Costa Ballena has come to greatly appreciate Beth Sylver´s dedicated input to improving the circumstances of the Guardavidas Costa Ballena Lifeguards. Beth and her husband, Gene, are from California where they used to produce fine extra virgin olive oil. She felt the need to study yoga and transfer her newly acquired insights to more people. So, yoga has been in her luggage ever since. In 2012, Beth first visited Guanacaste and returned with her husband four months later for her birthday. Then they travelled all the way along the coast until finally stopping at a hotel with the invoking name of Cuna del Angel. “Here I felt for the first time the energizing bite of the Costa Rica bug. We instantly knew that we would be living in this part of the world.” In the beginning of 2015, once completely settled near to Uvita, they were introduced to people like Nate and Ben, Perry Gladstone, Brian Nice, Steve Fergus- all of these amazing youngsters- the Costa Ballena Lifeguards who are preventing drowning at three beaches along Costa Ballena. Beth learned that this hard-working group didn´t receive any official support, and that their salaries and transportation were privately funded, and difficult to keep up with. Even the Municipality of OSA was unable to sponsor two lifeguards on a fixed basis. In the beginning, she and a group of friends cooked lunch and delivered it to the beach. Now, in collaboration with the support team, she coordinated the “lunchguards” restaurants, one cooking for each day, a service greatly appreciated by the guys on the tower.
Money was always short, so Beth herself would go from door to door to raise awareness. The team would sell T-shirts, organize fundraiser parties, workshops, swimming classes, and very recently a Car Wash in Dominical, where lifeguards cleaned cars in the parking lot of El Fuego Brew Co. Just think for a moment: What would happen if the lifeguard initiative were shut down due to a lack of funds? Please support this life saving group!
By Dagmar Reinhard
CONTACT: Beth Sylver – Guardavidas Costa Ballena Lifeguards – PayPal Donations – http://www.lifeguardscostaballena.com/
