Bad News For Our House Build In Costa Rica

Louis

Raya

thanks to Beth & Jamarl for editing

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Zachary Charles, William Rusling, Ravin States, Myra Slepoy, Laurie Agema, Lauren Hughes, Julie Holder, Josh Hunter, Jesica Randall, Jacquelyn Gebel, Don Davis, Cindy Liles, Andrea Hughes, Adam Paulson, Mariana, Iva Morris, Denise Deckard
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Thanks for watching our channel! Join us as we share our family life, travels and adventures as we explore alternative and conscious living. From full-time van/bus life, to family travel with our baby Neo, to building our house and learning to grow our own food in an eco-community in Costa Rica, we share it all. Subscribe to follow our journey!
Conscious Living, Family Travel, Van/Bus Life, Alternative Living

[marie]

Can't tell you what a dopamine boost your videos provide! Showing, modeling an alternate way of living through community, at a time when we're all so isolated and lonely, is such a powerful message. Keep up the amazing work, can't wait for the next video.

[williamcr]

Canadian guy here, residing in Costa Rica for multiple decades. You guys need to go to the Registro Nacional in Zapote area of San Jose, buy the necessary stamps and request the "microfilm" documents relevant to the "citas" (a series of numbers) listed on your "estudio registral" (basically, your land deed, which can be downloaded online). On this latter document, towards the bottom, should be noted the "reservas y restricciones" that are relevant to your property, one of which, in your case, sounds to be a "servidumbre de paso" or access road. This is the route you need to take, to find out of the road really does, or will, exist. A lawyer can easily help you in this process. Also, pay a topographer to have your lot surveyed to be sure that you are building within your limit, and also to be able to make sure the road doesn't infringe on what's legally yours.

[priyapprasad]

Hey Raya and Louis! I'm a land use planner. I know each country is different, but sometimes you're able to request information about the road project from the Ministry or Province/Village you're in, especially since your home is beside this project!

I believe in Costa Rica each Province has a Plan Regulador which sets out the requirements (i.e. zoning maps, land use, permitted uses, development criteria). Connecting with your local land use planning office might a good way to get some more info and confirm details of the road.

Also, I would encourage you to explore the environmental policies in land use planning too! You can use this to voice your concerns regarding the trees and protection of natural heritage features. Costa Rica is a world leader in natural heritage protection, so I imagine there must be some policies to help you maintain those features!

Hope this helps! All the best ❤

[willforster]

Hi Raya and Louis,

I am from the UK too and have built two house in Costa Rica, both in Nosara. Make sure you do everything according to your cadastre, and have it mapped by reputable surveyors! You can easily get caught in bureaucracy if you can’t prove where your property starts and finishes. Possession is a significant part of property law here in CR so know what’s yours!

[pandabella]

I absolutely love that you guys take a couple of deep breaths before your meals, that’s fabulous!

[sofilabella]

If there are residents in Alegría who speak Spanish fluently, perhaps you should do "Noche en español" as a Spanish-only event so that everyone can participate and learn more, be more exposed to the language.

[nicandtris]

Louis, my husband always said "I'm not good at languages" and we lived in other countries and he didn't learn because he told himself that he couldn't (he's dyslexic). However, something changed and in Germany he decided maybe he could do it and he has. My point is, you're a smart guy and you can do anything you set your mind to, so as a language teacher of 20 years I'd advise you to stop saying you're not good at languages and instead say I'm learning and getting better all the time. Stop blocking yourself and give yourself a chance :) You can do it - watching TV in Spanish will help. Neo (and new bubba) can learn too - you can watch cartoons together etc. It's so effective.

[TobinOsusky]

Learn Spanish together and set Neo up for a lifetime of ease and success 💜

[ShelbyCaruso]

I love the real life shot of Neo watching a phone at dinner. I know you all are a low screen time family, as are we BUT sometimes us parents need a peaceful dinner. Thank you for always being so relateable!

[susanlombardo]

nothing like fresh foods right from the garden. What an amazing blessing to have such fresh delicious organic food. ❤

[evaestelle]

Please wear a helmet on the moto Louis. Never underestimate other drivers making mistakes at your expense

[laurasadie]

I adore your Costa Rica videos; I enormously admire your spirit of adventure and am very interested in your building process, hiccups and all. Thanks for sharing so much as you do! Your family is just lovely. Raya makes pregnancy look more photogenic than I remember mine being!

[MoeMaiSue]

Trust me, you don’t want dirt road. If there are any dry days and cars are coming and going, expect a ton of dust at your house.

[RhiannaH]

nothing better to brighten a monday morning than a raya & louis costa rica vlog for some much needed escapism ❤️

[Maxieandme]

Your community and neighbors are so fun and welcoming! CR really is beautiful😊

[jeanarino]

Your videos are the best, calming and lovely to watch. Don't listen to any of the negative comments on your lifestyle. One thing I learned after going through the pandemic was that we all need community, and we all need to follow our dreams and not worry about what is considered "normal" Your children are going to have an amazing rich life♥

[kaitlynreid]

GREYS IS AMAZING. So much beautiful and powerful commentary on the situations going on in the world too in later seasons. Most of my friends who watched have fallen off but I’m still current I hope you enjoy. Definitely can get lost in that world.

[kimberlypuravida]

We moved here 11 years ago, originally in Turrialba, very few gringos at all. I learned my Spanish by immersion. All my Tica friends and family only speak Spanish so it was a great way to learn because nobody spoke English.
Find a Costa Rican to become your family, the cultural experience can not be overstated. ❤

[SuePlorin]

I agree about needing community..I live in the US and no one talks to neighbors. I am blessed where I live, we have lived here 30 plus yrs. Our kids grew up with good people watch8ng out for them. Helping each other. Sadly new families have moved in and not friendly. But I understand Raya your community. I love it!

[uerac]

From a person that's lived thru multiple development projects...one of which had issues similar to the one's you guys are heading into....

May I suggest going to the city planning commission, if they have one, and work w/them about their one issue...where to put the extra dirt when they make the road....

Since you guys need a little help to level out the dips in the land...you could request the city to put a portion of their dirt on your land...If you work it out right, it wouldn't cost you anything for the extra soil...apart from the leveling which the city may work w/you on that as well.

It helped us on a build for our family home off of a farm parcel...which was part of a prehistoric lake...so digging into the ground, for a basement, would be dicy because of water tables. So when the city was creating the roads in our newly budding neighborhood...we made a deal w/them to put all the dirt they wanted to move onto our land...Then we were able to build on top of the farmland base but look like we built on a hill to hide the front of our basement...it was a walkout so it wasn't fully around.

It was a cost savings for the city because they would have to pay to move all the dirt out w/dump trucks and other equipment, beside gas and man power...and they leveled it for us to dig.

COST SAVING IS THE GOAL!

It allowed us to put money in the home we wouldn't have been able to or a redesign of the footprint of the structure. Already costly to have that done to begin w/.

Also work w/the city for the overflow ditch to see if they are will to build a dike or some sort of solid dirty structure to keep the water running away from your property...don't want to end up w/a flood or even mud slide.

Anyway there are my 2cents...tc