Thatched-roof pavilions in jungle gardens, hidden courtyards reflecting pools and temple carvings, covered open-air walkways, wide verandas and smooth wooden decks, living spaces that invite the landscape inside … these are all elements of the world-wide architectural phenomenon known as “Bali Style.” The mere mention of Bali evokes thoughts of tropical paradise. Bali is more than a small Indon...

Source: Wikimedia Commons On the morning of September 5th, 2012, residents of Guanacaste were going about their business and preparing to celebrate Costa Rica's 191st anniversary of its independence from Spain when a powerful earthquake struck the Nicoya Peninsula. That seismic movement, which registered a magnitude of 7.6 on the Richter scale, is still producing aftershocks and striking fear ...

Nosara will enjoy the third season of the Fish Bar Live Music Sessions, beginning this season on Saturday November 16th starting with dinner at 7:00pm and live music at 7:30pm at Pacifico Azul Guiones. We will be beginning this 2013-2014 season with Thicker Than Thieves, who are on a concert tour through Costa Rica presenting their new album “Storm Will Pass”. This band has a fusion of rock, r...

Pistol shown for illustration purposes only, WikimediaAnother episode of violence occurred yesterday morning in broad daylight, this time inside a school in Nicoya, with the death of Rosibel Gomez Enriquez, age 46, cook at the Virgilio Caamaño School. The incident occurred at 10 a.m. when Melvin Zuñiga Muñoz, a 37-year-old resident of the IMAS neighborhood of Nicoya and apparently Gomez's roma...

Although the response was very cold when they started organizing the Guanacaste Art Festival in July, things have heated up, and now it promises to be quite a lavish display of talent from November 21 to 24 in the city of Tilaran. The regional promoter of culture for the province, Vera Vargas, indicated to the Voice of Guanacaste that they finally received more inscriptions than they anticipate...

Captain Daniel Espinoza on the 42ft Spanish Fly knows how to catch Dorado in volume! The Dorado are here! Not only is the Dorado – which most non-anglers will know as Mahi-Mahi – a tasty and popular item on the seafood menu; it is also a fierce and prized saltwater offshore gamefish, pound for pound one of the toughest to be found. Costa Rica’s Pacific coast is considered one of the world’s ...

The national route 160 traverses much of the coast of Guanacaste, beginning in Santa Cruz and extending to Paquera. The Constitutional Court ordered the National Roadway Council (CONAVI) to pave route 160, but the section to be paved does not include the segment of approximately 30 kilometers that connects Nosara and Samara. The constitutional appeal (recurso de amparo) was presented this ye...

Over 80 people attended the meeting in NosaraMore than 80 people attended the Nosara Security Association meeting on Tuesday, November 11, at 10 a.m. at Giardino Tropicale. Many in attendance expressed concern or raised questions about recent attempted rape attacks as well as a wave of thefts. Members of the association’s board took advantage of the opportunity to plead for more support, for p...

STC Board of Directors Pledges to Match Donations up to a total of $10,000! Sea Turtle Conservancy (STC) has joined #GivingTuesday, a first-of-its-kind effort that will harness the collective power of a unique blend of partners-- charities, families, businesses and individuals-- to transform how people think about, talk about and participate in the giving season. Coinciding with the Thanksgivin...

New owner of La Vida Loca Bar in Playas del Coco, Zack Voelker. Pura Vida! If you come to Playas del Coco, you might be slightly surprised at how lively and busy this little beach town can get at night. Don’t underestimate the one main road going through downtown Coco, there are actually plenty of spots around Coco where you can have a night full of laughing, dancing, cold drinks, and celebrat...

At the beginning of October, the Administrative Environmental Court ruled for the third time that the Nosara garbage dump must be closed, adding more force to previous orders to close the dump, which have been received since 2007. The court decision is the resolution of a denunciation that was filed in February of 2011 against the Ministry of Health and the mayor of Nicoya, Marcos Jimenez, by D...

Students of the National University (UNA) in Nicoya have decided to be part of the solution in defense of the environment, conducting recycling, cleaning and electronics collection campaigns and even giving talks to other students. The effort is headed by UNA’s Ecological Blue Flag Committee, composed of Evans Jimenez, Adriana Vasquez Duarte, Aaron Jimenez and Karina Campos, who are guided by P...

