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Howler magazine, serving the Gold Coast of Costa Rica
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The Howler
www.howlermag.com
TAMARINDOCOSTA RICA
February 2012Founded 1996
Volume 17, No. 2Issue No. 185
THE HOWLERCed. Juridica: 3-101-331333
Publisher, editor and productionDavid Mills
[email protected] Tel: 2-653-0545
All comments, articles and advertising in this publication are the opinion of their authors, and do not reflect the opinion of Howler Management.
www.tamarindobeach.netwww.tamarindohomepage.com
Howler advertisingThe Howler offers a wide range of advertising sizes and formats
to suit all needs. Contact David Mills • [email protected]
DiscountsFor 6 months, paid in advance, one month is deducted.
For 12 months, paid in advance, two months are deducted.
Ads must be submitted on CD or e-mail attachment, JPG or PDF format at 266 dpi, at the appropriate size (above).
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Deadline for March: February 15
ELLEN ZOE GOLDENTONY OREZTOM PEIFER
JEFFREY WHITLOWMONICA RIASCOS
KAY DODGE
JEANNE CALLAHANJESSE BISHOPMARY BYERLY
CYNTHIA CHARPENTIERROBERT AUGUST
CONTRIBUTORS
FEATURES
DEPARTMENTSYoga
February Forecasts
Parents’ Corner
Sun & Moon
Tide Chart
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24
25
28
31
CD Review
Book Review
August Odysseys
Word Puzzle
Doctor’s Orders
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11
12
16
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Cover Caption: Boyeros still play a role in transportation in Guanacaste, and can sometimes be encountered on our back roads.Cover Photo: David MillsCover Design: David Mills
Surf ReportThe Surf Lady, Veronica Grey, visits Tamarindo and is interviewed about her published books and connections with rock music groups.
15
Around TownOpenings, closings, parties, music. The Gold Coast has it all, and bar-hoppin’ David is in the groove.
14
Soul on FireSinger Sasha Campbell has had ups and downs in her career. Right now, she is at the top, as she brings in the New Year in Playa Negra.
27
Surviving Costa RicaOur columnist’s quiet life is disrupted by the visits of his sister and her husband, then a week later by his wife’s sister, and her significant other.
26
Howler • Mono Congo
Dining OutThis month we visit Carolina’s Restaurant and Mediterraneo, both in Tamarindo.
8
A Tamarindo resident feels it is his duty to “clean the beach” by killing the carpet of beach morning glory because, as he says, “they may contain snakes.” The plants are in a public alameda, on the public beach, and within La Baula National Park.
These beautiful plants help stabilize the sand. With-out vegetation, there would be no beach. People should not cut anything in a public area without considering the consequences.
It’s February, the month of Love! Sea, sun, sand and surf - what more do you need? With the Papagayo winds scouring the beach and sending the sunset sailboats skimming over the sea. It’s hot and dry, but many establishments along the beach will help you stay cool and wet; the Gold Coast is a great place to be. No rain until May, and we’ll be so glad to see it.
Tamarindo Landfill
Hotel Milagro, in Tamarindo, has been demolished.
Where did the debris go from this large structure? It has gone to join Hotel Doly, which was knocked down a few years ago, in an ugly dump spilling down into a beautiful green zone in Tamarindo.
• • • • •
• • • • •
Long-time residents will remember Cantina Las Olas as one of the best parties in town. Sadly, it closed a
few years ago; fortunately, it now houses one of Tamarindo’s best dining establish-ments: Carolina’s.
Carolina’s is a very elegant and totally enclosed restaurant with comfort-able leather seating and plenty of space, no crowding of tables. Carolina Paniagua herself is the chef, and she is always learning new dishes. She
makes frequent additions to the menu, and offers a five-course tasting menu. Recently, she visited New Orleans where she volunteered a week of her vaca-tion to work, unpaid, at a top restaurant to learn some new skills. All her dishes show perfection
in ingredients, preparation and presentation. “I like to think of the restaurant as my living room,” she
says, “where there is a party every night.”
Appetizers include: coconut jumbo shrimp; grilled chicken salad; tuna tartare with avocado; papaya curry or cream of pumpkin soup. We chose crab cakes with tarragon dressing and garden salad with roasted nuts and sliced parmesan cheese, both very delicious.
Pasta dishes include: homemade ravioli with ricotta and wild mushroom; fettuccine with grilled chick-en; Italian-style spaghetti with seafood sauce; and short pasta with tomato, bacon and basil sauce.
Fish choices are: jumbo shrimp and mahi-mahi; fresh mahi-mahi filet in potato crust; lobster stuffed with seafood in Caribbean sauce. My companion took the ahi tuna in sesame crust with red curry sauce, delicious melt-in-the-mouth fish.
Beef reigns: tenderloin Russell in jalapeño sauce; grilled tenderloin with Café de Paris sauce; sautéed beef tenderloin with roasted peanuts and prune sauce; and Chateaubriand (for two) with au gratin potatoes. My choice was a large tender rib-eye with jumbo shrimp and potatoes au gratin with a herb butter sauce, very tasty and enough for next day’s
lunch.
This month, from February 8 to 13, Carolina presents Carolina’s Around the World, a festival of international cuisine, featuring foods from Italy, Hawaii, Peru, Greece, Thailand and Costa Rica, one nationality each day (see ad page 18).
Carolina’s Restaurant is 50 meters south of Super 2001 in Tamarindo, tel: 2653-1946; all credit cards accepted, open seven days from 6 p.m., kitchen closes at ten. Live music Saturdays.
Some twenty countries border the Mediterranean Sea, and each has its own cuisine. Now, in Tama-
rindo, you can sample a range of these dishes at Mediterraneo, operated by
Natalie Leclerf and Olivier Goldmann from Provence. They have compiled a
menu taking specialties from fifteen different countries.
There are two à la carte menus: Menu le grand bleu, offering a choice of appetizers: Tuna tartare, shrimp salad with avocado, or brochette of octopus & bacon. Main dishes are lobster in white wine sauce, dorado à la Tunisienne or tuna Romesco; dessert is tiramisù.
Menu Mediterraneo offers gazpacho, mint cucumber or tabbouleh as appetizers; pesto spaghetti, chicken provençale or ravioli with spinach and ricotta; dessert is crêpes or fruit plate.
From the table d’hôte menu we chose the combination appetizer: gazpacho, mint cucumber, garbanzos and melon with ham, a deli-cious blend of flavours. There are five salads, nine pizzas, and seven pasta dishes.
The fish menu has tuna Romesco; fish filet with capers; dorado Tu-nisienne; dorado with vegetables; calamari Portovecchio; seafood with hot pepper sauce; brochettes of octopus and bacon. There are three lobster choices – whole, with herbs or in a white wine sauce. My companion chose tuna brochettes with fresh vegetables.
The meat menu comprises chicken à l’orange; chicken Provençale; brochettes of marinaded pork and chicken; tenderloin medal-lions; and pork chop with gorgonzola sauce. I had lamb souvlaki, brochettes of tender lamb with onions and peppers. We both enjoyed the variety of tastes from several cultures.
Desserts are crêpes of sugar, chocolate or banana flambée; coffee tiramisù; banana flambée; panna cotta.
Every Friday Mediterraneo features the cuisine of one of these countries.
Mediterraneo is on Tamarindo’s main street 50 meters south of the Casino, tel: 2653-2918. E-mail is [email protected]. All credit cards are accepted. Closed Sunday; hours are noon to 4 p.m. and 5:30 to 11.
CD Review
Fabulous Fabienne
Tony Orez
Fabienne is a professional singer: she has a sultry voice with a wide range that she knows how to use,
like the musical instrument that it is, an amazing feat for a vocalist who has had no formal training. Fabienne also has great stage presence with a knack for engaging her audience and she obviously enjoys what she does. All these elements are showcased on her new CD, titled simply “Fabienne”. It is a six-song set comprising four classic songs and two originals. The album is self produced and was recorded at the Recording Studio in Liberia by Warren Alani over a span of two months in total, at times with various tracks recorded separately and overdubbed.
