The Howler
Volume 19, No. 3 Issue No. 209
March 2014 Founded 1996
TAMARINDO COSTA RICA www.howlermag.com THE HOWLER Ced. Juridica: 3-101-331333
FEATURES
Publisher, editor and production David Mills
After moving to Tamarindo, Carlos y Carlos is serving excellent Northern Italian cuisine.
dmills@racsa.co.cr Tel: 2-653-0545
14 Around Town
Openings, closings, parties, music. The Gold Coast has it all, and bar-hoppin’ David is in the groove.
CONTRIBUTORS JEANNE CALLAHAN JESSE BISHOP MARY BYERLY ROBERT AUGUST KAY DODGE
ELLEN ZOE GOLDEN TONY OREZ TOM PEIFER JEFFREY WHITLOW BARBARA DEPPE SUSAN SMITH
Deadline for April: March 15 Howler advertising
The Howler offers a wide range of advertising sizes and formats to suit all needs. Contact David Mills • dmills@racsa.co.cr
Advertising rates & sizes Size Bus Card 1/8 1/4 Banner 1/2 Full
Dimensions (cms) Width Height 6.4 9.4 9.4 19.2 9.4 19.2 19.2
x x x x x
4.00 6.15 12.70 6.15 25.80 12.70 25.80
Price $ 30 100 140
400
Ads must be submitted on CD or e-mail attachment, JPG or PDF format at 266 dpi, at the appropriate size (above). All comments, articles and advertising in this publication are the opinion of their authors, and do not reflect the opinion of Howler Management.
www.tamarindohomepage.com
15 Surf Report
Robert August’s Surf and Turf celebrates the 50th anniversary of the iconic surf movie “Endless Summer”.
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Thanks for the Memory
We use menmonics to help remeber things. But these memory aids can sometimes be less than useful, even dangerous.
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Let’s All go Metric
The U.S. is one of only three non-metric countries. Wouldn’t it be easier if we were all on the same system of measures?
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Surviving Costa Rica
Sun-Tzu has written Howler columns in his own doggie style, but now he has sadly gone to the big dog paddock in the sky.
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More Than Good Fences...
The real estate industry in Guanacaste is becoming more aggressive as sellers try to get rid of unsold inventory.
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Discounts For 6 months, paid in advance, one month is deducted. For 12 months, paid in advance, two months are deducted.
www.tamarindobeach.net
8 Dining Out
DEPARTMENTS 10 Music Review
28 Slice of Life
11 Book Review
29 Poetry by Diana Renee
12 August Odysseys
30 March Forecasts
17 Barbara’s Pets
31 Word Puzzle
19 Dharma Corner
32 Yoga
27 Doctor’s Orders
36 Sun & Moon
Cover Caption: Seven Cave Bar - Playa Grande Cover Photo: Jon Harrington Cover Design: David Mills
I
Costa Rican Microbrewery opens in Tamarindo
nspired by Guanacaste’s amazing beaches and waves, I left San Diego, CA, and moved to Costa Rica thirteen years ago to live the pure life. Spoiled by the surf, the only thing I ever really missed having down here was a good pale ale; I joked about having to brew the beer myself. I always figured that sooner or later someone would come along and fill this void. But over the years this never happened, and I guess I finally lost my patience. In the summer of 2011 I threw my hat into the ring and opened Volcano Brewing Company in Lake Arenal. From its inception, Volcano Brewing Company served thousands of our delicious Witch’s Rock pale ales and Gato Malo nut brown ales. Managing the accompanying brewpub and hotel on the property was the only downside to this new endeavor. Although successful, they were time-consuming and ultimately getting in the way of our supreme goal: brewing great beer and surfing great waves every single day. We closed the Lake Arenal property in September, 2013, and moved Volcano Brewing Company to Tamarindo, Guanacaste. Now, in 2014, we are finally nearing completion of a new, bigger brewery located within the Witch’s Rock Surf Camp complex. Our craft beers are available on tap in both Eat at Joe’s and the newly remodeled El Vaquero brewpub. We invite you to please stop by and say hi! Soon we will be brewing some seasonal recipes and we’d love to get your feedback. Check out the new El Vaquero menu for plenty of new dishes, many of which are infused with our craft beers in one way or another. We offer growlers so you can enjoy our beer at home, and we can even set you up with a simple draft beer system and personal kegs for your house or business. It was exciting to become only the second microbrewery in operation in all of Costa Rica. As a long-term resident of the area, it is even more exciting to be bringing this brand back to the beach where it belongs. Soon, you’ll be able to find our beer at Sharky’s, Pangas, Lola’s, and other fine establishments in the area. Thank you to everyone in the community who has supported us for all these years. I look forward to growing Volcano Brewing Company from right here in Tamarindo. Cheers to plenty of cold beers! Joe Walsh www.volcanobrewingcompany.com
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s the forerunner to the football World Cup to be played in Brazil in June and July, this month Costa Rica plays host to the World Cup, Under-17 Females. Games are played in San José, Alajuela, Tibas and Liberia (see schedule on page 13). Don’t think that the games will not be interesting; women’s teams can play excellent football, often without the sissy tactics so common to men’s teams. Games are afternoon and evening, convenient for viewing in bars and restaurants. •
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Spring Equinox occurs on March 20 at 10:57 am. At this time the sun crosses the Equator heading North. •
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Several years ago Tamarindo residents called in the Ministerio de Salud to help with bars that were molesting their neighbours with loud music. One bar was forced to close until it put its premises in order to conform to the law (yes, there are noise laws in Costa Rica). Other bars were subjected to violence from angry neighbours kept awake at 3 a.m. Now the problem is again rearing its ugly head and causing problems for neighbours. The basic rule is that music must be confined to a closed area, not outdoors, and must adhere to certain decibel levels depending on time of day. Please respect your neighbours in residential areas. Enjoy your music and parties – just don’t inflict them on others. •
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So nice to hear of the initiatives by caring individuals and groups to helping others such as local children and needy adults. A group of Gold Coast residents is currently in Nicaragua, bringing aid to needy children; locals came to the financial aid of a bookstore in danger of being closed by authorities; Bingo at Doña Lee’s has helped local firefighters and Dr. Barbara’s Animal Rescue Center. It is little acts of kindness by its members that make a community.
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hen we dined at Carlos y Carlos I couldn’t help but try to remember it as Cantina Las Olas, a very fun Tamarindo bar of long ago. Now it is a very elegant Italian Restaurant serving great cuisine from the north of Italy, and enjoyable food it is. It is a pretty restaurant, with red, white and blue table linen, a lot of woodwork and antique Italian prints. Once totally open, it is now enclosed and air-conditioned, though you can dine outside if you prefer.
Juan Carlos, from Guatemala, also owns Carlos y Carlos restaurants in Chicago and at the international airport in Guatemala City, and La Tavola Trattoria in Chicago. He also owns a coffee plantation in Guatemala. His executive chef is Eddie Montiel, also from Guatemala, as is manager Juan Francisco. Appetizers are eggplant stuffed with prosciutto and goat cheese; goatcheese croquettes; scampi; deep-fried shrimp, squid and octopus. I chose calamari Firenze, succulent squid rings with peppers, garlic, tomato and parmesan. Soups and salads include minestrone; bella – pears and pecans in raspberry vinaigrette; beet salad with mixed greens, pecans and gorgonzola. My companion enjoyed a caprese salad – tomato, mozzarella and basil. A pasta menu has fettuccini with chicken in a white wine sauce; chicken or lobster risotto; black pasta with shrimp, lobster, peppers, mushroom; salmon linguini in a dill sauce. Main dishes are veal Barolo, with portobello mushrooms in a bordelaise sauce; chicken piccata; chicken Vesuvio; rib eye portobello - Angus steak with portobello mushrooms in bordelaise with port wine; filet mignon with green pepper in a bordelaise sauce; grillata di mare, squid, shrimp and salmon over angel hair pasta; sea bass Mediterraneo, with mushrooms, spinach and leek. We chose veal Milanese, delicious tender veal, breaded in a lemon butter sauce; and tropical mahi-mahi, served over passion fruit sauce with mango pineapple relish. All our selections were excellent and perfectly served. Carlos y Carlos is open from 5 to 10 p.m; all credit cards; available for parties and weddings. Tel 2653-0862 or 8948-4601. Visit the website at www.ccplayaflamingo.com.
