Since he was five years old, Sean Forrester has been living on surfboards. “It was a soft board, and it was purple,” he said, recalling his first board. His father, Chris Forrester, former owner of C & C Surf, taught him how to ride the waves. Although Sean was born in the United States, he came to Costa Rica when he was three. He says he feels very Tico and now 14 years old, he says he is "10...

The La Esperanza Development Association is preparing to host fiestas in the community to raise funds for use in their own projects and to help the Nosara Red Cross. The festivities will be held from December 12 to 15 and will commemorate the 20th anniversary of the association. Rides, bulls, music and food sales are some of the highlights that those attending will enjoy. Carlos Villalobo...

The Daniel Oduber international airport in Liberia has become the favorite for half of Canadians traveling to Costa Rica. In the first part of the year, 44,000 travelers from Canada landed in the terminal (49% of Canadians who flew to the country during that time). Six years ago, in the same period, 35% of Canadian tourists came to Liberia. The city of Liberia has also become important for v...

The Samara community breathes easier now after the arrest made by the Judicial Investigation Organization (OIJ) on Sunday, October 13, to dismantle an alleged drug ring operating in the community. The investigation started this year in January and concluded with actions taken this weekend when eight subjects arrested of Colombian nationality, of ages between 25 and 52, were arrested, the OIJ p...

The Nosara Recycling and Education Center is starting a new collecting program for everyone living in Guiones and Peladas beach between Super Dos Lorenas and the Boca Nosara River. Every Wednesday the Center will be collecting recyclable materials such as plastic, tetrapak, aluminum, glass, paper and cardboard. The Nosara Recycling Association asks everyone to put all recyclables clean and d...

Mud, gravel, asphalt, loose rock, rain, cold, heat and sweat make the route of the conquistadors a real personal challenge that demands physical and mental strength of the participants. Pablo Sanchez, a mountain biker who lives in Samara, knows the challenge and defines it as a “unique and challenging experience.” At 33, Sanchez be traversing the 310-kilometer (192-mile) route for the third ...

Those traveling on the Pan-American Highway to and from the Daniel Oduber International Airport in Liberia will encounter some delays in traffic since CONAVI is working on installing bridges. The recent placement of the bridge over the Cañas River in August of this year along the route marked the beginning of the construction phase of 18 new bridges as well as the rehabilitation of 18 existing ...

Upon entering the hotel, the first thing one feels is peace and harmony with nature. We are welcomed right away by Marvin Seas, the hotel’s concierge, who cordially shows us the facilities and accompanies us during the tour. In Hotel Punta Islita, no detail is left to chance. Located in the Peninsula of Nicoya, in the community of Islita, this five-star hotel is the first hotel in Central Ameri...

Source: UCR Residents in some regions of Guanacaste are enjoying better roadways thanks to a special mix of asphalt tested by Costa Rica's National Laboratory of Structural Models and Materials (Spanish acronym: Lanamme). This special asphalt formula presents various advantages over mixes that have been previously in Costa Rica; in particular, it presents greater permeability at a more reasona...

Costa Rica – home of ecotourism and thrilling adventure tours – is not usually the first vacation destination people think of for travelers with disabilities. However, the country’s tourism industry is working to change that image and make Costa Rica’s famous attractions more accessible. So far, reports are positive from tourists who have enjoyed accessible vacations in Costa Rica. Several of C...

All-inclusive resorts make vacation planning easy. Everything you need – place to stay, meals, activities, entertainment – is included in one price. You don’t have to worry about the details, hidden extras or going over budget. Going to an all-inclusive resort is truly a no-worry vacation. All-inclusive resorts in Costa Rica have been around for years, but the concept is booming. Major internat...

COSTA RICA, October 22, 2013 – The Flamingo Beach Resort, the enchanting beachfront property in Guanacaste, has announced the re-launch of its 2,800-sq.-ft. full-service spa. Formerly managed by a third-party operator, the new OnZen Spa takes a holistic approach to achieving overall wellness through the restoration and realignment of each guest’s mind, body and energy. The spa’s name, OnZen, si...

What makes a sustainable business “sustainable” and why should we care? Here’s a news flash for you – we all live on the same planet Earth. In many ways we humans, and all of the living and non-living things and elements that exist on our planet, are connected. The dust storms in Africa that cause cloudy, windy, dry weather in Central America; the earthquake in Asia that causes a nuclear reacto...

Ask any fashionable Tica about designer shoes and the name Daniel del Barco immediately comes to mind. Mr. del Barco is the founder of Calzado del Barco, a footwear design and manufacturing firm in Costa Rica that is a favorite among the proud winners of the Miss Costa Rica beauty pageant. Mr. del Barco is a native of Guanacaste who spent his childhood in Playas del Coco, and he draws inspiration ...

