Find unique Costa Rica souvenirs at Pranamar Oceanfront Villas

One of the joys of traveling is picking up that little something special to bring back home. A unique gift from a unique place that will remind you months and years later of the fun trip you enjoyed.



In the case of world traveler Susan Money, owner of Costa Rica’s Pranamar Oceanfront Villas and Yoga Retreat, all of her treasures from international globetrotting are specifically brought back home to delight other travelers, in the Santa Teresa Beach hotel’s gift shop. The small gift shop in Pranamar Villas’ Reception area features exclusive and uncommon gifts both from Costa Rica and parts further afield.

“One of the great joys of owning a hotel is the fun of shopping for the gift shop,” says Money. “Although our store is very small, it often has some unusual items from my travels around the world. When I’m off traveling, I get to tell my husband that I have to shop … for the gift shop. And what can he say?!”



Whether originally from Indonesia, Guatemala, Nicaragua or right at home in Santa Teresa, Costa Rica, Pranamar Villas’ gift shop is a colorful and exotic treasure trove of jewelry, scarves, bags, yoga clothes and mats, and organic beauty and bath products.

Featured Gifts


Wrap bracelets by designer-artist Phyllis Warman are a big hit with Pranamar Villas’ guests. “Inspired by the relaxed lifestyle and shifting colors of Costa Rica's exotic Pacific Coast, the richly majestic landscapes of the Pacific Northwest, and the radiant, sun-drenched beaches of Southern California, Phyllis Warman Jewelry Designs are both casual and sophisticated,” says Warman’s publicity sheet.




The Southern California native divides her time between living in Seattle, Washington and Santa Teresa, Costa Rica. Warman makes all of her necklaces, earrings, bracelets and anklets by hand, using natural materials she finds in her environment like mother-of-pearl and abalone shells; freshwater pearls; precious and semi-precious gemstones such as opal, jade, onyx, garnet and turquoise; metals of copper, brass and sterling silver; and 100% pure cotton cord.




Earrings and other elegant jewelry from Faery Dust Workshop are very popular gift purchases from Pranamar Villas’ shop, says hotel administrator Larissa Chevalier. Made by a Costa Rican designer living at Playa Santa Teresa, all jewelry is hand-made.



Local Santa Teresa Beach resident, Rachel of Une a Une designs, brings her native French flair to her fashionable jewelry creations. After making Costa Rica her home for 10 years, you can see the influence of the tropics’ bright colors in Une a Une’s necklaces, earrings, bracelets and anklets. Une a Une’s delicate necklaces are sold in Pranamar Villas’ gift shop.

Pranamar Oceanfront Villas and Yoga Retreat, Santa Teresa

The gift shop at Pranamar Oceanfront Villas and Yoga Retreat is open to guests and the public in the hotel’s Reception area.


Pranamar Oceanfront Villas and Yoga Retreat resort is located right on the Pacific Ocean at Santa Teresa Beach on Costa Rica’s Nicoya Peninsula. The gorgeous, luxury boutique hotel features two-story poolside villas and elaborate beachfront bungalows, set in extravagant tropical gardens near the most lovely free-form saltwater pool. Winner of Trip Advisor’s Traveler’s Choice and Certificate of Excellence awards, Pranamar Villas offers you daily in-house yoga classes, regular yoga retreats and workshops, all-inclusive yoga vacations, front-yard surfing, and surfing and yoga holidays.

By Shannon Farley

La receta para todos los males!

Queremos ofrecerles una receta para el paraíso tropical. Una las vistas impresionantes al océano como fondo. Mézclelas con la flora y fauna del trópico. Añada tramos de arena blanca y, finalmente, agregue puestas de sol increíbles. Sírvase en frío con una buena dosis de yoga y obtendrá la fórmula ideal para unas vacaciones naturistas por excelencia.

No es de extrañar que en nuestro país haya tantos centros de retiro para esta práctica. Se extienden a lo largo y ancho del territorio, así que no hay excusas. Si pretende que su tiempo de ocio sea el momento perfecto para equilibrar la mente, el cuerpo y el espíritu, ya no debe buscar más. Hay muchas zonas en Tiquicia que son oasis de belleza y tranquilidad estupendos para ejercitarse.

