THANK YOU DAN PATCHIN and family for your generosity!

Dan emailed Surfing Nosara prior to his trip to Costa Rica this February and asked, "I'll be in Nosara in a week and I read about you guys doing some charity work with the school in town. I would like to bring down some supplies, paper, crayons, etc. Can you give me an idea of what is needed? I always try to do something for the locals when I travel." What a great guy!

We told him a little bit about a local charity that we love, Projecto Ninos, and how they coordinate with the local schools to disperse donations on a 'most need' basis. Dan decided to bring a BIG box of school supplies to Nosara with him, which we donated to Escuela Las Delicias this morning. Here are photos of the teacher, Dona Edith, opening the box and the children receiving the gifts. You can see the excitement in the childrens' faces!











Here is a picture of Escuela Las Delicias. The school is a one-room building that was built to replace the older, more delapidated shack. Here is some more info that I pulled off of the web:

The community of Delicias is a small town situated near the fishing village of Garza three miles west of the main road to Nosara. With a population of 150 people, Delicias has been plagued with economic and social problems. The school serves 22 students with an annual budget of $1,600. Since 1965, a more formal building has been under construction (years before, it was a hut). In the rainy season, students and teacher are guaranteed to get muddy on their journey to the cafeteria. The school only has one teacher and is the smallest of the six in the district. The school’s address is “Frente a la Iglesia de Las Delicias” (located in front of the Church in Las Delicias).

"Newer" School Building


Old School Building


The school is now trying desperately to raise funds to repair the older school building. The current students cannot all fit in one building- so the younger children attend class for three hours in the morning, and the older children attend class for a few hours in the afternoon. If you would like to make a donation to Las Delicias, or any other local school here, please feel free to contact me at sarah@surfingnosara.com, or projectoninos@yahoo.com...and tell them that Surfing Nosara sent you!

Nosara hosted it's leg of the Costa Rican national surf contest, CNS, this weekend...needless to say, our little beach was not very tranquil! We could hear the announcers and music from our house. Erik competed, but was knocked out in the first round (he was upset at his board choice)...but a few of our local friends, Viber, Luigi, and Jessenia, made it into the finals. The professional surfers took home all of the trophies, but the Nosara crowd put in a good showing. Erik took a bunch of photos of the event and posted details on the surf report- check it out!



We took Kemper out to dinner this weekend, where she discovered Bocce Ball for the first time. She had a 'smashing' time!

Did you happen to catch a glimpse of the lunar eclipse last night?

I was surprised when I went to walk the dogs yesterday evening...my first thought at seeing the moon shaded in deep brown was very silly- Wow! They must have exploded the contaminated satellite dish after all!- After the thought registered, I laughed at myself and called Erik out to view the eclipse. The news casters say we won't have another one until 2010....can you believe that is only two years away? 2010 sounds like such a futuristic year...

This photo is the best out of the few I shot- I took to reading the camera manual to learn how to take a better shot. By the time I was ready to try again, the moon had completely disappeared (and I was too tired to wait for its return).

Enjoy the shots of our water baby playing in the outdoor shower!

Here's a little sample of Kemper's new dance- after we took this video she spent the next twenty minutes or so spinning around in circles....don't worry- we took video of that, too!



Stay tuned for more video clips in the near future...

I know this is a little late, but Happy Valentine's Day (and Happy Belated President's Day, too, for that matter!)

I had an interesting experience after dinner last night...I had a sour lemon for dessert- but it tasted like sweet nectar! There was nothing special about the lemon- before I ate it I had chewed on a 'fruta de milagro' or Miracle Fruit. The little red berry has a mystical property- when you eat it, the fruit alters your taste buds for about 30 minutes. The berry itself has very little flavor, just a twinge of sweetness- needless to say I was a bit skeptical that it would actually make a lemon taste deliciously sweet....but low and behold...it did!

I was very curious about this little miracle, so I googled it. I have attached some information that I found on Wikipedia....



The Miracle Fruit Plant, sometimes known as Miracle Berry, or Magic Berry (Sideroxylon dulcificum/Synsepalum dulcificum) is a plant first documented by an explorer named Des Marchais during a 1725 excursion to its native West Africa. Marchais noticed that local tribes picked the berry from shrubs and chewed it before meals. The plant grows in bushes up to 20 feet high in its native habitat, but does not usually grow higher than ten feet in cultivation, and it produces two crops per year, after the end of the rainy season. It is an evergreen plant that produces small red berries, with flowers that are white and which are produced for many months of the year. The seeds are about the size of coffee beans.

