Sandwiched between North and South America and two oceans, Costa Rica is an amazing bridge of biodiversity bursting with natural wonders. For such a small country, it is home to more than 500,000 species; 250 of which are mammals. Costa Rica’s south Pacific region of Golfo Dulce (Sweet Gulf) is one of the most intense zones for plants and animals. Surrounded by the Corcovado National Park, Pied...

Screen grab from YouTube In the wake of a recent article published by the Costa Rica Star, the editor reached out to Zach C. Cohen, author of From Costa Rica to Israel, an article published by New Voices that contained less-than-flattering remarks about the lovable city of San Jose. Mr. Cohen's reply was not quite pura vida, and thus here's our rebuttal, parodied from the 1990 film A Few Good ...

El Avion Restaurant and Bar, 22 Manuel Antonio Road, Manuel Antonio, Costa RicaGail Harland visits an old cargo plane in Costa Rica, converted into a restaurant, and discovers a Cold War relic involving a tale of political scandal, the CIA, arms trading and the Iran-Contra Affair. When the C-123 was shot down over Nicaragua in 1986 by the Sandinista guerillas, it left behind an American owned ...

Costa Rica over the past decade has become a magnet for high-endurance extreme sports, adventure racing and triathlons. Elite international athletes travel to the small Central American nation several times a year for sport competitions. One of the most popular zones for extreme endurance events is the north Pacific Guanacaste region. In early March 2014, the International Triathlon Union (ITU)...

Fernando Zumbado in court in Costa RicaA former Minister of Housing in Costa Rica was recently sentenced to three years in prison for misusing donated funds and perpetrating fraud against the government. Fernando Zumbado served during former President Oscar Arias' second administration; and, despite his criminal conviction and sentence, he will not spend a single day behind bars. Mr. Zumbado w...

If this doesn’t make all of you avid saltwater anglers scurry to get on the next plane to Costa Rica, we don’t know what will! Los Sueños Marina, reputedly the finest marina on the Pacific coast south of the US border (Cabo San Lucas in Mexico and Viña del Mar in Chile might beg to differ, but who cares), is hosting the First Annual Los Sueños Signature Triple Crown tournament. There are three ...

No plans to marry: Costa Rica Presidential candidate, Otto Guevara The image of a presidential candidate dutifully accompanied by his or her spouse has virtually disappeared in Costa Rica. Prior to the 21st century, voters in Costa Rica paid close attention to the potential First Ladies, who were implicit as part of the presidential candidacy package. Given the current spectrum of presidential...

Reception area of the Hotel Tamarindo Diria in Guanacaste, Costa Rica The Guanacaste province is the leading region in Costa Rica in terms of clean energy projects. That leadership is being sustained thanks to both public utility projects and private business initiatives. In Santa Cruz, the elegant Tamarindo Diria Hotel recently announced its completion of a water heating project entirely powe...

The annual Que Lindo (How Lovely) art fair, held on Friday, January 24, at the Natural Center in downtown Samara, attracted close to five hundred visitors, eager to see the artwork, as well as to enjoy some guitar music and sample the goods being sold simultaneously at the weekly Samara Organic Market. The fair took place from 2 to 6 p.m., about 30 local artists and artisans showed their colorf...

A recent study by national newspaper La Nacion estimates that Costa Rica has more than 3,000 homes and living spaces available to foreign visitors looking for rental options. These properties are often listed on sites such as Airbnb, HomeAway and VRBO, and many longer-term rental opportunities do not factor in the cost of utilities such as water and electricity. This opens doors for nefarious home...

Bats have a bad reputation: most people think of blood and vampires, thanks to Hollywood. The truth is, however, that bats provide valuable environmental services such as pest control, spreading seeds and pollinating plants. Of the approximate 1,100 bat species on Earth, 112 of them are found in Costa Rica. Four of Costa Rica’s national parks have been declared as important areas for the conser...

Repretel interviewed the women that work at the Nosara Recycle CenterLast Tuesday January 14th the news organization Repretel NC11’s programming included a segment that pays tribute to the beauty of the Nosara area, as the community was chosen as one of the ten best worldwide vacation destinations to visit in 2014 by CNN. In addition, the area was featured by National Geographic as one of the 15 ...

Training for the EXPHORE barista challenge The 2014 Expo Hoteles y Restaurantes (EXPHORE) is scheduled to take place at the Pedregal Events Center in San Antonio de Belen, province of Heredia, from Tuesday, May 6th to Thursday, May 8th. EXPHORE is the most prominent trade show for the hospitality and gastronomy industry sectors in Costa Rica, and this year it will feature special competitions ...

