A belated update

Some friends since high school reestablished contact with me this week and wondered what I’ve been up to. One even had read my blog and wondered why I hadn’t posted in quite some time. I didn’t know I had a reader.
So much has happened that it’s difficult to summarize, and I’ll certainly leave out the intimate details. I spent today at Organico Minimarket, where I became a partner in November. This was a shift from my bbq business, especially since I had been to a raw foods retreat in July and began preparing raw foods for our nascient deli section, which I looked forward to developing. I started a web page, http://www.organico.webs.com/ and a Facebook page
I spent an hour this morning at the annual meeting of our water board, which I’ve been writing about for Voice of Nosara. If you have a remote interest in our water issues here, which are dramatic, check out my latest at http://www.voiceofnosara.com/02_11_regional_03.html
Also, some great local photos are at http://www.voiceofnosara.com/community.html
The VON is a great monthly that is fortunately backed by a publisher with deep pockets who wants to be a positive force in the community, although our print run is about a 1,000. We’re doing some real journalism here.
I’m also the de facto arts reviewer, and music critic, although I would never write an unkind word and everybody here is talented and above average.
On a more personal level, I split with my wife in August. We struggled over my decision in February 2005 to move down here full time and it’s not the outcome I wanted but it became clear that we needed to move in separate directions.
I’m keeping the bbq business alive, and am going to start spending more time with my smoker near the beach. Until now I’ve been focused on the store, which has a lot of competition in a tiny seasonal market. Shlomo started the store a year ago and we’ve been trying to grow the store ‘organically,’ which means we don’t have a lot of money to put into it.
So I’ve been working harder than I ever did in DC, but at least I’m feeding people nutritional food instead of the bullshit I was paid to spread during my former career in associations. I am grateful, and still count my blessings, that I got the hell out of there, even though there have been unexpected turns here.
But I have few expectations and am not strongly attached to much except my pursuit of happiness and satisfaction. There is a lot to be said for simplifying life when there is an opportunity, or when faced with circumstances.
I’ve recently put my surfboard back in the water after a prolonged absence, and have remembered how much fun I used to have before I got tired of being smacked down more than enjoying an easier ride. I’ve lived here full time for three and a half years, and although it is turning into a different adventure from the one I once had, I see myself living here the rest of my life.
There are no paved roads here, and the dust is unbelievably bad between November and May, and although the government is slowly working on a plan to pave the main road, no one expects it to happen soon. It took me more than a month to get my Pathfinder fixed when I tried to drown it in one of the rivers north of here one night, driving home from a fiesta or combination rodeo-carnival that is traditional here.
So there’s a price to pay to live in paradise, but I feel a lot stronger for having chosen this course, and a lot more flexible.

BBQ and Raw Food: An Unnatural Combination

Last week Jane and I attended a retreat at Pura Vida Spa in San Jose that featured instruction in raw foods preparation. I had been turned on to this cuisine at a ‘cleanse retreat’ I attended in May at the Hacienda del Sol in nearby San Juanillo, in large part because with the right recipes and preparation, it is delicious. I have been interested in improving my diet since the conclusion of the high season in April, which left me low on energy.
While away, the local Tico businessman who claims to own the property near the beach where I set up my BBQ Smoke Shack had the shack torn down. The irony of this was not lost on me, and indeed if one is inclined to look for ‘signs from the Universe’ this might seem to be one.

I decided to wait for more information from the universe, and was absorbed in the raw foods school, which is designed as a teacher preparation workshop as well as instruction in the techniques and ‘lifestyle’ of raw foods. I contemplated the slogan for a potential new direction for the shack, “BBQ and Raw Foods: An Unnatural Combination.”
Chappa is the Tico who claims to own the choice piece of land where I set up my shack. Years ago when the farms were bought to form the original American Project, this corner was somehow not included in the land registry, essentially making it a ‘no man’s land.’ Chappa has been attempting to claim it through the squatting procedure, and he has paid me visits in the past to express his concerns, in Spanish, that essentially I was squatting on his squat and that he had a problem with that. Through intermediaries, I was able to smooth things over then, at least for a time.
One of those intermediaries, Ty Kennedy, visited with Chappa this week to explore whether there could be a future return for the shack. The good news is that Ty thinks he has smoothed things over and that I will be allowed to rebuild the shack. At this point, since we are experiencing an exceptionally rainy green season, I am inclined to wait until the dry season arrives in November before rebuilding the Smoke Shack.
But today I had a long discussion with my friend Shlomo, who runs the local organic food and mini-mart Organico, and I am pleased to announce plans to sell raw food products as well as barbecue at his store, including cooking classes/demonstrations.

