Costa Rica Interest | Life at The Shaka Front

Shaka Beach Retreat & OHG 2012 Comming soon

Greetings from Shaka, I just wanted to take a moment to talk about what we are doing and hope to be doing in the comming months leading to 2012.

Its currently the rainy season so its nice to have a slow down. It lets us refresh ourselves, reflect on the past year and do some maintenance, as well as dream and imagine possible new things and ideas that we would like to implement in the near future. Here is a summary of things recently or in the near future

1. First off we had a good year so far. It was ou busiest year even in this down economy. Shaka as well as OHG is maturing and improving. We are excited to head into the new season right around the corner.

2. In August We started fixing and repairing surfboards, Our surfboard fleet was getting a bit dinged up and a our broken board pile was adding up. Shaka invested in the proper equipment and material to do proffesional board repair. The hassle, expense and delay of paying board fixers is now behind us. We now have Alejandro who has shown an instinctive talent in board repair and painting keeping us sharp

3. Ted a Volunteer with OHG has launched a campaign to get Shaka a SWIMMING POOL. You told me to hold you to it Ted, so here it is. I hear that he has already raised over half the money, so hopefully any one who visits shaka in 2012 will be able to enjoy this addition.

4. We plan on launching a project to turn the Rancho common area into a work of art incorporating Mayan, Polynesian and tribal style artwork. Headed By Chris. More info on this comming soon.

5. Our next OHG group is planned to take place in November just before the upcomming 2011 season.

6. Krista is putting together a yoga adventure package. All inclusive 7 day packages based at Shaka but daily yoga excursions to all the world class studios in the Montezuma, Mal Pais, Santa Teresa and Hermosa areas.

Writing in the sand and a personalize surf beach message

Well its been a while since our last blog. I thought i would mention the latest thing we have been experimenting with. Recently someone turned us on to the website www.fiverr.com . Basically its a website where you bid off something you would do for $5 such as video a short skit or taking a personalized photo as well as a variety of odd and crazy ideas. Its hard to explain so you’ll have to just check it out.

So as a kind of fun experiment we put up 2 gigs on fiverr.

The first one is write your message in the sand then we take a picture of it and send it to you. This idea actually came from one of our guests about 5 weeks ago.

The second one is we film ourselves on a whitewater wave and announce your message or whatever and film it then send the short 12-15sec video.

Well the reaction has been far greater then we could have imagined. Almost every day now we are filling orders at the beach. It’s not that much money since since fiverr takes a dollar off every order, so we only get 4 bucks per surf video or writing in sand, but it pays the weekly beer bill. We actually got enough orders of writing your message in the sand that we decided to make it its own website.

You can check it out at writing in sand You never know, it could end up being a good little side business.

Costa Rica Surf retreats – Who Really Goes?

It seems nowadays everybody wants to learn or try surfing. Stock traders, lawyers, doctors, business owners, college students and celebrities are all coming to Costa Rica surf camps to learn to surf. Even if you have never surfed you have probably worn surf clothing at one time. Does Quicksilver, Bilabong, Hurley, or Volcom sound familiar?

When we first opened “Shaka Surf Camp” in Costa Rica we weren’t sure what would be our main clientele type. Everybody we talked to said we should be targeting surf magazines, other surf communities and surfer related organizations. They couldn’t have been more wrong.

The majority of guests that show up at Shaka are business professionals who have very little or no surfing experience. They basically are looking for a fun, new, unique and exciting way to spend their vacation time. Something different then your typical boring commercial spa resort. And with Costa Rica’s tropical rainforests, abundant wildlife, and pristine beaches you cant go wrong. A common statement we hear is, “I’ve always wanted to try surfing”, and then a couple days later they say, “wow! it’s a lot of fun, but harder than I thought it would be”.

So why surf camp retreats? Because if your on vacation you don’t want to have to worry about all the logistics, like surfboard transportation, equipment selection, knowing where and when to surf and most important understanding ocean safety. At a reputable surf camp retreat they provide everything you need, so you can relax, make yourself at home, and get the most out of you surfing adventure.

