By Wendy Anders Buying and building property in the Poás region near the international airport in Alajuela in Costa Rica’s Central Valley, just got a little bone thrown in with a recent court decision. The Costa Rican Supreme Court (known in Spanish as the Sala IV) condemned the Municipality of Poás de Alajuela for approving multiple urban projects that put the county’s aquifers at risk, rep...

By Wendy Anders British singer Sting will give his fourth performance in Costa Rica on May 9 at the National Stadium in La Sabana Metropolitan Park in San José, said SD Concerts, the company organizing the concert as part of his 57th & 9th Tour. Sting just released his 57th & 9th album, a mix of rock and pop songs. General seating for the Sting show will be on sale starting Januar...

By Wendy Anders Costa Rica has filed a new case before the International Court of Justice after the discovery of a Nicaraguan military camp allegedly set up in Costa Rican territory, said the Costa Rican Foreign Ministry on Monday. This is the latest in a series of a longstanding dispute between the countries on the location of the border and territorial violations. The international cour...

By Wendy Anders A 53-year-old German man, preliminarily identified with the last name of Schiloknecot, died yesterday in an accident at the El Tobogán waterfalls 30 kilometers from the northern Costa Rica city of Liberia, in the province of Guanacaste, reported the Spanish daily El Diario Extra. Apparently he and some other foreigner visitors went hiking in the forest near their hotel, which...

By Wendy Anders A recent report by the World Bank shows some startling truths about economic inequality. Three of the world’s least equitable countries are Costa Rica’s neighbors, on the narrow Central American isthmus connecting Mexico with South America. Honduras, is ranked as the 6th most unequal by the World Bank, followed by Colombia, Brazil, Guatemala, and Panama in 10th place. The ...

By Wendy Anders Amid the lush forests and remote beaches of Corcovado National Park, southern Costa Rica’s biodiversity hotspot, Costa Rican police often find themselves on the front line of the illicit drug trade between South and North America. Early yesterday morning, Costa Rican police patrolling the stunning southern Pacific coast located eleven rectangular packages wrapped in a sack-li...

By Wendy Anders Representatives from nine South American countries met this month to discuss the conservation of marine biodiversity in the open ocean, said the Costa Rican non-profit marine conservation group MarViva Foundation. Almost half the planet is covered by the high, or open seas, the waters found beyond countries’ territorial limits. Despite their abundance, these vast areas hav...

By Wendy Anders Yesterday Costa Rica walloped Belize 3-0 in the second day of Central American Soccer Cup matches at Panama City’s Rommel Fernández stadium, reported Guatemala’s daily Prensa Libre. The goals were scored by José Ortiz (25, 65) on his debut performance with the national team, and Johan Venegas (51). The hot mid-day Panamanian sun didn’t deter Costa Rican coach Oscar Ramírez...

By Wendy Anders Starting Saturday, February 4 at 10:00 a.m., car enthusiasts can check out hundreds of antique and other “exotic” cars on exhibit at the Puntarenas tourist boulevard on Costa Rica’s Central Pacific coast. "It will be one of the biggest events in Latin America. We will have modified cars, motorcycles, ATVs and more,” said Johnny Quesada event organizer. Lasting until Sunday...

By Wendy Anders At dawn on Saturday, judicial investigative police (OIJ) from Aguirre and Parrita in Puntarenas province began investigations into the death of a Panamanian man shot dead near entrance to Portalón, Quepos in Costa Rica’s Central Pacific region. The 37-year old Bartley received several gunshot injuries in different parts of his body while driving around 1:00 a.m. from Quepos, ...

By Wendy Anders The annual Big Mac Index published by The Economist revealed its most recent data on the fast food product Thursday. And, not surprisingly, here in Costa Rica, we pay a relatively high price for McDonald’s emblematic meal. According to the index, a big mac in Costa Rica costs 2,250 colones, which is $4.06 at the current exchange rate of 554.33 colones to the U.S. dollar. ...

By Wendy Anders The Guardian’s recently announced 2017 travel photography competition gives readers the chance to win a fantastic 16-night wildlife holiday for two to Costa Rica with Exodus Travels – and see the photos from the trip published in Guardian Travel, reported the U.K. paper Friday. Guardian Travel’s monthly readers’ photography competition is an opportunity for amateurs and profe...

By Wendy Anders Costa Rican Transportation and Public Works Ministry is preparing for a big push on the expansion of the Virilla Bridge which connects San José with Cariari, Belén, Alajuela, the international SJO airport, and other westward points. Work to expand it from its current rough 4 lanes to an impressive, solid and wider 6-lane expanse is going to involve some further closures in up...

