Kahiki Restaurant, along with neighbors Blue Dolphin, Heartwood and Grinds, were closed for part of May for lack of an Emergency Plan. They have now satisfied the authorities and are open for business as usual.

The Tamarindo Kids’ Surf Camp takes place every Saturday on the beach just north of Capitán Suizo for kids between 4 and 13. Camp, organized by Mohs and Coral Reef Cabinas, includes surf lesson, safety classes, reef adventure, snacks and drinks. Call Shannon/Jesus at 8827-2759 or 2653-1609 for registration details.

Marie’s Restaurant will be hosting a month-long exhibition of paintings by local artist Susan Adams from Wednesday July 9th at its downtown Playa Flamingo location. The evening will feature a wine tasting presentation of Marie’s many vintages as well as showcse the colorful and vibrant paintings of Costa Rica’s unique folkloric traditions and natural beauty that has made Susan Adams one of the Gold Coast’s most proficient and sought after artists. Ms. Adams, an award-winning Texas native, first came to Costa Rica in 1986, and has had her own Galeria Pelícano in Playa Tamarindo since 1999. The art exhibit will also feature a raffle of one of Susan’s original pieces with proceeds going to Escuela Playa Potrero. The celebration kicks off at 6 p.m., leaving plenty of time for art and wine enthusiasts to stick around for dinner at Marie’s, a dining delight in Flamingo for over twenty years. For more information call: 2653-0742 or 2654-4136.

Tropical House Imports has opened a new furniture outlet in Royal Palms Plaza, Villarreal. Their number there is 2653-1308.

Tamarindo Gym has reopened under new ownership. New membership specials, families are welcome, promos available. Come one, come all. Call 2653-1280 for information.

Wine and dine at El Coconut on the main street in Tamarindo. All month of July special offers from the wine cellar. Open 5 to 10 p.m. Closed Monday, call 2653-0086.

Long-time resident Heidi Wimmer, who came to Tamarindo for two weeks as a substitute teacher at Escuela Tamarindo in 1997, has moved to San Luis just outside of Tronadora. She is working at the library in Tronadora, and invites any friends traveling in that area to pay a visit.

As gas and food prices climb and climb, we as individuals do not have a lot of control of the market and intricacies of supply and demand, so we pay the ever higher and higher prices.  We “rob Peter to pay Paul” as we fill our tanks and cut out the extra night out.  Many of Guanacaste’s early foreign residents had to do just that years ago, when there were only places to buy a pechinga of gas (1- 5 gallon containers) from a bar in Huacas, and few choices for places to dine out.  We missed some things, but enjoyed what we had, not thinking about granite counter tops and high-speed internet.

In these uncertain times, it is time to make lifestyle choices and decisions.  Stay closer to home, eat simpler and actually cook for oneself.  Yes, I do like that piece of double chocolate cake from the back of the bakery truck, but I know I can make a whole one for the same price. One croissant equals 24 homemade biscuits I can make into strawberry shortcake, chicken a la king, southern biscuits and country gravy, or just eat them warm with butter or jam. For the cost of one pre-roasted chicken from the store, buy a whole chicken and make three, yes three, meals - a tasty chicken vegetable soup, a crisp chicken salad and chicken pasta primavera for two or three.  For a group of 6-8 make a tasty Company Macaroni and Cheese (below) and a mixed green salad for under $15.  Our Pokeeno group is always asking me to bring this taste comfort food.   Perhaps it is because my parents extolled how they lived through the depression (yes, people actually lived through one) and learned to draw in the reins when necessary.  Have young people and older people become so materialistic that they get no joy from the simple things – family, friends, nature, reading, cooking or even surfing?

I am not an economist, however, but a realistic ecologist who is aware of the interaction of the environment and economy.  To really conserve is to save for the future, an important concept of both disciplines.  How can we be smart, be happy and survive in these uncertain times?  Choices have to be made; we must decide what we really need to be healthy and happy.  We are all in the same proverbial boat, and we can either become more and more depressed or do something about it and ride the wave.  It is time to talk about it and examine how it is affecting us and what we can do, rather than what we can not.  Ignoring the situation or arguing over whether it is or is not a recession will get us nowhere.  Most of us took risks coming here and made choices concerning what we need to make us happy, and I choose to continue to do so.

So, I am sharing my recipe for Macaroni and Cheese and my grandmother’s recipe for baking powder biscuits if you want to join me in the battle. Send me an e-mail if you want the chicken recipes.  Fight depression – enjoy!

My wife and I decided to take a small business trip/vacation down to the Quepos-Manuel Antonio area, the last hour of which involved driving after sunset through an incredible amount of rain, which later turned out to be a rare Pacific tropical storm. We finally found a hotel in Manuel Antonio and got out of the rain and into a drier environment. Nothing at this hotel made us want to stay another night so the next day we headed into Quepos and thought we’d do a safe bet and just check into the Best Western, getting a nice room on the second floor.

We spent a pleasant day checking out the scene; Manuel Antonio is definitely the “hoi polloi” part of town while Quepos is a very Tico beach town and, as quiet as it was, there still seemed to be enough tourism to justify their existence. All the same I’d rather be up here in Guanacaste where I’ve become quite adept at counting dump trucks.

