Despite inflation being out of control in Costa Rica, our country still manages to attract North American expatriates, and quite a few end up staying here to enjoy their retirement. Such is the case of Jen, a published author who has kindly provided The Costa Rica Star with an excerpt of her eBook Costa Rica Chica: Have you ever wanted to quit your job and “retire early”? Fed up with the “m...

Source: Sea Shepherd Readers of The Costa Rica Star are very familiar with our extensive reporting on the saga of Paul Watson, the controversial founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. In late September, we reported on the Sea Shepherd chapter in Costa Rica, which is actively involved in the protection of sea turtles in our Caribbean coast. We now bring you an update by Sea Shephe...

Source: Coast Guard Earlier this week, officers from the National Coast Guard Service of Costa Rica boarded a fishing vessel in the Bay of Quepos and found various shark carcasses that had been caught for the sole purpose of hacking off their fins. According to a press release by the Ministry of Public Security, the boarding took place when the suspected shark fin poachers least expected it: A...

Source: Fuerza Publica Escalating violence has marred an ongoing strike by dock workers in the Caribbean region of Costa Rica, and the latest reports from Fuerza Publica, the national police force, indicate that criminal instigators have fired AK-47s and semiautomatic pistols at officers from riot control units. Such was the report filed by Pablo Rojas of online news daily Costa Rica Hoy earli...

Dr. Alejandro Ayon Lacayo, Director of the Centro Internacional de Medicina (CIMA), was detained at the Juan Santamaria International Airport (SJO) in Alajuela earlier this morning. According to a report by Lady Rojas of online news daily Costa Rica Hoy, Dr. Ayon was taken into custody by Airport Police officers from Air Surveillance, a special unit of Fuerza Publica, Costa Rica's national police ...

One of the most celebrated football clubs of Costa Rica's First Division has once again cemented its reputation as a “Slayer of Mexican Clubs.” Liga Deportiva Alajuelense (LDA) is headed to the semifinal round of the CONCACAF Champions League, also known as CONCAChampions, after holding off Cruz Azul to a 1 – 1 draw at the Alejandro Morera Soto Stadium. Source: LDA The manudos played a nigh...

Fuerza Pública officers assigned to bicycle patrol in Costa Rica’s capital city are able to quickly respond to calls that require them to negotiate urban obstacles such as narrow streets, pedestrian areas, alleyways, and traffic jams. When it comes to dealing with suspects, these officers operate in pairs and are trained to swiftly dismount and initiate a short pursuit on foot before executing tak...

In this video by U.S. journalist and videographer Elizabeth Donatelli, she visits the vast Chirripó National Forest of Costa Rica and somehow manages to hike up a cloud forest reserve in her sandals. Then she turns into real estate agent and tries to sell you the amazing Cloudbridge Nature Reserve. For $899,000, it is a bargain; however, absent landowners need not apply: A contractual ownership cl...

Days before wildlife organizations around the world celebrated International Sloth Day, the Sloth Institute Costa Rica (SICR) reported on the rescue of a pregnant female sloth that fell from a tree and eventually required a surgical intervention to help her deliver an adorable baby. Here is the story as written by SICR Manager and primate conservationist Sam Trull, who has been interviewed by BBC ...

One of the most celebrated Hollywood films of last year has a curious connection to Costa Rica, Florida, Wall Street, and an outlandish financial scam. The film is The Wolf of Wall Street, a biopic directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Jordan Belfort. The connection is Ira Lee Sorkin, a renowned attorney who once represented Mr. Belfort and later Bernard Madoff. Mr. Sorkin ...

On Day Three of her Costa Rica real estate adventure, Boston accountant Kristine Gorman gets even closer to fulfilling her dream of retiring in our country. On Days One and Two of her trip to Guanacaste, Kris and her family stayed in Playa Flamingo and were very close to making a formal offer on a home on a condo in Tamarindo Beach. To learn more about Kris and her expat mission, read our previous...

Source: Wikimedia Commons Following reports of two individuals being medically screened for the purpose of ruling out an Ebola virus infection, the Director of La Caja, Costa Rica's public health service, has been issuing updates on her agency's implementation of protocols recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) to prevent infections and outbreaks of this dangerous disease. As re...

Source: Flickr Kristine Gorman is a tax accountant from the New England region who is planning on becoming an expatriate in Costa Rica. She is 41 years young and is looking to one day retire here with her significant other and their 2-year old child. She was recently in Playa Flamingo, looking at properties in one of the Gold Coast beaches of Guanacaste. She has been kind enough to share her e...

