The Stall: Some will run for the shoulder, but the accomplished might linger, waiting for the wave to do its thing. Putting on the brakes and knowing when to wait often yields greatly coveted tube time. Put yourself there when the time is right and it can all come together…
photo by Surfing Nosara
Like many plants that grow around Nosara and the Harmony Hotel, Blue Porterweed is a multi-tasker. Known as Stachytarpheta jamaicensis to the more scientifically minded, it is resistant to pests and never very thirsty, and offers excellent low maintenance ground cover in gardens and along walkways. It also makes a welcome addition to butterfly gardens, as its small blue flowers are more popular with butterflies, birds, and bees than its larger and flashier floral counterparts. Its leaves can be boiled to make a fine tea that has traditionally been used to combat a whole host of common ailments, and, most interestingly, this plant gives a whole new meaning to the term beer garden. A dark, porter-like beer can actually be brewed from its leaves, which is believed to be good for everything from combating stomach ulcers to ‘cooling the blood’. Very cool indeed, though it probably won’t be showing up on that hip new microbrewery’s menu anytime soon.
Photo by Wayne Matchett
Newsflash: The words “organic,” “eco” and “natural” are totally unregulated: They can mean that a product contains plant-derived ingredients and is cruelty- and preservative-free, but because they’re simply descriptives, they could also mean the manufacturer just threw these words on the label to make a sale. Get products that walk the talk, by looking for labels like USDA 100% Organic, which means that every single ingredient in the product is organically grown: No pesticides, antibiotics, chemical fertilizers, bio-engineered, synthetic growth hormones or irradiated ingredients. USDA Certified Organic products contain at least 95 percent organically grown ingredients. EcoCert also contain at least 95 percent, as certified by an independent European agency. That was easy, right?
Wet Season: The hammer and anvil of nimbocumulus cotton balls mushrooming into the heights. Onshore wind. Air thick and heavy, but bringing everything to Life. Glassy rarely, but fleeting moments do occur. Summer and its constantly changing moods…
photo provided by Surfing Nosara
Everyone knows that air travel is bad for the environment. But according to the Union of Concerned Scientists, aviation is responsible for a mere 10% percent of global carbon emissions—as opposed to 61% from cars. Seems reassuring, doesn’t it? Kinda makes you want to hop the next flight to anywhere, right? But think about this: The global warming issues associated with aviation are alarming not simply because of the carbon dioxide (plus nitric oxide, nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide) emissions, but because at the height that they are emitted, they have twice the effect on global warming that they do at ground level. So one jaunt across the Atlantic can produce as much ozone-depleting pollution as the average driver does in a year. Compound that with the fact that the average number of people flying is expected to double over the next 15 years, and yes, Houston, we have a problem.
Wet Sand Tableau: Remains of incoming shore break meet an outgoing tide, leaving mirrored patterns of the waves themselves…Only to be erased by the next high tide…Cyclical, fleeting and beautiful.
photo provided by Surfing Nosara
The striking Black-headed Trogon doesn’t take its yellow belly too seriously, thrusting it forward courageously as its dark eyes, ringed by pale blue, peer about for its next meal. Its iridescent black feathers shimmer in the sunlight as it takes wing and grabs a piece of hanging fruit, or deftly snatches a dragonfly right out of midair. Apparently a better hunter than carpenter, this species of Trogon relies on the arboreal nests of Nasutitermes termites for shelter, and a nesting pair of birds will use their blunt shaped beaks to carve out a cozy space of their own in the termite structure. Rather than abandoning ship, their reluctant hosts hastily throw up new walls, quickly isolating themselves from these handsome but intrusive neighbors.
Photo by Rolando Chavez
Donald Thomson, a Canadian designer and entrepreneur who has been living in Costa Rica since 1990, has created a company that recycles its water bottles into housing materials for low-income families.
Having lived in Costa Rica since 1990, he and his wife were so struck by the amount of plastic waste rolling up onto the beach where they live in Playa Pochote, they were moved to start a volunteer beach cleaning initiative. One day Thomson found himself wondering if there was a meaningful and responsible way to re-purpose the water bottles they were collecting. His answer is Agua4Change, a regenerative project that gathers water from the Cloud Forest of Costa Rica and bottles it in sleek recycled plastic bottles that can later be used as roof tiles. It’s an incredible new company that relies on consumers to purchase the 710mL bottles of water, which will soon be available for $1USD. Check out their vimeo link, and follow the facebook page for updates.
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