The good side and the bad side of paradise

I've really enjoyed myself on this trip to the surf camp. After having spent a couple of months re-acclimating to life by US standards, it was refreshing to get back to Central America. I haven't really even left WRSC the entire time I've been here. Why would I, except for the daily surf sessions out in front. I totally lied to you about the web cam. It is now Tuesday morning and it still hasn't gotten working, the new reason is now that we need some special router which has been ordered and is being air shipped from magic routerlandia. Actually that too is a lie, as the router man just showed up while I was enjoying my morning coffee and says it should be show time shortly. After living in Central America for this long I have learned patience, it will happen when its ready I suppose. The new Witch's Rock surfboards are here, and we've begun retrofitting the original board cage area to house the new boards. They are totally beautiful. I've been surfing on a 9'6 longboard, really really fun. Its kindof a shame to surf such a beautiful thing, almost like these boards should remain hung on the wall in the trophy room of your house, but thats a sin and surfboards were made to be surfed. The rain stopped and it was nice most all of this past week, which has been great. Right now its pissing down rain as I write this, but it seems to only be lasting for a short while. The countryside here has been devastated with rain. Its been crazy. The Tamarindo River literally takes a left turn at the beach and flows right in front of the camp now, and at low tides you can see tons of lava rock that never used to exist in front of the camp before. The Tico Times called this year as having more rain than in the last 30 years. I was surprised to see that the local papers had picked up the blue flag report, which was testing the local water quality at the storm drains. As if nobody realized that the overconstruction of Tamarindo would have any negative effects, it was made apparent that all of this growth has the negative side affect of pollution. no kidding. I'm quite happy that this is the case though, as I hope that the people of Tamarindo who never thought about this before take the time to reflect upon the future. The ocean is such a beautiful thing, lets try and keep it that way. If it floats, it ends up in the ocean sooner or later. I remember that phrase from a high school assembly, which motivated me to later start a Surfrider group called the Ocean Awareness Club at UCSD. Now I sit in the Skybox and I think about how Otis is going to grow up at the camp, and how special the surf camp is, and how much I want to fight to keep things the way they are. Having grown up in San Diego, we always knew that when it rained one wasn't supposed to go surf for 72 hours. However sad it may be to have to apply this lifestyle to Central America, a lack of infrastructure (due to a lack of government involvement and missing tax dollars) is to blame. I actually believe that people are inherently good and that if they knew options to do good, they would do so. I have therefore written up a list of ten things that I can do to save Tamarindo (and the planet for that matter). Wherever you live, these principles should apply to you to. I feel like God is watching over us right now, and telling us its up to us to step up and stop all of this bullshit on earth. Seriously, I'm ashamed to be a human being sometimes. There is some unit of time used to describe how frequently species of animal life are going extinct from planet earth, and its in the seconds. Should I be stoked to be having another child or scared? I feel like that guy on the original Terminator that had to go back in time to procreate my own son so that in the future he could destroy the terminator machines and all of the humans could go on living (and it didn't look like that cool of a future either). So, back to my point, if this list makes sense to you, and I hope that it does, pass it on to someone you know. Email me anything to add to this list, and I'll update it all on the website http://www.zephyrecoproject.com I am trying to collect as much information as possible, to write as many articles as possible, and to send as many people as possible to zephyrecoproject.com in an attempt to explain what every person can do to be part of the solution instead of part of the problem. Next week I'm flying to Chicago to attend the Greenbuild Expo, http://www.greenbuildexpo.org. This is really exciting, not only for Tamarindo but for Costa Rica and the rest of the world for that matter. I'm very stoked to read "At Greenbuild 2007 we'll explore "Accelerating Green Communities" with outstanding educational sessions, exciting speakers, special events and tours, and our largest exhibit hall ever." That means I'm there. My plan is to return to Costa Rica with as many sustainable technologies as possible, ones that can be implemented quickly and inexpensively, ones that can be used to explain to developers that they can build something sustainable AND profitable. I guess the part of this whole situation that bothers me more than anything is the cycle I've seen since living here for 7 years. Every rainy season, for about 8 weeks or so in September and October, people realize that "hey, its rainy a lot, and the rivers are flowing out into the ocean (as they've always done), and the water quality isn't as good as it normally is (duh), and I don't like it". Hey, I don't like it either. In fact, I'm quite sick of being at the end of the chain, at the lowest elevation in Tamarindo. Everyone upstream dumps and it gets sent downstream, right past us, and out to the ocean. This simple feat of gravity is still foreign to most, who don't consider the impact of theri actions. Unless you're part of the solution, you ARE the problem. Sadly, in another 2-3 weeks the rainy season will be long forgotten, and people will hang up this issue until next September and October. I could see it even last night, even in October our restaurant/bar was packed full of customers and standing room only. I can only imagine what it will be like in the high season, when this town is packed full of tourists and everyone is smiling and everyone is selling real estate and everyone is talking about how much bigger town is etc etc. Maybe everyone should be talking about organizing a beach cleanup, or a car wash using recycled water, or going to the city and asking what is happening to the millions of dollars in tax revenue that isn't being reinvested in infrastructure. What about going to these HUGE development projects, with 300 construction workers and no septic system, and demanding standards? What about resolving only to buy a home or condo that has a treatment plant or at least some sort of logical means of existence. I don't mean to ramble on and on atop my soap box, I'm still very much happy to be here instead of most anywhere else. I do think that it is time however for us as human beings to start questioning our actions and telling ourselves "I will be part of the solution." Pass it on please.

