Naked and Afraid television program on the Discovery Channel, partially filmed episodes in Costa Rica Last year, a 40-year old man found himself naked in a lush rainforest of Costa Rica. He was looking for something to eat when he disrupted the habitat of a large terciopelo (fer-de-lance) snake, which he proceeded to kill with a stick. The killing of the reptile, which you can watch here, was ...

Candice Michelle, the GoDaddy Girl Most foreign men who come to Costa Rica on vacation or business are bound to become enthralled by the sheer number of beautiful women who can be found across the entire country. It is no secret that the human gene pool in Costa Rica tends to favor the female species; this is clearly made evident by actresses such as Madeleine Stowe and Candice Michelle (the G...

Carlos Ceciliano Lugo, Food and Beverage Manager for Croc's Casino Resort in Jaco Beach Costa RicaAccording to the great Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw, there is no love sincerer than the love of food. In Costa Rica, food is a fresh, yet mostly utilitarian experience. This is something that Carlos Ceciliano, the new Food and Beverage Manager at Croc’s Casino Resort in Jaco Beach, is sworn t...

Photo of prisoners at Guantanamo BayThree Chinese men unlawfully detained by the United States at the controversial Guantanamo Bay detention camp in the island of Cuba were recently cleared for release to the Slovak Republic in Central Europe. At one point, however, these Muslims were ready to start a new life in Costa Rica, at least until the People's Republic of China (PRC) got in the way. A...

Sean Paul to perform at the 2014 Palmares festival in Alajuela, Costa RicaRevelers in Costa Rica are counting down the days to the Palmares Festival, a cantonal celebration in the province of Alajuela that has become one of the hottest tickets in the busy January season of festivities. As usual, the iconic Cerveza Imperial is the main corporate sponsor of the Palmares Festival, and they recently ...

Source: Wikimedia Commons On Saturday, January 4th, Costa Rica celebrated the 202nd anniversary of the birth of Louis Braille with little fanfare. It was a quiet day of observation that served as a reminder that every little improvement that is made to improve the lives of the visually-impaired is certainly worth every effort. Louis Braille was a child whose life underwent a major turn when...

XTERRA World Tour arrives in GuanacasteCosta Rica is one of the latest additions to the XTERRA World Tour. The XTERRA off-road triathlon races, which got their start in the Hawaiian island of Maui in the mid-1990s, have seen great expansion around the world in recent years. It was only a matter of time before the XTERRA World Tour landed in Costa Rica, and it will do so in March 2014 at Playa Conc...

BBQ steak on a Weber gas grill in Costa RicaAs the dry season gets underway in Costa Rica, the smell of grilled cuts and barbecued meats permeates the air. “Carne asada” (grilled meat) is a tradition in many households after Christmas and for New Year's Eve, and it is the main dish offered at the food stalls of the Zapote fairgrounds, which recently wrapped up without fireworks. Grilling will con...

One of the most heavily discussed topics in the ongoing debates among presidential candidates in Costa Rica has been corruption. At a debate organized by the National University (Spanish initials: UNA) in October the word “corruption” was mentioned 219 times among six candidates. Corruption was once again mentioned during a nationally-televised debate this past Monday, and many voters feel that ca...

Catching a jump into the air while kiteboarding in Costa RicaThe high tourist season in Costa Rica coincides with Guanacaste's warmest and windiest months, which also happen to be the best time for kiteboarding (also known as kitesurfing). This adventuresome activity is quickly gaining interest among tourists and residents of Guanacaste, a province that has the best wind, beach and ocean conditio...

The 32nd edition of the annual Culture Week event is taking place now in Santa Cruz, province of Guanacaste. The event started on January 4th at the Carlos Rodriguez amphitheater, located in the Bernabela Ramos Park. This week-long celebration of local culture and tradition is believed to be the oldest continuous cultural event in Costa Rica. Culture Week in Santa Cruz is made possible by the C...

Ivan Neville. Source: Wikimedia Commons The Fourth Annual Jungle Jam in Jaco Beach is already one of Costa Rica's premier musical events, but this year's Jungle Jam will truly shine thanks to the performances of two high-caliber musicians whose legendary body of work includes playing next to the Rolling Stones, the Allman Brothers, Bonnie Raitt, Herbie Hancock, and others. As previously rep...

