Can a mobile game created in Costa Rica rise to the stature of one of Japan's most popular fanchises? According to Herberth Castro of the Jugador 1 blog in La Nacion, Micromon could elevate Costa Rica in the world of mobile and casual gaming. In a small office in La Uruca, six Ticos are busy developing a new video game concept they hope will have a pervasive factor similar to the wildly popular...

According to the Beckley Foundation's Global Cannabis Commission Report, marijuana is the most widely used illegal drug in the world. Where is Costa Rica relation to consumption, production and legal status of the world's favorite and most commonly used illicit drug? The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) puts the annual rate of pot smoking among people in Costa Rica between the a...

The Costa Rica Star has recently published information about receiving your permanent residency in Costa Rica to avoid border runs, wasting time, and money. Investigators from the Immigration Service in Costa Rica arrested three individuals suspected of operating a brazen document forgery ring that specialized in fake passports, work permits, residency cards, and even tourist visas to enter the...

SAN JOSE – A group of 100 teachers in Costa Rica ignored the call of their labor union and opted to receive academic training and orientation in the new math curriculum that the Ministry of Public Education (MEP in Spanish) will implement in the 2013 school year. The Minister of Education Leonardo Garnier -better known for his hairstyle- was one of the instructors, and he praised those in attendan...

Hugo Jose Sanchez thought he had it all figured out. The 57-year old man from the United Kingdom planned to establish a business in the burgeoning 3G computer graphic imaging (CGI) and animation industry in Costa Rica. Working as a web developer for music retailer HMV was not cutting it, and he longed for the success of companies such as the Morpho animation studio in San Jose. Perhaps he thought ...

Miami is often considered the Latin American capital of the world, and it is home to glamour, crime, corruption, trigger-happy cops, and the strangest stories. Two recent Miami news reports exemplify why the Magic City is as unusual as it is alluring. The first report comes from the Miami Herald. Several reporters contributed to a story that juxtaposed the hedonism and party atmosphere that is ...

Earlier today, President Laura Chinchilla was at the Holy See -the State of the Vatican City- and she met with Pope Benedict XVI and Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone. According to the official press release from the Presidential House of Costa Rica in Zapote, the meeting was brief and cordial, and the Pope extended to President Chinchilla his admiration for the people of...

The United States today celebrates Memorial Day, and in Costa Rica the American expat community often gathers to observe the men and women who gave their lives while serving in that country's Armed Forces. The American Legion Post 16 in Escazu is named after Sergeant First Class Raymond Edison Jones, Jr., United States Army, who was killed in action in Iraq. SFC Jones was a high-ranking non-com...

A recent article by concert promoter Eddie Cota in the Huffington Post, entitled "Costa Rica Turns Up the Music", looked at the musical presentations during this year's International Festival of the Arts (FIA). Mr. Cota is interested in signing musical acts from Central America to play in Los Angeles, where one of the highest concentrations of Central American immigrants reside (but not many T...

More than 57 percent of school-age children in Costa Rica are currently affected by intestinal parasites and infections, while 32 percent of children attending preschool and kindergarten are also at risk. Such are the results of the recently conducted National Survey of Nutrition. According to a news report by Alonso Solis of Radio Reloj 94.3 FM, intestinal illnesses tend to increase during the...

American Stafford Costa Rica, in conjunction with the National Service of Animal Health and Service (SENASA in Spanish) represented by regional director Allan Sanchez, recently announced the first seizure of dogs used in illegal fights. The director of AmStaff Costa Rica, Joana R, issued the following statement: “It is a continuous struggle, and we will not give up until there is a law that p...

PUNTARENAS – Prior to entering this year's National Rally in Costa Rica, Jose Andres Montalto and Rodrigo Quiros were confident that they could come away with their third consecutive annual victory. Before the event, Mr. Montalto explained that he could trust in the Subaru vehicle that would bring the team their third win in Abangaritos: "The car in general is doing well, the problems we had la...

Speculation about Casey Anthony moving to Costa Rica and the production of a new film based on her case are fueling social media discourse, particularly among residents of Orlando, Florida. It all started last week with a post on the American gossip blog Crazy Day and Nights, maintained by an Internet personality who goes by the handle Enty Lawyer (and who does not claim to be an attorney)....

They are dark, unsightly and lifeless, but they fetch a handsome price in the black market. The underground world of moon rock trafficking is filled with colorful characters and it reaches out to many countries in the world. Ever since moon rocks first arrived on Earth with the Apollo space missions, they have been gifted, stolen, fenced, passed around and recovered numerous times. The latest d...

