The Salka Vida Network has been set up to meet and communicate with people who are interested in creating an awesome life together in Costa Rica, to answer questions, to vision together, and to help set things in motion. We are sometimes away from the computer for several days at a time. We will respond as quickly as possible. Looking forward to everything!

We have 18 acres in the mountains (elevation 2100 feet), in an area that is a combination rainforest/cloudforest. We want to live there with other adventurous, visionary souls and gradually, slowly, organically create a tribal eco-village/rejuvenation/learning center, a place to develop a beautiful, soul-satisfying, fun, creative way of life that can be shared with others.

The vision for the community isn't etched in stone, just a starting point to give an idea of what we have in mind. Here is a brief overview of the vision: to create a sustainable, nature-nurturing, off-the-grid, self-sufficient eco-village, educational center and rejuvenation retreat in Costa Rica.
The intention is to grow and expand as individuals and together as a community, to restore and strengthen our connection with Nature
and all of Life, and to create an enjoyable, expansive, stimulating way of living that people from around the planet can come and experience with us. Music, art, drumming, dancing, building, gardening, good food, creating beauty, having fun and enjoying life in general will be our daily life.

Some of the basic organizing principles are:
1) The Law of Complementarity, coined by the Incas, which says that you have what I don't have and I have what you don't have. When we put what we have together, we become complete. In this setting we are all teachers and students. We have much to share with and learn from each other.
2) Mutual respect,
mutual aid, mutual support
3) Open-heartedness
4) Open-mindedness
5) Kindness
6) Communication
7) Cooperation
8) Awareness that we are all embodiments and reflections of the One, so we cut each other a little slack, encourage each other and assume the best.
9) Goodwill to All

The name of our community is Salka Vida. Salka means untamed, undomesticated, wild. Vida means life. Salka Vida is untamed, undomesticated, wild life, something most of us are missing in our modern lives. The opportunity to reconnect with the wild, untamed Life Force and to harmonize with the natural world are important elements of what we are offering to people.

There will be a small community of people (10-12 people to start, maybe more as we go) that live here, and a shifting cast of teachers,
interns, volunteers and helpers that will come and go. Different teachers, speakers, practitioners and facilitators will come to lead retreats and workshops in various fields such as Qigong, Tai Chi, raw foods, yoga, meditation, consciousness expansion, drumming, permaculture, sustainable living/building/energy generation, building with bamboo and other useful skills to assist in transforming ourselves and the way we live. We will host rejuvenation retreats where people come and live in the jungle and get a major tune-up through living in the wild, eating delicious living food, soaking in
herbal hot baths and natural hot springs, massage, swimming in a beautiful, clear river, interacting with other explorers and members of the community, and connecting with the abundant Life Force of this place. We want to offer a transformational experience for people who are ready to upgrade their lives, an opportunity to be rejuvenated, educated and inspired in a really beautiful, wild setting. Just being in this environment is a healing experience in itself.

Our aim is to live off-the-grid, so we will be generating our power with a combination of solar power, wind power and micro hydroelectric power. We will grow as much of our food as possible and
work with local farmers to meet the rest of our food needs. We are already growing guadua bamboo to build with and part of the vision is to ultimately build a treehouse village out of bamboo. Building with bamboo is an area of growing interest in Costa Rica and we will be learning and teaching this skill at our center.

There are potentially many different ways we can generate money in the community. These are just a few of the possibilities:
1) Hosting retreats and workshops
2) Building with bamboo: everything from houses and shelters, to furniture, musical instruments, household items,etc. Also, the
potential exists to form a bamboo-building business to build structures/furniture/whatever for hotels, businesses, other
communities, etc.
3) Growing, packaging and selling herbs. Also making herbal extractions,
tinctures, flower essences and various herbal remedies.
4) Growing tropical hardwood seedlings for reforestation projects
and for replanting vanishing habitats for macaws, monkeys and other
wildlife.
5) Building treehouses and hooches.
6) Recording studio and audio/video/dvd production center, for recording community members' music projects and to create
Dvd's of different workshops and retreats that people can take with them at the end of an event. The studio will also be available for musicians and bands who want to come and record their next CD in this awesome environment.

Ultimately, we want to become much less dependent on money as a medium of exchange. We are in the process of setting up a network of communities in Costa Rica that work together in mutual support and mutual aid. Within the community network we will trade fruits, vegetables, goods, services, bamboo, herbs, plants, trees, etc. We will also offer labor, knowledge and whatever resources we can offer to help communities set up new projects and anything that requires some extra person-power.

There is a suspension bridge we call the 'Leap of Faith Bridge' about a half a mile from our land. Once you cross the bridge you are in another world. You wake up in the morning to the sounds of howler monkeys
roaring and thousands of birds serenading you as the jungle wakes up.
Your neighbors are toucans and white hawks and various members of the local wildlife. You go to sleep under a massive star-filled sky to a symphony of crickets and frogs, and the sounds of the wild. Mother Nature is in full effect here. This area is also a combination rainforest and cloudforest. Big banks of fog come rolling into the valley and from the deck of our jungalow, you watch as everything around you gets whited out by a massive cloud bank. After a while, you are in the middle of it and can see no more than 20 feet around you. Gradually it passes by and the surroundings reappear. The incredible beauty of this place and the continual change of the visual landscape is a source of non-stop wonder.

We are interested in exploring the possibilities with anyone who resonates with this vision. We're looking for hearty souls with an adventurous spirit who are ready to create a new way of living together that promotes joy, harmony and creativity.
We're looking for people with skills in building, organic gardening, permaculture, various healing arts, visual arts, music, drumming, audio/video recording and production, alternative energy production, organizing workshops, marketing and promoting, website creation, etc. Anyone with the skills/inspiration/love/energy/vision to help manifest and add to the project.
Let us know what you do, what your skills/resources are that you can contribute and what you are looking for in a community.
We look forward to hearing from you and romping/working/playing/creating beauty in the jungle together!
Peace, joy, wildness, Doobius J
salkavida@gmail.com