Jorge Pita waiting it out in the cells of the Santa Ana police station before being taken to La Reforma prison.It doesn’t pay to mess around with a court order to pay child support. A U.S. businessman was thrown in jail last Thursday for not paying January child support of ¢3.6 million colones (US$7,500) plus school costs of ¢2 million (US$4,000) for his six-year-old daughter. The Juzgado de P...

Tamarindo Beach in Guanacaste Costa RicaAn oft-discussed topic among tourists and expats visiting Costa Rica is how little they can get for their hard-earned dollars here. This is a sentiment shared by the local population as well, who somehow make do with a lot less than their fellow North American and European complainants. An incredibly detailed report by blogger Tricia Lyman reveals that a co...

Tourists in Playa Guiones during the month of JanuaryRecently the Costa Rica Star published about the tourism, wealth, and high unemployment in Guanacaste that comes as a result of foreign investment in the region. If you have been to Playa Guiones recently, in the district of Nosara, you probably noticed the incredible amount of commercial and residential construction underway as well as seve...

A typical abandoned home in Detroit. The National Stadium in La Sabana, hundreds of patrol cars and the National Police Academy: These are some of the most significant donations given to Costa Rica by the People's Republic of China (PRC). Costa Rica is hardly the only country in the region to receive major aid from China; the Costa Rica Star has previously reported on the work of the PRC in th...

An OVOP conference at the Dominican Republic. Strengthening a community's brand, adding value to existing products and conducting frequent market research are business principles that some small towns in Guanacaste are experimenting with. They are part of the “One Village, One Product” (OVOP) movement promoted by the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The OVOP movement has been ...

Main street through Samara GuanacasteOn Sunday, January 12th, the Samara Development Association held their General Assembly meeting in San Fernando, during which they defined the boundaries for the new development association that will be created for central Samara. At the same time, Chinampas requested an extension to form their own development association. The meeting was called to order at...

If you require an airport or beach transfer service in Guanacaste, Costa Rica, please contact BeachTransfer.com. They have a team of English speaking drivers ready to handle your shuttle requests. A new private driver and chauffeur service is coming to the Daniel Oduber International Airport in Liberia (LIR) Guanacaste, Costa Rica. This private driver and transport service will provide comforta...

For the purpose of meeting the demands of the modern workplace in Guanacaste, the National Learning Institute (Spanish initials: INA) will offer a free, comprehensive business English course in Filadelfia from March 21st, 2014 to January 15th, 2015. Prospective students must be at least 15 years old and have completed the 9th grade of general education in Costa Rica. This ten-month foreign lang...

Guanacaste Community FundWhile the Costa Rica-USA Foundation (CRUSA) has been funding national environmental and educational projects for 18 years, its newest initiative, the Guanacaste Community Fund, will focus exclusively on Guanacaste-based societal improvements. The Fund’s executive director, Steve Mack, appointed by CRUSA’s Governing Board of Directors in August, said he has already dis...

President of Nicaragua Daniel OrtegaA few years after the turn of the century, Costa Rica stopped being the darling destination for long-term visitors, expats and retirees. Around the time the housing bubble in the United States was about to burst, jaded (and broke) expats started looking for a Shangri-la known as “the next Costa Rica,” a place many believed could be found in the ultra-cheap neig...

Skyline of the Latvian capital Riga In the 20th century, economists and analysts in the United States convinced the government to adopt the per capita gross domestic product (GDP) measurement as the main yardstick of its economy. Just about every nation followed suit, which is why we are now able to compare Costa Rica with other countries and regions in terms of GDP. It turns out, however, tha...

Playa Hermosa Beach in Guanacaste Costa Rica Judging by an academic study and two market research reports on tourism and real estate, Guanacaste is on track to be Costa Rica's most expensive region to live or visit for 2014. Although the majority of complaints are coming from foreign visitors and expats, there does not seem to be an exodus. In fact, hospitality and tourism operators as well as...

In the past the Costa Rica Star has published about organic coffee and coffee cupping tours in Costa Rica. The U.S. coffee chain, Starbucks, continues its expansion in Costa Rica with a fourth store location opening in March. The new store will be Plaza Freses, in Curridabat, on the east side of San José. No opening date has been set as of yet, though the company is already hiring staff and ...

Previous meeting of the Nosara Civic AssociationOn Tuesday, January 28th, the Nosara Civic Association (NCA) held their annual meeting with about 40 members in attendance. During the meeting, they elected a new board, with several changes, and also recognized two long-time board members for their service. The meeting went “according to plan,” according to the NCA president, Alvin Rosenbaum. A ...

