Source: FreePlay A few days ago, the Costa Rica Star published an article about the CAT B15, an ultra-rugged smartphone made by Caterpillar that seems to have been custom-made for the active lifestyle of many expats and tourists in Guanacaste. Although the CAT B15's battery offers an astonishing 16 hours of talk time; this feature can be extended with the Freecharge 12-volt mobile device charg...

Source: Correos de Costa Rica Correos de Costa Rica, the national post office and sole official issuer of postal stamps, has formally announced the issue of 15,000 special postage stamps that observe and celebrate Pope Francis' first year in the Holy See. The image of this fine stamp comes from an oil painting by a Costa Rican artist who personally traveled to the Vatican and presented his mas...

Central Bank of Costa Rica in San Jose At the Legislative Assembly this week, a proposal to empower the Central Bank to prevent speculative investments, hot money and capital flight in Costa Rica became law with 32 votes in favor and seven against. Capitales golondrina, as they are known in Costa Rica, are those fleeting and speculative investments made by foreign entities that seek to avoid f...

They are known as cantinas or, less elegantly, “chicheros.” Cheap and disreputable dive bars can be found in all regions of Costa Rica, but most of the cantinas in the lovable city of San Jose are as legendary as they are infamous. According to architect and social researcher Andres Fernandez, cantinas form an important part of the archeological and anthropological record of Costa Rica; for this r...

In Costa Rica, the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Commerce (Spanish initials: MEIC) wants to make it easy for shoppers to find the lowest prices on groceries and other consumer goods. To this end, the MEIC is developing a smartphone app that will allow consumers to scan bar codes and compare prices across stores so that they can easily determine affordability in real-time. The announcement b...

Source: Ministry of Justice and Peace President Laura Chinchilla recently signed legislative decree number 9204, which creates a national protocol against torture, cruelty, unusual punishment, and degrading conditions perpetrated against those who are deprived of freedom in Costa Rica. By executing this decree, President Chinchilla explained that she would like to set an example for the intern...

Leilani McGonagle. Source: FEDESURF CR The Surfing Federation of Costa Rica recently announced the young members of the National Team that will be traveling to Ecuador to compete in the 2014 World Junior Surfing Championship, organized by the International Surfing Association (ISA) and sponsored by VISSLA, a new brand of surfing and clothing accessories. ISA World Championships are largely con...

Source: Flickr CC In the last few years, the online gambling industry of Costa Rica has experienced one major upheaval after another. On one hand, there's the overzealous law enforcement and prosecutorial actions taken by the United States; on the other hand, powerful lobby groups are slandering Internet gaming and wagering operations in Costa Rica for the purpose of encouraging lawmakers to a...

Source: WIDECAST The Wider Caribbean Sea Turtle Network (WIDECAST) and Latin American Sea Turtles (LAST) are asking marine conservationists to vote for them at the European Outdoor Conservation Association (EOCA) so that they can get funding to continue their noble -and unfortunately dangerous- mission in Costa Rica. Conservation of green, hawksbill and leatherback sea turtles in the Caribb...

Journalism is a crowded career field in Costa Rica Biology, journalism and physical therapy are the three least-promising fields of study in Costa Rica. According to a report by daily tabloid La Teja, hundreds of biologists, reporters and physical therapists have given up looking for work in their chosen professional fields and have instead turned to low paying positions in telemarketing, cler...

Shark fin soup on the menu of a restaurant in Singapore Environmental conservation groups today asked the government to sanction a new shark finning practice, which consists of unloading the gutted carcasses of elasmobranch species. This practice, according to marine conservationists, violate international regulations against poaching and abuse of marine resources. A press release recently ...

Source: Wikimedia Commons The Co-Op for Rural Electrification in Guanacaste, known as CoopeGuanacaste, recently signed an agreement with the Costa Rican Institute of Electricity (Spanish initials: ICE) that guarantees investment in, and development of, clean energy projects such as wind farms and hydroelectric plants. The agreement also calls for research into other renewable energy sources in...

Source: Facebook The crude photograph of an adult jaguar lying dead on a pool of his own blood has caused indignation on social media circles in Costa Rica. The picture was posted on Facebook, allegedly by a young man who participated in the killing of the wild cat in Barra del Colorado, in the Caribbean province of Limon. Karla Baquero of online news daily CRHoy.com has been compiling comm...

Immigration Directorate Building in Costa Rica Earlier this week, the Vice Minister of Government Administration in charge of immigration affairs in Costa Rica unveiled a new policy that will rule over the next ten years. Vice Minister Freddy Montero, who has been in charge of immigration since 2013, explained that the new policy is unique in the Americas in the sense that it has been formulat...

