Shark fins are hacked — legally in this case — off a frozen shark carcass in the Costa Rican port of Puntarenas. The practice of cutting off sharks' fins at sea and throwing the rest of the body back is illegal in Costa Rica, but still persists.The Costa Rica Star has previously published extensively on shark finning in Costa Rica. If you want to learn how to smuggle shark fins into Costa Rica...

Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Public Security in Costa RicaA criminal organization formed and led by Costa Ricans, that infiltrated the Banco de Costa Rica (BCR), to finance cocaine from Colombia to Belgium, was the target of the Drug Control Police (PCD in Spanish). In a series of early morning raids Tuesday in Limón and Cahuita in the Caribbean and Moravia and Curribadat, in San José, 12...

This past Saturday December 14 was the 2nd Nosara Artisans Holiday Art Fair at The Gilded Iguana. Thirty artists living in Nosara displayed their ceramics, fabric art, furniture, glass art, jewelry, mosaics, paintings, photos, prints, upcycled art, and wood carving. Several community organizations participated as well. There was face painting for Escuelita Verano and holiday gifts from the new...

Nosara returned to the news with its selection, made by the American television network CNN and the magazine National Geographic, as a world-class tourist destination to visit in 2014. On December 14, CNN published the article “11 places to go in 2014,” where they included Nosara as one of the recommended places to visit during international travelers’ next vacation. According to the publica...

After 20 years of neglect, the Municipality of Nicoya will give maintenance to the streets of the community of Matapalo in Samara. The reason why the streets have not been fixed in so long is because they are not recognized on the map of the canton’s road network. This was expressed by Marcos Jimenez, mayor of the Municipality of Nicoya, and council member Rodolfo Orozco at the meeting held ...

Adventurous athletes will soon have a new option to test their abilities. A climbing wall is currently under construction in Nosara and should be ready by late December. Climb Nosara was designed locally by Steve Way and architect Olivier von der Weid. “Rock climbing is an awesome sport,” Way commented. “It will work great along the surfing and yoga mentality, with its core workout, balance,...

The Costa Rica Star recently reported on 4G internet coming to Guanacaste in 2014. It's no secret that many places in Guanacaste lack access to technology when compared to other parts of the country. However, the gap may be closing, opening new opportunities along with new concerns. A study done by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Telecommunications (MICIT- Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecn...

Eden Pastora Once again, members of the Nicaraguan government of Daniel Ortega say that the colonial town of Nicoya and the province of Guanacaste are part of Nicaragua and that an international court should define to which country they belong. This time, the statements come from ex-guerrilla Eden Pastora, who is the person responsible for dredging the San Juan River along the border betwe...

Update: Portions of this article have been removed on behalf of a party involved, due to being inaccurate. The remainder of the article will stay intact as the original. Witnessing a monkey electrocuted by un-insulated power lines or transformers is a very disturbing, yet an all too common sight in Playa del Coco and surrounding beach communities. As many well know, the Coco area is a natural ...

Manuel Briceño Jimenez opened Carnicería La Colonial in downtown Samara three months ago. In Nicoya, he has another butcher’s shop with the same name 300 meters from the Alfaro bus station. “Samara is a market we decided to enter because many customers we have in Nicoya told us to go to Samara. We wanted to cover that area and please our customers with a good product at the same prices as in Ni...

Are we able to understand large amounts of information more easily with comprehensive images? On December 11th, international journalists, developers, and designers gathered at the Universidad National Costa Rica in Nicoya for a conference on Data Visualization sponsored by Voice of Guanacaste. The workshop was led by Brazilian journalist and Knight Fellow Mariana Santos and co-created by Voice...

The Nosara 2013 Cultural Festival was carried out with a completely full arena and the streets flooded with color, music and people. For the second time, Nosara’s Integral Development Association (ADIN) organized the festival with the help of residents of La Esperanza, Garza, Delicias, Barco Quebrado and Nicoya who joined in for the family activities. This year saw more action than last. The...

The Nosara Red Cross is organizing a family-friendly horse ride with the goal of raising funds for their special vertical rescue unit. The event will be this Saturday, December 14 and will start from the soccer field in La Esperanza. The tour will travel through several different parts of the Nosaran countryside, such as Playa Guiones and Garza. Carlos Villalobos, head of the Red Cross in No...

