Villa Tekla

Privacy, Security, Nature, Convenience

Villa Tekla is a distinctive three-bedroom, three-level Spanish-Moorish hacienda, an eco-friendly villa designed for the tropics, on five acres of forest and landscaped grounds, with ocean and mountain views, set off the main road. It has extensive patios, is fully furnished and has a private pool. It can easily accommodate three couples and is perfect for families traveling together.

Villa Tekla is completely private - although you might hear an occasional vehicle on the road, there are no visible neighbors. It feels as though you are in the middle of the jungle - with the convenience of a store at the end of the long driveway!

Especially designed for the climate of Costa Rica's south-central coast, Villa Tekla is an open house, with screened lower, main and upper level bedrooms. It is protected from both sun and rain by wide roof overhangs and is intended to provide an optimal experience for nature lovers and yet be entirely secure. Sitting atop a volcanic spur over jungle that runs all the way to Manuel Antonio National Park, it is open to the west, north and east - towards the ocean and the forests and the mountains. Rare precious and semi-precious flowering hardwoods shade it from the sun. Some of the acreage is planted in various fruit species, the rest of it is a natural canopied forest. The pool has tiled patios immediately adjacent to the house.

Villa Tekla is our family home. We do not rent it as a profit-making business, but only to ensure that we will not have to lay off any of our loyal, longterm staff for the months we aren’t there.

The property is midway between the thriving tourist town of Quepos and the beaches of Manuel Antonio National Park. The main beach is five minutes away by car or bus, thirty minutes by foot. Several smaller, less populated beaches are even closer and we can provide directions to them. The park, with its crescent beaches, trails and wildlife, offers nature lovers a unique, unforgettable experience. It opens at seven a.m. daily, but is closed Monday. It's best to visit early in the morning, when the wildlife is most active. Even though staying at Villa Tekla offers the opportunity to see as much, if not more, wildlife than a typical day in the park, it is still worth visiting for its wonderful walks and beaches. Sceptical? Check out this 3D walkthough of Manuel Antonio National park.

Though at nine degrees latitude, the climate is benign, the temperature ranging from the lows 20s to low 30s C (low 70s to low 80s F), depending on time and season. The dry season extends roughly from Christmas to Easter, but is variable, and is cooled by fresh breezes from the ocean during the hottest hours. The green season (there is no winter or summer in Costa Rica) is preferred by many, with its rain at night, late-afternoon sun-showers, morning mists, rainbows and verdant growth - and unpeopled beaches. Occasionally, the rain can fall in torrents, and it's an experience which many visitors enjoy. Wide roof overhangs and rain blinds keep the villa dry. The house has been carefully situated so that the sun does not enter in the heat of the day, and it offers brilliant sunset views in the Green Season.

As you relax in our hammock, don't be surprised if the titis (squirrel monkeys) come by the house, swinging from tree to tree and clambering over the roof. Cara blancas (white-face cappuchin monkeys) visit regularly too, and in the early morning howler monkeys can be heard calling from the tall trees. Other animals we have seen from the house include sloths, coatis, raccoons, armadillos, anteaters, pacas, agoutis, land and tree iguanas, a peccary that wandered down from the mountains, and a Mexican dwarf porcupine. Birders will be awed by the numbers and variety of parrots, parakeets, hummingbirds, mot-mots, toucans, manikins, orioles, flycatchers, swallows, tanagers, woodpeckers, wrens, thrushes, trogons, hawks, and you'll awake at dawn to a many-throated chorus. At night you'll hear nightjars, owls, pootoos, laughing falcons, a constant melody of crickets and frogs, and the singing geckoes that patrol for small bugs. Birds and butterflies fly in and out.

And from time to time you'll hear the distant crash and rumble of the Pacific surf.

Here's a video walk through of the house: