The Pizote
The clever and awfully cute White Nosed Coati, locally known as the Pizote, is more than happy to use his good looks to distract you while his siblings steal your lunch. Commonly spotted in Costa Rica, Pizotes are easy to recognize by their long ringed tails, which they hold completely and unabashedly upright while walking […]
Guiones Surf Photo of the Week
Great Misconception: Surfing is a Free Ride. Except that you need to get to the waves (when the waves are there), you need to be fed, you need to have a place to sleep, you need to feed again. A board, with no strings attached (pardon the pun). Oh, and don’t forget the process of […]
Emily Kimelman, A Writer Abroad
Name: Emily Kimelman Where do you live? No set address. What is your main artistic practice? Fiction Writing. What brought you to Costa Rica? I came to Costa Rica to write the first draft of the 6th book in my Sydney Rye series. My series features a strong female protagonist and her rescue dog, Blue. Sydney […]
SURFING IS…WITH GRAHAM SWINDELL
If you’ve ever been to Nosara, you’re probably aware of Nosara Shack. It’s a community hub. It’s a photo studio. And now, with its eponymous magazine, it’s a publishing house! We were lucky to get a few minutes of chat time with the Shack’s owner, former North Caroline native, Graham Swindell. The full interview will […]
Guiones Surf Photo of the Week
Longboard: Right tool for this job. Winter in Costa—the fecund warmth, the vibrant colors, the buzz of life, alive. Out of the wetsuit back home and into some playful peelers. Down right liberating. Making effort look effortless. What a beautiful thing. Photo by Surfing Nosara
The Bullhorn Acacia
The Bullhorn Acacia is probably the last tree you’d want to meet in a dark alley. Growing up to 15 meters tall, it wields long, sharp, bullhorn-shaped thorns that serve up a nasty scratch if you venture too close. And if you think this plant sounds mean, you should meet its friends. The leaves of […]
Central Creatives Introduces Esteban Pedra León
This week’s Creative Central post focuses on Costa Rican artist Esteban Pedra León, whose work has also exhibited in Brazil and the Netherlands. I read about him on ArtNews.org and was so happy when he agreed to be featured on the Harmony Blog. Name: Esteban Piedra León Where do you live?: I live in San […]
Harmony Hotel Video Contest is Underway
The Harmony Hotel is hosting its first ever Video Contest asking, “Where do you find harmony?” Share your original video showing us where you find harmony (anywhere in the world) for an opportunity to win a free stay at the award-winning Harmony Hotel. Submissions are open now through April 14th. Here’s what you need to […]
Report from Nosara: Surf Tournament
Last weekend Playa Guiones hosted the third date of Costa Rica´s Surf Tournament the best surfers from different parts of the country (such as Avellanas, Jacó, Puntarenas, Osa Peninsula and Puerto Viejo) came to Nosara to compete in several categories. This is a great opportunity for local surfers to show their talent and maybe find […]
Guiones Surf Photo of the Week
As in Life, sometimes the Wave looks ideal and perfect… until…Well, it’s often best to combine previous experience with faith—position yourself and commit. And so he has, regardless of shoulder hoppers, paddlers, and distracted Mothers! Photo provided by Surfing Nosara
The Beautiful World of Cecilia Paredes
Name: Cecilia Paredes Where do you live? I live between Philadelphia PA in the US, San Jose, Costa Rica and Lima, Peru. What is your main artistic practice? My main artistic practice is performance, sculpture, photography, installation and drawing, not necessarily in that order. Tell us about a project that brought you to Costa Rica. […]
Guiones Surf Photo of the Week
Sheer Exuberance! Untainted by the sometime arrogance of the highly skilled…Why do some of the most gifted Surfers become jaded, even demeaning, losing sight of the larger, elemental beauty at hand? We can commune. We can evolve. But why then condescend? Who is the Best Surfer in the Water? The One having the Most Fun! […]
Central Creatives: Photographs from Kathryn Gaitens
This week we were able to catch up with Nosara photographer Kathryn Gaitens, whose thoughtful work explores a range of subjects and style. Name: Kathryn Gaitens Where do you live? I divide my time between Costa Rica and Toronto, Canada. What is your main artistic practice? Contemporary portraiture: expressions of beauty with layers of meaning. The […]
Guiones Surf Photo of the Week
Over in seconds, our dance with any given wave is intense but brief. How often have we watched the Pelicans dip and skirt, between wave after wave, wingtips on water, the length of our visible coastline? How far is their transit? How large their wave count? photo provide by Surfing Nosara
TEOR/éTica: a Space for Art and Thought
While trying to familiarize myself with the artist community in Costa Rica, research led me to discover TEOR/éTica, a sure stop on my next trip to San José. TEOR/éTica is a private, non-profit independent project in San Jose, dedicated to contemporary artistic and curatorial practices. What does that mean, exactly? Rather than describing themselves solely as […]
Guiones Surf Photo of the Week
Surgical Snap: elegant redirection in the blink of an eye. No arm waving, no head jerking, no looking back at his spray. Connecting the dots fluidly with speed, purpose, and grace, he’s already planning for the section ahead. photo provided by Surfing Nosara
Report from Nosara: The Fiestas
Note: This week Alina Trejos joins us on the Harmony Blog with her first Report from Nosara. Alina grew up in Costa Rica’s capital of San Jose but moved to Nosara to work with the Harmony. In her posts, she’ll share some of her experiences in her first year in Guanacaste. Before coming to Nosara […]
Envision Costa Rica, February 20-23
I first came across a flyer for Envision Costa Rica at a small coffee shop in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, where I live. When I saw the number of bands on the playbill I knew I had to check out this growing music/meditation/arts festival, a Burning Man of sorts in Central America, where creatives gather to party […]
Guiones Surf Photo of the Week
Little Man with Big Ideas! What constitutes a “Natural”? Uncanny, this little Guy, right in the Hook, navigating the critical section of his chosen wave—and grabbing his rail to boot—as if He’s been doing so his whole Life. Grown Ups in the line up might draw inspiration from such an enlightened approach from one so […]
Juanli Carrión and the Outer Seed Shadow
This week’s Central Creatives post features Juanli Carrión, an artist in New York City whose current project, the Outer Seed Shadow, investigates the diversity of migrant communities and the immigrant experience in New York City through the plants that are native to their countries. Read more about his exciting work below. Name: Juanli Carrión Where […]
SURFING IS… WITH LEE BAILLY
You may have met Lee at the Harmony. She’s the curator of our Tiendita, a long-time Nosara long boarder and a bad ass. Like many of the folks who work with the Harmony, she found her way to Nosara for the waves. When she’s not in Costa Rica, Lee lives and surfs in Miami. Name: […]
Guiones Surf Photo of the Week
So many incarnations of wave riding tools—all with their own unique qualities. Using excess speed from the drop, a bodyboarder can lay it on rail for an early bottom turn as hard as his stand-up counterparts. Photo provided by Surfing Nosara
The Invisible Birds of Central America
One of the most rewarding parts of contributing to the Harmony Blog involves the people and material I would have never otherwise learned about. This week, as part of our Central Creatives series, I’d like to ask that you read the following poem by Craig Arnold. Arnold was an American poet and professor, a Fulbright […]
SURFING IS… WITH LEAH GREENBLATT
Last year Leah Greenblatt, a music editor at a large national magazine, found she was in possession of three things: a desperate need for sun, an unusual week of light job duties and some unused vacation time. She searched for a location that was an easy flight from New York and hit on Nosara. With […]
