PReTTineSS at the FaRm

GloRiOUs Swim-HoLe on their LanD

this is where alternative building interns spend their sundays... not too shabby

the beautiful and the creepy at Rancho Mastatal

thats a skin of the much feared Fer De Lance snake--killed on site, a scorpion I saw on a walk, funky centipede thing, and grasshopper---the wee wildlife

Costa Rica's Independence Day

Last weekend was also a holiday--Independence day! wish i could tell you the reason why the kids make these little houses.. but it was neat. they all had candles inside and then the kids paraded around the tiny town where Rancho Mastatal is--- as you can see, red, white and blue are also C.R.'s colors.... Note: The Ranch built the community center out of cob!

more al Rancho...

these pictures are cob decor--the stuff is so malleable that you can decorate your wall with the same stuff you make the wall from-- brrrrilliant! thats a cob oven too, good for making bread and pizza mmm... then food storage and the kitchen.

once again. sorry my camera lens was so dirty hence the blurrrrr factor.

more structures at the ranch

these pictures are some of the "Hooch" a spot for interns to sleep. then the composting toilet bathrooms the woodshop then the dining room tables. some DELICIOUS delicious deliciousness gets eaten at these tables.

Red's outdoor school: Rancho Mastatal

This is where Red spends 3/4 of his time these days--its about 3 hrs from Colon where i live and go to school. he says "it would be cool if i were half as happy as i am at the ranch"

these pictures are from the COB cabana that we stayed in which was so rad as you can see! one night just as we were going to sleep there was the craziest most intense thunder and lightning storm!!! it was so cool to watch from that open air cabin all deep in the rainforest! check out all the sweet details like the tree on the wall behind the bed.--well if you can see them. my camera lens was soo dirrty this weekend.

this is from their website: www.ranchomastatal.com

Rancho Mastatal is an environmental learning and sustainable living center, retreat and lodge located in the last virgin rainforest of Costa Rica’s beautiful Puriscal County.

We practice and promote living responsibly in the Tropics, while educating our visitors about the significance and majesty of the world’s disappearing tropical forests and are leaders in local conservation, education and community growth.

Our site encompasses 550+ acres of picture-perfect waterfalls, crystal-clear rivers, impressive trees, and pristine habitat in the transition zone between humid and pre-montane rainforest in one of Costa Rica’s most undiscovered regions.


Bats nesting beneath a banana leaf

A Natural Habitat

The property shares a significant border with the splendid La Cangreja National Park, a protected area providing habitat for a number of endangered animals and flora, and containing some 2,000 plant species and varied fauna such as 2-toed sloths, trogons, scarlet macaws, boa constrictors, toucans, poison-dart frogs, blue morpho butterflies, motmots, white-faced capuchin monkeys, coyotes, and anteaters. Rancho Mastatal maintains 15-kilometers of rainforest trails, connecting to a network of footpaths in La Cangreja.

The hospitable and attractive agricultural community of Mastatal sets this area aside from others in the country, and provides the visitor with a glimpse of "tico" campesino life. The locals invariably spawn the fondest memories for those taking the time to interact with them and are what truly make this corner of Central America a special and exceptional destination for conscientious visitors.


Bamboo is a sustainable, organic, durable and flexible building material suitable for the tropics.

photo by Delfino Cornali


Living Sustainably

On site and in the community, we build using natural building techniques, including the use of bamboo and cob, and support the use of renewable energy systems. As our ongoing commitment to education and instruction, we organize and sponsor a wide array of workshops ranging from alternative design and construction to Wilderness First Response Certification, and work with schools in both the United States and Costa Rica in offering customized educational programs on rainforest ecology, Latin culture, and Spanish and English as a second language. We welcome volunteers, graduate students, interns, and all others in search of a memorable and unique tropical experience.

Please contact us directly for additional information regarding work and study opportunities, what to bring, how to get to us, and other relevant facts regarding your visit to Rancho Mastatal.

Pura vida y nos vemos.

estamos feliZ

UPEACE-- so far, so great! there are 160 students from over 50 countries!

today is the last day of our foundation course--which lasted three weeks and touched upon all of the different masters programs that UPEACE has to offer. so we have all been together and our seminars/discussion groups have been a mix of the different masters too which is cool to get to know other people better because the rest of the year i will just be having classes with my peace ed. program and sometimes the peace and gender program.

so we have had readings and lectures in sustainable development, international human rights law, war crime tribunals, gender issues, quantum physics and peace, peace ed, environmental security, and the processes of conflict transformation in areas of protracted conflict.

you can imagine how mind opening it is to hear these lectures and then go to discussion groups where your peers are from Sri Lanka and can tell you about the conflict there first hand, or from Cambodia where the war crimes are on trial-- or armenia where there is only one women's rights organization which was started by the girl sitting next to you!

the professors have been from egypt, peru, brazil, uk, hungary, um.... and their life experiences are just jaw dropping. the war zones that they have been in, the work that they have accomplished or sometimes just attempted. its really interesting because they aren't just academics.

my peace ed. program is led by a brazilian woman, and her assistant from cameroon. we have 16 classmates including students from Rwanda, Iran, Iceland, Belize, Costa Rica, Canada and the States. we've only met once so far, but they seem like a great group.

its definitely a change of pace to get back into this school thing! i dont know how some people are in so many clubs (though they do have some fabulous clubs at school) plus are doing the 8 page papers we have had almost weekly and 3-4 hrs of reading daily. shew.

although UPEACE is a lot lot lot like evergreen, one thing that is different is that they do give grades here. i havent gotten a grade since high school ten years ago, what a trip! plus they have grade inflation or something too, which i dont really get yet, but anyhow i did great on my first paper.

as you can see below, the parties have been great too! its just so cool that we are all so different and yet are all working for the same cause. also it is great that we all came at the same time so everyone is really open to meeting everyone else.

almost everyone here are world travelers and if not they have established themselves in their local communities in some amazing program or another--there are people who have worked in the u.n., profesors, former peace corp-ers, and more.

alright time for school :)

love to you from us xoxo

tHiS iS it--

can you believe it? so after the 15 minutes of winding up and down a dirt road lined with jungle trees, coffee plants, and streams you walk out to see this! this is the view from campus, also the view from the lecture room so when i happen space out for a moment during class i can watch huge hawks soaring in circles above that view. picture all the countries flags that are in the united nations on those flag pole. apparently they only put them up a couple times a year. oh well! i can't believe that i have been so lucky as to attend 2 schools on hundreds of acres of rainforest :) life is good******

red is really loving Rancho Mastatl too- thats the alternative building farm he went to go check out 2 weeks ago. its apparently amazing there and where he will spend a good portion of his time this year. although its three hours away, we are both really happy about that situation. its an apprenticeship, where he learns to build as well as run a farm/nonprofit and with room and board (delicious homegrown meals) it costs $100/mo!

its something he has wanted to learn for years, something we hope to use in the future, and its great we are both furthuring ourselves!

another exciting thing i learned is that there is a practicum option for our final project in peace education. there are 3 schools in costa rica that are bi-lingual and open to having a partnership with UPEACE where we can create a curriculum and go in the schools and teach... PEACE ED! thats really exciting to me, because i have thought about running a summer camp/after school program type thing and i wanted to create a curriculum for that-- but there are only 6 positions available so i will have to duke it out with the other peace ed. students... you know, fight over who gets to teach peace? er...

anyhow--i will write more soon--leave us some comments!

"Productive Fun"

PuRaVidA

this is our landlady, Annia, and her family's house.. that's nicki, costa rica's sweetest and smelliest pup