Recently, two women, both in their early 20s, have been attacked during the day by men on two separate occasions in the Nosara area. Both managed to escape, but the incidents have given rise to concern in the community and arrangements are being made to offer a free self-defense class for women. First, a woman, who wished her name to be kept anonymous, was attacked in an attempted rape on Octob...

In 2004, a decree from the Minsitry of Environment and Energy (MINAE) banned vehicles from using a 200-meter stretch of road parallel to Guiones Beach, between the cemetery beach entrance next to Cacho’s surf rental and a residential area at the end of the road from Giardano Tropical where Nosara Travel´s office is located. On September 25, the road was reopened after a new resolution from MINAE r...

Talk about Nosara, Costa Rica, and you actually mean a stretch of several beaches on the Nicoya Peninsula – from Playa Ostional to Playa Nosara, Playa Pelada and Playa Guiones. This remote area of Guanacaste, just north of Samara in the country’s north Pacific, is known for long wide beaches, fantastic surfing, peace and quiet, and of course, it’s impressive wildlife. Three top nature activitie...

On Monday, October 14, machinery from the Ministry of Public Works and Transportation (MOPT) commenced maintenance work on route 160. Work began from the intersection of the Samara gas station toward Nosara. Julio Viales, regional director of MOPT, explained that they are first applying 200 cubic meters of arenon (a thick sand), which will go under the asphalt base in order to replace the clay-...

On Friday, October 25, Vanessa Rosales Ardón, the president of the National Emergencies Committee (CNE), visited Nosara to officially inaugurate the works completed during the first stage of intervention on the Nosara River. The inauguration, originally scheduled for 2 p.m., was changed to noon because of the possibility of rain. Although the threat of rain loomed in the cloudy skies and it eve...

Since he was five years old, Sean Forrester has been living on surfboards. “It was a soft board, and it was purple,” he said, recalling his first board. His father, Chris Forrester, former owner of C & C Surf, taught him how to ride the waves. Although Sean was born in the United States, he came to Costa Rica when he was three. He says he feels very Tico and now 14 years old, he says he is "10...

The La Esperanza Development Association is preparing to host fiestas in the community to raise funds for use in their own projects and to help the Nosara Red Cross. The festivities will be held from December 12 to 15 and will commemorate the 20th anniversary of the association. Rides, bulls, music and food sales are some of the highlights that those attending will enjoy. Carlos Villalobo...

The Samara community breathes easier now after the arrest made by the Judicial Investigation Organization (OIJ) on Sunday, October 13, to dismantle an alleged drug ring operating in the community. The investigation started this year in January and concluded with actions taken this weekend when eight subjects arrested of Colombian nationality, of ages between 25 and 52, were arrested, the OIJ p...

Mud, gravel, asphalt, loose rock, rain, cold, heat and sweat make the route of the conquistadors a real personal challenge that demands physical and mental strength of the participants. Pablo Sanchez, a mountain biker who lives in Samara, knows the challenge and defines it as a “unique and challenging experience.” At 33, Sanchez be traversing the 310-kilometer (192-mile) route for the third ...

The dredging of the Río Nosara’s channel and dike construction are in their final stage. So says Marcos Avila, president of Integral Development Association of Nosara (ADIN – Asociación de Desarrollo Integral de Nosara), who mentioned that the works could be completed by early November. In a trip made by the Voice of Guanacaste on Wednesday October 9th, one could see the progress and work of...

Samara residents are currently looking for a missing woman who has being missing for almost three weeks. Dana Colligan, U.S citizen, is a small woman with brown hair in her early 40's and has lived in Samara for three and a half years. Colligan is best known for her natural product line sold around Samara and Nosara called "LaPura LoCura". According to Louise Tangri, who is helping Colligan'...

The human-animal relationship is ancient, and dogs primarily have provided man with countless and invaluable physical and psychological benefits; however, far from paying them back in the same way, they have been treated as consumer goods, which often become - most of the time – a bother, that under circumstances such as lack of economic capacity, changes of residence, onset of allergies, a compul...

Singer-songwriter and pro-surfer Donavon Frankenreiter is returning to Nosara in November after a two year absence and will be performing a concert Nov. 8 at the Tropicana. Frankenreiter will be in the local waters as part of the “Surf With a Pro” program sponsored by Billabong at the affiliated Safari Surf School. He and his musical partner Matt Grundy will offer an acoustic show featuring som...

