Avellanas Fan Club/Surf Report

AVELLANAS FAN CLUB
(and Surf Report)

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

Welcome to the Avellanas Fan Club and sometime Surf Report page, updated as she sees fit.

Avellanas is "bad to the bone" and in the house. Email us your pics and comments to surfegg@cool.co.cr

Even if you didn't get to hang with Avellanas, send us your favorite pics from your vacation, anyhoo!

{… scroll to the bottom to read about the classification and origin of our dear coast pup}

Avellanas and fav' guest Paula from Vancouver - -
New Best Friends just hanging out, working on their tans!

Chet Martinussen, March 2008
Workin' it at Grande
(A force to be reckoned with in just a few short years!)

Carrie, Louis-

Its Scott - just wanted to say we had a great time! cant wait to come back to Grande. the Light House apt was nice - thanks for everything. . .
I took tons of photos and have already started to work the images into my paintings. I have an art show this summer and plan on using many of the Costa Rica photos as reference - you would have fun looking at the finished paintings - they will be on: <http://www.sawbladedesign.com>www.sawbladedesign.com eventually. . .

Hope our paths cross again some day.

Scott Saw

hi!
i just wanted to let you know that we had an amazing time during our stay in
playa grande. everyone at the hotel was so friendly and helpful and made
our trip even better. we will definitely pass the word to nature conscious
travellers and plan to make it there again in the future!!
thanks again,
erin hall and amber welsh

Sunset cocktail hour with the summer crowd at Las Tortugas. A daily ritual in Playa Grande.

The Tight Family, Christmas 2006
Delaney, Dave (Dad), Maddie, Janet (Mom), & Sophie

"Hi Carrie & Louis, . . . I cannot tell you enough what a great time we all had. We are already
planning our next trip there. You guys, your staff, your hotel, your vibe
made our trip. Thanksgiving dinner was so special.
I missed your hotel when we left for Nosara....."
-Jeanne Beuche, LA, Calif.

Dear Carrie and Louis Wilson,

I just wanted to thank you and your staff for your abosolutely amazing hospitality. I have been back in Texas for a day now and am still stoked on my stay at Hotel Las Tortugas. I have been all over the world and have stayed in the "Ritziest" hotels but have never had such a great experience as I did with your "close knit" staff. I will never forget your beautiful place, the beautiful beach and those beautiful people. The people of Playa Grande are amazing. I think they are some of the nicest people in the world. I will definitely be back to stay at your hotel and I will recommend it to anyone I ever speak with about Costa Rica.

Jane and Avellanas at Playa Carbon
. . . two peas in a clam shell.

__________

"Dudes at Witch's"
Pic sent in by Gary Green

Peeps from Gary Green:
"We recently stayed at your hotel; Just wanted you to know that we thoroughly enjoyed our stay. You gave us some great tips on when to go to Ollie's Point as well as some other surf spots. Everyone at the hotel was very nice and made our stay there a pleasant one."

__________

I just wanted to take a moment to
thank you for a wonderful stay at your hotel. As you may recall, we spent
3 nights with you last week before driving down to Nosara. We enjoyed Las
Tortugas so much that we cut our trip down south short, so that we could return
for 2 additional nights. ; I spent 25 years living in Hawaii (growing up in
the tourism industry) and have traveled to a number of other destination
locations throughout the world and I have to say that you truly have something
special there in Playa Grande. Your staff is phenomenal. Sergio went out
of his way to assist us in any way possible and we enjoyed talking with Alexi
(sp?) and the rest of the employees- this makes all the difference in a
vacation experience. Also, the fact that you sit in front of a phenomenal
beach break does not hurt! As we were leaving on Saturday
morning, our car had a dead battery. We really appreciated your help and
the staff who seemed happy to come out and help us push the car down the street
for a jump-start. We will highly recommend your property whenever possible
and are already contemplating our return in the spring.Thanks again for the hospitality and
a great week!
Jeff and Elizabeth Howard
Park City, Utah

Hey Carrie and Lewis (sic),
I know we haven't sent you any pictures yet but Lewis took one of the
three of us at breakfast one morning. Your web page is still plastered with
the Ryder Bros., and we all know that that isn't going to attract the ladies
to Playa Grande. Just checking in on you, we had a great time last week.
Thanks,
Jamie (Hill and Dan)
Wrightsville Beach, NC

Please extend our thanks to the staff for the wonderful food and service we received during our stay. Patricia and I had a wonderful time! We are already planning our next visit to Costa Rica with Patricia's parents. We will definitely include a stay at your hotel in our travel plans& and I plan to learn how to surf!!!
Thanks so much!
~David & Patricia Fenrick

"Hi Carrie . . .
Doug and I had such a great time in Costa Rica,
thanks in no small part to meeting you folks and your
hospitality."
- Paul Shephard, San Francisco

Dear Carrie . . . I hope that you had a great Christmas, and that
your new year will be full of health and happiness for you and Louis. Thanks again for
looking after us so well.
-Barbara O'Brien, Washington, DC

__________

Hi Carrie. . . If Louis is still feeling punk perhaps it will improve him to learn our
family considered your place the nicest of the many nice places we
stayed in Costa Rica.
Cheers,Tom Perry
Vancouver, B.C.

