The Choza is open to individuals contemplating, defining, communicating, and implementing the vector of human progress. These individuals have many different and diverse paths through life. At the Choza, we come together to support, challenge, and catalyze each other and our work. The property is used as a self-serve space for collaboration and the development of ideas. Come to the Choza to work on your own, organize a brainstorm or a meeting, cook meals with others, or philosophize while exploring our 25 acres of rural rainforest land and the surrounding community.

Contact us if you would like more information about spending time at the Choza to work on your project. Usage of the space is flexible and we love new ideas.

It has become evident to us all that we needed to take a bit more control over the working relationships we have with Mainor and Jesus.  Todd and I had a number of explicit conversations with them this last visit, and we all came to a conclusion to move to a project-based working arrangement, rather than a full-time and part-time patron/trabajador relationship.  This was an excellent opportunity to have a retrospective of the last four years of activities and we respectively aired our (positive and negative) experiences.  We came to an agreement legally and financially together which was fair and just.  Immediately upon the conclusion of this cycle, our conversations changed with Jesus.  I hadn’t realized how much we haven’t connected when there was a working relationship.  Since this was more or less the first time that Todd met Jesus, Jesus told his story and described his role in the community.  I have known of his active role being on the board of the school in Zapaton, but it was news to me that over the last couple of years, he as become the President of a community bank where they give out loans for projects.  This reminded me of the early conversations I had with him the first summer at the Choza in 2005, one of an elder, respect, and teacher, and I am very excited to continue this relationship with Jesus.

In reflection on the last trip to the Choza, I am reinspired to be conscious of the relationships we are making and the effect we have on the community.  One particular element I would like to explore, are the incentives we put in place for relationships.  There is an opportunity to rethink economic incentives and reward wisdom, ingenuity, and intention.  I would like to share the gift of creation with the community and be a catalyst for conscious projects - perhaps this is something the Choza can give to the community.

Hi all, its about time we posted a short update of activities at the Choza. It’s been a busy summer. We have had a new volunteer caretaker at the Choza for the last 3 months; Annie Kopicko.

Annie is a self professed cook, caretaker and gardener with unquenchable curiosity. Over the last 3 months Annie, Minor (our local caretaker) and some others have been diligently tidying up the Choza and improving its functionality.

Annie has worked on improvements to the Choza greenhouse with the help of Minor and has been increasing the Choza land productivity. The fruit trees that were planted at the Choza earlier this year have born their first fruit and we are awaiting the first vegetables.

New beds in the Choza are being built by Minor and the water filter we have been in need of is now in place. The Choza floor has been stained a lovely rust colour and Annie is in the process of waxing it to replicate the shine and standard of a Tica house. Other elements of the Choza interior are also currently being finished with the skillful help of a local friend Billy and Annie’s direction. This will close out the renovation the Choza has had over the last 18 months. We will post pictures when we have them.

The Choza has also had many visitors over the last 6 months. Jessy, Robbie, Todd and Matt Hancher (one of our members) have all visited as have I with two Californian friends. Spence (a friend of Annie’s) and Annie’s brother have also spent time at the Choza, working and experiencing the Choza life.

Probably the most important activity that has happened over this summer has been the integration of the Choza and its philosophies with the local community. With the help of fluent Spanish speakers, more and regular visitors and Annie’s long term presence at the Choza we have strengthened the bond between the Choza and the local community that we have been aspiring for over the last 2 years. This connection of the Choza to the local community is a key factor in the Choza success and is something we intent to care for and build on over the next few years.

http://www.earth-policy.org/

It has been written by the folks at the Earth Policy insitiute (mainly Lester Brown). It is a fantastic overview of the issues civilization is currently facing, and the magnitude of them. But what is really great about this book, is that it lays out a plan of hope. A plan which describes technologies we already have, policies governments are already employing and how we put them all together to adapt our living to compliment the planet and grow as a society within its bounds.

is a really fascisnating read!

I’ve been putting together a plan for a Choza advance, for later this year, which is focused on waht individuals can to to live more responsibly and provide the world markets with the right input for correction. e.g. looking at company ethics, buying local, the true cost of meat in our diets, landfill etc. I came across this book as part of my research. It gives a much more government/ policy perspective which is a really nice compliment to the angle i was looking at.

If anyone is interested in the Advance - please get in touch.