We hung out in Quepos that night and went to bed pretty early. At about 1:30 in the morning someone starts pounding on our door, causing both of us to jump out of bed and groggily search for clothing. I’m not about to open the door but I do look through the little round spy-hole where I see a Tico yelling that I owe him ¢5,000 for the taxi fare. Although technically I was still asleep, I was able to express my unhappiness with his actions, causing him to leave and after which I called down to the reception to find out what was going on. The voice on the other end acknowledged there was some sort of “problem” and that it was being looked into.

Susan and I made an attempt at getting back to bed but by that time we were pretty much adrenalized. About ten minutes later the pounding on the door resumes in a much more authoritative manner. I look through the door and see the original Tico along with three Fuerza Publica police officers in full uniform telling me to “open the door”. This time I call the reception and tell him to get up there and then I’d open it. A few seconds later there’s a knock again, the time from the desk clerk. I open the door. The desk clerk is about seventeen and is wearing a turban. Must’ve been some kind of Tico Turban. The three cops and the taxi driver are staring at this bizarre extremely agitated figure who apparently is not the guy the taxi driver was looking for. The cops were actually very mellow; they apologized quickly and let me shut the door. For the next twenty minutes or so you could here them pounding on other doors; I never found out if he got his fare or not.

The next morning I had an animated discussion with the manager who agreed that things like that shouldn’t happen at a Best Western and offered us a generous 25% discount for our discomfort.

After my father passed away a couple of years ago I began to wonder what had happened to the sword that he had received upon graduation from The United States Naval Academy in 1935. It was strictly ceremonial and represented his thirty years as a Naval Officer. One of Dad’s wife’s kids had ended up with it and was happy to have it shipped here from Maryland. I recommended UPS as they had an office here in Tamarindo. It actually arrived here in Costa Rica within a week of being shipped and I was notified by UPS in San Jose that it was on its way and that I’d have to pay some import taxes as it was insured for $500. Neither a surprise nor a problem for me I informed them. So far, this was all way too easy because........ we do live in Costa Rica!

Sure enough, after waiting three weeks for it to be delivered to Tamarindo I get a call from the local office telling me I need to talk to the special government agency that deals with the importation of weapons into Costa Rica. I speak to a very pleasant English-speaking official who is in charge and tells me the sword has been classified as a weapon requiring specific documents, but he was sure their would be no problems and to have the Tamarindo office contact them to get things going.....and going......and going!

Yup, you guessed it, a month-and-a-half and countless phone calls later we were still waiting for info on how to get it out of the Weapons Dept.

Finally we had everything in order and just had to visit the Weapons Division to have a document typed up and signed by Jefe. On the same trip as our taxi driver story we headed to San José and then to the Fuerza Publica Police Academy in Coronado where his office was. His secretary typed up the document which just needed his signature. Naturally he was out of town and we couldn’t wait around for him to show up so I made plans to come back in a few weeks to pick it up.

Three weeks later I’m back in the office, the document is in my hands and Don Raul, el jefe, is even kind enough to walk me through what to do next. I go out and grab a cab for the exact opposite end of San José to the main customs (aduana) store houses and present my documents. I’m not in the computer so I need to go out to the airport and talk to another jefe who’ll enter me in the system. Which I do, and then return to the main aduana office. The nice ladies there are expecting me, stamp my document and tell me to go to bodega #2 where the sword is. I get there at 11:59 and am told to please return at 1:15. After lunch the nice lady boss looks at my document and say that because it’s been valued at $500 I’d have to find a private agency to deal with it........and then changes her mind.

She tells me I need to go to the bank and get a ¢70 timbre (15 cent stamp) attached to the document, which I do.

Lo and behold, when I got back they took my document, gave me the sword and let me go.

Jesse Bishop hails from Texas, and lives in Langosta, Costa Rica with his lovely wife Susan and ugly Shar Pei dog Sun Tzu. In addition to writing for the Howler, Jesse is a guitarist who plays several gigs along the Gold Coast. Contact Jesse at owlhumm@hotmail.com

“What is this doing in Tamarindo?” was my first thought as I walked into the magnificent Iglesia de Santa Maria. The elegant façade, with its recessed statues, and the beautiful sculptures along the inner walls, looked as if they should be in Firenze or Paris. The church was officially dedicated on May 31.

La Iglesia de Santa Maria is a gift to Tamarindo from Frank Barnyak, to commemorate his late wife Maria who passed away three years ago. Frank first came to Costa Rica in 1943 and fell in love with Tamarindo. Since 1968 he has visited the area every year at Christmas. He donated all the construction of the church, on property of which fifty percent was a donation from Enrique López. The balance of the land is held under a mortgage. The beautiful marble statuary, which includes a copy of Michelangelo’s “La Pietá”, was another gift, from Frank Galluzo.

The parish priest (parish of Veintesiete de Abril) is Father Guillermo Melgares, who will conduct mass every Sunday evening at 6 p.m.