Music Review Escats
Tony Orez
jaimepeligro.tamarindohomepage.com
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as it really been ten years since the Escats played their first concert? The answer is that it has, indeed, been a decade since the inception of this musical trio and they have grown from a local San José bar band with a homegrown following to a nationally recognized group with fans all over the country. The band was formed by Luis Alonso Naranjo, who plays keyboard, sings and writes most of the songs. Kin Rivera is the drummer/percussionist and Felo Contreras, who joined the band two years ago, is the bassist. Both Contreras and Rivera have each recorded more than three hundred songs in the studio and both were nominated for Latin Grammys in 2007.
The band has recorded three albums, each receiving more airplay than the prior one. Their first album, “Para Quien Quiera Que Seas…Donde Quiera Que Estes” was released in 2006. Two years later, the band recorded “Para Que Estes En El Concierto”. Their third album, “Manual Practico Del Amor Y Del Desamor” came out in 2010. Thirteen of their songs from these discs have charted on Costa Rican radio. And it is that radio push that has helped to enhance their popularity, helping to broaden their fan base to extend past the Costa Rican borders, and into Panama, Guatemala and El Salvador and north, into Mexico and the United States. The band has released a compilation of seventeen songs from their past projects titled, appropriately, “Radio Hits”. In addition to the thirteen songs that spent time on the national charts, the disc offers four new bonus tracks, one of them, “Al Frio Que Hay en Ti” is a live recording. The band’s musical styles range from ballads and romantic songs to pop and rock. With Naranjo as arranger, the songs are all very slick, lush and polished. From the first album, I think “Tu Nombre” and “Recuerdame” are standout songs, both with strong, melodic singing and a very clean studio sound. All three songs from the second album lean toward a marketable Pop sound, “Que Mas Da” being the most popular. This was the album, I believe, that springboarded the band into being a commercial success. The third album is represented well on this compilation with nearly half the songs originating from it. It also demonstrates how the band has built upon its reputation, producing more hits with each release. “Radio Hits” is a nice history of the Escats. The songs are historically progressive, so the listener can hear the band grow. Naranjo’s keyboard work expands and becomes multi-layered. There is a confidence, a familiarity between the three musicians that meshes throughout their ten years together. I do wish there had been more information provided with the disc, liner notes to expand some of the information. For example, as an official music nerd, I’d like to know who played guitar on a few of the tracks. It will be interesting to watch them mature together over the upcoming decade. The Escats CD is available at Jaime Peligro book store in Playa Tamarindo, where they will gladly sample the music for their customers.
Book Review Carolyn’s Wide-open Dream
Tony Orez
jaimepeligro.tamarindohomepage.com
(from page 10)
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hen she graduated from Hartford Art School in Connecticut, Carolyn Barford pointed herself to the Southwest and followed her heart. Between her junior and senior years in college, she had worked the summer at a conference center called The Ghost Ranch, in Abiquiu, New Mexico. She initially landed at a farm in Colorado, learning animal husbandry. She confesses now that she had no idea what she wanted to do artistically upon her arrival. She had come equipped with her carving tools and a journal, paints and brushes. Cut to the Present. Carolyn has continued to teach seminars at The Ghost Ranch, but she soon called New Mexico home and has set up Shooting Star Studio in La Madera, near Taos. Indeed, most of her paintings have a Four Corners geography and ambience. When I asked Carolyn about her artistic influences, she explained that she was drawn to illustrators of children’s books who used vivid colors and humor. She has certainly contributed to keeping this style alive. Carolyn uses animals, most of them clothed, “experiencing the small and wonderful, simple everyday mysteries that make up the unforgettable tidbits of life”. With time, she branched out to painting murals, sacred images, dog portraits, Day of Dead paintings. She now also produces some of her watercolor originals onto cards and ceramic tiles. I believe her color schema plays a big part in conveying the spirit of the artist, as well as giving her a unique, “trademark” style. Carolyn began coming to Costa Rica with family in 1991. She has been spending a few months a year in Tamarindo since then. Her art and her animals have followed her here, as her dream and her vision expands. She told me that she has been inspired by her experiences here because “the animals and folks who hang out here provide such a rich context for picture stories”. Carolyn’s cards carried by Jaime Peligro book store in Tamarindo are largely her tropical paintings: a ring-tailed lizard lounging in a beach hammock, a parrot perched on the tip of his tail, a pelican in the tree, crabs and caracoles scurrying in the sand underfoot. In another a leatherback turtle, submerged except for his head, watches the sunset, a green lizard straddling his head, an orange bird clutching his tail. My favorite is one of a male and female bear, clad in tropical clothing, in a soft embrace. The woman has a red hyacinth in her hat, her pal an iguana resting on his baseball hat, with palms and ocean in the background. Ms. Barford recently expanded her realm yet again to illustrate the cover of “Bone Horses”, a novel by her friend Lesley Poling-Kempes. Look for a review of it in an upcoming edition of The Howler. The artist explains that in her paintings, she tries to “capture a glimpse into our own lives as if we were bears or dogs in a world where all things are possible” and that “in making these pictures, I get to spend time with beings who enjoy ordinary magic in their lives”. And Carolyn invites us to join in the celebration with these colorful pictures.
August Odysseys
Robert August kristenmattoxbrown@gmail.com
Surfing Marbella
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he swell that we had here in Tamarindo at the end of January has died and the waves have been pretty small. The past couple of weeks the best places to surf have been the beaches to the south. One of these beaches happens to be Marbella, where the third stop on the Circuito Guanacasteco de Surf was held a couple of weeks ago. This traveling surf circuit contest is a great way for the kids in the area to get a taste of surfing competitions and just have fun with their friends at the beach on the weekend. Marbella is a beach break that has multiple peaks up and down the beach. When it gets big the outer reef will start to break. Unlike Tamarindo where the wind will be offshore all day in the summer months, the wind tends to switch more often the further south you go from Tamarindo. I have surfed Marbella a couple of times and only caught a couple of good waves before the wind turned onshore in the morning. If you are lucky, the wind will stay offshore pretty much all day like it did for the surf contest! For a competition the waves were great. Both days of the contest were beautiful with offshore winds until noon. During the finals the wind turned onshore and made it even more challenging for all of the finalists. The organizers and judges did a great job. I know from experience that it is not easy to do what they do! I used to wonder how judges came up with scores and not until I actually judged a contest did I realize how hard a job it is to accurately judge waves all day long. You would see one person take off on a wave, then someone else go, and then have to pay attention to both waves. You are pretty much saying all day long, “Blue five, green 4. Oh wait, what did white do?” Definitely not easy! Anyway the idea of a contest is to have fun, spend time with your friends, and maybe you do well. The mood of the contest in Marbella was great. Everyone was comfortable, especially with the beachfront Tiki Hut to grab a bite to eat. And drum roll…….. my daughter Christine got first in one of the divisions she entered and third in the other! Congratulations, Christine! And a special thanks to Surfoam Central America for sponsoring the girls!
