Failure to report income from business operations or from professional services rendered through self-employment activities in Costa Rica could result in up to $80K in penalties. Not all business owners or self-employed professionals are potentially affected by this fine; only those who acquired goods up to $5K in value or who rendered a professional service worth more than $100 throughout the tax...

The massive Santa Elena luxury resort and housing complex in Guanacaste is set to expand within its 1,000 hectares over the next 15 years with new hotels and gated communities. Such was the report filed by Cristina Fallas Villalobos of business weekly El Financiero earlier this week. Readers of The Costa Rica Star will remember that we reported on the Dreams Las Mareas beach resort earlier this...

Link Bubble is a mobile Web browser that lets users escape the tyranny of ridiculously slow load times and dropped wireless signals that are very common in Costa Rica, particularly among subscribers of the former telecommunications monopoly Kolbi/ICE. Users of smartphones and tablets powered by the Android mobile operating system, which is very popular in Costa Rica, have a lot of choice in ter...

On Thursday, November 25th, the Ambassador of Costa Rica to Nicaragua, Don Javier Sancho, officially inaugurated a library located in a public school serving the community of Ciudad Sandino. According to institutional communique 4099 of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the new library is about 15 minutes away from the populous capital city of Managua, and it holds many volumes of literature relate...

The Regulatory Authority on Public Services (Spanish acronym: ARESEP) has summarily rejected a fee increase request tendered by the Spanish firm in charge of the mandatory technical revision of motor vehicles in Costa Rica. The firm Riteve SyC had requested a 200 percent increase that would have rocketed the fee to 30,000 colones (about $60) for the mandatory inspection of a passenger car in Costa...

The future border crossing checkpoint at the Tablillas community of Los Chiles, in the northern region of the Alajuela province, will not be operational until April 2015. Nonetheless, this formality does not seem to stop illegal immigrants from taking advantage of the new bridge on the Nicaraguan side of the border to illegally cross into Costa Rica. According to a recent news article reported ...

The unexpected rains that fell on the Central Valley and parts of the Caribbean region of Costa Rica earlier today were a presage of the dry season that will officially begin this weekend. Such was the assessment of the National Meteorology Institute (Spanish initials: IMN), which is forecasting a very dry season that will exacerbate drought conditions in parts of Guanacaste and Puntarenas. &nb...

President Luis Guillermo Solis and members of his Cabinet will be present at the march to observe the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. To this end, the Presidential Council meeting that usually takes place each Tuesday morning has been rescheduled to take place after lunch. President Solis has gone on record to state that the people of Costa Rica shou...

Source: Fuerza Publica One of the most forgettable films of the 1980s is Weekend at Bernie’s, a dark comedy involving a convoluted plot whereby two insurance analysts attempt to conceal the death of their boss by parading his dead body around in slapstick situations, including passing him off as a live passenger in a vehicle. A similar situation was encountered by members of Fuerza Publica, Co...

In an era of Meatless Mondays and economic vegetarianism, more people in Costa Rica and around the world are thinking about reducing their meat consumption for several reasons. The health benefits are undeniable, but they have to be managed through the adoption of a reasonable nutritional plan, which means that suddenly cutting off all animal byproducts without proper guidance could create dietary...

Red Cross rescuers and paramedics from the Fire Department in La Aurora, province of Heredia, responded to an emergency call involving a baby who was viciously attacked by an American Staffordshire terrier. According to reporter Lady Rojas of online news daily Costa Rica Hoy, the infant was rushed to the Saint Vincent Paul Hospital, which is operated by La Caja, the national public health service....

At the Central American and Caribbean Games in Veracruz, athletes from Costa Rica are doing their best to bring home medals and glory even as violent protests and deep civil unrest are marring the activities. There are 31 Latin American and Caribbean nations participating in this event, which is being conducted at a time when the people of Mexico are deeply unsettled about the unknown status of 43...

At a recent gathering that took place in the capital city of Costa Rica, men wearing ceremonial garb over their business suits conferred about topics such as apprenticeships, fellowcraft, medallions, seals, rituals, and the famous Scottish poet Robert Burns. This special meeting was presided by a special guest from a faraway land who bore gifts, including a medallion that was placed in a museum de...

Source: FEDEFUTBOL It’s official: The National Men’s Football Team of Costa Rica is no longer an underdog, but still needs to match the brilliance of the defensive backline that put Tico players in the quarterfinals of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. La Sele, as the team is affectionately known in Costa Rica, gave fans plenty of reasons to cheer as they matched up against their counterparts...

