Category Archives: Las Villas De San Buenas News

shipping a car to costa rica

Shipping a Vehicle to Costa Rica

Shipping a Vehicle to Costa Rica

Submitted by Jason Mueller, who has lived in Costa Rica for three years and specializes in facilitating the process of shipping vehicles to Costa Rica.

If you have dreamed of living in a beautiful villa in paradise island, then Costa Rica is the place for you. Costa Rica has some of the world’s best surfing waves ,the most beautiful shoreline and a wide array of things to do in-and-around the coast. 

Why Make the Move to Costa Rica?

A popular location for tourists as well as expats looking to find a new tropical home is the town of San Buenaventura, also known as San Buenas, located in the Southern Pacific area (Osa) of Costa Rica. This town is about a mile offshore, but those who like keeping their toes in the hot sand will have easy access to reach the beach in no time at all. You’ll find great views of the mountains and oceans (there are real estate options for both) and plenty of things to do while in town.

Mountain views in villas san buenas
Amazing mountain views from Casa Lapas in Las Villas San Buenas.

For the golf lovers, the San Buenas Golf Resort opens their greens to those that want to have a great round of golf, followed by a cold drink. Golf in Costa Rica is a great way to soak up the sun and spend a day relaxing with friends. 

If you want to take in a bit of nature throughout Costa Rica, the parks and recreational trails offer a glimpse into the fascinating wild life in the area that includes monkeys, birds and many other wildlife species and best of all, the comfortable, warm temperatures welcome everyone to come enjoy everything that Costa Rica life offers.

The beach seems to be what many people come to Costa Rica for. The coast has much to offer, especially for those who like to surf, swim, kayak or otherwise spend time lounging in the sand and enjoying the ocean. Costa Rica is well-known around the world as the best place in the Pacific for surfing, and even if you have never surfed in your life, you can still enjoy watching others as they whip around on the waves. Better yet, in Costa Rica you will be able to find a great surf instructor and find out what it feels like to ride the waves on your own. Enjoy Playa Ventanas, Playa Pinuela or Playa Dominical, where the best surfing can be found.

If you’re planning on making a permanent move to Costa Rica, you’ll find many lavish villas, condos and even small houses where you can spend years to come living in paradise. Whether you want to rent or even buy a home to live in or find a plot of land and have a home built, you will find many options to choose from.

Is Moving to Costa Rica Hard?

Moving to Costa Rica does not have to be difficult, but you may find that gaining permanent residency can take quite a bit of time. If you are a retiree or a person who has a steady income stream monthly, and can prove you have steady income, you may be eligible to get a pension visa, also called a Pensionado Residency. Many people in the country on a tourist visa leave every 90 days and return the same day to be able to stay another 90 days.

Many rental homes are furnished, so before you start packing your home in the U.S. to have everything shipped, you may want to determine where you will live and see what you will need. Many household items may cost more in Costa Rica than what you would pay in the U.S., so take the necessary time to see what you may need to spend to purchase new items as opposed to what you will spend shipping things over. Customs taxes on household goods can range between 10% and 13% of the value of the property. To ship household goods, you need to hire a reputable international moving company.

Shipping a Vehicle to Costa Rica

Shipping a vehicle to Costa Rica can be affordable with rates that generally run between $1000 USD and $3000 USD. You will need some important paperwork including your passport and a

Shipping vehicle costa rica gravel road
Many roads in Costa Rica are gravel, therefore, four-wheel traction vehicles (4×4) is recommended

driver’s license as well as the vehicle registration and title. You will also need to provide customs with the bill of lading and an emissions test certificate. Taxes on vehicle imports can be high and typically range from around 52% up to nearly 80%. The newer the car, the lower the tax requirement for import. A reliable international auto shipping company like A-1 Auto Transport, Inc. will be able to assist with moving your vehicle to Costa Rica. Visit this page for more information on the shipping process as well as how much it will cost.

Whether you plan to be the perpetual tourist and wander from one area to another renting a vacation home for a while before moving on, or you want to plant your roots by purchasing a lot to build a home or by purchasing a beautiful home, condo or villa, you will quickly find there are many great things about Costa Rica that you will fall in love with quickly. With many options for living, your dreams of moving to Costa Rica can come true and soon you will see just how great life can be when you’re living the Pura Vida lifestyle that you can only find in Costa Rica.  