The quartet backing her is rock solid, with Warren Alani on keyboards and synthetic percussion, David Herzovitch “nuestro Pelotudo” handling the bass guitar, Pierre Gaillard on six-string guitar and vocals as well as composing the two new songs, and the inimitable Brad Schmidt on red-hot saxophone. The standards “Cry Me a River’ and “Summertime” are standouts, timeless songs that serve as wonderful vehicles for Fabienne’s delivery. Her new band, Fabi & the Swing Cats (Ludovic Solar on guitar and David Herzovitch on bass) has been busy, performing live at Witch’s Rock every Tuesday from 7 to 9 p.m. and next door at Vaquero on Sundays from 5 to 7 p.m. They also appear Saturdays from 7 to 9:30 p.m. at the Hotel Marriot and at Langosta Beach Club on Fridays 7 to 9 p.m. Whew, busy, indeed.
Fabienne has lived in Costa Rica for fourteen years, the last ten in Tamarindo. She told me that she has been performing live for eight years now and that, after the first year, she worked for a second year by herself to improve her voice, always aspiring to have full range and control. I think she’s arrived there. She performed for three years with local guitar wizard Jesse Bishop, to whom she attributes a lot of her early development. “He was like a trainer, a mentor for me,” she explained, pointing out his help with her timing and stage presence. After her three-year stint with Jesse, she was ready to strike out on her own. She noted how bands form and transform, evolving and changing, and that the relationships and commitments among band members for a successful group needs to be as strong as that of a romantic relationship. “I’m actually married to my singing,” she half-joked. “Actually, there can be something close… pretty close, to orgasmic in a good live performance,” she explained, and I believe she wasn’t kidding this time. I’ve seen Fabienne perform for several years now in a few different bands and, every time I see her, I am reminded of how much fun she is having onstage. I also note that she gets better with each new show I get to see. “Fabienne” the CD is a reflection of the culmination of her hard work and her natural talent, something worthy of anyone’s music library. In Playa Tamarindo, the CD is available at Jaime Peligro book store and at all her live shows.
11
Book Review
Manhood for Amateurs
Tony Orez
My initial encounter with author Michael Chabon was via his first novel “The Amazing
Adventures of Kavalier and Clay”, which won a Pulitzer Prize. I was hooked right off the bat. Chabon is a wordsmith and I like that. He also has an acerbic wit which is right up my alley. Humor of any kind is a difficult beast to portray with the written word: it takes on a life all its own, as the author takes a back seat, hoping (and praying) the reader will “get” the humor, too. It’s an easy formula for a train wreck. But Chabon is not a comic, he’s a novelist, and his storytelling has been superb, throughout his ensuing nine tomes, including the NY Times best seller, “The Yiddish Policemen’s Union”.
I recently received a copy of his newest work, “Manhood for Amateurs” and at first glance, I simply assumed it was his newest novel. It has the same kind of splashy, art deco/forties artwork that has adorned the covers of all his previous works. But it turns out this new offering is a kind of memoir, a reflection on the experiences of being a father, a husband, and an adult son in Twenty-First Century America. I was surprised to find a forty-eight year old man penning his memoir, but this book might better be described as observational writing under one thematic umbrella. And Michael Chabon hits his mark with each entry. The vignettes about fatherhood and parenting in general are especially poignant, touching even. The entry “D.A.R.E.” is a standout, successful in straddling the somber and the sublime, as his eleven-year-old daughter, who has acquired a fascination with the Beatles, starts asking the author blunt questions about drug references in Beatle songs and his own history of marijuana consumption: it’s hysterical. And it is sobering and heartfelt as well. I also particularly enjoyed, “I Feel Good About my Murse”, another humorous yet very realistic account about male ego and society’s fashion mandates for them; a “murse”, you see, is a male purse…
A common thread throughout the pieces deals with our lot in life as human beings, our propensity to make mistakes and blunders, to err, to fail, and continually fall flat on our collective and individual faces. In a slapstick situation, that’s funny, but it can also cause bruises and scars, can create irreparable schisms. Chabon is sentimental but he also seems like an optimist, so most of the pieces have a reaffirming value to them. He reminds me a bit of another of my current favorite authors, T.C. Boyle, also a witty wordsmith.
Chabon does discuss his writing process in the book, as well as experiences that inspire him to write, but these sections are more anecdotal, asides to the subjects of the stories. Reading “Manhood for Amateurs” has given me a glimpse into the person behind the author, something that makes his works seem more tangible. Plus it’s a great read! Now, I am looking forward to his next novel...
August Odysseys
It was back in, I think, 1994, when a group of us were visit-ing Tamarindo, staying at The Resort and making some surf videos. One day, a very young Tico started talking to us and
asked us a couple of favors: would we teach him to surf; and could we help him with his English?
We were happy to help him, as he wasn’t a very good surfer but he was on vacation from San José and had taken a bus to Tama-rindo to surf, so we admired his dedication and helped him out. This was at a time when scores of Ticos came to camp out on the beach; there were always dozens of tents there.
A couple of days later the kid, Alejandro, came to say goodbye to us. He had to cut his vacation short as his tent had been robbed and all his money taken. All he had were his shorts and surfboard. So we decided we could help him out, and put him up in a cabina at The Resort so he could extend his visit, and he hung around with us a lot after that and we taught him to surf well. He told us that his ambition was to be a dentist, and he wanted to go to university to learn the trade.
Eventually he left, and we returned to California. Four years later, a tall hunk of a surfer approached me on Playa Negra and asked if I remembered him. Yes, it was Alejandro, and he was now at university studying dentistry. We told him that Tamarindo would be a great place to set up his clinic, as anyone needing dental treatment had to go to Nicoya or Liberia.
A couple of years later I met him again, this time behind the bar at Best Western Vista Villas. “What happened?” I asked, “Didn’t you make it as a dentist?”
“Oh, yes,” he answered, “and I took your advice. I have my busi-ness here, in Tamarindo.”
“So, why are you working behind the bar?” I asked. “Is business that bad?”
‘No,” he laughed, “business is fine, but here is where I get to meet girls. I don’t meet too many in my dentist office. They all come here, so working behind the bar I meet them all.”
I didn’t mention that Alejandro is a good-looking guy, so much that my girlfriend said to me: “I’d like to go to the dentist once a week, just to look at him.”
“That’s OK by me,” I answered, “as long as you pay the $50 per visit.”
Alejandro Leon B. has achieved his ambition, to be a dentist and to surf well, which he does frequently.
Tamarindo residents are protesting the erection of cell phone towers in residential ares. Cell towers in residential areas create a health hazard, destroy Tamarindo’s beautiful scenery and lower nearby property values.
How can you help?Call the Defensoría de los Habitantes to report your concern; the more that call the better. Tel: (506) 2666-3837 (506) 2258-8585.
The Surfing Dentist
On the 14th of this month, those lucky ones among us will celebrate St. Valentine’s Day, on which we show our love(s) how much we feel for him/her/them. But apart from the flowers and chocolate, there is no real lore regarding the origin of this custom. The most likely culprit is Valentinus di Terni.
Emperor Claudius II passed a law that young men must remain single. Reason: to improve his army, as married men do not make good soldiers; they’d rather be in the bosom of their family than being shot at. Valentinus di Terni continued to perform the mar-riage ceremony in secret. Not secret enough: he was arrested and thrown into jail. Here he was persecuted by Claudius, who tried to convert him to paganism. Valentinus refused and, in return, tried to convert Claudio to Christianity. Being an emperor, Claudio held all the high cards, so he threw the saint into prison, where he was executed. Before the chop he performed a miracle by healing the blindness of his jailer’s daughter who, in her gratitude, fell in love with him. Before his death, according to legend, he sent a letter to the girl, signed “From your Valentine.” His death is said to have taken place on February 14 in 269 A.D.