Canadian airlines West Jet offers service to LIR in GuanacasteShould there be a serious emergency at the Daniel Oduber Quiros International Airport (LIR) in Liberia, the province of Guanacaste would be ill-prepared to save lives. Such was the assessment recently made by journalist Carlos Eduardo Vargas of national newspaper La Nacion in Costa Rica. This theoretic evaluation was based on an estima...

Gamesa, Spanish engineering company, to bring wind energy production to GuanacasteGamesa, a Spanish engineering firm that specializes in wind turbine technology, will build a new wind farm in Guanacaste that could be generating electricity by 2015. With this latest announcement, Guanacaste is cementing its position as Costa Rica's leading region in terms of clean and renewable energy projects. ...

Participants in the Coastal Challenge (Rainforest Run) in Costa Rica, posing underneath the event bannerThe southern Pacific coast of Costa Rica will once again host one of the most rigorous foot races in the adventure racing circuit. The Coastal Challenge, also known as the Rainforest Run, puts runners in a very difficult 236 kilometer course that moves from the coast to the jungle and from the ...

Marine biologists who study cetaceans and fans of aquatic mammals in general know that Costa Rica is blessed with an incredible abundance of these creatures. As a result, scientists, photographers and filmmakers often visit our coasts. This time, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) went undercover and underwater with Spy Tuna, a robotic camera device that captures unprecedented footage of m...

The New Year has thus far failed to bring relief at the pump for drivers in Costa Rica. The prices of gasoline, diesel, propane, and other fossil fuels remain stubbornly high, and the Public Services Regulatory Authority (Spanish acronym: ARESEP) is currently evaluating a request to increase fuel prices. Could 2014 become a decisive year for carpooling in Costa Rica? As the number of cars incre...

Enjoy online food delivery services in Liberia and Tamarindo GuanacasteOne of the keys to business success in Costa Rica is to offer home delivery of goods and services. This is known as “servicio express,” and it is very popular with food, beverages, medications, and groceries. Two new online food delivery services in Costa Rica are making it easier for people in Guanacaste to browse menus and o...

Families enjoying Playas del Coco Beach in Guanacaste Costa RicaA 24-year old man who had been missing after being dragged into the ocean by strong currents was found by divers in Playas del Coco hours later. This is the latest report of a fatal drowning in the beaches of Guanacaste, a region that is heavily visited by swimmers, surfers and vacationers from around the world, and it serves as a re...

Leo and Stefan Proster. Source: VisionsWald.de In the mountainous northern region of Costa Rica, a German-Austrian father and son team are leading a reforestation project that will not only benefit the ecosystem and biodiversity of the land but also yield handsome profits. This project, however, is far from being a “get rich overnight” scheme. It may take a couple of decades to reap financial ...

Close up of a Marijuana plant flowering during the final stages of growthAs 2014 begins, marijuana advocates are celebrating major legalization events in one Latin American nation and a progressive U.S. state. Activists in favor of cannabis legalization in Costa Rica are certainly encouraged by the current situation in Uruguay and Colorado, and they are longing for the day when they will be able ...

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...

The holiday season in Costa Rica makes biologists and taxonomists very happy. This is the time when scientists and volunteers hit the field to conduct the traditional Christmas species count. Since Costa Rica is known for her rich biodiversity, each count is an opportunity to run into a rare species or even begin an investigation into a new organism for proper classification. As previously repo...

Dogs, cats, and other animals are welcome at pet-friendly hotels in Guanacaste, enjoying your family companion on vacation is always an option with recent changes in Costa Rican tourism offerings. Nearly 67 percent of households in Costa Rica enjoy the company of at least one companion animal. Members of the Canis lupus genus are the most common pets, followed by Felis domesticus. Over the last...

Playa Brasilito Two foreign visitors who came to Costa Rica to enjoy the beaches of Guanacaste abruptly ended their vacations with their unexpected demises. One tourist drowned in Playa Zapotal while the other was shot and killed in Playa Brasilito. These unfortunate losses took place right at the beginning of the high tourist season, a time when Guanacaste's seasonal population increases cons...

