Hotel guests enjoying a cocktail at Living Hotel NosaraThe Living Hotel is now a whole complex of services to cater to health-conscious guests. Located across from the Mini Super Delicias del Mundo, it is fully operational this high season with its own Living Café restaurant, full service spa, yoga classes, Nosaranet office center, bike rentals, surf lessons and airport transportation. Ricardo Mi...

For a couple of years now, the sport of tennis has been making inroads in the Nosara community, and now a couple of developers are stepping it up a notch, although not everyone is happy to see courts being built in the heart of Playa Guiones. In Esperanza, in Villas Esperanza, known as the 506 tennis center, Sam Carver is developing a tennis community with 12 homes planned. He believes that suc...

He takes me by the hand, guiding me gently through the water so I feel safe and I’m breathing fairly calmly. He points out a puffer fish, trying to catch it’s tail as it speeds away. Then he reaches down to pick up a bright blue starfish and hands it to me. Later he hands me a conch shell and a red sea snail peaks out timidly. I don’t feel like the Little Mermaid exactly; after all, I’ve got a tan...

Nosara Yoga Institute adds new facilities for guests and teachersThe Nosara Yoga Institute (NYI), founded by Don and Amba Stapleton, brought yoga classes and training to the Nosara area since 1994, but teacher training and program participants had to look for accommodations elsewhere. Now the Institute has expanded its facilities to eight acres to include a hotel, restaurant, juice bar, a 25-mete...

Playa Barrigona, Costa RicaThe Municipality of Nicoya is currently conducting studies to open a roadway to connect the beaches of Barrigona and Barco Quebrado, as well as a road to connect the smaller beaches of Pavones and Bajo Escondido, between Barco Quebrado and Garza, according to Mayor Marco Antonio Jimenez Muñoz. Citing article 23 of Law 6043 regarding the Maritime Land Zone, the mayor ...

Main street through Samara GuanacasteOn Sunday, January 12th, the Samara Development Association held their General Assembly meeting in San Fernando, during which they defined the boundaries for the new development association that will be created for central Samara. At the same time, Chinampas requested an extension to form their own development association. The meeting was called to order at...

The annual Que Lindo (How Lovely) art fair, held on Friday, January 24, at the Natural Center in downtown Samara, attracted close to five hundred visitors, eager to see the artwork, as well as to enjoy some guitar music and sample the goods being sold simultaneously at the weekly Samara Organic Market. The fair took place from 2 to 6 p.m., about 30 local artists and artisans showed their colorf...

Repretel interviewed the women that work at the Nosara Recycle CenterLast Tuesday January 14th the news organization Repretel NC11’s programming included a segment that pays tribute to the beauty of the Nosara area, as the community was chosen as one of the ten best worldwide vacation destinations to visit in 2014 by CNN. In addition, the area was featured by National Geographic as one of the 15 ...

On Friday, January 24, the Samara Organic Market will offer more than healthy food during the third annual art fair, “Que Lindo” (How Lovely). Local artists and artisans will be exhibiting and selling their creations, including paintings and watercolors, mixed media, masks, clothing, jewelry, and fused glass, from 2 to 6 p.m. at the Natural Center Gym and Spa in downtown Samara, next to the sch...

“Competition isn’t for everyone,” emphasized Amber Ryan and Meagen Walsh, who teach dance in Nosara. But for those who do want to challenge themselves as dancers, in addition to the thrill of performing on stage, the two have decided to form a dance company that will compete against other dance companies in San Jose May 30 to June 1 during the JUMP international Dance Tour. Auditions for the...

The Triple Crown surf competition returned for the third consecutive year, to choose the coast’s best surfer. The first day was January 11th in the waves of Playa Barrigona. Funds raised will be donated to a housing project to help build a home for a low-income family in the Nosara area. This year, the Nosara Surf Association took charge of the event’s organization along with help from Nosara T...

During the new year, the fiestas season continues in Nosara from January 22 to 27, then in Nicoya from February 4 to 10, transmitting live on Channel 7 on February 8. Garza also plans to host fiestas in February, although the exact dates have yet to be defined. The Nosara Integral Development Association has scheduled a lineup of all the traditional activities, starting on Wednesday, January 22...

Hummus, kebab, falafel and other typical Middle Eastern foods have arrived in Samara, thanks to Israeli Elias Nassif and Italian David Rubini. In mid-December, Falafel Cafe opened its doors in the Natural Center, where Samara Organics was previously located. This small cafe offers fast food for those who are passing through or want something light. Orders can be for carryout or to dine in th...

