Ray Beise: President

The proud owner and operator of Pura Jungla. Ray is an ecologist and adventurer at heart with a passion for giving nature all that it deserves.

Brought up in Minnesota, Ray has been in Central America since the 70’s discovering every inch of the region until he laid eyes upon Pura Jungla in 1991. He had a vision to transform a withering cow pasture into an ecological refuge.

Now he has created the foundation for an eco-community and the natural environment to coexist in one of the most beautiful parts of the country.

Rays passion for nature is unsurpassed. Contact him directly if you’re interested in a tour of paradise – Pura Jungla.

Paul Pidcock: Sales

Paul grew up and was educated in the Province of Quebec in Canada. After an initial start as a consultant at the University of Waterloo computer centre, he moved into sales and marketing in the high-tech computer field for the next thirty-five years. Then one day he and his partner Jeanne initiated a sabbatical – launching the voyage of a lifetime – a one year drive from Toronto via Alaska and the Pan-American Highway to Patagonia, Argentina, and back.

On the way, they encountered and fell in love with Costa Rica where, by merely becoming lost, they found La Pura Jungla and lived there in this unique mountainside tree-house overlooking the Pacific Ocean from an indigenous eco-forest.

This tree-house will be an eventual retirement home, but in the interim Paul and Jeanne are introducing their friends to the incredibly beautiful and diverse country of Costa Rica. He firmly believes investing here to be the opportunity of a lifetime.

Additional information on this amazing adventure can be found at www.junglavista.com

Humberto Gutierrez Gomez: Guard and Naturalist

Age. 45 Born – Costa Rica

From the age of 6, Humberto has been interacting with nature and grooming it from the roots up. He started working on his father’s 150 hectare farm and by the age of 14 he left home to seek his destiny in the banana belt of Costa Rica near the Caribbean Coast. From 14 to age 31 Humberto spent every free moment tramping around the Talamanca Mountains learning the “ways and customs” of the indigenous peoples that lived there.  It was here he became intimately familiar with the harmonious ways in which the Native peoples lived in concert with the Earth.        

He learned much about their food sources and preparation, their shelter construction techniques, Natural medical remedies, and customs.

On 22 APRIL 1991 there was a 7.5 magnitude Earthquake which caused severe damage to the entire region, particularly to the transportation infrastructure.     Humberto and his family (then 4 children) were stranded without food or water for 22 days during which time they slept on the ground of a soccer field with 90 other people most employees of the banana companies and their families. Devastated from the quake, Humberto and his family moved back to Guanacaste, not far from what would eventually become Pura Jungla.

In 1998 on the  20th of  January Humberto found Ray Beise and Pura Jungla – and it was a match made in ecological heavan. Humberto was hired as a guard and Naturalist – a position which he upholds to this day.

Humberto’s responsibilities include managing the safety and security of the Pura Jungla property, as well as being a loving nurturer to all things green.