Holistic tourism has grown considerably in Costa Rica during the 21st century, and yoga is at the center of this trend. Holistic travelers seek places where they can relax, detoxify and get away from the stressors of modern life. Yoga retreats in Costa Rica are often sought for this purpose, and not just by foreign visitors: Many residents of San Jose are known to travel to Guanacaste in search of...

Casa Flotanta is located in Playa Santa Teresa, Costa Rica (Photo: Benjamin Garcia Saxe Architecture) Playa Santa Teresa in the northern region of Puntarenas is known as a surfer's mecca and as one of the most coveted real estate markets in Costa Rica. Thanks to star architect Benjamin Garcia Saxe, this gorgeous beach town is now also known as a place where a mysterious force field serves as t...

The first full-length documentary film produced by the University of Costa Rica (UCR) had its debut on the social video network YouTube on January 29th at 8:00 p.m. La Caja de Pandora: El Juego Oculto Contra el Seguro Social (Pandora's Box: Foul Play Against Social Security), a critical look at the gradual decline of Costa Rica's most treasured public institution, has been watched more than 60...

An OVOP conference at the Dominican Republic. Strengthening a community's brand, adding value to existing products and conducting frequent market research are business principles that some small towns in Guanacaste are experimenting with. They are part of the “One Village, One Product” (OVOP) movement promoted by the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The OVOP movement has been ...

Main street through Samara GuanacasteOn Sunday, January 12th, the Samara Development Association held their General Assembly meeting in San Fernando, during which they defined the boundaries for the new development association that will be created for central Samara. At the same time, Chinampas requested an extension to form their own development association. The meeting was called to order at...

Bicycle sports lovers will have the chance to see high-level athletes competing in the BMX War Jam 2014, the sixth annual event, which will take place in Nicoya’s multisport complex on Sunday, February 9 beginning at 9 a.m. Luis Elias Benavides, the event’s organizer, said that this year the competition will be very good, as there will be at least 50 participants from Canada, Chile, the United ...

In the shadows behind the bullring in Samara on January 1st 2014, the guys gather around, dressed in blue jeans and the blue and white plaid shirts that distinguish them as members of the professional bull riders known as Los Nicoyanos. Some stand, others kneel on the ground for a group prayer. A couple of them hold a child in their arms. After the prayer, one by one, they draw a name out of a hat...

Guanacaste is the province with the highest rate of domestic violence in Costa Rica. According to statistics compiled by the Ministry of Public Health (Spanish initials: MSP), the northern province registered 346.6 cases of domestic violence per 100,000 residents. This figure, which is from 2012, is part of an ongoing qualitative analysis that the MSP is conducting so that proper action can be tak...

Legislator Marta Arauz. Source: Facebook. The Supreme Electoral Tribunal of Costa Rica has tallied and certified the votes that determined the legislators who will represent the province of Guanacaste at the Legislative Assembly during the next administration. The constituency will have to wait until April 6th to elect the new President of Costa Rica in a runoff election, but the legislators b...

Source: MichaelBaker.com Michael Baker has been creating sculptures for more than two decades. His artwork has been exhibited all over the United States, and in 2012 he made his international debut in Costa Rica. If you are a fan of the Iron Man film series, there is a good chance that you are already familiar with Mr. Baker's work, and now you can see more of it in Guanacaste. According to...

Small town life in Costa Rica consists of the "Holy Trinity"Quaint and charming little towns in Costa Rica have a few things in common, but there is something that tourists notice as soon as they visit them: Each community will have at least three central places for residents to enjoy and be proud of. This small town trinity will vary slightly in terms of configuration from one community to anoth...

Bottle of Coyol Wine, made from the sap of Coyol PalmsWith the arrival of the midday sun, the bottle of coyol wine (made from the sap of coyol palms) sits on a light blue wooden table that is covered with a checkered tablecloth and protected by a plastic cover with pieces of reflective tape on the sides, to immediately catch the attention of drivers passing by. The bottled sap looks clean and foa...

The Social Protection Commission (Spanish acronym: JPS) recently announced the donation of six wheelchairs to low-income residents of Guanacaste who live with disabilities. The new wheelchairs were presented to their owners during modest ceremonies at Chupis and Importaciones Melodia, two major providers of medical equipment in Costa Rica. The wheelchairs were specially designed to adjust to the n...

If you require an airport or beach transfer service in Guanacaste, Costa Rica, please contact BeachTransfer.com. They have a team of English speaking drivers ready to handle your shuttle requests. A new private driver and chauffeur service is coming to the Daniel Oduber International Airport in Liberia (LIR) Guanacaste, Costa Rica. This private driver and transport service will provide comforta...