Caution: the most famous convention around St. Valentine’s Day is that, when it occurs in a leap year (when February has 29 days), women are allowed to propose to men. Looking at your calendar, you will see that this month, indeed, has 29 days. So be on guard!
Valentine’s Day - why?
The greatest variety of toursand riding experiences for all ages, featuring
spectacular countryside, howler monkeys, colorful small towns and fun-filled fiestas.
Cantina Tour - Nature Tour Fiesta & Tope Rental - Old Tempate Trail Tour
Located near Portegolpe on the main road,opposite the Monkey Park,
just 20 minutes from the beach.
Phone us at: 2-653-8041 • [email protected]
The best horses on Guanacaste’s Gold Coast!
Casagua Horses
Once again it is High Season on the Guanacaste coast, and there is mu-sic a-plenty, of many genres – and
some unusual instruments, too. We will not attempt to list all the groups, times or ven-ues, as these change weekly, even nightly. Suffice it to say that many establishments along the coast offer some type of live mu-sic; just ask around and keep your ears open.
“Play yer didgeridoo, blue,” is a line from a once-popu-lar Australian song. And a didgeridoo, that deep wind instrument from the out-back, can be heard around town, blowing its deep bass notes like a bamboo bassoon. An-other strange instrument is the borim-bau, the one-stringed instrument from South American jungles that uses a ceramic gourd as a sounding-box.
Way back in the ‘50s skiffle groups were all the rage (Google Lonnie Donagan), popular because the instruments were easily obtained and cheap. Jim Surfer occasionally features a washboard in his blues nights at Voodoo. Welsh fiddler Hazhaar frequently shows up in various groups with her violin.
(Side note – a growing trend is the use of a laptop plugged into a sound system, playing its iTunes with a “musician” popping away on bongos in front. We do not consider a computer a musical instrument).
Some of the more reliable venues for live music around Tamarindo are Witch’s
Rock; Pesca-dor; Vista Vil-las; Langosta Beach Club; Voodoo; Ka-hiki; Nibbana. In Flamingo Marie’s has occasional concerts. Potrero has Maxwell’s; and Coconut Beach Club has live concerts every Sunday eve-ning. Ask locals for information, then go out and support your hard-working musicians.
Music on the Gold Coast
Pescador Restaurant is now open under new ownership. Steve and Liisa Quinn have done some renovations to the gardens, and offer breakfast, lunch and dinner right on Tamarindo Beach. See the ad on page 7.
Bingo has resumed at Doña Lee’s Restaurant, starting February 14 and the second and fourth Tuesday of every month. But Bingo is in urgent need of donated prizes to stay alive. Suggestions: bottle of wine, tour, dinner for two, discount coupon, T-shirt, whatever. And it’s great publicity for your business, too. Proceeds from Bingo help keep Tamarindo clean. Call Lee at 2653-0127 or drop off your dona-tion at the restaurant.
La Caracola Sports Lounge has reopened under management of Gary Nolan, who will have all the NFL, NBA and NHL television packages. The bar specialty is daiquiris, and the food is great. Tamarindo, just off the Circle. Tel: 2653-0583.
After months of waiting, Hotel Pasatiempo is open for business. The entire hotel, bar and restaurant have been renovated and look great. Tuesday has resumed with Open Mic night, as before, featuring The Leatherbacks. Helene and Sean have put a ton of effort into the renovation, so come along and support them.
Bistro Langosta has reopened, serving fine cuisine. Call 8530-4121 for reservations.
Carolina’s Restaurant & Grill offers its annual festival of international food, from February 8 to 13, with specialties from six countries. See ad page 18.
“David, why didn’t you mention my business in Around Town?” “Did you ask me to?” “No.”I do my best, but I’m no miracle man. In this column I offer free public-ity for your business, but you have to tell me!
AROUND
TOWN
www.howlermag.com
Surf ReportEllen Zoe Golden
(continued page 29)
Over the Christmas holidays, surfers descended upon Tamarindo and the waves were crowded as usual. One of those board riders was Veronica Grey, known in the United States and on
the internet as The Surf Lady.
An avid traveler and author of four books—two of them related to surfing—Grey has quite a story to tell herself. Born in Cebu, Philip-pines, she is also half-British. When she was seven years old her parents divorced and the custody battle was so brutal that her father kidnapped Veronica and her sisters from her mother. For eight years, they ran from the FBI travelling through Toronto, New Jersey and ultimately Las Vegas before she was reunited with her mother, who took her back to live in California.
Immersing herself in the California culture, Veronica acted in televi-sion shows like “My So-Called Life,”where she became friends with the show’s star Jared Leto, who now fronts the band “30 Seconds to Mars”. Grey maintains that she influences the music of that band, and says that her longtime relationship with Billy Corgan resulted in her energy finding its way into the Smashing Pumpkins music as well. If you ask her, she is also influential on Martin Gore of Depeche Mode and Andrew Van Wyngarden of MGMT.
But it’s her role as The Surf Lady that she relishes the most. You will often find Grey on television talk shows around the US hawking her books “The Surf Diet” or “Swim Without Sharks” (or her other books under the pseudonym Fysche). Grey is an excellent self-promoter. She was in Tamarindo to promote surfing in the area and got into the waves for a week. Already she had appeared on a few United States talk shows to name-drop her stay here and we expect that she will have a lot to say about her Tamarindo surfing on television for the next few months.
Ellen Zoe Golden: What does it mean that you are The Surf Lady?Veronica Grey: I am not the world’s best surfer. I don’t enter compe-titions and I am terrified of sharks. So much so we started a website with a lifesaving agenda http://www.SwimWithoutSharks.com
However, what Surf Lady means is that if you think about women and surfing and women’s surfers, I would love for people to think of me, because even though I am not the best at it, I don’t know if anyone loves it more than I do. I am all heart, and that is what the title Surf Lady means: All Heart.
EZG: How long have you been surfing?VG: The first time I really went surfing was a blessing and a curse. Just by chance I was having an extended stay in Hawai’i in 1999 and became this close to at-the-time world champion female surfer Keala Kennelly. She tried to take me out a few times and it was like, insane, trying to even paddle next to her. So even though her intentions were pure, it made me give up. This would be like you having to try and act in a movie with Meryl Streep, for example. So from 1999-2011, I just snowboarded and totally improved my board skills. Then, in 2011, I went to Costa Rica and got rebitten by the surfing bug. So, now I am totally madly newly in love with it. It is pretty much all I want to do with my life now. Well, maybe not all...
EZG: What do you think of Costa Rica and its waves?VG: It has the most consistent surf in the entire world. The size and shape and swell varies, but there is not other place in the world you can surf 366 days of the year, which is why it is now also my favorite country in the world. I am in the process of living here part-time.
EZG: What is “The Surf Diet?”VG: “The Surf Diet” is a book that Chris Mo’e, a surfer/health coach who runs the Shaka Surf and Yoga Retreat in Costa Rica, had in his head for years and years. When he met me he asked me to help him put what was in his head in writing, which we did. It is not just a book or a diet, but a lifestyle. And not just for surfers, but for anyone who wants to look great in their bathing suit: http://www.TheSurfDiet.com
EZG: Tell me a little bit about the book “Swim Without Sharks - The REAL Surfer’s Paradise: Guide to Shark-attack-free Destinations of the World.”VG: This is the first-ever and only comprehensive list of shark-attack-free destinations of the world.
EZG: How did you accumulate the research for that book?VG: When I got bitten by the surfing bug earlier this year, I realized I will spend the rest of my life surfing, which is a problem, since my number one fear is sharks. So I spent literally weeks and weeks in my hotel room doing absolutely nothing but researching each and every decent surf spot in the entire world to see if there were shark encounters there. Websites like MagicSeaweed and WannaSurf have these lists and you can imagine it took weeks to get through the lists. I swear I literally did not leave my hotel room except to eat and surf. I am kind of obsessive when I get into a project. I was just making this list of safe beaches for myself but when I learned that once in every five days someone, somewhere, is bitten by a shark, I felt this list could save some lives. So we also included lifesaving tips like what to do if you encounter a shark, how to avoid attracting sharks, etc.