Sustainable tourism is alive and well in Costa Rica; in fact, more travel agencies and tour operators are putting together packages for lovers of the outdoors who wish to get really close to pristine nature. To this end, it is important for travelers to ensure that their tour operator is properly accredited with a Certificate for Sustainable Tourism issued by the National Board of Tourism (Spanish...

The traditional seafood cocktail of Costa Rica is known as ceviche, but the Institute of Pacific Ports in Costa Rica (Spanish acronym: INCOP) insists on writing it as cebiche. Nonetheless, the INCOP, the National Tourism Board (Spanish initials: ICT) and Travel Show Expo have put together a weekend festival in celebrating this dish.   According to travel reporter Gianluca Boncompagni of...

Source: MSP In a single day, three medical evacuation flights carried out by members of the Air Surveillance Service (Spanish initials: SVA) of Costa Rica saved the lives of an elderly man, a pregnant woman and a little girl. Two of the rescue flights involved fixed-wing aircraft, and the other was carried out by a helicopter. The first emergency flight took place in Alto Telire, a remote i...

Nadine Hays Pisani is a charming native of New Jersey who knows how to make her dreams come true. She quit her job and moved to Costa Rica a few years ago, and wrote a best-seller plus a sequel about her experience. Her latest book deals with the same topic, albeit with more of a “how-to” style of prose. Ms. Hays has kindly provided The Costa Rica Star with an excerpt of her new book, Happier Than...

The waters surrounding Cocos Island of Costa Rica and the Galapagos Archipelago of Ecuador are two of the most important shark habitats in the world. These two nations have been working together to protect their shark treasures, and they recently contributed to the Convention on Migratory Species. Here's the official press release on this important marine conservation matter: Historic Advances in...

The Paniamor (Bread & Love) Foundation in Costa Rica is a non-governmental organization that seeks to reaffirm and enforce the rights of children in our country; particularly with regard to preventing violence and sexual abuse. A strong focus of the Paniamor Foundation is on the prevention of child trafficking and sexual tourism. In recent years, Paniamor’s Executive Director Milena Grillo has...

Source: Llovera Comida As a charitable organization in Costa Rica is preparing to feed thousands of indigent people who make the streets of San Jose their home, a 90-year old man in Florida has been arrested for doing the same thing for his beloved community. Arnold Abbott, a World War II veteran and kind-hearted man, was arrested along with two Christian ministers by the Fort Lauderdale Polic...

A very special and unusual tourism activity in Costa Rica consists of releasing baby sea turtles just as soon as they hatch, thereby helping them to reach the surf for the first time as they begin their long lives in the ocean. A few tourist resorts participate in this unique activity, and Manuel Antonio's Tulemar is one of them. Here is a recent press release issued by Tulemar on this topic: T...

What do you consider to be the perfect Costa Rica vacation? Your answer is bound to reflect your personality, but many of you will probably think about achieving a perfect balance of thrills and relaxation while trying to have as much fun as possible. If you are looking for ideas on what to do the next time you are in Costa Rica, this 12-step guide by a young and fashionable woman from Spain will ...

Ms. Wilkinson, left. Source: Wikimedia Commons Fans of reality television are bound to get tearful as they watch a new episode of Kendra on Top this week. Kendra on Top stars celebrity Playmate Kendra Wilkinson, a beautiful blonde who is best remembered for her time spent as the one-time romantic interest of the founder of Playboy Enterprises, Hugh Hefner. The latest episode of her reality TV ...

Source: OVSICORI Conditions have slightly improved for the agricultural communities that lie on the skirts of the Turrialba volcano in Costa Rica. Incandescence and isolated events of pyroclastic flow are still being detected, which is why the Turrialba National Park remains off-limits to visitors; however, the danger presented by eruptions of ash and great blocks of igneous volcanic matter ha...

Faced with a growing population and increased criminality in Costa Rica, the Ministry of Public Safety has been working on modernizing their police operations. Donations of squad cars by China, forensic ballistic systems by Canada, aircraft acquisitions, new equipment for the National Coast Guard Service, a cybercrime center, electronic fingerprinting databases, and more. Amidst all these attempts...

Until a few days ago, one of the toughest mountain bike races in the world featured a route that would take competitors through a region affected by the ongoing magmatic eruptions of the Turrialba volcano in the province of Cartago. La Ruta de los Conquistadores is an adventure and endurance race that takes riders through some of the same routes that claimed the lives of thousands of conquistadors...