Source: Pinterest The embassies of Spain in Costa Rica and around the world are bracing for a wave of applications for citizenship after an article by Dina Siegel Vann in New York Jewish Week described a legislative proposal before Spain's Parliament that would grant naturalization to those with Sephardic heritage. The news propagated after a March luncheon at the headquarters of the American ...

Source: Imgur Although there is no historical question as to the events of April 11, 1856 during the Battle of Rivas in Nicaragua, there are conspiracy theorists and historical revisionists who claim that the brave Juan Santamaria, National Hero of Costa Rica, did not exist. We start hearing from these negationists each year around late March; they tend to invade online social networks and oth...

Cholera under the microscope The acute intestinal infection caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae is wreaking havoc in at least four countries in the Americas, and it may soon arrive in Costa Rica. The Ministry of Public Health has been preparing for what officials believe will be an imminent return of cholera across Central America, and two suspected cases were recently ruled out. As def...

Source: Wikia Fans of the Jurassic Park universe -created by the late Michael Chrichton- were ecstatic to learn that the production team of the upcoming sequel Jurassic World recently placed a casting call for extras in New Orleans. Many people know that the original Jurassic Park is located in the fictional Isla Nublar of Costa Rica, and some footage of the original 2001 movie was filmed here...

Source: Mundo Motorizado ExpoMovil is the most prominent consumer trade show in Costa Rica, and its 2014 iteration was a massive success in terms of attendance and exposure. There were plenty of interesting new cars and road technology to look at, but visitors also had a lot more to focus their gaze on: A high number of curvy and seductive young Ticas hired to wear revealing, skin-tight clothi...

Source: Vimeo Mountains, active volcanoes, beaches, lagoons, indigenous people, tourists, locals, Guanacaste... In less than four minutes, filmmaker Patrick Pearson shows viewers the many facets of Costa Rica in a video that has achieved massive viral status across several online social networks. The short film, hosted on Vimeo, has garnered thousands of views and positive comments in just one...

The elegant WTTC data explorer The World Travel and Tourism Travel Council (WTTC), a forum for business leaders in this important global sector, recently released its 2014 economic impact report. Among the highlights of the report, which is presented in a gorgeous interactive Web application featuring an Earth globe that you can manipulate right on your browser, Costa Rica's already sizable co...

Source: Amazon As NASA Hall of Fame astronaut Franklin Chang Diaz was recently being honored with the Buzz Aldrin Quadrennial Space Award in New York City, an author in the United States was accumulating accolades for his science fiction novel about a botanist stranded in Mars. The engine, so to speak, that propels Andy Weir's novel The Martian is VASIMR, the revolutionary space propulsion sys...

GAO agents detain Karpjack In just two days in March, officers from Fuerza Publica, Costa Rica's national police force, and its Operational Support Group (Spanish initials: GAO) detained a German couple, a man from the Czech Republic, and a man from Nicaragua in a series of alleged financial crimes ranging from financial fraud to money laundering and possession of counterfeit documents with th...

Although medical tourism in Costa Rica is known to be mostly a 21st century development, dental patients from North America and Europe have been coming here for decades for implants, general dentistry, oral surgery, cosmetic procedures, and more. In fact, a 2006 research study by the Department of Geography at the University of Kansas determined that dentistry, and dental implants in particular ar...

Source: Roberto Carlos Miranda of Buses GB The bus line once known as Transportes La Pampa, which has been serving passengers in Costa Rica since the 1950s, is facing serious accusations by investigative journalists and government agencies. The allegations are strong: Unpaid salaries, delinquent obligations with La Caja dating back to the 20th century, antitrust violations, inciting bribes, fa...

This could be your next taxi ride in Costa Rica. Among the highlights of the 2014 ExpoMovil vehicle fair in Costa Rica, hybrid and plug-in electric cars are creating interest on prospective buyers. The Toyota Prius hybrid taxi has gotten lots of attention as well as the BYD Qin, a Chinese hybrid announced by the Costa Rica Star back in December. On the non-hybrid front, luxury vehicles stole a...

Source: Flickr CC As Costa Rica gets closer to joining the ranks of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the number of grossly overweight and obese people in this country is increasing accordingly. In early 2014, a BBC report highlighted that obesity has quadrupled in developing countries and is beginning to match statistics associated with North America and Europ...

