Jan 2007

January 2007

The Black Sheep Pub will be one year old on February 3rd and we are having a big party. For New Years Eve we had over 100 people, 2 busy bartenders, and 3 cooks—we were told that the Black Sheep was the place to be. Over the past few weeks we had the Nosara tennis group, a horse choreography group, realtors and their families, the doctors and their friends from San Jose, students from Middlebury College, and the other night we had 4 vibrant girls in their 20’s from Argentina. Our most famous client this month was a young man who had the same last name as the president (Arias)—it turned out his father is the president’s cousin—he came with some young professionals from San Jose specifically to come to our pub. Our membership roster in Nosara is over 150. People are coming steadily all evening, most in their own groups, but this being a small town, it feels more like a party then being at a bar. We have a great bartender, Melissa, who lives in the American Beach project, knows a lot of people, and makes great Cosmos. We now have Poker night on Thursdays—4-12 people play poker for several hours and come and get beer from time to time. When we go down to the town or the American beach projects many people know us from the pub. We were not known in this way in Boston at all. It is great to have a social life come to us and we are meeting some great people.

My woman’s group is congealing. We have had two meetings and are beginning to conduct a survey of the woman’s health needs in the area. We are applying for grant money; we are connecting with the Peace Corps to request volunteers and will likely start local fundraising. The town of Nosara is quite disenfranchised and needs everything. I continue to teach my breathwork classes at the Nosara Yoga Institute and I had my first private client come to my house last week. . I am looking forward to seeing my friend Samvedam who is coming to the Yoga Institute mid-February with participants from the Boston area to facilitate a retreat. Her information is at www.innerartsinstitute.com

Our mailbox works. Mark and Jenny sent us a DVD from the UK—“Dinner for One”—this is the famous film that Germans watch on New Years Eve about a butler who gets progressively drunker as he waits on 4 imaginary guests. They also sent us a “Black Sheep Brewery” bar towel. Our address is Apdo 164-5233, Nosara, Nicoya, Guanacaste, Costa Rica. Send us small things, i.e. CD’s, DVD’s if you feel inspired.

We met a woman in Nicoya from Cambridge who recognized Joe’s “People’s Republic of Cambridge’ T-shirt. It turns out she organizes woman’s empowerment workshops world-wide and my group may use some of her ideas. Go to www.thattakesovaries.org for more information.

Our garden looks great—it helps to have a regular gardener. The weather is warm and dry and the sky is a beautiful shade of blue with white clouds. The breezes are fabulous though sometimes the winds are too strong. The roads are great. This is the high season when most of the tourists come. The weather is great till around April when it gets too hot but we do have our pool. Stay in touch. Love Helena and Joe