Pura Vida, www.shakacostarica.com

The Balance Board at Shaka Costa Rica!

The Balance board is a great way to gain core strength in the lower body. It simulates the rotation of weight from the back and front legs while surfing. It usually starts off with one of us crouching really low (as if we were inside of a barrel), and then doing a one-footed stance, and then escalates to using one foot and one hand to balance. I recommend balance boards at all surf camps because they are a great when the waves are not ideal or at night.

Brian

Bicycle surfboard racks Costa Rica

Moe, Jed, Drew(2 guests here at Shaka), and I traveled to the hardware store yesterday to buy PVC pipe to create homemade surfboard racks for our bicycles. We got enough supplies for three racks (plus some extras) and the cost was around $15 per rack. The racks only took about 20 minutes to make and are expected to withstand the rain and mud from the rainy season. I would reccomend checking out this website for easy, step-by-step instructions! http://www.surfing-waves.com/howto/make_bike_rack.htm .

Bicycle Surfboard Racks Costa Rica

Driving the new Costa Rica highway

Yesterday we had to go to the US embassy in San Jose. Usually that would mean spending the night in San jose then coming back the following day about a 6-7 hour trip one way. Well the good news is a new highway from the city is now open and lets off at the beach in-between Jaco and Puntarenas.

The road is by far the nicest highway in Costa Rica now. It passes through amazing views of valleys jungle and rolling hills. There’s double lanes so passing those slow semi trucks is no problem. There are quite a few toll booths that you have to pass by, about 4 so it costs 5-6 dollars one way. Well worth the hour and half travel time save.

It use to take 2-3 hours drive from the fairy but now in one hour you’re in the city. For us locals it sure makes life more convenient. We can now do our bulk shopping and take care of things that can only be done in the city and be back the same day.

Good job Costa!

There’s more than one way to paradise-The barter vacation exchange

Here at Shaka we are sympathetic to the vacationer who finds it hard to vacation in these sliding economies. Many people may not have the liquid cash, but may have something of great use or value to us here in Costa. So that being said we are open minded to possible trades of comparable value for items or services that we may need, like or really want. We have already done some barter vacation exchanges that worked out nice for both sides

If you have something of value perhaps we can do a trade or partial cash &trade. Here are some ideas

Electronics: Here in Costa Rica electronics such as portable computers, cameras, projectors, game systems, apple products, audio equipment, studio equip etc costs more and breaks down sooner. Because of the humidity, dampness in the rainy season and salt in the air stuff breaks down frequently. It’s safe to say we always need something
Sporting goods: Surfboards, aluminum mountain bikes, fishing gear,
Tools: All name brand tools cost more here. Quality name brand carpentry, power, and mechanic tools are always of interest.
House and home: and once again anything that’s fancy and nice cost more or is hard to get. Fixtures, hardware, decorations, energy saving, or anything that can improve a beach house or cabanas will of course be of interest.
Services: Internet marketing, marketing: We’re always looking for ways to improve our business exposure. Therapeutic: Many of us are extremely active and have nagging injuries, so a true master healer at times would be welcome. That’s just a few off the top of my head. We are open-minded to ideas, lets us know.

Some of us spend part of the year in Las Vegas, Colorado and Texas. An Item could be potentially delivered there as well.

Pura Vida
The Shaka Team

Owning a car in Costa Rica, and one of the hassles-Riteve Tutorial

So yesterday I drove 4 1/2 hours one way to the town of Nicoya to do my first automobile safety check or Riteve RTV(REVISIÓN TÉCNICA). Bare in mind that most of the drive is on bumpy dirt roads. This was my second trip there this month because on my first visit my 2008 truck failed due to bad bearings.

