Nosara Podcasts with Rich Burnam

23 minutes with Spacialle Novak about life in Nosara during COVID-19 and beyond

Normally, Spacialle Novak’s life is extremely busy overseeing The Gardens Hotel and helping with the increasingly popular restaurant El Local in addition to her family’s business making delicious chocolates and coffee. However, COVID-19 is changing things and in this Nosara Podcast episode she shares how she is undergoing this massive transition both professionally and personally.

17 minutes with Lily from Hot Tamale: Life in Nosara during COVID-19 times as a parent and small business owner, looking at life a bit differently while remaining hopeful

Lily Walter from Hot Tamale is a fun person to be around and talk to. I thought it would be great to hear her insights about these strange times on the Nosara Podcast.

She’s super helpful in the community and once things get better we will have her in the studio for a full episode. In the meantime I hope you enjoy hearing from her.

 

Robert Vickers from Olo Alaia; A 13 minute conversation about life in Nosara dealing with COVID-19 and thoughts about our future

In this episode, Mr. Robert Vickers from Olo Alaia explains what life in Nosara is like right now from both business and personal perspectives plus makes a bet with Rich about when the beaches are reopening.

6 minutes with Diego Cruz: Dealing with COVID-19 situation in Nosara, his restaurant Olivia’s and Guiones Brew Co, the beaches being closed, plus his thoughts about the future

In this brief episode Diego Cruz shares his thoughts on the entire situation going on right now in Nosara.

What is going on with the Nosara Food Bank and why should you help? Jill Ryan and Joellen Hughes provide updates and explain the El Chivo Sponsorship Program

There is a great deal of urgency these days generating attention towards the Nosara Food Bank resulting from the COVID-19 situation. With the significant loss of jobs and income, many are predicting a food crisis. However, the NFB is working overtime right now trying to avoid this from happening and they are asking for your support.

Jill Ryan and Joellen Hughes (from El Chivo) appeared on the Nosara Podcast to explain what is happening with the NFB and how El Chivo is sponsoring a hot meal option until a wide scale distribution begins to qualified candidates.

NFB Co-Director Jo Ellen Nott was unavailable for the podcast but she did emphasize the need for further donations and how the the NFB is preparing a wide scale distribution of essentials to qualified candidates launching this month.

The link for donations:
https://www.classy.org/campaign/nosara-covid-19-emergency-fund/c278420

Or if you prefer you can make a direct bank transfer to their dollar checking account at Banco de Costa Rica:

Asociacion Banco de Alimentos de Nosara
CR 46015201001037294430 (IBAN)
Cedula 3-002-719816

However, in the meantime El Chivo is offering a sponsorship program of a hot, hearty portion meal which could be a large meal for 1 person, mixed for 2 persons or mixed in with other items to feed a family.

$11 dollars at this link: https://www.gofundme.com/f/sponser-a-meal-in-nosara?utm_source=customer&utm_medium=copy_link-tip&utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet

In addition, others in immediate need may call 2682-1073 to qualify for immediate food needs.

For those who want to physically make a donation, Jo and Agnes of Villa Mango are available from 10am to 2pm Monday – Friday. The main items needed are:

• Bags of beans
• Bags of rice
• Oil
• Sugar
• Pastas
• Coffee
• Corn meal
• Feminine hygiene products

April 2nd, 2020 Nosara Civic Association updates

In this episode of the Nosara Podcast, Nice Alterman addresses the Nosara Civic Association’s priority updates for the community and explains how and why the NCA is making progress, even during these strange times. She covers a wide variety of information about the NCA’s most pressing issues and what they are doing to help the community further.

 

What is Costa Rica doing to help Employers & Employees during these strange times?

There’s a great deal of confusion happening right now in Costa Rica and throughout the world. The primary concern of course should be immediate health concerns about COVID-19. Fortunately, in Costa Rica they are taking significant action by closing borders, limiting driving times, asking everyone to stay home and at minimum practice social distancing, etc… However, both employers and employees are in a very challenging situation by staying home and not working.

So what is the Costa Rican government doing to help employers and employees in dealing with this strange predicament?

I invited Jose Arce and Roberto Castillo Pacheco from Sfera Legal to help us understand what is currently happening and what the updates are. Many thanks to them for providing this information.