 


breakfast club fist up

The Writers’ Retreat of San Buenas was a success

We recently completed planning and hosting the first ever Writers’ Retreat of San Buenas. Based on the feedback from all of the participants it was a great success!! Our featured author was Will Viharo, who has over ten books published (purchase one here on Amazon) and has a passion for writing pulp fiction, Hollywood history (his father was a B-movie actor) and vintage pop culture. In fact his book “Love Stories Are Too Violent For Me” has had the movie rights purchased by Christian Slater. Mr. Slater and Will are finishing up the screenplay and hope to have it filmed in the next five years.

waterfall writers retreat pavon
Will Viharo (center with hat), Ezekiel Tyrus (3rd from left), Nick Halverson (far right) with some of the participants at the Writers’ Retreat of San Buenas.

What exactly is a ‘writers’ retreat’? It involves daily sessions of writing, free time to think, write and be inspired, and times to relax and enjoy everything Costa Rica has to offer. The idea of The Writers’ Retreat of San Buenas came from author Ezekiel Tyrus (“Zeke”). Enjoy the short video at the end of this article (<1 min) to get a glimpse behind what the Writers’ Retreat of San Buenas is all about. From the Writers’ Retreat of San Buenas Website:

Who can attend?  Our guests have included, as described by one of our guests who is a successful Hollywood actor, The Lad from Long Beach, The Lady from Minnesota, The Poet from North Beach, The Pugnacious Floridian, The Seattle Searcher, My New Hero from Stockton, The Gentle Giant from Bloomfield Hills all with sinewy stories and sublime spirits. In short, anyone who has a passion for writing, whether you are an accomplished writer with a bookshelf filled with your byline, a famous novelist experiencing writer’s block, or a novice who has always dreamed of completing that book. This place is for you.

The Mission of The Writers’ Retreat of San Buenas is to create an intimate, luxurious, inspiration-filled environment for writers to write. You may want to pen some essays, complete pages upon your travel-journal, finish your novel, perfect your screenplay, collect some short-stories, write poetry, or perhaps you’ve never written before but feel the time is right to start your memoirs.

Zeke was a guest of ours back in 2016 and ended up staying longer than either he or his family had predicted. He became our Property Manager for a couple of months and during that time he wrote a novel that is to be published in mid-2017 (stay tuned!). Zeke returned to Florida last summer but he missed the beauty, the tranquility and the essence of Costa Rica. The urge to return resulted in him contacting us about setting up a writers retreat in Las Villas de San Buenas. We were excited to have Zeke back in Costa Rica, but we had never planned a writers’ retreat before (although we have had weddings, birthday parties, etc on the property) so we were cautiously optimistic.

Zeke took care of all the writing details and in securing pulp-noir author Will Viharo, and we took care of planning all of the details of lodging, transportation and meals. Collectively, it worked out wonderfully! The all inclusive element of the Writers’ Retreat makes it easy for participants to enjoy their time here. The feedback has been fantastic!! In fact, we already have our next Writers’ Retreat of San Buenas planned for June 10-17, 2017, with accomplished author Vi Khi Nao.

Here’s some testimonials from the retreat:

This was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The Guest writers and attendee group were amazing. So much energy and creativity! I feel I did my best writing, ever, at the retreat. — Michelle H.

I was afraid that it would be a bunch of feel-good hippie crap, which frankly I do not need and doesn’t really fit my personality…As far as the writing workshop itself, I can truly say that it was life-changing…Probably the most valuable aspect of the retreat for me was the retreat itself: carving out the time to focus on my writing, and doing so surrounded by such an amazing group of writers who were also invested in taking their work seriously. — Ray A.

I am as surprised as you that I actually went on this adventure. A writer’s retreat? Absolutely in my comfort zone. In Costa Rica? Absolutely the farthest thing from my comfort zone outside of going shirtless in public or bullfighting. I guess my inner writer needed to get to the jungle. What a learning experience! — Dustin T

Please contact either us or through the Writers’ Retreat website if you’d like more information about this all-inclusive option.

