Summertime and the living is not as easy with all these damn people in the line up.

Summer is finally here! The water no longer has as many trees floating in it and you can actually see your shorts when surfing. We had a nice little head high plus swell the past which pretty much wore everyone I know out. I actually had to take a day off because I have surfed 2xs 7 days straight and the paddle out sometimes is a bitch. The following pictures were shot by the owner of “Almost Paradise”. They are an Israeli family that sells some of the best falafel I have ever eaten. The restaurant is located in the hills of Pelada. Stop by for a bite to eat. They are really good people and really good friends. My good friend James has moved here and is my new roomate. He is also one of the new photographers for Surfing Nosara.

"Bar" catches a good size right

Myself on a little right. The morning was much bigger .

In December we are opening a store in the rear of Kaya Sol so stay posted for details.. (I can also be found bartending in KayaSol these days)

Ok so I should not have jinxed us. Yesterday was fine and asoleado even though the power went out, but come night it started raining raining and raining. Today Saul didn't show up for work which means the Rio probably flooded his house. I took a friend to work on my moto which is a job in itself. I have to wear board shorts because the water is waist deep in some places. All the roads are flooded and the bridges aren't passible. I got word today that the gas stations (hand pump ones) are also closing. All in one day this shit happened. On a brighter note power came back on this morning and I also have internet. Got food and movies to last this thru too.

have a great day!

Oct 14th

Well it's already half way through October and we have yet to see the rains in full force. It has been raining mostly at night stopping early morning with blue skys and sunshine. Not many people around.. It's sooo nice like this.

hormigas

Hormigas or Ants are problems from everyone. Yesterday I went into my bathroom to see it covered with thousands of Red Ants. Immediately wanting to kill them all I decided to ask Saul why they were all in that one area. He pointed out the trail of Black Ants who march in a uniformed line to their destination. He explained that the red ones were hiding with their babies from the black ones because the blacks would kill them.He went on to tell that the black ones had come from the mountain probably because of rain in search of food. The black ones come by the thousands and if you think you are going to stop them you are kidding yourself. Ask anyone here. What to do? Let them run their course and they will be gone in no time. Besides they kill the unwanted insects along their path. So in a way the black ones are good,unless they sting you, and the red ones are the ones you don't want. Because the shower was filled with the red ones holding their babies Saul sprayed and killed them all. A sad but needed genocide for the Hormiga Rojo. Point to this blog is the fact that sometimes taking time out to understand even the littlest of creatures can be entertaining.

Yup still here

This weekend I rented a car and went to Playa Avenellas and Playa Grande. The surf wasn't that great but the scenery was as always worth the trip. Black and White images are from the little rock in Playa Grande. I was accompanied by my Tica friend who decided it would be fun to climb to the top of it. I was fine but if you refer to the blog about insects that live inside of plants here, she was attacked by the ant condos and now has pocodots all over. The color images are before Tamarindo where the road turns back to gravel. There has been little rain in the last week which is nice because, not only is it beautiful outside, there are not that many people around.

The images above are a little foggy due to the fact that I left my camera under the AC in the hotel and it dripped water in it. My $1000 lens was foggier than a pink floyd concert and my camera suffered too. Nothing a little sun couldn't fix though. I would take it to the camera repair shop but then I remembered there isn't one. In other words tough shit! Pura Vida!

Quick trip to the gulf.

I lived in South Florida for a few years and one of my goals was to catch the Gulf when it was good. That never happened while living there but it did happen while I was visiting my cousin in Orlando.

I got a call from a good friend Micky Hooks that it was going to be good and he drove up to Venice beach with a board for me to ride. The above image is what we saw. While I was very over gunned on a six six, I still enjoyed the hell out of it. Needless to say we spent the night in Sarasota (sleeping in the car,and on the sidewalk) to get up early and surf holmes beach.

Thanks Micky for the great time, and somewhat fuzzy evening. I expect to return the favor soon.

Saturday I will be back in Nosara with supplies to get me through the rainy month.