Seized Beasts. Source; Fuerza Publica Until recently, drug trafficking and money laundering were the predominant issues keeping customs and police agents busy on the two land borders of Costa Rica. Those two illicit activities have been quickly supplanted with smuggling of goods that supply a thriving black market in our country. From fruit juice to cigarettes and from electronics to groceries...

Ever since the incisive and controversial documentary Blackfish premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2013, marine mammal park operator SeaWorld has been engaged in a careful public relations campaign that goes beyond the company’s longstanding tradition of rescuing, rehabilitating and releasing wildlife. SeaWorld is not about to give up its business model of keeping marine mammals such as ki...

This press release from Michael Dixon’s relatives is being published by The Costa Rica Star in solidarity with the Dixon family and Reporters Without Borders. He was last seen in Tamarindo Beach, province of Guanacaste. Should you have any information that will lead searchers closer to finding Mr. Dixon, please contact: David Dixon +44.7920.792 204 [email protected]   ...

Although residents of Costa Rica are mostly used to feeling an earthquake or two each week and experiencing periods of increased volcanic activity, concern over catastrophic natural disasters is currently at higher than usual levels. Not long after celebrations of Columbus Day commemorated the discovery of the New World and its wonderful natives, people in Costa Rica were jolted by phreatic erupti...

Source: RSN On Monday, October 13th after 9:30 pm, the Observatory of Seismology and Volcanology in Costa Rica (Spanish acronym: OVSICORI) of the National University and the National Seismology Network (Spanish initials: RSN) 0f the University of Costa Rica reported three seismic disturbances. The first one occurred at 9:31 pm, the second at 9:42 pm and the third at 9:51 pm. The latter quake w...

The Poas Volcano in the province of Alajuela is currently one of the most active in Costa Rica, and on Monday morning it treated tourists to an awesome display of Nature’s sheer and beautiful power. A video recorded by geologists at the Observatory of Seismicity and Volcanology of the National University shows a massive phreatic (ground water) eruption that sent Earth matter flying up in at a heig...

Source: CONCACAF Following a lengthy period of air travel that lasted nearly 24 hours, the National Men's Football Team of Costa Rica, affectionately known as “La Sele,” arrived in the oil-rich Sultanate of Oman, a nation that is strategically located along the southern and eastern coasts of the Arabian Peninsula. La Sele may be a long way from home, but at least one star player was not able t...

At a press conference given by Minister of Trade John Fonseca, the opening date for the new border crossing checkpoint along the northern border with Nicaragua was set for April 2015. The new checkpoint will be located in the Tablillas community of Los Chiles, province of Alajuela.   According to a news report by Jacqueline Solano of news daily Diario Extra, the Tablillas border checkpo...

For many years, residents, business owners and tourists in the Manuel Antonio community of Quepos have complained about an increase in street-level crimes. From drug dealing to pick pocketing and from vehicle theft to illegal sidewalk sales, street crime has grown on the beach and extended into the pristine Manuel Antonio National Park, one of Costa Rica’s most visited natural attractions. Various...

La Carpio, one of the poorest slums of the Costa Rica is home to 50,000 people; the largest bi-national community in Central America. It has as many Costa Ricans as Nicaraguans who have immigrated in search of a better future for themselves and their families. This is where Maris Stella Fernandez plans to organize a symphony orchestra while building a cultural and social integration center. &nb...

The National Men's Football Team of Costa Rica, affectionately known as “La Sele,” is looking to justify the all-time high FIFA ranking, currently at the 15th position, by scoring victories against the national teams of Oman and South Korea in October.   Following La Sele's surprising performance at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil and after securing the Central American Cup, expectati...

On Tuesday, October 7th, hundreds of university students will take to the streets to protest against planned budget cuts to the public education system of Costa Rica. The students will have the support of President Luis Guillermo Solis, who is facing a very difficult task in curbing the mounting national deficit at a time when the country is facing an economic crisis of high unemployment, limited ...

  Source: Wikimedia Commons A gentleman from Ghana was taken to the Calderón Guardia Hospital in the capital city of San Jose on Saturday afternoon for the purpose of ruling out infection by the Ebola virus. According to a report filed by Karla Barquero of online news daily CRHoy.com, the man was approached by officers from the Fuerza Publica (the national police force of Costa Rica) d...

In the 21st century, Costa Rica has become a popular backdrop for fictional thrillers. To this effect, The Costa Rica Star has previously published articles on spy fiction by sci-fi master William Gibson (Spook Country), literary crime novels by the dearly departed Elmore Leonard (Road Dogs), video games by Hideo Kojima (Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker) and by Sony (Syphon Filter), gambling crime f...

