Real estate investors are being urged to take advantage of the perfect storm of foreclosures in the United States. Investors in Costa Rica are giving up on waiting for the next housing bubble and are applying principles of value-based investing before making decisions. With a long-awaited housing market recovery in the United States and a sideways real estate market in Costa Rica, whose advice sho...

Satellite photos from less than a month ago indicate that a major upgrade of secretive North Korea’s Tonghae Satellite Launching Ground, referred to as Musudan-ri, is making rapid progress. The new construction is intended to support future launches of rockets larger than the recently tested Unha, like intercontinental ballistic missiles and liquid fueled rockets. The U.S. and other nations are wo...

Marine archeology is quickly emerging as the next, big investment opportunity. With professional exploration companies developing more sensitive and detailed underwater search equipment, the odds are increasing of a huge payday for some and reclamation of precious artifacts for many countries and their museums. Sonar detectors and sophisticated radar have replaced the swashbuckling eye patches ...

150 wild horses roam the Namib Desert’s 80,000 square kilometers, wandering peacefully unaware of the more than 400 million carats of diamonds under hoof. There is much speculation about the origins of the horses. Some think that they are military leftovers abandoned to their own devices by German and South African forces after the First World War. Scant water sources have caused the horses to ada...

The WWF, World Wildlife Fund, recently published its biannual report on the health status of our planet. As expected, earth did not receive a positive check-up. The Living Planet Report 2012 calculates the impact of our collective societies as a composite measure of issues such as fossil fuel burning, use of cropland for growing food, consumption of trees, and fishing in the wild. The Report in...

As you may or may not know The Costa Rica Star, the website you are reading now, is new in the English news media landscape in Costa Rica. Though the founder and people working with the website day to day have been involved with media and internet marketing for many years globally, the platform itself was only founded in December of 2011. I am often asked: why does The Costa Rica Star exist and...

In the early 1960's a Peace Corp volunteer by the name of Velba Taylor gifted a small wooden easel with canvases to a Cañas youth named Otto Apuy. At the time he was considered an "overly expressive" boy who would often paint assorted objects different colors to see what patterns would appear as he ran around stamping walls: his first multicolored mono-type. At every opportunity Otto expressed him...

For those of you out there who have purchased real estate in Costa Rica or considered it, you will know how frustrating it can be. It is truly the wild west and realtors take each others listings, post them on their websites without permission or any correspondence, add a few thousands dollars to the price, and hope to rope in a willing buyer. This happens time and time again. You've been warned. ...

Weekend Vacation Getaway in Costa Rica Are you getting burned out from working long hours on the professional treadmill of life? Do you want to get away for the weekend to a beautiful beach on the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica? Well, you are in luck, and you get to choose the beach as well as bring your family! The Costa Rica Star has partnered with CasitasForSale.com to offer you a weeken...

The Community Action Alliance, a community group composed of both foreigners and Costa Ricans in the San Ramón area are organizing their second Gran Venta de Libros Usados, a used book sale fundraiser. The Book Sale will take place on Saturday, April 28 from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm at the Museo Regional de San Ramón and will benefit the Regional Museum and the Hogar Para Ancianos (senior center) de San...

The AHPPA animal shelter in Costa Rica (Facebook), referred to locally as the Refugio, invites animal lovers to attend the annual event, Mutts Party! The event will be held on Saturday March 24th 2012 at the Zamora Estate in Santa Ana, Costa Rica. The fund raiser event is specifically targeted to help offset costs for the A.H.P.P.A. mobile Spay & Neuter Program, an effective project implemented...

JACO BEACH, March 9th, 2012 – Super Thinking + Spanish teacher John Sloan will be in Jaco Costa Rica from March 25th to the 28th for Learn Spanish in Four Days training for those who want to increase their Spanish language comprehension. Spanish is the second-fastest growing language in the world, according to the official language institute Royal Spanish Academy (known as RAE by its Spanish a...

Authors Note: Randy Berg of CasitasForSale.com is an advertiser with The Costa Rica Star, however we felt inclined to show you why Randy and his Real Estate developments are so unique and compelling, and what goes on inside his head. The answers to these questions were provided via email and nothing has been edited or changed. Randy was featured in Newsweek for his unique approach to real estate h...