 


costa rica house san buenas

Our Newest Home is Complete

We recently completed our newest home in the Vistas portion of our project. This beautiful home was designed and constructed by our crew through a partnership with a local engineering and architectural firm who has built our last five homes. The home was completed on-time and on-budget and the clients are thrilled! Don’t take our word for it, here’s their testimonial.

costa rica customers traynor
Emmanuel, the engineer, and the clients on the day their house was started.

Other Canadians and some Americans warned us about using Tico builders but this crew came highly recommended by Nick Halverson and we couldn’t be happier. People go into these type of projects with great trepidation. We were in Canada while much of our Costa Rican home was being built. However, the engineer gave us progress reports weekly, sometimes more than that. The workers worked long and hard and did a fabulous job. We were surprised how quickly it went. The entire process went by so smoothly. Emmanuel (the engineer) has a great eye for detail, very professional, very creative and flexible making sure we got exactly what we wanted. I’d say Emmanuel and the entire crew have a great understanding and idea of what North Americans want. We feel like we made friends with these builders. Seriously, if you ask, do we recommend these guys, the answer is ‘absolutely.’ 

This home has amazing 180 degree, unobstructed, Pacific Ocean views, views of the next door San Buenas Golf Resort and tantalizing views of the mountains to the north.

costa rica blue home san buenas


will viharo costa rica beach

Will Viharo at the 2017 San Buenas Writer’s Retreat

Will Viharo

Will viharo b&w

The dates for our premier retreat are January 29-February 4, 2017, and we at The Writer’s Retreat of San Buenas couldn’t be more pleased that Will Viharo is going to be our first guest author and instructor.

Will ‘the Thrill’ Viharo is a noted “gonzo pulp” fiction author, freelance writer, and B movie impresario. For many years he was best known as the producer, programmer and host of the long-running live “cult movie cabaret” called “Thrillville,” which he hosted for many years around the Bay Area and beyond as “Will the Thrill,” along with his wife, Monica “Tiki Goddess” Cortes-Viharo.

Now he has returned to his roots full-time as a freelance writer and pulp fiction author, contributing regular columns about vintage pop culture and the craft of writing to several publications.

His published bibliography includes the retrospective anthology series The Thrillville Pulp Fiction Collection featuring all of his standalone novels to date (A Mermaid Drowns in the Midnight Lounge, Freaks That Carry Your Luggage Up to the Room, Lavender Blonde, Down a Dark Alley, and Chumpy Walnut); as well as the definitive omnibus The Vic Valentine Classic Case Files: Fate Is My Pimp, Romance Takes a Rain Check, I Lost My Heart in Hollywood, and Diary of a Dick. All are now available via his own imprint, Thrillville Press.

Gutter Books reissued the first Vic Valentine novel, Love Stories Are Too Violent For Me in 2013. It was originally published by Wild Card Press in 1995, and has been optioned for a film by Christian Slater. In December 2015, Gutter published the most recent entry in the series, Hard-boiled Heart.

Additionally, Will has written two sci-fi collaborations with Scott Fulks, It Came From Hangar 18 and The Space Needler’s Intergalactic Bar Guide.

For each day of this retreat, Mr. Viharo – now a resident of Seattle, WA – will lead a socially casual but intently focused group session wherein he will constructively critique participants’ writing, provide experiential insights into the “cut-throat” business of publishing (both independent and traditional), and share creative techniques of self-discovery to help aspiring authors achieve their full artistic potential.

Praise for Will Viharo from his peers:

“No human being has absorbed more pulp culture and its seamy sexploitation underbelly than Will Viharo. Thankfully, his warped synapses and calloused, compulsive fingertips are able to repurpose it all and blow it back onto the page–desperate, demented, delirious, D-cupped … and many other D words as well.” —Eddie Muller, Czar of Noir

“Besides the great style, plot, and characters, what I love so much about Will Viharo’s work is his willingness to really go there in his depictions of sex and violence. The dude’s not shy. At all.” – Mike Monson, author/publisher, All Due Respect Books

“Will Viharo has to be the most Chandleresque author I know that’s not actively trying to rip off the legend’s style or paradigm in his fiction. Viharo’s narrative voice is thunderous and commanding. One of the best kept secrets in contemporary hardboiled fiction.”

