Ticos consumed heaping amounts of social media content in 2011, and blogs featured very prominently in their delectation. Smart journalists like Amelia Rueda make sure they cover all facets of social media, and to that extent she keeps a number of blogs that empower her audience by keeping them informed about significant current issues and social commentary. Then there's the oft-recognized El Infi...

It's hard to think of Costa Rica, a Latin American developing nation, as a country with a falling birthrate and an aging population. That's exactly what the National Institute of Statistics and Census (known as INEC by its Spanish acronym) has indicated according to its preliminary census numbers released just days before Christmas 2011. From 1984 to 2000, the population growth of Costa Rica av...

If you would like The Costa Rica Star to run your Press Release on our news website, check out our advertising page. Executive Summary The business plan for SALT reflects the opportunity to purchase the building, assets and leasehold improvements a restaurant currently operating in Jaco Beach, Costa Rica. The current owner is interested in selling the operations ($415,000.00), and/or ren...

Horror stories are an important part of Tico folklore. Tormented ghosts like La Llorona and fearsome creatures of the night such as El Cadejo serve as cautionary tales for a traditionally Catholic and God-fearing culture. Ticos enjoy being spooked by a well-told story about the supernatural. The resurgence of classic horror characters such as vampires and werewolves in the popular literature ...

Talk with your employees about investing their Aguinaldo into the business that employs themOne of the most "touchy" subjects when doing commerce in Costa Rica is the much debated Christmas bonus or Aguinaldo, that must be paid to every employee in Costa Rica during the month of December. This bonus is calculated by adding up all of the payments made to the employee each month for the last ye...

More than one third of the population in Costa Rica went online and made use of various social media platforms during 2011, according to figures compiled by Social Bakers, a site dedicated to the statistical study of Internet social media usage. Facebook was the social network of choice among Ticos, followed by the short messaging and microblogging network Twitter. Other networks which had attract...

National de facto news daily La Nación has published its annual list of the most newsworthy personalities and entities which consistently graced its pages with either positive or controversial developments in 2011. The following is a quick rundown of the people and entities mentioned and the category they made news in: National Affairs The global financial crisis left its most serious mark i...

While most industries in Costa Rica come to a virtual halt during the holidays, Christmas is the busiest time of the year for inter-province bus operators. According to a report published on daily newspaper La Prensa Libre and broadcast by its sister Radio America AM station, bus lines are stepping up their operational pace in an effort to meet the demands of hundreds of thousands of holiday trave...

Christmas Day may be over, but for most Ticos the holiday celebrations will continue until the New Year. For residents of the greater San José metro area, December 25th is the day when the greatly anticipated Feria del Zapote, located just a few kilometers east of downtown San José, happens. The Health Ministry gave the green light to the annual festivities which include bull runs, fireworks, live...

On a very thorough article by Vicki Berrong in the December 19th edition of the Wall Street Journal, she mentioned a few key points about retirement planning which prompted her to take the plunge and move to a place near Playa Naranjo on the beautiful Gulf of Nicoya. Ms. Berrong describes herself as a 60 year old American who at one point laid out a 10-year plan to pay off debt and pick a con...

As Ticos awake to another tranquil Christmas in one of the world's most peaceful democracies, it bears importance to remember Christmas Day almost a quarter of a century ago, when Costa Rica assumed a crucial role as a mediator for peace in the region. On December 25th, 1987, world leaders were closely monitoring hostilities in Nicaragua, a country which, along with Afghanistan, had become th...

When it comes to conducting democratic elections, Costa Rica does not like to cut corners. After President Laura Chinchilla was elected in 2010, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (known as TSE for its acronym in Spanish) decided to completely modernize its ballot collection and counting processes. In November of 2010, the TSE adopted Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology to improve the mon...

It seems that no matter how hard you try to become organized during the holidays, there's always something you forget to accomplish on time. Getting all shopping done well before Christmas is a lofty goal that's not so easy to accomplish. Many shoppers wait until the very last minute to rush to the malls, multiplazas and Wal-Mart stores, thereby creating the infamous presas navideñas. Others draw ...

It's that time of the year when radio stations and entertainment journalists in Costa Rica begin releasing their “Best Of” music lists. Judging by the lists compiled thus far, the discerning musical tastes of Ticos are as diverse as the many animal species roaming around the country. British female contralto singers dominated business news daily La República's top ten albums of the year. The...

The Minister of the Exterior has presented a formal diplomatic complaint against its counterpart in Managua regarding an alleged invasion by Nicaraguan soldiers this past Monday. According to the Europa Press news bureau, the diplomatic dispatch explained that members of Nicaragua's security forces were conducting a patrol and advanced about a kilometer into Tico territory, voicing taunts directed...

Apple may have finally decided to open up iTunes in Costa Rica and the rest of Latin America on December 13th, but it only took one day for a Tico-owned digital content store to follow suit. Central de Radios (CDR), a powerful media conglomerate which owns the venerable Radio Reloj and 29 other radio stations, launched Tití Online, the first store in Costa Rica to offer e-books, magazines, rington...

Making payments and transferring money will soon be as easy as sending a text message. According to a report recently published in Diario Extra, the Central Bank (BCCR) and ICE are working together to develop a simple solution that will enable Ticos to transfer funds via SMS. Carlos Melegatti, BBCR's Director of Financial Services, explained that the Central Bank is studying SMS payment methods al...

