Tonight, a new band makes its mark on Puerto Viejo.

The new configuration of Belladonna and the Shamans debuts this evening at EZ Times from 6:30 till 8:30. The band plays a variety of cool jazz leaning on the Latin side, including samba, basa nova and swing. You will fall in love with Cristiana’s beautiful voice, Marco’s magical sax and Maestro Jim’s inspirational keyboards. Add Martha and John’s experimental rhythm section and EZ Times relaxing atmosphere, and you have the formula for a Jazzy cool, cocktail-sipping evening.

EZ Times is located here.

The details aren’t clear and nor is when the event will be able to be rescheduled.

The festival is organized by Escuela de Artes del Caribe Sur (South Caribbean School of Arts), a nonprofit that provides arts education to local school children, and was scheduled to begin this Friday. Event organizer Claudio Ambroso said the festival is their major fundraiser and if they are not able to eventually hold the event, they will be hard pressed to provide services to their community this year.

Some of the restaurant and bar events which don’t require a permit will continue as planned, check directly with the venue to confirm.  Eddie Ryan at La Costa de Papito said that the events planned at his hotel’s Que Rico Papito Restaurant and Bar including tonight’s Calypso Night will continue as planned.

Sources: Tico Times: Weekend’s Puerto Viejo festival canceled unexpectedly and local inquiries.

The event offically kicks off on Friday Sept 26 at 7pm at the Casa de la Cultura (see location on map) with fireworks, live music and an art exhibit.  It continues through to Sunday’s closing event at 10pm at Stanford’s with live music.  Other venues during the event include La Costa de Papito Hotel, Jacaranda Hotel, Jhonny’s Place, El Parquecito Restaurant and a main stage setup at the basketball court by the bus stop.

More information is available at www.arteviva-puertoviejo.com and a full schedule of events is available on the Greencoast News.

EasyStreet Productions is planning a three day music festival in Puerto Viejo from Oct 24-26.

The artists and type of music that will be presented at the festival include:
Kimany Marley, JasminKarma, Evolucion, KingoLovers, Mekatelyu, Electronic Music, Calypso, Jazz, Blues, Hip Hop, Soul, and more local and international bands playing.

There will be an accompany Art exhibition held at Ez-Times.

There will also be fireworks, fire dancers, various DJ’s, beach parties, kids park with activities, good food and good intentions.

Venues will include WoddRokk Bar, EZ-Times and Johnny’s Place. They will soon have a website with detailed event information.

One of the goals of the event is to raise funds to preserve biodiversity, and this will be done through Conservation International Group, which does research and projects for preserving nature in the Caribbean Area.

You can watch the video announcing the event (in Spanish) from the Teletica Channel 7 program “Espectaculos” on the Teletica website — after you download the video, go to 4:50 for the segment on EasyStreet.

If you’d like more information on the event, how you can support it or get involved, contact Paola Chaves at easystreetmusicfiesta@live.com.

Loco Natural presents a special concert on Saturday at 7pm with Santos on sitar and Carter on percussion. Guitarist & singer Jim Vick will join them and they’ll be playing as a trio for an Easter Sunday concert at 7:00 pm as well.

There seems to be a sitar theme for Easter week in the Caribbean!

Make your dinner reservations at 2750-0530.

The Goddess Garden in Cahuita presents “Concierto por la Paz” featuring Swami Satyendra from Mumbai, India.

The event starts at 7pm and dinner is optional.

For reservations, call 2755-0055 or for more info email info@thegoddessgarden.com or hotelladiosa@yahoo.com

The next two Sundays give you an opportunity to hear Jim Vick perform with his vocalist daughter Elisa who is here in Puerto Viejo for a couple of weeks.  They’ll be performing at Jungle Love in Playa Chiquita this Sunday December 9, starting at 7:30pm. 

She will also be joining Carter and Jim for a night at the beautiful new Loco Natural on the following Sunday, December 16, where they’ll get started at around 7:00.

