“This was basically a dead zone. The open-range cattle industry basically murdered the soil,” related Ray “Tarzan” Beise, owner of Pura Jungla nature reserve and eco community in Paraiso of Santa Cruz. We are seven stories up, looking out across the treetops of the 100-hectare (247-acre) reserve, watching some monkeys hanging around. Beise has spent 25 years reforesting the land and protecting...

On Saturday, November 16th, a dose of adventure passed through Nosara’s landscape with the second "Nosara Aventura" race, in which 50 adults and about 20 children participated. The event was organized by the Nosara Civic Association (Asociación Cívica de Nosara). Its purpose is to support a different association every year. Registration had a cost of $30 and the proceeds will be given to the Se...

Due to the health alert in parts of Guanacaste related to the presence of arsenic in water, the private company Agua Solutions has decided to offer free tests to detect arsenic levels until December 15th. The initiative began this July and so far they have received samples from about 50 private residences, farms and ASADAS. In addition, since 2011 they have performed tests in conjunction with t...

Nosara will enjoy the third season of the Fish Bar Live Music Sessions, beginning this season on Saturday November 16th starting with dinner at 7:00pm and live music at 7:30pm at Pacifico Azul Guiones. We will be beginning this 2013-2014 season with Thicker Than Thieves, who are on a concert tour through Costa Rica presenting their new album “Storm Will Pass”. This band has a fusion of rock, r...

Pistol shown for illustration purposes only, WikimediaAnother episode of violence occurred yesterday morning in broad daylight, this time inside a school in Nicoya, with the death of Rosibel Gomez Enriquez, age 46, cook at the Virgilio Caamaño School. The incident occurred at 10 a.m. when Melvin Zuñiga Muñoz, a 37-year-old resident of the IMAS neighborhood of Nicoya and apparently Gomez's roma...

Although the response was very cold when they started organizing the Guanacaste Art Festival in July, things have heated up, and now it promises to be quite a lavish display of talent from November 21 to 24 in the city of Tilaran. The regional promoter of culture for the province, Vera Vargas, indicated to the Voice of Guanacaste that they finally received more inscriptions than they anticipate...

Captain Daniel Espinoza on the 42ft Spanish Fly knows how to catch Dorado in volume! The Dorado are here! Not only is the Dorado – which most non-anglers will know as Mahi-Mahi – a tasty and popular item on the seafood menu; it is also a fierce and prized saltwater offshore gamefish, pound for pound one of the toughest to be found. Costa Rica’s Pacific coast is considered one of the world’s ...

The national route 160 traverses much of the coast of Guanacaste, beginning in Santa Cruz and extending to Paquera. The Constitutional Court ordered the National Roadway Council (CONAVI) to pave route 160, but the section to be paved does not include the segment of approximately 30 kilometers that connects Nosara and Samara. The constitutional appeal (recurso de amparo) was presented this ye...

Over 80 people attended the meeting in NosaraMore than 80 people attended the Nosara Security Association meeting on Tuesday, November 11, at 10 a.m. at Giardino Tropicale. Many in attendance expressed concern or raised questions about recent attempted rape attacks as well as a wave of thefts. Members of the association’s board took advantage of the opportunity to plead for more support, for p...

STC Board of Directors Pledges to Match Donations up to a total of $10,000! Sea Turtle Conservancy (STC) has joined #GivingTuesday, a first-of-its-kind effort that will harness the collective power of a unique blend of partners-- charities, families, businesses and individuals-- to transform how people think about, talk about and participate in the giving season. Coinciding with the Thanksgivin...

New owner of La Vida Loca Bar in Playas del Coco, Zack Voelker. Pura Vida! If you come to Playas del Coco, you might be slightly surprised at how lively and busy this little beach town can get at night. Don’t underestimate the one main road going through downtown Coco, there are actually plenty of spots around Coco where you can have a night full of laughing, dancing, cold drinks, and celebrat...

At the beginning of October, the Administrative Environmental Court ruled for the third time that the Nosara garbage dump must be closed, adding more force to previous orders to close the dump, which have been received since 2007. The court decision is the resolution of a denunciation that was filed in February of 2011 against the Ministry of Health and the mayor of Nicoya, Marcos Jimenez, by D...

Students of the National University (UNA) in Nicoya have decided to be part of the solution in defense of the environment, conducting recycling, cleaning and electronics collection campaigns and even giving talks to other students. The effort is headed by UNA’s Ecological Blue Flag Committee, composed of Evans Jimenez, Adriana Vasquez Duarte, Aaron Jimenez and Karina Campos, who are guided by P...