By Wendy Anders An estimated 90 thousand people in Costa Rica’s northern province of Guanacaste don’t know what to do with their trash, said the regional La Voz de Guanacaste newspaper this week. While existing legislation requires municipalities to collect trash from all residents, none of Guanacaste’s 11 counties provide full coverage for garbage collection services, said the paper. Car...

By Wendy Anders Beyond the direct and indirect economic benefits derived from tourism, Costa Rica’s Tourism Institute (ICT, in Spanish) wanted to start measuring the industry’s broader impacts on local communities. In a first study, done last year, they interviewed residents in 10 such towns, and now have a baseline for monitoring progress. "We wanted to measure social progress in these t...

By Wendy Anders The Costa Rican Social Security Agency (CCSS, in Spanish) announced Thursday immediate measures intended to bolster the country’s largest old age, disability and life insurance fund (IVM, in Spanish) to ensure its viability in the long term, said the CCSS press office. The agency’s board of directors approved five short-term measures this week to bolster the state pension fun...

By Wendy Anders The U.S. Embassy in the western San José district of Pavas is hiring three full-time bodyguards. The position is open from now until January 24. Bodyguards provide armed protective security to the U.S. Department of State to ensure the safety of the U.S. Ambassador to Costa Rica or the Chargé, in the absence of the Chief of Mission. The position requires both regular sched...

By Wendy Anders Recent incursions of European tourists into protected marine areas off northern Costa Rica’s Pacific coast has officials concerned about the impact of promoting illegal fishing among visitors, said the Costa Rican National Coast Guard Service recently. Fishermen have been documented aiding tourists from Spain, Italy and Germany mainly in the waters off Guanacaste province’s S...

By Wendy Anders   Recent data from the Costa Rican Tourist Board (ICT, in Spanish) shows a full 27 percent of the country's workforce perceiving income or wealth from their connection, either direct or indirect, with the tourism industry. A new alliance between public safety institutions and the tourism sector promises to add an extra level of protection for visitors, said judicial i...

By Wendy Anders Costa Rican police made their second discovery this week of undocumented Cuban migrants in the country, this time in a boat in the southern Costa Rican border region. The Costa Rican border police intercepted a motor boat and detained the boat’s captain, a 53-year-old Costa Rican man from Puntarenas province named López, after discovering five Cubans aboard without entry stam...

By Wendy Anders Business owners expressed concern at an announcement late today by the Costa Rican Transportation and Public Works Ministry (MOPT) that the main artery connecting San José with points westward including the main international airport in Alajuela would be closed for six weeks starting Saturday, January 21, 2017 in the direction of Alajuela-San José. The bridge, known as "La Pl...

By Wendy Anders Amidst flight delays due to ashfall in Costa Rica in recent days, Air Canada took the cake early this week for disrupting hundreds of passengers' plans due to a problem with the head count on board. Ken Joy posted on Facebook from Toronto, Canada at 11:30 p.m. Monday, Jan. 9 that he had finally made it home. He managed to have some good cheer left after facing over a day’s...

By Wendy Anders Winds of up to 100 kph (over 60 mph) in Costa Rica’s northern region have forced the closure of two national parks today, Tuesday, Jan. 10 and tomorrow, Wednesday, Jan. 11, reported the country’s Teletica Channel 7 news station today. The Santa Rosa National Park (Parque Nacional Santa Rosa) and Rincón de la Vieja National Park are the two parks being slammed by heavy winds t...

By Wendy Anders A Danish citizen was arrested in Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica last week on suspicion of committing massive fraud in the country, said police in a press statement. The Lebanese-born Dane, who goes by the name of YK (last name of Khater) is suspected of conning a woman in Quepos, Puntarenas in Costa Rica's Central Pacific region out of 10 million colones (over US$18,000), according...

By Wendy Anders Police in southern Costa Rica Sunday discovered six undocumented Cubans traveling huddled in between gas cylinders in the back of a flat-bed delivery truck. Migrants from Cuba, Haiti, and other countries continue to risk over-land travel to reach the U.S., said the Costa Rican government earlier this month. From April 2016 until January 2017, the government said 18,000 mig...

By Wendy Anders During 2016, the Costa Rican economy benefited from a favorable macroeconomic environment, allowing the country's economy to maintain stable behavior; however, according to economists at Costa Rica’a ACOBO Financial Group this could change in 2017, causing some indicators such as the exchange rate, interest rates, and inflation to rise. According to Luis Diego Herrera, econom...

