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My Costa Rica Vacation Video 2014

Costa Rica Vacation Video (June 2014)

The following video compilation is from our most recent trip to Costa Rica (June 2014) when the rest of my family came to Las Villas de San Buenas. My kids absolutely love it here in Costa Rica. The highlights always include daily dips in the swimming pool, running and playing in the Pacific Ocean at Playa Ventanas and going horseback riding on the property.

Come on down and make your own memories here! Contact us today to let us help you plan your Costa Rica trip.

Roadshack Costanera scaled

Costa Rica Information Update

Costa Rica Information /Newsletter                                June 2014
We’ve been very busy here in the Osa region of Costa Rica the past couple of months. Growth continues to take place in the area from Uvita to Palmar Norte – come visit and find your piece of paradise today! Let us help plan your Costa Rica trip (home rentals, tours, etc). Contact us to assist you.

 
The big news the last week has been Costa Rica’s incredibly successful run in the World Cup. For those that follow futbol (soccer) here’s a nice recap.
 
Here are some more news items: 

  • If you haven’t checked out the new website, be sure to visit it now (we add pages and more information weekly). See it here

 

One of our two remaining ocean view lots is now available at the amazing low price of $109,000. More photos/info
Cano Island
Views of Cano Island, San Buenas Golf Resort and Golfo Dulce.

You will not find a better priced ocean view lot with these amenities:

 
  • Sweeping ocean views 
  • Epic sunsets
  • Views of San Buenas Golf Resort (next door)
  • Private
  • Adjacent to 15 acre jungle preserve and hiking trails. 

More updates coming soon! Pura vida!

Me enjoying the waterfall walking distance from Las Villas de San Buenas

Nick Halverson 

USA/CAN: 612.819.8154 

8718.7900 (Costa Rica)

[email protected]

Costa Rica photo of the day

Great Mountain View Lot! Easy access!  

Over 25% Discount! Only $30,500
Details!

Start owning in Costa Rica for only $10,000
Secure your 2 weeks in paradise for only $500/year.
Granite counters.
Stainless steel appliances.
Maintenance free living!

We Can Help You Plan Your Trip
Contact us to help us take care of the details for your trip.

  • Lodging
  • Rental cars
  • Zipline tours
  • Fishing
  • River float rides
  • Hiking
Firlit Monkey Table

Manuel Antonio National Park Is One of Several Nearby National Parks

Manuel Antonio National Park

Manuel Antonio National Park is Costa Rica’s number one tourist attraction due to its incredible beauty and amazing wildlife. In fact, in Forbes listed Manuel Antonio National Park as one of the twelve most beautiful parks in the world.

The best news? The Park is only one hour from Las Villas de San Buenas!

manuel antonio national park mono
Incredible! Las Villas de San Buenas clients Steve and Alana Firlit took and shared this photograph from Manuel Antonio National Park.

In addition to being close, driving from Las Villas de San Buenas to Manuel Antonio is easy! Simply take a right, head north from San Buenaventura onto Highway 34/Costanera Highway, drive approximately one hour and take left into Quepos. From Quepos, it is a short drive to the actual entrance to Manuel Antonio National Park.

We often have guests and residents who will take a day trip to the park. It’s easy to leave by 7 am and be back at Las Villas de San Buenas by 1 pm.

Manuel Antonio National park was established in 1972 and is approximately 4,900 acres (1,984 hectares) in size.

Manuel Antonio National Park is one of the jewels of Costa Rica’s eco-tourism. The best way to see and experience the park is to hire a trained guide at the park’s entrance, and they’ll try and find sloths, monkeys and dozens of birds to show you.

Quepos

Once you’re done with the tour of Manuel Antonio National Park, take some time to enjoy Quepos (the town adjacent to the park). Quepos has a large beach where you can enjoy the waves, go for a walk or simply relax. Adjacent to the beach you will find ‘non-pushy’ vendors (in fact, they’re typically very laid back – Pura Vida!) who have handmade jewelry, hammocks and t-shirts for sale.

Quepos beach
Enjoy the beach side kiosks adjacent to Manuel Antonio National Park and beach

Quepos also has a newly built marina and it’s a great place to end the day overlooking the bay and enjoying an Imperial or fruit juice.

