Times are tough these days for Nosara’s restaurants. Coronavirus drastically reduced tourism and making it to high season is proving difficult, if not impossible, for multiple locations.
Michael Streda from Beach Dog Cafe feels the restaurants helped shape the Nosara experience and are an important part of the community. However, his restaurant is struggling to remain open and he is starting a GoFundMe as an attempt to save his employees’ jobs.
In this episode, Mike shares his thoughts how Nosara is ‘on the cusp of turning into franchises like Subway and hotel based restaurants and losing part of what makes us special’ along with explaining his personal situation.
Donate $50-$100 for a free lunch… Over $100 gets free T-shirt
***Personally, I agree with some of Mike’s statements in the video. So restaurant owners please feel free to reach out to me if you need some help. I am putting together an article for the Nosara Times soon and happy to include info for those working hard to make it. We can do quick podcast episodes too if you want to share your personal story.
I had a great time speaking with Henry from El Local and I’m happy to share his episode. This was our first time speaking at length outside of El Local, the restaurant he manages, and it was fun getting to know him. Initially, I didn’t know how much he likes to laugh and joke around.
However, we share lots of laughs throughout this 60 minute episode as Henry shares his background and journey to Nosara, how he brought El Local to the upper tier of Nosara restaurants, what challenges him the most and what drives him to succeed, his daughter, some Nosara ups and downs, his take on aliens, what his favorite restaurants are and a bunch more. I hope you enjoy Henry’s Nosara Podcast!
Michael Streda from Beach Dog Cafe and Lori Anne from Spirit Lounge are unique human beings. They seem to strengthen and challenge one another both personally and in their businesses. Their newest adventure, The Sacred Playground, is definitely not a ‘normal’ business concept… So I wanted to find out why these already successful Guiones business owners decided to go ‘all in’ manifesting this strange idea. This episode is Mike and Lori both explaining and sharing the experience of their newest project and I hope you enjoy it!
In this episode of the Nosara Podcast, Kuki and I enjoy a lively conversation broaching multiple subjects pertaining to Nosara as of today and our future.
We kick off the discussion about the NCA’s trail system and Kuki shares about the idea of making them a main source of mobility. The idea she explains is to have pathways from Bodhi Tree all the way to the river dike pathway.
Next we talk about why the beaches are not reopened in our area but are open elsewhere in the country. At the moment, this is one of the most pressing issues in our community and hopefully our discussion helps people understand where we are at on this subject. Lots of pros and cons and it is an emotional issue for many people.
Further along in the episode we discuss the Plan Regulador, Kuki’s decision to step down as NCA President as of January, the Nosara Food Bank, how Nicoya’s recently elected Mayor believes Nosara can be a model for the world, whether or not Nosara will try again to break away from Nicoya, some election talk about Trump, the move towards national tourism along with several other items.
There is a great deal more we discussed in depth, but we cut this episode down to 45 minutes to help. I hope you enjoy this episode and it helps in some way. Please send in any and all feedback, both good and bad, and know it is appreciated.
In Brandon Richardson’s initial episode of the Nosara Podcast we discuss Nosara during COVID times, make predictions about the borders and beaches reopening, recovery for Nosara’s smaller and larger businesses, give shout outs to the Nosara Food Bank, why he’s no longer taking waves for granted, his dislikes of social media, and finding positive things to do while learning to prioritize what’s most important in life through this situation.
Brandon has been through many of Nosara’s ups and downs in his time here. He survived the last financial crisis, a major earthquake, dengue, the intense competition and the many challenges of building his business (Wanderlust Realty) and living in a very small town…
But this Coronavirus situation is different. Now he’s out of the water. As you’ll hear in his episode, this proves extra challenging for this avid surfer and spear-fisherman… So I decided to check in with him to see what he’s up to and hear his thoughts.
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.
