Nosara Dec 2008

Nosara December 2008

Joe and I are reevaluating our life here. Our original plan was to give Nosara 5 years and as we move into year #3, we are beginning to consider possible alternatives for the future. We are leaning toward moving closer to the Central Valley near the capital for various reasons, among them being closer to medical care in our later years. Another reason is that Joe always had the dream of pursing a commercial version of the Black Sheep. There is nothing like our pub in Costa Rica and here in Nosara it is very popular with educated Ticos, tourists, and expatriates. The Central Valley has a temperate climate, mountain views, and large concentrations of our key groups of clients. Our friends from San Jose are very encouraging about locating the Black Sheep Pub in the Central Valley and we also have received encouragement about finding possible investors. Over the next few weeks we will be making decisions about listing our property, where to move and where to locate the pub.

The rainy season was not too bad for us this year—the worst of it was non-stop heavy rains for 3 days flooding the town and surrounding areas. We, being without our car (12 weeks total), freed us of car problems, and we adjusted to tagging along with people to go to town for supplies. We mostly stayed on the mountain with our great views (i.e. clouds coming down forming rings on the mountains), the clean air, and the warm breezes and I did some hiking on the mountain with our neighbors, Peter and Emily.

Before we decided to move, we ordered a new ATV (all terrain vehicle) a 250 cc Yamaha product called a Genesis. This is a great vehicle for our dirt roads here and is better on gas than a car. We intend to enjoy our last year here and do a lot of exploring on our ATV. We will either sell it or take it with us to our new home—once my check clears it will be delivered.

The Black Sheep Pub continues its trajectory of success. We hosted a party for our friend Andre’s 60th birthday—a Swiss and German crowd (over 100 people) with live music and catered food-- a classy event. Last week a young Tico couple from San Jose visited and rented one of our guest rooms for the night. We are listed in a Costa Rican guidebook—three lines about the private authentic English pub in the hills of Nosara intrigued them enough to find us. They loved the pub and they are now our friends who may be helpful toward helping us with our relocation to the Central Valley.

The high season is here—the dry winds have started, the skies are blue, and the rain is mostly gone. I am back with my woman’s health project—one of the local hotels is sponsoring a educational event for us in early Dec and I have an upcoming article about our work in Voice of Nosara. I also have ads in the paper for counseling and breathwork.

So if you want to visit, come now—we expect it will take a while to sell but it may not—all you need is one buyer. And it is beautiful here— 3 miles from the Pacific Ocean, ocean and valley views, clean air, tropical breezes and so on—we will miss the natural beauty. Write when you can. Happy Holidays, Love, Helena and Joe