Welcome to a special place in Costa Rica where the jungle meets the Pacific and the monkeys out number their cousins for a change. This special place is called Nosara and it is where an expatriate community staked their flag in the ground and declared, enough. Enough destruction of the very reason why they moved to Costa Rica in the first place. Nosara is itself an accident that bloomed into the Orchid of Costa Rica.

Without a doubt the sea, the fauna and the wildlife all come together to coexist with the local residents in a carefully balanced atmosphere. This conclave by the sea is basically a town to itself where English is the unofficial language and the US dollar the primary currency. The local internet cafes are usually teaming with tourist and surfers emailing and calling back home. The classic attire is a bathing suite and it is not unusual to not recognize someone wearing anything other.

Most of the residents are expatriates from North America but there is a healthy mix of expats from Europe as well. Each person having there own story for how they got here and why they stayed. Some are not good, but most are interesting. There are those who are in the country on tourist visas and must leave the country every 90 days for 72 hours before returning. (The easiest choice is to go to Panama and hang out for three days and reentry. Some go to Nicaragua, most go to Panama. The surfers who come to Nosara tend to fall into this group.)

The rest of the locals are legal expats who own there own house and have either retired or have a company they run in the area. With this mix of legal expats and the transients come an unusual habit. No one uses their last name. Everyone goes by there first name. As a result of this the local phone book is list by first name in alphabetical order! It is not uncommon for a local Nosarian to reference someone by there first name followed by a description of either what they drive or some other characteristic like the color of their surfboard. “Yea you know Wendy, the girl that hangs out with Keith, the guy from Mississippi. You mean the guy with the yellow surfboard. Yea, Yea, that’s him.” It makes you think that everyone is on the run and is hiding out. Mention someone by his or her first and last name and people star at you. Mention the color of their surfboard, truck they drive or where there from and the local know exactly who you’re talking about.

Everywhere else in central and south America, the word Gringo is derogative. Not so in Costa Rica. Gringos are guys and Gringas are girls and it is taken in stride as the very nature of the average Costa Rican is passive and would greatly refrain from saying anything that would cause offence. If you are not a Tico (local) then you are a Gringo

In the 1960’s much of what we now call Nosara was purchased and a planed development was on the way. Lots were drawn up for houses, the handful of golf courses were laid out and yes even the occasional shopping center marked off. Local roads were built, an electrical grid hoisted into the sky and big plans for the future were described to all who would listen. But the developers dream met reality when he failed to foresee the lack of interest in an isolated area with no roads in or out and the fact that it was far from what little of Costa Rica was developed in the 1960’s. As a result everything was for sale and large sections were bought up by various individuals with one common focus, preservation of the Costa Rica they saw was withering away.

When one comes upon Nosara one quickly notices that there is no one focal point of reference as you explore the area. Tucked away in the jungle are little pockets of human habitat, small businesses and the occasional restaurant/bar. When you arrive from Nicoya on the main road, you first come to one of the Guiones beach turn offs to the left, followed by several other left hand turns, all heading in the direction of the Pacific Ocean just 400 meters down from the main road. Each of these turn offs is a separate community, unconnected to the others, that can only be accessed by going back up to the main road.

These sections are best described as South Guiones Beach, North Guiones Beach and Pelada Beach. These three sections make up the “Gringo” section of Nosara. The actual town of Nosara is still 5 km on down the main road and has more of the Tico atmosphere you would expect in rural Costa Rica. The Gringo section is as close to the beach as you can legally get. There is a 200 meter exclusion zone from the high tide line that is set aside for the preservation of the natural habitat. This one preservation feature has as much an influence on the character of Nosara as perhaps all of the other covenants and restrictions combined.

Because of this exclusion zone, Nosara has been spared the commercial development that has devastated such communities as Jaco and Tamarindo. Commercial development has actually been run off by the Nosara Civic Association, an association of expatriate foreigners with one goal in mind, the preservation of peace and tranquility. Because over half of the area of Nosara is set aside for wildlife, you have to contend with the wildlife as the howler monkeys hang above your head and the coatimundis walk across your path. From the many variations of birds to the critters of the jungle, all of the animals pay little attention to the humans below as both have learned to live together here in Nosara. There are even aerial sky bridges for the monkeys to help them cross the road or the electrical wire. Most businesses have a collection jar at the register where you can donate money for these bridges as well as other products to protect the animals.

There are three beaches (Playas) in Nosara, Playa Guiones, by far the largest, Playa Pelada, the quaint secluded paradise with great swimming and few people and Playa Nosara, a serious surfer section separated from the rest by the Nosara River. Guiones is over a mile long and is perfect for surfers of all ages and levels of experience. There can be a stronger than average under tow but a little knowledge and experience and it is easily dealt with. While Guiones is by far the most popular of the three, the beach is so big that people are very well spread out with some sections practically abandoned.

Playa Pelada is the best kept secret in Nosara. Most people who visit stay in the Guiones section,go to the Guiones beach and as a result never know that it is just over the ridge to the north. Because Pelada and Guiones are separated by this ridge, the only way to get from one to the other is to go back up to the main road and travel further north to the “Five Corners” intersection and turn left. At the end of this road is Laluna restaurant, Olga’s bar and the Pacific Ocean. These two establishments were located on the beach before the exclusion zone was created and have basically been left alone by the Civic Association.

Playa Pelada is known as the locals beach. Not that they live in closer to it, in fact they don’t, but for the reason that they know how to get to it. Few people even know that there is an entrance to Pelada other than Olga’s and Laluna. For this reason the northern section of Pelada is deserted most of the time. Playa Pelada is not known for surfing but the locals surf it all the time. Because the beach is half sand and the other half solid rock outcroppings, surfers need to be careful. The locals have already figured it out. The gringos give it a pass. One of the beauties of this beach is the marine life left behind, trapped in the pools carved out of the rocks, when the tide is out. Pelada is defiantly for the swimmers and kids.

The next beach north is Playa Nosara. This is a serious surfer beach and the local kids are about the only ones wading the river to get to it. The surf at high tide is big, fast and unforgiving. If you want to see a collection of talent make it look easy, roll up you pants legs and wade across. You will not be disappointed.

Today, Nosara is best described as a lush jungle garden, with a controlled human presence and the expatriate community of Nosara deserves most if not all of the credit. Much of what Nosara is about is largely what Nosara is not about. You will not find any high-rise condominium developments. There are and will never be any shopping centers. Most important, there are no buildings within 200 meters of the ocean and there is an organization to oversee the preservation of this special place called the Nosara Civic association.

The Nosara Civic Association is not your garden variety, tree hugging, pacifist, extra crunchy granola crowd but rather a croup of individuals from all walks of life and nationality. They have yet to use violence in their efforts to keep rampant development out of Nosara, but they have come close and they are often held up as an example of citizen sponsored controlled development. These folks are dead serious and the developers who have tried to develop in Nosara have left and have learned a valuable lesson. Concrete and Nosara don’t mix!

Perhaps the best way to appreciate Nosara is to drive through Tamarindo and see all of the high rise buildings towering over the beaches and the hoards of people compressed together on the beaches below. Then drive to Nosara where the concrete is substituted for the towering jungle canopy and the droves of howler monkeys watching their cousins returning from the beach with little more than a pair of shorts and a surf board and it's going to stay that way!

Enjoy,

Dave Caywood
April 2009

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