Expotur Costa Rica Travel Mart 2014 The 29th edition of Expotur will take place from May 14th to May 16th, 2014. This event, which is organized by the Costa Rican Association of Tourism Professionals (Spanish acronym: ACOPROT), will bring together more than 300 tourism and hospitality businesses from across the country and the region for three days of industry insight and networking at the Wyn...

Reception area of the Hotel Tamarindo Diria in Guanacaste, Costa Rica The Guanacaste province is the leading region in Costa Rica in terms of clean energy projects. That leadership is being sustained thanks to both public utility projects and private business initiatives. In Santa Cruz, the elegant Tamarindo Diria Hotel recently announced its completion of a water heating project entirely powe...

A recent study by national newspaper La Nacion estimates that Costa Rica has more than 3,000 homes and living spaces available to foreign visitors looking for rental options. These properties are often listed on sites such as Airbnb, HomeAway and VRBO, and many longer-term rental opportunities do not factor in the cost of utilities such as water and electricity. This opens doors for nefarious home...

Training for the EXPHORE barista challenge The 2014 Expo Hoteles y Restaurantes (EXPHORE) is scheduled to take place at the Pedregal Events Center in San Antonio de Belen, province of Heredia, from Tuesday, May 6th to Thursday, May 8th. EXPHORE is the most prominent trade show for the hospitality and gastronomy industry sectors in Costa Rica, and this year it will feature special competitions ...

As Costa Rica’s multinational business community grows, so too does the number of business travelers visiting the country. Costa Rica also has become a highly popular destination for international meetings, incentive trips, conferences and events (MICE tourism). Most business and conferences still take place in the capital city of San Jose. As a business traveler to Costa Rica, you will want to...

Lamborghini Veneno, source: Wikimedia Commons At the 2013 Geneva Motor Show, Italian luxury and sports car manufacturer Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A introduced the Lamborghini Veneno, an ultra-limited edition of its Aventador line. Priced at more than 3 million euros, the Veneno is the most expensive retail car available at this time, and news about its release has garnered significant interest...

Street view of the Paradizio condo development in Playas del Coco, Guanacaste, Costa Rica For sales and general inquiries about Paradizio Condos please visit the official website: www.ParadizioCostaRica.com Condominium developers in Costa Rica are rushing to meet the growing demand for a luxurious exurban lifestyle filled with amenities and convenience. Such are the intentions of Oxbow Commu...

Timeshare Scams in GuanacasteThe timeshare and fractional ownership market is a lucrative subsector of the real estate economy; unfortunately, it is also very vulnerable to scammers, swindlers and flimflam artists. Costa Rica is not impervious to real estate deception, and the province of Guanacaste seems to be a focus of recent timeshare shams and charades. At the controversial consumer compl...

This Sora Mountain estate overlooks the Pacific Ocean in Panama. As the cost of living in Costa Rica continues its steady and relentless climb, the real estate market is responding in sync. In 2012, the Inter-American Development Bank labeled San Jose as the city with the most expensive real estate in Latin America, and luxury housing construction in Guanacaste shows no signs of slowing down. ...

President Laura Chinchilla recently gave her signature of approval to a project that will expand the reach and coverage of the Southern Crop Irrigation Canal in the province of Guanacaste. The expansion will add 33.4 kilometers to the canal for a total coverage of 35,000 hectares of farmland. This is certainly good news for farmers in the driest region of Costa Rica, where climate change is reduci...

Construction workers on the build site of Croc's Casino Resort in Jaco Beach Jaco, Costa Rica – Croc's Casino Resort, the first Las Vegas-style luxury hotel, condominium and casino undergoing development in Costa Rica, recently took account of its immediate and potential future benefits to the local community of Jaco in the canton of Garabito and beyond. To this effect, developer Rory Hascall...

Feriajobs.com is a new tool for job seekers, created solely for publishing job opportunities in Costa Rica, and to date they have posted over 2,000 of them. The website, for now, focuses on providing jobs available in Costa Rica, however, their goal is to cover Central America and later Latin America. Created by the folks at autos.cr, the car classifieds in Costa Rica, Feriajobs.com has two ...

Horseback Riding in Guanacaste Costa Rica as part of an Agrotourism experienceOwners and operators of hospitality and recreational businesses in Costa Rica are keeping a close eye on the growth of rural tourism across Costa Rica, also known as Agrotourism. In recent years, the Central Valley and adjacent rural areas have dominated this specialty tourism segment while Guanacaste has mostly catered...