As a surfer, wouldn’t you like to be able to surf for longer without getting tired, have more strength and flexibility and better balance, get a quicker pop-up, relax your breathing and sharpen your mental focus? Yoga can help you do this. Pro surfers know that yoga keeps their performance constantly improving and aids in preventing injuries. Here are 10 yoga poses for surfers that will imp...

PLN presidential candidate Johnny Araya Presidential candidate Johnny Araya recently announced a detailed plan to tackle poverty in Costa Rica. The details amount to a bare-bones “three squares and a cot” plan, which aims to deploy practical welfare measures such as giving poor families cash for groceries and a generous subsidy to help them achieve their dreams of homeownership. Sounds like a ...

Oceanographer Sylvia Earle One of the most recognized names in oceanography and marine life conservation is coming to Costa Rica as part of Mission Blue, a significant expedition that serves as an ocean community's effort to elevate public awareness about critical ocean issues and inspiring support for organizations, projects and scientific expeditions that make a positive difference for the o...

Jaco Beach amphitheater under construction, photo by Tim Callahan Over the last few weeks, residents of Jaco Beach have seen construction crews busy at work behind the Johannes Dankers Municipal Recreational Park. They are building a large outdoor structure that was supposed to be part of a development package to host the FIFA Under-17 Women's World Cup, which is still taking place in Costa Ric...

Lamborghini Veneno, source: Wikimedia Commons At the 2013 Geneva Motor Show, Italian luxury and sports car manufacturer Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A introduced the Lamborghini Veneno, an ultra-limited edition of its Aventador line. Priced at more than 3 million euros, the Veneno is the most expensive retail car available at this time, and news about its release has garnered significant interest...

This article was sent to us by the US Embassy in Costa Rica. Four Costa Rican fisherman are safe on dry land in El Salvador today, after a harrowing experience in the open ocean. Adrift at sea, they were rescued by the US Coast Guard cutter Boutwell, just moments before their fishing vessel sank. Their ordeal began on January 17th, when the vessel, the Calypso IV, lost power. After sending...

2013 was a great year for tropical Nu-Disco/Dance-Pop band Patterns from San Jose. Their infectious single Sunny Days (video above) received major radio airplay in Costa Rica and around the world, thanks in great part to the song's colorful and surreal video, which saw its debut on the popular website Noisey, part of the Vice online network. Here's a closer look at the masterful production of ...

Street view of the Paradizio condo development in Playas del Coco, Guanacaste, Costa Rica For sales and general inquiries about Paradizio Condos please visit the official website: www.ParadizioCostaRica.com Condominium developers in Costa Rica are rushing to meet the growing demand for a luxurious exurban lifestyle filled with amenities and convenience. Such are the intentions of Oxbow Commu...

A trail of trash stretched out along more than two kilometers of Buena Vista Beach, between the communities of Esterones and Samara, on Thursday, January 9. The huge amount of it astounded members of the community and it took four days of volunteer labor and heavy machinery to clean it up. Elizabeth Jenkins, who lives near the beach in Esterones, related that her husband, Frank, was at the beac...

Photo from the Union of Jewish Congregations of Latin America and the CaribbeanShalom aleichem. Zach C. Cohen is a student at the American University in Washington, D.C. In 2013, he found himself in San Jose during the solemn Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), so he attended service at the Congregation B’nei Israel near La Sabana, a very nice place where you are warmly greeted with bruchim ha-baim! M...

On February 2nd, at least thirteen municipalities in Costa Rica will be dry – prohibiting the sale of alcohol on election day, reports the Unión Nacional de Gobiernos Locales (Spanish acronym: UNGL). On the list of the thirteen municipalities is the city of San José, which also bans the sale of alcohol the day before, the day of and the day after the election. The remaining 12 municipalities...

Playas del Coco Tope horse parade, Saturday January 25th, 2014Horses, riders and beasts of burden will parade down the streets of Playas del Coco, province of Guanacaste, this Saturday afternoon. “Topes” are festive events in Costa Rica that signal the beginning of even more joyous and fun-filled family activities such as carnival rides, live music, dancing, delicious food, beer, and more. Fo...

Sebastian and ValeriaA 21-year-old farm worker gave himself up to the OIJ investigative agency in the twin murders of a pair of young musicians in the youth orchestra, Valeria Cortes, 15, and Sebastian Condori, 16. The attractive pair disappeared Monday afternoon and were discovered by searching friends buried in shallow graves in a lonely pasture. The double murder shocked residents of Parais...

File photo, Embassy of Japan Mamoru Shinohara, Ambassador of Japan to Costa Rica, has been quite busy lately. As reported by the Costa Rica Star in November, the government of Japan is working on a special clean energy project in Guanacaste. More recently, Ambassador Shinohara presented the keys of 45 vehicles to be used by rangers, firefighters and scientific researchers at our National Parks...