As we get closer to the Christmas and New Year's holidays, here's a look at some of the banks and public institutions which will be observing the holidays with closures and modified schedules. Hospitals and Clinics None of the major public or private hospitals and clinics have reported modified holiday schedules. Instituto Nacional de Seguros (INS) The offices of the INS will be close...

The beautiful Miss Costa Rica 2011, Johanna Solano, is currently one of the top contenders to take the title of the beauty queen with the best physique in the planet in 2011. The 21-year old stunner, who is a former Señorita San José pageant competitor, currently ranks at number six in the Reinas Universal Awards Best Body of 2011 list published by the online version of 20 Minutos, a leading news ...

A beach community in Guanacaste will be getting a special Christmas gift in January. Nine brilliant young minds from the New York Institute of Technology are coming to Costa Rica in January to share their knowledge and environmental moxie with the people of Playa Nosara in an effort to promote sustainability. One of the most difficult lessons being learned by people in Costa Rica is that their...

The Costa Rican Tourism Institute, known as ICT by it acronym in Spanish, recently released figures which indicate that approximately 2,183,000 tourists will have visited the country by the end of the year. Should this statistic be confirmed in January 2011 by the ICT, it would indicate a growth of 4 percent over last year. This is an encouraging outlook for both ICT and the tourism industry,...

American troops stepped up the pace of their withdrawal from Iraq over the weekend, turning over garrisons and combat positions to Iraqi security forces. Armored vehicles lined up in long columns traveling towards Kuwait for shipment to other American bases around the world. Soldiers' families rejoiced in the United States, while some Iraqis celebrated the withdrawal by burning American flags. ...

The sad passing of acclaimed British-American political writer and intellectual essayist Christopher Hitchens did not go unnoticed in Costa Rica. Besides the requisite obituaries published in La Nación and El País, there was a small flurry of activity in online social networks by members of Costa Rica's digital literati. Social psychologist and open source software advocate Carolina Flores name...

It was a nail-biter until the very end. For the third time in a row, Liga Deportiva Alajuelense (LDA) came away victorious in the final game of the Winter Tournament of the First Division, the highest honor for professional football in Costa Rica. The victory marked the 27th time that Alajuela's favorite team has claimed the coveted First Division title. It was not an easy feat for La Liga....

Author's Note: Title VI of the Political Constitution of the Republic of Costa Rica states that the Roman Catholic religion, while officially supported by the Government, does not preclude the people's freedom to engage in other religions or doctrines. This article is not meant to be an endorsement of any religion over another. The Costa Rica Star respects our Constitution, as well as all religiou...

One of the top trending items on Twitter today was one of the most long-awaited announcements of 2011. Cerveza Imperial, Costa Rica's most iconic beer, has finally set a date for its cherished annual music fest at La Guácima speedway in Alajuela. Festival Imperial is now officially 98 days away, and music fans are already busy making requests for their dream musical lineup on Cerveza Imperial's of...

Some of the most adorable arboreal creatures on Earth are being given a helping hand in a former bird zoo in Limón. Since 1992, the Aviarios Sloth Sanctuary in Cahuita has been caring for “osos perezosos” -as sloths are called in Spanish- that need some sort of rehabilitation before being returned to the wild. Many of the sloths who end up at Aviarios are truly needy: they are orphaned babies. The...

The recent losses of military unmanned aircraft over Iran and the Seychelles archipelago in the Indian Ocean call attention to the increased dependence by the United States on drone technology. While American drones are mostly used in covert strike missions and to spy on their own citizens, Costa Rica has learned to put drone technology to good use. The Center for the Investigation of Nuclear and...

Costa Rica's standing in the international community as an oasis of peace and democracy amidst the Central American powder keg of political instability and military conflict is fueling the imagination of leading video game developers. The constitutional ban on the military and the country's peaceful ways leave it wide open for bad guys with extremely nefarious motives to set up shop in Konami's...

Is Costa Rica destined to become the Malibu Beach of Central America? The tabloids of the world are awash with reports of Hollywood's most glamorous power couple coming to spend the holidays in a rented hacienda. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, collectively referred to as “Brangelina” by gossip mavens, might be heading to the Guanacaste province to spend the holidays in a rented hacienda, according ...

The final weeks of the year in Costa Rica are filled with tradition and cheer. With the holidays upon them, Ticos look forward to infallible seasonal staples such as the delicious tamales, the bull runs and firework displays in El Zapote, the Parade of Lights, the Avenidazo, two or more weeks off work, the hopes to score at least one lottery ticket, the national carnival, the equestrian parad...

The year 2011 may not have been the most auspicious for one of Costa Rica's most fervent passions. Football fans who were ecstatic with the signing of highly respected manager Ricardo La Volpe to lead the haphazard national team quickly lost faith in his legendary abilities after “La Sele” suffered a string of losses and dubious performances. La Volpe's press conferences became infamous as he ment...

The breakup of the communication monopoly held by the venerable Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) has had its share of supporters and detractors. Those who thought that all Ticos would celebrate the forced loosening of ICE's tight grip on wireless communications were a bit surprised by the old-hat attitudes of a few who welcomed new competitors Claro and Movistar with suspicion and eve...

Various labor unions and social advocacy groups have resolved to voice their discontent against proposed financial reforms with a labor strike and public demonstration. The display of solidarity will take place just days before a large number of Ticos will leave for the beaches and the countryside. The decision was formulated a week ago during an impromptu summit of labor union leaders. Beatriz...