*IMPORTANT* Click here to follow the discussion about this article on our Facebook page. I was forwarded this video earlier tonight, and felt compelled to write a quick article about it. You should watch the video before carrying on reading this, click the link, it will open in a new window. Then come back here once you are done. It shows a frustrated and mad individual attacking 2 surfers w...

A wide range of classes and monthly cultural events provide new outlets for education, culinary interests and entertainment. New on the culinary scene in Costa Rica, the Underground Cooking Club is making waves with their unique class structure and monthly cultural events. Using Okra Restaurant in Barrio Escalante as their stage, the Underground Cooking Club creates a setting where people can l...

Official Websites Facebook - FEFACR Facebook - American Football CR Click here to see the league calendar. While nobody is expecting that American football is going to replace soccer as the national sport anytime soon, it is undeniable that its popularity with Ticos has increased dramatically in the last few years. Before 2008 it was uncommon to see American football being played an...

Well this is the definition of a feel good story. A man who works and lives in Northern Canada, bought a lottery ticket for the Lotto Max, and ended up walking away with a cool $16,666,666.00. Now that is sweet, good for him. The best part is that he plans on spending his time and winnings in Costa Rica! Which is a good thing for the economy and for worldwide publicity, for the beautiful country t...

UPDATED Congratulations to the winner of the commenting contest, Ericka Castillo Arias, she will be going with her friend to the Festival Imperial weekend courtesy of The Costa Rica Star! Unfortunately Alex did not respond in time to claim the tickets to Imperial Festival, so we are resorting to another method. Tell us why you want to go to Imperial Festival on our Facebook page and we w...

Costa Rica has become one of the top destinations for tourists and travelers seeking close contact with nature, pristine beaches, National Parks and tropical rain and cloud forests. It is well established as one of the best countries to visit for biological diversity, primary forests, coral reefs, endangered species and enchanting white sand beaches, with outstanding surfing and scuba diving. Yet ...

This past Thursday Chinese officials informed the local government that the 250 new patrol cars that they had promised back in early 2011 had finally arrived. The vehicles were delivered personally by Chinese ambassador Li Changhua to the Minister of Public Safety Mario Zamora. As of right now the vehicles are being held in the ALFIPAC fiscal warehouse located in Caldera, Puntarenas. The Chinese a...

*UPDATE* The winner of the 2 tickets to see Don Omar this weekend is: Nestor Fernandez. Here is a picture of Nester holding the tickets that he won. The Costa Rica Star will have MANY more contests in the near future to win prizes. Thank you to all who entered. Have a great weekend and see you at Don Omar at Palmares! *UPDATE* This Sunday January 15th at Palmares 2012, Don Om...

Although Costa Rica is a really small country (think of West Virginia), it has been one of the top ecotourism destinations in the world since the late 80’s, when bird watchers started to arrive in large numbers thanks to a book by Alexander Skutch and Gary Stiles named A Guide to the Birds of Costa Rica. Around 1.5 million foreigners visit the country on a yearly basis, and many of those are not j...

This message was brought to the attention of The Costa Rica Star by the Costa Rica Living Yahoo Group. If you are not a member of this Yahoo Group considering joining it, you can network and engage with people from all over the world who live, retire, and work here in Costa Rica. You can see the original copy of the below message on this website here. This message is directed at US citizens and th...

Nature made Costa Rica’s beaches beautiful, and the local government is making sure that they also remain clean thanks to the Bandera Azul Ecologica (Blue Ecologic Flag) program. The PBAE was created in 1996 with the objective of preventing or stopping pollution and to safeguard the public health. The program (which is an adaptation of a similar one launched in Europe back in 1985) has been promot...

If you happen to be in Guanacaste while traveling in Costa Rica, you should definitely visit the Rincon de la Vieja National Park, one of the most ecologically diverse areas in the province. It will be the perfect opportunity for you to check Volcan Rincon de la Vieja, one of the country’s few active volcanoes. The last eruption took place on September 16, 2011, and access to the crater is stil...

Every Saturday in Escazu central there is a large gathering of farmers and tradesmen from in and around San Jose valley who come to sell their products and services. This is a very good time to get some of the best produce and meats available in Costa Rica for a reasonable price. Starting at around 8am just north of the Catholic Church in the center of Escazu, you will find a sea of booths with va...