EZG: That sounds very useful. You mention hotel rooms. Do you think your kidnapping by the father and all that running from the FBI infused in you this travel bug you have today?VG: Yes and, unfortunately, when a relationship gets sticky, my tendency is to bail, which my significant other hates about me. I’m
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kilimanjarokosciuskologanmatterhornmaunakeamckinleyolympospopocatapetlrainierrobsonshastasnowdontablewashingtonwhitney
All words from the list below can be found in the word block on the right.
Answers may be forward, backward, upwards, downwards and diagonal.
Wo r d p u z z l eM o u n t a i n s
Wo r d p u z z l eM o u n t a i n s
Surfers, Golf fanatics, community supporters and Robert August fans alike, we would like to send a special invita-tion to you to join us in supporting a good cause while
having fun for the 13th Annual Robert August “Surf n Turf” Charity Challenge! The event is right around the corner and we are looking for sponsorship opportunities to support us with global recognition!
100% of this tournament profits are donated to CEPIA, to help the children of the shelter in Santa Cruz, to improve schools, to organize sports and educational activities for the children of public schools in this area, to prevent teenagers participating in gangs, violence, robberies, and to offer psychology services to the children victims.History of the Robert August “Surf n Turf”
Since filming the Endless Summer II here in Tamarindo, Robert fell in love with the people, place and waves and returned fre-quently with his friends. Over the years with the time they spent here, Robert and friends built strong friendships, became closer to the community and felt they wanted to give back somehow. One year when Robert returned with the cast to film Step into Liquid, they came up with the concept of raising money for the community and what better way than to do what they love to do most – Golf and Surf in paradise!
Thirteen years later Robert has generated over $200,000 worth of fundraising efforts for: the Orphanage of Santa Cruz, Costa Rica (Patronato Nacional de la Infancia or PANI), The Grammar School at Villa Real Costa Rica, The Lifeguards of Tamarindo, and the past six years CEPIA.
“Surf n Turf” FormatThis year’s event format is a shotgun start, four-man scramble Golf tournament and best of four Surf contest. The best score from each team of Golf and/or Surf is calculated together at the end of the charity challenge for the best overall score and brag-ging rights of Surf n Turf Champs!
Any questions regarding the “Surf n Turf” event or marketing inquiries please contact Sarah Long [email protected]
Pura Vida!
Robert August Surf ‘n’ Turf
Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential
to your own
Robert Heinlein
Contact: Don H. at 2-654-4902
Flamingo Tuesdays: 5:30 - 6:30 pm (open) Fridays: 5:30 - 6:30 pm (open)
Location: Hitching Post Plaza Unit 2, Brasilito
Alcoholics AnonymousSchedule of Meetings
TamarindoSaturday: 10:30-11:30 - Open General MeetingMonday: 5:30 Open MeetingThursday: 6:30-7:30 - Open MeetingLocation: Behind Restaurant La Caracola
Contact: Ellen - 2-653-0897
A 76-year-old British woman recently had a pen removed from her stomach, and doctors were shocked to discover that after twenty-five years the pen still works. The woman
said she remembered accidentally swallowing a black felt-tip pen, more than a quarter century ago. While the pen was corroded after two decades of exposure to stomach acid, it still contained usable ink and could be used for writing.
Scientists at Cornell University have developed a “time cloak” that can hide an event for a fraction of a second by interrupting the flow of light. The cloak can hide an event, giving the appearance that it never happened. “You kind of create a hole in time where an event takes place,” said study co-author Alexander Gaeta, director of Cornell’s School of Applied and Engineering Physics. “You just don’t know that anything ever happened.”
Edgar Allen Poe fans have given up on a mystery person after he/she failed to show at Poe’s graveside on his birthday for the third year. The visitor has left roses and a bottle of cognac at the grave for over 60 years. The grave is in Baltimore, whose NFL team “The Ravens” is named after a poem by Poe.
A thirty-year-old Madison, WI, man was charged with carrying a concealed knife, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of marijuana and a probation violation after his arrest Thursday. His name is Beezow Doo-Doo Zopittybop-Bop-Bop.
A Kodak moment! Eastman Kodak has filed for bankruptcy pro-tection, revealing that it has debts of $6.75 billion.
Football’s governing body FIFA insists that beer be sold at World Cup matches in 2014, despite Brazil’s ban on alcohol in stadiums. Budweiser is a big FIFA sponsor. “This is non-negotiable,” says FIFA boss Jerome Valcke.
Just 30 years after the Falkland War, Argentine Foreign Minister accused Great Britain of “colonialism”, after Prime Minister Da-vid Cameron said the islands will remain British and refused to discuss the islands’ future.
Around the World
A kiss is a lovely trick designed by nature to stop speech when words become superfluous
Ingrid Bergman
People who have read my writings often say, “Doc, you never talk about religion. What are your thoughts on that?” My thoughts are that religion is a mysterious and deeply personal issue. Being
a logical person, perhaps to a fault, I must say that logically no one can claim to truly understand what happens after death. Nor can anyone claim to “understand” the true nature of our so-called “universe”, as we simply don’t have the intellectual or sensory capabilities that would be necessary to do so.
I was prompted down this line of thought by an article I came across in the paper that discussed that some scientists were close to discovering a sub-atomic particle that some have dubbed the “God particle”. Basically, the field of physics has a fatal flaw, which is how to rationally explain how a nucleus composed of positively charged atoms, which by nature should repel each other, can stay together. At present, this is passed off by claiming that there are certain “strong and weak forces” that prevent the positive atoms from flying apart. The physical scientists in the article I read claim that they are close to discovering the true character of these forces, and that character is related to the so-called “God particle”. I must not be a curious person, because for the life of me I cannot understand the motivation of the people who dedicate themselves to such endeavors. Do they really believe that humans can possibly get to the bottom of the nature of things, so to speak?
You might wonder what this has to do with my usual subjects of nutrition and health. I can relate it in this manner. Creatures like humans who are so arrogant as to believe that they can understand “God’s” (for lack of a better term) creations cannot be trusted. I have heard more than once that people are confused by all of the seemingly conflicting information they read and hear about what constitutes proper nutrition and healthy eating. To me, it’s very easy to sort out. “God” created food. Humans, despite their arrogant claims to the contrary, cannot. So don’t be confused when some company claims that a certain type of cereal, for instance, is “heart-healthy”, or “high in fiber”. The cereal was created by man, and it was created for one reason, to make someone a profit. The cereal in the box costs less than the box itself, and if you try to assimilate such crap into your body, there will be negative consequences. Don’t be confused when some ignorant dietitian talks about the health value(s) of whole grain(s). If grain were truly nutritious, it wouldn’t have to be “enriched” with vitamins and minerals. Have you ever heard of “enriched” fruit, nuts, meat or fish? The fact is that grains are cheap, and they can be made into any size, shape, or flavor, so they are perfect for feeding large numbers of people who have been divorced from nature and so are incapable of feed-ing themselves. In fact, every grain has a specific disease syndrome that results from its consumption. Human reproduction is negatively impacted by the consumption of unenriched grain, as the babies of women on such a diet will be born with neural tube defects, i.e. they will be born with their spinal cords outside of their bodies. The consumption of unenriched rice results in a condition known as beriberi, as rice doesn’t contain any thiamine, which is an essential nutrient. The (over-)consumption of corn leads to a condition known as pelagra, which is characterized by the symptom triad of diarrhea, dementia (confusion), and dermatitis (skin disorder) that is caused by a deficiency of the essential nutrient folate. The bottom line is that if man makes it, don’t eat it. Some things are that simple.
Doctor’s OrdersJeffrey Whitlow, M.D.