Taking the Cleanse

Today is Saturday, the day after returning from a 7 day cleanse retreat at Hacienda del Sol. I awoke before dawn, and instead of going back to sleep, had the energy to stay up and meditate, doing my usual toning practice.
I then squeezed two lemons, added a bit of water and a strong dash of cayenne, and it further jolted me to alertness. Charlie and I were on the beach by 6, and I was ahead of my regular routine by one to two hours. The night before, I read until 11:30, so my body seemed to be happy with less sleep.
On the beach I tried jogging but didn’t seem to have the energy to keep it up. I also felt the cayenne in my stomach, which did not encourage jogging. A couple more attempts failed to take off for long. It felt great stopping to chat with a couple of friends, one of whom was JP, the raw foods chef who had prepared our incredibly delicious dinner the first night of the retreat, and the last time we would be eating solid food (except for oatmeal and fruit the next morning) for six days.
That dinner was so good that it changed my whole attitude about raw food. It was a complex meal with lots of small items that had taken him all day to prepare. But it showed me how much flavor you could pack into a raw food cuisine.
Our routine started Saturday, after the delicious oatmeal breakfast, another eye-opener because I’d never had oatmeal this good. We started that day with our first colema, which involves using a five gallon jug filled with water and the flavor of the day to wash out your bowels. We were each given a jug of coffee to mix with the warm water. Menhla gave us a group instruction in how to use the devices, in six stalls, and we were assigned shifts since there were 12 of us.
This day we also met with Mitra, who met with us individually for a health consultation and then gave us acupuncture. I had had a couple of acupuncture sessions with Mitra in Nosara, and it was on his encouragement that I cut way back on alcohol, started changing my diet, and was attending this cleanse.
We started our juice regimen, with different drinks assigned at specific times during the day. We also made a roughage mix, mostly from psyllium powder, twice a day to drink down.
Sunday started our regular routine and that meant yoga at 7, preceded by a drink of lemon juice with a dash of cayenne. Adya is a beautiful teacher, Mitra’s wife, who gave a gentle yoga routine that was challenging for the beginners and satisfying for me. In Shivasana each day, Mitra would give us needles, customized for our needs, and he typically pinned me in the lower legs and on the arms.
We had colemas both in the morning and afternoon, and for the next four we added a 16 ounce bottle of lemon juice to our five gallon mix.
We also did some meditations in the evening and over the days I felt myself getting much deeper into these.
On the fourth day we switched to garlic in our colemas. Mitra put a needle between my eyes, which facilitated a very deep meditation for me.
The group consisted of a Polish-American couple from Ft. Lauderdale about my age, if I averaged them out. The rest were women in the 25-35 age group, mostly on the low side of that range. Two became sick, apparently contracting a flu-type sickness that lasted two to three days. Others were struggling as well, but I felt pretty steady, although a bit weak. I was starting to sleep much less at night, although was also unable to read at mid-day without nodding off, which has been my lifelong pattern.
Thursday was liver cleanse day and the day we would break back into solid foods. Wednesday night we had two glasses of Epsom salt solution, two hours apart, and before retiring we drank a 16 ounce bottle of a mix of olive oil and orange juice. It was an unusual taste but went down pretty easily. Two more Epsom salts in the morning and a coffee colema. We should have been expelling gooey balls of waste, but mine didn’t come out until had a second colema that afternoon. This was number 11 and final, a total of a 55 gallon drum barrel of fluids having been flushed through my colon at this point. I checked the sieve that I had placed in the bowl to screen my excretum, and was happy to see a number of gummy balls. My liver, free at last!
We had an afternoon snack of papaya, maybe the best I have ever tasted, and a salad around 4.
I also experimented with a Rife frequency machine the last three days. The theory behind it is that ailments and diseases have their own frequency, and a machine dialed to those same frequencies can provide healing to the recipient. I chose a few frequencies from a directory that I thought might promote well-being, and any affects were subtle. During the week Menhla also gave me a cranial-sacral treatment, which led me to a deep, meditative relaxation.
Since my return I’ve eagerly made grocery purchases of products to continue this healthy diet. I’ve strayed a little bit from the guidelines and food list that Mitra provided for me, based on his analysis of my personal nutrition profile. Other than the late morning lull, my energy has been good all day, and my mind has been more clear than normal.
Although the effects have been gradual, I feel like I have received what I had set as my intention, which is to have more energy on physical, emotional, mental and spiritual levels.