Artist rendition of El Cadejo in Costa RIcaAs you read this, a young woman in Costa Rica is staring at her smartphone in horror. She is frozen with fear and dreads the moment someone will come up from behind and tap her on the shoulder, a horrifying child covered in sores and who has dead eyes that secrete a festering combination of pus and blood. This ghastly boy skulks around Guanacaste looking...

A combination of less rainfall, coupled with the increased cost of generating electricity using bunker and diesel fuels, threaten a sharp rise in electricity rates this year. The Autoridad Reguladora de los Servicios Públicos (ARESEP) – regulating authority for public services – has already approved two hikes for the first and second quarter of 2014 (the first already in force), followed by two...

Source: Flickr CC Equestrian parades in Costa Rica are longstanding holiday traditions that date back several decades; they are known as “topes,” and they are loved by just about everyone who enjoys the sight of magnificently trained horses that elegantly gait and gallop in the expert reins of their riders. After each tope, however, there is an unpleasant task at hand. What happens to all that...

Sun Fund Americas, Solar Energy Park in Guanacaste, Costa RicaBefore the Guanacaste Country Club becomes the most luxurious resort, theme park and residential community in Central America, an innovative solar energy project will be developed to meet future electricity needs. The Sun Costa Rica initiative will also become a blueprint for large-scale solar energy projects in eleven Latin American n...

Jorge Luis Pinto. Source: FEDEFUTBOL As World Cup fever sweeps the world, residents and tourists in Guanacaste recently learned about plans to bring a friendly football match to Liberia. Such are the intentions of Eduardo Li, who presides over the Costa Rican Football Federation (Spanish acronym: FEDEFUTBOL). For this match, the National Football Team could play against their counterparts from...

tripadvisorcostarica.com Costa Rica is one of the most queried destinations on popular and respected travel review website TripAdvisor. In fact, La Fortuna in San Carlos is one of TripAdvisor's top ten 2013 Travelers' Choice Awards for Destinations on the Rise, and Guanacaste is a favorite discussion topic among travel reviewers therein. For this reason, a TripAdvisor website dedicated to Cost...

The Ministry of Health has come to the aid of the Municipality of San José in combating a serious rat problem in the area of Parque Okayama, in San Francisco de Dos Ríos. The infestation has been ongoing since October 2013, when area residents began complaining of the infestation, a problem that the municipality had budgeted only ¢236,000 colones (US$570 dollars) to eradicate. A meeting at t...

More than 1,000 ICE (Kolbi) cell phone customers have been victims of a new scam that involves receiving a text message on their cellular phone and ending up with a long distance charge on their bill. Elberth Durán of the state telecom, Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE), explains that telecoms in some countries like Africa and Oceania, pay a commission to receive and transfer commun...

Fabiana Granados, Miss Costa RicaFabiana Granados, the current Miss Costa Rica, who recently placed 11th in the Miss Universe pageant on November 9th in Moscow, Russia, will serve as one of the judges in charge of choosing the next queen of the upcoming 2014 Nicoya Fiestas, which will take place from February 4th to 10th. The beauty queen, who is originally from Hojancha, expressed her fondnes...

InterNations connects global minds and expats togetherInterNations, an online social network for expatriates around the world, is pleased to announce the first offline get-together of 2014 for members and guests in San Jose, Costa Rica. The community gathering is scheduled for Tuesday, January 28th from 6:30 pm onwards at the Hard Rock Café Costa Rica (Wyndham Herradura Hotel). According to In...

Liberia Guanacaste, located on the Northwest Pacific coast of Costa RicaNearly three million people either live, work, study, or do business in Costa Rica's Greater Metropolitan Area (Spanish initials: GAM), which extends from the capital city of San Jose out to 34 cantons and 164 districts. This creates an overcrowded Central Valley, where more than half of the country's human, economic and poli...

Timeshare Scams in GuanacasteThe timeshare and fractional ownership market is a lucrative subsector of the real estate economy; unfortunately, it is also very vulnerable to scammers, swindlers and flimflam artists. Costa Rica is not impervious to real estate deception, and the province of Guanacaste seems to be a focus of recent timeshare shams and charades. At the controversial consumer compl...

There are times when sportfishing is, to put it mildly, fantastic. You can’t drop a line without something biting. Right now is one of them. Los Sueños Marina, just north of Jacó on Costa Rica’s Central Pacific coast, is among the finest marinas south of the US border. Thanks in no small part to marina manager Bill Kirby, an unabashed workaholic who runs things smoothly and efficiently, Los Sue...