Nosara Podcasts with Rich Burnam

Casa Vida Nosara: A conversation with Daniel Valverde

A couple weeks back I sat down with Mr. Daniel Valverde. Dani is the Pastor for Casa Vida Nosara and a very good friend to the Burnam family. Dani has a very interesting story to tell and most everyone agrees he is a high-quality individual.

In this conversation, we covered a ton of ground ranging from how Dani made it to Nosara from San Jose, the incredible luck he has for high-quality surf each year for the annual ‘Jesus Went’ surf contests, his current ministry activities along with the goals he’s trying to achieve, and how he abandoned his studies in architecture to become a preaching minister plus a ton more. Dani grabs a couple of laughs at my expense as I share the most embarrassing surf story I have while surfing in his contest a couple of years back.

Over the years I’ve had the pleasure of serving the Nosara community with Dani in multiple arenas and I’m proud he is here following his heart at the highest level. One interesting thing about Dani is how committed his wife is to the ministry and following their collective true calling. In fact, most of the children in the area Nosara area know ‘Miss Maria Jose’ from her many years teaching at Del Mar Academy and/or serving the community via the many opportunities Nosara provides.  They have 2 wonderful children and they are easily found surfing many mornings in Guiones.

If you’re looking for a church congregation of the standard Christian variety in Nosara you should consider Casa Vida’s 2 options: The English speaking service is on Sunday’s at the main beach in Guiones right in front of the parking lot. The Spanish speaking service is at 5pm at the Casa Vida Campus grounds. Dani’s congregation has a 501c3 qualified donation strategy in place to help with Mercy Homes, renovations, education and scholarship programs, plus multiple natural disaster or other emergency situations.

The Nosara Civic Association update from President Kuki

Ethel Araya (most everyone calls her Kuki) is the president of the Nosara Civic Association. She stopped by for a conversation with Rich and provided a complete update on the most pressing matters in our community. If you own a property, business or are a resident in Nosara please join the Nosara Civic Association to support protecting our parklands, our beaches and supporting community planning and positive development in our rapidly growing town.

The Olo Alaia Story; a conversation with Mr. Robert Vickers

Everyone has their issues. One of mine happens to be surfboards. My wife Aimee likes them only slightly less than I do... So when Olo Alaia opened up right next to Surfing Nosara it changed our lives. The owner and operator of Olo Alaia (OA), Robbie Vickers, made a commitment to bringing the highest quality surfboards he possibly could with an emphasis on equipment which functions well in Guiones surf. It's not just surf though... OA is a brew house for coffee and focuses on providing the highest quality craft beer he can find in Costa Rica. So essentially between surf, coffee, and beer Robbie has a pretty good gig going. After all, 2 of the 3 are recession proof and the 3rd is a way of life and his neighbor is a surfboard addict. I sat down with Robbie to have a conversation about his personal journey from Ireland, to New York, and ultimately to Nosara and how his vision for OA formed into what it is today.

In this episode we discuss:

• Robbie's life in Ireland and finding surfing then life in New York
• First trip to Costa Rica
• How Robbie met his wife
• His personal business here
• How OA formed
• How OA is an experience, not just a shop
• Surfboards
• Robbie and Rich bicker over his choices of top 3 surfboards for life

For those who may not know already, in Guiones our surf is extremely consistent but it is a soft wave which is great for beginners and intermediates but not ideal for high performance surfing. Of course there are local rippers who shred out there and can make any wave look good... But the reality is for 90+% of people in the water are on the wrong equipment.

I like to tease Robbie about he is doing good and bad for the world by crowding surfing lineups with people riding the right boards. Here is what I mean by this: Currently in our area about 90% of everyone out there are riding the wrong board. This is fantastic because there's lots of waves to be had still even though the lineup in Guiones is crowded. With OA Robbie is now helping everyone get on better surf equipment which is terrific but there's a whole lot less waves to go around. Of course I'm kidding, but I do think I'm right.

If you're coming through town stop in at OA. The experience Robbie has created is top notch, and extremely uncommon in Costa Rica. The coffee is fantastic, the beers are top-quality, and the surfboards on hand are a far higher level than most anywhere else in Costa Rica.

Nosara Security Association October Update

Security in Nosara is a huge concern and should be addressed. This video is a couple member of the Nosara Security Association giving clear guidance to residents, homeowners, and visitors. If you live in Nosara please check this one out and share with people who need to hear this message.

Nosara Road Update: Is Ruta 160 going to be paved between Garza and Nosara or not?

If you’ve been to Nosara then you know we have some serious challenges with our roads. Let me restate it to be a little more clear: Our roads are terrible and cars pretty much come here to die. In fact, our dust problems in the high season make it sometimes unsafe to be on or live near the main road, Ruta 160. The primary victims of the respitory issues are local Ticos who live or work right by the road and as Nosara grows the dust problem continues to grow as well.

However, we have been promised and repeatedly told asphalt is on the way for Ruta 160 between Garza and Santa Marta in late 2018. Unfortunately, as I type this of late October 2018, we can clearly see there is little to no possibility of the new road going in this year… Furthermore, it seems like the entire project may have been stalled or possibly terminated altogether. As one might expect, most everyone in Nosara is highly concerned about this and wondering what is going to happen on this controversial subject.

To help provide accurate information on what is going on I sat down with Lucca Spendlingwimmer who is on Nosara’s Ruta 160 committee. Lucca details in this interview the project history of the paving of Ruta 160 and where we are at today.

***Please everyone give many thanks to the volunteers on the Nosara Ruta 160 committee who constantly try to help the residents of Nosara.

A conversation with Mike Streda: The Beach Dog Cafe Story and sooo much more.

Recently I had the pleasure of sitting down with my good friend Mr. Mike Streda to dig into his story a bit for your listening pleasure. This is definitely one of the more interesting conversations you’re going to hear from anyone in Nosara and I want to thank Mike for sitting down with me and sharing such powerfully personal information. Most of you know Mike as the owner of Beach Dog Café… However, there is so much to him that most people would never even be aware of.

Quite frankly: Mike is a powerhouse of a personality and a constantly evolving human being. We discuss everything from plant medicine to Martial arts to owning and fighting so very hard for success with his business in Nosara. All of this is in addition to a massive, radical personal transformation over the past couple of years.

We actually had a really tough time editing this because there’s so much… In fact, we actually ignored our entire first recording because the information is so controversial and we’re not sure people are ready to hear it. So we’re probably going to do a part 2 to this episode because the most intense and detailed stuff I’m a bit too chicken to publish just yet.

So we hope you enjoy this appetizer of an introduction into Mike. Stay tuned and know there’s a bunch more on the way… Mike is a super interesting guy and there’s more to come in the future. Make sure when you’re in town get into Beach Dog Cafe for a great meal or 2 and enjoy the newer setup.

PS – After this conversation was recorded, I did take Mike up on his challenge to get into BDC and taste his new vegan, bacon infused mini burgers and now I have to admit it, Mike was actually right… They were really good. So Mike I apologize for the ‘vegan food tastes like a shoe’ comment, Mike. You’re onto something and I’ll be back for more!