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Dec
19
Missing professor found murdered
December 19, 2009 | Tags: Crime & Punishment | Comments Off
The body of Alexander Obando Campos was found today by police investigators. The professor had been missing since Tuesday.
The motive of the murder seems to be robbery according to police. Obando’s laptop and several personal items were taken along with his car.
Authorities confirmed that it appears that the killers were known to the victim.
Several witnesses told the OIJ that in the hours before his death they saw the educator in his car accompanied by some people who are now considered suspects.
More: La Nación: Profesor universitario aparece asesinado
Dec
18
Give the Gift of Education this Holiday Season!
December 18, 2009 | Tags: Helping Out | Comments Off
Each year, hundreds of kids in Talamanca can’t start the first day of school because they are unable to purchase even the most basic school supplies. Education makes all the difference, these kids need your help.
Join in ATEC’s Fourth Annual Holiday School Supply Drive
You can gift the supplies to the drive (See the list of required school supplies for each student) or you can donate cash for the purchase of supplies to adopt a student on behalf of the person who already has everything. 100% of your gift goes straight to the supply drive, and in return, you get a lovely certificate honoring your generosity.
Either drop off needed materials at ATEC (see attached list of required supplies) or donate cash:
US$1+ buys some pens or a notebook, approx (we get supplies right from our sales man so we get a good deal)
$44.98 buys all of the school supplies for one kid for one year!
$77.56 buys all school supplies for 1 kid for & their school uniform & SHOES!
Any amount is Great!
Follow the progress of the drive on www.greencoast.com and www.ateccr.org
You can make a credit card donation right here:
Paypal donations are tax deductable in the USA through the non-profit 501c3 certification of this association called the Pura Vida Project! (donations on paypal we have to deduct their small fee.)
In Costa Rica:
Donations can be dropped off at ATEC and we’ll get you a factura timbrada (official receipt) or you can make deposits in one of the following bank accounts—HOWEVER Make sure you send us an email so we can make sure your deposit came through and so we can send you your certificate of thanks!
Banco Nacional:
Dollars account:
Asociación Talamanqueña de Ecotourism y Conservación 200 02 001 001534-6
Cuenta cliente: 151 001 200 200 15341
Colones Account: ENA ECOTURISTIC A PTO VIE 200-01-112-37434-2 ¢
Cuenta Cliente: 151 112 200 113 743 41
Banco San José ¢ Asoc Talamanqueña de Ecoturismo y Conserv 904548641
Please call us at 506-2750-0191 or 2750-0398 or write to atecmail@gmail.com for more info or if you want to put out the word on your website. More folks getting out the word, we’ll help more students!
Last year we were able to sponsor 110 kids in the schools of Coroma, el Parque, Katsi.
Thanks to donors so far this year and last year’s donors.
Dec
18
Area English Teacher Disappears
December 18, 2009 | Tags: Crime & Punishment | 1 Comment
 Someone tried to push the car of the educator into the Estrella River in Penshurt. Photo by Róger Amoretti courtesy of La Nación |
The teacher, Alexánder Obando Campos, lives in Batán de Matina. His car was discovered Wednesday morning beside the La Estrella river in Penshurt and police fear that he has been the victim of a crime.
The 31 year old is single and has no children. He works for the University of Costa Rica and the Universidad Estatal a Distancia (UNED) and also teaches in Amubri in the Talamanca mountains. He had planned to spend Tuesday night in Amubri yet his car was found more than 50 km away.
 Alexander Obando Campos |
The police don’t have any leads on the case but it appears that someone had tried to push his car, a recent model Peugot, into the river but then was stopped by a ditch and gave up the effort.
His brother Joseph stated that Alexander was not in trouble or afraid of anyone. But he did have an altercation with the guard at a gas station some days earlier. But there is no known connection.
“Work was his life. He was well loved and always prepared,” said his brother.