Obviously this applies to residents of Tamarindo, Costa Rica, but it could just as easily be Tamarindo, Texas.
START TODAY
1. - Outsource your laundry service
If you live in Tamarindo, the chances are that you live close to the ocean. This means there isn't much earth under your house and the town's water table. There are no detergents that are 100% friendly, so the less water that is processed along our beach, the better. Unless your laundry service provider uses a water treatment plant, if they are close to a water source (quebrada, stream, river, estuary, ocean, etc) they are contaminating the water table to some degree. Laundry services with treatment plants or those located further inland are best.

2. - Plant more vegetation around your home
Vegetation helps absorb rainwater and general runoff. Vegetation also helps prevent erosion. It is also much more beautiful than just concrete, be it a personal preference. Without vegetation, water flows easier downstream and out to the ocean, picking up everything in it's path.

3. - Oversee construction projects personally
Are you planning on building a house, commercial building, condos, etc? You have more control than anyone else! Uphold strict standards throughout your construction site. Pay for a temporary toilet service for your construction workers (even if your construction company doesn't offer to pay for it), complete your septic system before it is being used, and make sure that trash is being properly disposed.
If you're not building something, chances are someone you know is. Demand construction standards from everyone. Don't be afraid of trying to work positively with those you don't know to help implement positive change. Take a walk around the neighborhood and make notes of home and business owners that appear to be a gross polluter. Working together in a positive fashion yields better results then aggressive behavior.

4. - Report illegal dumping
After that truck pumps your septic tank, do you have any idea where it goes?
If you witness a septic service truck dumping illegally in an estuary, quebrada, or any zone not designated for this purpose, report them to city officials immediately. If you suspect a local home, business, condo building, temporary structure, etc. dumping illegally, take photos. Request to speak to the administration for an explanation of the situation. Be pleasant and unassuming unless it is proven. Take any legal means possible to end anything like this, such as using the denuncia process.
Report any gross polluters' activity to ZEPHYRECOPROJECT@GMAIL.COM
As a community we can shine light on both those helping the community and those hurting the community.