-Benoit Lelievre, Dead End Follies

“Will Viharo writes not just neo-noir but neon noir, his Vic Valentine novels brilliant paeans to Chandler, Hammett, and other aspects of pop culture that Viharo clearly loves, from old B-movies to Frank Sinatra. But his roots are only a backdrop for Viharo’s modernization of the detective genre. Vic Valentine is a detective who falls hard for his dreams, knowing full well that he shouldn’t.  For Valentine it seems that the greatest defeat would be to give in to the idea that he cannot win. In Will Viharo’s fast paced, witty and wise Vic Valentine novels, there is always hope, however hardboiled it may be.”–Rob Pierce, author of Uncle Dust  and Vern in the Heat

 “In a cookie-cutter literary world chock-full of imitation and repetition, Will Viharo carves out a thoroughly original ride…Think David Lynch and Raymond Chandler catching a matinee together as the world falls apart. Sexy, smart, surreal. Can’t recommend enough.” –Joe Clifford, author of Lamentation, December Boys, and Junkie Love, on A Mermaid Drowns in the Midnight Lounge 

Visit Will’s website

 

 


Costa Rica home building

Our Next Home to be Built

We will soon begin building our next home here in Las Villas de San Buenas. We will be updating the progress here on the website, but we wanted to show you the 3D model.

The owners of this home have spent almost a decade spending long periods of time every year in Costa Rica. Their custom designed home takes full advantage of the ocean view sunsets, the constant breezes and the tranquility that Las Villas de San Buenas offers.

Please let us know if you’re interested in owning a home in beautiful Costa Rica by clicking the CONTACT link in the upper right!

Costa Rica home building


The Sunsets of Costa Rica Are An Even Greater Phenomenon than Aurora Borealis

I’m not discrediting the Northern Lights. If you are like me, seeing the Aurora Borealis, a collisions between gaseous particles in the Earth’s atmosphere, is on your Bucket List.

However, I don’t believe the Northern Lights will have anything on the sunsets of Costa Rica.

Sunset villas san buenas
Another day, another beautiful sunset here in Las Villas de San Buenas

There are 5 specific reasons why I feel this way, the first 3 are practical, the other 2 are special like Costa Rica itself.

First, to get to the Aurora Borealis, you’ve got to travel to the far North. The closer you get to the Arctic Circle, the more prominent the Northern Lights are. For the sunsets, all you’ve got to do is come to Costa Rica.

Second, because it’s the far North, you’ve got to wear layers upon layers just to stay warm. It’s cold!

Here, in Costa Rica, I usually wear nothing but a tank top and running shorts, only throwing on shoes when I’ve got to go somewhere.

Go ahead and keep your layers, when I’m through writing this, I taking off my tank top and going for a swim.

Third, you’ve got to look up towards the sky to see The Northern Lights. Even though it’s lovely, who needs that neck-strain? Seriously.

I’m in Villas de San Buenas de Osa in the Southern Zone, and all one has to do is look straight towards the Pacific Ocean beyond the horizon.

There’s no Daylight Savings Time in Costa Rica like there is in The States, screwing up Americans emotionally and mentally for days and weeks on end.

This is why you always make sure you’re outside at 4:30pm every day all year long, and you can stand or walk or sit in a chair and just look straight ahead to where the sun’s setting. No neck-strain.

This leads to the fourth reason. The Aurora Borealis is up in the sky, beyond your reach. A Costa Rica Sunset envelops you. You watch the sun set, then at 4:45, almost 5, you look around you as the entire country turns into gold.
There’s a sheen everywhere. Everybody’s skin is glowing, including yours.

The incredible light, the soft golden hue is reflecting in all the vegetation, the mountains, the jungle, reflecting back against the houses, and you can walk around letting the light embrace you, or spin around like when you were a kid in a field. You are part of this natural wonder. It’s of the Earth, the air and sky. You don’t need to look upwards but around, or rather straight-ahead and side-to-side. You are inside the Costa Rica sunset from your bare feet to the top of your head.

