Carlos Salazar Herrera
Carlos Salazar Herrera is the author of two stories in Costa Rica: A Traveler’s Literary Companion. He was an art professor at the Unversidad de Costa Rica; the author of many stories, poems, and plays; and the 1964 winner of Costa Rica’s Premio Nacional de Cultura Magón. Originally published as “El Bongo” in Cuentos de […]
Samuel Rovinski
Samuel Rovinski is an essayist, playwright, and fiction writer. He is the author of Ceremonia de casta, Las fisgonas de Paso Ancho, El martirio del Pastor, and La hora de los vencidos, for which he won the Premio Nacional Aquielo J. Echeverría. His story “The Adventure” is not about an adventure in the typical meaning […]
Guiones Surf Photo of the Week
May we always remember and reflect the same simple joy of just “being” in the Surf . From First Time to Lifetime, all else is kept in perspective when dancing among the Waves. Stoked ! photo provided by Surfing Nosara
Uriel Quesada
For ten years, I haven’t been to the sea. I want to see it so badly that this morning I begged my mother until I made her break down in tears. I remember the sea, despite how long it’s been and how small I was then. I can almost make out its rhythmic motion, its […]
Guiones Surf Photo of the Week
Howling offshore winds create lumps of chop coming up the wave face, effectively acting like speed bumps and moguls. Getting a light, short board into this position on such a day is no easy task. Perfectly poised, he’s about to reconcile all forces at play as wind and wave compete for transitory dominion. photo […]
Hideouts
Architect: Marcos Acayaba Project: Acayaba House, 1997 Read Wallpaper’s Q&A with Marcos Acayaba
Julieta Pinto
Julieta Pinto is the author of many books, including Tierra de espejismos, La estación que sigue al verano, and Los marginados, the latter two of which received the Premio Nacional Aquileo J. Echeverría. Her translated work appears in When New Flowers Bloomed, alongside Carmen Naranjo. “The Blue Fish” is a story of a child’s fascination […]
The Palm at the End of the Mind
Of Mere Being The palm at the end of the mind, Beyond the last thought, rises In the bronze distance. A gold-feathered bird Sings in the palm, without human meaning, Without human feeling, a foreign song. You know then that it is not the reason That makes us happy or unhappy. The bird sings. Its […]
Guiones Surf Photo of the Week
We often reference “The Glide” throughout our lore and experiences of having board under feet, on the magic carpet ride. Others too, for no apparent practical reason, celebrate the transcendent joy of riding waves. When performed with grace, the act becomes sublime.
Abel Pacheco
Abel Pacheco is the author of Paso de tropo, Una muchacha, and De la selva a la embajada. His story “Deeper Than Skin” was originally published as Más abajo de la piel, and an excerpt appears in Costa Rica: A Traveler’s Literary Companion. This excerpt includes twelve short vignettes about the characters, animals, and landscapes […]
Guiones Surf Photo of the Week
Whether the wave is large or small, positioning reveals intimate knowledge about any rider’s approach. Graceful bottom turn around the critical section is the same on a playful longboard day at the beach or triple overhead Pipe. Leaning hard on the inside rail to project down the line. photo provided by Surfing Nosara
Yolanda Oreamuno
Yolanda Oreamuno’s work is collected in A lo largo del corto camino and La ruta de su evasión. Her story “El espíritu de mi terra,” which appears in Costa Rica: A Traveler’s Literary Companion as “The Spirit of My Land,” was originally published in the influential literary journal Repertorio americano, in which Oreamuno began publishing […]
Guiones Surf Photo of the Week
High speed backhand top-turn aka “slash”. The arc of spray “out the back” of the wave testifies to both the Surfer’s agility and the forces at play. He has re-set his edge, ready to turn off the bottom again and traverse the next section of unfolding wave. photo provided by Surfing Nosara
Guiones Surf Photo of the Week
The Empty Wave as Icon, Totem, Object of Desire. A Force to both Thrill and Fear. Could You? Would You? Where are the Others? Sleeping In? Sitting Outside? Each person, with a singular approach… Worthy through effort, regardless of outcome. photo provided by Surfing Nosara
“When New Flowers Bloomed”
Carmen Naranjo‘s stories both open and close Costa Rica: A Traveler’s Literary Companion. The final story in the collection, “When New Flowers Bloomed,” was originally published in When New Flowers Bloomed: Short Stories by Women Writers from Costa Rica and Panama (1991). With Naranjo’s beautiful nature imagery and powerful storytelling, it is not surprising that […]
Guiones Surf Photo of the Week
We surfers are often so focused on waves, that seeing a bigger picture can elude us. But once cured of our myopia, we embrace the larger context, often celebrating the overall spectacle and beauty of where land meets sea. Here, ghosting rain tails along the low tide beach, transforming the seemingly mundane surf zone into […]
Guiones Surf Photo of the Week
Reduce wave riding to its essence ! Minimalist, Purist, Luddite- call him what you will, but less is more sometimes. The Body, without the tech, for sheer Joy and Thrill… photo provided by Surfing Nosara
Carmen Naranjo
Like Pastor in Carmen Lyra’s “Pastor’s Ten Little Old Men,” don Fulminante, also known as the Fulminating Fib, is a storyteller. Carmen Naranjo’s tale about this character, “Believe it or Not,” is the opening story in Costa Rica: A Traveler’s Literary Companion. Don Fulminante, who tells his stories in La Fortuna, begins each tale with, […]
Guiones Surf Photo of the Week
The simple beauty of fundamentals. A long, sturdy craft to guide on a clear trajectory in the morning light, through a shifting wave face, doing its best to look like molten fractured glass. Amen. photo provided by Surfing Nosara
Carmen Lyra
Carmen Lyra’s “Pastor’s Ten Little Old Men” is a story about the power of storytelling. When Soledad meets Pastor, he is talking to the “old men,” his ten toes. He tells Soledad the stories of these old men, from their days turtle fishing at Tortuguero to their days pearl diving in the Gulf of Papagayo […]
Guiones Surf Photo of the Week
As incongruous as it might initially seem, anyone lucky enough to have enjoyed the thrill of downhill skiing cannot deny the remarkable similarity of this surfer’s scathing cutback on a foamy face to a skier tightly clearing a gate on some well marked course. In both, the forward leg is leading and lifting the edge. […]
Max Jiménez
In his story “The Palmitero,” Max Jiménez personifies the palmetto, the fan palms that stand “with slender trunks, their feathery green tops waving like plumes,” those trees that are cut down by the palmitero to retrieve the delicious hearts of palm: You have to hear the screams as each palm splinters to earth, as it […]
Guiones Surf Photo of the Week
Hope you stretched and are in good paddling shape ! The beauty belies the physical work to get out there. Three lines of white water, the inside about to unload, and the feathering, marching outside wave…as final destination. Rarely does a photograph at paddler’s level depict the arduous journey of the surfer’s trip from shore […]
Guiones Surf Photo of the Week
The long months of rainy season transform the Pelada headland from dusty brown to verdant green, no doubt invoking the mindset of those ship-bound Westerners who first laid eyes upon the already Indigenously peopled coast: Costa Rica ! What else could have come to mind? Soon, the rain and mostly onshore wind will yield to […]
