Here it is November all ready – our rains will be coming to an end soon – we haven’t had our usual amount – prompting AYA (CR water authority) to ask for water rationing or at least a 20% reduction in consumption – sighting showering for less than 3 mins (we suggest showering with a friend!) and don’t let the hose run when you’re washing the car—or the faucet while brushing your teeth – all little things that can help………….now on to more fun ………… we hope you are having a great vacation and we are happy to have you here for a visit—don’t forget to visit the Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio celebrating 37 yrs. this month—-we have other great tours & wonderful restaurants so ENJOY – Check our ads for special menus for Thanksgiving so you won’t have to miss your Turkey Dinner! …………….Congrats to our Cover Winner Lauren Lipton of Tallahassee, Fl – Lauren sent us about 12 great pics of a wonderful vacation……………we are happy to Welcome some new folks to our little corner of Paradise…………….new businesses will be opening this month…a Jaime Peligro’sBook/Music Store (music review this month will be our own Benjammin!) owners are Jeffery & Carolyn – from Colorado Springs, CO the store will be between Century 21 & Lynch Travel so check it out…Grand Opening in late Nov.…………also a new Bakery!! Dan will be opening soon across from Vetcomer on the side street. Dan’s from Glacier Park, MT – we heard something about cinnamon rolls!! AND a big welcome to Myla &Craig from Fl who will be starting construction on a new home & plan to live here full time – Myla is a great addition to Tues. Bridge Club@ Dos Locos –all fun-lovin’ folks! AND now for the really BIG NEWS – as you can see, the all new www.quepolandia.com is up and running!! You can now follow all the happenings of Quepos/MA when you go back home! We are very excited to be offering our advertisers another avenue to enhance their business and our readers a chance to keep in touch……..so check us out – often – as we will be updating frequently!…………….our friend “Papa” Bill is stuck in Syracuse, NY getting much needed treatment on that bum knee – looks like he will be away thru the holidays – send him an email at williamcrossley@hotmail.com if you would like to keep in touch – we know that hearing from his friends at home will keep him smiling!……………that brings us to the end of my rambling………….so get out there and have some FUN!
Religious hymns and spiritual music have played a role in Costa Rican culture for more than two centuries. Traditionally, however, the practice of organized groups celebrating and singing these songs has been confined to within their respective church walls, primarily in Limon and San Jose. Enter music historian Manuel Obregon, who is also the president and founder of Papaya Music, Costa Rica’s premier music label. Obregon felt this musical legacy deserved to be shared with the general public. So he enlisted more than thirty participants from a variety of denominations to perform live for two nights for an audience at National Theater in San Jose, which is truly how gospel music should be heard; live rather than canned studio work. Appropriately, a recording of this event, “Wade in the Water” has recently been released.
Milo Bekins Faries y su agradable esposa Tey se reunieron conmigo en su hogar en el bosque, a cuatro kilómetros de Londres en el camino a Cerro Nara. Nos sentamos en la galería que rodea la casa por los cuatro lados. Fiel al modo de vida de los Bekins, la casa está construida con cedro amargo y teca. Milo plantó esos árboles en su propia propiedad años atrás, con la idea de sembrar su “futura casa”. Está rodeada por jardines forestales y un canal de agua corriente que mantiene su casa sorprendentemente libre de insectos. Read More…
Milo Bekins Faries and his attractive wife, Tey, meet me in their forest home, four kilometres from Londres on the road to Cerro Nara. We sit on the veranda that encircles four sides of the house. True to the Bekins’ lifestyle, the house is built of cedro amargo and teak. Milo planted these trees on his own property years ago, with the idea of seeding their “house-to-be”. It is surrounded by forest gardens and a running water ditch moat that keeps their house amazingly insect free. Read More…
Before I forget again to mention it, a friend took one look at the recipe a few months back for Tuna Pie and immediately thought it could be made using leftover chicken or shrimp instead of the tuna. Either of those variations of the original sound terrific to me, too!
To move on to this issue, this one-dish dinner is a variation of the red-cooked dishes so popular in all regions of China. They all have in common the seasoning of soy sauce as one of the ingredients central to them, but there are also some regional variations. In Shanghai they contain sugar, in Peking just the soy sauce is favored and in Szechwan they are made hot and rich, full of garlic, ginger and scallions or green onions with a flash of hot red pepper. Read More…
Pruning a plant has been defined as a cross between an art and a science. Understanding the physiological aspects of the plant makes it the science while having an eye for balance and a sense of design and beauty makes it the art.
Ok, so I can already hear you locals laughing at this. Pruning here is simply a cross between the machete or chainsaw and the plant. Both shrubs and trees benefit greatly from pruning – proper pruning that is – but for ease of explanation this article will focus on trees. If you have a tree(s) that you desire to keep in your landscape then some basic knowledge on this subject may be helpful to you. If possible, conveying this knowledge to your gardener would be the most advantageous, since they are in charge of the machete. Knowing a few simple facts, and applying them, will result in healthier, longer lasting trees in your landscape or garden and less damage to your property by falling tree limbs. Read More…
Welcome and bienvenidos to Quepos and Manuel Antonio. Fishing continues to be very good in our area. A few Sailfish are being released daily and Marlin are being teased into the spread (a good sign of things to come as Marlin move back into the area). Mahi Mahi are still being boated with Yellowfin Tuna being the catch of the day. Rooster fish action is excellent, with two to three fish being released on our half day charters. Several have been in the 35# to 403# range. Fishing in Quepos is always good year round. Don’t delay! For your fishing adventure contact Luna Tours Sport fishing, our office is located in the Hotel Best Western Kamuk lobby, downtown Quepos central. We own and operate 4 Sport Fishing boats (27 ft to 33 ft) and can also arrange other boats for charter up to 46 ft for half day or full day charters. Contact us at 2777-0725 (office), 8869-4808 (24 hour cell), visit our web site at www.lunatours.net, or stop by the office for a fishing report, and talk some fishing.