Donations to help pay off the mortgage are welcome. For further information, contact Vinicio Hidalgo at 2-653-0075 or e-mail to vinicio@hotelcapitansuizo.com.

Two thousand and eight may go down in history as the “revenge of the maiceros.” The derogatory term, with connotations of backwardness and poverty, is applied to Guanacastecos in reference to their corn-based cultural legacy that dates back millennia. As you drive around the back roads it is still possible to see farmers planting with an espeque—or planting stick--just as has been done from time immemorial. A variety of dishes will be prepared from the milky, immature corn, then corn on the cob and finally the harvest and storage for tortillas and animal feed throughout the dry season.

At this point in the cycle, the young plants of the first crop—la primera—are about knee high. Planters are beginning to chop or use herbicides to control weeds while keeping a careful eye for a small worm—la langosta—which tends to affect the early plantings. For many locals tending a milpa is not simply a cost/benefit decision, but also a pastime, a cultural artifact that is an essential part of who they are—in this place and time on the planet—in the long chain of human adaptation to and survival within this particular ecosystem.

Half a continent away, unbeknownst to the maiceros in their milpas, the flood surge moves down various rivers in the Corn Belt of the US leaving destruction in its wake. Effects on the commodities markets have pushed up the price of corn—already sky-high due to the ethanol boom and increasing demand for animal feed. The crunch is yet to come, but even in Costa Rica we can expect to see higher prices—and not just for corn.

A recent article in La Nacion revealed that “80% of a Costa Rican egg is imported from the US.” Ditto for corn-fed pork and chicken and all the products which depend on ‘healthy’ doses of corn syrup as sweeteners. In the ‘80s Costa Rica made a strategic move to depend mostly on corn imported from the US—cheaper at the time—and let its own production and processing capacity slide. A vote of eternal confidence in the bountiful exports from the fruited plains of the US, in retrospect, a blunder.

Weather is not the only thing affecting the prices of food these days. Increasing numbers of citizens in ‘emerging economies’ are moving up the food chain, eating more meat and dairy products. Grains and oilseeds are being diverted into petroleum substitutes.

Fertilizer and pesticide prices are soaring as the world struggles to produce more food. The energy intensive nature of “modern farming”, along with transport costs, has led more than a few commentators to point out the logic of returning to more localized production and consumption. The maiceros are starting to look a lot smarter than the suit-and-tie types in San Jose who turned their backs on small farmers and set this country up for what is now being called a “food crisis.”

As recently as two years ago, the pro-free-trade crowd was pooh-poohing any efforts at food self-sufficiency. “Global markets will assure the best in price and quality,” assured one congresswoman close to the Arias administration. These same politicians are now falling all over themselves to boost local output and insure the next quota of rice shipments from the US. Had they paid attention to developing global trends the country would have been better prepared. Unfortunately, the powers that be could not see beyond their own ideology and read the writing on the wall.

Ironically enough, some developers in Guanacaste were way ahead of the national government on the question of local food production. Not far from where I live, the project Tierra Pacifica has had an organic garden going for over three years. This year they are even planting rice in some of the seasonally flooded areas. Donny Lalonde’s project, Howler Ridge, is designing a 1.5-hectare farm into the project so that owners will have access to fresh fruit and vegetables year round. At this point, it would be an exaggeration to imply that developers are playing the “food insecurity” chord in their sales pitch. But, as an experienced marketer told me, most purchase decisions occur unconsciously. Clients don’t have to be hit over the head with statistics about falling water tables in the grain-producing regions of China and India. They know what has happened to food prices back home. A nice food production system in a project can appear as one of the “amenities,” but at the same time demonstrate a subtle but conscious awareness about the future.

Developers who really want to impress prospective buyers with their concern for the future will strive to plan, build and run their projects in ways that work to enhance the ecosystems in which they are located. A short list in our area would include minute attention to the hydrological cycle through erosion and runoff control and restoring the diversity of native trees in hillside plantings. Mostly overlooked in replanting efforts are all the food-producing native trees. From relatives of guanabana to sapotes and nisperos, there are dozens of trees which draw wildlife and afford a bit for the terrestrial bipeds as well. My favorite for both wildlife and any hard times to come is called ojoche—the Mayan breadnut tree. It produces like crazy, is more nutritious than corn, has dozens of uses and was often a back up for Central Americans in the case of crop failure. As I tried to describe it recently to a neighbor, Giancarlo, he exclaimed, “Like chestnuts; we survived on them in Italy during the war.” Any smugness he may have noticed was due to having planted hundreds in my own small project.

Concern for local ecosystems is no longer an “option.” Just as the paradigm on local food production has changed, in the future we can expect a growing realization that biodiversity is not just some groovy abstraction on the Discovery Channel. We will come to appreciate biodiversity as the solar energy based ‘business plan’, the roadmap or operations manual for how to get along in an area and leave it in decent shape for our kids. It’s high time to learn that lesson, folks, ‘cause it certainly appears that “the times they are a-changin’.”

Tom Peifer is an ecological land use consultant with 13 years experience in Guanacaste. Phone: 2658-8018, email: peifer@racsa.co.cr. Web site: www.elcentroverde.org