Yoga Expo Costa Rica 2011

This year, Costa Rica's annual Yoga Expo was a great success! Bringing together the Central Valley's yoga studios, retreat centers from the Pacific coasts, yoga-inspired clothing designers, alternative medicine professionals, delicious vegetarian and ethnic foods, jewelry designers and local artisans, the old Customs House in downtown San Jose hosted this wonderful yoga event in its unique brick and stained glass structure. 50+ vendor booths lined the inside of the building, coming together at the center stage, where we watched yoga clothing fashion shows, a belly dancing showcase, partner acro-yoga and a beautiful kirtan performance by Marianela of Yoga Lamat in Curridabat and drummer Carlos "Tapado" of Malpais and Editus fame. It was great to see Tapado in this intimate setting, and we were happy to reminisce about his private performance with Manuel Obregon at AmaTierra 2 years prior.

On Saturday, Krishna Das performed an incredible Kirtan show, and the turnout was amazing! The weekend featured yoga classes, spiritual workshops and guided meditations. Jill, Bob and Tara all attended the Yoga Expo on Sunday, sharing brochures with fellow yogis, tasting strange and delicious culinary concoctions, like sweet-potato ice cream (they also had beet and avocado!), molasses bliss balls, homemade pesto and Indian curry empanadas, trying on fun, flow-ey yoga clothes, and feeling a part of the Costa Rican yoga scene. After five years here in the yoga biz, it's been such a learning experience to get to know the local yoga culture, meet its pioneers and join in as part of the community. AmaTierra is a member of AsoYoga, Costa Rica's yoga association, and it was fun to mingle with the other members who had booths at the Expo, and who welcomed us with open arms. When we attend events like the Yoga Expo each year, we are reminded of what a special country we live in. The vibrancy of Costa Rican culture continues to impress us in all of its nuanced ways, and we are so proud to be a part of it for over five years now.

For more photos and video of the Kirtan and acro-yoga performances, visit our facebook page! http://www.facebook.com/amatierra#!/amatierra

New Mayor of Turubarres - Hope for the Future!

A few weeks ago we attended the inauguration of the new mayor of Turubarres county: Alcalde Ingeniero Bolivar Monge Granados of the center-right political party Partido de Liberacion Nacional (PLN). The ceremony took place in the church of San Pablo, and all of the newly elected members of the Municipal government attended, presenting a number of inspiring speeches to the townspeople. Most notable of the speakers The President of the Municipality, Victor Mora, is a long-time friend of AmaTierra, and many of you may know him as the famous tour guide of Carara National Park. Over the past year that he has been President of the Municipality, we have worked with him to begin strengthening environmental action in Turubarres. Under his guidance, the municipality now collects trash around town with a truck once every 2 weeks, and we continue to pursue dialogue with them on how to incorporate a recycling program into the municipal waste management system. This has been a battle that the AmaTierra Foundation continues to fight, and we are hopeful that the new mayor will help support our efforts in establishing a sustainable long-term solution to waste management and recycling in Turubarres.

Last week, the new mayor (Bolivar Monge Granados), the President of the Municipality (Victor Mora), the First Vice Mayor, and the Second Vice Mayor (many of you know him as Beto, one of the drivers for AmaTierra) all joined us for dinner on the balcony, where we were able to discuss ideas for the recycling project. They were all on board to support a group of local women who aim to take on recycling as a private business with municipal support, creating a recycling center just outside of San Pablo, and committing to sorting the recycled trash from the central park. While this project moves forward, the AmaTierra Foundation has offered to support the women's salaries for the first three months while they get things up and running. From there, the recycling program will be up and running, with the municipality taking on the role as benefactor until the recycling itself can generate a sustainable income.

We are grateful for the reinvigorated support of the municipality, and look forward to helping this group of motivated women make recycling a realistic and sustainable project for Turubarres county and its residents.

Marietta Pucillo's Yoga Retreat at AmaTierra

Harley-riding Marietta Pucillo and her Milwaukee-based yoga students came to AmaTierra for an action- and adventure-packed 5-night yoga retreat, February 5-10, 2011. We were so amazed by their go-get 'em attitude, with daily double sessions of strenuous yoga taught by Marietta and Paige, plus excursions to the Adventure Park and Playa Jaco for the zip line canopy tour and kick-butt surf lessons. They were loving the food each night at dinner, and with good reason - this group had a jam-packed itinerary of yoga and Costa Rican adventure at its best, sure to work up a serious appetite!


