Tico Times June 13 2007

Casa Mañana

Every Wednesday we do our reportorial thing, submitting to the Tico Times, a national English -language newspaper, a short report of events at Lake Arenal. The reports appear on the Community Connections page of the Weekender section of the Tico Times. We post them to the website on deadline day, so they appear online 10 days before appearing in the Tico Times.)

Arenal Report for Tico Times June 13 2007

	playground and new play equipment. Sabalito is a small village high in the hills overlooking Lake Arenal from the west end. The region's more than 200 wind turbines are on other hilltops and ridge lines nearby. The citizens of Sabalito over the years have used raffles and sales of baked goods, chickens and tamales to raise money, meanwhile pricing out replacement equipment for the dangerous 22-year-old swing set and other playthings. The residents have cleared a new area with a tractor and are waiting for recently acquired wood to dry whereupon the children will peel the bark prior to construction. (Unpeeled wood is cheaper.) Since Sabalito's kid population has swelled from 9 to 30 in recent years, an expanded and safe playground is important to the community. Ladies of the Lake, who have decided that their donations should be directed to those who are helping themselves, hope that the Sabalito example will be a model for other area villages to establish community playgrounds.
Ladies of the Lake President Virginia Lamont, third from right, presents a check for 350,000 colones (about $675) to educators and students as the elementary school in Sabalito village.
Having first helped their own cause with years of fund-raising, educators, kids, and parents in the village of Sabalito received a great outside boost on June 12 when Las Damas del Lago (Ladies of the Lake) President Virginia Lamont dramatically handed over a rotulo-sized check for 350,000 colones ( about $675) made out to Patronato Escolar Sabalito to help fund an improved
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