Adios,
G

RIP Evan Tanner

above image is some dog in South Florida that I wanted to punt kick but he ended up mellowing out and being kind of cute:

My friend had a problem with her passport so I ended up flying to Miami for a week or so. Sadly I am still here. Nothing against the States but it's just not for me right now. As soon as I stepped of the plane I was bombarded with fast cars, cell phones and billboards. It's amazing how easily people get sucked into this shit. If I had a dime for every BMW I saw in in S Florida I would be typing this blog from Maldives while drinking a shandy. Needless to say I am with family in Orlando now which I do enjoy so I'll be making the most of my short time here. I miss my scooter, good waves, and crazy cat.

My cousin, who fights MMA showed me the headline about a fighter who died in the CA desert.

Read on Yahoo news:
Here

His name was Evan Tanner. What caught my attention was not the fact that he died or was a champion MMA fighter it was his writings. If you get a chance to read them they are pretty good. Especially if you're in search for that sense of virtue that exist deep within inside . Near the end of his life he was surfing and exploring. He started his career from watching video tapes from Gracie fighters. Near the end he was writing about the true meaning of living.

"It is a shame that in this society we've been taught to judge a man's worth by what he owns instead of who he is. Everything is surface, and so few look beyond it. A man will sell his soul, he will lie, cheat and steal, for money. If he has it, he can buy respect. Wear the right clothes, drive the right car, have the right friends, that's all that matters. Our lives are consumed in a selfish, self absorbed quest for possessions, the latest and the best in a never-ending cycle until the day we die. We forget what it means to be truly human. We forget the things that really matter. We lose the magic of what life should be.

I won't live by rules that make no sense to me.

- Evan Tanner"

Blog can be found:
Here

Saul's house floods above the door in October every year. He has to send his wife and kids away for a month or so while he tuffs it out. The furniture is stacked towards the ceiling. He remains here even with the flooding.

This is the real Nosara which is outside of the American Project.



This is the town of Nosara. It is a few miles from the coast. 7 km or something like that. I took this shot from Terry's car while she was in the post office. The building on the left is the hospital , to the right are various bars and restaurants and a fruit/veggie stand. My father wanted actual pictures of the town so here ya go. I will snap some more another time.

Rain Rain go away

It's not even Oct and it has been raining like crazy. Here is a shot of the bridge by the gas station headed to the Nosara/Ostional intersection.(The gas station that doesn't sell gas and never will) It was taken two days ago . We have had non stop rain up to today . We have had a nice little 2 hr sunshine break. Looks like more rain on the way though.

Note to Swindells

above: Most Gringos have dogs to watch their crap. I have "LOCA." She is part flying squirrel and part monkey trapped in a cat's body. Her favorite moves are "Death from Above"where she falls out of the sky onto you somehow and the "Silent rear attack" SRA is also combined at times with a rapid bite to the butt.

Every day she is covered in blood from something. I don't ask questions though. I am trying to find the word for COSTA RICAN BAD ASS! Cause that's what she is...

okies,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

I was informed that on certain occasions Swindell family members stop by to read what kind of crap I am getting into. Thanks for reading these pointless blogs. I guess in the future I will try to make them more exciting. I was under the impression that my mother was the only one who ever read them and that was out of obligation…

So with that said, LARRY SWINDELL send me some pictures of my grandfather if you have any. Swiney only has 1 in the house.

And to the emails I get from people coming to the area. I have all the time in the world to answer area questions. It rains a lot now and in October it will not stop, so I am trapped in this house because my little scooter gets hard to drive in it.

PACIFIC STORMS

~ Thunder= TRUENO

in Costa Rica sounds like artillery rounds. It is louder than you can imagine shakes the earth when it rumbles. I try to explain this to my friends before they come but the look on their face is usually priceless after they hear it for the first time. They usually look around like an earth quake is going on. We have those too J

~Rain = LLUVIA “ Rains hard, Very hard, and when you think it couldn’t possibly rain any harder. It rains harder!!!!

I have found god many times at night during storms here! HAR HAR!

Also, The noises you hear at night are GEIKOS not birds and boy are they annoying.