Hummus, kebab, falafel and other typical Middle Eastern foods have arrived in Samara, thanks to Israeli Elias Nassif and Italian David Rubini. In mid-December, Falafel Cafe opened its doors in the Natural Center, where Samara Organics was previously located. This small cafe offers fast food for those who are passing through or want something light. Orders can be for carryout or to dine in th...

Sign posted in Playa Garza announcing condo developmentFor years now, people in the maritime land zone of Costa Rica’s coasts have continued with their lives under the constant awareness that their time there could be limited, since Costa Rica’s constitutional court ruled that evictions must be carried out. The presidential moratorium granted to those in the maritime zone is in effect until Octob...

The Costa Rica Star previously published articles about Cacique Guaro, the national liquor of Costa Rica, and the famous shot of Chili-Guaro that many Ticos enjoy throughout Guanacaste. The Municipality of Nicoya is charging the canton’s liquor license owners half of the established quarterly price. The municipal decision was made as a result of the resolution by the Constitutional Court on ...

A Pawnshop in Costa Rica, with jewelry, TV's, guitars, and more items Every year the cycle repeats, in December retail stores do their best to entice customers to buy, buy, buy, who in turn in January look to the “empeños y ventas” (also referred to as “compras y ventas”) – pawnshops to generate cash to lighten the “cuesta de Enero”, a term used in Costa Rica to describe the uphill financial situ...

Accepted in Costa Rica The New Year tends to bring a shift in taxation provisions for many countries in the world. In Costa Rica, personal income tax brackets were raised for those who make more than $1,500 a month, but comprehensive tax reform is at a standstill. With new exorbitant taxation schemes in France and fresh updates in the United States, the idea of using Costa Rica as a tax shelte...

Save for shopping trips to South Florida and family outings to the amusement parks in Orlando, Tico tourists are mostly content with exploring their own country. Although rural tourism has picked up considerably in Costa Rica over the last few years, families in Costa Rica are increasingly looking for upscale, all-inclusive resorts when they go on vacation, and hoteliers in Jaco Beach and Guanacas...

New requirement for all expats due TuesdayThe Costa Rica Star recently published about US expats giving up their citizenship to avoid taxes in Costa Rica, clarifications for FATCA for US expats, and the new income tax brackets for 2014. This is not the first time Costa Rica has required that expats and citizens update their information with the bank. However, this update seems to correspond wi...

Gas emissions and brake failures continue to be the main reasons why vehicles failed the annual vehicular inspection for 2013, according to Riteve. By the numbers, in 2013, 48% of all vehicles failed the test on the first go round, down from a 71% failure rate in 2003. Other causes for failure, said Riteve spokesperson, Jennifer Hidalgo, included problems with seatbelts and tension bars. ...

Costa Rica Colones currencyIn the past the Costa Rica Star published about Paypal in Costa Rica, and how it is a good solution for sending money from a bank account anywhere in the world, to Banco Nacional in Costa Rica. One of the numerous things to consider when moving abroad is currency. I’m not trained in finance in any way, nor can I advise you in investments. What I can tell you is, I ha...

Airbnb in Costa RicaSince 2008, Airbnb has offered an online service that essentially brought a new dimension in terms of finding lodging and short-term residential options in Costa Rica. Airbnb's business model, which involves empowering property owners in Costa Rica to monetize their unoccupied living spaces by offering them to visitors, has been very successful; however, the hospitality indust...

Customers in a branch of Banco de Costa RicaIt is that time of the year when economists and financial analysts in Costa Rica compile their 2013 observations and make their forecasts for 2014. While the outlook is positive for large enterprises in some sectors, the same cannot be said for workers and consumers in Costa Rica, who will generally earn less at their jobs and pay more at cash registers...

Palm tree in Costa Rica decorated for ChristmasWhether your holiday celebration includes menorahs, decorated trees, or kinaras it’s a time when many expats return to their mother-land to be with family. This migratory pattern translates into a huge need for house, pet, garden, and property caregivers! Expats have created a fulfilling life abroad, often including the adoption of one or two furry f...

Alleged greenwashing by Infinito Gold Just days before Christmas, eight Canadian organizations are increasing their pressure on Infinito Gold and urging the mining firm to drop its peculiar billion dollar lawsuit against the Republic of Costa Rica. One public petition has already gathered more than 300,000 signatures, and this letter is now calling on the Canadian government to release certain...