There are people who have dedicated themselves to garbage, even living with it in homes that they have converted into recycling businesses. The Voice of Guanacaste decided to visit some of these collection centers in the area of Nosara and Samara to find out about the challenges of the garbage collector lifestyle. The collection centers receive recyclable waste such as plastic bottles, glass, T...

Donavon Frankenreiter returned to Guanacaste after a two-year absence. Thanks to the Safari Surf School organization and the Billabong program “Surf Like a Pro,” the Californian surfer and musician presented his new album “Start Livin” live, this time at the Tropicana disco bar in Nosara Center in front of 200 people. As soon as the doors opened at around 7:30 p.m., the first fans began arriv...

Shark fins attached to spinal column to avoid being illegal, Costa Rica An alert for a method of shark finning aimed at avoiding detection of illegal practices has been circulated to all 190 INTERPOL member countries after a case was identified by Costa Rican authorities. An INTERPOL Purple Notice has been circulated for a modus operandi of the technique where only a band of skin to keep the...

Silver Elephant, one of the brands illegally sold in Costa RicaCosta Rica has witnessed a five-fold rise in illegal cigarette seizures since 2012, suggesting illegal groups are capitalizing on a new tobacco law to flood the market with contraband products. So far this year, Costa Rican authorities have recovered 12.3 million illegal packs of cigarettes, compared to just 2.3 million throughout ...

Best Fest is a 3 day (February 7th - 9th, 2014) grassroots music festival nestled between pristine jungle and one of the most beautiful beaches in Costa Rica, Playa Ballena. The organizers routinely say that their location is one of the headliners of the festival and for good reason. The epic venue is located on a 2000 acre farm, just south of Uvita, and is a one of a kind environment where w...

Currently patients that are attended at the EBAIS clinic in Cangrejal of Samara aren’t able to get prescribed medications immediately. They have to go to Nicoya to fill their prescriptions, incurring extra costs of transportation. But that will no longer be the case, as preparations are being made to open a pharmacy at the EBAIS in January of 2014. The clinic’s doctor, Fulvio Paniagua Acuña, su...

As part of the anniversary celebrations, on November 15 the 25 de Julio Orchestra will perform at the inauguration of the new Briceño Leonidas School facilities. The Sinem Music School of Nicoya was founded in October of 2008 and despite limited economic resources, it has managed to survive and consolidate during its five years of existence. Currently the school is hosted in the Casa de la C...

La Gran Vista, located just outside San Isidro de General in South Pacific Costa Rica, is an Environmental Conservation Project where students, volunteers, and visitors can learn how a tropical organic farm functions. We are an Educational Institute where individuals can learn how to milk a cow, harvest a mango tree, or use medicinal herbs. La Gran Vista gives everyone an opportunity to learn ab...

Gandoca, Costa Rica — In an emotional reunion, Todd Steiner, Executive Director of Turtle Island Restoration Network, delivered a check for over $14,000 US to the family of Jairo Mora Sandoval, the sea turtle conservationist murdered earlier this year while protecting nesting sea turtles on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica. The funds were collected from some of the 150,000 individuals and ...

The Judicial Investigation Organism (OIJ) arrested three lawyers, who are serving preventive prison terms related to property fraud. Many of the properties involved are in the Nosara area. The investigation gathered force after the December 2012 edition of The Voice reported on 16 cases of fraudulent property registration transfers. By October, the office of NCCC Consultores reported 22 cases, ...

In a college atmosphere, the Youth and Politics Presidential Forum was attended by approximately 1000 people in the amphitheater of the University of Costa Rica (UCR) campus in Liberia on Wednesday, November 6. The activity was attended by presidential candidates Jose Maria Villalta of the Broad Front (FA- Frente Amplio) party, Jose Miguel Corrales, New Homeland (PN- Patria Nueva) and Luis Guil...

Recently, two women, both in their early 20s, have been attacked during the day by men on two separate occasions in the Nosara area. Both managed to escape, but the incidents have given rise to concern in the community and arrangements are being made to offer a free self-defense class for women. First, a woman, who wished her name to be kept anonymous, was attacked in an attempted rape on Octob...

Nine British companies will take part in the VI Summit of the American Police Summit (Ameripol), scheduled to take place in San José, Costa Rica, from November 11-13, at the Hotel Real Intercontinental. On November 12 and 13, British companies will have the opportunity to exhibit their vast range of security-related products and services at the venue. Organised by the UK Trade and Investment (U...

