Yoko Village
Two-storey wood and dark steel villa with an infinity pool and deck, framed by palm leaves

Yoko Village

The coworking and eco-living community we set out to build above Santa Teresa, Costa Rica, from 2021 to 2024.

I want to tell the story of what we set out to create, what we actually built, how it became a source of conflict, and what I got wrong.

I arrived in Santa Teresa in November 2019. The idea for Yoko took shape through 2020, and on January 20, 2021, we set up the Yoko North company. I co-founded Yoko Village for remote workers and their families who wanted a more peaceful and productive life, close to nature and among people who know and trust one another.

I do not want this to be only an argument. I want to show what happened from where I stood, including the decisions I regret and the obligations that did not disappear when I left.

I'm close to finishing my book. So much happened, more than I can tell here. If you'd like a copy, you can find me at liranjakobrosenfeld.com.

Read the story

by Liran Jakob Rosenfeld

  1. Beach with palm trees and surf at sunset
    Santa Teresa

    Chapter 1 · 2005 to 2019

    Where I learned to sell and why I wanted more

    Hostels in Buenos Aires, an immigration company in the US, and the habit that would cost me.

  2. Jungle-covered hills rolling to the horizon under a clear blue sky
    Yoko South

    Chapter 2 · 2019 to 2020

    A house on the hill and a changed world

    An older brother on the hill, land with no house, water or power, and a world that shut down.

  3. Architectural rendering of a long wooden villa on a forested slopeRendering
    What we imagined for the North villas

    Chapter 3 · 2020

    From Koko to Yoko

    A broken partnership, a new name, thousands of replies, and speaking of the future as fact.

  4. Concrete road bridge with yellow rails crossing a forest stream
    The North bridge, which also gave nearby families a way across the river

    Chapter 4 · 2021

    The first people and the first mountain

    The Lucky Six, a bridge across the river, and the first problems on the mountain.

  5. Rows of young plants on a steep hillside
    Planting a steep slope at Sangha instead of building a retaining wall

    Chapter 5 · 2021 to 2022

    Sangha and the cost of moving faster

    A place of peace by the bridge, a pattern of borrowing to keep promises, and work that went too far.

  6. Aerial view of forested hills with dirt roads running toward the ocean
    The land at Yoko South

    Chapter 6 · 2022 to 2024

    The offer I refused

    Saying no to a buyer, a fading COVID rush, and what I got wrong about the town.

What we built

What Yoko Village had built by September 2024

What Yoko Village had built by September 2024Published on the Yoko Company YouTube channel on September 18, 2024. It shows what Yoko Village had built up to then. More homes have been finished since.