This might be a good time to plan some travel on Southwest, with low fares on dates from now and into 2018. These low fares have been announced between Houston and Costa Rica on Southwest, $144 one-way from Houston-San José, and $173 one-way from San José-Houston. Other low fares are available in and out of Liberia, Costa Rica in the northern Guanacaste province, announced the airline. Pu...

The U.S.-based franchise Buffalo Wild Wings (also known as B-Dubs) announced an interest in setting up shop in Costa Rican market in 2018, and hopes to find some local business partners to get things rolling. Over the past 35 years, B-Dubs has grown steadily and now has a presence in 50 U.S. states. The eatery and sports bar franchise also operates in Canada, Mexico, Panama, the Philippines, th...

Six Nicaraguan women, including a minor, who were sexually exploited in a bar in Upala, Costa Rica, were rescued in mid-September by the Costa Rican Immigration Police in a sting operation in coordination with the public prosecutor's office and the General Directorate of Migration and Immigration (DGME). During the operation, five suspects were arrested at the Pino Bar in Santa Clara de Upala f...

A Costa Rican man with the last names Alvarado Leiva, an official at the Costa Rican National Registry (Registro Nacional), was arrested this morning on suspicion of hacking into a woman's WhatsApp account, monitoring her private communications, and sending her death threats, said the Costa Rican Judicial Investigative Police (OIJ). It appears that Alvarado Leiva is obsessed with the woman, who...

The Costa Rican man who has been held in detention since his arrest in early February following the gruesome murder of five university students in January in the northern Costa Rican city of Liberia, capital of Guanacaste will attend a preliminary hearing Thursday, said the Public Security Ministry. The hearing, which was originally scheduled in Liberia for October 6, was postponed due to the n...

The Norwegian Fund for Developing Countries (Norfund) and Sunshine, a subsidiary of Losko, signed a strategic alliance that will facilitate financing of solar energy projects in Costa Rica and countries in Central America. Three solar success stories stand out in Costa Rica for having benefitted from this initiative. Norfund, founded in 1997 by the Norwegian government, has as its primary go...

Tropical Storm Nate's damages and effects are still being tabulated and addressed in Costa Rica. The storm's 24 hours of straight rain in most of the country has affected many parts of the economy, as well as forever changed people's lives who lost their homes, businesses, schools and even communities. Golfito's duty free zone in the southern Pacific region of Costa Rica is no exception. ...

If travel takes you to the balmy town of Grecia, best known for its miles of used car dealerships at the entrance to the town and located about 30 minutes west of San José, you can now indulge in your favorite Subway sandwich or soup. This is the 13th locale of the popular U.S. health-conscious fast-food chain to open outside of the San José, Costa Rica Greater Metropolitan Area Other Subway...

Representatives from Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama and Belize will analyze the regional anti-gang strategy jointly with specialists from the United States Federal Office of Investigation (FBI), Department of Police Los Angeles, Chicago and Fairfax; and the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department. This is happening at the Central American Anti-Gang Conference, an important region...

The Chancellor of the Republic, Manuel A. González Sanz, formally inaugurated the Costa Rican Embassy in Australia during his working visit to the Asia Pacific island. In the activity, Minister González described the opening as a great step for Costa Rican diplomacy, and a key move towards its strategic objective of consolidating its presence in the vast Asia Pacific region. "This decision wil...

Los Angeles, California-based Korn Ferry International, a leading global human resources strategy consulting firm, announced the opening of operations in Costa Rica with offices at Avenida Escazú, a posh commercial center in the western San José suburb of Escazú. The head-hunting multinational, which has grown through various mergers since its founding in 1969, now has more than 7,000 emplo...

Women in Costa Rica are better educated, but have fewer employment opportunities. This, and the concentration of poverty among women and girls, are some of the recent findings of the 2017 State of World Population report published by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) The report focuses on reproductive health and rights in times of inequality. "In Costa Rica between 2010 and 2016 the i...

Costa Rica's Constitutional Court in a landmark ruling in September ordered the Ministry of Public Education (MEP) to hire an additional teacher to assist a student who has Down syndrome to allow their effective participation an integration into a regular classroom. The case was brought by the student's family after the ministry rejected their request for a classroom aide for their child after ...

Costa Rica's businesses are trying to catch up technology-wise and offer consumers contactless credit card payment options. The technology means cashiers have no contact with your card and don't ask for your ID when you pay for a product. Many consumers prefer this, as it minimizes the risk of personal data being stolen or a card being forgotten at the store if a cashier forgets to give it back...