I hope all of us are “living the dream.” To me it is a matter of relevance. Advantages vs. disadvantages. A beach life style vs city or suburban living. The reliance and convinces of hunting down goods, services, and entertainment compared to the beauty and simplicity of mother nature. For two months I have been uncomfortable when I am told by my massage clients, or random tourists, that I am “living the dream.” Let me say first and forehand that yes, I am honored and feel blessed to be living in Costa Rica for almost 10 years. I personally know that I am living my dream, I give thanks for it every day. I suppose my issue is the tone and the envy of the complement. I hope and assume everyone is living, or at least working toward achieving their “dream” as well. That is what I was taught life is about, and what I see my friends teaching their children. When we listen to and trust our heart and soul, we make decisions correctly and organically become what we dream of. Read More…
On a recent visit to Chicago, a friend having just read all the details of the planned Matapalo Beach Community Center sat down with me next to the lake and ask me candidly “Charlie what motivates you to realize such an ambitious project?” My response was simple and to the point. I explained to my friend that I was simply paying back in whatever way I could for all those people who showed up on my lifes stage as miracles to show me my way on lifes journey. Read More…
Mirrored after the wonderful “We Share” program started by Hotel Parador, Titi Conservation Alliance has developed a new donation program called Common Cents that brings a fantastic opportunity to all local hotels to give something back to the community.
What is it?
Common Cents provides an opportunity to contribute more support for local organizations like Titi Conservation Alliance, while also educating and informing customers of responsible business practices.
It is a program set up so that hotels act as the conduit for the donation, without costing them a penny.
Back in the 90s I lived in the southern Costa Rican city of San Isidro del General. I owned a car, but my preferred mode of transportation was the bicycle. I rode almost every day and one of my favorite training runs was to the top of El Alto, the highest peak between San Isidro and Playa Dominical. The climb was over a thousand feet in a distance of less than ten miles. I did it as much for the exhilarating high-speed ride back down the mountain as for the exercise. The last couple of kilometers before beginning the ascent wound through a neighborhood called El Hoyon. I would psych myself while passing through, preparing for the torturous climb. It was here, in a spot along the road that overlooked a warehouse of some kind, that I began encountering a man who hid himself in the high grass on the embankment above the warehouse. When I passed he would often be there, lurking, visible only from the waist up. He would shout something to get me to look, and when I glanced over while passing he would make odd, slurping sounds, sometimes saying, “ooo, que rico”, always those words. Though I couldn’t tell for sure in the couple seconds of view, he often appeared to be playing with himself. Read More…
Walking along the malecón, sea wall, in Quepos you will notice large stone sculptures sitting atop pedestals. The sculptures were created in 2007, organized by the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports and sponsored by the Canton of Aguirre with the support of the Chamber of Commerce, Aguirre. Each sculpture was sponsored by a local business.
[nggallery id=3] Read More…
Filed under: Gallery Comments Off on Quepos History in Stone
The incident took place so long ago that Daniel Valverde doesn’t remember for sure if Alvaro Mesa was the one who actually felled the last manú negro tree on Hacienda Baru or not, but he was definitely the one who sent the workers up into the rainforest to cut it into logs and split the logs into posts. Some people say that what happened that day was Alvaro’s punishment for cutting down the last manú negro on Hacienda Barú. Others say it was the curse of an Indian shaman whose tomb Alvaro had opened. Regardless of why it happened, it was the worst experience of his entire life, and one that all the people who were with him that day will remember for the rest of their lives.
The art of shell collecting dates back thousands of years. Over time, shells have been used as currency, treasures and game pieces to different civilizations. In present times, shell collecting has led to the birth of conchologists, malacologists, among other words rarely used in the English language. The OCD reaction some might have towards picking up shells and storing them on their balcony or in vases in their living room is leading to a shortage in adequate sized homes for small sea creatures. Shells provide shelter to invertebrate animals with no mechanism of protection or self-defense. Every so often these creatures trade homes depending on how fast they out-grow their current homes. Those beautiful shells you keep on your shelves are actually the dead carcasses of sea creatures. When clams, oysters, starfish and mollusks die, their shells wash up on the beach with the tides and are taken as a shelter to those who do not have the mechanisms to create them themselves.
El 15 de septiembre Costa Rica celebra su independencia de España, al igual que Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador y Nicaragua. Es por eso que septiembre es conocido como el mes de la patria y es común observar muchos adornos en las casas y negocios con el escudo de Costa Rica y los colores de la bandera nacional: blanco, azul y rojo.
Los costarricenses celebramos de diferentes formas esta fecha tan importante. El día 14 a las 6 p.m., se canta el himno nacional y después se realiza un desfile de faroles que representa una de las tradiciones más hermosas de la cultura costarricense.
Ese día, la antorcha de la fraternidad centroamericana (que viene desde Guatemala) llega a la ciudad de Cartago, capital de Costa Rica en aquella época.
El día 15 se realizan desfiles en las calles de todo el país; en donde las bandas de los colegios y escuelas interpretan música para la ocasión, mientras las bastoneras bailan y los abanderados desfilan llevando las banderas y otros símbolos.
by Jim Parisi
por Carol Vlassoff
by Carol Vlassoff
Before I forget again to mention it, a friend took one look at the recipe a few months back for Tuna Pie and immediately thought it could be made using leftover chicken or shrimp instead of the tuna. Either of those variations of the original sound terrific to me, too!
Pruning a plant has been defined as a cross between an art and a science. Understanding the physiological aspects of the plant makes it the science while having an eye for balance and a sense of design and beauty makes it the art.
