Plans to develop  Costa Rica's new international airport are currently being considered. According to business daily La Republica, the new airport should begin operations in the year 2026. On that same year, the management contract now held by Aeris Holdings over the Juan Santamaria International Airport in Alajuela will come to an end. A New Location Preliminary studies by civil aviatio...

Author's Note: This article uses the term "submersible" instead of submarine to describe manned vehicles for underwater exploration. Submarine is a military term, while submersible is used by the civilian and scientific community. The growth of ecotourism means that some tourists who arriving in Costa Rica may want to go beyond our national parks and volcanoes. Getting wet at our beaches is one...

The days of unlimited downloading using your smartphone or 3G wireless modem (known in Costa Rica as "datacard") may soon be over. According to an article published by online financial news daily El Financiero, the Superintendency of Telecommunications (SUTEL in Spanish) is looking at establishing a "fair use" policy that could allow wireless carriers to offer metered data plans or bandwidth throt...

Back in February of 2010, the former Vice President of Costa Rica Rebeca Grynspan was appointed to the post of Associate Administrator of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). Ever since she took over the post, she has been working hard on advancing the agenda of the UNDP, which lately has been focused on sustainable development. Speaking to the Sunday Zaman English-language news publi...

Carlos Hernandez Valverde is a talented football player who, like fellow countrymen Bryan Ruiz and Joel Campbell, has found great success and acclaim abroad. Hernandez has been playing in the Australian A-League, with the Melbourne Victory Football Club, since 2007. Now that his contract is up for negotiation, Australian fans are following his every move. According to sports media site Tribal F...

An in-depth journalistic investigation by prominent news daily La Nacion sent seven Ministers rushing to update the value of their properties with the Ministry of the Treasury, the national revenue collection institution. One of the Ministers who scrambled to correct the value of the real estate he owns was the Minister of the Treasury himself, Fernando Herrero. The extremely detailed multimedi...

La Ruta Adventures, a unique travel agency that puts together some of the most exciting trips to Latin America, is better known for La Ruta de los Conquistadores -one of the most grueling mountain bike circuits in the world. La Ruta de los Conquistadores is billed as "More than a race, a personal growth journey", as it takes competitors from Playa Jaco up to the Carara reserve and down to the ...

President Laura Chinchilla has received both criticism and accolades for her decision to charge forward with the construction of a new highway that runs parallel to the San Juan river in Nicaragua. The highway, which is named after former head of state and national hero Juan Rafael Mora Porras, has been the subject of intense debate between public officials of both Nicaragua and Costa Rica. Man...

Students and researchers from all over the world routinely come to Costa Rica to investigate the plethora of species that Nature has blessed us with. Many scientists are finding that the country's efforts to promote and advance ecotourism are paying off significantly. The Veragua Rainforest Research and Adventure Park is an example of how tourists and scientists can come together and conduct their...

SAN JOSE – Global technology leaders Hewlett Packard (HP) and Intel have teamed up to bring the world the newest concept in personal mobile computing. The companies, which are two of Costa Rica's largest employers, will be officially unveiling the HP Ultrabook at the Play store in Escazu on Wednesday, March 28th at 9:00 am. The buzz surrounding the HP Ultrabooks began last year when Intel annou...

The iPhone 4S craze among Tico lovers of Apple's most iconic device has unleashed a price war among the three major wireless carriers in Costa Rica. It is clear that former communications monopoly ICE is leading the battle, although the first salvo was quietly launched by Claro about a week ago. What is clear about the war is that smartphone consumers are bearing the brunt of the hostilities. I...

RPP Noticias, a major news broadcaster in Peru, has announced that the Executive Branch of the South American country has approved a legislative measure that will prohibit all physical aggression against children and adolescents. With this historical approval, Peru will join Costa Rica, Uruguay and Venezuela in Latin America as countries where corporal punishment of children is a serious crimi...

From May 7th to 13th, beautiful representatives from the United States, the Caribbean and Latin America will participate in a series of presentations and pageant events in San Jose, Aguas Zarcas, Sarchi, and tourist hotspots of our Pacific Coast. The contestants will charm audiences to promote tourism to their respective nations in competition for the crown of Reina Internacional de los Mares ...