Source: Paul Watson Facebook Timeline Paul Watson, the controversial founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and star of the popular reality television show Whale Wars of the Animal Planet cable network, recently left an interesting status update on his Facebook Timeline. Mr. Watson mentioned Ariel Bustamante, the captain of a commercial fishing vessel who was allegedly caught poachin...

Source: Hooters Costa Rica Twitter The Hooters restaurant located in the brand-new Plaza Mango near the Juan Santamaria International Airport (SJO) in Alajuela has become one of Costa Rica's most visited restaurants. Getting a table at this casual dining eatery usually involves waiting for a minutes, but on Wednesday night this place was nearly standing-room only as tabloid media reporters and...

The communities of Nuevo Arenal as well as Quebrada Grande, San Ramon, and Solania of Tilaran are among the Guanacaste communities that will be affected by suspension of Kolbi wireless services provided by ICE, the former communications monopoly of Costa Rica, during the nights of March 25th and 26th. Nationwide outages are planned during the 26th and 27th of March from about 10:00 pm to 10:00 am....

Source: FIFA On Tuesday night, tears flowed once again at the Chinese-donated National Stadium in La Sabana Metropolitan Park as the U-17 Women’s National Team of Costa Rica fell to their superior counterparts from Italy. The 0-1 loss marks the end of the line for the young players, who will not be able to advance to the second round of the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup. For the second game i...

Source: Starbucks The next time you are in Southern California and in urgent need of a shot of Costa Rica, you may want to head to Anaheim -specifically Downtown Disneyland. Once you are properly on Mickey Mouse property, look for the brand-new Starbucks Coffee location on the east side, go inside, find the Clover bar and look above: A giant electronic display will show you a digital photo mon...

General John F. Kelly, USMC. Source: Wikimedia Commons Even warriors get the blues. Looking somber, tired and perhaps a bit frustrated, United States Marine Corps General John Francis Kelly recently testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee and gave a frank assessment of the Drug War as it pertains to nations such as Costa Rica, which are located between a rock (the cocaine-produ...

Author's Note: This article was submitted by Asdrubal Zamora Corrales as a response to Bank Interest Rates for Term Deposits in Costa Rica, published on March 10th, 2014. Mr. Zamora is an executive in charge of debt instruments and other investments at COOPENAE, the most powerful credit union in Costa Rica. Mr. Zamora's original article has been slightly edited for grammar and style. COOPENAE's...

Source: Flickr If you believe the dreadful warnings released over the last few weeks by software behemoth Microsoft, entire computer networks across Costa Rica will suddenly become ultra-vulnerable and come under relentless cyber attacks perpetrated by nefarious hacker gangs counting down the days to April 8th, 2014. On that day, Microsoft will stop providing support to Windows XP, the most po...

Source: Embassy of Japan in Costa Rica Under the direction of Ambassador Mamoru Shinohara, the Embassy of Japan in Costa Rica has been very active over the last few months. One of the Embassy's latest contributions strikes the heart of the social fabric in Costa Rica. On Tuesday, February 18th, Ambassador Shinohara signed a funding commitment of $87,928 to the Remodeling and Expansion of the Na...

Source: TV5 Monde screen capture. San Jose, the capital city of Costa Rica greets tens of thousands of foreign visitors each week, but it does not even come close to the French capital of Paris, where more than 15 million visitors arrive each year. Aside from tourism, Paris and San Jose do not share much in common; however, some observers believe that San Jose is one of the most contaminated c...

Front view of Paradizio Condos in Playas del Coco GuanacastePlayas del Coco, Costa Rica. March 17, 2014 – The Paradizio condominium developers are excited to announce the debut of their new website and virtual sales office for prospective buyers looking for stylish residential properties in Costa Rica's Gold Coast. Prospective buyers are invited to review the website and become familiar with ever...

Source: AnyStockPhoto.com In late 2012, Starbucks proudly introduced to the world its most expensive cup of coffee: $7 for a “grande” (tall cup) of Geisha grown at Finca Palmillera in the Tarrazu region of Costa Rica. Back then, Starbucks sold a half-pound bag of Finca Palmillera Geisha roast for $40. Meanwhile, at supermarket chains such as Pali and Jumbo, shoppers can find popular brands suc...

Source: FEDEFUTBOL With international matches played in Guanacaste, San Jose and Alajuela on Saturday and Sunday, Costa Rica has thus far proven to be a worthy and gracious host of the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup. Football fans around the world are enjoying the exciting matches and locals are finding out that great football is not limited to First Division and Men's National Team play. “These...