Julia

Some Goals of the trip:

• Get to Costa Rica
• Have fun; enjoy the Journey
• Eat Delicious Food
• Scuba
• Indigenous Culture (markets, history, crafts, food, community
• Camp
• Transport tools to the Choza
• Surf

So far, we haven’t nailed down the major desitinations, but here is our current list

• Oaxaxa, Mexico
• Granada, Nicaragua

Also, we are looking for a place to stop for a few days for the following:

• Surf - Beginning level [most likely on the Pacific Coast of Mexico] 2-3 days
• Scuba - Get certified (Annie and Spence) + Advanced (Robbie) [most likely on the Caribbean in Honduras] 3-5 days

We are planning on leaving on May 2, and want to get to San Jose, Costa Rica by May 20. I am flying up from San Jose to New York to meet up with the SpaceGen crew for Andrew Hoppin’s wedding on May 21! Please let us know if you have any experience with the overland adventure or if you know of some good destinations to visit!

• Participation at or with the Choza should not be language dependant. There are many ways to communicate. Dictating a specific language may exclude individuals or limit their expression
• Perhaps the requirement ought to be the desire to communicate rather than the method of communication?
• I like the idea that the method of communication at the Choza and the languages spoken evolves with the community at the Choza, rather than being prescribed

However, there are obviously practical issues to get around. Organisational matters, email communications and this website for example. For these, English has merits as a widely spoken language but perhaps this is only default due to the nationality of the founders and the current membership? If we are to choose a base language for a global Choza, Spanish is equally valid for its reach and it is also the local language.

Whether we instigate a base language, none, or multiple languages for the Choza it is important that everyone at the Choza has the opportunity to learn Spanish. Much of the benefit of the Choza comes from its environment and the local heritage. Spanish is certainly an enabler for community interaction. And being wary of our impact on the local community, the Spanish language is perhaps something the Choza should actively re-enforce whilst exposing the community to a multitude of others. Now back to the Spanish books…

(some of them can take a minute to load)

Route from Puriscal

Choza Road South

Choza Trails First Pass

Also, the latest newsletter is available now if you’re not already subscribed (and a link to subscribe is also at that url).

One of the main reasons that I am so excited about the Choza is the extent to which our conversations have focused on serving the needs of our local community and recognizing that to accurately understand those needs its essential that we integrate with them.  Given that we’re a community of people that are commited to pursuing our passion and life’s work it seemsappropriate that we are commited to collectively contribute to the well-being and prosperity of Concepcion/Mastatal/Zapaton.

When a community begins to define itself in terms that are self-serving or when the focus of that community becomes solely itself, it seems to me that they run a very real risk of imploding on themselves.  I would think that in that scenario, because the focus would be solely on the community, problems might have a tendency to get amplified and possibly even seem become insurmountable.  Alternatively, in a community that is outward looking, because the focus isn’t solely on itself obstacles seem to be within a much larger context instead of THE context.

he is very interested in what we’re doing with the choza and how we could connect these places together more formally. he very much gets the “working and always being at home” philosophy, and has used the property in this way in the past. we have no intention of changing what we’re doing with the choza property, but this is a great opportunity to think about the globally distributed element of what we want to create in the long term, as well as how to be ready for these opportunities when they arise! (if you havent already read the piece in the last newsletter about the globally distributed think tank, you can find it here.

so what would a membership model look like if you had membership in a global network of places like the choza? how would you build in the same level of member quality and participation? what tools could we use to facilitate a more distributed network of people? how would management of these places be coordinated while giving each place the space to have its own personality? what would it mean, what would the criteria be, to be part of this network of spaces?

we’ll be hanging out at the mansion today and brainstorming about these questions and more. add your thoughts below!

• Our new Founder, Todd Khozein!
• Introducing Choza Membership
• New Gate
• A piece by Robbie entitled ‘Globally Distributed Think Tank’
• Building Plans for 2009
• Bounty Update
• and more!

The newsletter was sent out via our Choza newsletter google group. You can download it (PDF) directly if you arent subscribed already.

We are still figuring out where the best line is to draw between the newsletter and this blog. We hope this will be a place for people to join the conversation on the evolution and development of the Choza, including the items in the newsletter. But there is much more bubbling beneath the surface of these newsletters– questions about sustainability, community integration, the facilitation of collaboration, and organizational design, that we also plan to share here. We hope to make this a little more raw, a little more rough, and in the process create more opportunities for conversation and feedback.

Please post comments or questions!