Less than a decade ago, choosing a bottle of wine in Costa Rica was neither exciting nor satisfying; the quality was disappointing, the choice minimal and it could even end with the throwing of the beverage down the drain. Some supermarkets offered an unexciting choice of Chilean and Argentinian wines that were just about drinkable while the European and US choice was more often than not an ex...

Yesterday evening the family of Sir Richard Branson, Billionaire founder of the Virgin Group and Virgin Galatic, had dinner with former President of Costa Rica José María Figueres. Topics of discussion were the choice to abolish the army of Costa Rica, Tourism here, and doing international business. You can read more about the story behind abolishing the Costa Rican army by reading this articl...

According to La Nacion and the Costa Rican Red Cross, 2011 had 19 fewer overall reports of violent deaths than 2010. In total, 2011 had 967 records of violent deaths while 2010 had 986. December was one of the months with the highest amount of incidents, a whopping 90 (16 more than 2010, though overall the year ended with less). Two of these deaths took place on the 31st. However, between July ...

The New Year greeted Costa Ricans with a few unwelcome surprises. The first of these was in the way of an increase of the tolls located on the highway that runs from San Jose to Caldera. According to the official press release given by Autopistas del Sol this adjustment was based on the devaluation that the American Dollar suffered during the last few weeks. As of January first the stations...

A traditional Costa Rican meal that is prepared around Christmas and the New Year is leg of pork, heavily seasoned, and marinated for days. Each canton or city of Costa Rica has their own versions of this food recipe, but we are going to look at the recipe that comes from San Ramon Costa Rica and the Mora family. They believe that cooking anything first comes with love and tender care on all of th...

A little known fact about me is that I enjoy bodybuilding, not so much lately, but definitely in my University days while I lived in Toronto. Recently I have been on the look out for a gym to go to in the San Jose province of Costa Rica. There are a few to choose from, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. One thing is for sure, you have to get creative with the equipment at the gyms here ...

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...

It seems there is a star shower going down on Costa Rica thesedays: Brangelina and Miley Cyrus have been around for Christmas, and in just a couple of few weeks, on the 3rd of February 2012, no other than Sir Elton John is going to give a concert at the Ricardo Saprissa Stadium. From the 6th of January to the 19th of April, Elton John will be touring the American continent, from the USA all th...

Twelve years ago, Dharma and her husband Rodolfo decided they’d had enough of being someone’s employees and living at the mercy of an unpredictable labor market. They longed to be their own bosses. Both of them being artists, they spontaneously signed up for an arts & crafts fair and, with what little they knew about the subject at that moment, produced a collection of scented candles. To their su...

Updated December 2016 If you are a foreigner moving to Costa Rica to seek a residency through business, family, or otherwise, you will eventually be struck with the choice of where to do your personal and business banking. You may have considered just using your bank account from Canada, the US, or Europe. Which is fine, you can withdraw money from the ATM machines here. But if you want to trul...

While the northern pacific coast of Costa Rica has been quite popular amongst tourism visitors for a long time, the Limon region has remained stagnated and undeveloped with poor infrastructure and a small number of real estate projects, but that seems to be changing as the country is applying the necessary measures in order to ensure that the province will experience the optimal growth necessary t...

You don’t have to go to South America to try some of the best food coming from that region as in Costa Rica you can find excellent options in international restaurants, and when it comes to enjoy either the Peruvian or the Argentinean cuisine, the options offered below are the stand outs in the central valley of San Jose. (more…)...

Foreigners have no restrictions when it comes to acquiring real estate in Costa Rica, but the buyer needs to be careful when considering a property, and that is why we have put together some useful reminders that can become very handy when it is time to decide in your investing in the country. Everyone will have their opinions on what to look out for, but just use common sense and always double ch...

In a globalized world where hamburgers and fries rule the fast food markets, chicken wings are now becoming just as popular, and this is no different for Costa Rica, where this dish continues to gain the acceptance of locals and foreigners alike. If you happen to be in the country and want to try the best bbq or buffalo chicken wings in town, this article is for you. Don't forget your paper towel ...