If you are a spiritual person you will see and feel your God. This may be true regarding the Aurora Borealis but it’s different when you are inside your God, and can feel and see God all around you, not just up in the sky.

And lastly, if you are an artistic person, like myself, and we each have an art inside us, the sunsets of Costa Rica will make you want to create art.

Mine has always been the written word, but each sunset I experience, inspires me to go beyond words, enabling me to draw, to paint, and even take photographs than I ever have before.

Your skin will never look better than it will during a Costa Rican sunset, so take lots of pictures and nobody will need to tell you to smile because you’ll already be there.

The Northern Lights certainly inspired artists, folksinger Nick Drake wrote beautiful songs about it but when you’re inside a Costa Rican sunset, if makes everybody feel like an artist and you’ll feel like a piece of art for just being there.

My name is Ezekiel Tyrus. People call me Zeke. I am the gatekeeper to Paradise. Come see me.

zeke@villassanbuenas.com

#‎EzekielTyrusCostaRica‬

‪#‎LasVillasdeSanBuenasdeOsa‬

Las Villas de San Buenas de Osa

12/17/2015


Reserva Playa Tortuga Donation

Las Villas de San Buenas proudly donated over 10 headlamps to Reserva Playa Tortuga (RPT) recently. RPT is located approximately 10 minutes from Las Villas de San Buenas and they provide our residents and visitors an amazing opportunity to help protect Costa Rica’s Osa wildlife.

Tortuga is Spanish for turtle, and they focus a lot of their time, energy and financial resources on protecting migrating turtles. However, they also study a variety of wildlife in the area.

Las Villas de San Buenas is looking to increase its support of Reserva Playa Tortuga and preliminary discussions have started to finalize a program that benefits both organizations.

To donate please purchase these headlamps on Amazon, and ship to:

Nick Halverson
1759 Valerie Lane
New Brighton, MN 55112

Be sure to include your name in the order and/or send us an email to notify us that they are on the way and we can send you a thank-you card.

Reserva Playa Tortuga Donation
Las Villas de San Buenas (LVSB) recently donated headlamps to RPT Juan Manuel Salazar (RPT), Nick Halverson (LVSB), Melissa Jimenez Kardentey (RPT).

Mr. Juan Salazar, from RPT, said that “these headlamps will help our volunteers work throughout the night in protecting the mothers who are laying their eggs, and for the hatchlings to successfully make it to the ocean.”

Please contact us if you’d like to make a financial or product donation to Reserva Playa Tortuga.

From RPT’s website, their objectives are:

  • To develop positive communication with populations and communities associated with study areas focusing on protection of coastal marine resources and the development of responsible ecological tourism.
  • To establish strategic alliances with governmental and non-governmental entities working towards conservation and management of natural resources at local, national and international levels.
  • To educate and enable local population, via programs and opportunities, to live in environmentally sustainable ways.
  • To identify populations of coastal animals in danger of local, regional, or global extinction.
  • To maintain and rehabilitate the land in order to create/re-create an intact coastal zone that protects the Osa’s incredible wealth of biodiversity while supporting and facilitating sustainable development and living for the immediate coastal populations from Cortés to Dominical.
  • To provide opportunities to the scientists and researchers from Costa Rica to work with senior researchers and faculty members of US and other international universities and research facilities in order to further develop their research skills in the scientific fields related to Conservation Ecology and Biogeochemistry of Tropical Coastal Marine Systems.
  • To facilitate scientists and researchers to use the equipment and facility of Playa Tortuga Marine Conservation and Research Center for their own research activities involving biological investigation of tropical marine environments in regions where such research has not been carried out in recent times.

Reserva Playa Tortuga Donation

 


Lapa

Lapa Photographed at Casa Lapa

Lapa (Scarlet Macaw)

The photograph below was taken by Nick Halverson in May 2015 from the backyard of Casa Lapa using a Nikon D5000 with a Nikkor 18-140 mm lens. It is of a scarlet macaw (or a lapa as they are known in Costa Rica).

There were four lapas eating the ripening almonds from the almond tree in the early morning. If you look closely at the photo you can see that this one has the almond between its beak. We planted those trees approximately three years ago and we now regularly have lapas flying in and eating.