Researchers and scientists recently planted Clearfield rice, a transgenic crop produced in Costa Rica and marketed by biotechnology giant BASF, in farmland located in Guanacaste and other sectors of the country's Northern Zone. BASF is based in Germany, but the Clearfield seeds were developed by scientists at the private Rice Investigation Institute (INARROZ in Spanish). According to an article...

Mountaineer Warner Rojas became the first Tico climber to summit Mount Everest on May 24th. His feat has earned him accolades from all of Costa Rica, including President Laura Chinchilla, who congratulated him with an official communique, exalting his achievement as one that should inspire all Ticos who reach for the stars. Mr. Rojas is currently making his way down to Camp 2 with the Jagge...

Drivers in Costa Rica are very attached to their manual transmissions. Until a few decades ago, automatic transmissions were as rare as a Cadillac in Costa Rica. The option of buying a new car with an automatic transmission instead of a stick shift is fairly new among Tico automobile dealerships. There are many factors related in the dominance of manual transmissions in Costa Rica. The main fac...

Language furnishes the best proof that a law accepted by a community is a thing that is tolerated, and not a rule to which all freely consent. - Ferdinand De Saussure, Swiss Linguist. A free pizza campaign crafted by a Dallas-based retail and delivery chain has turned into a divisive linguistic uproar. Pizza Patron came up with what seemed to be a brilliant idea: free pizza to all customers. Th...

One of the duties of Nazareth Cascante Madrigal as Miss Costa Rica 2012 is to be well-versed in everything that our country has to offer to the world. Miss Cascante is our ambassador, and her representation of Costa Rica goes well beyond her beauty and charms. Miss Cascante recently met with Don Carlos Alvarado Briceno of the Central American Aeronautic and Space Association (ACAE in Spanish) t...

Earlier this week the Minister of Public Health of Costa Rica, Daisy Corrales Diaz, launched a national campaign to pick up scrap tires as part of a broader initiative to prevent the propagation of the dreaded Aedes aegypti mosquito, a known carrier of dengue fever. Minister Corrales did a lot more than simply announce the campaign: she pulled up her blouse sleeves and picked up a few tires by her...

The Ministry of Science and Technology (MICIT) announced last week the opening of the Laboratory for the Cultivation of Vegetable Cell Tissue, a new biotech center in the Turrubares region of Costa Rica. This new center will be part of the Technical and Professional School, and it is part of the Tech Business Creation initiative of the MICIT. Minister Alejandro Cruz presided over the opening ce...

While President Laura Chinchilla visits political and business leaders in Europe, the Executive branch of Costa Rica has issued an official announcement regarding its position on the controversial construction of route 1856, the Juan Rafael Mora Porras highway that runs parallel to the San Juan river on the border with Nicaragua. In a matter of just a few weeks, the highway project has been tra...

Enrique Castillo, Chancellor of Costa Rica and Minister of Foreign Affairs, met with environmentalist and founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society Paul Watson in Stuttgart yesterday. After the meeting, Chancellor Castillo gave a telephone interview to ADN Radio 90.7 in Costa Rica. The Chancellor told the radio station that Mr. Watson seems to be willing to come to Costa Rica and fac...

The Independent Handbag Designer Awards is a competition organized by American fashion magazine InStyle. It gathers a carefully chosen collection of handbags from lesser-known, yet incredibly chic, designers. One of the most prestigious handbag designers in Costa Rica, Jennifer Lang, is in the running with two entries. The cute handbag you see in the picture accompanying this article is current...

At around 7:00 pm local time (1:00 am GMT and 6:50 am in Nepal), mountaineer Warner Rojas made all people in Costa Rica proud as he reached the summit of Mount Everest with his Jagged Globe expedition team. Mr. Rojas is the first Tico to climb Mount Everest, altitude 8,864 meters. Mr. Rojas and his Jagged Globe team have been climbing Mount Everest since April. They reached Everest Base Cam...

Central America and the Caribbean were hotbeds of insurrection and powder kegs of the proxy wars fought between the United States and the former Soviet Union during the Cold War. As much as Costa Rica tried to distance herself from the conflict and turmoil all around, she was part of the cloak-and-dagger antics of the warring world's powers at the time. A photo exhibit at the historic Freed...

UPDATE: About two hours ago, Tico climber Warner Rojas and his Jagged Globe expedition team set off from Camp 4 in Mount Everest, altitude 7,950 meters, to the summit. This is the final charge towards the pinnacle, and team leader David Hamilton called on his satellite phone down to Everest Base Camp earlier today to let them know they were on their way. The team made great progress yesterday f...