dmills@racsa.co.cr
Women’s World Cup Mundial Femenina Costa Rica 2014 Calendario Date
Hour
Location
Team A
Team B
March 15 5 Liberia Ghana Korea 15 5 San José Italia Zambia 15 8 Liberia Germany Canada 15 8 San José Costa Rica Venezuela 16 11 Tibás New Zealand Paraguay 16 2 Tibás Spain Japan 16 2 Alajuela Mexico Colombia 16 5 Alajuela China Nigeria 18 5 San José Venezuela Zambia 18 5 Liberia Ghana Germany 18 8 San José Costa Rica Italy 18 8 Liberia Korea Canada 19 5 Tibás New Zealand Spain 19 5 Alajuela Mexico China 19 8 Tibás Paraguay Japan 19 8 Alajuela Colombia Nigeria 22 5 Alajuela Korea Germany 22 5 Tibás Canada Ghana 22 8 Alajuela Venezuela Italy 22 8 Tibás Zambia Costa Rica 23 5 San José Japan New Zealand 23 5 Liberia Paraguay Spain 23 8 San José Nigeria Mexico 23 8 Liberia Colombia China 27 27 27 27
2 5 5 8
San José Liberia San José Liberia
Quarter Final 1 Quarter Final 2 Quarter Final 3 Quarter Final 4
31 31 April 4 4
5 8
Liberia Liberia
Semi Final 1 Semi Final 2
2 5
San José San José
Third Place Final
AROUND TOWN The Happy Snapper in Brasilito is resurrected as Tiki’s Seaside Grill for great food and drinks. On Sunday March 16 at 4 p.m. they will host Dog Day Afternoon, a fundraiser for Barbara Deppe who runs an animal rescue in Flamingo out of the dive shop. There will be a $5 cover, all of which will go to Barbara, and Tiki’s will donate 20% of the sales for that day to Barbara. In addition there will be a raffle for a Margaritaville Adirondack chair, a 50/50 draw with half going to Barbara, and a silent auction. Music will be provided by Don Carlos and he will be hosting an open mic night Bring your pet to the Pet Fair on March 1 at Cavallini Vet in Villarrreal. Discounts on accessories and products. Call 2652-9009 for details. Watch the Women’s World Cup of soccer at Bar Villa Costa and experience the passion of real Tico futbol. Great comida tipica, and a boca with each drink. Bucket of six beers only ¢4,500! On the football plaza in Villarreal. See ad page 13. A dish, a sauce, a wine. Vulcano is a new restaurant in Tamarindo just outside the Circle. Enjoy dinner under the fresh cooling mist. Serving delicious cold and hot tapas, pasta, meat and seafood, fondue bourguignonne. Will deliver brick oven pizza, deli platter for parties. Tel 2653-0056, e-mail volcano@gmail.com. Robert August Surf and Turf starts March 21 at Witch’s Rock Surf Camp with “Endless Summer”. March 22 has the golf tournament at Hacienda Pinilla followed by a Fashion-Bikini Show at le Beach; March 23 is Surf day at Lola’s in Avellanas. For details call 8940-3266. With this hot and windy weather the Volunteer Firefighters still need support from the community. Contact them at brigadatamarindo@ gmail.com. See ad page 27. Cabalgata Luna y Mar is a magical horse ride from Tempate to Potrero. See details on page 25. BamBamboo is an eco-boutique on the Circle in Tamarindo selling quality clothing for adults and kids in fabrics made from bamboo, hemp and banana. Opposite Walter’s Restaurant, see ad page 23. Sandy’s Hair Stylist offers haircuts, color, highlights and Up-ddos for Weddings and parties. See ad on page 29. AllInsurance has the package for all your insurance needs – health, life, property, liability, etc. See ad page 29. Carlos y Carlos Restaurant is serving fine Italian food in Tamarindo, just South of Super 2001 on the road to Langosta. See their ad on page 24..
Surf Report Ellen Zoe Golden ellenzoe@aol.com
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t’s March and that means it is time for the 15th Annual Robert August Surf & Turf. For those who don’t know, this yearly event features the surfing legend Robert August who, as a young man, starred in “Endless Summer.” Then, for the sequel, “Endless Summer 2” he did a segment featuring the Tamarindo area, which ultimately publicized Tamarindo as a surfing destination. After spending so much time in Tamarindo, Robert fell in love with the locale and the people, and years later, when filming what was essentially “Endless Summer 3”—a beautiful surf film called “Step Into Liquid” - August and his friends came up with the idea of raising money for the community. Since they loved golf, as well as surfing, they created the Surf & Turf, and it has grown so much since the late ‘90s. Today, all the money earned benefits CEPIA. Not only does the 2014 Surf & Turf allow participants to golf and surf with Robert and others as usual, it is also a celebration for the 50th anniversary of that quintessential surf flick, “Endless Summer.” Although most of the people who are partaking in the week-long event come from around the world, there are plenty of opportunities for the locals to join in. Everything begins on March 21 at Witch’s Rock Surf Camp, where they will screen “Endless Summer,” have a ‘60s Best Dressed contest, and a silent auction. The entire evening will be broadcast on Costa Rica’s Radio Dos. At 8 a.m. March 22, the golf tournament at Hacienda Pinilla goes off (and there is a Ladies 9&Wine event as well). In the evening, DJ Matos spins for the Azul Profundo Summer Fashion show, dinner and another silent auction. Then on Sunday, March 23, everyone heads to Lola’s at Playa Avellana for the surf contest at 6:30 a.m. In the afternoon, the awards ceremony takes place at Witch’s Rock. So, if you are interested in participating, email vansalmai@hotmail. com. And the third date of the Circuito Guanacasteco CREATURES, presented by Reserva Conchal, is in the books. This one took place in the more challenging waves of Marbella which ranged from 5- to 6-feet, and awarded $1,500 to the eight best competitors in the Open category. And for this date, called COPA Tika Hut, the surfer from Esterillos, Maikol Torres (photo), won 1st place Open and earned $500.
Torres beat out a group of hefty surfers in the final, which included Angelo Bonomelli, Danny Bishko and Jefferson Tascon. “The waves were amazing, just perfect, with many tubes,” said Torres afterwards. “The final itself was tough because the wind went wrong so I knew to wait for the best waves, and thereby winning a competition where there was a very good level.” Tamarindo’s Dean Vandewalle, who won Boys, had the best waves of the event, running two perfect 10s and riding a tube for a 9.73. In addition, his buddy from Tamarindo, Malakai Martínez, as well as frequent Circuito Nacional competitor Emily Gussoni, each made it to three different winning podiums. This included a Junior win for 13-year-old Martínez, and a Junior Women’s and Open 1st place position for Gussoni. According to Andrea Diaz, one of the organizers: “We manage to reach places in Guanacaste with great waves and even these areas with undiscovered talent. The idea of this Circuito Guanacasteco CREATURES, presented by Reserva Conchal, is to give the opportunity to as many local girls and boys who compete either for the first time or those that need to stay seasoned if they attend the Circuito Nacional and other competitions.” The COPA Tiki Hut drew 150 competitors from the area, and filled up all 10 categories offered. For results, see page 33. Look for the next date of Circuito Guanacasteco this month, March 8 and 9, probably at Avellanas, but that’s not confirmed. Back on the Circuito Nacional Olympus 2014 presented by Adrenaline Rush, the second date went off in Puerto Viejo near Limón. The winner of the LimeCoral Caribbean Classic II was Danny Bishko of Esterillos. Although Bishko has made it to the final podium several times, this was the first time he walked away with a First Place trophy. Not only did Bishko handle these challenging waves, but he outmaneuvered a very good group of surfers in the finals including the local boy, three-time national champion and defender of this date from last year, Gilbert Brown, as well as Anthony Segura (Esterillos) and Enoch Santana (Boca Barranca). “Winning an event is not easy and even less so against Gilbert and the other surfers who have a lot of experience. Anthony and also Enoch were amazing. For me it’s a great goal to accomplish a win because I tried several times and am happy that I finally did it,” Bishko said. It’s been a while since the former national Women’s champion Nataly Bernold claimed a 1st place win, but she did so in Puerto Viejo, beating (continued page 22)
Paradise Found - Again!
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t’s been over five years since the new millenium’s “Great Depression” devastated the world economy with a serious blow to the local economy and real estate market after the crash. Things are finally starting to rebound here in our little piece of paradise we call the “Gold Coast”. As many who live here know we were hit very hard by the U.S. economy crash of 2008. The effects were harsh and far-reaching to every part of the Costa Rica “expat” lifestyle. Many good people and families were forced to give up their dreams and return to the United States to find work. Those of us who survived were battered and bruised but thankful to still be living the dream here in Costa Rica. Now things have bounced off the bottom and begun to rebound we are all looking forward to a full recovery in the coming years. Meanwhile, like in any time of crisis, there are opportunities to be taken advantage of if you do your homework, shop around and find a reputable agent. We are now finding a new group of buyers returning to our little corner of the world and they are taking advantage of the market and learning the “Pura Vida Lifestyle” from a new post-depression perspective.
Your Donation is Their Success
my best friend my best friend is my enemy she hurts me lies to me denies me turns on me then smiles her devilish red-haired face at me & i forgive her i forgive her sleeping with every boy i have ever loved i forgive her her wet ringed circles atop my Haywood Wakefield i forgive her her laziness with her art i forgive her she married before me my best friend is my enemy she has built a torture chamber around my heart & i am her holocaust survivor
from “pardon my while I eat my young” 100 Poems by geretta-geretta
Some of the best deals are condo and homes that have been through banks’ foreclosures. The banks aren’t in the real estate business and are selling these units to recover their investments, in some cases even at a substantial loss in order to get the assets off the books. There are also some great deals on lots and farms that are located in the area. The price for this type of land is lower than beachfront or beachside but you still have to pay development costs which will vary depending on location. Overall, the cost of living has gone down relative to five years ago. There are many great deals to be had in the real estate rental and sales market. The cost of building has corrected and is now in a very affordable range starting at $75 per square foot for a fully modern high-quality home. It’s definitely a buyers market, an excellent time to get back in the game. If you’ve been on the fence about buying in Costa Rica, now is the time to take a look around. You may be surprised at the amazing deals you can find and finally secure the little piece of paradise we are all hoping to find! In the end, it’s a lifestyle choice you have to make to live here. Tico Time is something you have to get used to and learn to embrace. Costa Rica is a literally and geographically a half world away from North America and Europe. Its a way of life that once you fall into the groove, you’ll never be the same person!