The OIJ asks anyone with any information on this case to call the OIJ at 2798-3936 or the Confidential Information Center at 800-8000-645.
More: La Nación: Policía teme por vida de profesor de UCR y UNED
Dec
16
Keep Them in “Suspense”
December 16, 2009 | Tags: Uncategorized | Comments Off
 As Timoteo walks across the bridge, you can get an idea of the broken wooden flooring. |
Suspension bridges are vital in the jungle. They can be constructed by volunteer labor, with assistance from a local contractor skilled at buying materials and working in jungle conditions.
Alex Fang and Bill Stefanacci, representing Surf For Life, visited here to work on a promotional video for Surf For Life, an organization that plans, among other things, to team up professional surfers and volunteers to raise money for projects requiring cash and labor to benefit people served by The Bridge.
Here’s information from Alex about Surf For Life, also called “S4L”:
Surf For Life is a non-profit organization designed to connect surfers and non-surfers with community service activities to create impact on an international level. Our Mission is to channel the interest and energy of individuals into teams that travel to various project sites where they serve as hands-on volun-tourists and goodwill advocates.
And some background Information from Bill Stefanacci.
Bill Stefanacci is an audio professional in San Francisco. He specializes in documentary and educational television and music production services for network producers. He also runs a free martial arts school and surfs whenever practical. Bill has been on the core Surf for Life Team for about a year and participated in the first S4L mission.
We spent some time with them talking about the types of projects that can be done by volunteers here at The Bridge.
We also took them over to meet Timoteo Jackson, a tribal elder. Timoteo told us about the suspension bridge near his home. A half-dozen families use the bridge to get from their homes on one side of the river, to work, school, medical attention, and food on the other. The bridge is in terrible shape.
As we walked across the bridge following Timo, Bill took a video of the bridge and its condition. You can see that video for yourself at the link below. It also contains an interview with Tom Franklin, owner of Bread & Chocolate, with his ideas for several projects that could benefit the youth of Puerto Viejo. And, I’m on there as well, talking about projects here, as well as a project to fix this bridge, and perhaps build another.
The video will take a little time to download, but please watch it! See the video at www.workingmedia.com/trip. Click on this link, which will take you to a page that says: “Download Surf for Life Movie, Right click here.”
We look forward to working on many projects with Alex and the S4L crew!
 Article by Barry Stevens. Barry, along with his wife Nanci Wright, are the team behind El Puente-The Bridge. This organization offers educational assistance, food, and microloans mainly to indigenous people in the Talamanca area of Costa Rica. Used together, these programs provide powerful support for families working together toward self-sufficiency. More information is available at www.elpuente-thebridge.org. |
Dec
8
Save our lifeguards so they can save you!
December 8, 2009 | Tags: Community News, Helping Out | 2 Comments
The Cocles Lifeguard Project – What it is and why you should support it
Phase 1: Tragedy prompts action
The statistics could have made grisly headlines:
“5 people drown in 8 days on spectacular but deadly Cocles beach.”
Those tragic deaths around Easter 2001 on Cocles beach galvanized a few individuals into action to help prevent further loss of life. Dean, a lifeguard from the Baywatch beach area of USA and his girlfriend Rosario, organised a group of lifeguards, funded by local donations. The initial goal was to maintain one lifeguard per day. And so the Cocles Lifeguard project was born.
Phase 2: Training & Problems!
In 2002 Eddie Ryan and Charlie Wanger became involved, taking over from the founders. This second phase involved the National Association of Costa Rica Lifeguards, training local candidates to a professional level of expertise involving extensive in-water training and 1st Aid.
Cocles Lifeguard project funded half the cost of the lifeguard training course and candidates paid the remaining half in the understanding of employment once qualified. Seven candidates were trained.
However, things did not go smoothly. Three experienced lifeguards from the Central Valley (sent to Puerto Viejo to assist new candidates) became dissatisfied with the housing conditions and meagre salary, whilst the association wanted to take over the programme. Midway through the first collection drive the association lifeguards left town with the donations and over $US 2000 of equipment!
