and sizes, my heart was set on a minimalist 'suspended' design - surprising to think how strong one's feelings can grow towards a model of toilet!!! In true Costa Rican 'mas o menos' fashion, the assistant told us she thought they were out of stock and it would be a while until their next delivery - since then we've had optimistic delivery dates as early as two weeks, only to be followed by another phone call with a rather different story of three and a half months!!! The search for hanging toilets continues!!

After being sent round in circles to a every governmental department in the eternal quest to get my new number plates for the hilux I was starting to go insane - the sheer level of beaurocracy had surpassed itself, to the extent that even the 'registro' workers themselves were confused as to which piece of paper had to be stamped, certified, annotated, signed and logged, and then which pile was its final destination???

Progress at week 5

Not to mention the different queues and buying stamps - literally too much 'non-sensical' insanity to write in a blog - maybe one day I'll write a book!!

Eventually made it back to the project and the progress was impressive. The foundations were in and the retention wall at around 2 metres (of its final 3metres plus - that will be the height of the entrance & ground floor).

Progress at week6

The quest for 'better value' (and MUCH lower VAT taxes) took us on a wee road trip to neighbouring Panama. After a couple of hours at a typically chaotic border town of Canoas we were safely into Panama and with the improved roads (ie roads that are actually made of asphalt without pot-holes) we made it to David. After rallying round for a day-and-a-half we headed back 'home' with a truck load of taps, plumbing fittings, shower heads, 2 jerry cans of gasoline and a large bottle of Flor de Cana rum for good measure. As we approached the second line of customs and police checks, the nerves set in, there was 'apparently' a limit in terms of the 'legal' amount of goods one could 'smuggle' across the border. With our intense shopping spree, I feared we were dangerously close...It turned out that 4pm seemed to be the ideal time to cross the checkpoint, a sole policeman lay in a hammock, boots kicked of sipping his afternoon cafe - Pura Vida ;) as he slowly waved us past...

Casa de los peones (workers)

The progress continued back at the site with the foundations complete and the structural steel beams starting to show us the final shape of the ground floor. A couple of days up at the site 'mucking in' with the 'sapo' and 'pala' I think I convinced Marvin that I count as 'medio-peon' when required...

Next stop Perez Zeledon and Costa Rica's largest bamboo plantation.

Bamboo Tico

We needed quotes and measurements with things at the site going to schedule. Guadua, a very strong and resistant bamboo relative seems to be perfect for the structure of the roof while 'tableta' will be what we will use for the detail of the sliding teak panels that surround the entire living areas.Lastly, we decided on ornamental bamboo for the 'cielorazzo' or roof detail.

View into the jungle from the deck

By the time we were back at the site, yet another week of construction had come to an end - ground floor bedroom concrete poured and the 2nd floor structure taking shape - being able to stand on the second floor (where the open-plan living area will be) and for the first time actually see what the view from 3 metres up will be like - stunning!!!!

Feeling confident that our first clients in June will indeed be able to enjoy the full 'pura vida experience' in our complete jungle villa...

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Hogar dulce hogar (home sweet home) en el pueblito de Coronado

And atlast a sneak preview of my temporary abode in the dusty village of Coronado where I have been and will be living throughout the construction. Not quite the 'eco-luxury' that PuraVidaEcolodge will offer but all quite cute and charming nonetheless..anecdotes to follow...

The other photo is of Playa Arco, just one fo the idylic and very rugged beaches on our doorstep...

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One of the old renders - Still Patiently waiting for the 'proper' ones to come through!!!

You'll see (soon) that the new (and final) roof design is much more dynamic!!! Pin It

Week Two - Foundations & Retaining wall. (Segunda Semana, sanjas y el muro de contencion).

With the diggers work eventually complete  and the mountain deciding to behave whilst the workers install the iron 'placas' that will be the 'armaduras' or skeleton of the concrete foundations, we are well on target for being 'mas o menos' ready for pouring the foundations. That was until we discovered a leak in our water supply which led to a distinct change in terms of progress. Our water at the project currently that comes from one of 'la quebradas' of Tres Rios. A couple of kilometres trekking up through the mountains, crossing various cow fields and then onto denser jungle, it becomes clear that the rubber pipelines had become loose, probably fitted with far too much 'mas o menos' philosophy, means the initial  bodge job is in need of quick repair.  With Kika giggling away with her new 'work' camera phone in hand (no further publicity required), Gersan and I wrestled to attach two out of control slippery tubes together without slipping down what was a scarily close and seemingly endless ravine.

