A LITTLE HISTORY

For many years old friends, Jeff Lantz and Stig Hanson from San Diego, envisioned their own tourist and fishing lodge in some exotic location of the world. "I dreamed of having my own lodge since I was a young boy," says Jeff. “I wanted the outdoor lifestyle. As I checked out other operations over the years, I always thought about how I would build and run my own place some day.”

“I spent a lot of time in Mexico but started traveling to Costa Rica in 1989 and realized how unique it was. After several trips getting to know the country I became enchanted with the Osa Peninsula. It was quite spectacular in terms of raw nature and, to me, Costa Rica’s best kept secret." Jeff and Stig spent the next five years building the Iguana Lodge, located just outside Puerto Jimenez where the beach is all sand, stretches for miles and is virtually deserted - without a doubt, the best beach on the Osa for swimming and boogie boarding, beach combing, kayaking and surf-fishing. "We are a small family style operation," Jeff liked to say. "We like to spoil our customers. No matter what your needs are, we do our best to provide it, from special food requests to checking your e-mail." In the spring of 1999, Jeff and Stig decided to sell Iguana Lodge. Both had put their sweat and blood into building Iguana Lodge but they realized that more casitas were needed to make a go of it. They decided it was easier to sell the lodge than try to find investors to build.

In the fall of 1999, Toby and Lauren were dreaming of a new life...somewhere in the tropics where life was still simple and people danced the salsa. While surfing the web one Saturday afternoon in mid-October, 1999, up popped Iguana Lodge for sale. (Was it luck or fate?) Coming for a quick visit, they immediately fell in love with the relaxed family atmosphere of Iguana Lodge and its fantastic jungle/beach setting. It was their dream come true. After heavy negotiation with Jeff over numerous bottles of beer, Toby and Lauren learned that others too were positioning to buy Iguana. Returning to Colorado, they quickly submitted an offer with various incentives, including that if Jeff sold Iguana to them, they would take over within two weeks. Halloween, 1999, the Cleavers checked their email - great news! They were moving to Costa Rica. By the middle of November, Toby, Lauren and their two younger children Rio (11) and Lakota (10) had moved to the jungle, after holding one of the world’s best yard sales in Colorado.

Toby and Lauren Cleaver had been criminal defense attorneys in the Denver/Boulder area of Colorado. After fifteen years of practicing criminal law, they wanted to spend more time with their children. Toby and Lauren decided it was time to take a leap of faith and change their lives forever.... You will be happy to know that many years later, they are still as pleased as punch, happy as clams, and have developed all sorts of new interests, such as tree house construction, exotic gardening, surfing, painting, and the fine art of salsa dancing, which can be studied or practiced, should you so desire, in our new Ooh La La Dance/Yoga Studio

Meanwhile, the Cleavers bought the lodge next door, naming it The Pearl of the Osa. It is a lower priced hotel, on the same fabulous beach. A couple of years ago, they built a rental house naming it the VillaVillaKula after Pippi Longstocking…since it is so high up in the canopy.