 


Las Villas de San Buenas to Plant 2,000 trees

Las-Villas-de-San-BuenasLas Villas de San Buenas recently purchased 2,000 trees from a non-profit division of ICE (electricity provider) called Sembrada Agua. This project connects high schools and local communities to organizations looking to repopulate damage done decades ago by cattle farmers whom cleared some of the jungles in Costa Rica. The goal of Sembrada Agua is to plant one million trees by 2030 – and we wanted to do our part in helping out.

“We are committed to designing and planning our development in an eco-friendly manner and integrating native trees into the landscapes,” explained Hanz Cruz, General Manager of Las Villas de San Buenas.

Las Villas de San Buenas will be spending the next month planting these trees. When we purchased the land that is now Las Villas de San Buenas there were thousands of gmelina trees that had been planted in the 1960s by local farmers. Gmelina is a non-indigenous, invasive species that chokes out the native trees. After several years, and approximately $85,000, we successfully cleared out the majority of the gmelina trees. We are now actively replanting the same area with fourteen tree species that are native to the Osa Peninsula, which will help bring the land back to its more natural state from 100 years ago.

“We will be planting a variety of fruit trees, hard woods and ornamental trees which will show our owners the beautiful mix of the wonderful bio-diversity found in this region of Costa Rica,” said Las Villas de San Buenas CEO Nick Halverson.


Carrol-Henderson

Carrol L Henderson meets with Nick Halverson

Carrol L Henderson
Nick Halverson (L) and Carrol L Henderson

Earlier this week, Las Villas de San Buenas CEO, Nick Halverson, met with Carrol L Henderson, to exchange

their experiences and stories about Costa Rica. Mr. Henderson is a wildlife biologist for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and has written four books about Costa Rica’s mammals, birds and wildlife.

During the 75 minute meeting, Carrol shared many stories of his travels around the world and his success in raising awareness of wildlife in Costa Rica. In fact, Carrol was instrumental in getting the Ballena National Park designated as a national park by using photographs he took of migrating whales, and having those compared to photos on file at the Cousteau Institute.


Prolific Writing

Carrol’s four books about Costa Rica are: Costa Rica Wildlife, Mammals, Amphibians and Reptiles of Costa Rica, Butterflies, Moths, and Other Invertebrates of Costa Rica, Birds of Costa Rica

Carrol-Henderson Carrol-Henderson Carrol-Henderson Carrol-Henderson

Carrol has spent a lifetime studying wildlife in both Costa Rica and in Minnesota, USA. He made his first visit to Costa Rica in the late 1960’s, where he met and married his wife of 40 years+. Over the past 45 years, Carrol has documented every trip and every animal sighting he’s had in Costa Rica. Armed with this data, he went on to write his books about wildlife in Costa Rica. He is constantly looking for updates and photographic proof of sightings so each new edition of his books is kept up-to-date. In fact, after the meeting Mr. Halverson sent Mr. Henderson some photos so that Carrol could identify the bird species in the photos.

Las Villas de San Buenas is committed to protecting the environment and due to this commitment, birds that were not seen 10 years ago in San Buenaventura are now common. Through working with professional horticultures, local experts and actively searching out other professionals (such as Carrol Henderson), Las Villas de San Buenas is continuing to improve the environmental diversity of Osa.

Small Town, Common Roots

It turns out that Carrol and the Chairman of the Board of Las Villas de San Buenas, Duane Halverson, both were born in Iowa and both were students at Iowa State University at the same time in the late 1960’s.

Nick Halverson was also born in Iowa, and interestingly, both Nick and Carrol have a strong belief that to truly appreciate and enjoy Costa Rica, one must immerse oneself into the local culture and customs.

Costa Rica Birding Tours

Since 1987, Mr. Henderson has lead private birding tours for small groups of people. Every trip is unique and different from any other previous trips. If anyone is interested in learning more about his past trips, or the January 2016 trip, please send us a note.

NOTE: All of Carrol’s books are available at national book sellers and Amazon.


Stay Informed!

Special Offer!

Affordable Costa Rica Real Estate

Join owners from around the world who all own in Villas San Buenas. Authentic. Costa Rica Living.

Disclaimer