Tara took one of Marietta's evening classes and came back saying "that was the gnarliest class I've ever taken!" Marietta's famous arm balances, martial arts-inspired vinyasas and extra-challenging binds were incredible, bringing the essence of "pretzel" back into the yoga experience. On Super Bowl Sunday, the football-loving yogis payed a visit to San Pablo's Coco Bongo bar to watch and celebrate the Green Bay victory, and from what we heard, it was a great party. Thanks for all of your energy, guys. We can't wait to have you back next time!

AmaTierra Foundation Donates School Supplies & Uniforms

We are so grateful for AmaTierra Foundation donors who have been so generous with their donations in the past, and especially so far in 2011. With the new school year beginning this week, many kids in our local county of Turubarres faced the reality that they would not be able to attend school this year, since their families could not afford school supplies and the required uniforms. Learning this, we saw it as an opportunity for the AmaTierra Foundation to put your donations to work, helping make a difference in the lives of 9 school children from low-income families.

Using funds we collected this year, we were able to buy 9 sets of school uniforms, shoes & socks, backpacks, notebooks, pencils, erasers, glue, colored

pencils, geometry sets and more so that the kids could start class on time the very next day. When we delivered the goodies to Cesar, Kimberly and Daniel, Ashley and Axel, Winston and Steve, they were all smiles, trying on their new shoes and proudly wearing their new backpacks. Their mothers expressed sincere gratitude with hugs, and we were filled with appreciation that we were able to contribute these things and make an impact in the lives of children and their families in our local Turubarres community.

This would not have been possible without your generous donations - thank you for helping to make a difference! We are always ac

cepting donations to the AmaTierra Foundation. If you would like to donate, please contact us at amatierra@gmail.com. You can learn more about the AmaTierra Foundation by visiting http://www.amatierra.com/amatierrafoundation.html.

Silke Schroeder's Yoga Retreat at AmaTierra

From July 29 through February 5, AmaTierra played host to Silke Schroeder's 7-night yoga retreat, with a full house of guests learning from her expert knowledge and experience. Silke is an expert in Sanskrit, the Upanishads, and Vedic science, and all of us at AmaTierra learned so much throughout the week with her instructional and practical workshops. We held a new moon ceremony, and Silke explained that in Vedic Astrology the 3 stars that were prominent for this new moon, in the constellation of Capricorn, are the stars that vibrate the sound of OM.

The group studied and practiced yoga and meditation twice daily for 7 days, felt renewed and invigorated. We bid them farewell as they return to brave the cold of Minnesota (others from Colorado and Ontario Canada), after a warm week of sunshine and gentle valley breezes here in Costa Rica. Pablo's cooking classes are becoming famous, this week featuring his sesame ginger dressing, a special raw foods dessert with raisins, nuts and coconut, and Pita sandwiches with goat cheese. We plan to make Pablo's cooking classes a weekly event; please ask about them if you come to AmaTierra.

Gracias, Silke, for a wonderful week!

Fiestas and Rodeo in San Pablo de Turrubares

Over the past two weeks, AmaTierra guests have taken part in the local "fiestas" of San Pablo de Turrubares, the nearest town to AmaTierra, 3km down the road. Each year, Turrubares natives come together to put on a two-week carnival to celebrate local traditions, inviting visitors from throughout the country to enjoy typical foods of the area, horse shows, bull-riding, dance contests, karaoke and more.
The highlights this year were the bull-riding in the rodeo corral and the "Gran Tope" show, where community members bring out their best horses to parade around the central park and show off their horses' prancing style, known as "tope." This year was a bit more mellow at the fiestas than years past, and the famous Costa Rican motorcycle brigade was absent this time around. Hopefully next year, we can help support the publicity team so that more visitors will come to celebrate all things Turrubares at their special local fiestas. Tuanis!

Hydroponics 101 at AmaTierra

We are so excited about our organic hydroponic garden - learning so much about sustainable small-scale farming and local production for sustenance consumption. So far, we're growing hydroponic ginger, arugula, lettuce, celery, cucumber, tomato and cilantro - using what we grow to add to Pablo's delicious gourmet creations in the kitchen. When we start producing more, we plan to give any excess to local distributors, so that they can sell it in the community markets and make a bit of profit for themselves. Sustainability in action, indeed.

Our hydroponic plants grow in raised planters with no soil, sitting in beds of rice hulls ("garza" in Spanish) and coconut husks. They drink an organic cocktail of nutrients and water on a daily basis. We are in the beginning stages of hydroponics and have learned so much from others' experiences. If you are a hydroponic master, please share your secrets, we'd love to learn from you!
Hope to see you soon at AmaTierra so you can taste our hydroponic goodies for yourself. Pura vida!