Happy clients at Sunset Surf Camp in DominicalWhat happens when a sustainability-oriented surf camp and an NGO whose goal is to “build, support, and activate an alliance of businesses financially committed to creating a healthy planet” join forces? Boom! Sunset Surf Camp and One Percent For The Planet have come together and agreed on promoting some of today’s most vital values: living a healt...

The children of Samara will soon have a new place where they can go to run, play and spend their pent-up energy. Parents of the students of Samara Pacific School are in the process of building a playground next to the school that will be open to the public. Although the public elementary school in Samara has a playground, it is only available to the school’s students during school hours, noted ...

In addition to the typical December tamales, seafood is one of the most valued seasonal foods during the year-end season. For that reason the fishing of certain species is increasing and those such as conch and sea cucumbers are covertly harvested, despite being protected by law. On Sunday November 24, volunteers from the Red Cross regional marine group, while carrying out diving practice, f...

The Costa Rica Star recently published about cowboys and horse culture in Guanacaste Costa Rica. Time to polish up your cowboy boots and belt buckles to look spiffy for the next round of traditional community festivals. This season the first community to host fiestas in the canton of Nicoya will be Caimital, this weekend from December 13 to 16. According to Maria Teresa Salas Murillo, presid...

The Costa Rica Star has previously published extensively about Costa Rica's animals being harmed or killed by electric shock from missing insulation in power wires throughout Costa Rica. In mid-November, ICE crews began insulating more than 100 transformers that have been identified in the area as danger points for the electrocution of monkeys and other wildlife. In the past five months, Nos...

With the participation of the Latin American Motocross champion, Ricardo Chacon, and the runner-up Roberto Castro, as well as the national women’s champion Melissa Tencio, who is only 14 years old, the Guanacaste Motocross championship final will be held in Nosara on December 15 at 9 a.m. The race will complement the events of the second Nosara Christmas cultural festival, organized by the Nosara ...

They are magnificent, geometrically acute and mystifying. They are the stone spheres of Costa Rica, majestic objects patiently created by the indigenous ancestors to the boruca people who call the Osa region their home, precisely the districts of Cortes, Palmar and Sierpe in the province of Puntarenas. Just a few days ago, the Ministry of Culture in Costa Rica announced that Costa Rica's beloved s...

As tourism continues to grow in Costa Rica, more than ever, travelers are seeking to combine elements of adventure, culture, and active engagement for a meaningful adventure that goes beyond a typical vacation. Chill Expeditions, an Eco-tour company with nearly 20 years of experience operating in Costa Rica, seeks to connect visitors with engaging, meaningful experiences that leave them with an-in...

There’s a reason why they call it fishing, and not catching. Richard Krug, owner/founder of Americana Sportfishing, drove down to Golfito in the South Pacific earlier this week with three of his high-school buddies – Kip Ives, Dean Burriston and Billy Thresher. They flew to Costa Rica from La Jolla California to spend a couple of days offshore fishing with Captain Bobby McGuinness on his 37ft C...

For the past nine years, downtown Nicoya has been lit up during the month of December with the Festival of Light celebration. The main day of this year’s festival, Nicoya Shines 2013, will be on Saturday, December 7th. On that date, the program includes the presentation of 15 bands from Costa Rica and Panama to commemorate the 165th anniversary of the Canton of Nicoya, which was established as ...

Now in its fourth year, the magic and wonder of previous incarnations of Envision Festival have driven anticipation for the transformational excursion on the beaches and in the jungles of Costa Rica each February. With a new location and a much higher profile for the annual blending of conscious music, visionary art, and spiritual enlightenment, this year's lineup has been the subject of much ...

Exercising in the hot sunny weather of Costa Rica presents a set of challenges one has to take into account. For those coming from cold climates, it takes about two weeks for your body to acclimatize and be able to maintain a lower inner temperature and heart rate, therefore reducing the risk of dehydration. After two weeks, you will start to sweat sooner and your sweat will be more diluted than b...

After hearing several people talk about a new kind of gym that "transforms your body," my editor asked me to take a TRX and Kettlebell class to write about my personal experience. Honestly, I felt a bit intimidated by the class because I am not used to that kind of exercise. I do yoga and I like to run but I'm used to an easier pace of exercise. I didn't know what to expect from the class - som...

The community of Nosara will come together next Saturday, November 30th to celebrate the 2013 Nosara Ecological Blue Flag Community Festival, with the objective of recognizing the environmental efforts of a diverse group of organizations and individuals from the area. Jessica Sheffield, one of the event’s five organizers, explained that for the occasion there will be at least 15 stands of organ...