Being Thankful in Nosara and Nicoya

Jane's not arriving here til Sunday and not much turkey is being smoked, although I managed to fire up something. I took Charlie to the vet with my bbq mate Ryan and his dog. While in Nicoya needed to get my 97 Nissan Pathfinder through inspection. This is the first time I tried doing it myself. We waited in line under the sun with the AC on and the car overheated. I had some water and antifreeze I keep on hand for just such occasions, but I figured it wouldn't help my chances of passing the inspection for the inspectors to see me refilling the radiator next to a puddle of water. But then I couldn't get the engine started so one of the inspectors helped me push it to a start. At that point I had pretty much given up on getting through the inspection successfully and thought about just driving off in shame. However, there was no longer anyone in front of me and Ryan was off finding some grass for the dogs.
My spanish is still pretty crappy but the guy was going down his checklist and so far there wasn't anything obviously wrong.
This was shortlived, as they pointed to the missing passenger side outside mirror. Necessito? I asked, thinking that the extra mirror was optional and they might not care about it. That didn't work and I'm not experienced in bribing in those circumstances. Nobody had their hand out, but maybe I just wasn't looking that hard. Then we stumbled through a review of my options, which were to continued the rest of the testing and fail or to bail out with 30 days to return. I can handle more frustration so I continued through the test, which is more rigorous than the ones in DC. I didn't pass the emission and had a problem with a cracked rear taillight assembly. Fortunately the engine had cooled and would start again.
We're finally out of there and I head to a garage nearby where I've had work done before and they remember me and my fat wallet. I'm not expecting much, just to have him find a mirror and come back another day to have the engine checked out. The owner surprises me and says that in a couple of hours they should be able to fix it up so it will pass. That brightens my mood and one of his mechanics drives us to the vet on the other side of town. I had used this shop last year to get through the test and they know how to get cars through.
The vet says Charlie has fleas and is having some allergic reaction and gives him a steroid shot and me some advice on fighting them. We got a cab back and I'm told, or at least I think I'm being told, because its Spanish, that someone has driven the car back to the inspection station to get it through. In fact, the guy arrives just as a downpour is abating, and puts the new sticker on the windshield. But it turns out they have to take back the light assembly and return the broken one because they had borrowed it from another car in their shop. The mirror seemed to fit the car perfectly and I get to keep it.
So I have a lot to be thankful for today.

Pura Vida!
Fritz

Flying lessons in the AutoGyro

Just when life in Nosara threatens to become a routine (ha!) along comes something new and exciting. In this case, the opportunity to learn to fly, specifically, in one of the AutoGyro aircraft available at the Flying Crocodile, the training center for ultralights at Playa Buena Vista near Samara.
I'm in my second week of flying, toward 35 hours to qualify for a license.
The AutoGyro is manufactured in Germany and I've included a link to the photo page on their website. The gyro is remarkably stable, safe and easy to operate and under the highly experienced guidance of Frank Nierhoff today I practiced landing and takeoff after doing many descents down to Playa Guiones and many other spectacular beaches here, buzzing the surfers or whoever else, if anyone is on these beaches at all. We fly by Mel Gibson's beach but Britney Spears is long gone, as is everyone else now.
In a few days we are going to take a training run to the Arenal Volcano, and I'm including a shot taking by Alex, who is completing his training.