Otto Perez Molina, current President of Guatemala, has launched a proposal to create a Central American court to decriminalize drug use, and demanded that nations of high drug consumption should reimburse Central American nations for the capture and confiscation of illicit drugs. Several publications reporting on the issue are alluding that the United States and member nations of the European ...

In the inaugural days of our National Stadium, Gustavo Adolfo Esquivel Quiros -a Tico attorney and football fan- was really excited when he heard that one of his football idols would come to play in Costa Rica. When his idol did not play as expected, he sued the National Football Federation (FEDEFUTBOL) and won. According to Diario Extra, the damages awarded to Esquivel are in the amount of 23...

Getting around and finding your way in Costa Rica can be a frustrating exercise in orienteering, and that's just on foot. When it comes to dealing with traffic in our poorly-kept roads, Tico drivers do the best they can to fight traffic and get to their destinations in a reasonable time. The highway infrastructure and the corresponding traffic signaling scheme is improving, albeit at a very...

Marcela Castro Wedel is a physiotherapist and certified instructor of the Pilates and yoga disciplines. She is also a dog trainer who believes that doga, the practice of yoga with a canine companion, is a discipline that carries even more benefits than traditional yoga. Doga combines a series of yoga poses and breathing exercises that humans can perform along with canines. The idea is for both ...

Several news agencies are reporting that a special military unit consisting of 5,000 troops has been assembled and will begin the hunt for Joseph Kony this weekend. The Ugandan leader of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) is wanted for multiple war crimes, particularly the conscription of child soldiers into his rebel movement. The soldiers who will be looking for Kony are part of a multinational...

Carolina Trigueros is a young fashion designer who loves to play with geometric shapes and colors. Her signature style is ultra-feminine; she is partial to fabrics that are soft and that gracefully hug the natural contour of the female figure. Color is very important to Carolina, which is why she was selected as one of the designers behind the 2012 Color Fashion Tour, sponsored by Grupo Kat...

Costa Rica was the first country to announce her intention to become a carbon-neutral country by the year 2021. We are ten years away from achieving that noble goal, and the progress that has been made thus far at the community and private levels outshines the efforts by the government. While some experts have criticized public officials for dragging their feet in this matter, other analysts a...

Correos de Costa Rica recently completed its formulation of numbered postal codes for the entire country. The system is now similar to the ZIP+4 utilized by the United States Postal System. The switch to a numbered code system comes after a century and a half of operation by our postal service without needing one. The new system is codified by province, canton and district. For example, if some...

The rise of the middle and upper classes in various Latin American nations, like Costa Rica, is translating into positive news for pets. Economic prosperity means that business is booming for the pet food and supplies industry. Upscale pet hotels and grooming spas for dogs may have once been dismissed as staples of the excesses of Western industrialized nations, but they are now cropping up in ...

As part of an extensive itinerary of visits to foreign sovereign states, President Laura Chinchilla will arrive at the Vatican to meet with Pope Benedict XVI, who is currently visiting Mexico. According to digital news daily El Pais, our President's next visits include Guatemala, where she will meet with Central American leaders looking for a solution to reduce consumption of controlled substan...

A study of 100 beaches in Costa Rica from 1996 to 2011 by the National Water Laboratory indicates that 91 percent of all beaches enjoy great water quality in terms of the presence of fecal coliform organisms. The study, which was published in La Nacion, involved 6,847 water samples collected in different bodies of water along both of our coasts, and it was checked against historical data from the ...

The Bertelsmann Foundation is a highly respected German non-profit organization that focuses on research related to global socioeconomic and political stability. Bertelsmann recently published its BTI 2012 Political and Economic Transformation Index, a comprehensive report that looks at how democracy and socially-responsible market economy measures are developing in 128 countries around the world....

According to The Wall Street Journal, Hollywood star Mel Gibson has once again decided to test the waters of the luxury real estate market. His impressive Hacienda Dorada in Nicoya, with its seven bedrooms, two guest homes and 500 acres of pristine land in Playa Barrigona is currently listed with Plantacion Properties of Escazu and Christie's International Real Estate of Palm Beach. Mel Gib...

On a recent issue of American Ethnologist, the Scientific Journal of the American Ethnological Society, Thomas W. Pearson takes an extensive look at some communities in Costa Rica that have chosen to adopt ordinances and municipal codes that prevent the planting of transgenics, or Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). On his article titled Transgenic-free territories in Costa Rica: Networks, p...