US Embassy in Costa RicaThe warden program is a worldwide initiative of the U.S. State Department. It is administered by the American Citizens Services (ACS) team made up of foreign service officers and local staff who work in that section. If you are a citizen of the United States you will want to learn about this warden program and how it helps you to live a safer life in Costa Rica through sup...

Luis Roberto Hernández, ICE Information Department Director, showing the Internet speed serviceThe Costa Rican Institute of Electricity (ICE) launched a Fourth Generation (4G) network for processing data up to 10 MB on Monday, November 25th. However, the technology will be available in all provinces except for Guanacaste, which will get it next year. But why not Guanacaste from the start? The ...

Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica – Described by National Geographic as the “most biologically intense place on Earth,” there is an urgent need to protect the rich marine biodiversity of the Osa Peninsula due to rampant commercial fishing that is rapidly killing off dolphins, whales, sea turtles and entire marine ecosystems. The MPA for OSA group (Marine Protected Area for OSA Peninsula) has started a cam...

Avoid excess sugar that contributes to kidney stress, try honey or extra milk in your coffeeIn the past year, a surge of articles and reports has surfaced investigating kidney failure and the link to sugarcane farmworkers who live in the Guanacaste province. It is now well known that not only the farmworkers but others who live here are at high risk for developing chronic kidney disease. This ...

Those who compete in sporting events always try to win in order to gain a prize, but there are competitions in which running to help those in need is more important and satisfying than an economic incentive. That's the spirit of the Kilometers of Love race and recreational walk that will take place on December 8 starting from Banco Costa Rica in Nicoya, which aims to raise funds to remodel the ...

You don’t have to be a sportfishing fanatic to get genuine pleasure from a day or two of fishing. Many of the men and women who contact Americana Sportfishing to enjoy Costa Rica’s world-class saltwater sportfishing are first- and second-time anglers who want to combine a long-awaited vacation in a tropical paradise with a day or two out on the ocean, seeking more excitement and involvement than s...

The morning of Thursday, November 21st brought shock and awe for officials and those carrying out court processes in Nicoya. The work and services normally provided at the court in Nicoya were suspended for more than two hours after the report of a bomb threat in the building. The alert was registered at 9:10 a.m. through the 911 emergency telephone service. At 9:45, officials from a special...

Students of the University of Costa Rica’s Liberia campus arrived on Wednesday November 20th to the debate organized by UCR Guanacaste Conferences (Conferencias UCR Guanacaste) in order to hear the proposals of deputy candidates. "As students, as future professionals and as productive people, we believe should ensure the safety of social guarantees and defend our thoughts and attitudes towards...

Music fans who were disappointed by the announcement that the Caricaco Music Festival would not be held in 2013 will be delighted to know that it is being planned, bigger and better, for March of 2014. Alejandro Gutierrez, producer of the festival, let the Voice of Guanacaste know that the festival will be moved to a new open-air venue at Finca Austria, in Nosara across the river, with the goal...

With the motto “Let your food be your medicine," EUPI Pedagogical Institute is implementing a comprehensive nutrition program in order to look out for the health of the 240 children and youth that attend the institution and to achieve higher academic performances. The project began in October of 2012, and according to Eugenia Ovares, director of EUPI, the results are satisfactory. “We’ve achiev...

The market seems to be ripe in Samara for hostels catering to backpackers and other budget travelers passing through the colorful coastal town. The first hostel opened in Samara about three years ago, and this year a few other people decided to open hostels, so now there are four economical options to choose from. Samara’s original hostel is Las Mariposas, located just 100 meters from the beach...

Official announcement from the US Embassy of Costa Rica. The Social Security Administration (SSA) regularly contacts beneficiaries with addresses on their SSA record that shows they reside outside the United States to verify their current status. This year, questionnaires were sent to beneficiaries receiving their own benefits whose social security number ended in 50-99 or to beneficiaries w...

Steven Farrell, owner/general manager of Finca Luna Nueva Lodge in San Isidro de Peñas Blancas, and a member of the Slow Food Convivium of San Jose, Costa Rica will celebrate and host the third “Slow Food in the Rainforest” Terra Madre Day luncheon on December 8, 2013. The festivities will begin at 10:30 a.m. in Casa Luna where the participants can enjoy coffee, tea, juice, or chocolate tea (...