5. - Don't litter. Pick up someone else's trash. Feel good.
Consider your neighbors downhill/downstream/down the street!
When you have the mansion or condo project on the top of the hill, all of your trash, sewage, and building chemicals go downstream and out into the ocean unless you dispose of them properly. This town wasn't put here for your development project, please treat the rest of us with some respect. If you didn't realize this simple principle until now, consider yourself educated and please stop so we can go surfing without getting sick. REMEMBER- IF IT FLOATS, IT WILL END UP IN THE OCEAN.
Try picking up ten pieces of trash everyday (trash that someone else threw on the ground).

6. - Visit your government office and demand more
Where do our tax dollars go? When will the country decide that Tamarindo's growth (Santa Cruz municipality has more growth than any other municipality in the country) deserves a central treatment plant? When will Coopeguanacaste offer utility credits for homes/business wanting to tie into the grid and feed electricity back to the community? When where there be incentives for green construction? A sad fact is that most developers are only interested in how much money they make in any given project, so to connect to them you must show them the financial benefit to sustainable development. The government isn't doing anything about this, and the result is this current chaos.
It is a FACT in this country that the more you visit government officials, and the more of a pain in the ass you are by showing up every day/week and requesting phone service, electrical service, etc, the greater your chances are of getting what you want. Dedicate 4 hours/week to visit the Santa Cruz municipal offices, and talk to anyone who will listen about what is happening to Tamarindo and beach communities in general. Our combined efforts lobbying for change will ultimately create change. Talking about what needs to be done is energy wasted.

7. - Don't spread Tamarumors
Make sure to educate yourself instead of simply believing what others may tell you. Ask questions for yourself. There is nothing more frustrating then having to combat this form of ignorance. Only education can change this, so start learning and start sharing positively.
We are all part of this community and the sooner we start working together instead of against each other, the sooner we can shine.

8. - Pick up after your pets
Pretty simple, huh? Yeah you may have to carry some plastic bags with you and pick up dog shit, but its better than swimming in it or drinking it.

9. - Dispose of trash properly
Dumping trash in the same location over time, then covering it with dirt, does not equal new land. We all remember the Tamarindo hillside property where this was done, and the landslide that ensued. Where do you think all of this trash ended up? You got it, in the ocean.

10. - Install a treatment plant for your home or business
Even if you've bought your home or business as an investment that you plan to sell, some of us want to live in Tamarindo for a long time. Installing a treatment plant is inexpensive compared to the loss of our beaches to poor water quality. Treatment plants purify grey and black water (dish water, laundry water, toilet water, shower water, etc) and return this water 99% pure. Uses for this water include irrigation of your yard. More advanced uses include recycling this water to flush toilets in your home. Treatment plants can be shared between homes/businesses and can be very beneficial, not to mention you never have to pay for septic tank cleaning or worry about how it is disposed.

Alas all is well in the land of Joe

Houston has some nice white trash bars where I feel right at home. As I depart for Costa Rica Saturday morning, hung over, I don't realize that the stars have aligned. Good luck seems to follow me a little bit. For example, it has been raining TONS in Costa Rica, literally more rain than in the last 30 years. Then I show up, and it stops, and now is totally sunny and beautiful and I guess the end of the rainy season? And what happens to San Diego as soon as I leave? FIRE. Holy crap. I've been watching CNN and wondering just how much of my home city was going to be affected. One million residents evacuated, including many of my close friends. With the city shutting down and going into emergency mode, I'm on the beach in Tamarindo surfing on my new Witch's Rock longboard. Its a 9'6, blue, pretty much the most fun surfing I've done in a long time. Heres some AWESOME news- the new WRSC webcam, yes, the one you can control from there and see all of the surf breaks in front of the camp, is LIVE. Well, if its not, it will be by the time I paddle out in the next hour... Look out for Carlos and Luis as they ride their brand new boards. The Witch's Rock Surf Team is ripping these waves, you can watch them surfing on the web cam as well. The waves in front are really fun and its supposed to get only bigger for the next 3-4 days. My family from Montana and Utah just left. Poor Tito left with more than just WRSC t-shirts, I had to take him to the emergency room after his board slammed him in the head. The gash, from his forehead to the back of the top of his head (3-4 inches) was the biggest I'd seen in a long time. I guess it could happen doing anything, and trust me it won't keep me from surfing! Holly, Otis and I are living in the Penthouse of the surf camp. Oh, and Luna and Gus (my dogs). Its been sweet. Tico Hendrix played a couple of shows the first two nights we were here, that guy is a riot.Everything here is going better than good, its great. The sun is out again, the waves are up, the water is back to normal. As you can probably imagine, with all of this rain and all of this construction, rivers and creeks had completely flooded much of the country. The Tempisque River, the one you cross from the Liberia airport on your way to the surf camp, was 16 meters higher than normal and overflowing the bridge. It was amazing to see, but sad when I learned that many of the homes in the town of Filadelfia had been flooded (a nearby town). The water was chocolate milk colored with everything from tree branches to livestock floating downstream, but everything has seemed to clean up nicely. The waves are just looking too nice right now, I've got to go surf. aloha

