Selva del Sol was founded in 2009 by Alana Bliss and her family who were on a mission to start a permaculture farm and intentional community in Latin America. Alana and her family fell in love with Costa Rica and eventually found the 20 acre parcel of land in South Pacific Costa Rica that was initially founded as Finca Fruition.
Previously, the land had been home to a pig farm and was overgrown with a very tall and invasive cane grass. Using permaculture principals, they transformed an almost uninhabitable landscape into a permaculture food forest. There are many parts of the land that were left to be wild thus allowing the jungle to grow and biodiversity to thrive.
With the increase in biodiversity in the vegetation, many birds and wildlife slowly returned to the land. A true testament to the regenerative power of our planet when stewarded with eco-centric practices. Hundreds of people have passed through the gates of Selva del Sol over the years as friends, students, neighbors, and community partners.
As the project grew so too did the capacity and infrastructure on the land. For many years Selva del Sol was a permaculture education center that housed as many as 25 volunteers at a time. Much of the infrastructure at Selva del Sol has also been built with ecologically minded practices using cob (a type of adobe construction), wood, re-purposed materials, and materials taken right from the land itself. As much as possible, the site has been tended with intention and care for the whole cycle of life.
Since 2022, we have been in a deep process of healing and transforming our humble project to align more authentically with what both the land and the stewards of it desire to offer in this unique and beautiful space we now lovingly call Selva del Sol. We are expanding from our original intentions of being an ecological education center to welcoming small retreats, community events, as well as hosting family and child-centered offerings on the land.
We believe that each individual offers a unique expression and gift into the world, but often times through upbringing and societal pressures, our true natures and gifts are unable to flourish. Our hope is that by opening Selva del Sol to retreats more people will be able to find a space where they can connect to their deeper sense of self through unwinding unnecessary thought, body trauma, and societal conditioning.
We aim to offer a safe space for women, children, families, youth, and people of all races and nations. We open our arms to all who come with a pure intention and commitment to personal evolution for the benefit of one’s self, one’s family, and one’s wider community.
Selva del Sol continues to be a place committed to holistic principals for the planet, the people, and all the living creatures on it. We do our best to balance the needs of the humans whom we welcome to our space as well as the other living creatures that call this place home.
We hope you will come and visit us one day and feel for yourself the peace, expansion, and presence that is called forth by immersing oneself in nature!
A permaculture education center offering retreats for individuals and groups