Vehicle received by the Samara Police from the Ministry of SecurityOn December 10, the Samara police received a 2008 Mazda pickup from the Ministry of Security to use in patrolling the district’s neighborhoods. The patrol unit has new tires, air conditioning and is in “optimal condition,” according to Samara Police Chief Jorge Luis Jimenez Gonzalez. The Public Force in San Jose recently receiv...

Recycling Center employees in Nosara Costa RicaBeginning in September of 2013, the Institute for Social Assistance (Instituto Mixto de Ayuda Social - IMAS) was giving 1 million colones ($2,000) every month to the Recycling Center in Nosara to provide a salary of 100,000 colones ($200) to all of its ten female employees. This subsidy was cut off completely in the month of December, and now the wom...

Bar and restaurant administrator: Pedro Chavarria CamachoOn December 1, three hooded men held up Vista Verde Bar and Restaurant in Samara and got away with about 1.2 million colones ($2400) as well as seven liters of various types of liquor. Pedro Chavarria Camacho, the bar’s administrator, related that the bar was busy that night but the thieves must have hidden nearby, waiting for the place ...

Three dates. Three fabulous beaches. Three communities. The third year of the Triple Crown of Surf Nosara promises triple benefits: entertainment, sport and philanthropy. Last year, all three dates of the triple crown were held at Guiones beach, but this year the tournaments are again scheduled for three very distinct locations, each with distinct challenges for the surfers. The Triple Crown...

An abundance of tourists caused a series of water outages in some areas of Nosara this past holiday season. Carl Wells, a member of the American Project’s ASADA in Nosara, reported that during the the December 24-31 festivities, at least two outages were reported due to excessive usage. According to Wells, the sections with highest consumption are K, J, H, I, which are areas with the majorit...

Mexican Artist Juan Carlos SaldañaIt’s partly about patience—the patience of cutting colorful tiles into tiny pieces-, then arranging and bonding them piece by piece to a surface and later filling in the lines with grout while carefully cleaning the grout from the tiles so their brilliance shines in the completed mosaic. Artist Juan Carlos Saldaña compares this last step to giving the tiles a fac...

Samara Organics is a family business owned by Angelina and Steve Phillips, located in downtown Samara. It has been part of the “Natural Center” complex for two years now and recently moved to a different building on the other side of the complex across from its old location. The new location offers clients a larger and brighter space, which allows them to welcome more people, distribute better ...

This past Saturday December 14 was the 2nd Nosara Artisans Holiday Art Fair at The Gilded Iguana. Thirty artists living in Nosara displayed their ceramics, fabric art, furniture, glass art, jewelry, mosaics, paintings, photos, prints, upcycled art, and wood carving. Several community organizations participated as well. There was face painting for Escuelita Verano and holiday gifts from the new...

Nosara returned to the news with its selection, made by the American television network CNN and the magazine National Geographic, as a world-class tourist destination to visit in 2014. On December 14, CNN published the article “11 places to go in 2014,” where they included Nosara as one of the recommended places to visit during international travelers’ next vacation. According to the publica...

After 20 years of neglect, the Municipality of Nicoya will give maintenance to the streets of the community of Matapalo in Samara. The reason why the streets have not been fixed in so long is because they are not recognized on the map of the canton’s road network. This was expressed by Marcos Jimenez, mayor of the Municipality of Nicoya, and council member Rodolfo Orozco at the meeting held ...

Adventurous athletes will soon have a new option to test their abilities. A climbing wall is currently under construction in Nosara and should be ready by late December. Climb Nosara was designed locally by Steve Way and architect Olivier von der Weid. “Rock climbing is an awesome sport,” Way commented. “It will work great along the surfing and yoga mentality, with its core workout, balance,...

Manuel Briceño Jimenez opened Carnicería La Colonial in downtown Samara three months ago. In Nicoya, he has another butcher’s shop with the same name 300 meters from the Alfaro bus station. “Samara is a market we decided to enter because many customers we have in Nicoya told us to go to Samara. We wanted to cover that area and please our customers with a good product at the same prices as in Ni...

The Nosara 2013 Cultural Festival was carried out with a completely full arena and the streets flooded with color, music and people. For the second time, Nosara’s Integral Development Association (ADIN) organized the festival with the help of residents of La Esperanza, Garza, Delicias, Barco Quebrado and Nicoya who joined in for the family activities. This year saw more action than last. The...