Usted aprenderá este arte ancestral así como las formas de control del cuerpo. Concentrará la mente y utilizará las técnicas aptas para respirar correctamente. El yoga destaca por ser una forma muy particular de entrenarse. Además, se deshará de los efectos dañinos del estrés de manera casi imperceptible. Si a esto le sumamos la cálida hospitalidad y la disposición amable del tico, tendrá una experiencia de primera categoría.
Más allá de las clases, encontrará otras actividades que le acelerarán el pulso y lo llenarán de adrenalina.

Escoja entre el senderismo, la pesca, el dosel o el balsismo; todo rodeado de una vida silvestre sin igual. Visite la famosa isla del Coco o dese una vuelta por la isla de Chira, un viaje único en la costa pacífica. Por tales motivos, Costa Rica se ha transformado en un destino multicultural, donde coinciden turistas de todos los rincones del globo. El clima es perfecto para ir a la playa, tomar el sol o nadar. Cientos de kilómetros de zonas costeras le brindan oportunidades innumerables.



Ahora bien, la mezcla de yoga y surf es un fenómeno en eclosión. Los surfistas muestran interés por el primero; mientras que los yogis buscan una nueva de aprovechar las olas. Y es que, de cualquier modo, ambas disciplinas son complementarias, cual pastel con helados. De hecho, la campeona mundial de surf en 9 ocasiones, Kelly Slater, es una fiel defensora de esta combinación. El entrenamiento físico con yoga para un surfista profesional es un activo insuperable. Las posturas, el estiramiento y la meditación reorientan a los deportistas acuáticos; ya que fortalecen los músculos que permiten el despegue y las maniobras en el mar. El enfoque mental, más allá de los beneficios corporales por sí solos, son el secreto de figuras de renombre internacional como la propia Slater.

Para quienes hemos hecho  del yoga una forma de vida, el surf les permite ejercitarse con más diversión. Incluso, si se mira con detalle, ambas disciplinas comparten principios filosóficos. Aspectos como la unidad y la armonía con el ambiente natural que los rodea, la sensibilización con la práctica y el mejoramiento personal dan cuenta de ello.
 También puede destacarse que montar sobre las olas no tiene límites en cuanto a edad, sexo, raza o cualquier otro calificativo que se le pueda ocurrir. Un detalle muy particular es que, aún en caso de los más expertos, siempre queda una conexión emocional con el mar y un respeto por su poder, lo que estimula la humildad en quienes lo practican.


Después de leer hasta aquí, usted se preguntará: «¿Dónde podré encontrar el pastel con helados del que tanto me han estado hablando?». Pues le revelaré la incógnita: véngase para el hotel Villas Pranamar. Es la elección idónea que mezcla belleza tropical, clases de yoga de calidad mundial, surf y muchas atracciones más por vivir.

Le ofrecemos  una variedad de habitaciones que se adecua a sus deseos. Nuestras lujosas villas de dos plantas fueron construidas alrededor de la piscina de agua salada con estilo libre. Todas tienen sala de estar, jardines tropicales y una vista espectacular. Son la convergencia perfecta entre la simpleza tropical, la brisa del mar y los acabados espaciosos.

Anímese a conocer Santa Teresa, en el extremo sur de la península de Nicoya (Costa Rica). Este es un pueblo costero tranquilo, donde encontrará tanto costarricenses como extranjeros. Hay oficinas de banco y correos a la vuelta de la esquina. Asimismo, el Parque Nacional Cabo Blanco está al lado, repleto de monos aulladores, iguanas, aves exóticas y enredaderas Tarzán.

Póngase en contacto con Nosotros y encarguenos  un paquete personalizado para sus próximas vacaciones. Despierte la mente, rejuvenezca el espíritu y nútrase en esta experiencia. Descubra en primera persona por qué el lema «pura vida» caracteriza a esta pequeña nación centroamericana.

Is Eco-friendly Hospitality Really Green?

