If you’re familiar with Nosara you already know how challenging our roads can be and the myriad of false promises in years past about fixing Ruta 160, our main road. There is often talk about it being paved but the work never happens (see previous podcasts if you want to know full story).
We were promised road work would resume in August… But it is September already and nobody seems to be working on the road (except volunteers).
Fortunately, Lucca Spendlingwimmer from the Ruta 160 returned to the Nosara Podcast to share updates with us.
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.
Julian Hoeing is successful by most anyone’s definition. He’s got a beautiful family and his professional resume includes designing for Lamborghini and Audi as well as Apple. However, Julian essentially walked away all of this to design surfboards and surf.
For those who may be unaware… It is extremely difficult to make money in surfboards. The margins are small, and there is a huge amount of competition. Regardless, this Austrian born designer and engineer who grew up skiing and snowboarding decided it was time for a change towards all things surf.
Here’s a sample of some Awesome Surfboards shapes
This podcast is one of my favorites in a while. I literally met Julian when we sat down for this episode and ended up making a new friend. He’s super funny (certainly by engineer standards anyway) and we covered all kinds of things.
We discuss surfboard design and go through a couple of his newer models, the time Kelly Slater reviewed his boards and shared some of his own, favorite waves and boards, some Nosara stuff, wave pools, and I ramble about how most everyone is riding the wrong equipment and tease Julian about yoga. But the main takeaway in this episode for me is how Julian left the definition of what most people call ‘success’ behind to live his life more based around what he really wants to do, which is all things surf.
PS – Many thanks to Denisse Lashley for introducing me to Julian and setting this up!
If you’re familiar with Nosara then you’ve probably heard of, or may already know, ‘Coconut’ Harry Heinke. Harry is a fun guy with a solid Nosara history going back to the mid 90’s and I’m excited to share his episode with you.
Almost everyone traveling into Nosara is greeted by Coconut Harry’s old surf shop upon arrival into Guiones along Ruta 160. Harry sold the shop to ‘Coconut’ Steve Reyer (a previous Nosara Podcast guest) over a decade ago, yet his name continues to live on. In fact, Harry still enjoys a surf session followed by some cold Pilsens and a sunset more than anyone I know.
This episode covers: Harry’s journey to Nosara, introducing Nosara to Virginia Beach, the ‘old days’ of surf in Nosara about what the crowds and waves were like, opening and operating Coconut Harry’s Surf Shop, thoughts about Nosara’s growth, what he’s up to these days, his Nosara dislikes, 3 favorite restaurants, thoughts about politics these days and much more.
I hope you enjoy listening to Harry’s episode!
*If you don’t have time to watch the video podcasts remember audio only versions of the Nosara Podcast are available via iTunes or Spotify. You can adjust the speed of the episodes as well for YouTube and audio only versions.
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!
In this Nosara Podcast episode, Nicole Quesada Gurdian shares her journey to Nosara, why she opened her legal practice here, Nosara likes and dislikes, her 3 favorite restaurants, her family’s extensive background, her friend’s alien experience, why she created her residency guide, plus much more.
She’s excited to be living, and building her business, in Nosara and I hope you enjoy getting to know her in this episode.
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!