Source: Wikimedia Commons Los Angeles alternative rock band Thirty Seconds to Mars will visit Costa Rica for the first time this coming Sunday, Ocotber 5th. This immensely popular musical group has been accumulating awards, significant radio airplay and sold-out tours for more than a decade, and fans in Costa Rica will soon be able to enjoy their live concert in support of their best-selling “...

American citizen, Ann Patton Bender, who was accused of murdering her husband, John Felix Bender, in Costa Rica in 2010, has been moved out of the ICU, and into the women’s prison, El Buen Pastor, located in San Rafael Arriba de Desamparados, in San Jose. Ms. Bender has been sentenced to 22 years for first-degree murder, following an initial acquittal of the charges in January 2013, of killing ...

  Source: INS Sergio Alfaro, president of the National Insurance Institute of Costa Rica (Spanish initials: INS), indicated during a recent press conference that the marchamo (mandatory vehicle registration) process will begin the first week of November. This annual process, which requires the purchase of a liability insurance policy, has resulted in very handsome profits for INS over ...

  The fictional universe created by the late author Michael Crichton around Jurassic Park has developed into a very popular, highly successful and extremely lucrative industry. Films, novels, video games, comic books, and merchandising have been generating millions of dollars for the Jurassic Park universe, which Mr. Crichton specifically placed in Isla Nublar, which is based in a mixture ...

Renault 4CV. Source: Wikimedia Commons Wherever you go in Costa Rica, from Guanacaste to San Jose and from Jaco Beach to Puerto Viejo in the Southern Caribbean region of Limon, you are bound to see the iconic red taxicabs. They are likely to be four-door Hyundai Accents or Toyota Corollas, with occasional 4x4 SUVs in rural areas and vans in tourist hotspots. The exceptions to the red rule are th...

Nasty drug cartel members, dirty cops and even terrorists who specialize in manufacturing deadly explosives stand in the way of The Specialist, a retired United States Special Forces operator and former federal agent who is on a daring life-or-death rescue mission to extract a corrupt banker from the hands of kidnappers in Costa Rica. UPDATE: This article has been amended to reflect correct aut...

Shortly after the first case of Ebola was diagnosed in the United States, national health authorities in Costa Rica reported that the country is now on alert for this potentially deadly virus.   Source: Wikimedia Commons As reported by health sciences journalist Lady Rojas of online news daily CRHoy, Director of Health Surveillance Mary Ethel Trejos said that the world is now experi...

An adult male whose identity has not been revealed was attacked this morning by a caiman at the National Technical University (Spanish initials: UTN) in Atenas, canton of Grecia, province of Alajuela.   As reported by Pablo Rojas of online news daily CRHoy.com, the Red Cross municipal detachment in Atenas responded to the dangerous wildlife/human encounter around 10:00 am on Wednesday. ...

The foreign direct investment (FDI) bonanza that Costa Rica has enjoyed for most of the 21st century has been in free fall lately. Intel and Bank of America are just two of the major global firms that have left Costa Rica for greener (meaning: cheaper) pastures. The rapid loss of FDI is something that has President Luis Guillermo Solis very concerned, and he has been on a personal mission to at...

Source: Ministry of Public Security Officers assigned to the Canas cantonal detachment of Fuerza Publica, the national police force of Costa Rica, rushed to the scene of a reported aircraft that crashed in Guanacaste on Sunday afternoon. Initial reports and pictures of the aviation accident were posted by Minister of Public Safety Celso Gamboa Sanchez on his Twitter feed. Further reporting by ...

Among reptiles, snakes are the most adaptive group and there are an estimated 2,900 species in the world. In Costa Rica, there are 139 species of snakes, representing 60% of the reptiles of the country. 22 species are venomous and the remaining 117 species are non-venomous. Snakes are found in almost all regions of Costa Rica, including the low lands, volcanic slopes, and even as high as 9,000 fee...

Source: Wikimedia Commons Warning signs along the Tarcoles River near the Central Pacific coast of Costa Rica will soon advice residents and tourists about the presence of potentially dangerous caimans.   The warning signs specifically prohibit feeding the reptiles, which many people see as an act of good faith, but is in fact a danger to humans. In a recent interview with Radio Col...

Part of the San Juan River Strong warnings by scientists, a sobering maritime navigation analysis and the sudden death of a Chinese engineer are among the latest news coming from the controversial and quixotic Nicaragua Canal project, which appears to moving away from the San Juan River and Costa Rica's northern border. However, some analysts believe that the move may be temporary. The Nica...