A few weeks ago I needed an emergency ambulance ride to San Jose. My doctor called an ambulance service here and was quoted $1800 up front to take me to San José. Since I could not ride in a car I had no choice. The next morning I asked the Clinical Biblica hospital in San José to get me an ambulance to take me back to San José. Within a 24-hour period I was charged $800 to go back to Tamarindo. I was shocked at the difference. Upon returning I met with the doctor who had the ambulance service who tried to convince me his price was fair. My wife has over thirty years of experience in the medical field. He asked me to call me ambulance service and when I started to dial he took the phone away and left the office for fifteen minutes. Upon his return he said he will call the ambulance service and proceeded to talk to them. He hung up the phone and reached in his pocket and gave me $1,800. When I started to pay him he said he did not want the money. I offered again and he said no. My wife and I then left the office after I told him he should be ashamed of overcharging.
Ambulance Rip-off
Local Resident
Now Begins the Study of Yoga
Mary Byerly is one of the owners and the yoga teacher at Panacea. An oasis of tranquility and health 10 minutes from Tamarindo.
Discover Paradise and Bring a Peace Homewww.panaceacr.com • 2653-8515
Partner YogaThe root of the word yoga comes from the Sanskrit “yuj”, which means to yoke, join, or form a union. One fun way to embody this in your practice is to do yoga with another person, called partner yoga. In partner yoga two people come together to do poses, sometimes using each other to deepen into a pose, sometimes using the other as a prop to support the pose, and sometimes one partner will do the pose, while the other adjusts them. Partner yoga helps us to understand the power of joining your energies, intentions, and ef-forts in a coordinated and balanced way, often finding an outcome you could not achieve on your own.
So find someone with whom you can do some poses to see if it can both deepen your practice and let you have more fun as well! Here are some pointers for practicing together:1. Find your breath together and keep breathing together as you do the poses. By breathing together in and out through your nose, you will harmonize your actions as you move together into and out of the poses. Try sitting for a few minutes back to back matching your breath at the beginning of your practice.2. Choose poses that work based on your sizes and abilities.3. Keep communicating. Talk with each other to let your partner know how far to go, how much to yield, when you can deepen, when you need to let up, and when you need to come out of the pose. Once you have practiced together for a while, you may find this happens instinctively, but in the beginning, talk it up!4. Have fun! Doing poses with someone else is a whole different practice, so enjoy the depth and the lightness. Having someone to be joyful with is great!5. Honor each other. We use the word Namaste at the end of each practice to say “the light in me recognizes and honors the light in you”.
There is a great new partner yoga book by Lama Christie McNally and Ian Thorson called, Two as One: A Journey to Yoga. The photography and the message of the book are equally stunning. To quote from the website and press release for the book, “Two as One is a revolutionary concept which gives each partner the power to support and be supported; to open and be opened.”
It’s a great thing to try with your loved one this month, be it your partner, your dear friend, sister, brother, father, or mother. Support and be supported, open and be opened. Enjoy!
Namaste,Mary
VACATION TIME Who doesn’t like vacations? Vacation should be time to rest, to share with your family or friends.
Some people don’t go anywhere, stay painting the house or some other things. You have to take advantage and stroll, to be fine, to enjoy one’s holidays to go to the ocean or the mountain, wherever you want, where you feel fine.
But there is a negative side of vacation. Everything has to be done with moderation. It’s incredible that some people don’t respect anything: people or the beach. They don’t care, really don’t care. Banks: they close. Government institutions: they close. Bars: they don’t close. What does that mean? Happy time? Wind, dust, drunks and irresponsible drivers. Who are they? People from our country, or foreigners. It’s amazing, you have to be careful in vacation. Everybody should have the right to enjoy peace. “People take it like a trip, and then it’s when they are coming to the ocean. Crazy people everywhere. For some of them those are the vacations. I love vacation and I have a lot of time on vacation: I’m retired” - Facundo. “It’s a real problem but nobody takes the necessary steps to resolve it. We don’t do anything” - Mariana. Why do we have to live this way with these “animals” driving this way? I can trust myself, but I don’t trust the other drivers. You should think about it. “People like to go to the beach, camping, anything. I used to take my kids to the beach. Kids get very happy. Life has changed; it’s not so peacefulanymore. You have to be careful with the drivers.” - Luz M.
We have our peaceful ocean and our nature. We are not in the city. We are nice and quiet. “Guanacaste is the best place in Costa Rica for a vacation. People coming from San José is O.K., as long as they treat and respect the environment and don’t destroy it with litter.” - D.Wayne. What can we do? More policemen, more traffic controls and security for houses. But this is the same every year for vacations... Then what? It’s getting worse. We have to get together and stop this situation. We cannot stop the wind, we cannot stop high tide from the ocean (that’s nature!). But we canstop human nature, the bad side.
Enjoy your vacations but respect others.
WHAT ARE WE DOING
COSTA RICA?
Cynthia Osborne Charpentier
Barbara’s Pet StoriesShock in the Morning
ne day last October I was playing with my dogs: a Doberman, a Labrador, a German shepherd and a Rottweiler; all four are pretty big dogs and each about 80 pounds. We played to catch
a frisbee and running through the tunnel. All of a suddden a dog-head bumped into my face, that was pretty painful. The “bump” turned into a black eye and a broken front tooth.
The dentist told me that he has to pull that tooth, or better to say the rest of it, and until he can do an implant I need to wear a prosthesis. After having a hard time with this one-tooth temporary prothesis it was finally time for my last appointment with the dentist, to get my implant and the ceramic crown. This morning I was sitting at my table at my patio, drinking my coffee, thinking about that by midday I will have my “tooth” back...so I took out my little temporary prothesis, looked at it, and put it next to my coffee cup on the table. The phone rang; I ran into the living room to take it. Some minutes later I went back to the patio to finish my coffee....my plastic tooth was gone. Gone!
I looked around, two puppies were lying on the floor, some of my cats were sitting on the chairs, my two raccoons, Eddi and Rasco, were playing in the bathtub. “Come on, give me back my tooth!” No one of them even looked at me, but I thought they all had a guilty face. I started looked all over, under the chairs and the table, between the cushions on the sofa, between the bushes, I even looked into the water bowl of the dogs...nothing. I went back to the house, maybe I had taken it with me to the phone...again, nothing. Tears came into my eyes...please, boys and girls, give me my tooth back, but they all were busy doing their things; all pretended not being here. I got terrified now, in some minutes I had to open my shop and I had to talk to people. Beads of perspiration appeared on my forehead, oh no... I took my coffee cup, drank a bit, and...found my tooth. It was right inside the cup. Yeah, sure...now I saw the tracks from a raccoon on the table and I could think what had happened. One of the raccoons had climbed onto the table while I was gone, had seen my tooth, had taken it into its little hands and had put it into the coffee; as always when they find things they put it into the water, in this case the water was my coffee..
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s by Jeanne Callahan
Namasté
Visit Jeanne’s site at CelestialAdvisor.com
Libra: 23 September - 23 OctoberWith Saturn in Libra going into retrograde motion on the 7th of this month, you will be quite sensitive about partnerships in your life. Mars, going backward in your twelfth house, can trigger secret opposition to your efforts so be careful that your actions don’t alienate others. Uranus in your seventh can mean an abrupt ending to a relationship. While difficult, it can also be experienced as a major liberation. Your best days are the 11th and 12th.Scorpio: 24 October - 22 NovemberWith Saturn going retrograde in your solar twelfth house, you are likely to crave solitude this month. Those working on creative projects that require isolation will be quite productive during this time as planets moving through your solar fifth bring fruitful ideas to work on. Jupiter in your solar seventh house enhances benefits through partnerships. Old friends from your past may be in contact with you through April 14th. Your best days to have things go your way are the 13th and 14th.Sagittarius: 23 November - 21 DecemberWith many planets in your solar fourth house this month you may want to change something in your home, or even look for a new place to live. Make a written checklist for the features you really want to have so you don’t make an idealistic but inappropriate choice mid-month. Have an inspector check all aspects relating to water on the property. This is a good time to contact people you’ve worked with before to see if they have need of your services. Best days are the 15th and 16th.Capricorn: 22 December - 21 JanuaryWith Saturn backing up in your tenth house of profession this month you can revise strategies or renew interest in projects that didn’t get off the ground during the last four months. An earth trine supports your efforts at stabilizing a grounded course of action and with Pluto in your first house you are magnetic and forceful. There is some chaos around your home and you may be forced to make some unexpected changes there. Your most beneficial days are the 17th and 18th.Aquarius: 22 January - 19 FebruaryThis month has the positive influence of Jupiter in Taurus in your fourth house of home and family life indicating a period of comfort and security. If you are looking to invest in real estate, the next four months are a good time to do so. There’s some re-adjustment needed in your eighth house of investments, insurance, legacies, etc. so make arrangements to meet with an advisor to put this time to your best advantage. Good days to do so are on the 19th and 20th.Pisces: 20 February - 20 MarchNeptune enters your sign on the 15th and will transit Pisces until 2026, so this heralds a time of new interests in things related to water, oil, the arts, beauty, film and mystical pursuits. You are likely to attract many new people to you now, giving you a renewed sense of purpose and connection. Partnerships are a weak link in your life until after April 15th when Mars goes direct in your seventh house. Your most positive days are the 21st, 22nd and 23rd.