Do you like to work out in your hotel’s gym when you’re away? If you happen to be staying in Denmark’s Crowne Plaza Copenhagen Towers, keeping fit while traveling will help generate the hotel’s electricity and earn you meal vouchers in their restaurant. The flagship eco-hotel is the first hotel in Denmark to generate all of its power from renewable sources – solar panels, geothermal heating and cooling pumps, and stationary bicycles connected to generators which provide the hotel’s electricity. Guests can pedal for only 15 minutes or so and “earn” enough electricity wattage to score a free meal voucher, plus personally contribute to the planet.
This novel idea is the latest twist in the eco-friendly hospitality movement that not only benefits the hotel, but gets guests involved in a real-time personal way.
Eco-consciousness as a buzzword has turned into a billion-dollar business ranging from everything from the hospitality and tourism industries to clothing, cosmetics, cars, cleaning products, and corporate philosophies.In technology, you’ve got solar-powered laptops, bamboo iPhone cases, and now a new eco-friendly light bulb called LIFX LED that you can manipulate its color and brightness from your smartphone via WIFi. You can even match the light’s settings to the songs on your playlist. How geeky is that?
Earth-conscientious travelers are more frequently seeking out eco-friendly lodging. Boutique hotels are at the forefront of this trend. The most common environmental practices include: Guest towel & linen re-use LED and compact fluorescent lighting to save energy Water-efficient toilets and showerheads Reduce waste output Reduce energy & water use Reduce carbon footprint Eliminate pollution No pesticides in the gardens Window films (like Huper Optik films) that reduce energy usage and protect furniture, carpets, paint, etc. against fading Costa Rica is a hot ecotourism destinationIn ecotourism hotspot Costa Rica, Pranamar Villas is a leading boutique hotel for planet-conscious places to stay.

The oceanfront holistic yoga-surf hotel on the Nicoya Peninsula's top-rated Santa Teresa Beach isn’t just “greenwashed” (eco-friendly in advertising only). Owners and staff are committed to following a long list of environmental practices every day. Pranamar’s lush tropical gardens are completely organic; they use no herbicides or pesticides on the property. Much of the vegetation is “edible” – fruits, vegetables and Pranamar's organic restaurant uses fruits, vegetables and herbs grown at the hotelherbs that supply the open-air restaurant with fresh, healthy cuisine. They grow mango, papaya, banana, starfruit, guanabana, passion fruit and Suriname cherries. During the dry season, melons and squashes underneath ornamental and fruit trees provide ground cover to help hold moisture.

The herb and vegetable garden flourishes with mint, basil, oregano, rosemary, thyme, tarragon, turmeric, arugula, mustard greens, tomatoes, chili peppers, okra, cucumber and eggplant. The hotel’s composting system completes the food cycle by turning the restaurant’s organic waste into natural fertilizer. All soaps, laundry detergent, cleaning supplies, and even guests’ amenity shampoos, conditioners and bath soaps are biodegradable. Energy-saving light bulbs and appliances reduce electricity usage. Even the free-form swimming pool is eco-conscious: it’s filled with salt-water, meanPranamar's salt water pool is chlorine freeing less chlorine and other chemicals.

If you want to live for along time, live in Nicoya Peninsula!

What is a “Blue Zone,” It is a place where people live happily and healthily for a very long time. The term was popularized by author-educator-explorer Dan Buettner in his 2008 book, “The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer from People Who’ve Lived the Longest.” Published by the National Geographic Society, Buettner identified places in the world there is a high concentration of persons over age 100, and there is a substantial disability-free and disease-free life expectancy.

Why are they called “Blue Zones”? The name comes from a 2004 demographic study called “Identification of a Geographic Area Characterized by Extreme Longevity in the Sardinia Island: the AKEA study” (Experimental Gerontology by Gianni Pes and Michel Poulain, among other authors). The study identified Sardinia’s Barbagia region as an area with a very high concentration of men over age 100. As the authors discovered more clusters of long longevity in the world, they began drawing blue circles around them on maps, referring to the areas as “Blue Zones.” To my delight, Costa Rica has its own Blue Zone – the Nicoya Peninsula! According to Buettner’s studies, the Nicoya Peninsula has the world’s lowest rates of middle-age mortality and the second highest convergence of male centenarians. Costa Rica indeed does celebrate its elderly citizens; every person who has a 100th birthday is featured on the national news. As of June 2012, our tiny country reported 417 citizens over the age of 100; the country’s official population is more or less 4.5 million. Costa Rican Photographer Mónica Quesada is creating a book and video documenting Ticos who have lived a century. More information at www.indiegogo.com/CRCentenarians. Buettner’s research with National Geographic also turned up longevity hotspots in Okinawa, Japan; the Aegean island of Ikaria, Greece; a Seventh Day Adventist community in Loma Linda, California; and we already know about the mountainous Barbagia region of inner Sardinia, off the western coast of Italy. So what’s the secret? Buettner’s team of researchers and specialists found interesting similarities among the Nicoyan centenarians that are common characteristics in all of the other Blue Zones:

• Have a “plan de vida,” or reason to live; it also can be called “why I get up in the morning”. Centenarians say they feel needed, with a sense of purpose that often centers on their family.
  