After years of demands by residents and tourism operators, one of Costa Rica's most precious natural treasures is getting a modern, paved highway. According to a recent news article by Roberto Portuguez of news daily La Prensa Libre, the Ministry of Public Works and Transportation (Spanish acronym: MOPT) gave the green light to a highway project that will lead right up to the Monteverde Cloud Fore...

New Zealand is about as far from Costa Rica as you can get. That’s where 21 Costa Rican men and women are headed at the beginning of November to compete in the World Rafting Championships. Set for November 13-24 in Rotorua, New Zealand, the biennial World Rafting Championships (WRC) will draw 69 teams from 27 countries to compete in four divisions with men’s and women’s categories – Open, Maste...

The new specialty magazine of Costa Rica targets travelers looking for more authentic and meaningful travel experiences. It’s current, accurate and authoritative content guides readers to find the Authentic Costa Rica. Escondido, California – Vida Travel Media today launched Costa Rica Guest, a new travel magazine that showcases real and meaningful travel experiences in Costa Rica. It brings...

Source: Facebook The future of residential living in Costa Rica involves physical security, efficiency, technology, industrial design, and privacy. Lots of privacy. So much privacy, in fact, that you may never see your neighbors. You and your community will be enshrouded behind a veil of secrecy, and the brutalist architecture surrounding you will be similar to that of sci-fi films such as Aeo...

Welcome to the new sportfishing column that will appear weekly in The Costa Rica Star. Costa Rica is one of the world’s top sportfishing destinations, drawing anglers year round in search of its world record Marlin, Sailfish, Yellowfin Tuna, Roosterfish, Snapper, Tarpon and Snook. There are usually great stories to be told on both the Pacific and Caribbean coasts. Contributors Mark Sydney a...

Source: Zoo Ave Fecebook One of the most beloved and emblematic wildlife species of Costa Rica had its own special celebration last Saturday. Zoo Ave, Costa Rica's premier wildlife rescue center, observed International Sloth Day with a series of educational activities centered on one of the cutest and most docile arboreal creatures in Costa Rica and 17 other countries in Latin America. Octo...

Source: Pacific Plaza More than a year after a mostly modest and unassuming inauguration in Costa Rica, the CIMA Hospital in Guanacaste is one of the few medical centers hiring in a region that is experiencing a dilemma with regard to unemployment. The current job vacancies at this fine hospital are for professionals in the fields of microbiology and direct patient care assistance, and they ar...

Source: Wikimedia Commons Are you an American? Do you live in America? According to demographic data provided by Google Analytics and Facebook Insights, most readers of the Costa Rica Star live somewhere in the Western Hemisphere between the Arctic and Antarctic regions, and thus there is a strong chance that you, dear reader, are an American. But, does this mean that you were born in the U...

Source: Wikimedia Commons A small island in the province of Guanacaste is gaining significant attention among marine conservation circles as the busiest point for sea turtles that massively arrive in Costa Rica during nesting season. San Jose island is part of the Guanacaste Conservation Area (Spanish initials: ACG), and from November 2012 until this past May had registered 1,933 nesting event...

Source: Wikimedia Commons The main attraction of the upcoming $10 Million Water Kingdom Aquatic Park in Guanacaste, Costa Rica is named after a legendary surfing spot in the island of Oahu in Hawaii. The Waikiki artificial wave pool is bound to attract many visitors, both foreign and domestic, and thus it is ready to accommodate up to 1,000 swimmers and inland surfers. The pool's mechanism wil...

Black Friday in the US. Source: Wikimedia Commons It is no secret that close ties between Costa Rica and United States have been creating certain cultural trends in the Central American nation over the years. The Halloween and Thanksgiving Day traditions come to mind, but the rise of consumer culture in Costa Rica is a better example. In this regard, some merchants in Costa Rica are poised to ...

Source: Wikimedia Commons In the 21st century, the province of Guanacaste has become a land of contradictions. Known for many decades as the “forgotten province” of Costa Rica, Guanacaste these days is a land of luxury yachts, extravagant resorts, impressive mansions, ultra high-tech aerospace firms, top-notch research universities, and excruciating unemployment. It is in Guanacaste that we...

Source: Twitter Haters in Costa Rica, there's a new song for you to learn, which should be harmonized to the tune of the nursery rhyme “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” It goes like this: Saborio scored-a-goal, Scored-a-goal, Scored-a-goal, Saborio scored-a-goal, Sa-bo-rio Star striker Alvaro Saborio, a veteran of the National Football Team of Costa Rica who also plays in the Real S...