Please contact us if you and/or your group would like more information about Manuel Antonio National Park or any other national parks close to Las Villas de San Buenas.

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Manuel Antonio National Park Nearby

Manuel Antonio National Park

Manuel Antonio National Park is Costa Rica’s number one tourist attraction due to its incredible beauty and amazing wildlife. In fact, in Forbes listed Manuel Antonio National Park as one of the twelve most beautiful parks in the world.

The best news? The Park is only one hour from Las Villas de San Buenas!

manuel antonio national park mono
Incredible! Las Villas de San Buenas clients Steve and Alana Firlit took and shared this photograph from Manuel Antonio National Park.

In addition to being close, driving from Las Villas de San Buenas to Manuel Antonio is easy! Simply take a right, head north from San Buenaventura onto Highway 34/Costanera Highway, drive approximately one hour and take left into Quepos. From Quepos, it is a short drive to the actual entrance to Manuel Antonio National Park.

We often have guests and residents who will take a day trip to the park. It’s easy to leave by 7 am and be back at Las Villas de San Buenas by 1 pm.

Manuel Antonio National park was established in 1972 and is approximately 4,900 acres (1,984 hectares) in size.

Manuel Antonio National Park is one of the jewels of Costa Rica’s eco-tourism. The best way to see and experience the park is to hire a trained guide at the park’s entrance, and they’ll try and find sloths, monkeys and dozens of birds to show you.

Quepos

Once you’re done with the tour of Manuel Antonio National Park, take some time to enjoy Quepos (the town adjacent to the park). Quepos has a large beach where you can enjoy the waves, go for a walk or simply relax. Adjacent to the beach you will find ‘non-pushy’ vendors (in fact, they’re typically very laid back – Pura Vida!) who have handmade jewelry, hammocks and t-shirts for sale.

Quepos beach
Enjoy the beach side kiosks adjacent to Manuel Antonio National Park and beach

Quepos also has a newly built marina and it’s a great place to end the day overlooking the bay and enjoying an Imperial or fruit juice.

Please contact us if you and/or your group would like more information about Manuel Antonio National Park or any other national parks close to Las Villas de San Buenas.

Repaving of Roads to San Buenaventura

Visiting the Osa region between Palmar Norte and Coronado (which includes San Buenaventura) just got smoother. Already considered one of the best roads in all of Costa Rica, Highway 34 (or as it is better known, “The Costanera Highway”) has been repaved with another layer of asphalt over the past ten days. Unlike many roads in Costa Rica, especially those in Guanacaste, the roads leading to San Buenaventura are perfectly smooth and provide easy driving for everyone.

Now that the asphalt has been put down, the paint and reflectors in the road will be applied over the next month.

They repaved and smoothed out the entrance into San Buenaventura as well. We are located 2 km (a little over a mile) from the Costanera highway (Highway 34) providing easy access all year!

As always, we recommend flying into Palmar Sur regional airport and then driving to Las Villas de San Buenas. It is now easier than ever!

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CostaRicaIMG 3077 scaled

Costa Rica Information

We often times get asked many of the same questions about Costa Rica. The following is general Costa Rica information that you may be interested in knowing.

Capital: San Jose

Currency: Colon

Time zone: GMT-6; EST -1. Costa Rica does not participate in Daylight Savings, so for approximately six months a year it is in the Central Time Zone and for the other approximate half of the year it is in Mountain Time zone. The lack of extreme time zone differences make Costa Rica an easy place to fly to (with little to no jet lag) and makes it easier to conduct business.

Country telephone code: 506 (when calling to Costa Rica from the USA or Canada, dial ‘011-506-xxxx-xxxx”. All Costa Rica phone numbers are eight digits in length (not including the country code)

Borders: Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southwest, Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea/Atlantic Ocean to the east.

Land Area: 51,100 square kilometers/19,730 square miles (about the size of West Virginia in the USA)

Maximum Length: 464 km/288 miles from the Sapoa River to Burica Point

Minimum Length: 119 km/74 miles from Tuba to Boca del Colorado

Maximum Width: 259 km/161 miles from Santa Elena to the mouth of the Colorado River

Tallest Mountain: Mount Chirripo. 3,820 meters/12,533 feet above sea level

National Flower: Guaria Morada orchid (guarianthe skinneri)

National Tree: Earpod tree (enterolobium cyclocarpurri)

National Bird: Clay-colored robin (turdus grayil)

Population: 4.3 million (approximately 51% men and 49% women)

Administrative Division: 7 provinces, 81 cantons and 463 districts

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Beautiful Views from Casa Lapas

We recently improved the pool area of Casa Lapas (check out more photos and information here) enhancing the Casa lapa costa rica villa sunsetexperience of our owners and guests here.