Source: Fuerza Publica A 33-year old man who powered his motorcycle through a law enforcement roadblock in municipality of Grecia was found in possession of counterfeit United States dollar bills totaling $4,600. Officers assigned to the Fuerza Publica (Costa Rica’s national police force) detachment in Grecia stopped the suspect after he attempted to evade a security checkpoint set up on a mai...

Earlier this morning, a Russian man naturalized as a Costa Rican citizen was arrested by Fuerza Publica (Costa Rica's national police force) for allegedly perpetrating a mass shooting, whch resulted in a series of missed shot with the exception of a woman who was shot in the leg. The incident occurred in Barrio Cordoba in San Jose, near the Centro Comercial del Sur shopping plaza.   Acc...

There used to be a dengue season in Costa Rica, and it used to coincide with the green (rainy) season. That is no longer the case; climate change and a mutational process has caused the Aedes aegypti mosquito species to thrive year-round and spread beyond the tropics. Dengue fever prevention is now a constant job for La Caja, Costa Rica's public health system, and the latest campaign focuses on th...

On Sunday morning, animal rights activists in Costa Rica gathered at the nation's capital and started walking towards the Presidential Office in Zapote. Carrying banners and picket signs, participants chanted slogans that called for a resolution to advance a legislative proposal that calls for punishment of those who commit acts of animal cruelty. President Luis Guillermo Solis allowed eight re...

Source: OVSICORI Teams of earth scientists and emergency management officials who climbed to the top of the Turrialba volcano in Costa Rica yesterday issued a volcanology report that supports yellow alert conditions in the area. Although the presence of lava was not detected in the crater area, the colossus is still very active in terms of expelling other volcanic matter. As previously repo...

Source: Wikimedia Commons Since 2012, the cryogenic chambers of the Forensic Pathology section of the Judicial Branch in Costa Rica have served as the final resting place of 37 deceased individuals whose bodies have never been claimed. Many of the dearly departed were citizens of the United States, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Italy, Bulgaria, and ten other nations; however, a few Costa Rican citiz...

A few hours after a 4.2 MW earthquake scared Halloween revelers in Guanacaste, residents of the Central Valley in Costa Rica were jolted awake by a 4.3 MW seism that occurred at 1:23 am. This geological event was followed by a number of aftershocks that culminated in a stronger temblor at 3:27 am. The epicenter of these seismic disturbances, which happened just hours before people in Costa Rica pr...

Following the midnight eruption of the Turrialba Volcano in Costa Rica, the Directorate of Civil Aviation has issued a warning to pilots, controllers and members of air crews about the lingering ash clouds that have formed in some air corridors over the country. Civil Aviation Director Alvaro Vargas explained that the volcanic ash could affect flights and airport operations in Costa Rica. At th...

The eight missing hikers who disappeared under mysterious circumstances on Monday have been located alive and stable. As previously reported by The Costa Rica Star, seven men and one woman were seen entering the Braulio Carrillo National Park at Bajo de la Hondura, an entry point located in the mountainous Zurquí area of San Jerónimo. Red Cross rescuers and paramedics will spend the night with ...

A dairy cow is evacuated as the Turrialba rains down ash. Photo: RSN About 20 minutes before midnight on October 29th, the Turrialba Volcano in the province of Cartago woke up from its slumber without warning and delivered the strongest eruption in the last 150 years. The quiet agricultural town of Turrialba was shaken by a few seismic movements, which were followed by massive ash clouds that ...

The Office of Judicial Investigations (Spanish initials: OIJ) is currently in hot water for their alleged illegal espionage on star goalkeeper Keylor Navas, but there is yet another case winding through the courts that is casting this law enforcement agency, which has considerable power in Costa Rica, in a negative light. In this criminal case, four OIJ agents by the last names of Quesada, Luna...

Mountaineers and rescue technicians from the Red Cross in Costa Rica are stepping up their efforts to locate eight people who went missing this past Monday in the vicinity of the Braulio Carrillo National Park, specifically in the mountainous region near the Zurqui tunnel. What little is known about these eight missing hikers in Costa Rica is shrouded in mystery. The facts thus far reported by ...

Source: Wikimedia Commons Dr. Monica Guardo, an expert in communicable diseases at the Pan American Health Organization, is currently in Costa Rica for the purpose of training groups of physicians and nurses on the proper treatment of patients infected by the Ebola virus. According to health reporter Lady Rojas of online news daily CRHoy.com, Dr. Guardo shared her personal experience trying to...