Back at the site, the tank slowly begins to fill up and spirits rise all round at the prospect of actually having a regular water source with which to cook, clean and mix concrete with!!! A few last minute measurements, a couple of engineer inspections and checks that the armaduras and columns are placed correctly and the pouring of concrete can eventually begin.

The construction work has started .Por fin!!! (atlast!)

The day we got the building permits...(allbeit 3 weeks ago now!)

Marvin, our 'JC faithful' Tico contractor arrived 'mas o menos' on time as I was toying with my first bread purchase in 6 weeks from our passing 'panadero'. We had spoken the night before and agreed to meet this morning to go through the construction contract. 

We head for Uvita, the nearest 'reasonably built up' village or commercial hotspot (relative) eventually locating a computer and printer in full working order so as to be able to print the draft and read through together over coffee. After some good humoured last minute haggling, inherant of Costa Rican culture, and some reasuring words about his team and start date of the 2nd January, we were all signed and heading back to Coronado. Amazingly it was lunchtime already, the last task of the day being to get to 'La Muni' to deliver what will be the 19th (and final) requirement stipulated by the amazingly overly beaurocratic 'local municipality'.

Having experienced an often bizarre plethora of contrasting social systems & tendencies on my travels, even the massively out-dated red tape of India and the complete lack of choice and creativity in Cuba, never left me as bemused as a typical day in Costa Rica, carrying out 'tramites'

It starts with the air con on full, extreme cold, freezing even the slightly larger people also waiting. Upon entering, one is encouraged to take a numbered ticket, supposedly indicating an order. After an hour of waiting however it becomes clear that this 'number order' is again 'mas o menos' (more or less), besides the machine above the desks clearly has one of the numbers stuck as it noisely ticks from 53 to 63, quite annoying for the person who had number 54 in their hand (me).

After some gentle humouring of the security guard in charge of keeping some kind of order (who quite unecesarily is armed up like Rambo) i am jumped to the front, just as the office closes, 7 signatures and 11 stamps later we. OFFICIALLY have the building permits. Happy Christmas PuraVidaEcolodge!!!

Renders of our first Jungle Villa - by FCB Arquitectura

One of the first renders has just been delivered, you'll have to wait to the New Year to see the others...The one above shows the open plan 'living space' which we have designed in such a way so as to essentially 'break boundaries' between what is conventionally 'inside' and 'outside'. With the whole of the open plan kitchen Y lounge area being surrounded by teak and bamboo sliding doors, the idea is that the spaces can be converted, according to their usage, and that guests really feel that their 'Jungle Villa' is part of the lush green jungle that surrounds the retreat.

The outside lateral deck (from where the render/photograph is taken) will of course be complete with a nature plunge pool for those hot sunny days and will be equally as appetizing by night, allowing guests to bathe under the jungle canopy and stars...

Enjoy and as always, Pura Vida!!!

Construction Begins!!!

...Primer dia de construccion, o talvez mejor dicho definirlo como el primer dia del movimiento de la tierra. Todos estamos bien animados, parece que por fin ha llegado el veranito - que la falta de lluvia nos siga ayudando un monton!!!

First day of construction or maybe thats getting ahead of ourselves! Well, let's call it day 1 of having the digger and its expert operator Hirardo up at the project. Work starts at the crack of dawn on the off chance that we still get caught by a stubborn afternoon rainshower (which would mean all digging would stop and shelter would have to be sought - I'm sure you've gathered by now that when it rains here it really does 'tirar boldazos'!

In the end what was previously estimated a costly 18-20 hours work was done on a very productive & speedy 7am-5pm 10 hour day. Let's hope this is a sign of whats to come and its not the only thing that comes in under budget!