Pura Vida John Lahoud Jr
Barbara’s Pet Stories
Owl’s Well that Ends Well
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friend came in last week; she had a tiny owl sitting in her hands. She said that she had found this little bird lying in front of her gate, and the dog was about to eat it. I took it, put a stick under the claws to make the owl sit on it, which it did, but then it fell off again. Oh, yes, too weak to keep itself on the stick. I fed it with small pieces of raw meat and some drops of water from a syringe (without the needle). It looked it came “back to life”. After two days feeding it four times per day, with a good night’s sleep in a bird cage (although this type of bird is nocturnal – active at night) the owl appeared to be in good shape now, strong enough to go back into the wild.
So late one afternoon my friend took the owl back to where it was found, as the day before she had discovered some more owls sitting in one of the trees in her garden. It took only some minutes for the little one to figure out that it was “home”. It flew back to its parents and the two siblings that were sitting in the tree and watching the action going on... A fundraiser will be held March 16th at 4 p.m. to benefit Barbara Deppe at Tikis Sunset Grille. Barbara runs an animal rescue in Flamingo out of the dive shop. She has helped countless dogs, cats and animals of all kinds and survives on generous donations from the community. Location is Seaside Grille in Brasilito (the old Happy Snapper). Barbara will receive the $5 cover plus 20% of all sales. Don Carlos will host an open mic night and there will be a silent auction. barbara.s.animalrescuecenter@gmail.com
Dharma Corner
Sue Smith
A Helping Hand
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ura Vida Sangha is a Sangha founded in the tradition of the Vietnamese Buddhist monk and teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh. As such, the Sangha is committed to social activism and “helping� all sentient beings in the community.
This year Pura Vida Sangha is taking on the project of helping those in the area (which may be all of Costa Rica) who have lost a hand through accidents or birth condition. These hands will be provided free of charge to the recipients. The hand is the invention of an American who developed it in honor of his daughter who passed away at a very young age. The hand is now being distributed to those in need in countries all over the world. Pura Vida Sangha is working with the Rotary International Club of Walnut Creek, California, to bring the hands to Costa Rica. The only qualifications for receiving the prosthesis are that: 1) the recipient truly wants to use it; 2) there be 12cm of forearm remaining from the tip of the elbow; and 3) the elbow joint is flexible. There are prostheses for children as well as adults. Pura Vida Sangha is anxious to identify as many persons in need as possible before the first order of hands arrives in April. So, if you know of someone who is in need of a hand please contact Susan at 8829-1196 or Caroline at 8380-3889. Help give a hand and change a life!!!
Namaste
Thanks For T
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he sergeant squats in a mud-filled hole, a huge metal cylinder gripped between his knees. Despite the freezing weather sweat pours from his brow, his arms, his neck, and his movements are slow and deliberate. Carefully unscrewing a large plate, he pulls it off, revealing a rotating dial, the numbers getting lower by the second. Inside the cylinder are two wires, one red, one blue. “Damn!” he curses, “What’s that disarm code again? ‘Cut the blue and then the red; if you don’t you’ll soon be dead’. Or was that the Mark VIII?” Picking up his field radio, he calls his buddy in a shell-hole a hundred yards away “It’s a Krupp Devastator Mark VII. Bring me the manual on the double.” The corporal jumps up and runs toward the sergeant, but is immediately cut down by a burst of machine gun fire. “Oh, what bad luck,” mutters the sergeant, “I needed that manual.” With the number on the disk down to single digits, he picks up his cutters, fastens them on the blue wire and increases the pressure. Sweat drips on his hand and onto the bomb, and a little voice says “Leave the blue and cut the red. You’ll soon be safely home in bed.” He switches to the red wire, and squeezes…
Memory aids are called mnemonics, and don’t always work. When walking my dog on the main drag in Tamarindo, I saw a small, brightly-coloured snake cross my path. Broad bands of red and black, narrow rings of yellow. I recognized the serpent as a Coral Snake, not the deadliest in the world, but high on the short list. Now we all know that animals have a gene that enables them to instinctively recognize a snake and to stay well clear. Lila is deficient in genes except for the eating and jumping-up-onpeople-whodon’t-like-dogs genes, and she just wants to make friends. The snake assumed the position in the road, its head and beady eyes circling to follow the inquisitive dog. The I remembered there is a non-poisonous species, the False Coral Snake (oxyrhopus trigeminus) that uses mimicry to make like a Coral and thus evade its enemies. You may easily distinguish between the two using the mnemonic “Yellow on black, a friend of Jack; red on yellow, kill a fellow.” Or is it “Red on black, a friend of Jack; black on yellow, kill a fellow”?
The Memory David Mills We use mnemonics for many topics. Schoolchildren are taught “HOMES” to remember the Great Lakes – Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior – in case, for whatever reason, they need this information in a hurry. I lived on the Great Lakes for a quarter-century, and it didn’t take more than a dozen years before I knew their names without a memory aid. For people not living in proximity to them, I can’t imagine why one would need to remember them at all. “Every Good Boy Deserves Fruit” is a good stand-by for music students, to remind them of the lines on the scale, and for reading between the lines they will use “FACE”. And then there is “Man Very Early Made Jars Stand Up Nearly Perpendicular”, for those who want to dazzle their friends with the order of the planets from the sun. First, though, you have to remember that there is a mnemonic; next, you have to remember what it is. I, personally, can only recall the mnemonic by reciting the names of the planets, then transposing, which makes the thing less useful. Most of us need the planet information infrequently, and would be faster phoning the nearest observatory than trying to drag up the mnemonic. Even then, there’s a fly in this ointment, since Pluto was expelled from the planetary family. Electronic engineers often need to know the value of a resistor in a circuit, and these are colour-coded in bands. We learned that “Bad Boys Relish* Our Young Girls But Prefer Good Women” – black, brown, red, orange, yellow, etc… Since the innocent unworried days that I learned such things, I imagine that this sexist phrase has been replaced by another more politically correct (*although I have already replaced a harsher word with “relish”). For zoological classification, I use “King Philip Came Over For Good Sex”, for Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Group and Species - or I would if I ever needed it, which is unlikely. I just like the Good Sex bit. The moral of this story is that you should never rely on mnemonics (by the way, what idiot ever invented the word mnemonic as a memory aid?) in life-threatening situations. Being temporarily without my Coral Snake Mark VII manual, and my name not being Jack anyway, I grabbed the dog by the tail and hustled her away long enough for the snake to get its asp out of there.
Surf Report (from page 15)
Lisbeth Vindas (Jaco), Emily Gussoni (Jaco) and Leilani McGonagle (Pavones). Although Bernold now lives in Jaco, she grew up on these waves in Puerto Viejo so it’s no surprise that she had a spectacular session to win. Additionally, Leon Glatzer of Pavones walked away with a huge check for $2,500 for the best maneuvers in the LimeCoral Air Show which included a fully rotated 360 air.
