This month’s Costa Rica calendar from photographer Sylvia Guardia M. is a photo of the Rincon volcano in Guanacaste, Costa Rica.

Rincon Volcano in Guanacaste Costa Rica

You can download the Guanacaste September calendar here.

Most people buying a condo or home in Costa Rica do so through a Costa Rican corporation – and if they own multiple properties, they generally have a separate corporation for each property. Some developers in Costa Rica already have a corporation set up for each lot. Many attorneys have empty corporations ready to transfer.

Buying a Costa Rica condo with friends – just in case you’re not ready to make the whole investment yourself – is much easier through a corporation. No “tenants in common”, here parties buy shares of stock. Is one friend going to use the condo twice as much as the others? They can buy twice the amount of stock.

You and your friends may want to alternate times in the property, or sometimes you may want to go and enjoy it together. If there’s time left over, you may want to rent it out, either through a local company or online or a combination of both.

Many people now want to invest SOME of their assets outside the US, but not as much as would be necessary to buy a property outright, especially if you’re looking for a property with great amenities in a gated community. So – you may want to consider getting together a group of your friends or business colleagues and purchasing it through a Costa Rican corporation.

Michael Mills just published this short video of Playa del Coco in Guanacaste Costa Rica

Below is a desktop background you can download from the link below the photo: from our favorite photographer in Costa Rica, Sylvia Guardia Monserrat:

August 2010 Costa Rica photo calendar

Download calendar photo here.

If you need a photographer in Costa Rica, Sylvia does an excellent job – weddings, architecture, nature, commercial, real estate, portraits. She’s a delightful person as well. Check out her website (linked above) for examples of her photography.

Thanks for letting us share this, Sylvia!

Rainy afternoon in Tamarindo Guanacaste Costa Rica

It’s now the Rainy Season in Costa Rica, which the locals charmingly call The Green Season (sometimes referred to as dry season and green season). The summer season in Costa Rica is November to April and the green season is from May to October, with the heaviest rains coming in October.

Our first trip to  Costa Rica a few years ago was in August and I have to admit that going to the tropics during rainy season had me a bit worried.  Much to my pleasure, I found that it was no worse than summer in Florida, where a heavy afternoon rain is typical, but surrounded by sunshine on both sides of the rain. The green season also has the appeal of lower rates and less crowded restaurants and attractions.  When it’s raining – think Pura Vida! and enjoy relaxing under cover while you listen to the captivating sound of the rain.

Ken Schaafsma does a great job of dispelling some myths in his blog posts. I liked his post yesterday about the Costa Rica rainy season. He also gave a few weather facts I wasn’t aware of:  1) the length of daylight hours in Costa Rica varies by only about 15 minutes from June to December; and 2) Costa Rica averages 13 hours of sunlight every day.

You may know that Costa Rica doesn’t play with Daylight Savings Time.  What is, is.  So, in December Costa Rica is one hour behind Florida time and in the summer Costa Rica is two hours behind Florida time.

Costa Rica ranked 3rd out of 163 countries on the 2010 Environmental Performance Index, up from 5th in 2008. Costa Rica is a beautiful country with many different environments, but is keeping its environmental quality up while the country continues to develop. Even now 80% of their electric energy is from renewable sources, hydro and geothermal, and wind farms planned for Guanacaste will raise that.  Costa Rica’s plan is to be totally carbon neutral by 2021. One of their plans is to require all construction and renovations to be “green building” certified. Only Switzerland and Iceland ranked higher on the index. Globe-net described Costa Rica as “the green jewel”.  And it’s only a 2.5 hour flight from Florida!

Marina Pez Vela in Quepos Costa Rica has opened its first phase, with 100 slips including facility for large yachts. The fuel dock has opened as well.  Scott Cutter, my real estate colleague in the Manuel Antonio and Quepos area of Costa Rica, took this night shot of the marina. You can see several additional photos on the Marina Pez Vela site. The Pacific coast of Costa Rica is one of the best sports fishing areas in the world. This is probably an hour’s drive south of the marina at Los Suenos, and half an hour south of Del Pacifico.

Costa Rica produces 90% of its electricity from renewable sources, according to International Living magazine. In 2007 Costa Rica set a goal for itself to be carbon-neutral before its 200th birthday in 2021.  It’s almost made it there in just 3 years. Most of its electricity comes from hydropower, wind and geothermal. Next it will add solar to the mix. Costa Rica continues to be a world leader on green issues. More than a quarter of the country is national parks and reserves.

New road for Playa Panama Guanacaste Costa Rica announced Luis Liberman, Costa Rica second vice president. $1.5 million will be spent to build a new 2 kilometer road that will connect Playa Panama with route 159, which links the coast to Liberia and the international airport. It was announced Saturday during the anniversary of Guanacaste’s annexation to Costa Rica. The first stage will connect the town of Panama to Route 159 and the second will connect Route 159 with Playa Buena. It will also include improvement of some of the side roads and bridges in the area and creation of new bus stops. These projects are expected to be completed in the next 3 months.

I’ve driven several times on the road from Playa Panama to the Liberia airport, along decent paved roads, so wondered about this and queried my friend, Mike. It seems the locals are also trying to figure out where this is.

I asked about the “city” of Playa Panama -  “there is a small town in Playa Panama that nobody knows about. It was a dirt road just before the hill going over to Hermosa. It was paved recently. There is another dirt road leading off the new road to the Do It that we think is the road they are talking about.”  Hours later, another response: “I just figured out it is the extension of the road leading to the Grand Occidental and what will be the new Westin. The Boulevard as we call it. That dead ends at the old Costa Blanca hotel, remember? It has been juiced up.”

And now you know the rest of the story.

If the work is done by January, I’ll take photos.

The new highway from San Jose, Costa Rica to Caldera on the Pacific coast cuts at least an hour from the driving time and eliminates the sharp curves and one lane bridges. Most people focus on getting to the central Pacific towns now in an hour and a half – it also reduces the driving time from San Jose to Guanacaste (northwest Pacific coast) to about 3 and 1/2 hours.

But – the section from Atenas to Orotina is temporarily closed. Improvements need to be made to the sides of the highway in some cases, to avoid potential rocks and slides coming down onto the highway. Estimates are from a few weeks to a few months closed – in Tico time.