Vision ... Projects

Vision

Nico & Mark, the owners of Ojo del Mar, like to share the adventure and natural beauty of the rainforest and ocean of the Osa Peninsula with their visiting guests, and to offer a sanctuary environment where the experience of renewal and relaxation, creative inspiration, transformation and self reflexion can take place.

Projects

WOO - Women of the Osa
who are
protecting the Osa from within,
striving for conservation, education
and ecological awareness,
to preserve one of the most intense
reservoirs of bio-diversity on earth.

Nico is part and co-founder of WOO, an organization that works to design, implement and aid projects in partnership with other local groups to protect the Osa. It is critical to preserve this bio-diversity not only for the people who live in the Osa, but for the good of the world. The oxygen provided by the rain-forest helps balance the global warming effect. Rain-forest plants are a vital source for major medicinal breakthroughs. As well, our emotional well-being depends on places that give us a sense of peace and harmony. By depleting different wild life species, the chain of survival is broken which leads to dis-equilibrium in nature. By allowing deforestation, our climates will continue to change dramatically. It is the global importance of this unique region, which faces ever-increasing threats that needs our help. We need to conserve this amazing and resourceful place for each one of us and for future generations.

Living in the jungle / Handbook

A handbook for sustainable living on the Osa Peninsula, in the Golfo Dulce area, and anywhere you care.
Nico is the author of this book that offers helpful information and attempts to find harmony between our lives and this magnificent environment.

Art Performance Atmosfera 2003 / Atmosphere

Mark's enormous installation and Art Show Atmosfera at the Museo del Arte Contemporaneo in San Jose, Costa Rica, was opened with a live performance in order to create the installation. The performance involved 4 huge tree trunks, which came from the deserted beaches of the Osa Peninsula, chainsaws, 4 oxygen bottles, drummers, and 14 people. The created sculpture showed how sensitive the balance between the two forces - creation and destruction - is to the atmosphere and ultimately to our lifes.

Bamboo Architecture

Over the last 8 years living in the Osa Peninsula, Mark mastered the art of building with bamboo. His beautiful structures make an ideal sustainable alternative to hardwood, cement and metal constructions. Bamboo grows rapidly, yields high output in a small area, sequesters carbon, and does not require pesticides for cultivation. Mark says: "Bamboo is not only sustainable, it's sexy !"
To find out more, contact us @ ojodelmar@yahoo.de

Club de Bambu / Bamboo Club

Based at a sustainable agriculture in La Palma, Peninsula de Osa, the program provides plant stocks, training, facilities for drying and curing bamboo canes, and cooperative access to the local market for bamboo products. Over the next year, a number of workshops will bring international experts in bamboo botany, propagation, craftmanship and construction to the La Palma Center to work with the Osa Community.

To get involved, or to find out more, e-mail Alfredo Quintero at quintero@osaconservation.org

Kung Fu / Thai Chi

We also teach a traditional Kung Fu / Thai Chi style to the local community