LimeCoral Caribbean Classic II January 25, 26, 2014 - Puerto Viejo, Limón
Open 1. Danny Bishko (photo) 2. Enoch Santana 3. Lopez Gilbert Brown 4. Anthony Segura
Boys 1. Dean Vandewalle (Tama.) 2. Sean Forester (Samara) 3. Dennis Picado (Jacó) 4. Joseph Mendez (Jacó)
Women’s 1. Nataly Bernold 2. Leilani McGonagle 3. Lisbeth Vindas 4. Emily Gussoni
Minigrommet 1. Dean Vandewalle 2. Valentina Ressano (Nica.) 3. Cedric McCrakin (P. Viejo) 4. Neo Escaler (Jacó)
Junior 1. Leonardo Calvo (B. Barranca) 2. Martin Artavia (Limón) 3. Leon Glatzer (Pavones) 4. Lorenzo Cordova (P. Viejo)
MiniGrommet Girls 1. Valentina Ressano (Nica.) 2. Emily Anderson (P. Viejo) 3. Katie Herman (Tama.) 4. Paulina Summer (P. Viejo)
Junior Women’s 1. Leilani McGonagle 2. Emily Gussoni 3. Coral Wiggins (Tamarindo) 4. Paula Duarte (Jacó)
Longboard 1. Anthony Flores (Jacó) 2. Alex Gomez (Samara) 3. Carlos Rojas (Sta. Teresa) 4. Adolfo Gomez (Samara)
The next date of the Circuito Nacional, the COPA CREATURES, moves to Playa Guiones in Nosara on March 14 and 15.
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Abriendo Mentes Receives Costa Rican Nonprofit Status
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he community development organization Abriendo Mentes has officially been approved to receive non-profit status in Costa Rica. Founded in 2009, Abriendo Mentes has been providing educational and community development programming in Potrero and Brasilito, and is a registered 501(c)3 non-profit in the United States.
The designation as a legally-registered non-profit organization is important not only to Abriendo Mentes’ ability to receive financial support from sources within Costa Rica, but also cements the permanency and legitimacy the organization has worked hard to attain. Says founder, and US Board President, Meradith Leebrick, “we are thrilled to have received this meaningful recognition in Costa Rica. Achieving this milestone will not only open new doors for organizational growth and development, but also demonstrates our commitment to putting down long-term roots in Costa Rica and continuing to pursue new avenues with which to enhance our programming and further support our participants.” Project Director and Costa Rican Board President Lindsay Losasso hailed the news as a great accomplishment for the organization and is eager to explore the many new opportunities this recognition will bring to the organization. Losasso says, “Attaining this status shows the local community and our supporters how much importance we place on officially being recognized as a Costa Rican organization, a step that we know will only allow us to better serve our students and program participants.” Bidiel Moreno Peralta, a lifelong Potrero resident and Abriendo Mentes board member, is also the father of two students who receive classes with the organization. Peralta spoke to the importance of Abriendo Mentes to him and his family: “If it had not been for Abriendo Mentes, my daughter Verenice would not speak English or be able to be completely bilingual because she would be lacking the education; nowhere can you find access to English for free for children in this town.” It is the hope of Abriendo Mentes that programming will be available to children like Verenice for many years to come. Since its founding in 2009 by Meradith Leebrick and Drew Ragland, Abriendo Mentes has quickly grown from small, informal tutoring sessions into a fully operational, multi-site community development nonprofit. This growth was spurred by requests from the community, and programming decisions continue to reflect the changing needs of the communities of Potrero and Brasilito. Abriendo Mentes’ programs include Youth and Adult English classes, a technology center, community fitness classes, a women’s social enterprise project (Mujeres Activas de Potrero) and much more. Abriendo Mentes can be contacted at 8380-0413. To learn more about Abriendo Mentes’ new non-profit status, please contact Communications Coordinator Molly Burns at molly@abriendomentes.org.
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Tico Cheerleader Team Competes in Orlando
team of Costa Rican cheerleaders will travel to Orlando, Florida, to compete in the Cheerleaders World Cup of ESPN in March and April. The team of 70 athletes, chorographed by Frank Middleton, from Gymnasio Pura Vida Athletics, will compete against teams from all over the world. Team members, aged between five and twenty-five years, already have experience from competitions of Universal Cheerleaders Association in the United States. In the 2013 UCA Tournament the Tico team placed fourth in their category against over one hundred teams. Trainer José Gabriel Sibaja said “We hope to better last year’s performance with our very strong and welldisciplined team.” The ESPN Wide World of Sports will televise the competition on April 26-28.
Cabalgata Luna y Mar
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n exciting horse-riding event takes place annually in the small cattle town of Tempate, near Cartagena. Local riders have revived the old tradition of Luna y Mar, held on the March full moon, in which horsemen/women/kids ride the old trail downhill from Tempate to the beach at Potrero. The tradition says that, on this date, the conditions of the tides at Potrero can predict weather conditions for the coming year, giving farmers an advantage. Hundreds of local caballistas will take part in the beautiful ride in full moonlight, accompanied with music and, quite possibly, liquid refreshments. The final ride along the beach in Potrero is magical. Visitors are welcome, and there is no charge to participate. Just show up in Tempate with your favorite nag around 6 p.m. on March 16th, and go with the flow.
Let’s ALL Go Metric
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very evening during Happy Hour locals gather and chat with tourists, of which there have been a goodly number over the past few months. Of course, in true American style the opener is “Where are you from?” and inevitably the conversation continues with the latest on the weather up North. Because this winter up North has been bitterly cold (they say it is due to Global Warming). While watching a hockey game we see the warning notices on the ticker tape showing what is closed, or cancelled, or late, in the Ohio area, because that is where the channel is beamed from by satellite. Batesville Community Schools closed; Boone County Schools 2-hour delay, no am/pm preschool; Champion Elite All-stars closed today; Church of Jesus Tuesday Night Bible Study cancelled; Wednesday Breakfast Club cancelled; and my favourite: Good News Church of God Services cancelled (which shows the importance of correct punctuation.) So, of course, in every conversation we hear “it was 21 below when we left.” Followed by “What’s that in Centigrade?” and I have to do the mental calculation: “Let’s see, you subtract 32, divide the answer by 9 and multiply by five. Or is it the other way around?” In Costa Rica there are thousands of realtors, many of them from the US, as are most of their prospective customers. But here all measurements are metric, and it doesn’t help that a hectare is 2.471 acres; a square meter is 10.765 square feet; an inch is 2.54 centimeters. You see, practically the only country in the world (except Myanmar and Liberia, and they don’t count) that still uses Fahrenheit is the
United States, all other countries having adopted -most of them kicking and screaming - the metric system which, after all, is the better system. I had the misfortune to live in Britain during its metrication, then moved to Canada just in time for my new country to undergo the conversion. It was not pretty, but it freed us from such units as grain, pennyweight (.04167 to a grain), dram (.0625 of an ounce), bushel (8 gallons), peck (8 quarts), gill (4 to a pint), hundredweight (112 pounds in UK or 100 pounds in Canada and US), rod (5.5 yards), chain (22 yards), league (3 miles), cable (100 fathoms), scruple (20 minims)…And, yes, as schoolchildren we had to memorise all these horrid units. And it doesn’t help that some measures in the US are different from Canada and Britain; your gallon, pint, quart, etc., are all different.
(continued page 33)
Doctor’s Orders Jeffrey Whitlow, M.D.
jwhitlow82159@gmail.com
Cancer V
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his month we will continue our discussion on the so-called “unconventional” treatments for cancer. Dr. Linus Pauling, the only person to ever win two solo Nobel prizes, was a biochemist who had a great interest in health and nutrition. He spent the ‘70s and ‘80s building on the pioneering work of another great biochemist, Dr. Irwin Stone. Dr. Stone spent a considerable portion of his scientific career studying the biochemistry of Vitamin C. His work led him to believe that humans cannot make their own Vitamin C, as almost all other animals do. In his study of animals, he observed that they were able to produce large quantities of Vitamin C in response to stressors such as adverse environmental conditions or illness. This observation led him to conclude that humans could benefit by taking in grams of Vitamin C under similar circumstances. However, the FDA-recommended daily dose of Vitamin C is 60 milligrams, which is less than 1% of the levels he observed in the other animals he studied. Dr Pauling, in collaboration with a Scottish physician, Dr. Ewan Cameron, undertook a study of high-dose Vitamin C in terminally ill cancer patients. Every doctor knows that cancer grows and spreads by invading surrounding healthy tissue. The cancer cells produce an enzyme that destroys the material that holds the normal cells together. That process allows the tumor to grow in any and all directions, at the expense of the surrounding healthy tissue. Since Vitamin C is well known to strengthen the cell connecting material, or connective tissue, these doctors felt that high doses of Vitamin C could be of benefit. So they began to treat these patients with 10 grams of Vitamin C a day, with dramatically positive results. On average, patients treated with Vitamin C in this manner lived four times longer than untreated patients, and enjoyed a markedly increased quality of life as well. Some were still alive after five years of treatment. In all, Drs. Cameron and Pauling treated over 4,000 patients with this regimen and wrote of their findings in an article for The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. And what was the reaction of the American medical establishment? As regular readers of this column might surmise, the reaction was hostile. Any simple treatment such as the ones we have been discussing these past few months would put so many people, companies, and societies out of business that there is no real interest in accepting these incredible findings and building on them. Instead, as is usually the case in such matters, these authors were treated with derision and scorn. Studies were undertaken in America but, as Dr. Ralph Moss again documents in his book, The Cancer Industry, those studies were either poorly designed, poorly performed, misreported, or outright sabotaged, since there was no money to be made on a natural substance. Based upon my research, and on my personal and clinical experience, I highly recommend that every individual should take at least 2-5 grams of Vitamin C a day. I would further recommend that anyone who has been diagnosed with cancer should immediately start taking 10-20 grams of Vitamin C daily. Next month we will conclude the discussion of this topic.