The Costa Rica Star recently reported on how President Laura Chinchilla stated in an interview with Spanish news daily El Pais, that there is no censorship or corruption in the government of Costa Rica. The Development Association of Nosara (ADIN – Asociación de Desarrollo Integral de Nosara), may declare Laura Chinchilla, President of the Republic, as non grata (undesirable person), for having...

Happy and proud of the hard work done. In this way the soccer team of Torito and Sámara Schools finished as runners up in the province’s 2013 Student Tournament. The championship game was against the team from Alba Ocampo School in Liberia. In the first leg, which took place in the Torito soccer field (Plaza de Football del Torito) in Sámara this past September 18th, the score was 1-4 against t...

When German Alberto Jimenez Paniagua started delivering fruits and vegetables around Nosara seven years ago, he did so in a pickup truck. Then he upgraded to a small “camion” truck, and now he is driving around in an innovative bus, which allows him to expand his route to include Ostional and San Juanillo. Jimenez bought the bus on July 23rd from a man in Nicoya, and just two days later he had ...

The teak wood plantation of Panamerican Woods, located in the mountains of Santo Domingo between Samara and Carrillo Beach, is out of mature trees and has dismissed some of its employees while waiting for more trees to mature. Martin Barquero Perez, manager of the plantation, assured that the project is sustainable and continues but that they will have to wait four or five years for more trees ...

The lifeless body of Jehu Molina Parra was found on Wednesday afternoon, September 11th in the Nosara River mouth. The discovery was made by a passerby at about 2pm who immediately alerted the authorities, according to Gerardo Nunez, from the Tourist Police. Molina Parra, 52, was a resident of Ostional and had been missing for four days. His body was already in an advance state of decomposit...

Surveyors are working along route 160 to draw up the property registration plans in order to progress with the long-awaited project to pave Route 160 from Samara to Nosara, marking important points where the road needs to be widened or where curves need to be straightened. Once the surveying is completed, cost estimates will be calculated and property owners will be contacted to discuss assessment...

There are two important dates to celebrate in September: the first is Children’s Day on September 9 and the second is the Celebration of National Independence on September 15. For Children’s Day every year the David Kitson Library holds a spelling bee, mathematics games and science quests for the third through sixth graders of Serapio Lopez Fajardo Elementary School. This year we will extend t...

Back in June of 2010 and also in September of 2011, The Voice of Guanacaste published two articles that described the situation of the EBAIS clinic in Nosara and also the lack of funds to fix those problems. The most critical issue was the growth in the population of Nosara and the surrounding areas, but having the same amount of doctors, supplies and space at the clinic to provide the needed serv...

On Tuesday evening, September 3, local fishermen in Nosara found thousands of dead fish and shrimp in the Nosara River, and the suspected cause is agrochemicals. Juan Carlos Cordero, chief of the Tourist Police delegation in Guiones, reported that the size of the dead fish, mostly bass, snook and gualajes, are around 15 inches and most were found in the river mouth. One of the first to see t...

Neighbors of Santa Marta have noted a marked change in the speed and force of the Nosara River, which has already caused flooding and erosion of some properties in the area. The suspected cause is the dredge and dike work being just done upriver. Facundo Barrantes Barrantes, who has lived next to the river in Santa Marta for 16 years, related that it has never had such force and estimated that...

If you would like The Costa Rica Star to publish your business press release, please contact us. On July 2, a different kind of hangout opened in Samara, well attended by the local crowd curious to see what the Zen Den is all about. Some played pool in the corner, and all enjoyed socializing, accompanied by sangria and tapas-style food with low-key background music. The space on the main str...

The high school students of Home School Beach Academy (HSBA) in Nosara raised $900 to help electrocuted monkeys as part of a school project. After learning more about the problem, they decided to organize a Stop the Shocks race on Saturday morning, August 17 on Guiones Beach to raise funds for Nosara Wildlife Refuge and to raise awareness of the problem that monkeys face due to uninsulated powe...

If you would like The Costa Rica Star to publish your business press release, please contact us. Glossy, high-quality surf photos are the main attraction of a new Nosara Shack Surf Magazine, which will hit the shelves of about 20 different Nosara grocery stores and surf schools during the first week of September 2013. Graham Swindell, the magazine’s publisher, had already made flipbooks of s...

In November of last year, several Nosara parents filed a complaint with the Ministry of Health after observing that some children at Serapio López School had stomach problems, allegedly for drinking the water at the institution. With this kind of complaint, the Ministry of Health was responsible for issuing a sanitary order to the Costa Rican Water and Sewage (AyA) Institute to perform the resp...