Source: Wikimedia Commons With the high tourist season looming just before the holidays, Costa Rica is getting ready to welcome hundreds of thousands of North American and European visitors. According to Canadian tour operator Signature Vacations, member of the Sunwing Travel Group, the high demand from tourists who want to vacation in Costa Rica calls for added capacity. A recent press rel...

Source: Kevin Manzur for T-Mobile Wireless provider T-Mobile and pop superstar Shakira recently teamed up to announce the end of exorbitant roaming charges for United States customers traveling to Costa Rica and other countries. On the last day of October 2013, just in time for the start of the busy tourist season in Costa Rica, T-Mobile customers who subscribe to the Simple Choice U.S. data p...

Genesis is a young lady in Costa Rica who feels that her life has been filled with blessings -despite the fact that her mother, Ana Acevedo, made a difficult choice 17 years ago: She gave up her baby daughter to Shirley Gomez, an infertile neighbor. Thanks to a daily tabloid newspaper in Costa Rica, Genesis traveled to Playas del Coco earlier this year to meet her biological mother and maternal gr...

The Ministry of Culture and Youth (Ministerio de Cultura y Juventud), through the National System of Music Education (Sistema Nacional de Educación Musical), is promoting a music program in which the stars are disabled. This program is called Música con Accesibilidad Para Todos (Music With Accessibility For All) and gives the physically challenged population the possibility of a musical educati...

The dredging of the Río Nosara’s channel and dike construction are in their final stage. So says Marcos Avila, president of Integral Development Association of Nosara (ADIN – Asociación de Desarrollo Integral de Nosara), who mentioned that the works could be completed by early November. In a trip made by the Voice of Guanacaste on Wednesday October 9th, one could see the progress and work of...

“It makes no sense that men go to jail for not paying child support”, says legislator José Roberto Rodríguez in presenting a bill that would see the government lend the money to those who cannot pay and avoid going to prison. The legislator for the Partido Unidad Social Cristiana (PUSC) explained that the idea is for the government to make the payment, like a loan, and then get paid back over t...

Three medical doctors of the Hospital Calderón Guardia and a pizza maker, in San José, were detained by police, suspected of human organ trafficking. Authorities say their investigation led to the four suspects, who are alleged to have paid victims between 3 and 10 million colones (US$6.000 to US$20.000 dollars). Two of the doctors are urologists, identified by their last names Anunzia Mauro...

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (Oct. 10, 2013) — On World Egg Day, Humane Society International highlights the growing popularity of cage-free eggs in Costa Rica. Cage-free eggs, known as huevos de pastoreo in Costa Rica, are eggs from chickens who are not confined to cages. The cage-free trend, which has been growing in Europe and the United States for a number of years, is in stark contrast to the in...

Recently The Costa Rica Star published about The Gigolos of Puerto Viejo: How Ladies Pursuit and Buy Romance in Costa Rica. It’s quite rare to be a single female traveler who leaves Costa Rica without falling in love. It is no secret that gringa’s who travel to this part of the world are often lured to Costa Rica to escape the stress in the States and to immerse in nature and also to experie...

October 12 (or the nearest Monday to it) is traditionally celebrated throughout the Americas as the day Christopher Columbus arrived in 1492. In Spanish speaking countries, is is known as “Día de la Raza”, in English speaking countries, the day is celebrated as Columbus Day. In Costa Rica, the name of the holiday has changed over the years, today known as “Día de las Culturas” (Day of Cultur...

Monteverde is a very popular tourist destination in Costa Rica, National Geographic calling it “the jewel in the crown of cloud forest reserves”. Newsweek has declared Monteverde the world’s #14 Place to Remember Before it Disappears. By popular vote in Costa Rica, Monteverde was enshrined as one of the Seven Natural Wonders of Costa Rica, along with Isla del Coco, Volcán Arenal, Cerro Chirripó...

Samara residents are currently looking for a missing woman who has being missing for almost three weeks. Dana Colligan, U.S citizen, is a small woman with brown hair in her early 40's and has lived in Samara for three and a half years. Colligan is best known for her natural product line sold around Samara and Nosara called "LaPura LoCura". According to Louise Tangri, who is helping Colligan'...

The government plans to give the Dirección de Inteligencia y Seguridad (DIS) the legal weapon to seize property acquired through tax evasion, drug trafficking, money laundering, organize crime and any other illegal activity, through a bill it is introducing in the Legislative Assembly. The proposal is to give the country’s intelligence service, an arm of the Presidency, the power to investigate...