If you haven’t heard Elisa sing before, you’ll be in for a treat. She’s been singing in public since she was a child and toured with the jazz vocal group Celebration and later with Jim’s band for 6 years back in the States. They’ve been singing together most of her life, so the blend is pretty remarkable, and Jim says that getting the chance to harmonize with her again is always a joy for him.

You can get a preview of Jim’s music at:

www.jimvick.com/music.html

ADELA is hosting an event this Saturday at La Casa de la Cultura starting at 5pm. The event celebrates el día de la raza and the launch of their new magazine La Bioenergía, una Alternativa al Petróleo (Bioenergy, an Alternative to Petroleum).

The event includes a diverse set of entertainment:

• Manzanillo’s Dancing Girls
• The Pablu Serku indigenous theater group
• Dance the Sorbón
• Unveiling of the magazine
• Indigenous and Afro-Caribbean food

The consortium Grupo Caribeño Internacional S.A. has announced a huge marina project for Playa Negra with berths for 384 boats. The plan includes the building of 2 breakwaters, a commercial zone, administrative offices, a artisan’s marketplace and yacht repair and maintenance facilities. The investors behind the group plan to invest $40,000,000 in the project and say it will create about 2,000 jobs.

The consortium is made up of American and Costa Rican investors from the real estate and agriculture sectors. Their legal representative, Walter Coto, said this is their first marina project. He added that the first draft of the project proposal was presented two weeks ago to the Comisión Interinstitucional de Marinas y Atracaderos Turísticos (Cimat).

Coto said that the work will begin in 8 months if the permits are attained in line with their projections. The construction stage would last 2 years. The estimate of 2,000 new jobs includes the personnel necessary to operate the marina and the supporting commercial enterprises.

According to Coto, Puerto Viejo has the best natural conditions for a marina. “Studies by a consulting firm determined that the depth of the water and the marine currents in this zone are optimal.” Currently no marinas exist in the Costa Rican Caribbean.

Cimat also has another proposal under consideration for construction of a marina in Moín, near the existing cruise ship terminal in Limon.

Coto stated that the objective of the business would be to develop a project with the least possible environmental impact. “We want a construction which project the Caribbean identiy, that reflects the culture, the form of life and the feeling of the residents of this area.”

Rugeli Morales, mayor of Talamanca, noted that 88% of the Canton of Talamanca is a protected zone. “We don’t want a development which wouldn’t be harmonious with the natural environment.”

Other local residents were concerned with the type of tourism that the development would bring, specifically big money tourists and sportfishermen. Colin Brownlee, owner of the local hotel Banana Azul, worries that “the marina could attact a crowd which not as culturally diverse and tolerant as has historically been drawn to the area. Other Costa Rican resort towns seem to be predominantly American tourists.  The visitors who come here often have environmentalist-leanings or are they’re lives are not primarily driven by financial gain. These visitors have contributed to this environment by volunteering their time with local organizations and helping make this area the leader in areas such as recycling, organic farming and other green initiatives.”

The plan needs the support of the municipality as well as Cimat. However the council has already declared the development “in the interest of the local public” on their meeting on the 29th of March. According to this agreement the municipality would be responsible for the construction and administration of the breakwaters.

Cimat noted that there are actually applications in process for 22 new marinas in Costa Rica. Half of these projects are in Guanacaste.

With reporting from La Nacion: Empresa pretende construir marina con 398 atracaderos en Puerto Viejo

This project could be the biggest change to ever come to Puerto Viejo. Residents and visitors alike are encouraged to make their voices heard on this issue. One way to do so is to leave a comment on this article.

The first annual ARTE VIVA Festival was last year and it was an incredible success with more than 3,000 people passing through the Cultural House and attending the outdoor concerts. And over 105 students successfully completed workshops.

This year ARTE VIVA is promising to be even better with a goal to provide classes to over 200 students. They also are asking for your help to make it happen.

You can find out more about this years program and how you can help out on their website: www.arteviva-puertoviejo.com.