So it was back to the drawing board…
Phase 3: 2003 to Present situation.
The current program was initiated 25th August 2003. This involves a team of 3 lifeguards working a shift system, so that there are 2 lifeguards present from 09.00hrs to 17.00hrs each day, 7 days a week.
The administration is still voluntarily undertaken by Eddie Ryan but encouraging and obtaining adequate donations to fund the project remains a constant struggle.
The Financial Picture.
Despite a list of approximately 70 business donors, Cocles Lifeguard project has a current deficit of Colones 50,000 and operates at a loss of Colones 125,000 monthly. Although a certain number of businesses donate willingly and regularly, some cannot be relied upon to consistently contribute. From the 70 businesses currently listed only 31 have consistently contributed during 2009. Obviously this reflects important lost revenue with far reaching consequences.
The minimum monthly bill for running Cocles Lifeguard service now stands at approximately Colones 660,000. If the lifeguards can expect a small salary increase and in accordance with labour law would be paid Aguinaldo, Socio Seguro and Riesgos de Trabajo, the monthly bill would increase to approximately Colones 750,000.
The expenses can be broken down as follows:
• Salaries of Lifeguards: Currently paid Colones 11,000 per day. Lifeguards are responsible for their own Riesgos de Trabajo, Aguinaldo and Socio Seguro.
• Donations Collector: Paid 7% of donations collected.
• 1st Aid kit & Equipment: Incidental expenses for replacing 1st Aid supplies and equipment such as flags, fins and flotation boards.
So what does that mean for our Lifeguard Service?
| We need your help! • Local business and individuals are encouraged to contact Eddie Ryan at La Costa de Papito to pledge regular support. • Visitors and others who would like to make a one time donation can also do so by contacting Ryan or with a credit card on the Puerto Viejo Satellite donation page. Puerto Viejo Satellite will cover the credit card fees so that 100% of your donation will be passed onto the program • Watch here for information on the Christmas donations drive |
Due to the financial deficit, the lifeguard service was forced to cut back to 1 lifeguard per day instead of the required pair. The remaining 2 lifeguards of the team were laid off due to the inability to pay them. By laying them off for two months the project anticipated using the saved salaries to reinstate the full team for the busy month of December.
On 1st December 2009 the service was able to operate normally again with 2 lifeguards on duty.
A real problem here is that if these two qualified lifeguards cannot be permanently re-employed it is probable that they will find other work and become unavailable. Without a team of 3 lifeguards, the service is severely compromised.
An important point to remember is that it takes 2 lifeguards to offer a rescue service. A single lifeguard can only offer preventive services, due to the significant danger of rescuing a swimmer in trouble.
In conclusion, that means that our Lifeguard service is severely compromised and the lifeguards lack job security despite their commitment and the significant level of responsibility demanded of them.
A Noble Project.
Cocles beach is not only well known for exciting surfing (and strong rip tides) but also well documented in numerous travel guides/websites. Consequently it is visited by a large volume of people, locals and visitors alike. Wherever visitors are staying they are likely to spend some time on Cocles beach, if only because everyone from Puerto Viejo to Manzanillo travels past it at one point or another and it is so immediately accessible. For an area such as this where survival depends on healthy tourism numbers, the need for a lifeguard service is obvious.
In conversation with Eddie, it was clear how committed he is to maintaining this invaluable service and his belief that it could be expanded to increase the safety at beaches from Puerto Viejo to Manzanillo. Justly proud of this service, he stated that this is the only community in Costa Rica that has kept a lifeguard programme running for so many years. Though there have times when Eddie felt like giving up on the problematic administration of the service, just last December Costa de Papito’s bartender got into serious difficulties at Cocles beach. He was rescued by the lifeguards and lived to swim another day.
Lifeguards have rescued more than 1,500 swimmers at Cocles beach since the service began. That is a lot of lives that have been saved. Estimates of how many deaths have been prevented run into the thousands.
