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Costa Rica has a number of pseudo green operations that are presented as eco-villages. They often say they will be growing most their own food but the land area is barely enough for the housing. Or they scatter little ecotheme decorations about such as an organic herb garden or such. Sort of like a tiny Dutch windmill in a miniature golf course, not where you would take grain to be milled.

Then there are the little one house villages built around a alternate living theme like a yoga retreat, a group organized around some religious cult or a raw food center. These are well intentioned but rarely become villages that seem welcoming to the average seeker.

A growing number of people involved in the organization of sustainable eco-villages in Costa Rica are leaning more and more away from the sale of lots and toward long term leasing of lots inside a land trust. The resident builds his home and owns the building and other improvements but not the land. The land trust can be overseen by a board of stewards as to ecological questions. As soon as you offer land in lots for sale in Costa Rica, a whole series of laws kick in that make the whole project more difficult, especially more expensive.