With singing and dancing, chicharron and carne asada, on Saturday, January 12th the community of Chinampas celebrated the inauguration of a bridge that was three years in the making, according to Bonifacio Diaz, who lives in Chinampas and serves as syndic for the District of Samara.

About 150 people turned out for the celebration, including the mayor and council members of the Canton of Nicoya.

About 250 people live in Chinampas, which is located in the mountains in the district of Samara.  The new bridge crosses Buena Vista river and connects Chinampas to Terciopelo.  “This is an index of progress for the community,” Diaz explained.  “Those who have cars or motorcycles that had to leave for work couldn’t in winter” when the river floods.

Building the bridge involved many delays and controversy.  A legal denunciation was filed because of work that was paid for but never done, according to Diaz, and the money ran out, leaving the bridge unfinished.  

Luis Acosta, president of the Samara Association of Development, confirmed that the first budget of 18 million colones ($36,000) wasn’t enough to finish the project, so an additional budget of 6 million colones ($12,000) was obtained. In addition, he said this budget doesn’t reflect the community labor and subsidy from the Ministry of Labor. 

More Community News Friendly Progress In Nosara For 2012 The non-profit group, Friends of Nosara, held their annual general meeting this Sunday January 6 at restaurant Marlin Bill's. The group has achieved some of their stated goals from 2012 and says that they will continue working towards them in the new year. Samara Residents Denounce Polluting of Lagarto River Under the bridge between Samara center and Cangrejal, two drainage pipes pour out directly into the Río Lagarto riverbed, and members of the Samara community suspect that the water is contaminated.  Summer School in Nosara             Nosara summer school, better known as “Escuelita”, is starting this Monday January 7th and will last for 3 weeks. Kids and youth ages 5-14 can learn animation with film, gardening, singing, cooking, photo i illustration and handi crafts, all combined with games and sports. Nosara Elected New ASADA Board After several attempts to gather together a big enough group of the clients of the ASADA of central Nosara, the sufficient amount of people finally came to the meeting on Friday, December 7th in order to hold the election of the new administrative board.