As Easter celebrations mark the end of Lent season, emergency management and public safety authorities in various Central American nations are reporting the grim tally of injuries and deaths during the week. Many decades ago, the casualty counts during Semana Santa were negligible, as the majority of devout Catholics used to stay at home and only ventured out to church and religious process...

Gecko Trail, a travel agency located in Puerto Viejo de Limon, along with the community school and the Asociación de Organizaciones del Corredor Biológico Talamanca Caribe (ACBTC), are currently working on a project to raise awareness about the growing problem of trash and debris on the beach and natural areas in their town. The entities are planning a clean-up day in Puerto Viejo, on Frida...

Daily newspaper La Tribuna in Honduras has reported that the request by the National Football Team of that country to play the upcoming friendly match against Costa Rica at 3:00 pm was declined by FEDEFUTBOL. On April 11th, Costa Rica will celebrate the 156th anniversary of the Battle of Rivas, and many patriotic activities are planned for that afternoon. The players from Honduras are sched...

In several areas of our country, the electrical power grid and infrastructure pose a serious danger to monkeys, sloths, martillas and other arboreal creatures that either suffer tragic deaths or crippling injuries. According to two organizations dedicated to raising awareness and finding solutions to these grim situations, the statistics are ghastly. Nosara Wildlife Rescue explains that hun...

Drug trafficking operations in Mexico are estimated to launder $10 billion each year, according to a report issued by the country's Legislative Chamber in coordination with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). The alarming figure was calculated in a report from Mexico's Treasury Department, which detected a surplus of funds in the overall financial system of that nation. That surplus can...

"When there is peace, the warlike man attacks himself" - that's Nietzsche, and his point is that there really is no peace. There's always some war, somewhere, with someone. And there are no winners or losers either... just those who are still around to fight another day. The quote above comes from "Buffalo Soldiers" -a film starring Joaquin Phoenix, based on a 1994 novel by American author Robe...

Young Ticos are no different than other youth cultures around the world when it comes to fashion. They innovate and emulate in equal amounts, they set trends, and are painfully aware that the world can't seem to take their eyes off them. It's not just parents or the moral majority keeping tabs on what they wear; marketers, industry observers and the media are always examining young people for diff...

With a score of 1-0 against our national beach football team, Guatemala came away the champion of Copa Pilsener at La Costa del Sol, a short tournament played in El Salvador during Semana Santa. With that loss, the beach football players from Costa Rica were relegated to the last place of the four-team playoff. The Costa del Sol beach football tournament was organized by athletic and tourism or...

Finca Bellavista is a unique sustainable treetop community located in the Osa Peninsula. In the past, The Costa Rica Star has written about this unparalleled residential project, which has been getting a lot more attention lately. A recent visitor to Finca Bellavista was Tico journalist Sebastian Castro, who is one of the youngest feature reporters working at CNN. Castro is a graduate from ...

Nine buildings zoned for commercial use in the beach community of Puerto Viejo could soon be demolished by order of the government. Sala Cuarta (Constitutional Hall) orders Fuerza Publica to prevent evictions of squatters in Los Chiles in 2011, only to have a lower court continue the eviction process months later. A multifaceted expat businessman fighting a complex land grab case spends 4...

Francisco Castillo is a master oboe performer and classical music composer who has toured with Andrea Bocelli and the New West Symphony Orchestra. The world premier of his composition "Rhapsody for Oboe, English Horn, and Orchestra" will be performed by the Redlands Symphony at the University of Redlands Memorial Chapel in California's Inland Empire on April 14. This will be a special perfo...

A set of photographs of Hollywood actress Reese Witherspoon and her family vacationing at what looks like one of our beaches on the Pacific coast is currently making the rounds of several celebrity gossip websites. The famous actress, who is married to talent agent Jim Toth, has not announced her pregnancy, although paparazzi and the informants they employ have been feeding reports to the t...

Laurens Molina is a Tico athlete currently training for the upcoming XIV Paralympic Games in London. At the recent XVII Los Angeles Marathon, Mr. Molina took the ninth place in a race that has become very competitive among wheelchair-bound athletes. The first athlete to cross the finish line in Los Angeles was Krige Schabort from Capetown, South Africa. Like Mr. Molina, Mr. Schabort is a wh...