Save our Lifeguards so they can Save you!
If this lifeguard service can not only be saved from extinction but expanded, the whole area stands to benefit – and not only by diminishing the number of deaths on the beaches.
But a salutary thought is that if this lifeguard service were to disappear through lack of funding, how would we feel the next time someone drowns? Without a lifeguard service there will certainly be too many ‘next times’.
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Many thanks to Eddie Ryan for all the information contained in this article and for giving so generously of his time and insights into Cocles Lifeguard project.
 Article by Zoë Courtier. Zoë along with her husband Tom Keller are the proprietors of Geckoes Rainforest River Lodge. Two luxurious holiday houses with private plunge pools in a magnificent rainforest and river setting minutes from Playa Cocles. More information at www.geckoeslodge.com |
Dec
8
Nearby restaurants & shopping now shown on hotel listings
December 8, 2009 | Tags: Site news | Comments Off
The Puerto Viejo Satellite website is always improving, we’re proud to have the most up to date and complete site for Costa Rica’s South Caribbean.
One neat feature recently added shows the distance nearest restaurants, shopping and services to each hotel or vacation rental listing. Take a look at any of the detail pages for any of our accommodations listings to see how it works. This way you can know before you book what kinds of things are nearby — and not miss any of the hidden gems in the area which may just be around the corner from your hotel but which you hadn’t noticed.
Here’s our Puerto Viejo Top Pick accommodations — click on any of them to see what the nearby businesses listing feature looks like:
Dec
1
Environment Ministry Office in Manzanillo Firebombed
December 1, 2009 | Tags: Crime & Punishment | 4 Comments
 The walls were partially burned but the type of material prevented the spread of the flames. Photo by Marvin Carvajal, courtesy La Nación |
The offices of the Ministry of Environment, Energy and Telecommunications (MINAET) in Manzanillo were attacked last Thursday night or Friday morning.
The attack occurred late at night or very early and only on Friday morning did the MINAET official, who was sleeping inside, discover that they had been attacked.
Luckily for the staff member, the flames did not ignite the walls and there was only minor damage. The windows, walls and floors are marked where you can see how the flames tried to spread.
Some locals have attributed the cause of the firebombing to frustration over the actions taken recently by MINAET regarding Hotels Suerre and Las Palmas.
Source: La Nación: Atentado con bomba molotov contra oficina del Minaet
Oct
8
Second Saturday Garage Sale at Puerto Viejo Farmer’s Market
October 8, 2009 | Tags: Community Calendar | Comments Off
| October 10, 2009 | ||
| November 14, 2009 | ||
| December 12, 2009 |
The Artists’ Collective group has been making useful art out of reused stuff for a while now and some of it has appeared for sale at the Saturday morning farmers’ market.
Starting this Saturday they’ll be appearing at the Puerto Viejo Farmers’ Market on the Second Saturday of each Month. They’ll be sponsoring art workshops and garage sales. Bring stuff you no longer need to the Puerto Viejo farmers’ market this Saturday and the second Saturday of every month. You can donate the items or sell them yourself and keep the proceeds. And bring your kids for the reused art workshop.
If you’re interested in getting involved with the Artists’ Collective group and making and selling useful art out of recycled materials then contact Karla at 8884 0093 or ATEC (Alaine, Tirza, or Erica) at 2750 0398 or 2750 0191.
Soon they’ll also be selling their products in more local shops (already many items for sale at ATEC) and they’ll take orders for specific items.
They are also collecting your used items for to make art. Bring them to the Second Saturday’s at the market or to ATEC:
Tetrabrik (Clean and squished only)
Old pants (not nice enough to wear)
Used hammocks and towels
La Nación newspaper
The material from broken umbrellas
Broken ceramics (plates, coffee cups even)
Fabric
Small tuna cans
Etc.–other unusable things you think could be made into art.
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