Thanks to Luis & Marco from Nosara Civic Association for coming onto the Nosara Podcast for a high season 2026 update. We cover all kinds of topics in this episode from the court decision about park lands in Nosara, the Pelada evictions & other Nosara Gossip Machine stuff to the Nosara Corridor & all kinds of other positives & everything in between. It’s a super candid conversation & I appreciate them for coming on camera.
Nosara is a small, protective type of town & there are all kinds of opinions. I appreciate those who will come on camera and speak much more than the gossip minded or social media warriors who stir up controversy but are not solution oriented.
Here’s what life looks like in Nosara in the water and around the town in October 2025. All kinds of fun scenes in this episode and we hope you enjoy it.
La Asociación Cívica de Nosara anuncia un nuevo programa Covirena para hacer cumplir las reglas de que estamos en una reserva natural. No más perros, motocicletas, fogatas u otras cosas en la playa que puedan dañar el medio ambiente o las áreas de anidación de las tortugas.
Nosara Civic Association is announcing new Covirena program to enforce the rules we are in a nature reserve. No more dogs, motorcycles, fires, or other things on beach which may hurt the environment & or nesting areas for the turtles.
I’m grateful for so many things about life in Nosara… Surf of course #1, then followed by people & the community in general, then perhaps variety of weather, waves & types of people with season adjustments, & there’s more. But music wasn’t in top choices here until November 1st 2023. That’s when I started playing at Alt Fin Co at Outpost in Playa Guiones K section across from Surf Simply & near Beach Dog Cafe & El Campo.
Since then I’m reconnecting with many friendships, clients gathered over the years & just overall enjoying myself and the challenge of it all. My favorite jam sessions are the freestyle ones where someone just names a subject & off we go… However, on this night I was super nervous because my first time playing publicly with Garret “G Love” Dutton who has been a long time friend since about 2010 when he did his first Nosara Benefit show at that time for the Surfing Nosara Foundation to help local schools. Erik Antonson is to thank for starting all of this and to this date we’re all friends & I’m hoping we can get Nosara Acoustic Roots Festival back up & rolling.
Ideally we get G Love, Jack Johnson, Donovan Frankenreiter, Ben Harper type folks together for an ideal kind of festival. Nosara is a model town for the world to see and in protecting it and its people other places may benefit, too.
My music history is 2 years of piano 10 to 12, then picking up a guitar at 22 years old & mainly being self taught with a bit of time in contemporary church bands before moving to Nosara full time in 2009. My most interesting setup up till 2009 was playing upright bass in a bluegrass band called Tin Penny in St. Augustine, Florida. This style of music really caught my attention & formulated my style for future years.
When when Nosara happened, I pretty much dropped music except for Kaiya’s Del Mar Academy talent show in 2011 or so & a couple times at Il Basílico, Harbor Reef (RIP), and here or there with a friend like Josh, Tacu, or Darrin E on percussion.
So mainly it was me fingerpicking in the jungle in between letting my kids beat me up in karate, boxing, Muay Thai, or BJJ & UFC TUF episodes & Gracie Jiu Jitsu lessons as part of their homeschool.
But the kids are old now & I’m pumped to be back into music. Was terrifying getting out in front of people because when you stink in music super visible. At same time, I’m not trying to make any money or be famous. I just want to make interesting music that flows and generally has pretty strong bass lines.
Relationships are improving between our capital Nicoya and Nosara; which is great… But Nosara is long overdue for an updated census to more accurately report how many people are living here and helping secure essential services from our capital in Nicoya.
Nosara is definitely a magnet for all types of interesting and unique characters.
As we learn in this Nosara Podcast episode, Michel Viau is most certainly is one of these dynamic & unique individuals.
Michel, alongside wife & partner Chantal, are gaining momentum in shaping the landscape of the ever-evolving Nosara, seemingly in most all of the right ways.
They are committed to bridging the social and cultural gap in Nosara, so much so in 2018 they founded Nosara Community for the Arts (NOCA). Michel explains NOCA & how he’s using his background in design to achieve their success.
Thankfully, Michel’s pattern of success in life both in business & philanthropic endeavors continues today, towards a greater Nosara. Michel is in a unique position as to not be competing for funding in quite the same manner as standard NGO’s. He’s combining an environmental focus inside discipline based art projects always involving the local Tico populace & pulling in the many different types of people moving into, or becoming involved in Nosara. He’s a positive thinker and forecasting a bright 5 year outlook for Nosara as a whole.
We hope you enjoy hearing from Michel & support NOCA’s efforts!