Aries: 21 March - 20 AprilYour ruling planet, Mars, is in retrograde motion until April 14th so you may be faced with a pullback with your investments or need to revise your estate plans or insurance needs. Uranus, making headway in your sign now, will likely throw you some curves that necessitate a change of plans. Venus enters Aries on the 9th so this will open you up to receive some benefits previously not available to you. Your best days are the 24th and 25th.Taurus: 21 April - 21 May Jupiter, moving forwarding your sign, will bring in some favorable opportunities and circumstances if you respond quickly to them. With Mars retrograde in your fifth house, you are likely to be a bit needy in the love department and find people from you past contacting you. Don’t get too excited as the interest is likely to fade out in April when Mars is back in direct motion. Favorable days are the 26th and 27th.Gemini: 22 May - 21 JuneWith Mercury and the Sun in air sign Aquarius, the first two weeks bring in many ideas and forward-thinking opportunities for you. There is a tremendous amount of imagination potential for you when your ruling planet, Mercury conjuncts Neptune on the 15th, possibly bringing in more interest in your visions. Great days for contacting others are the 2nd, 3rd, and leap day 29th.Cancer: 22 June - 22 JulyWith Uranus at your mid-heaven, you will be facing some unexpected events in your career and professional life. It’s a good time to change directions or add another area of expertise. Being different than others gives you a positive edge now. This is a “miracles can happen” kind of month as supportive planets in Pisces in your solar ninth house create faith in doors opening when you need them to. Best days to promote yourself are the 4th and 5th.Leo: 23 July - 23 AugustIf you are involved in any lawsuits now, you could have a losing battle on your hands and it would be wise to delay the issues until mid-April after Mars goes direct again. Career can get a boost with Jupiter in the mid-heaven so keep promoting yourself regardless of what is going on in other areas of your life. Lunar aspects favor you on the 6th and the full moon day of the 7th.Virgo: 24 August - 22 SeptemberWith Mars now retrograde in your sign and opposing Venus, you are facing some tension in your closest rela-tionships. It’s time to be precise about how you approach the issues and state your case. It is also highly likely you will just want to withdraw from it and have some space until mid-April when Mars goes direct. Do what you need to do to stay balanced and sane. The relationship will be stronger still be there if it’s meant to be. Your personal days of power are the 8th and 9th.
To show empathy is to identify with another’s feelings, to emo-tionally put yourself in the place of another. Considering the alarming degree of injustice and abuse that still takes place all
over the world, empathy seems to be a very rare trait to find… it is the lack of empathy that makes it possible for violence, cruelty and all forms of abuse to happen, and more so, to continue without any interference. For a person to be able to listen to others, to identify with his feelings, he must have experienced this himself. You can’t learn empa-thy like you learn table manners… empathy is the result of internalized emotional schemes that are shaped through observation and first-hand experience. Empathetic parents and teachers are the key… But the abil-ity to empathize is directly dependent on your ability to feel your own feelings and identify them, and this is where most adults are still fighting dark internal battles and projecting repressed feelings of frustration, anger and fear on their sons and daughters (or students), instead of dealing with them. As a parent and as a teacher we always have to make sure that we listen to the child or teenager with an open mind. We have to allow our children to express themselves freely and respect their feelings and opinions, even if they are not in agreement with ours. We must avoid comparisons and sarcastic comments, knowing that these are forms of abuse. We must be sensitive to the young person’s fears and insecurities and never minimize or question their validity. We don’t criticize, threaten, make fun of, ignore or belittle our sons, daughters or students, as this represents abuse of power. As educators we have to be particularly careful how we com-municate with our students as we can sometimes forget how powerful the impact of our words and actions are on a young person’s mind. Empa-thetic teachers will be particularly sensitive to the students who struggle and will try to understand them without preconceptions. Expressions of anger, boredom or frustration will not be interpreted as disrespect (the insecure teacher will feel threatened by it, as he cannot face his own anger, frustration or boredom) but allowed to be expressed and understood. Because our children depend on us adults (parents and teachers) we are given a great deal of power over them, as well as great potential for abusing it. In her book “For your own good” (mandatory reading for parents, teachers and therapists) Alice Miller points out: “An enormous amount can be done to a child in the first two years: he or she can be molded, dominated, taught good habits, scolded, and punished -- without any repercussions for the person raising the child and without the child taking revenge…If there is absolutely no possibility of reacting appro-priately to hurt, humiliation, and coercion, then these experiences cannot be integrated into the personality; the feelings they evoke are repressed, and the need to articulate them remains unsatisfied, without any hope of being fulfilled. It is this lack of hope of ever being able to express repressed traumata by means of relevant feelings that most often causes severe psychological problems.” I would like to make this article a call to all parents and edu-cators to be more aware of the way we communicate with our children and teenagers, to be alert about our expressions of power and to make an honest effort towards true empathy.
“Learning is a result of listening, which in turn leads to even better listening and attentiveness to the other person. In other words, to learn from the child, we must have empathy, and empathy grows as we learn.” Alice Miller
Monica Riascos H. • Tel. [email protected]
Parents’ CornerEmpathy
Sisters are something that many, though not all of us, have. My wife and I fall into the “have” category; her sister Ginger is twenty-three years older than she. Both
her sister and her mom were pregnant at the same time, with “Mom’s” result being my wife who now has nieces and nephews her own age; while my sister Miriam and I are 362 days apart, something I suspect had to do with the infrequency of my Dad’s shore leaves during the Korean War.
We’re quite fond of both sisters and had the pleasure of their company in two separate visits a week apart from each other and both visits included a matching husband and/or boyfriend.Ginger could only get off for the Christmas holidays so she and her “Beau” Bob got here Dec. 21st, rented a car and immediately headed for San José to see what it was like with promises to return on Christmas Eve. We’d never met Bob before; he’s a retired Air Force major and at 81 he doesn’t seem to have slowed down much. And he does enjoy the pleasures of alcohol much like myself.
Bob had been doing his homework on Costa Rica and deci-ded the three places he wanted to see most were San José, Puntarenas and Limón. We were able to talk him out of Limón and Puntarenas, not exactly the kind of destinations most sane people would go to, but they did spend some time in the capital during its most chaotic time of the year right before Christmas. Having never been there before they just took the insanity for granted.
The “Ginger” plan was to leave Christmas morning and head to Lake Arenal where we had reserved two cabinas facing the volcano. If nothing else, Christmas Day is a good time to be on the road in Costa Rica; traffic was very light and the weather is about as nice as it gets. We took two cars, sisters and dog in one and Bob and I in their rented Toyota Yaris, a normally high-end vehicle though this one had had a few too many rentals. We made it to Miradas Arenal, a long-time haunt, and made preparations for the next day.
