Arenal School sent nine students to the Special Olympics Las Juntas on August 29. Providing the transportation was Tom Carter of Paradise Investment. Patrick Hughes of The Red Sunset of Guanacaste, a vacation rental high above the lake, wrote us that Carter is constructing townhomes that will include the first ever sewage treatment plant in the area. Patrick has been a great help with sewage problems himself, having overseen the complete reconstruction of the sickeningly faulty septic system at the Arenal School this year. He says Carter is incorporating biological corridors and green zones in his development.

A tornado swept across the western end of the lake on Saturday, August 25, about 4:30 pm, lasting six or seven minutes, and reaching from the lake surface into the clouds. It was caught on video by Laura Mora Munoz from her vantage point at her rental cabins, Las Alebrijes, above Rock River Lodge at the west end of the lake. As we wrote about this, she and husband Rene Ruiz were trying to load the video of this impressive weather sight to YouTube. Rene caught the tornado on his cell phone camera, but the image may be too indistinct for the Tico Times to reproduce. Anticipating the phenomenon but missing it from her vantage point was Sonya Sullivan of San Luis. Out on her patio she thought to herself, "This looks just like Ontario tornado weather" but her great weather eye was thwarted by a point of land to the west of San Luis. She didn't say if the tornado weather made her homesick for Ontario.

Note: Rene and Laura were successful in posting the video to YouTube. You can see it at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3dvsI2bAR97_Q