A Slice of Life Frozen Eclipse David Mills
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t Happy Hour I met a guy called Derek, a lawyer from Winnipeg. I can understand anyone from Winnipeg being in Costa Rica in February – or at any other time. But this reminded me of my Winnipeg experience, which I am about to share with you. Well, in the Carly Simon song “You’re So Vain” you “flew your Learjet to Nova Scotia to see the total eclipse of the sun.” Lucky guy! In more ways than one – the unnamed aviator was having it off with the delightful Carly Simon. Enough of that! I have seen several total eclipses in various locations, but the last total eclipse I observed was in Winnipeg, Manitoba, probably the coldest place on the planet. I can’t confirm that as I was only there one day, and if I never see it again it will be too soon. Being an amateur astronomer, and armed with a new Minolta SRT101 camera, a tripod, a gang of telephoto lenses and some high-speed Fuji film, I couldn’t pass up a chance to see this very rare eclipse. The February day dawned cold and clear, and we made our way by bus to the exact centre of totality – in the middle of a barren field a few kilometers east of Lake Winnipeg. At 10 a.m. the temperature was a balmy -26o Celsius. Not exactly bikini weather, but not too cold either – I’d seen colder. Then the winds kicked in, strong and direct from the North-west, straight off frozen Lake Winnipeg, and the temperature plummeted. We are now two hours from totality, and all set up with cameras, telescopes and tripods to record the passage of the moon’s invisible disc across the face of the sun – always a special treat. As the partial phase started I shot a couple of photos. When I wound on the film, a grating noise and looseness in the film advance lever suggested that all was not well. I opened the camera – as best I could wearing three pairs of gloves – and saw that the film carriage holes had been ripped by the sprocket. The usually flexible celluloid film was like a solid piece of steel and didn’t want to move. Short time to go, so I doffed the gloves (at minus 30oC) and reset the film in the carriage. At these low temperatures several things inhibit the taking of photographs: the aforementioned brittleness of the celluloid film; the conversion of oil to grease slowing down the shutter speed; and the freezing of my eyebrows to the metal parts of the camera. The only solution: remove the camera from the tripod and place it inside my parka to retrieve any body warmth that was left there; remove it from parka, replace on tripod to quickly take a shot; replace inside parka; repeat as necessary. Despite the problems, I got some delightful totality photos, then we returned to our hotel for a delicious sauna, stopping only to buy a bottle of rum – for extra warmth.
Selected Poems from “Tell me about the telaraña” by Diana Renee
love is falling back into my body when the alarm rings finding my face pressed against your back curled in the warm dark sunshine of you sleeping poem for the storm my entrances are marked by your fury I feel your rush to get in through the open doors take me the way thunder takes the earth and sky drench me drown me make me new thunder shakes the ground and stars are falling from the sky when you have passed branches lie in the yard and there are flowers everywhere
our mountains look distant and blue to the people who live by the distant blue mountains
“Tell Me About the Telaraña” is available at Jaime Peligro’s Bookstore in Tamarindo.
Your Stars in March
Aries: 21 March - 20 April
Libra: 23 September - 23 October
Taurus: 21 April - 21 May
Scorpio: 24 October - 22 November
This month begins with some need for introspection and healing. Discussions about relationship and money are stressful at the beginning of the month but with Mars Rx in your seventh house of partnership you need to step up to the plate and handle it. Saturn Rx in the eighth house means there is some financial planning that is needed - and also don’t neglect the IRS! There’s good fortune and comfort found in your home for the next four months. Your best days are the 2nd, 3rd, 30th and 31st. With Mercury now direct in your tenth house, you can establish a communication/marketing plan that will be effective for your business. Good idea as Venus moving into this house soon will increase your exposure and profits. Saturn will Rx in your seventh house of partnership so there may be things to work out in your business or personal agreements. Mars Rx in your sixth house of health can actually help you to make positive changes in your health regimen. Go for it! The 4th and 5th are stellar days for you.
The planet Mars will be Rx in your sign and first house till May 20th. Time for some serious reflection about your image, your defense mechanisms, your body and your view of the world. This is a necessary step for the next phase of growth for you personally and what you bring into a relationship. While you may feel slightly unhinged during parts of the process, you will come out of it with clarity, a sense of direction and baggage free….the potential is there. Make the most of the 17th and 18th power days. With Mars Rx in your solar twelfth house you need to do some inner work on ways you sabotage yourself, your escapist tendencies and hidden power to name a few. For the next three months you are on a journey to let go of blocks and behaviours that are keeping you stuck. The process may actually make you physically ill at certain times as the toxins release. Venus goes into your solar fourth house so it might be a good time to have a small gathering of celebration in the house. Try for the 19th or 20th!
Gemini: 22 May - 21 June
Sagittarius: 23 November - 21 December
Cancer: 22 June - 22 July
Capricorn: 22 December - 21 January
Your ruling planet, Mercury, is now in direct motion in your ninth house of international travel, publishing, philosophy, lawyers, faith and mind expansion. Saturn retrogrades in your sixth house of health, so be disciplined, make some changes or stick to your regimen. Co-workers may be difficult or have problems. Mars Rx in your fifth house of creativity, children, fun and romance will have you thinking about what you’ve done in the past. Good days are the 6th, 7th and 8th.
With your ruling planet, Jupiter, going direct in your solar eighth house you could be in for a financial windfall of some sort. This is also a good time to hit pay dirt if you are doing any therapy or psychological work on yourself. Mars will Rx in your solar eleventh house of friends, business associates, humanitarian concerns; you might want to revive some former memberships in those areas. You will be well received and gain some traction in your profession this month. The 21st and 22nd are favorable days.
This month could signify a change of direction for your partnerships and profession; you are ready to expand or make a significant shift, maybe even a move. With Saturn Rx in your fifth house of children, creativity, fun and romance you may feel inhibited about getting more involved with someone or something. Children could have some difficult times, however, so be patient with them. Your best days are the 9th, 10th and 11th.
Mars will be retrograde for about three months in your solar tenth house of profession and public image. Be prepared to jettison a few things in May, be ruthless in your critical thinking. Jupiter is going direct in your solar seventh house, indicating favorable partnership opportunities; there’s also a possibility that you might change residence. This month could be quite a direction changer for you. The 23rd and 24th are your most favorable days.
With Mars going Rx in your third house of siblings, communication, trips, and learning, you will have an opportunity to revive those relationships or drag out an unfinished manuscript and polish it up. Saturn in your fourth house will keep you somewhat tethered due to responsibilities in the home or with parent and ancestors. Money and end of life issues need to be addressed. This is a time to take care of business; socializing will come later in the year. Days to enjoy are the 12th and 13th.
With Mercury powerful in your solar first house, you have the gift of getting everyone’s attention, so use it wisely. Mars will Rx in your solar ninth house, causing you to question your belief system after some introspection. Legal issues, publishing interests, foreign travel and large enterprises will figure into the equation for the next three months. Saturn in your solar tenth demands you act responsibly with authority, strive to be noticed and you will advance. The 25th, 26th, and 27th are your best days.
Partnership issues are still surfacing as there are wounds that are revealed by your partner that need healing. Pay attention and take time to communicate your feelings and listen carefully to theirs. Money issues will take front and center over the next three months so you may need to develop a new budget and stick to it. Don’t procrastinate. Good month to connect with new groups, networks and business professionals. Go for it; you’ll succeed. The 14th, 15th and 16th are your stellar days.