We have several homes available for rent, but Casa Lapas is our largest and has ocean view lots. It’s beauty and views has enticed us to host weddings, parties and events here.

The private outdoor shower has incredible views of the Pacific Ocean, Cano Island and the mountains with their ever changing clounds and shadows.

The deck provides private sun bathing for our guests at Casa Lapas

Casa Lapas is completely private and has its own swimming pool, outdoor Jacuzzi, deck and outdoor shower.

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CostaRicaWeddings3527
Jeanine Sunset Pool scaled
Jeanine Sunset Pool scaled
MountainPool nice
MountainPool nice
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CostaRicaWeddings3529

Pura vida!

New Home Under Construction

We recently began construction on the next home in Las Villas de San Buenas. This home will be 1,313 sq ft and have a good size swimming pool in the backyard. We broke ground on May 28, 2012, and hope to have it completed in eight months – just in time for New Year’s Eve 2013. Please check back regularly to see the progress.

Here is a link with some more photos.

Costa Rica’s Southern International Airport Update

Original: www.amcostarica.com


By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
International flights will be coming to the Southern zone. Exact time is unkown.

The project to build an international airport in the southern zone got a boost over the weekend when President Laura Chinchilla declared the concept to be in the public interest.

That technical designation put a high priority on the $35 million project, which will start in 2012 to put in the bare bones of an international airport. Until then there are more studies and surveys.

Significant planning and environmental work already has been done. For example, officials can say with certainty that the land proposed for the airport does not contain any of the famous pre-Columbian stone spheres of other important sites. An archaeological survey already has been completed.

According to plans reviewed Saturday, the airport will have a runway from 2,000 to 2,600 meters, some 6,560 to 8,530 feet. The site already has been selected. It is fincas 9 and 10 in the Valle de Diquis in Sierpe de Osa. Officials also plan on getting two adjacent fincas for eventual expansion.

Finca 9 is the property of the Instituto Nacional de Fomento Cooperativo, a public agency. It contains 233 hectares (about 576 acres). Finca 10 contains 261 hectares (645 acres). This is enough land for the runway, ramps, taxiways, a passenger terminal, parking and space for a fixed base operator to handle private aviation. Also needed will be a fire station, a control tower, navigation and landing systems and space for customs and immigration.

The money for this project will come from the Dirección General de Aviación Civil, the national budget and an allocation the Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transportes received from the International Civil Aviation Organization, officials said.

Ms. Chinchilla said that the airport is important to generate employment and combat poverty. Real estate operators and tourism agencies are solidly in favor of the project.

Ms. Chinchilla made a tour of the southern zone over the weekend and attended a meeting of the Golfito municipal council. There central government officials agreed to help the city with its tourism promotion.

————–

NOTE: When the project is complete, owners in The Village of San Buenas will only be 30 minutes from their home.  Now is a great time to purchase.

This is the first official update regarding the international airport since former President Oscar Arias discussed it in July 2009.


Medical Tourism in Costa Rica: Quality Seal of Approval

Tourists coming to Costa Rica, attracted by the medical offers now have the ability to differentiate between the services offered.

That’s because on Wednesday, the Consejo para la Promoción Internacional de la Medicina de Costa Rica (International Council for the Promotion of Medicine Costa Rica) introduced the label called” “ProMED”.

The seal indicates the quality standards required in the United States, providing tourists security for the services they are purchasing.

Hospital CIMA in San Jose, Costa Rica
Hospital CIMA in San Jose, Costa Rica

Companies who want to obtain the label must comply with national and international legislation with a cost ranging from us$400 to us$7.000 annually.

Approximately 14% of Costa Rica’s 2 million+ tourists receive some form of elective medical procedure done while visiting. This new “seal of approval” will help differentiate between health care facilities and should be welcome by medical tourists.

Source: www.InsideCostaRica.com, Nick Halverson and ICT

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