I will continue to be speaking with various legal representatives as this situation unfolds so stay tuned to the Nosara Times for further updates as this situation is constantly changing.

Nosara COVID-19 Updates as of March 26th; 10 Questions with Dr. Alejandro from Paradise Medical Services

In this discussion I ask Dr. Alejandro from Paradise Medical Services the following 10 questions:

• Are there any confirmed cases in Nosara or Samara?
• What are the National updates about how quickly cases are spreading across the country and what is your predictions about next week(s) and months?
• What differences do you see week to week? As in what changed from last week to this week and what are you expecting next week?
• When do you think we will have a COVID-19 case here in Nosara or do we probably have it here already?
• What is your opinion about social media during this? There’s lots of information and advice shooting around out there…
• What should people be doing proactively? What foods, vitamins, injections, etc.?
• When should someone contact a Doctor if they or a loved one are experiencing symptoms?
• What is your advice for people who have to go to work or go broke?
• Is group immunity the tactic CR plans to use? What are the recontamination risks once people get back on the streets?
• What misconceptions about all of this would you like to address while you have this platform?

These are very strange times. Many thanks to everybody following the guidelines of staying off the beach and staying at home and practicing social distancing. Hopefully doctors and other health care professionals will conduct telemedicine in order to provide the highest level of safety for everyone. Some practitioners have started this already as you heard Dr. Alejandro’s explain.

Nosara Coronavirus updates as of March 18th with Dr. Chore from Paradise Medical Services

Over the past week we learned a great deal more about COVID – 19 and how it is starting to affect Nosara’s residents and guests. In this updated episode, Dr. Chore Jimenez provides some very clear messages to Nosara residents and current visitors and a great deal of information. He discusses being out in public, the importance of self isolation, hygiene, what makes this virus different from others and why it is not like the ‘common cold or flu,’ who to call if you think you may have COVID – 19, what people who need income from March and April should do, how we should greet one another going forward, plus much more.

Dr. Chore is predicting an outbreak of some sort in Nosara and is adamant residents need to take the right steps to counteract the potential spread of this virus. He consistently reminds us this virus spreads without people even realizing they are carrying it and to not treat this like the ‘common flu’ or ‘gripe’ as we call it here. There are reports the first death in Costa Rica occurred and most professionals are predicting more and doing their best to avoid significant loss by taking the proper precautions.

Here is Dr. Chore’s synopsis: Stay home, stop going out, when you shop please do so responsibly by acquiring 14 days of food and only one family member visiting the store, please stop shaking hands, fist bumping, kissing, etc. and simply wave at someone hello or goodbye. If you show symptoms please stay home and only go to hospital if there is an extreme situation as it is far more dangerous to visit clinics or the hospital and Costa Rica does not have the resources for too many people to crowd the facilities. Call the # 1322 govenment number or Paradise Medical if you suspect a case of COVID – 19. But again, know the best situation is to stay home and do not spread this virus. Prevention is our only solution at the moment. If you must go out in public please maintain space and use proper hygiene as repeatedly suggested.

We discuss when, and when not, to panic. Follow his recommendations in this video and make sure not to treat this as a ‘doomsday situation’ per se. Dr. Chore approves of the current governmental measures and wishes they would have been implemented sooner. We discuss how restaurants are limiting capacity, bars, casinos, schools, universities and even the country’s borders are closing, and he is hopeful these measures will be of assistance.

One of his major points in staying home unless complete emergency is Costa Rica does not have the resources to handle all of the potential patients. The main solution is bringing down the chances of the virus spreading further so stay put if at all possible.

Coronavirus Information for Nosara from Dr. Alejandro at Paradise Medical Services

Over the past couple of days we’ve been receiving lots of information and questions about the Coronavirus in particular for Nosara. So Dr. Alejandro from Paradise Medical Services stopped by the Nosara Podcast to give us updates.

I hope you find this information useful and encourage anyone to contact Paradise Medical for any and all Coronavirus specific related questions.

Furthermore, please remember this is a highly controversial topic with wild claims being made by many. Much information is circulating throughout world news yet it seems this will be an ongoing situation and only time will prove world impact. However, almost everyone agrees it is in the best prevention interests of people to avoid large groups and maintain excellent hygiene practices.