The girls were planning on a long day of mud baths, massages and a swim-up bar at Tabacon Springs while I was going to show Bob downtown exotic Fortuna where I was pretty sure we’d be able to sample local beverages etc. I got to hand it to Bob who at 81 was still a lot of fun to hang with, not to mention that the day before he left for Costa Rica he had had a tooth extracted and I assume he was in a lot of discomfort.
After a couple of days in the mountains we made it back to Guanacaste and eventually put Ginger and Bob on a plane back to Texas and started preparing for my sister and her husband Rick who were arriving in three days.
My sister and her husband are private eyes, or “private investigators”, if you will. However they don’t pack “heat” or use the word “dame” or carry magnifying glasses. Their “private investigator” license allows them access to public records, and he uses these records to connect persons with cash assets they’re not aware of. They spend a lot of time in small-town courthouses juggling records and laptops and needed a visit to Costa Rica to decompress.
Rick is an avid beekeeper and head of the Metro Atlanta Beekeepers Association (we have their calendar), and both he and Miriam are big into gardens. My sister had mentioned that she’d really like to see a coffee plantation so the “Miriam” plan was to take a few days off and head for “coffee country” up in the mountains. We contacted a very nice Bed and Breakfast near Grecia. The Posada Mimosa is owned by a “mixed” couple, German and English, who arranged for a coffee tour at the Naranjo Coffee Co-op for the following day. The B&B was right out-side of Grecia where we ended up doing a little shopping and dining. Grecia is most noted as the used car capital of Costa Rica and is not really a tourist destination as such, but is a bustling friendly little city and we enjoyed our time there.
The next morning we drove to Naranjo, about twenty mi-nutes away, and met our man Norman Cruz at the Espiritu Santos Coffee Tour. He immediately handed us baskets and soon had us picking only the red berries from coffee plants while describing the ins and outs of the coffee experience and business. At the time it was prime coffee-picking season and the night before the local co-op had churned out over a million kilos of coffee. My sister and I received twenty-five colones apiece for our efforts. We also sampled some of the best coffee I’ve ever had.
While we were in Fortuna the week before I was surprised that there wasn’t any coffee growing in that neck of the woods. Naranjo and the surrounding area turned out to be at least 1,000 meters higher; coffee needs altitude.
We got Miriam and Rick back to Tamarindo where they kic-ked back a few more days doing the “not doing too much” thing that a lot of visitors do. History was made when I took them to the Liberia airport as it was the first day of the new terminal opening, only a couple of months behind schedule, record speed by local standards.
Story by Jesse Bishop
CSurvivinghapter MDLXVIIICOSTA RICA
Sisters
Soul on Fire
Transitions seem to draw our attention in myriad ways. Sun-sets. The multi-colored leaves of autumn in some climes. The first rains and ensuing rebirth of green across the fields
and forests of Guanacaste. We seem transfixed by all, even revel-ling in the symbolic death and birth of the man-made unit called a year on our calendar. I guess it’s as good an excuse as any to roll up the rug and put on your dancing shoes. Along with a couple of hundred other lucky souls, I surfed into 2012 at Hotel Playa Negra, swept along on a pulsating river of R&B music, courtesy of Miss Sasha Campbell and the Groovemakers.
Faithful readers of the Howler may remember an interview I did with Sasha several years back, after she sang at the wedding of some friends in the same venue, under the same palm thatched rancho. (See “Distant Soul”, The Howler, Jan. 2006) At the time, transition was the name of the game for the young struggling artist and single mother. But, looking back, it seems that life was gearing up to deliver a much heavier dose.
At first, it appeared that the stars were aligning and her career was going into orbit. Talent recognized, contracts signed and she disap-peared from the local scene to sing at the legendary House of Blues on the Sunset Strip. Ever farther from my favorite musical muse, I’d get the occasional photo of Sasha in the back of a limo, on her way to sing at events like the after-hours party of the Grammy awards. As it turns out, the bright lights and big city unleashed the darker side of the force that knocked her rising star out of orbit and back down to a ‘hard landing’ on a cold, unfriendly planet.
‘Something’ about managers, publicists, contracts and the jive world of corporate reality that never enters your mind when you are humming a tune, swaying to the beat and experiencing the primal allure of rhythm. She returned to Costa Rica literally with her tail feathers between her legs, reputation in tatters, shunned by former associates and soured on the whole idea of singing again. On one visit to the restorative waters of our deserted beaches near my humble abode she deferred from explaining the juicy details of what exactly had gone down. Her priority was to spend time with her growing daughter at the beach and just chill out, no doubt building up the will to move ahead, to open new doors and scale new heights. Little did I know just how quickly this Phoenix would arise from the ashes.
OK, granted, it has been a couple of years. Many of us know how fast that goes, mired as we are in the slower pace of life in rural Guanacaste. Over the course of a couple of cycles here in the wet-dry life zone, Sasha bounced back. In a big way.
(continued page 28)
Supported by a steady gig on the popular morning show Buen Día, she was getting together and rehearsing non-stop with a new group of musicians. Having reclaimed her spot in the lineup at the venerable Jazz Café, she began to add new venues on a regular basis. Since my trips to San José are few and far between, Facebook became our main means of regular contact. Then a week or so before Christmas, in the little square chat box on FB, she dropped the bomb: “I’m coming with my musicians.”
OK, it was true that a kick-back visit had been agreed upon for a couple of months. It’s easy to appreciate the need for a little R&R from life in the fast lane. But this was turning out to be a bit more than I had bargained for. I started imagining a highly amplified rendition of “Purple Haze all in my brain…” booming out of my visitor’s cabina until the wee hours, scaring off the wildlife, out-raging my neighbors and keeping the tormented host in a state of bleary-eyed insomnia. God, I’d even needed to buy more sheets and mattresses. I hit the anti-anxiety pills and waited for my pulse to slow down.
Worse, I had no further recourse to get explanations, negotiate, nada, because the truncated exchange had taken place in the wee hours just before my Facebook friend went live on the AM show. As the Xanax kicked in and the smoke curled into the airspace overhead, I had a bit of an insight into my own psychological quirks: paranoia and projection sometimes block the creative thoughts that produce positive results. When the cerebral tectonics went quiescent for a spell, a hunch rose out of the subconscious magma and I called Lito Fernandez, the owner of Hotel Playa Negra.
Just because my thought processes had calmed down that did not mean that Lito’s had woken up. After telling him that Sasha was coming with her ensemble and confirming that he had yet to sign a group for the annual New Year’s party, he politely suggested that a cup of coffee would do him well in order to ponder the possibili-ties. I made the hand-off, put them in touch on-line and hoped for the best. Over the next few hours they cut a deal. I headed off to buy more sheets after receiving the next cryptic message on FB: “We are 12 in all…”
All in all, during the few days between Christmas and New Year, I saw a lot more of the fiestas in Paraiso than my show-biz visitors from San José. They were perfectly content to focus on the beach and relaxation during the heat of day. Meanwhile, I was keeping plants watered and reacquainting myself with the soothing virtues of alcohol after a nine-year dry spell.
Tom Peifer
“So fine, yeah, send those chills up and down my spine.”
Soul on Fire(from page 27)
Given all the goings-on, the big night sort of snuck up quietly on everybody. From a ringside seat under the rancho at Lito’s, I could sense the growing anticipation as Doña Diva took her sweet time getting into position with her band. The rest, as they say, is history.As the house lights dimmed a sort of middle-eastern tune came on over the sound system. Perhaps a second or two of uncertainty in the crowd before we were dazzled with the sinuous belly dance by Cristibel Leandro who twirled with flaming torches around the dance floor. It was a spectacular opening but I got the impression that the crowd was a bit mystified as to the exact genre of the ensuing presentation.