For the purpose of meeting the demands of the modern workplace in Guanacaste, the National Learning Institute (Spanish initials: INA) will offer a free, comprehensive business English course in Filadelfia from March 21st, 2014 to January 15th, 2015. Prospective students must be at least 15 years old and have completed the 9th grade of general education in Costa Rica. This ten-month foreign lang...

A business consortium in Guanacaste will be keeping a close eye on arboreal wildlife with a network of eight cameras that will monitor animals as they negotiate the forest canopy and high tension power lines. Coopeguanacaste, a major electrical utility company in the Santa Cruz canton, recently installed new devices on portions of their power infrastructure to discourage monkeys, coatis, sloths, k...

Finished in July, 1908, the historic prison in Heredia has long fallen into disuse and deterioration. But today it is undergoing a 450 million colon facelift that will turn back the clock from its decline through weathering and neglect. The project began last September, a project of the Ministry of Culture's efforts to preserve historic landmarks. The architecture is typical of the massive (and...

Tamarindo Bay Boutique Hotel in Guanacaste Costa RicaThe Tamarindo Bay Boutique Hotel is the newest, luxury beach accommodation in Guanacaste's Gold Coast. This hotel, which offers a private and secure setting at a very short distance away from the beach and other amenities, is proud to bring a new concept in modern and sophisticated comfort and hospitality. The Pacific beaches of Guanacaste a...

Biology students hit the field in Costa Rica Educating future scientists these days calls for more than just academic training and laboratory experiments. Working in the field and interacting with the public as well as with members of other disciplines have become crucial skills for scientists who wish to find success in their chosen fields of inquiry. To this end, the Organization for Tropica...

I have traveled to this bohemian town on three different occasions, three different ways. The first visit was seven years ago. I utilized an Interbus van that choose the Puntarenas / Paquera ferry to reach the town. It was a gorgeous route, one that I highly recommend! The second was in my own rental car when I was on a scouting trip seeking out potential towns to move to. I took the land route th...

The master penthouse suite at Hotel Chantel, in Playas del Coco, GuanacasteHotel Chantel, the premier ocean-view boutique hotel located in one of the prettiest beaches of Guanacaste, recently announced a promotion for couples who want to spend a special Valentine's Day weekend in Costa Rica. Guests who book a room during this Valentine's weekend for 2 nights will receive the 3rd night for free. ...

Voting for the 2014 presidential elections in Costa Rica Democracy is very much alive in Costa Rica. Such was the impression perceived by the Costa Rica Star as well as international observers of the Organization of American States (OAS) on Sunday, February 2nd, 2014. Although candidate Johnny Araya of the powerful National Liberation (Spanish initials: PLN) initially captured the majority of ...

The Jaco area can pack the tourists in. Why do thousands of tourists and expats prioritize Jaco as one of their destinations? The most common answer is a combination of the night life and the plethora of adrenalin packed activities. Whether you seek an ATV adventure, horseback expedition, water sport experience, crocodile or monkey encounter, the choice is yours. After living in the area, and ...

Trogon elegans bird in Guanacaste Costa Rica One of the most endearing and emblematic birds of Guanacaste is the Trogon elegans, also known as bobo, momoto, cejiceleste, and others. The Trogon elegans is among the most attractive species of the Trogonidae family, which can be found from the Southwestern United States to the northern region of Costa Rica. This magnificent bird has been the focu...

Guanacaste Community FundWhile the Costa Rica-USA Foundation (CRUSA) has been funding national environmental and educational projects for 18 years, its newest initiative, the Guanacaste Community Fund, will focus exclusively on Guanacaste-based societal improvements. The Fund’s executive director, Steve Mack, appointed by CRUSA’s Governing Board of Directors in August, said he has already dis...

President of Nicaragua Daniel OrtegaA few years after the turn of the century, Costa Rica stopped being the darling destination for long-term visitors, expats and retirees. Around the time the housing bubble in the United States was about to burst, jaded (and broke) expats started looking for a Shangri-la known as “the next Costa Rica,” a place many believed could be found in the ultra-cheap neig...

Skyline of the Latvian capital Riga In the 20th century, economists and analysts in the United States convinced the government to adopt the per capita gross domestic product (GDP) measurement as the main yardstick of its economy. Just about every nation followed suit, which is why we are now able to compare Costa Rica with other countries and regions in terms of GDP. It turns out, however, tha...