ADIOS SWINDELLS and MIS AMIGOS,

~G

Damn those yellow belly sea snakes

It's bad enough having to worry about Sharks and dodging Gringos in the water but lately I have had my eyes open for something I never would have thought in a million years I would be surfing with, a yellow belly sea snake. My friend yelled at me the other day that there was one in the water and i kinda laughed. Then I got home and asked my friend and she did some research and found that yes indeed we have yellow bellly buddies surfing with us. Even better these snakes are part of the Cobra family and considered to be 10xs more venomous than any land snake. A full dose of venom will be fatal but on a brighter note they rarely strike unless it's defense and even so then they do not usually release venom. They have a paddle for a tail used for swimming and spend the majority of their life in the ocean. If you see one beached it is probably close to death.

Last night after a chest high glassy session I was walking back and what did i see? A yellow belly sea snake laying on the beach. He was still alive. I showed an old lady and she grabbed her husband who had been surfing and he picked the damn thing up and threw him back in the water. Wonder what would have happened it would have bit him?

Does Pelada ever get swell?

Playa Pelada gets swell yes it does. It has a fun little right and if you search you can also find the left. Here are a few pics from the last little south swell we had here a couple of weeks ago. If Playa Pelada is this big can you imagine how big Guiones is? Well this day Guiones was double the size but closing out so Pelada had a good little crowd.

Trip to Mal Pais

Two friends took me to a quick weekend trip to Mal Pais. Although Mal Pais is very beautiful, the journey was far more rewarding than the destination. Most images below were a no no shot from car images.You never know what you're going to run into when flying around curves. This just happened to be a herd of cattle we approached at 60kph.


Fences are made from live trees here. Why? because if the tree is alive the fence won't rot. The fence will grow into the tree. Post are expensive if treated for weather and will eventually rot so this is far more effective. The only problem is, if you dont cut the top of the tree the fence grows up. Good thing is the top of the tree/fence can be replanted as another tree/fence.
I got this shot by sticking my camera out the window and snapping three photos. It is a fish farm near the Nicoya Penisula.
The animals give the stink to gringos also.

Stayed at Playa Naranja because our 5 hr trip had turned into 7 due to a large river in Playa Bongo that we couldnt cross. Had to back track for a long while.

Mal Pais. Surf was head high and kinda fun. Area is super built up yet still beautiful.


Tree line snapped from the moving car while dodging pot holes.

Life is tough!

This is no secret to locals in the area but it's usually empty. This place is only accessible at low tide and is on the back of a little island which looks directly at the setting sun and ocean. It's not hard to find but I ain't telling :) Thanks for the shot Annya.

Sunday there was a wedding!

Villa Las Tecas had a wedding on Sunday for Saul "Sa uel" and Precious Here is a quick gallery of the wedding and a bunch of kids.
Esteve es suave tigre

If you get them a ride they will come. Look at the truck that transported about 10 head to the wedding.


Left to right. Terry(Gringa mayor of Nosara and owner of Villas Las Tecas), Saul, and Sandy



This shot came out kinda neat with a little DOF added



above:By far my favorite shot in quite some time.

Casa de Columbia es muy loca

Well not really but I have moved to a temporary location with a Columbian/1 American family. They are not part of the FARC-EP mom!It's a great little setup with lots of colors. It also has a family of geese that go nuts anytime I come close to their eggs. Problem is the eggs are at the gate of my front door. Ever been attacked by a goose? I have !

Aqua Pura

We had a team come in and sample the water in this area. I already had my doubts about what they call drinking water in Guiones and Pelada. The above image is how the current water tested. The water on the left is from a backup well that is used when power goes out. The one on the right is the city water line that comes to the homes in Playa Pelada. Normal water will test a lighter yellow color. This water tested black with high traces of things we will not mention. But thanks to a crew from Kentucky, Terry now has a backyard purifying system that puts outs the cleanest water in the area.

The Pumphouse roof had to be lifted so Saul took to the saw bench. He will only use this machete to cut things. I tried to hand him a saw and he looked at me like I was the devil.

New drain systems were dug to keep the drainage away from the purifying system.

Here is a view of what the pump house looked like before.


Here are the tanks inplace that will filter the water coming to the house. The team set them up to filter both the city water and the well.

A Costa Rican modification done to the roof and a low maintaince water purifying system in place. I have to take a few more shots to show the outcome so stay posted!..
Adios
~G