Security in Nosara should improve

The head of the Fuerza Publica, Costa Rica’s top police official, flew into Nosara Monday with an entourage of officials to hear first hand from residents about escalating crime at this upscale beach resort.

Comisario Eric Lacayo, the chief of the Fuerza Publica, listened to almost 100 Tico and ex-pat residents and businessmen for almost an hour, and then promised help, including a follow-up meeting for Tuesday, Oct. 6, with the top prosecutor, or Fiscal, of Nicoya, as well as the regional head of the OIJ, the Judicial Investigating Organization sometimes referred to as Costa Rica’s FBI.
Area residents have been meeting over the past year in efforts to organize and address escalating, bolder and more professional home and car break-ins and beach thefts. As one resident testified, “My home is been broken into four times, costing me about $1000 each time, and my car has been broken into twice and stolen.”

One local group has been writing letters to government officials in an attempt to deploy members of the new Tourist Police to the beaches of Nosara, and it was from that effort that the high level visit was sparked. The Tourist Police report to Comisario Lacayo and have the same authority as the Fuerza Publica.

Residents complained of ineffective and corrupt local police, as well as prosecutors in Nicoya who release criminal suspects the same day they are brought before them. Further, the Nosara police station has been ordered closed by the Department of Health for its poor working and living conditions.

Residents have been petitioning and raising funds to support and attract a delegation of the relatively new Tourist Police to Playa Guiones, including a headquarters building near the beach, and to renovate the existing Police office in the center of Nosara.

Comisario Lacayo congratulated the gathering, which he said is the largest delegation that has met with him over local security concerns. With the Chief of Police of Nicoya present as well as the regional chief for Guanacaste, he said he would take the names of police officers who engaged in improper activities. Many in the audience submitted names of suspected police officers, written anonymously on pieces of paper and collected in a hat. He also urged people to call 911 to make complaints, which can be done anonymously, he said. He also pointed out that anonymous drug tips can be made by calling 176.

Money cannot be spent on improvements to the Nosara police station by the Ministerio de Seguridad Publica until the land is properly deeded to the Ministerio. The lot is currently deeded to the Board of Education and efforts to get the deed transferred have been slow, according to Agnes Pinheiro, who has led recent meetings to address security.

She said a member of Lacayo’s delegation assured her they would check on the status of the station to ensure it would not be closed because of the needed repairs.
Comisario Lacayo said there were only 18 crime reports from Nosara filed in Nicoya from January to last May. Most of those at the meeting raised their hands when asked if they had been the victim of a crime. Residents were disappointed to learn that reports filed at the local station in Nosara were not included in the official statistics. Tourists here for a week of vacation are not likely to take a day to file a report in Nicoya, and residents are also unlikely to make the hour-long drive, several people pointed out.

In response to another question, Lacayo said that the victims must file the reports themselves, rather than through a rental agent. He promised to try to find a way for reports to be filed locally and accepted as part of the statistics.
He promised a follow-up report to be presented at the Oct. 6 meeting, scheduled for 8 am at the FUCAN building behind the Kitson Library, including a response to efforts to secure the Tourist Police. He also promised to send advisors to help neighborhoods organize better communications to fight crime.

Pinheiro reported that pledges of about $12,000 have already been received toward an annual budget of $15,000 thought necessary to support six tourist police. She said an organizational meeting was planned to create an association to oversee the fundraising and security efforts. Following the meeting, Lacayo inspected the proposed office space, located across the road from the meeting at Casa Tucan.
Also accompanying Comisario Lacayo were Commandante Jose Cruz, sub-director of the Fuerza Publica in Guanacaste, and Agente Yinni Guerrero, Commission de Distritalizacion, a community liaison.

A Song and Video for the Smokeshack!

We're really on the map now, we have our own theme song for the Smokeshack. Check it out at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hvj1XZtB6ag