in the matrix

Sometimes, when I'm in Costa Rica and I need to get away, I'll drive to San Jose and check myself into the best western irazu for a week or so. I'll get a ton of projects accomplished, mainly because I'm away from the rest of the world. The only downside is that I miss my family, but the upside means that I'm usually burnt and ready to take some time off and travel/surf/hang with my family. Thats about where I am right now. Holly and Otis went to Tamarindo ten days ago, I stayed in San Diego so I could work on things. I should probably go look for a ticket and get down there, I miss the surf camp (finally). You know, after seven years, looking back on things, I'm always glad I've done what I've done. This time I felt like I needed to take some time away from the inefficiencies of CR. Now I miss them. I also wanted to be as prepared as I could for the next kid. Holy crap, in three months I'm having another little boy. CRAZY. Hellooooooo? Helloooooooooo? Who would have thought? Getting back to this change of environment, this time away from Costa Rica, its a love-hate relationship, really much like the surf camp. No, its more like a relationship with a woman. 60 employees, a never-ending list of things to do, to make better, to build, to fix, to buy, to sell, blah blah blah. It gets tiring, even when you pretend not to notice. One thing I've learned, that I had heard but that didn't make sense until applied in my own life, you can't get shit done without a solid team, and for that I thank my staff. I'm not going to name any names here, uh, but Matt, you rock man. and you Shawna, and my good friend Ricardo, and everyone upstairs, and everyone downstairs, really all of you. Yo Freedom and Gregory, get ready to make me some Barrel Rolls at the sushi bar, and Vicente, I'll want that Sin Panza in about, uh 36 hours. I miss chilling with James, surfing with Colin, getting hugs from Catalina, and seeing Marcela's great smile. Surf is definitely up in Tamarindo this weekend. Plus, my parents are coming down, and so is my cousin Tommy from Salt Lake City and my cousin Frankie from Butte Montana, and a couple of their friends, and so on. Its going to be nice. Talking to Otis on the phone is great, but chilling out on the beach with him is going to be even better. aloha joe

Birthday Time!

Matt Krasnovsky, Food & Beverage Director, and Colin Briers, Reservations & Sales Director, are two of my top guys at the surf camp. Wouldn't it be ironic that their birthdays are only a day apart? Yesterday Matt had his birthday, and today marks one year that, on Colin's last birthday, I called him up from my van in South Carolina (don't ask me why I was in South Carolina, its a long story) and asked him if he was ready to join the WRSC crew. I think it took him like 2 days to get down to Costa Rica.So my suggestion is that you call Colin up at the surf camp and give him some birthday hell. Please. You can even use the toll free number, 1 888 318 SURF, then press "1" for sales (yeah we're getting nifty with our phone system down here in the jungle) and give Colin a big happy birthday message. You can also email him at colin@witchsrocksurfcamp.com
Here's Matt, teaching Otis how to surf. Except he's supposed to be facing the other way bro! Matt is a much tougher person to reach, since he runs the bar into the wee hours. The best time to heckle Matt is between 12pm and 2am, and you can call the same number and connect with the front desk (I'm sure he'll just love having to go there like twenty times), or email him at matt@witchsrocksurfcamp.com . On a very serious note, the surf camp would not be what it is today if it weren't for these two. I met Colin five years ago when he was on a surf trip through Costa Rica, we hit it off well from the first day and have been friends ever since. Matt and I actually met in college, where we were both completing our film degrees. Hey Matt, isn't it awesome how much college prepared us for the real world? Uh...