By Wendy Anders Universities in the U.S. are stepping in the fill needs of foreign companies with branches, plants and offices in Costa Rica to train their workers in specialized technologies and digital innovations, reported Costa Rica’s business daily El Financierio. From 2015-2016, for example, at least 40 Costa Ricans attended the University of Wisconsin Stout’s specialization program in...

By Wendy Anders Hidro Santa Cruz, a subsidiary of the Spanish transnational Ecoener-Hidralia, announced it will not continue in Guatemala after eight years of indigenous resistance to the hydroelectric company's plans, reported Spain’s daily El Diario. In an official statement, the company announced its waiver of the rights associated with the construction of a hydroelectric dam on the Camba...

By Wendy Anders By January 20, Donald Trump said all U.S. ambassadors appointed under outgoing Democratic President Obama must leave their posts, something no other president has ever done, reported several U.S. media last week. Normally though changes are always made to some appointments, these are done gradually so that transitions are smooth, projects can be completed, and out of respect ...

By Wendy Anders Late Friday morning, police on motorcycles in rural southern Costa Rica responding to a 9-1-1 call arrived at the scene of a gruesome domestic violence shooting. In the small verdant indigenous village of Alto Conte, Progreso, some 53 kilometers from Golfito in Costa Rica’s Panama border area, Giancarlo Martín Abarca, a Costa Rican man, arrived at his 18-year-old lover’s pare...

By Wendy Anders Costa Rica’s protected areas and national parks received over 77,000 local and international visitors between December 23, 2016 and January 1, 2017, according to the National System of Conservation Areas (SINAC). Some visitors had plans apart from enjoying nature. Sinac officials detained and filed police reports on 34 people for causing environmental damage by pillaging fore...

By Wendy Anders In San José, Costa Rica alone, the judicial investigative police agency (OIJ) investigate at least 70 and 80 house break-ins per month, said the police in a statement last week. Although previous years’ figures have been higher than in 2016, after studying their data, police said that house break-ins increase during Costa Rica’s summer months (December-April) when local resid...

By Wendy Anders Panamanian National Police announced Thursday they are offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to the recapture of an escaped prisoner awaiting trial for the alleged killing of five Chinese students in Chorrera, reported the digital English media Newsroom Panama. Gilberto Ventura Ceballos, a Dominican national, escaped Dec. 28 from the La Joyita penitentiary. Pol...

By Wendy Anders A constant eruption of ash from Costa Rica's Turrialba Volcano, located east of the San José greater metropolitan area, has emergency officials closely monitoring the colossus. Yesterday, the Central Valley, home to the country's capital San José, was placed on green alert, the lowest level alert, due to the steady ash falling in densely populated areas near the volcano, said...

By Wendy Anders Costa Rican President Luis Guillermo Solís signed a new law designed to fight tax fraud on December 19, 2016 that will affect owners who rent properties for less than a month at a time, said tax officials this week. Officials reminded owners of various residences, cabins and other lodgings offered on sites such as AirBnB for short-term rental that they are required to pay Cos...

By Wendy Anders Two police officers were detained Tuesday as part of an investigation into the escape of 10 suspected Mara Salvatrucha (MS13) gang members from a Salvadoran police delegation, said the director of the National Civil Police (PNC), Howard Cotto, to EFE. Costa Rican police reported yesterday they have tightened security along the country’s northern border which could prove to be...

By Wendy Anders Costa Rica’s Turrialba Volcano erupted at 5:50 a.m. today, Wednesday, January 4, sending a large plume of ash and gas westward as strong gusts of wind race out of the east across the country. Dozens of flights from mid-morning onward have been cancelled or delayed, but only on certain airlines, and the capital’s Juan Santamaría International Airport (SJO) is open and function...

By Wendy Anders Park guards at the highly visited Manuel Antonio National Park in the country's Central Pacific region are up in arms at having to take over charging entry fees, saying their work monitoring the park, especially during high season will be effected by the new duties. "We are very concerned about this issue that now, in addition to looking after the park, we have to charge tick...

By Wendy Anders Time to act if you want to nab some low fares on Southwest air which flies daily from several U.S. cities into the northern Liberia, Costa Rica airport or the San José capital airport. A 21-day advance purchase is necessary, says the airline on their site, and these low fares are available for purchase only until January 26, 2017, 11:59 p.m. in the respective time zone of the...

By Wendy Anders Local residents of Quepos, the small port town bordering Manuel Antonio National Park on Costa Rica’s central Pacific coast, greeting some New Year’s Day would-be robbers with a brutal surprise. They intervened when they attempted to rob a foreign tourist; and didn’t stop till his car was smashed and police came to haul him off, reported CRHoy.com citing local tourist police ...