After a higher-than-expected death toll during the Christmas holiday in Costa Rica, public safety officials are preparing for what they believe will be a busy New Year's Eve celebration. Ten people lost their lives due to violent incidents on December 24th and 25th: Three were homicides, three suicides, one deadly fire, two drownings, and a fatal road traffic accident. As reported by national n...

Typha domingensi "Tifa" plant in Guanacaste Costa RicaThe forest fire season in Costa Rica will officially begin on January 15, but an early wildfire in Guanacaste recently served as a grim reminder that the hot, non-rainy season spells danger for the driest region of the country. The fire occurred in the Coral de Piedra (Stone Coral) area, a protected wetland located in the Nicoya canton. Firefi...

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...

The Ministry of Cultural and Youth Affairs of Costa Rica (Spanish initials: MCJ) is reporting that the new Museum of the Stone Spheres in the southern Pacific region of Osa has been an astounding success. To encourage visitors to explore the 10 hectares where ancient indigenous tribes somehow manipulated these mysterious objects to line up in perfect sync with the sun each solstice, the MCJ will o...

From Catholic feasts to independence day and from Christmas to New Year's Eve, fireworks are a major part of holiday celebrations in Costa Rica. The 2013 holiday season, however, has been marked by a strict crackdown on unsafe fireworks by law enforcement agencies and public health officials. Now even the iconic Zapote fairgrounds will be devoid of fireworks. As reported on Christmas Eve by Lad...

Earlier this month, more than 250 firefighters from five Latin American nations concluded a major training exercise in Ciudad de los Ninos (City of Children), province of Cartago. This exercise was very timely for Costa Rica, a country that is expecting a high risk of wildfires due to increased human activity in nature reserves and farmlands, climate change, and overall carelessness. This multi...

Officials from the Bagaces canton in the province of Guanacaste are evaluating a nimble method of garbage collection utilized in the Free and Sovereign State of San Luis Potosi, Mexico. This curbside trash pick-up method does not involve the traditional dump truck contracts, which are often plagued by issues such as inadequate staffing, broken down vehicles, labor strikes, and subcontractor disput...

Source: taxitico.cr A new mobile app for iPhones and Android-powered devices aims to connect taxi cab operators with passengers by augmenting the process of finding a ride and providing a platform for cashless payments. In a style similar to successful transportation network apps such as Uber and SideCar, Taxi Tico is a company that seeks to bring higher efficiency to public transportation in C...

Gay rights and demonstrations in Costa Rica, amongst the top 10 news articles published by the Costa Rica Star during 2013The year 2013 was filled with major events that managed to please even the most demanding news junkies. Readers of the Costa Rica Star, who access our website and social media channels from every continent, showed a keen interest in news on topics ranging from sports to politic...

Founder and Senior Partner Marcela Gurdian If you would like to apply for legal permanent residency in Costa Rica and have all of your immigration questions answered, contact Marcela Gurdian of Immigration Experts at her email: [email protected] or at her office phone: (506) 2290-8050. According to the recent Census statistics in Costa Rica, there are about 150,000 foreigners fr...

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...

Source: Fuerza Publica A band of four thieves suspected of robbing truck drivers in the Caribbean region of Costa Rica were ready to ply their nefarious trade on Christmas Eve and come away with a big score of coffee beans, tires and home appliances. Thanks to the work of Fuerza Publica officers, however, members of this Grinch mob were forced to sing Silent Night behind bars. According to ...

Officials at the National Blood Bank of the Calderon Guardia Hospital in Costa Rica woke up last week to an alarming sight: Reserves were near zero. An urgent call for type O Positive blood donations was issued across the Central Valley, and technicians plan to work through most of the holidays to conduct blood collection drives. Blood bank officials were able to ameliorate the situation over t...

Source: Nature A recent study published in the respected scientific journal Nature has been covered by some news media outlets as a prediction of an earthquake that rattled Guanacaste and all of Costa Rica in 2012. The September 5th earthquake will always be remembered as a significant event with regard to earthquake preparedness and anticipation, but it is important to note the difference bet...