In some states in the US all vehicles are required to pass a safety inspection. Hawaii is one of them. In the US you can pretty much go to any gas station and get your sticker in 15 minutes provided your car is passable. Here in Costa Rica the hoops you have to jump through blew me away. There are many things you can get away with a simple bribe but this is not one

So here is my short tutorial on how it works.
1. First you have to call and make an appointment in advance.

2. upon arrival you go into the office and present your expired Riteve certificate, car papers, ID( if you’re a foreigner your passport)and pay about 10,000 Colones($20.00) then drive to the back of the line. Tip: don’t make your appt on Monday at the end of the month because this is the most crowded

3. The building you drive through looks similar to a car wash slightly longer with four stations that you stop at for various inspections with a person manning each one.

4. Station A. They check all your lights, tint(no front or back tint allowed), horn, wipers, quick look under the hood, tire tread(your treads need about 4-5mm minimum, smog emission, spare tire, and inside the car you must have a kit that includes jack, jumpers, reflective triangles and vest.

5. Station B. You roll your front tires then your back tires over a metal plate thing that checks your alignment.

6. Station C. You roll your front tires on rollers that spin your tires individually to check your brakes for strength and evenness. You then roll your back tires and have to demonstrate your e-brake and foot brake.

7. Final Station D The pit. You then drive over a pit where a person with a flashlight and microphone inspects the under carriage of your vehicle for any potential hazards such as over rust, loose bearings, loose stearing components or oil leaks.

8. You then exit the building park and wait inline at a booth where all the information is fed to a computer. If all goes well, the man in the booth hands you your papers with your new Riteve sticker. In the event you fail the man will hand you a paper with details in Spanish of what you need to fix.

9. You have 30 days to fix what did not pass. After you get whatever fixed, you have to make another appointment pay 5,000 Colones($10.00) for your return inspection. If its within the 30 days they will only inspect what did not pass, you still have to wait in line. Whew! Hey small price to pay to live in paradise

Pura Vida! Shakacostarica
Mo’e

Vacationing in the rainy wet season, Costa Rica

Hello again, In this blog i want to talk a little about the rainy/wet season and what to expect vacationing durfing different times of the year. The rainy season. Ive already talked about why i love the rainy season in an earlier blog so now ill expand on a few things. The beginning of the rainy season is around mid April, basically thats when you can expect your first rain. The rains start off subtle and build intensity over the months so there is usually still pleny of sunshine. When the first decent rains hit you can expect 2 things. First is more humidity, it take about 6-8 weeks for the trees to fill in with leaves, the under ground water table to begin to rise, and for the temperature and land to to cool off.

The next thing impossible to miss is the Tajalin invasion. After first rains a species of purple and orange crabs comes down from the mountains and they get EVERYWHERE. I personally think they are funny and entertaining, but they can get anywhere and its not uncommon for unsuspecting tourists to return home to find they brought back 1 or two in a suitcase. The worst part is they hang out on the roads and especially at night there are so many its impossible for vehicles to avoid them. After a couple of weeks they start to fade away and by june you hardly ever see any.

Usually around the end of June or July we get an Indian summer for 2-4 weeks. This is one of the nicest times of the year because its nice and cool, the vegetation is at its lushest, and the beaches are quiet. Usually there is plenty of vacancy so showing up without reservations is not a problem. Smaller less used roads begin to get bad and many of the routes can become impassible. All the roads become rougher so travel times slow down. They dont fix or redo the roads until december-January when the rains stop.

September-October-November usually has consistent rains in the afternoons and evenings. From my experience about 40-50 percent of the days will still have scattered showers or sunshine in the morning to afternoon, and the rest will be overcast with occasional down pours.

Activities that can be more enjoyable during the wet season include: 1. Quading because of no dust. 2. Visiting waterfalls and swimming holes because of the obvious. 3. Surfing because the rainy season provides more swell and overcast skys reducing sun burns. 4. boat Fishing, cooler waters oct-dec can the most abuntant game like yellow fin, wahoo, amber jack and mahi mahi.

Well thats just some of the things off the top of my head.
Pura Vida
Mo’e