In a civil case against the government of Costa Rica, the First Chamber of the Supreme Court has issued an order to pay 30 million colones (about $60,000) to the surviving relatives of a man who died in a traffic accident caused by poor road conditions. Sala Primera (our First Chamber) is a high court that reviews cases files against the Executive Branch, the Presidential Cabinet, and many othe...

The Costa Rica chapter of the online activist collective Anonymous is calling on Ticos to join them in a virtual protest against Fiscal Reform. Just days after the proposed law was approved by legislators in the National Assembly, Anonymous Costa Rica announced Operacion Plan Fiscal. The controversial Fiscal Reform Plan won the first round of voting at the National Assembly on March 15th, and o...

Abiel is the name of a friendly robot that an inventor named Walter built for his twin grandchildren David and Elisa. He is the star of Grandpa's Robot, a 3-D computer animated television series created by Morpho, an animation studio based in San Jose. Yesterday, Abiel took a break from being a playmate to David and Elisa to travel to Hyderabad, India. Abiel's mission was to accompany Anabe...

The headline from the leading sports news daily Al Dia managed to encapsulate the sentiment of Tico football fans last night: "It's a good thing it was just a friendly match." The showdown between the national teams of Costa Rica and Jamaica, respectively known to their fans as La Sele and the Reggae Boyz, was noticeably difficult for both teams. Jamaica concentrated very effectively on defense...

UPDATED: Go here for the most up to date information on the Beer Festival at Avenida Escazu. Beer lovers in Costa Rica are no longer limited to the commercial offerings of the Florida Ice & Farm S.A. and expensive imports at the store. On Saturday, April 21st, the first ever Microbrewery and Craft Beer Festival will take place in Avenida Escazu (map), featuring the best Costa Rica has t...

The Kingdom of Bhutan is located high in the Himalayas, surrounded by the two giants of economic development in Asia: China and India. This tiny nation has come to the attention of the international community in the last few years due to its bucolic way of life and its predominantly Buddhist ideology. Bhutan does not have a particularly high Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and the Kingdom is prob...

A top UN official has suggested to his own South American nation to look to Costa Rica as an example to follow in terms of biodiversity conservation and environmental protection. Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias recently joined the United Nations after accepting an appointment to the position as Chief of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. Immediately upon taking charge, Dias made strong s...

In a candid interview with award-winning journalist Any Perez, President Laura Chinchilla made a few statements that came across as both refreshing and strong. Our President has been fighting off results of independent surveys that show her approval ratings among Ticos have taken a dive. On her most recent in-depth interview in La Nacion, our President comes across as a woman who has learned quite...

Our shiny new National Stadium, a generous gift bestowed upon us by the People's Republic of China, may look perfect in the eyes of all Ticos, but upon closer inspection the perfection begins to fade away. Such is the sentiment of Diario Extra, a popular newspaper that obtained a copy of an official document that details at least ten deficiencies in our National Stadium that have not been solved a...

The next leader of the Libertarian Movement in Costa Rica sees a lot of ideology behind the planned Coastal Territories and Communities Law (Spanish acronym: Tecocos). In an interview with digital newspaper El Pais, Carlos Gongora explained that Tecocos is about "an ideological and fundamental principle of the libertarians, which comes down to respect for private property. It is based on a concept...

According to a report from Radio Free Europe, a recent ruling by an appellate court in Moscow has effectively labeled Scientology literature -namely the books written by L. Ron Hubbard as extremist. The court's ruling upholds a decision by a lower court that also recommended the banning of Scientology literature on the basis that it could be considered extremist. That decision took place in Ju...

Eleven injuries and hundreds of damaged homes make up the toll of the powerful earthquake that rocked Mexico during lunch time yesterday. The final magnitude reading of the earthquake by seismologists in Mexico was 7.8 Richter. The epicenter was near Ometepec, a region that lacks major urban centers. Unfortunately, the homes affected by the earthquake are mostly located in low-income areas....

In Sala Cuarta (Constitutional Hall) yesterday, the magistrates lifted the order preventing the signing by the Executive Branch of file 17371, the future “Ley General de Control del Tabaco y sus Efectos Nocivos en la Salud” (the Tobacco Control Law). President Laura Chinchilla expressed her satisfaction with the decision by Constitutional Hall, which paves the way for signature, publishing and imp...