We love you two, thank you for being part of the WRSC crew. We are all very lucky. -joe

hasta la roscoe

I finally have spare time. I went to Trader Joe's and bought groceries, I went to the YMCA and swam laps. I'm sitting at the table with "the Biggest Loser" tv show on. Holy crap it is funny to be back in America and actually pay attention to the tv. Those Geico cavemen even have their own show. America kills me. My back has been a bit sore, probably because I'm an old man now and have been surfing so much. I went to this massage school today and got an hour-long massage, and now I'm feeling a lot better. I don't know why I never thought to do that sooner. I've been thinking a lot about work lately. Basically I've been thinking a lot about not working. It doesn't matter if I'm in Tamarindo or San Diego, all I really want to do is surf and mess around as an entrepreneur as a hobby, not as a job. I only want to do things that I enjoy, as we all should. I decided that the best thing to do (wait hold on, the fat crew from the biggest loser tv show has some insane challenge that I feel like I should watch for some reason) was to try to outsource absolutely everything that I (feel like I) need to do. I called my new friend in India KG to ask him what he thought. Well, actually, I didn't call him, I sent him an instant message. I've never met KG by the way. The next thing you know, I've got myself assigned a virtual assistant. A VA, as its called in internet work remote wonderland. You want to know what the best part about it is? My VA lives in India, where the time zone is the exact opposite as mine. So I get to make a "to do" list and go to bed, and when I wake up in the morning its all done. Whoa, that sounds like its too good to be true. I'm going to have to get creative with all of this extra time. So I got the I-phone today. I couldn't resist. I liked my little blackberry thing, but my thumbs were killing me from that little track ball thingy. I'm a caveman, yes. My virgin thumbs didn't get all hyped up on cell phones whilst living in Costa Rica. The I phone replaces my ipod, which is cool because mine only works when it wants to. It also has some good internet features. It is my plan to abandon my computer 75% of the time, within the next four weeks. I need to wean myself off of a desk, as a desk isn't much fun. Even a desk with a nice view is still a desk. I'm looking at where this world is going, and I want to go there with it, and not be behind a stupid desk. Hey, what about them Chargers, huh? Finally they decided to play some football. And then that Monday night football game where the Cowboys should have lost, I don't know how they pulled that off. I can't wait until Sunday again to see if the SD boys are for real. I believe in them, I think its the new coaching staff that they're getting accustomed to. But what the hell do I know? I don't. I'm looking at myself in the reflection of a Fluf cd (old school SD band) and I definitely need a haircut. I've gone caveman. I'm getting excited for next week, to get back to Costa Rica. Holly and Otis are already there. Our Alaskan Husky dog Roscoe of many years was finally put down yesterday. He had cancer for a very long time, and as I see it us adopting him gave him six years he probably wouldn't have had. Everyone knows Roscoe, he used to live at the surf camp and was the original surf camp mascot. But then people would step on him on accident and he'd bite the shit out of their legs, and I got worried that I was going to get sued for having some crazy dog in my business. So where do I put him? In my house of course. This began the "life with Roscoe" phase of life. And now he's gone. Its almost as if I'm entering the "post-Roscoe" phase of life. Well, anyways, see ya old buddy. I hope they have air conditioning up there. Holly tells me that the new yoga tent is really awesome. Its on the side lot and they made a nice wooden walkway to it. I'm excited because I'm learning about my shipping options, and now Costa Rica has agreed to enter CAFTA, so shipping things to the surf camp, and shipping goods from the surf camp to the rest of the world, is finally going to happen. I feel like since I've come back up here, I've slowly re-entered life in the 21st century. Living in Costa Rica for seven years and now trying to acclimate back to the US has taken some time. It still feels really weird and new. I guess I just need to get some warm water surf.