Author’s Note: This is the seventh item in a series of articles that touch on the subject of sustainable practices in Costa Rica. There is a high degree of innovation and street smarts involved in sustainability; if you happen to know of a good sustainability tip, please feel free to share it with The Costa Rica Star. The Cano Negro National Refuge is a protected area that takes up almost 10,00...

A recent expedition led by Rich Hoyer for Wings, Inc. -a renowned provider of birding tours worldwide- started quietly with only about 30 species on the first day. Outside of San Jose, Mr, Hoyer spotted only a few birds in the hotel gardens and a coffee farm; in fact, he spotted more diversity of butterfly species than birds. He was hoping to spot the ground-sparrow (Melozone or Cabanis biarcuatum...

One of the oldest and most distinguished institutions of academic formation in Costa Rica turned 125 years old without much pomp or fancy celebration. The Liceo de Costa Rica is a public school that imparts secondary education from grades 7th to 11th to adolescent males, and it has the honor of counting the most impressive alumni roll in our country. Several former Presidents, distinguis...

The comments of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) at the 2012 Forum in Paris were somber: “The reports from Costa Rica will not move to the next phase of review due to the grave deficiencies in their legislative frameworks.” The other Latin American countries mentioned were Guatemala, Panama and Uruguay.  In the Caribbean, Barbados had failed back in 2010, but...

For most people in Latin America, Holy Week means religious obligations, heavy traffic, closed stores, crowded beaches, and dry laws.  In Cuba, however, Holy Week has been a regular week over the last several decades –until this year. The visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the Caribbean island nation of Cuba was very fruitful for Catholics who for many years have encountered great difficulties i...

American musician and columnist Duff Mckagan is better known for his 12-year bass run in the legendary rock band Guns N’ Roses. What few people know is that Mr. McKagan and fellow rock icon Mike McCready, who plays guitar for Seattle-based grunge icons Pearl Jam, have a little bit of Costa Rica history in them. Mr. McKagan grew up in Seattle and knew Mr. McCready from the vibrant rock scene...

It’s been almost three months since the red tide phenomenon became visible in the waters of our Pacific coast. According to scientists at the Costa Rican Institute of Fishing and Aquaculture (INCOPESCA in Spanish), the ominous-looking red tide this season has not presented high levels of toxicity. Online news daily Costa Rica Hoy has been following the red tide occurrence this summer with a...

Earlier this week, President Laura Chinchilla was at the United Nations General Assembly promoting our country's image of happiness. Our President also supports the initiative presented by the Kingdom of Bhutan to give preference to developing Gross National Happiness (GNP) over Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Our President's remarks on GNP got a lot of attention from the international commun...

Thousands of Nicaraguan immigrants are expected to travel back north this week to observe Semana Santa and Easter with their families, but many of them will not cross Penas Blancas. "Mojados" as they are known in their native land, will try to evade border checkpoints for fear of running into civil law enforcement authorities in Costa Rica, or military security forces in Nicaragua. According to...

For the upcoming exhibition football match against the Honduran National Team on April 11, coach Jorge Luis Pinto has selected 19 Tico players, minus some talented footballers who are making sports headlines in professional leagues around the world. The lineup was published in online news daily El Pais. Absent from the game will be Bryan Ruiz, who plays for the Fulham of the English Premier...

"The year is 2050 and alien space travelers witness the terrible destruction and suffering that planet earth has undergone from climate change and environmental destruction at the hands of its most dominant species - humans. These travelers return to the present day to warn young people about the kind of society that awaits them if action is not taken to save the planet." The above may soun...

Upon returning from her trip to New York City and the United Nations General Assembly, President Laura Chinchilla announced that she accepted the resignation of yet another public official over tax irregularities revealed by investigative journalists from La Nacion. The President's announcement was made at 10:40 pm upon landing at the Juan Santamaria International Airport. La Nacion broke the s...

There was a time, not long ago, that things were looking up for our wild feline species. In 2009, digital news daily Costa Rica Hoy reported that the population count of mammals in the Corcovado National Park was gaining density. This increase included ocelots (Leopardus pardalis), known in Costa Rica as manigordos (fat paw). In 2003, researchers from the International Institute of Wildlife Man...

Author’s Note: This is the sixth item in a series of articles that touch on the subject of sustainable practices in Costa Rica. There is a high degree of innovation and street smarts involved in sustainability; if you happen to know of a good sustainability tip, please feel free to share it with The Costa Rica Star. BAC San Jose, also known as BAC Credomatic, has launched an initiative whereby ...