The slow, staccato, snare drum lead-in to the puls-ing, funky and all-too-familiar bass chords of that Stevie Wonder classic “Superstition” banished any doubt that soul music had indeed returned to Playa Negra. Big Time. Heads started bobbing to the beat and I got more than a few nods and smiles from friends as the reality began to sink in that we were set for one hell of a show. Halfway through the second number, my friend Matt—an accomplished keyboard and marimba player–nudged me and remarked: “the guy on piano is super hot.” A few songs later he admitted: “I was wrong, he was only warming up…”
As the evening wore on, we were treated to more mesmerizing dance routines by both Cristibel and the lithe and lovely Ruth Fonseca. But nothing could overshadow the dominant voice and the tight ar-rangements of Sasha and her band. “You’ve come a long way, baby,” occurred to me more than occasionally as the year 2011 entered its waning minutes. What a joy to bear witness, even from a distance, to a friend’s success in navigating the rapids and overcoming the obstacles that life manages to throw in our way---and come out looking like a million dollars and smelling like a rose.
The countdown to 2012 started within the Creedence Clearwater song “Proud Mary”. Slow at first and gradually building up steam and tempo, the last seconds chanted out in a frenzied crescendo, the packed dance floor providing an impromptu choral backup.
As we drifted off into the night, with little awareness of the transitions that 2012 will bring, we could at least be grateful for rollin’ into the brand new year on a rhythmic river of soul, dance and the uplifting power of music.
Tom Peifer is an ecological land use consultant with 16 years experi-ence in Guanacaste. Phone: 2658-8018. [email protected] Centro Verde is dedicated to sustainable land use, permaculture and development. http://www.elcentroverde.org/
F e b r u a r y 2 0 1 2( a l l t i m e s l o c a l )
1st -15th -29th -
rise 6:06; set 5:48rise 6:03; set 5:52rise 5:58; set 5:54
Sun
Full:Last quarter:New:First Quarter
7th
14th
21st
29th
3:54 a.m.11:04 a.m.4:35 p.m.7:21 p.m.
Moon
Surf Report(from page 15)
always half-packed and ready to jump ship. That saying “When the going gets tough, the tough get going,” well, I think the cowards get going. It takes real courage to stick something out and see it through, and this is something I am working on. But my bags are still half-packed.
EZG: I find it interesting that your bio says you inspired bands like 30 Seconds to Mars, Smashing Pumpkins and Radiohead. Can you explain how you did that? VG: Short answer is: for many years I was involved with Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins. The first time we went on a date was around 2002 and I wrote about it online, every stupid detail like what he ordered and said to me and he literally would not speak with me for two years. Boy was he pissed off!!! He is noto-riously private—you won’t find any pictures anywhere with him and his first wife Chris Fabian. In 2004, I won him over again and we quietly were involved until 2007. This time I was smart enough to be private about it. When you get involved with one rock star, you will more than likely meet a lot of others. That is the short answer of a long and complicated, but fun story.
I met Jared Leto in 1996 because we were both in “My So-Called Life.” So I got to know him before fame came knocking for him. And he was dark, broody, and mysterious then too. He always seemed to have his mind in outer space. It almost feels rude, like he’s not fully paying attention to you. But, he is Jared Leto; it is just nice when he feels you up. Ha ha!
As far as Radiohead goes, I have plans to spend time with them this year...
EZG: How were you the muse of Depeche Mode and MGMT?VG: MGMT is a huge fan of Smashing Pumpkins. If you visit http://www.mgmt-forum.com the three moderators are named after Pumpkin songs. When MGMT heard about how the entire Zeitgeist album was about me and Billy, the lead singer Andrew VanWyngarden requested to meet me. And that is how it happened. He wanted to meet me, not the other way around. I hate that there are places online with stupid fan girls dissing me, calling me names like “stalker.” They have no idea how tight security around rock stars is. No one gets back there unless invited!!! The notion that just because they are some famous rich musicians and I am not means that I must have chased them is lame.
Martin Gore of Depeche Mode heard about all this online negative stuff happening so he makes it a point whenever I come to one of his shows to single me out in front of every-
one and make a public display of being photographed with only me to show the world that I am special to these bands. I love him for this.
But yes, because they like my work, whether as an actress or a writer or a healer - which I am; I am a healer, a USUI certified Reiki Mas-ter - these bands always include a couple of songs on their albums for and about me. They don’t tell me about it—they want me to be surprised when the album comes out. And believe me, the stoke that happens definitely rivals the stoke from surfing!
EZG: Why do you write your books under the pseudonym “Fysche”?VG: Those were only four books. It is pronounced “fish” ‘cause I am a Pisces.
EZG: What did it mean to you to get a fan letter from Kurt Von-negut Jr.?VG: It blew my flippin’ mind. My first book hadn’t even come out yet. I had snuck backstage to a Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. event at the Getty Center in Cali and gave him my manuscript. Now, I don’t stalk rock bands but I think what I did that day would have been consider stalking! Anyway to my amazement, the fan letter arrived. So I love being able to say truthfully that the first-ever fan letter for my writing came from him.
EZG: What is “15 Minutes of Flame” about? You shot it under the name Gandhi Warhold and it’s being shown at the New Filmmakers event in New York on January 25.VG: “15 Minutes of Flame” is a short film about Burning Man that I shot earlier this year. It was filmed and edited entirely using only the iPhone4 and I am pleased to say that it is winning awards and getting me great publicity. Also it is having its world premiere in New York
January 25. All information is on http://www.NewFilmmakers.com
EZG: What are the names of the books you have written and what are they about?VG: There are literally twelve books and the intention is to enlighten mass consciousness with all of them. All anyone has to do is go on Amazon.com and search either Fysche or Eternal Youth Empire, my publishing charity, to find them all. Enjoy!
EZG: Is there anything else you can tell me that an audience of surfers might want to know?VG: Whether surfing online or in the ocean, it is all about Whirled Domination. Ha ha! I hope they get that silly joke.
Thank you to everyone who reads this for your interest. Peace and prosperity in 2012!!!
FEBRUARY TIDE CHART1.96.52.27.32.16.42.57.22.06.42.47.31.86.82.1
7.61.37.31.7
02:5509:1303:0209:3603:5510:1804:0310:3804:5911:2405:1111:4106:0112:2406:14
12:3806:5501:1507:09
1W
2T
3F
4S
5S
8.00.87.91.08.50.28.60.49.0
-0.29.2
-0.19.3
-0.69.6
-0.59.5
-0.89.9
-0.7
01:2807:4102:0007:5802:1408:2402:4208:4202:5609:0403:2309:2503:3809:4404:0210:0704:2010:2404:4310:50
6M
7TFullMoon
8W
9T
10F
9.5-0.910.0-0.79.2
-0.79.8
-0.58.9
-0.39.5
-0.18.40.29.00.47.80.87.5
05:0211:0505:2611:3405:4611:4806:10
12:2006:3312:3406:5801:1107:2501:2507:5202:0708:2402:2308:53
11S
12S
13M
14TLastQtr
15W
0.97.41.38.11.17.31.58.01.07.51.4
8.10.77.91.08.40.48.40.6
03:1109:3203:3110:0304:2310:4704:4711:1605:3711:5906:03
12:2406:4301:0307:0801:2307:3901:5608:03
16T
17F
18S
19S
20M
8.70.08.90.28.9
-0.29.20.09.0
-0.39.3
-0.18.9
-0.39.3
-0.18.7
-0.19.10.1
02:1408:2602:4308:4903:0009:0803:2509:3103:4109:4704:0410:1004:2010:2304:4110:4704:5810:5805:1711:23
21TNewMoon
22W
23T
24F
25S
8.40.28.8
0.48.00.78.40.87.51.17.91.27.01.67.51.66.62.17.1
05:3511:3305:53
12:0006:1312:0906:3012:3806:5212:4607:1001:2007:3601:2907:5402:0708:2814:1820:48
26S
27M
28T
29W1stQtr
1TMar
1.96.32.36.92.06.42.36.91.86.72.0
7.31.47.31.47.80.88.00.7
03:0409:2915:1921:5204:0810:3816:2922:5905:1411:4217:38
00:0206:1312:3718:3700:5607:0413:2519:28
2F
3S
4S
5M
6T