GO CHARGERS!!!!!!!!

it is about f$cking time!!

check it - very cool

http://www.inhabitat.com/2007/10/02/take-a-trip-with-solar-taxi/#more-6284


We're going to look back at this and laugh as we advance solar panel technology.

watching the sun come up

I'm happy to say that we made it through LA without hitting any serious traffic, we're about a half hour from Rincon. I hoped we don't get skunked...

ahhhh its a __________?

Wow, of course a lot always happens, not just to me but to all of us. I just happen to write about most all of it. The last few days have been no exception. The one thing that sucks is that I happen to be a very big San Diego Charger fan, and this year is just falling apart a little bit more each week. It didn't help that the Padres fell apart last week, then came back, had some luck, somehow didn't find it possible to close either of their last two games, then went into this crazy extra-baseball-game-of-the-season game where they lead, give it back, get ahead by 2 and then lose it all in what, the 14th inning? what kind of crap is that? And the Chargers are 1-3. oh boy, its going to be a long football season. I'm still their biggest fan, and I count my blessings that I grew up in such a great town. Hey, look at me, I'm that annoying guy who takes like a million photos of their kid. Heres the latest shot of OZman on our deck, I also took this one when we were cruising in the back of my dad's 68 convertible Caddy. Otis was pretty stoked on that. So today we went to the ultrasound place and we found out the news. Oh yes, we now know. We're having a...oh wouldn't you like to know. Ok you'll really have to want to know, somewhere in this mess is the answer asdfkjds;lfknadlsihgfaps; dkjnf;asdlijf;as ldijf;ldskjf;asldjf;osdijITSABOY!!!jskfej;l kfjsd;klfjs;dfkjs; ;kljafd;a f;aklsp;ioj;falksjdf; laksjdf; slkjdf;alskdjf;laksjdf;j;aslkdfj;aslkdjf;asldkj Yup, just like that, the Walsh clan is taking over. I still can't believe it. As for me and the world of surfing, I've been doing a lot of it now that this NW swell has started to fill in. Yesterday OB Pier was fun but small, today it was shoulder to head high. Some douche paddled out on a longboard and then as I paddled for a wave, the guy grabbed my leg so I couldn't get the wave. I thought I was on some lame ass reality show, the guy was all agro about how I was paddling for his wave. Since I'm riding the 6'1 and he's on a longboard, it supposed to be the other way around? The guy was a total joke and all agro, way too agro for me without my morning coffee and the cold ass water in my spring suit, I told him to stop watching too much ultimate fighting and he got even more pissed. Whatever. I guess when you grow up and have kids you have to stop getting into things like this...you grow up? Well I've done that, and still... he started it!! Yeah, so whatever, screw him, life is way to good to worry about bad vibes like that. I'm such a nerd, did I tell you that? I'm sure you knew. I'm having a really good time trying to understand my new Indian friend KG speak to me on Skype. The internet freaks me out when I get really involved in a project that crosses all borders and time zones. KG and I are on exact opposite sides of the earth, 12 hours apart. I'm thinking about getting a ton of work done tomorrow and then driving up to surf Rincon early Thursday morning. Rincon in near Santa Barbara, so probably at least 3 hours driving. The better news... on the way back I pass by my buddy Karl Zappa's place in Irvine to have a few beers at his Bayhawk Ales Brewery. Now that sounds like a great time...