Once again Alajuela is the birthplace of Costa Rican heroes. Drummer boy and infantry rifleman Juan Santamaria became our national hero when he made the ultimate sacrifice for his country back in 1856, when he set fire to the farmhouse where American filibuster William Walker and his gang of mercenaries had taken positions. The latest hero in Costa Rica is also from Alajuela. His name is Jua...

In the last 24 hours, the Observatory of Volcanology and Seismology of Costa Rica (OVSICORI) of the National University has reported one earthquake and increased activity in the Turrialba volcano, which is currently under green alert due to an aperture caused by an accumulation of pressurized gas and vapors that took place back in January. The two events are not connected. The earthquake wa...

A news report by the Jagged Globe expedition team in Mount Everest indicates that Tico climber Warner Rojas is at 7,300 meters and preparing to reach the summit. About twelve hours ago the team was resting from a five hour hike from Camp 2. Mountaineer David Hamilton and Pasang Sherpa lead the team that Mr. Rojas from Costa Rica is climbing with. There are two Jagged Globe teams at Camp 3 r...

A would-be trafficker of religious effigies in Costa Rica is now behind bars thanks to the quick reaction of Fuerza Publica officers. Earlier this week, a man broke the sanctity of a Catholic church in Ciudad Colon and made off with an effigy of the Holy Virgin of the Ascension. The sacrilegious thief, who at the time probably did not fear heavenly wrath, ran away from the house of worship ...

Cascajal de Orotina in the province of Alajuela is the proposed site of the future major international airport in Costa Rica, scheduled to begin operations in 2026. As previously reported in The Costa Rica Star, the management contract held by Aeris Holdings over the Juan Santamaria International Airport in Alajuela will come to an end that same year. Design proposals by Tico architects are beg...

A popular gossip blogger in the United States has created a fire in the social media sphere with the following statement: "When Casey Anthony's probation is finished in September she is planning on moving to Costa Rica. Apparently she has decided that no place in the US is safe for her and feels like she can lose herself in the Central American country. Apparently she has purchased a house o...

President Laura Chinchilla arrived in Berlin earlier today and was greeted with full military honors as well as protests from members of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS) and Paul Watson. The President of Costa Rica met with German President Joachim Gauck at the Bellevue Palace in Berlin. According to news agency Prensa Latina, hundreds of Mr. Watson's mostly young sympathizers gathe...

Members of the glitterati are leveraging their star power to help the founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and star of Animal Planet's Whale Wars to avoid extradition to Costa Rica. Paul Watson is currently free on bail in Germany, awaiting court proceedings which could bring him back to respond to charges of reckless endangerment of a vessel at sea with intent to cause a shipwreck...

The Costa Rica Star has recently published information about receiving your permanent residency in Costa Rica to avoid border runs, wasting time, and money. Author's Note: This article should not be considered legal advice. Readers with questions on the matters explained below should contact attorneys who are in good standing with the Colegio de Abogados de Costa Rica (the National Bar Associat...

The animal death toll in the fight against illegal cock fighting rings in Costa Rica increased by 102 yesterday. According to an article written by Maria Cuesta of national newspaper La Nacion, the 102 roosters had suffered deeply traumatic injuries during their lives as gamecocks. The mass humane action took place after a raid by Fuerza Publica on an underground cock fighting venue in Desampar...

For the second time in just a few weeks, Fuerza Publica officers have disrupted the illegal sea turtle egg trade in Costa Rica. Officers assigned to the Caribbean detachment of Fuerza Publica in Playa Moin, province of Limon, confiscated 437 sea turtle eggs carried by two suspects yesterday. According to an official press release, one of the suspects is from Matina and the other from the city o...

How hard would it be to load up a vehicle somewhere north of Mexico, cross the southern border of the United States, merge onto the Mexican Federal Highways network, cross over into CA-1 (Central American Highway 1), and arrive in Costa Rica? For two adventurous Canadians, it was a matter of selling their townhouse in Vancouver, British Columbia in early December of 2011, cross over to the Unit...

Tico mountaineer Warner Rojas wants nothing more than to climb to the summit of Mount Everest and plant the flag of Costa Rica at the top of the world. That moment will have to wait for now, as the Himalayan Times reported a deadly ascent over the weekend that left two climbers dead and three missing. The two climbers who died on Saturday from altitude sickness and exhaustion have been iden...