“Water always wins. Our job is to give it a safe way through.” As the rains return to Ecovilla San Mateo, a practical look at planning for water from the roof to the ground, and why a good drainage plan considers our neighbors downhill too.

When the tools went quiet one weekend, a toucan, a slaty-tailed trogon, and a pair of likely ospreys turned out to have been our neighbors all along. "I suspect much of this activity had been happening all along, while we were listening to saws and watching deliveries."

San Mateo knows to watch its feet for the terciopelo — but the eyelash viper plays by opposite rules. This small, strikingly colorful pit viper lives almost entirely off the ground, in vines, palm fronds, and low branches, which means the safety habits that matter here are about hands and eye height, not footwear. Shy, rarely dangerous with treatment, and easy to coexist with once you know where it likes to rest.

Costa Rica's most common venomous snake isn't looking for us — but our long grass, our rat problem, and a few daily habits decide how often we cross paths. This week's feature covers what actually keeps the terciopelo away from the house (hint: it's not the plants you think), and the calm, no-nonsense steps to take if the worst happens.

Five newly planted fruit trees, and within three days only one still had leaves — leaf-cutter ants had found the garden. Turns out these ants aren't destroying your plants for food; they're farming a fungus underground, and a few simple, poison-free barriers can keep your young trees out of the harvest. Here's what's worked for us.