Gabby & Ru stop by the Nosara Podcast studio to share all kinds of things plus what’s happening at Surf Simply and their kids club.
*This was recorded pre covid and we’ll get a 2021 update for everyone hopefully soon.
Category: Family
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NP #100: Here’s the story of my head injury & current situation
This past year was a tough one… I suffered a head injury and took some brain damage and cracked an ear drum.
In this episode I share what happened, what riding in an ambulance to San Jose is like, what it is like to wake up in hospital after losing your memory, what it feels like to recover from vertigo, head pain, and memory loss, who was first to respond, who in Nosara helps with recovery on these kinds of things, what I am facing in recovery process, why I am surfing and more. Here’s the questions I answer directly:
- How did it happen?
- What was it like at first?
- What was it like in the hospital?
- What is memory loss like?
- What was the pain like?
- Where are you at in the recovery process?
- Is surfing helping your recovery?
- Any ‘shout outs’ to people?
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Early 2020 Guiones High Season Surf Session
2020 is off to solid run of clean surf with offshore winds in the mornings and occasionally all day. Early January was pretty small size wise but later in the month the size picked up a bit. So far February has been really fun.
The footage in this video is from a small day and features lots of locals and visitors enjoying a beautiful day on the beach.
Pulling up to main beach… Guess who is under the shirt? 
Jayson from Get Hooked 
Incoming missile… Duck!!! 
Mr. Rick Lambert 
CR Champ Dorian styling 10 on the nose 
Nelson from Living Stoked cutting back 
Fernie!!!! 
Chico Surf spreading good vibes 
Matteo putting his head into it 
Mr. Quinn 
Miss Clementine 
Mrs. Sullivan 
Marq figuring out which peak he is about to dominate 
Jumbo enjoying his fish 
Louis ‘Deez’ Michael B 
Owen came back through town 
Elisha and I finishing our session and heading to work 
Rick Wilkins is an Olo Alaia staple most every morning 
Carlos, Jayson, Prado, Rick L, Chico Surf, Costa Rican Longboard Champion Dorian, the Sullivans Little Quinn, Clementine, Heather, Brian, Fernie, Marq, Natalie, Jim, Alejandro, Luis ‘Deez,’ Owen, and a bunch more all make an appearance in this video. After surf is a quick walk through of Olo Alaia to see what Robbie and Team are up to.
Hope you enjoy this video and see you in the water!
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NP #61: Isis Mejía Podcast Episode; Lots of laughter, some tears, becoming ‘kind of hippy,’ creating karate champions, Nosara dislikes, the ‘Secret to Marriage,’ favorite Nosara restaurants and much more…
Isis Mejía is a longtime family friend, coach to my kids, and a popular, positive person known as a successful karate coach, and physical therapist (she is the owner and operator of Nosara Bodywork).
Since moving to Nosara she has developed a championship karate team, created a significant following in her physical therapist business, and enjoys serving at Nosara Animal Care.
Professionally: She has navigated positions peacefully in a very small town having worked at the Harmony Hotel, Del Mar Academy, and now Nosara Bodywork in addition to operating her successful Nosara Karate Academy.
Personally: In this episode, Isis explains: Her secret to marriage, apologizes for her 2 beagle dogs who constantly break out, how she is a black belt in karate with a father who fought Chuck Norris (true story), really dislikes Chepeños (people from San Jose) even though she herself is from San Jose, and this is just the beginning…
Over the years I have noticed few people know the many different versions of Isis. They only know one or 2… So my goal in this Nosara Podcast episode was for Isis to show her true opinions and emotions; which she definitely did. She’s really funny and very upfront in her podcast…
For certain this is one of my favorite episodes and I hope you enjoy getting to know Isis!
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NP #53: Nosara Performing Arts Academy is officially open
This episode of the Nosara Podcast features the Nosara Performing Arts Academy (NPAA) owners, Adrienne Fittzmaurice and Hayley MacMillan Ord. They stopped in the studio to explain what the NPAA program is all about.
The NPAA is officially open and well on their way to bringing cultures together teaching classes through the arts.
It is exciting to hear what’s happening and hopefully we as a community can help more children get involved in art programs.
I hope you enjoy this episode!
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Nosara Jiu Jitsu’s 2019 Graduation Ceremony With Special Guests Ryron Gracie & Fernando Moya Attending
Nosara Jiu Jitsu Coach Daniel Rodriguez is up to something special. Each week in the mornings, afternoons, and evenings a highly dedicated group of students consistently show up for training. Fortunately for all of them, special guest coaches consistently show up in Nosara to help even further.
For example, BJJ Legends Emily Kwok (3x World Champion) and Ryron Gracie (Just google him) have become Nosara staples Coach Daniel and his team get to learn from on a consistent basis.