•  Focus on your family and friends. Having a good relationship with their family and maintaining a strong social network contributes greatly to centenarians’ sense of purpose and well-being. People of all ages are socially active and integrated into their communities.
  
• Have Faith. The Nicoyans’ strong belief in God and their “faith routines” help relieve stress and anxiety. Almost all of the centenarians interviewed around the world for Buettner’s book belonged to a faith-based community of some form.
  
• Work hard. Nicoyan centenarians maintain a strong work ethic, which keeps them active and healthy while contributing to their sense of purpose. Moderate physical activity is a normal part of daily life – walking, bicycling, gardening, cooking, keeping up the house, taking care of animals, etc.
  
• Drink hard water. High amounts of calcium and magnesium, essential for bone and muscle strength, abound in Nicoya’s water. By drinking and cooking with this water, people here get their daily intake of calcium throughout their entire lives.
  
• Healthy diet. Most of the various Blue Zone residents in the world eat a primarily plant-based diet, especially legumes (all kinds of beans, peas and lentils). They also eat rich, colorful fruits – in Nicoya, they eat marañon, the red-orange cashew tree fruit that has more vitamin C than oranges, and noni, a pear-like fruit rich in antioxidants. Nicoyans eat their biggest meal during the day and their smallest meal at night. Japanese centenarians have a rule to eat only until their stomachs are 80% full to avoid being “overstuffed.”

• Get some sun. Nicoyans enjoy healthy doses of daily sun, enriching their bodies with Vitamin D. Getting at least 15 minutes every day can decrease the risk for osteoporosis and heart disease, experts say.

• Get Sleep. Nicoyans sleep an average of 8 hours per day. They more or less go to sleep soon after nightfall and wake with the sun.

• No smoking. Smoking is not common in Blue Zone communities.

Surf Vacation Paradise Found at Costa Rica's Santa Teresa Beach

The buzz is true – Costa Rica is a surfer’s paradise. There are hundreds and hundreds of beach towns, from little villages to bustling cosmopolitan centers, and just as many surf breaks. The country counts more than 700 miles of coastline between both the Pacific and Caribbean coasts. With warm tropical water, long rolling waves, and sunshine most of the year, what more could you want?

A bit off of Costa Rica’s tourist “super highway” is the quiet and still-undisturbed beach of Santa Teresa. Near the tip of the Pacific’s Nicoya Peninsula, Santa Teresa is not completely off the radar – it won “Best Beach in Central America” for 2012 and “Top 10 in the World” for 2011 in Trip Advisor’s Traveler’s Choice Awards. Nonetheless, Santa Teresa retains its charm as a small fishing village and intimate collection of international boutique hotels and vacation homes. Also a 2012 Trip Advisor Traveler’s Choice Award winner is Pranamar Oceanfront Villas & Yoga Retreat.

At Santa Teresa, you’ll be star-struck by the beauty of nature and the jungle that hugs the coastline, pouring down from the mountains to light sand beaches and the clear aquamarine sea. Famous for year-round surf, its hallmarks are pristine beaches, both beach and point breaks, easy-to-ride waves in warm water, and picture-perfect sunsets. So, whether you are a beginner trying surfing for the first time or already have saltwater running through your veins, Pranamar Villas can set you up with the best beach and surfing holiday you can dream. Looking for a tropical beach holiday and maybe to check out what this surfing craze is all about? 

Relax! It's Only a Matter of Life or Death.

A quick Google search on “the importance of relaxing” yields 49,100,000 results in 0.30 seconds. Apparently, a lot of people, everywhere, think it really is important. I know what you’re thinking, “I already know this.” The thing is we all do. And yet, most of us don’t heed the wisdom. We work, do, be in action, etc. often until we’re exhausted either physically, mentally or emotionally, or all three. There is always just “one more thing” to do, one more email to answer, one more task to finish. I’m as guilty of it as the next person. Amazingly enough, if you should ever happen to get sick or injured, you find very quickly that “the world goes on without you.” The planet does not stop revolving, civilization as we know it does not end, and countries do not collapse just because we take a day off – as in, don’t go to the office, don’t turn on the computer, don’t use our phone, don’t compulsively clean or fix one more thing at home, etc. 