What happens when entire communities build their tourist businesses and livelihoods around an active  volcano? That is the story of the rural communities surrounding Poás Volcano in the aftermath of this year's eruptions that caused closure of the Poás Volcano National Park. The closure has left dozens if not hundreds of families struggling for their survival, having switched from agricultur...

A Costa Rican man traveling to Sixaola, a town on the southern Caribbean coast, aided a sloth who was attempting to cross the main drag into town. "We were arriving in Sixaola ... and saw a sloth was crossing the street. A Dos Pinos delivery truck was headed right towards it, so I jumped out of the car, and helped it across the street, and then the critter posed for the photo," said Yeraldo Agüer...

The Costa Rican Children's Museum (Museo de Niños) in downtown San José, recently opened a new area for children and adults alike to learn and explore different science topics. The new space was funded by the Costa Rican State Electricity Institute (ICE) and the Foundation Fundación Ayúdenos para Ayudar, which translates to "help us to help." The foundation's mission is to run the Costa Rican S...

Emergency medical technicians from the Costa Rican Red Cross in Jacó on Costa Rica's central Pacific coast treated four patients at neighboring Playa Herradura who were injured in an unusual accident this afternoon. The four U.S. citizens who were visiting the upscale Marriott Los Sueños resort and marina, were injured when the golf cart they were traveling in tipped over on one of the roads in...

The Costa Rican supermarket chain, Auto Mercado, opened its latest retail outlet in Guadalupe, a northeastern district of San José, making it the fourth Auto Mercado store in the eastern section of the capital. With a US$1 million investment, this is the upscale supermarket's second new store to open in 2017, said the company. The other opened in Santo Domingo de Heredia in January, which is...

According to recent research by  the University of Costa Rica (UCR), 80 percent of residents in the San José, Costa Rica Greater Metropolitan Area (GAM) can't afford to buy the new houses, apartments and condominiums being built and sold in a recent real estate boom. The latest data from the National Institute of Statistics and Census' Household Survey (2015) was  compared with housing prices, ...

Classes have not yet resumed in 249 public schools in Costa Rica in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Nate, which dumped at least 24 hours of straight rain on much of the country from October 5-6, said the Ministry of Public Education (MEP). Of these schools, 236 suffered extensive damage from flooding and other consequences of the strong storm, and the remaining 13 schools, also in hard-hit area...

Officials of the Costa Rica Tourist Police division stationed in Limón apprehended a man considered the main suspect in the assault of a foreign tourist on Wednesay, October 11. The suspect, a young man with the last name of Walcott, allegedly threatened the tourist and proceded to take away his cell phone and cash on Wednesday afternoon. According to police information, the victim - a Spani...

The Naviera Tambor ferry company providing service between the Pacific port of Puntarenas and the southern Nicoya Peninsula town of Paquera announced a special reduced schedule while one of their vessels is in the shop. Service will depart from Puntarenas to Paquera at 7 a.m., 11 a.m., 3 p.m., and 8 p.m. And the ferry will travel from Paquera to Puntarenas on the following schedule: 5 a.m., ...

The United States government expresses their solidarity with Costa Ricans affected by the passage of Tropical Storm Nate and donated US$150,000 to support helicopter flights to distribute humanitarian supplies and inspect affected areas and communities, said the U.S, Embassy in San José, Costa Rica in a press statement. The US government's aid comes at the request for assistance presented by th...

Sort of strange how tons of water falling from the sky can wipe out people's home and business water supplies, but Costa Rica's aqueducts are subject to the same vulnerabilities as structures and roads that traverse the mountainous, and sometimes slick and slippery hillsides. Considerable damage from last Thursday's Tropical Storm Nate to water pipes and distribution tanks have kept more than 2...

The Corcovado National Park in Costa Rica's southern Pacific Osa Peninsula partially re-opened yesterday, Wednesday, October 11, said conservation officials. Domestic and foreign tourists will be able to explore some areas of the park, said the National System Conservation Areas (SINAC) in a statement, due to highly saturated soils and fallen trees and debris on some paths. The La Lorena vis...

Hours after Costa Rican education officials made a public announcement that all public schools would reopen Thursday, October 12, heavy rains in the country's south-central mountains set those plans back in three counties. Due to a red alert set in virtually all but the Caribbean coast last Thursday and Friday when rains from Tropical Storm Nate were at their peak, the Costa Rican Ministry of P...