Mars will Rx in your solar eighth house of psychology, secrets, wills, legacies, the occult, etc. The next three months will be beneficial for paying attention to the above items; actively pursue something to get the best benefits. Saturn will also be Rx this month but in your solar ninth house of beliefs, the law, higher consciousness, foreign travels and higher education. Make sure you get out and about this month and be social. Best days are the 1st, 28th and 29th.
Leo: 23 July - 23 August
Virgo: 24 August - 22 September
by Jeanne Callahan jeannecallahan007@gmail.com
Aquarius: 22 January - 19 February
Pisces: 20 February - 20 March
Namasté Visit Jeanne’s site at CelestialAdvisor.com
Word puzzle Miscellany
All words from the list below can be found in the word block on the right. Answers may be forward, backward, upwards, downwards and diagonal. bilinguismo caliente cenicero concurso crecimiento culebra demasiado demonio desesperacion encomienda escudo freno fresca harmonia hipotecar
impresora jaula langosta mariposa pretencioso primula prohibicion pulperia recluso resbalar rompimiento sagacidad salutacion tratamiento veneno
Now Begins the Study of Yoga Lines of Energy Most of the first years of your yoga practice will be about learning how to do the basic postures or asanas. Starting with Mountain pose (Tadasana) and progressing onward into standing and sitting poses, twists, forward and backward bends, inversions, balancing poses, etc. At some point, one of your teachers is then going to tell you to begin to move not just from your muscles, but to begin to identify and use the lines of energy in these postures. This day will be when you start to feel the poses from your body’s intelligence, rather than just on a mechanical muscular level. In addition to the system of our blood flowing within our body, we have the electrical system that directs currents of energy throughout us. In Traditional Chinese Medicine these lines of energy are called meridians; in Ayurveda, they are called nadis. Most people do not have much awareness of these lines, though, through your yoga practice, they become easier and easier to contact. It is not necessary to be able to feel all of them (and may be near impossible to do so as Ayurveda mentions 72,000 of them!); however, when you begin to find the two or three main lines of energy in each pose, your mind becomes clearer, and your body becomes stronger. You will find yourself doing yoga from the inside out, and the focus you bring
to your poses will follow you off your mat as well. In staff pose (Dandasana) we can clearly see these lines of energy. As the body sits and grounds in position (like the capital letter L), it allows the energy to flow out the legs and up through the arms. In your practice, begin to play with these lines by thinking of pairs of opposites. For example, when you are in a standing pose, feel where your body is grounding down and where it is lifting up. Using lines of energy to enhance your yoga practice can bring about a better alignment for your particular body, because it will be working from its inner wisdom. You will be more stable in your poses, as well as engage your whole body in the practice. Using specific manners of breathing, or pranayama, during your practice, will also increase the flow of energy along these lines. Erich Schiffman writes, “As you assume each individual posture and deliberately funnel your energy and breath through the pose, you are in effect cleaning the tubes and airing out the pathways that distribute the life force.” You may find that this additional energy, focus, and stability will also help keep your body moving to ever-deeper levels of these postures.
Namaste, Mary Mary Byerly is one of the owners and the yoga teacher at Panacea. An oasis of tranquility and health 10 minutes from Tamarindo. Discover Paradise and Bring a Peace Home www.panaceacr.com • 2653-8515
Surf Report (from page 24)
COPA Tiki Hut
February 8 and 9 - Playa Marbella Open 1. Maikol Torres 2. Danny Bishko 3. Angello Bonomelli 4. Jefferson Tascon
Girls 1. Christine August 2. Emily Gussoni 3. Serena Nava 4. Coral Wiggins
Open Women 1. Emily Gussoni 2. Jill Kepich 3. Mave Cataste 4. Lilly Von Trevenfels
Groms 1. Tiago Carrique 2. Malakai Martinez 3. Dean Vandewalle 4. Luke Gionaldo
Juniors 1. Malakai Martinez 2. Manuel Mesén 3. Juan Carlos Hernandez 4. Aldo Chirinos
Dolphins (pushed into waves) 1. Luke Guinaldo 2. Finnigan Bean 3. Are Avrith 4. Sabrina Paldwin 5. Kalani Abrahão
Junior Women’s 1. Emily Gussoni 2. Serena Nava 3. Christine August 4. Lilly Von Trevenfels Boys 1. Dean Vandewalle 2. Malakai Martinez 3. Tiago Carrique 4. Idan Pony
Masters 1. Brad Hersh 2. Jeff Allen 3. Marcel Matos 4. Marcel Guinaldo Longboard 1. Alex Gomez 2. Adolfo Gomez 3. Noah Bek 4. Ricardo Calderon
That’s all I’ve got. Looking forward to hearing what you think. Keep those emails coming at EllenZoe@aol.com. Send your comments, information, errors or praise, because I can’t do this column without you, the real surfers.
I’m selfish, impatient and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can’t handle me at my worst, then you sure as Hell don’t deserve me at my best. Marilyn Monroe
Let’s ALL Go Metric My car achieves 27 miles per gallon of gas in the United States, gets a healthy 33.75 in Canada, but goes 11.3 kilometers on a litre in any country. Then there’s the long ton (2,240 pounds), short ton (2,000 pounds)… Not to mention the barrel, whose standard is 31.5 gallons but which can contain 31 gallons of beer; 40 gallons of whisky; and of gasoline, 42. Similarly, a bushel (2,150.42 cubic inches) of corn weighs 56 pounds; of wheat 60; and of barley 48. But once the conversion is done – a very traumatic one-time project - we have to admit it works better and is much easier for calculation. Ten centimeters to a decimeter, 10 decimeters to a meter, 1,000 meters to a kilometer, etc. Wow! The multiplier is exactly the same as our fingers and toes. So it is clear that this system is so much easier than 12 inches to a foot, 3 feet to a yard, 1,760 yards to a mile…16 ounces to a pound, 14 pounds to a stone, and so on. Obviously Mother Nature is in favour of the metric system. You’d feel damn silly with 16 fingers and 14 toes, wouldn’t you? So let’s all just agree that it is bloody cold up in Canada and the United States, and isn’t it time that the U.S. came into the metric world to save me some mental acrobatics while I enjoy an Imperial (the beer, not the measure)?
Surviving
C hapter LX
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COSTA RICA
un Tzu was a Shar-Pei, a very old Chinese dog breed often associated with the Chinese Emperors, which caused the breed to be almost wiped out during Mao Tse Tung’s Cultural Revolution. Fortunately Mao was unsuccessful and Shar-Peis, often noted for their wrinkly skin, are still with us. My wife Susan ran into Sun-Tzu on the streets of Santa Cruz in front of a Veterinarian/Pet Store who brought in puppies from a kennel in San José.
Requiem to a Best Friend
friend Cyndi Thau, who had a special talent for over-caressing, caused him to get just a little too excited. We weren’t sure what kind of watchdog he was going to make as he never seemed to make much noise, and then one night when he was about three months old he let out with a very authoritative bark in reaction to something or other outside. We then knew we had a security device also.