A day after former Minister of the Treasury Fernando Herrero and his wife resigned from their respective positions as public official and presidential aide over a property tax controversy, media outlets are reporting that the Director of Tax Collection has ordered an investigation into the private business dealings of the power couple. The downward spiral for the former Minister and his wife st...

Costa Rica is known as one of the happiest countries in the world, a fact that has been widely publicized and even adopted by the national tourism board (ICT)  in an effort to attract even more visitors to our nation. This happiness has been attributed to our commitment to environmental protection, and it is inferred from self-reporting among Ticos; but when it comes to more personal matters of op...

At the Criminal Court of the Treasury on Friday, a judge ordered the immediate suspension of an immigration officer who was detained on suspicion of having accepted bribes in exchange for immigration stamps. The officer, who was only identified by his last name of Valerio, was assigned to the immigration office in Sixaola near the border with Panama. According to an article by journalist David ...

On Tuesday, April 3rd, classical music lovers will be treated to a free concert at the Plaza de la Cultura in downtown San Jose. The repertoire today will include Franz Schubert's Symphony No. 8 in B Minor (the Unfinished Symphony) and The Marriage of Figaro by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, among others. The Manuel Maria Gutierrez Symphonic Orchestra (OSMMG or MaMaGu in Spanish) is an ensemble f...

Juan Carlos Sanabria is the current Director of the School of Architecture at VERITAS University. He is also one of 146 architectural design professionals who form part of the distinguished alumni of Architectural Association School of Architecture in London, known as the AA. The school, founded in 1847 in London, is the oldest and most prestigious independent institution of higher learning for ar...

Richard "El Pirata" Abrams is a true waterman who was trained by the legendary big wave surfer Dempsey Holder and master surf photographer Tom Keck. As a lifeguard, he watched over swimmers and surfers at Imperial Beach in Southern California for 18 years. He came to Playa Dominical to retire and enjoy his golden years in peace. According to a press release published by Surfline, Richard Abrams...

SAN JOSE – Fernando Herrero, the besieged Minister of the Treasury and Chief Revenue Collector, resigned from his position earlier this afternoon. According to an official press release issued by Casa Presidencial in Zapote, the Minister tendered his resignation in an effort to ensure that ongoing Fiscal Reform efforts do not end up being eclipsed by his alleged tax evasion. In his resignation ...

These are some of the comments made earlier today by our President while in New York. Prior to her arrival to the United Nations General Assembly, it was widely speculated that President Laura Chinchilla would focus on issues related to drug trafficking, but in her interview with Spanish news agency EFE, she talked about happiness: "We think that adding other factors such as welfare, qualit...

According to an investigative report written by journalist Carlos Arguedas and published in today's edition of La Nacion, prosecutors are having a hard time moving forward with their accusations against 10 individuals who seemingly went from rags to riches overnight. Mauricio Boraschi, commissioner of the national anti-drug task force, confirmed to La Nacion that his office has all the personal...

Faith travel or religious tourism has gained popularity over the years. This is a type of cultural tourism whereby people visit other parts of the world in order to see how their own faith is practiced, or to learn about how society is affected by religion (or even the other way around). Costa Rica may be the only constitutionally Catholic country in Latin America, but Christianity and Cath...

While most Ticos take time off during Easter Week to relax and observe the religious holidays, members of Fuerza Publica will be busy making sure that order and safety prevail in Costa Rica. The official press release of Fuerza Publica for Easter Week gives an overview of its planned operations: 3,861 officers will be on duty nationwide 6 patrol aircraft will be used 315 patrol cars...

From May 9th to the 11th, the 2012 Tourism Expo (Expotur) will attract more than 300 representatives of the burgeoning tourism industry in Costa Rica and the region. This year's focus will not be so much on ecotourism, something that has been a prominent theme in previous expos. The tourism industry will dedicate this year's Expotur to advancing Costa Rica as a paradise for business meetings and c...

The office of the national prosecutor in Nicaragua has brought up Henry Farinas on charges of drug trafficking, involvement in organized crime and money laundering. Farinas was also identified as a one-time partner of Alejandro Jimenez Gonzalez, AKA "El Palidejo", a Tico businessman who is currently detained in Guatemala on charges of having masterminded a botched assassination that took the l...