A 15-year-old foreign tourist dropped from a height of about 35 meters while he was on a canopy tour in Costa Rica's northern Pacific coast town of Sámara. The incident occurred in Santo Domingo de Sámara on Wednesday afternoon, reported the Nicoya Red Cross who attended the incident. Once the young man was stabilized, his parents rented a private helicopter to transfer him to a medical cent...

Anyone who has attempted to walk in and around San José knows the many challenges of being a pedestrian. Whether it be the utter lack of crosswalks, gaping holes, high curbs that you can't push a baby stroller up, slippery patches from rain and algae, or garbage strewn about, walking the city streets can often be unpleasant. A new Costa Rican non-governmental organization called "Hagamos Ace...

Desperate times call for ... desperate packing? Officials with the Costa Rican Drug Control Police (PCD, its initials in Spanish) detained a Costa Rican passenger at the airport with seven packets of cocaine tossed into his carry-on luggage along with his clothes and other everyday personal items, said the Ministry of Public Security. Yesterday, Tuesday, October 10, a 59-year-old man with th...

Four students from the Costa Rican Technological Institute were selected to participate in the Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative (YLAI) organized by the United States Department of State for creating Atomik Monsters, a digital platform for teaching chemistry. Jean Carlo Gómez, student of industrial design; Kenneth Fernandez and Rodrigo López, from the computer engineering department, and...

Governments in Latin America and the Caribbean are failing to meet their citizens’ demands to combat corruption, according to a Transparency International survey of more than 22,000 people in 20 countries across the region. Transparency International’s new report People and Corruption: Latin America and the Caribbean, which is part of the Global Corruption Barometer series, found that on averag...

Uber Costa Rica announced that Wednesday, October 11, from 11 a.m. until 7 p.m. drivers will deliver free-of-charge donations of items that will be distributed to those affected by Nate in various parts of Costa Rica. Here's how it works: Gather up your items to be donated. Check they are all in good condition, and that food items are non-perishable and within their expiration date. Then packag...

As roads continue to be cleared, bridges replaced and repaired, and communities have their water and electricity services restored, slowly Costa Rica is emerging from Tropical Storm Nate's deluge As of today, Tuesday, October 18, there are now 18 counties in Costa Rica that remain in a state of red - or high - alert, due to persisting threats in the aftermath of the storm. This is down from the...

A terrible smell apparently originating in the air control tower forced Costa Rica's Juan Santamaría International (SJO) airport, west of the capital San José, to close briefly this afternoon, Tuesday, October 10. The country's principal air terminal was paralyzed for approximately 35 minutes due to the unrelenting, and as of yet unidentified, stench. And I thought nothing could top Poás Vol...

Nate is being called one of the biggest natural disasters in Costa Rica's history by government analysts, due to its widespread heavy rains that generated destruction in all but the country's Caribbean coastal areas. Tropical Storm Nate which struck last Thursday, October 5, may vie for the worst disaster in the country's modern history due to its multiple impacts and magnitude. A national e...

The Costa Rican Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG) shared preliminary data (as of October 8) on the status of damages to crops after recent heavy rains. More than 124 thousand hectares of crops (over 300,000 acres) were affected from the intense rains  dropped by Tropical Storm Nate late last week. The area with the greatest impact is the Chorotega Region with almost 106 thousand he...

Animal welfare officials are stepping up efforts to receive and deliver donations of food for animals affected by Tropical Storm Nate which ravaged many rural areas of Costa Rica last week. Some 85,000 heads livestock and poultry birds are vulnerable and in need of food, as are some 15,000 pets such as cats and dogs. Horses, pigs, cattle and poultry, along with pets, are at the heart of a ca...

As much of the Costa Rica returns to normal, many communities are still isolated, others without water, and destruction from last week's rains continues to be tallied and dealt with. The National Emergency Commission (CNE) today, Monday, October 9, updated the status of different parts of the country. Much of Guanacaste and Puntarenas, on the country's Pacific side, remain under red alert, or m...

The Plano, Texas-based eatery, Pizza Hut, is strengthening its presence in Costa Rica with plans to open six more restaurants, as well as remodeling existing outlets to match their updated brand. The first new opening on December 15, will be at the Vías San Isidro shopping center in Coronado, a district northeast of San José, and will involve a $1.2 million investment. The other new Pizza Hu...