We had just bought our new house in Langosta and were establishing a more permanent home in Costa Rica, and what more to be “permanent” than to have a dog? I had never really had a dog before, getting my “dog fix” from other friend’s animals, although I did seem to have a good “rubbing scratching” technique that seemed to be appreciated; I was actually a “cat” person. Susan hadn’t had a dog since her high school days in Woodsboro, Texas, so we were both a little new to the whole Dog experience. Susan was the first to fall in love with Sun Tzu. I met him a few hours later. He gave me a puppy bark and wagged his tail when we met and that was it. I was firmly in the “Dog” camp. Names are always a funny and sometimes difficult thing to come up with, whether with dogs, bands or (I assume) babies. It’s no secret I’m kind of a history nut and Sun-Tzu, the sixth century BC Chinese PhilosopherGeneral who wrote “The Art of War”, still a major textbook in all of today’s military academies, was my choice. We discouraged our friends from calling him “Sunny”. We went through puppyhood all too quickly as we became familiar with his antics and peculiarities, and he with us. He never had “accidents” in the house from the get-go, not counting the one time when our artist
Sun Tzu’s over-fondness (perhaps not the right word) for cats caused him to be a less than popular figure among the area’s cat lovers, although the cats themselves soon realized they were a lot faster than he, and over the years it was a popular cat event to go over to Sun Tzu’s and taunt him from outside his gate. As Sun Tzu grew into doghood he became different things to both Susan and me. He was always her baby and companion in and around her studio and they both shared a ritualistic morning beach walk every day of the year. I myself had the “afternoon” walk around the neighborhood which always included an
Story by Jesse Bishop owlhumm@hotmail.com
enormous amount of sniffing and peeing. Sun Tzu and I really “got” each other, and in addition to being great company I soon found out he had other abilities. Those of you sadly familiar with the many literary shortcomings of “Surviving Costa Rica” may recall that Sun Tzu would occasionally sit in and write a “Howler” column when it was obvious that I couldn’t. A younger Sun Tzu first showed up in the August 2004 “Howler” focusing on the titanic struggle of wills between Puppy and Artist and then later, in the May 2005 edition, he described running free on the (pre-development) Langosta Beach with his friends Foster and Tina, and staying out of the way of the bad-tempered Doberman “Mucus”. In the October 2011 edition a somewhat older Sun Tzu gave an extensive and somewhat testy interview implying, most likely correctly, that the writer had once again failed to come up with something better. Believe me he was wrong. We were told that Shar Peis had a life span of seven years, but thanks to the great veterinary care of Dr. Cesar Briceño he seemed to just keep on going. We discovered about six months ago that Sun Tzu had developed cancer of the tongue, which Dr. Cesar, also a noted animal surgeon in Guanacaste, operated on, and after chemotherapy we hoped it had been eliminated. Sadly it came back and after another more serious surgery and chemo we hoped it had been removed, but agreed we wouldn’t put Sun Tzu through it a third time. By now you’ve realized that it did come back and with a vengeance. Sun Tzu went to sleep in Susan’s arms at the age of ten and never awoke. He is buried in our backyard flower garden, one of his favorite napping spots. I must say we were extremely touched by the messages of condolences from our many friends who knew and loved Sun Tzu.
More Than Good Fences Do Good Neighbors Make
F
or those of us involved in the real estate and tourism-based economy of the Gold Coast, the invisible guiding hand of Adam Smith has basically dropped down hereabouts like an ironclad fist. First the flow of starry-eyed potential buyers dried up. Many projects simply locked the ornate gates purportedly leading to a perpetual vacation and fun-in-the-sun lifestyle, others got foreclosed by the lenders, some experienced falling-outs and legal battles amongst the partners. Any number are now informal cattle pastures and slowly reverting back to forest. Prices have yet to reach the new equilibrium point with demand. Driving around my neck of the woods, it would appear that $20K seems to be the new “hook’ point on the roadside signs. A number designed to capture the attention of the occasional passerby with enough liquidity to still dream of something other than ice storms and the daily commute back home. While the halcyon days of high prices and abundant buyers had everyone and his Johnny-come-lately brother hanging out shingles to announce their efforts at forest protection, monkey loving, tree planting and LEEDS-approved building designs, nowadays people are flogging their wares like so many streetwalkers in downtown Tamarindo. As they say, desperate times call for desperate measures, but sometimes the depth of desperation really comes as a bit of a shock. As it turns out, creative desperation can truly separate the men from the boys. In truth, the ‘hard sell’ is nothing new hereabouts. Old timers in my area will no doubt recall one of the infamous denizens within the real estate radius around the surf break at Playa Negra. Having honed his skills selling cutlery door-to-door in the US, he had no trouble in adroitly adapting the ‘foot-in-the-door technique’ to an ‘over-the-counter’ maneuver, credit card machine in hand, pressuring clients to ‘just put down a deposit’ on their American Express card. Just up the highway a highly leveraged, high internet profile development with a substantial number of lots already sold, began to crumble during the rainy season when a couple of hundred yards of their mountainside access road paid greater heed to the laws of gravity than to the laws of supply and demand. On the subject of roads, a word to the wise for potential buyers. Folks, if you’re looking at land, don’t suspend your powers of observation. Try to rerun those old ads: “this is your brain on drugs,” but with a new narrative: “This is your road during a deluge!” Chances are if it looks like the access to your ocean view
Tom Peifer peifer@racsa.co.cr
might be better for white water rafting when it’s raining 2-4 inches an hour, think twice before whipping out the plastic and putting down a deposit of your hard-earned dough. As I pointed out in an article on the same topic several years back, if your future neighborhood at present looks like an entrance gate and little else, in spite of all the sincere assurances by the smiling salesman that your investment will go straight into extending the road, water, electricity, fiber optic internet, etc., directly to your lot, er, think twice. At the very least. Maybe I’m a bit gun shy, but over the years - because of these articles in “The Howler” - I’ve received any number of letters from people who made unfortunate purchases in our area. “The road and water are still 1 Km. from my lot. What can I do?”; “I bought a fifth-floor condo at a pre-construction discount, but they stopped building at the third floor”; “The guy no longer answers my e-mails or phone calls. Can you suggest a good lawyer?” And sometimes the evidence is a bit less tangible to even the most skeptical observer. One take-home lesson from life here is that there are times when you really need to be able to depend on your neighbors. Car troubles, brush fires, medical emergencies, flooding, power outages, whatever, it’s nice to know you can count on neighbors when the chips are down. In my case, whenever possible, potential buyers are encouraged to spend a few days in a small cabina here on site. They wake up with the monkeys in the trees and see the daily routine in the gardens, orchards. Most importantly, they meet their future neighbors. Bear in mind that, as the developer winds down his investment in maintenance of the infrastructure and common amenities, the ‘neighbors’ have to agree on what and how things are going to be run. And who’s going to foot the bill. I know of at least one case where the discord within the owners’ association reached a point that they couldn’t approve budgets to, for example, fix the leaks in the roof during the rainy season. This begins to affect both the value of your property and the potential for resale. Not to mention your everyday peace of mind. (continued page 36)
Alcoholics Anonymous Schedule of Meetings
More Than Good Fences...
(from page 35)
Flamingo
Tuesdays: 5:30 - 6:30 pm (open) Fridays: 5:30 - 6:30 pm (open)
Location: Hitching Post Plaza Unit 2, Brasilito Contact: Don H. at 2-654-4902
Tamarindo
Saturday: 10:30-11:30 - Open General Meeting Monday: 5:30 - Open Meeting Wednesday: 10:30 - Open Meeting Thursday: 5:30-6:30 - Open Meeting Location: Behind Pedro’s Surf Shop Contact: Ellen - 2-653-0897 / Steve - 8377-1529
March ( a l l
t i m e s
2014 l o c a l )
Sun
1st - rise 5:58; set 5:54 15th - rise 5:50; set 5:54 31st - rise 5:41; set 5:54
1st quarter: Full: Last quarter: New:
Moon
8th 16th 23rd 30th
7:27 a.m. 11:08 a.m. 7:46 p.m. 12:45 p.m.
From my perspective, serious shoppers in the current sales atmosphere in our neck of the woods should add another item to their checklist: Title Roads All utilities…or at the least a timeline for installation And, importantly, A functioning Homeowners Association. You need a game plan for how you and your neighbors are going to inherit and manage the running of the place or you may well find yourselves on a treadmill, running at full speed but getting nowhere in the face of all the complex problems that crop up due to the weather, the culture, the remoteness of our area and a long list of etceteras. Unfortunately, most developers overlook the human side of exactly what has kept Guanacaste in the Blue Zone of longevity and has permitted homo sapiens to survive as a species over the millennia. We need healthy communities as much, and at times more, than functioning infrastructure. Nothing could be more diametrically opposed to this ‘community development’ focus than the latest ‘trend’ in sales tactics, as desperate investors try to cut their losses and game the market to the max. For film buffs who’ve seen the 1992 classic, “Glengarry Glenross”, the image of ‘boiler room sales’ could not be sharper. Picture a room full of telephone salesmen, thousands of miles away from the pristine beaches and howling dry winds, guys who couldn’t tell a Guacimo from a Guanacaste and who couldn’t care less, haranguing anonymous leads over the phone to invest in a ‘sure-fire’ piece of paradise by the sea. Now, you could ask—and possibly answer—a variety of questions about this approach. Hey, it worked to flog desert parcels in California and mangrove swamps in the Deep South. But it is definitely not designed to deliver the kind of community cohesion that enables us to enjoy the ‘Pura Vida’ that drew us here in the first place. Tom Peifer is an ecological land use consultant with 19 years experience in Guanacaste. 2658-8018. tompeiferecv@gmail.com El Centro Verde is dedicated to researching and promoting sustainable land use, permaculture and environmentally sound development www.elcentroverde.org/