Tales of epic struggles with huge Marlin usually grab the sportfishing headlines, but there are other gamefish that provide anglers with just as much excitement. The majestic Tarpon, often referred to as the Silver King, is among the most popular of all catch-and-release sportfishing trophies. Pound for pound, this survivor of prehistoric times – the Tarpon is one of the world’s oldest fish; th...

Entomologists from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have described 277 new species of braconid wasps in the tribe Heterospilini. The braconid family, to which the tribe Heterospilini belongs, is a large and diverse group of parasitoid wasps. There are about 17,000 recognized wasp species and many thousands more undescribed. Most braconid wasps are internal and external parasito...

In 2004, a decree from the Minsitry of Environment and Energy (MINAE) banned vehicles from using a 200-meter stretch of road parallel to Guiones Beach, between the cemetery beach entrance next to Cacho’s surf rental and a residential area at the end of the road from Giardano Tropical where Nosara Travel´s office is located. On September 25, the road was reopened after a new resolution from MINAE r...

Costa Rican artist Juan Carlos ValverdeShowing an interest in arts as a child, Costa Rican artist Juan Carlos Valverde spent many of his childhood afternoons canvassing red-dirt roads for materials like clay and Poró wood to create all types of figures and shapes, spending days crafting small cars and other toys. In his early adult life he came to realize that studying visual arts was his drivin...

Related news: Bill Gates buys 6% stake in FCC through his investment funds. Madrid/London, November 6th, 2013 - FCC, the Citizens Services Group, has been chosen to reform the Juan Santamaria International Airport in Alajuela, 18 kilometers from San José (Costa Rica). FCC will construct a hangar at the country's main aeronautical facility worth 25 million euros, with a completion period of eigh...

Most North Americans are already familiar with gated communities and their benefits. In general, a gated community is an enclosed housing development usually with 24/7 manned security. Gated communities also offer amenities like a club house, community pool, sporting facilities, barbecue areas, many claim eco sustainability, and higher end communities may also offer such amenities as access to ons...

The Telethon this year will be broadcasted nationally on December 6 and 7 and will have a goal of 700 million colones ($1.4 million). This time the main beneficiaries will be the children of Guanacaste, as the money will buy medical equipment for the hospitals of Nicoya and Liberia, as well as the canton of Upala in Alajuela. “This year we turn our eyes to the Guanacaste area, specifically Enri...

For years, members of the communities of Nosara and Samara have voiced grievances that the Municipality of Nicoya does not invest back into the communities an amount corresponding to the income generated by these districts, but hard data to back these claims was lacking. Now efforts are being made to gather this data. Preliminary data obtained by the Voice of Guanacaste seems to confirm these c...

As the national elections approach, the political environment isn’t heating up among Guanacaste’s youth, according to an opinion poll conducted by the Voice of Guanacaste with young adults between 18 and 25 years old. Of a total of 30 people interviewed in Nicoya, Nosara, Samara and Santa Cruz, 70% said they were not interested in politics. They justify their disinterest with two fundamental re...

In order to not hinder progress on the Coastal Community Territories Law Project (TECOCOS), the portion that dealt with the Ostional Wildlife Refuge has been separated from the project. “It is the same TECOCOS proposal, only that it will be dealt with as an independent project while presenting environmental studies required by the Constitutional Court (Sala IV) in order to complete the process ...

Playas del Coco has become one of the growing hotspots in Costa Rica for tourists and locals to come and enjoy a weekend away from the ever busy city life. With beaches all around, fantastic weather, and a laid back atmosphere, this little beach town is never asleep and never dull. If you stay for a weekend, you’ll want to keep coming back to enjoy all that Coco has to offer. But if you are...

On Monday, October 14, machinery from the Ministry of Public Works and Transportation (MOPT) commenced maintenance work on route 160. Work began from the intersection of the Samara gas station toward Nosara. Julio Viales, regional director of MOPT, explained that they are first applying 200 cubic meters of arenon (a thick sand), which will go under the asphalt base in order to replace the clay-...

The Bailey bridge over the El Armado creek in Caimital has its days numbered because the National Roadway Council (CONAVI) will replace it with a new one made of concrete. The work will begin in late November and will consist of removing the existing structure and installing a new one-lane concrete bridge 12 meters long, said Reynaldo Mata, engineer in charge of supervising the work. CONAVI ...

On Friday, October 25, Vanessa Rosales Ardón, the president of the National Emergencies Committee (CNE), visited Nosara to officially inaugurate the works completed during the first stage of intervention on the Nosara River. The inauguration, originally scheduled for 2 p.m., was changed to noon because of the possibility of rain. Although the threat of rain loomed in the cloudy skies and it eve...