Those Were the Days

On July 25th, 1824, the map of Costa Rica changed completely. From that day our country increased in size and gained natural wealth, culture and folklore. That day the inhabitants of the Nicoya district, which is what we now call the province of Guanacaste, decided through a voluntary act to join Costa Rica. Since then, […]

Another Nosara landmark is about to change hands as Myriam and Marcel Schaerer leave the Giardino Tropicale. Thankfully, however, these two pillars of Nosara´s civic life will not be leaving town. They arrived in 1999 with 20 boxes of belongings. ¨We rented a place in Condominios Las Palmas and started asking people for leads on

If you’ve heard marimbas at a local fiesta, dance, or restaurant, chances are you’ve heard the Gutierrez brothers’ band. You’ll find them at gigs from Tamarindo to Samara, Nicoya, and Santa Cruz. Locally, they play regularly at Taco Taco, El Manglar, Kaya Sol, Cafe de Paris, and Lagarta Lodge. Antonio Gutierrez García learned to play

One windy day in the mid-1990s Bill Lancaster set out from Garza with two friends in a boat named Sushi Loco. When choppy seas forced most other boats to shore, the three intrepid souls went further out to sea, amid catcalls such as, “you are truly locos!” Nevertheless, they caught two marlin. At a celebratory

Egrets and herons galore, roseate spoonbills, ospreys, iguanas and, with luck, a crocodile. If you’ve seen these creatures in a single morning in Nosara, chances are you’ve taken a River Safari tour with Leroy and Kirsten through the Ostional Wildlife Refuge and alongside the Lagarta Lodge Preserve. Here’s some good news: in more than a

With the recent closing for renovations of one of Nosara’s iconic hangouts, we asked Patty Yaniz for her recollections of its glory days. The Gilded Iguana opened in the mid-1980s under the ownership of Richard Buford, around the time that Patty and Chiqui came to Nosara on their honeymoon. Like so many of us, the

In this week when estadounidenses celebrate Thanksgiving, we are grateful for some of the things that have made life easier in the Nosara area in this century. Here is what life was like in the year 2000. As we’ve noted in previous blogs, getting here was even more of an adventure than it is now:

Llegar al lindo pueblito de Nosara Y no comerse un ceviche donde Arepa Parece una cosa rara Ya esta que el mundo lo sepa. Translation: To arrive at the pretty little town of Nosara And fail to eat ceviche at Arepa’s Strikes one as odd Because it’s known around the world. That’s a poem written

Antonio Méndez remembers his early days in Nosara with fondness. In 1989, when he arrived from San Ramon, “Everyone knew everyone else by name. Most of the extranjeros here had come to retire. Ticos and gringos worked and socialized together.” Méndez began his business in Nosara by transporting and selling produce at Super La Paloma,