There are whole institutes dedicated just to stress management. On the up side, stress is the body’s way of protecting you. When working properly, it helps you stay focused, energetic and alert; but beyond a certain point, stress stops being helpful and starts causing major damage to your health, your mood, productivity, relationships, and your quality of life, according to a study by experts Melinda Smith, M.A., Robert Segal, M.A., and Jeanne Segal, Ph.D. They say the most dangerous thing about stress is how easily it sneaks up on you. You get used to it. It becomes familiar or even seems normal. You don’t notice how much it’s affecting you, and the cost is high. So, what’s the price? Medical studies show that long-term exposure to stress can raise blood pressure and cholesterol levels, increase the risk of heart attack and stroke, contribute to infertility, create hypertension, cause digestive disorders, lower the immune system which leaves you more open to infections and viruses, and speed up the aging process.

If you don't do this, the prospect isn't pretty. So, what to do? Taken from many sources, the crucial elements are: get a good night’s sleep, eat healthy (filling your body with junk food doesn’t help the situation), exercise even 15-20 minutes every day (walk!), stretch, take breaks, breathe fresh air (combine with walking!), spend time in nature, laugh, and simply breathe deeply! There are many relaxation techniques out there like yoga, meditation, music, creative arts, and rhythmic and repetitive exercise like walking, running, swimming, kayaking, cycling, etc. where your mind can flow freely. One study even says that laughter, even deliberately induced laughter, provides emotional and mental release in addition to significant physiological benefits and relaxation on all levels. As clichéd as it sounds, vacation was created to give people time off to relax from work.




Convinced yet that you deserve – even your life depends on – that break and vacation? In Costa Rica, there’s a place that can help you relax your way back to health. Pranamar Oceanfront Villas & Yoga Retreat, set right on the shoreline at Santa Teresa Beach, is a gorgeous, intimate boutique hotel with luxury two-story villas, elaborate beachfront bungalows, abundant tropical gardens, an organic healthy-cuisine restaurant and a free-form saltwater pool. Santa Teresa Beach is located on the remote lower Nicoya Peninsula of the Pacific Coast – worlds away from stress; it was voted the #1 beach in Central America for 2012 by Trip Advisor. Pranamar Villas, also winner of the 2012 Trip Advisor Traveler’s Choice Award, offers you daily in-house yoga classes, regular yoga retreats and workshops, all-inclusive yoga vacations, and surfing and yoga holidays. As well, they offer an abundance of bodywork treatments (massage, etc.) to benefit your body, mind and spirit, and keep you healthy. Check out their selection here. Just tell your boss (or yourself!) that a vacation is the answer to a better, more productive you.

Sustainable Tourism is really important in Pranamar Villas

Ecotourism is top of the list as to why thousands of travelers from Many Countries  come to Costa Rica’s tropical paradise each year to see its  Beautiful landscapes and huge biodiversity. Tourism is the number one industry in the country, and with good reason. Though a small Central American nation, Costa Rica is a “wonderland” of volcanoes, beaches, rainforest jungles, picturesque rivers and lakes, and rolling savannas.

Fortunately , Costa Rica’s international reputation as “one of the most biologically diverse countries” has not only spurred ecotourism, but also has motivated the country’s government, local communities and private sectors to expand and better control the country’s protected areas, where logging, poaching and some agricultural activities were wreaking havoc on the environment.

At Pranamar Oceanfront Villas & Yoga Retreat, on Costa Rica’s stunning Santa Teresa Beach on the Nicoya Peninsula, sustainable tourism is a way of life. From the very beginning of creating Pranamar, owners Susan Money and Greg Mullins have been committed to “creating a special place that focuses on community, consciousness and honoring nature’s gifts.” They believe it is “important to consider the imprint we leave and the effects we have on our environment and planet.”

The luxury hotel uses a completely independent Pranamar's lush gardens irrigated with treated waste watert septic system that recycles treated water into the irrigation of its gardens. All waste water passes through a three-tank aerobic system using natural bacteria to clean the water, and then enters a drip irrigation system in the gardens which maximizes water usage. The local municipality is showing off Pranamar’s unique water system as an example for other tourism businesses and private property owners to implement.

On a greater scale, Pranamar staff work with the community on monthly beach clean-ups. Along with other hotels and businesses in the area, the beach communities of Santa Teresa, Mal Pais, Carmen and Hermosa all obtained for 2012 the highly-desired ecological Blue Flag award, which ensures the quality and sanitation of the water, beach clean-up projects, community informational signs, and environmental education.