Microclimates converge throughout regions of Costa Rica Among all the factors that contribute to Costa Rica's amazing biodiversity, its abundance of microclimates and variety of unusual seasons are among the most important. The heterogeneously distributed topography of the country also contributes to the climatic diversity, which makes some regions feel as if they were located in different cou...

Painting by Willy Flores Starting in late January, the lovable city of San Jose will welcome more dogs than usual. These dogs, however, are not part of the million stray and community dogs that roam Costa Rica; these canines are an important part of the body of work of Willy Flores, and they are currently on display at the Sophia Wanamaker art gallery of the Centro Cultural in San Pedro. Mr...

1 in 5 Canadian enjoy sex on the beach in Costa Rica For most people, sex on the beach involves mixing vodka and peach schnapps with orange and cranberry juice. For some Canadians visiting Costa Rica, however, sex on the beach involves mixing with each other in the sand. As recently reported by the Toronto Star, a survey by Expedia.ca indicates that visitors from Ontario and Quebec are more li...

Arsenic in the drinking water of various regions throughout Guanacaste Costa RIcaThe Costa Rican Institute of Aqueducts and Sewers (AyA - Instituto Costarricense de Acueductos y Alcantarillados) confirmed that they had hired the company Turbina S.A. to remove arsenic from the water of seven communities in Guanacaste and northern Alajuela on Wednesday, January 29th. The company will be placed i...

Roadways in the Nicoya Municipality of Guanacaste are in desperate need of repair and maintenance The lack of agreement between officials from Nicoya’s Municipality and the personnel of the regional office of the Ministry of Public Works and Transportation (MOPT – Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transportes) has caused repeated tension and friction between the employees of both institutions. Th...

Playa Hermosa Beach in Guanacaste Costa Rica Judging by an academic study and two market research reports on tourism and real estate, Guanacaste is on track to be Costa Rica's most expensive region to live or visit for 2014. Although the majority of complaints are coming from foreign visitors and expats, there does not seem to be an exodus. In fact, hospitality and tourism operators as well as...

Bribri schoolchildren in Costa Rica Earlier this month, a trailing presidential candidate in Costa Rica received a very special honor. Rodolfo Piza, leader of the battered Social Christian Union political party (Spanish initials: PUSC), welcomed representatives of three indigenous communities from the Southern Zone, who traveled to San Jose to meet the candidate they consider is the only one lo...

In the past the Costa Rica Star has published about organic coffee and coffee cupping tours in Costa Rica. The U.S. coffee chain, Starbucks, continues its expansion in Costa Rica with a fourth store location opening in March. The new store will be Plaza Freses, in Curridabat, on the east side of San José. No opening date has been set as of yet, though the company is already hiring staff and ...

Previous meeting of the Nosara Civic AssociationOn Tuesday, January 28th, the Nosara Civic Association (NCA) held their annual meeting with about 40 members in attendance. During the meeting, they elected a new board, with several changes, and also recognized two long-time board members for their service. The meeting went “according to plan,” according to the NCA president, Alvin Rosenbaum. A ...

OIJ agents on a 2012 raid. A few days ago, the Constitutional Chamber of Costa Rica agreed to review a petition by a news media organization claiming that the Organization of Judicial Investigations (Spanish acronym: OIJ) has been deliberately monitoring telephone conversations and intimidating its journalists. Now it's the OIJ's turn to be monitored and investigated, at least until the Consti...

Costa Rica summer is yoga season at Pranamar Oceanfront Villas and Yoga Retreat on Santa Teresa Beach. Pranamar is offering 14 exceptional yoga retreats between February and June 2014. Whether you are looking to deepen your yoga practice, or try yoga for the first time, a yoga retreat is an excellent opportunity for both. Retreats also add in fun activities like surfing or stand-up paddle boar...

Expotur Costa Rica Travel Mart 2014 The 29th edition of Expotur will take place from May 14th to May 16th, 2014. This event, which is organized by the Costa Rican Association of Tourism Professionals (Spanish acronym: ACOPROT), will bring together more than 300 tourism and hospitality businesses from across the country and the region for three days of industry insight and networking at the Wyn...

If bird-watching is your passion, then you definitely want to add Costa Rica to your “Top 10 list of places to go birding.” The small Central American country is home to more than 870 bird species – more than in all of the United States, Canada and Mexico combined – and is a bird-watching hotspot. A single day of bird-watching in this enchanted corner of the globe can earn sightings of up to 85 to...