Hi Carrie,
Just a quick note to send in our picture of Avellanas and to let you know what a great vacation we had at Las Tortugas. We'll definitely be back and we haven't stopped bragging about the place to all our friends.
Jennifer Couling

Rasta Robby
Backside bottom turning on a clean, fun day at Grande.
Peeps from Rasta Robby: "Louis is my hero!!!"

Peeps from Family SurfBob [which includes Boogie fanatics Mark & John (pictured above) and mom, Giovanna]: "Wanted to let you know the whole family had a wonderful time. The
place is wonderful. All enjoyed surfing and boogie boarding in the
big surf, and you and your staff made us feel at home. It was one of
our best vacations ever!"

Peeps from Bubber (yes, Bubber): "Hey, Ya'll, I just wanted to thank you and every single person on the staff . . . for a wonderful week at your place. We had a great time, all of us, and we decided that it was our best CR trip ever. . .
PS--Be sure to give Avellanas a good scratch behind her left ear for me."

Peeps from Jerry Weaver: "Thanks for putting up with us (especially Bubber).
We had fun surfing and meeting all of you. We will be back soon . . . You guys are great!"

My stay in CR was wonderful!
I made many recommendations to all my freinds & family to stay at the Hotel Las Tortugas!
Chet Canlas

Peeps from Vicki:
"Just wanted to thank you so much for all of your help with our visit. The directions were greatly appreciated - a lifesaver! Our room #10 was perfect, better than expected. Your staff was helpful & friendly and the food delicious!
We had a wonderful time and plan to return."

Peeps sent in by George: "I just wanted you to know that we had a great time at your hotel last week.
I really enjoyed your hospitality and the laid-back atmosphere was awesome.
Your staff was great too. Say hello to Shirley for me. I'm glad you and
your friends enjoyed the Dorado we caught. Your cook did a great job
preparing the fish."

Lewis [sic], I did want to thank you for your tremendous
hospitality. We'll be recommending your place to all our friends and hope to
come back next September with a larger group(if you've got the space).
Please thank Kari [sic]for me as well.
Breaux Walker

hey guys,
this is a belated note from florida to thank you for the great stay we had
with you guys last month. my name is drew, i was with the group who stayed
at the light house and then in the hotel for 8 or 9 days. you guys gave us a
great rate and we had such a good time. thanks to you and your staff for such
great hospitality. carrie, thanks also for making us reservations in san
jose. the italian mob joint that we stayed at was great. we actually ended
up getting two flat tires our last day in san jose, so it was a pretty crazy
adventure trying to get those taken care of. anyway, i just got my film
developed and my friend nate is going to send you some of mine and his pics.
they are pretty funny. hope things are going great fro you guys! thanks for
everything.
your friend,
drew russell

Strayus Avellanas Adoptus : 1. The taxonomic designation for "lucky dog", the extant organism of the genus Stray. 2. The in-house mut of Hotel Las Tortugas.

Avellanas was found three years ago at Playa Avellanas, the surf break that is now her namesake, located 45 minutes to our south, by a couple from San Francisco spending a few months vacationing in Playa Grande. Inveterate dog-lovers (to wit, they brought three retired racing Greyhounds to Costa Rica with them for the summer), JC and D immediately took to the starving, mangy pup only a childless couple with obvious "issues" could love. A trip to the vet for shots and a summary "spaying", numerous banana-shampoo baths, and a soothing Pacific sunset later, our dear Coast Pup was soon enjoying her new found home here at the Big Beach.

Three months later, JC & D inevitably had to return to their busy Stateside life . . . sans Avellanas. In good faith, she was given to a resident friend.

One long year later, the yet again abandoned pup was hanging with a yet another transitorily-residing couple from Northern California, this time from Lake Tahoe. Not knowing Avellanas' history, let alone her name, this couple--in good faith, however limited in good sense--took her to the vet for yet another spaying. Being the smart dog she is, Avellanas shed their company the very next day.

Now with us for almost two years, we here at Hotel Las Tortugas can indeed boast that we have no intention of spaying Avellanas for her third time. Though she has obvious abandonement issues, a healthy distrust of the modern phenomenon commonly known as human "intelligence", a loathing for the backseat of cars, and an approach-avoidance complex towards those bearing imported canned dogfood, Avellanas does indeed seem to being enjoying her most recentlhy adopted home here at Las Tortugas. The hotel life seems to suit her: Knowing that the revolving door will soon replace the present humanoids with a new batch that has no claim--intentioned, or real--on her twice-removed ovaries, Avellanas thoroughly enjoys the hotel guests, especially those that like to walk the beach to the north venturing as far as the tide pools of Playa Carbon.