The children of Samara will soon have a new place where they can go to run, play and spend their pent-up energy. Parents of the students of Samara Pacific School are in the process of building a playground next to the school that will be open to the public. Although the public elementary school in Samara has a playground, it is only available to the school’s students during school hours, noted ...

The Costa Rica Star recently published about cowboys and horse culture in Guanacaste Costa Rica. Time to polish up your cowboy boots and belt buckles to look spiffy for the next round of traditional community festivals. This season the first community to host fiestas in the canton of Nicoya will be Caimital, this weekend from December 13 to 16. According to Maria Teresa Salas Murillo, presid...

The Costa Rica Star has previously published extensively about Costa Rica's animals being harmed or killed by electric shock from missing insulation in power wires throughout Costa Rica. In mid-November, ICE crews began insulating more than 100 transformers that have been identified in the area as danger points for the electrocution of monkeys and other wildlife. In the past five months, Nos...

With the participation of the Latin American Motocross champion, Ricardo Chacon, and the runner-up Roberto Castro, as well as the national women’s champion Melissa Tencio, who is only 14 years old, the Guanacaste Motocross championship final will be held in Nosara on December 15 at 9 a.m. The race will complement the events of the second Nosara Christmas cultural festival, organized by the Nosara ...

The community of Nosara will come together next Saturday, November 30th to celebrate the 2013 Nosara Ecological Blue Flag Community Festival, with the objective of recognizing the environmental efforts of a diverse group of organizations and individuals from the area. Jessica Sheffield, one of the event’s five organizers, explained that for the occasion there will be at least 15 stands of organ...

Music fans who were disappointed by the announcement that the Caricaco Music Festival would not be held in 2013 will be delighted to know that it is being planned, bigger and better, for March of 2014. Alejandro Gutierrez, producer of the festival, let the Voice of Guanacaste know that the festival will be moved to a new open-air venue at Finca Austria, in Nosara across the river, with the goal...

The market seems to be ripe in Samara for hostels catering to backpackers and other budget travelers passing through the colorful coastal town. The first hostel opened in Samara about three years ago, and this year a few other people decided to open hostels, so now there are four economical options to choose from. Samara’s original hostel is Las Mariposas, located just 100 meters from the beach...

On Saturday, November 16th, a dose of adventure passed through Nosara’s landscape with the second "Nosara Aventura" race, in which 50 adults and about 20 children participated. The event was organized by the Nosara Civic Association (Asociación Cívica de Nosara). Its purpose is to support a different association every year. Registration had a cost of $30 and the proceeds will be given to the Se...

The national route 160 traverses much of the coast of Guanacaste, beginning in Santa Cruz and extending to Paquera. The Constitutional Court ordered the National Roadway Council (CONAVI) to pave route 160, but the section to be paved does not include the segment of approximately 30 kilometers that connects Nosara and Samara. The constitutional appeal (recurso de amparo) was presented this ye...

Over 80 people attended the meeting in NosaraMore than 80 people attended the Nosara Security Association meeting on Tuesday, November 11, at 10 a.m. at Giardino Tropicale. Many in attendance expressed concern or raised questions about recent attempted rape attacks as well as a wave of thefts. Members of the association’s board took advantage of the opportunity to plead for more support, for p...

At the beginning of October, the Administrative Environmental Court ruled for the third time that the Nosara garbage dump must be closed, adding more force to previous orders to close the dump, which have been received since 2007. The court decision is the resolution of a denunciation that was filed in February of 2011 against the Ministry of Health and the mayor of Nicoya, Marcos Jimenez, by D...

Donavon Frankenreiter returned to Guanacaste after a two-year absence. Thanks to the Safari Surf School organization and the Billabong program “Surf Like a Pro,” the Californian surfer and musician presented his new album “Start Livin” live, this time at the Tropicana disco bar in Nosara Center in front of 200 people. As soon as the doors opened at around 7:30 p.m., the first fans began arriv...

Currently patients that are attended at the EBAIS clinic in Cangrejal of Samara aren’t able to get prescribed medications immediately. They have to go to Nicoya to fill their prescriptions, incurring extra costs of transportation. But that will no longer be the case, as preparations are being made to open a pharmacy at the EBAIS in January of 2014. The clinic’s doctor, Fulvio Paniagua Acuña, su...

The Judicial Investigation Organism (OIJ) arrested three lawyers, who are serving preventive prison terms related to property fraud. Many of the properties involved are in the Nosara area. The investigation gathered force after the December 2012 edition of The Voice reported on 16 cases of fraudulent property registration transfers. By October, the office of NCCC Consultores reported 22 cases, ...