On July 23, the formal and official ceremony was held by the Central Government to initiate the construction of the building for the Public Library of Nicoya. The construction begins in late August and will hopefully be ready by January of 2014. Construction cost is 235 million colones ($470,000), of which 200 million ($400,000) will be donated by the National Library System (Sinabi) of the...

Students at Technical Professional High School (CTP) in Nicoya will be getting more hands-on experience thanks to a new interchange agreement signed between the school and CASATUR, the chamber of tourism in Samara. Students began working at different hotels in Samara in July. “Of all of the opportunities that one has to keep working after the internship, we have an 80 to 90 percent chance ...

On Sunday, August 11, the “Carrera por mi Parroquia” (Race for My Parish) will be held as part of an effort to raise funds to build a new Catholic church in Nosara since the church building had to be demolished due to damage sustained during the earthquake on September 5, 2012. Lorena Avila Alvarado, president of the Parish Events Committee, said they have been holding a series of athletic even...

At the beginning of June, after receiving several reports of a scam from multiple towns, including Samara, Hojancha and Nosara, the Organismo de Investigacion Judicial (OIJ) was able to apprehend four suspects with the help of the Nosara Public Police Force, including three women and one man. The scam artists went to houses promising to give people appliances or TVs in exchange for their gold j...

When he can, Fernando Cordero Arguedas works at odd jobs, but lately caring for his 95-year-old mother has been a full time job since she had a stroke a few months ago. In addition, his 93-year-old uncle has heart problems, and his wife’s four nieces and nephews came to live with them a year ago when their mother lost custody of them. In all, there are 10 mouths to feed in their household in the S...

The teamwork of some Nosara residents made it possible to develop an emergency plan in case of natural disasters such as fires, earthquakes and tsunamis, which includes direct communication between Rancho Suizo (in Pelada) and the National Emergencies Commission (CNE) in San Jose along with eight walkie talkie radio phones located at strategic points. Thanks to the work and financial donations ...

Arabs and Jews, blacks and whites, teens and seniors, Anglos and Mexicans, Ticos and Nicaraguans, Cowboys and Indians. In Costa Rica we can all celebrate cultural harmony in a world focused on differences, not similarities. Where else does this blending of cultures come so easily? Certainly not the French with the British or Germans and Turks. Perhaps we fail to sufficiently appreciate the pea...

The Municipality of Nicoya has contracted several companies to install drainage in areas of Nosara and Samara. In Nosara, the company MABE expanded the road and placed 2,500 cubic meters of material, with a total budget of 5.6 million colones ($11,200), according to the Road Management Technical Unit (UTGV). Meanwhile, in Samara Transportes Falquesa worked on the route from Matapalo to Santo...

Now, while you can watch the colors of the sunset in Playa Guiones, you can enjoy the rhythms of marimba, boleros, tropical cumbias and folk music, thanks to the arrival of a trio of Nicaraguan musicians to Nosara, Pelada and Guiones. The group Los Hermanos Solis, originally from Leon, Nicargua, emerged in the 90s and have traveled together to Honduras, El Salvador and now Costa Rica “looking f...

Five members of the University of Costa Rica (UCR) came to study the state of the reefs of both Samara and Carrillo. In charge of this expedition was Juan José Alvarado Barrientos, professor of biology and a specialist in coral reef ecology. The Voice of Guanacaste had the opportunity to interview him about the importance of our reefs, their current state and keys for maintenance. After the stu...

We are Brenda and Christopher Cottes and we are the Samara-Carrillo Info Center! Well we are more then that really. We are the Welcome Center, Tourist Information, Travel Planning, Booking Station, Lost and Found, Volunteer Center, Job Bank and more. Our services are always 100% Free! Between the two of us we have lived in Costa Rica for over 20 years and have been to almost every pa...

If you make the trip to Samara or Carrillo Beaches in Guanacaste be sure to stop of at Panaderia y Heladeria PRINCESA Bakery & Ice Cream Parlor. It’s located just as you come down the hill from Nicoya into Samara on the right hand side at Patio Colonial. You can’t miss the big pink sign! Panaderia y Heladeria PRINCESA Bakery & Ice Cream Parlor opened in Samara July 14, 2012. The owner, Joan...

Rosie Heindl, a volunteer working with the auction, says they have collected over one hundred donated items for the 5th Annual Save The Howlers Auction that will be held at the Harbor Reef Restaurant this Friday February 1st. “We have many practical items, from restaurant gift certificates to pool supplies,” said Heindl. “We also have massages, surf lessons, house rentals, art and jewelry, and ...