This past Saturday the 2019 graduation ceremony for Nosara BJJ took place at the Gilded Iguana’s new athletic center. Ryron Gracie and Fernando Moya each attended and took part in the ceremony which made this day extra special for all of the students.
I hope you enjoy this quick video recap. Please make sure to give Coach Daniel a big ‘thanks’ for everything his efforts are leading to. HUGE thanks to Oscar and Ramon and the Gilded Iguana Athletic Center for hosting this event and Nosara Jiu Jitsu classes.
Here’s some pics of the attendees and enjoy the video.
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Nosara Karate Academy at the 2019 National Karate Tournament; Video Highlights of Kaiya & Elisha
There is a pretty solid martial arts scene going on in Nosara. Our kids are fortunate to enjoy high quality instruction in Boxing, Muay Thai, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Karate. There are regular classes available for visitors and residents alike. Sometimes seminars or even tournaments are available in our area and throughout the country.
This past weekend both Kaiya and Elisha had a great time representing Nosara Karate Academy at the 2019 Costa Rica National Karate Tournament in San Jose.
This scrappy little team from Guanacaste had successful showings to be proud of in both 2018 and 2019.
In karate tournaments there are two divisions: Kumite and Kata. Kumite is fighting based on a point system. A punch is 1 point and a head kick is 3 points. A Kata is series of fluid positions and exercises performed in a routine but with no combat. Both Elisha and Kaiya prefer Kumite but understand the discipline learned doing a Kata is important to advance belts and knowledge in the karate system.
The kids want to thank Sensei Isis, her father Sensei Hector, as well as Sensei Edgar from San Jose for training them for the past several years.
2018 National Tournament
9 competitors, 15 medals, 2 National Champions
- Kaiya: 1st Kumite, 2nd Kata
- Elisha: 1st Kumite, 2nd Kata
- Helen: 2nd Kumite, 3rd Kata
- Amira 1 medal
- Nayra: 2 medals
- Tiaja: 2nd Kata
- Jameson: 3rd Kata
- Lochlan: 2nd Kumite, 3rd Kata
- 2019 National Tournament
- 7 competitors, 7 medals, 1 National Champion
- Elisha: 1st Kumite, 3rd Kata
- Kaiya: 2nd Kumite, 3rd Kata
- Amira: 2nd Kata
- Nayra: 3rd Kata
- Tiaja: 2nd Kata
- Kai
- Aslan
Sensei Hector with Kaiya celebrating a solid finish 
Kai and Elisha enjoyed hanging out watching everyone else compete 
One of my favorite pictures 
2018 celebration with Sensei Hector 
Belt ceremony at Nalu 
Sensei Edgar from San Jose 
Teasha doing her Kata in 2019 
Nosara Karate Academy normally practices on Tuesdays 3:45pm (smaller kids) and 4:45pm (ages 8+) at Nalu and occasionally some private practices at La Banana. Contact Isis on Facebook or stop by Nalu on Tuesday afternoons to see the Nosara Karate Academy in action.
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NP #17: Del Mar Academy: How did one school change Nosara so much? What’s next?
In this episode, Rich sits down with Del Mar Academy founders Haley Macmillan-Ord and Jessica Sheffield to discuss updates with Del Mar Academy and their side of the story with opening and operating a school deep in the jungle.
Short version (14 minutes):
Full version (55 minutes):
Most people understand opening and operating any kind of school is not easy.
Opening a school deep in the jungle in a small town hours away from major civilization (via sometimes horrendous roads), zero supplies, very few students, plus so much more… Well that is even harder.
But this is exactly what the Del Mar Academy founders did back in 2007.
People new to Nosara might not be aware of what Nosara was like just a short decade or so ago… Nosara used to be a tiny little town with very challenging access, almost zero publicity, no private schools, very limited medical care, and overall was an extremely challenging place for expats to live if they had kids.
However, Nosara of today is becoming a popular, well-heeled tourist town mentioned by major publications such as the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Outside Magazine, CNN, FOX, and so many others… There are doctors, dentists, chiropractors, the supermarkets are improving, there is a wide variety of restaurants and there is a chance the main road will finally be paved.
But it was not always this way. Del Mar Academy helped bring Nosara to the forefront of options for families looking for a spot in Latin America which is a big factor why Nosara is filled with families and nature preserves instead of nightclubs and condo developments.
The success of Del Mar Academy is now helping other private schools to open and operate, plus Del Mar Academy helps the local public schools a great deal, as well as providing scholarships to local Tico’s. Now that Del Mar Academy is a foundation their goal is to drastically increase their funding so they can provide more scholarships and increase environmental awareness not in Nosara but throughout the world.
https://www.nosarascholarships.org/donate—donar.html