The berry is sweet, and contains an active glycoprotein molecule, with some trailing carbohydrate chains, called miraculin. When the fleshy part of the fruit is eaten, this molecule binds to the tongue's taste buds, causing bitter and sour foods (such as lemons and limes) consumed later to taste sweet. This effect lasts between thirty minutes and two hours. It is not a sweetener, as its effects depend on what is eaten afterwards, but has been used to sweeten bitter medicines.

Miracle fruit. (2008, February 19). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 18:44, February 19, 2008, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Miracle_fruit&oldid=192580891

By popular demand, we bring you another Kemper video...this time she is giving Daddy 'smooches', as well as throwing around some of her baby signs.



We took the video yesterday, right before Kemper's nap (which is why she is rubbing her face so much). If you watch the video all the way through, you'll see Kemper sign the words 'more', 'please', and 'thank you'.

Kemper continued to lean in and give Erik hundreds of kisses yesterday...making it his favorite day of being a dad to date. Keep those kisses comin', Kemp!!

Love is in the air...




Who needs expensive toys?




Bad to the Bone

Yesterday I had the most incredible adventure....and best of all it was right in my backyard. My girlfriend, Lisseth, a Nosara local, and I hiked with her family along our beach for over an hour. We passed a little fishing village and trekked across deeply grooved rock fingers until we discovered a hidden beach.



From there we continued along more rock fingers until we happened upon beautiful tide pools brimming with sea life. At first glance, hermit crabs appeared to be the only inhabitants...but after overturning a few rocks, Lisseth and her sisters introduced me to by far the coolest fish I have ever seen. They call them 'pez globo'- spineless, brightly-colored blow fish.



Just look at those cheeks!



On our long trek home, I couldn't help but think how unfair it is that some people live their entire lives without ever witnessing the natural beauty of the ocean. Something about the restless tides, limitless blue horizon and intoxicating sun really grounds me. I am incredibly grateful to live in such a beautiful land and do not take one ounce, or minute, of it for granted.

Quote of the Day "I don't ignore you 90% of the time, I ignore you 40% of the time"
(Erik responding to Sarah yesterday)

Erik, Andrew, and I decided on a whim that we could all benefit from a brief vacation...so we left our paradise for a five-day stint in someone else's paradise. Last week we headed for Bocas del Toro, Panama- a group of 9 islands off of the caribbean coast of panama near the Costa Rica border. After a bumpy hour-long Nature Air flight, we landed on the principal island of Colon. In the airport we brushed elbows with professional surfer, Damien Hobgood, who graciously posed for a shot with our little ripper.


We stayed on a small island, Carenero, population 436. While Colon was busy with cars, restaurants and bars, Carenero was a quiet retreat. We island hopped for $1, in a 3-minute boat taxi ride.
(Island of Colon)

(Island of Carenero)


Each morning, the guys woke up and hailed boat taxi's to take them to different surf spots. Kemper and I opted to sleep in and enjoy a lazy breakfast in our hotel, The Acuario.




The landscape of the islands is much different than our hometown; in the hazy morning hours I was fondly reminded of the Blue Ridge mountains- looking from Carenero toward the Panama mainland, each island stacks upon the next, adding a lighter shade of blue.
The view from our room

Walking around the gritty, coral sand, we discovered algae, broken coral, and sponges. The small beaches, while not very kid-friendly, are overhung with beautiful palms and other shade-giving trees.

On a morning hike, Kemper and I discovered a small peninsula which looked like the picture-perfect picnic spot.



Many of the hotels and restaurants are built out on docks over the water....Key West meets Crystal River may be the best way to describe the overall landscape and ambiance.

The islands have an entirely different feel from our home; the natives are very dark skinned and speak an 'island' Spanish with traces of Haitian and Jamaican influence. Lemongrass, coconut, and curry are the predominant flavors on the typical menus. The police have a very strong presence and enforce the no open bottle in the street policy.



While I enjoyed seeing a new landscape, tasting new flavors and traditions, I couldn't wait to return home again. Kemper couldn't wait to tear off her life jacket and run freely on our wide open beaches. Erik couldn't wait to get back to work. And Andrew couldn't wait to see Magnus again. It was a great trip....if only Nature Air could make room for the surfboards! The guys have all suffered now for over a week waiting on their boards to return from San Jose...

Playing on the dock of our hotel





We made a few new friends on our trip...
('Peresoso' a three-toed sloth)



('Pedro' the pelican)
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('Don King' the seagull)

Kemper's rendition of "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" at 13 months old