The job in hand was essentially moving whats called a 'pedazo de tierra' or a large mound of hard clay earth and then depositing it on the corner of our existing plantel, layer by layer, compacting at each stage so that when the rains do eventually return (hopefully not until atleast May now) there is no danger of a landslide! By the end of the day I'd say iur existing plantel is a good 10 metres bigger which will be great for phase 2 of PuraVidaEcolodge.

Hirardo our 'operario' made it all look very easy but there really was an art to the 'digging and depositing' process, taking into account that the area he was cutting into had the be left flat and solid as it will be our plantel or 'building pad' for our first jungle villa.

By mid afternoon the intense sun was already effectively baking the fresh cut of earth now exposed to the elements, a couple of hours later thedigger had completed its last task of leveling out the 'servidumbre' and access road so that access to the project is that little bit easier and flatter, then it was time to shut down the digger and head for home. The 10 minute ride back down to the sea at sunset time is truly amazing. After the days digging, scraping, beeping and flattening it was so still and quiet, tucans and other colourful macaws flying round in pairs apparently looking for a nice tree in which to rest there wings for the night, meanwhile the air drew lighter and the sky filled with the magical colours of the pacific 'atardecer' or sunset. A perfect finish to a very productive day.

The next day we were all up early and waiting for Roberto, the engineer coming down from San Jose and the contractor to meet us up at the project. They eventually rocked up mid morning all very typical 'mas o menos' time keeping. I guess I should know by now that 'ahorita' (literally translating as 'right now') in context here in Costa Rica, can mean anything from now to the next hour and a half, likewise 8.30am doesnt really mean 8.30am, but rather anytine between 8am and maybe 10am!!!

Anyway, once on site all ran smootly, re-marking where the foundations will go now we had the details of the new ground floor plans. Essentially the size and orientation of the jungle villa won't really change but the ground floor has moved about 2.5metres to the right and the 1st floor between 1 & 1.5metres. All this in an effort to not have as much of the house hanging scarily over the steep jungle canopy. The engineers final verdict was that the quality of the earth where the cut has been made (where the retaining wall will go) and where the plantel begins are sufficiently hard enough, again confirming the 'estudio de suelos' (land study) that we got done a few months ago.

While disappointing that we won't actually be starting construction till January 2nd, it is comforting to hear from all involved that with the re-design and the 'first cut' complete, the construction phase should carry few surprises and complications and if all runs to plan could be complete by mid april.

The next few days will be taken up with chasing Raphael and Jorge, two local carpenters, for their quotes for all the teak and bambu sluding doors as well as a few visits to both Palmar & Cortes where we hope to get the insurance policy forbuilding and pick up the permits!!!

Bamboo inspirations - From Bali to Costa Rica!

Even though they are on completely opposite sides of the world, Bali and Costa Rica have one very important thing in common when it comes to the design and construction of PuraVidaEcolodge. The sub-tropical climate is perfect for the rapid growth of one of the worlds most sustainable construction materials - namely Bamboo.

After speaking with a fantastic project that is going strong in Bali, The Green School really is a wonderful source of inspiration. Environmentalists and designers John and Cynthia Hardy, who lead the initiative, wanted to motivate communities to live sustainably. Part of that effort was to show people how to build with sustainable materials, namely bamboo. They established the Green School, and its affiliates: the Meranggi Foundation, which develops plantations of bamboo plants through presenting bamboo seedlings to local rice farmers. With an incredibly quick growth rate, PT Bambu (the construction arm behind the concept)  promotes the use of bamboo as a primary building material, in an effort to avoid the further depletion of rainforests.

We hope to transport this type of idealogy to our beautiful retreat in Costa Rica. There is no reason why PuraVidaEcolodge and its surrounding communities cannot become a holistic green community with a strong educational mandate that seeks to inspire people to be more curious, more engaged and more passionate about the environment and the planet.

 

At PuraVidaEcolodge we hope to be able to take advantage of the versatility of this wonderful raw material. With various 'design consultations' with our design team and architects scheduled for the coming weeks, we will be planning what wonderful things we can do. Watch this space!! In the meantime check out the website for some more photos (under the inspirations) page. Fivelements (another exquisitly designed 'holistic retreat' offers some fantastic design inspirations too!

www.puravidaecolodge.com
www.fivelements.org
www.greenschool.org/

Pura Vida!