There are people who have dedicated themselves to garbage, even living with it in homes that they have converted into recycling businesses. The Voice of Guanacaste decided to visit some of these collection centers in the area of Nosara and Samara to find out about the challenges of the garbage collector lifestyle. The collection centers receive recyclable waste such as plastic bottles, glass, T...

Pro Surfer Emily Gussoni from Costa Rica For the first time in the history of aquatic sports in Costa Rica, the gorgeous beaches of Guanacaste will host their very own surfing circuit. According to national newspaper La Nacion and Primero en Noticias, an online news daily based in Santa Cruz, the Costa Rica Surf Federation aims to drive even more tourism to Guanacaste through surfing and to gi...

Donavon Frankenreiter returned to Guanacaste after a two-year absence. Thanks to the Safari Surf School organization and the Billabong program “Surf Like a Pro,” the Californian surfer and musician presented his new album “Start Livin” live, this time at the Tropicana disco bar in Nosara Center in front of 200 people. As soon as the doors opened at around 7:30 p.m., the first fans began arriv...

Shark fins attached to spinal column to avoid being illegal, Costa Rica An alert for a method of shark finning aimed at avoiding detection of illegal practices has been circulated to all 190 INTERPOL member countries after a case was identified by Costa Rican authorities. An INTERPOL Purple Notice has been circulated for a modus operandi of the technique where only a band of skin to keep the...

Silver Elephant, one of the brands illegally sold in Costa RicaCosta Rica has witnessed a five-fold rise in illegal cigarette seizures since 2012, suggesting illegal groups are capitalizing on a new tobacco law to flood the market with contraband products. So far this year, Costa Rican authorities have recovered 12.3 million illegal packs of cigarettes, compared to just 2.3 million throughout ...

Santa Cruz, Guanacaste - A local charity plans to give children in Guanacaste a very special reason to smile this Christmas. Una Sonrisa por San Cruz (A Smile for Santa Cruz) is an organization that has identified 150 children living in low-income neighborhoods across the county, and who could certainly benefit from getting a little help this holiday season. According to Primero en Noticias, an...

It is nearly the end of 2013. Are you looking for a quick week-long vacation to get away from it all? Before the holiday season really gets going, escape for a week to sunny Costa Rica on a 7-day Tropical Paradise Vacation. This 7-day Costa Rica vacation package from Costa Rica Special Deals really is a good travel deal. For only $365 USD per person (based on double occupancy), you get thre...

Best Fest is a 3 day (February 7th - 9th, 2014) grassroots music festival nestled between pristine jungle and one of the most beautiful beaches in Costa Rica, Playa Ballena. The organizers routinely say that their location is one of the headliners of the festival and for good reason. The epic venue is located on a 2000 acre farm, just south of Uvita, and is a one of a kind environment where w...

Currently patients that are attended at the EBAIS clinic in Cangrejal of Samara aren’t able to get prescribed medications immediately. They have to go to Nicoya to fill their prescriptions, incurring extra costs of transportation. But that will no longer be the case, as preparations are being made to open a pharmacy at the EBAIS in January of 2014. The clinic’s doctor, Fulvio Paniagua Acuña, su...

As part of the anniversary celebrations, on November 15 the 25 de Julio Orchestra will perform at the inauguration of the new Briceño Leonidas School facilities. The Sinem Music School of Nicoya was founded in October of 2008 and despite limited economic resources, it has managed to survive and consolidate during its five years of existence. Currently the school is hosted in the Casa de la C...

Source: Guanacaste Conservation Area A moribund tropical green sea turtle rescued by members of the Wider Caribbean Sea Turtle Conservation Network (WIDECAST) in Costa Rica is improving and might be returned to its habitat. Fishermen and maritime tour operators in the Guanacaste province found more than 40 dead sea turtles on Tuesday, November 5th, and immediately alerted nature conservation o...

An ongoing lightning strike detection and measurement program conducted by the Electricity Institute of Costa Rica (Spanish initials: ICE) has tallied more than 1.6 million atmospheric discharges across the country since 2011, and Guanacaste seems to be the most electrifying province, followed by Alajuela and Heredia. With more than 600,000 recorded lightning strikes in 2012, Costa Rica is now one...

La Gran Vista, located just outside San Isidro de General in South Pacific Costa Rica, is an Environmental Conservation Project where students, volunteers, and visitors can learn how a tropical organic farm functions. We are an Educational Institute where individuals can learn how to milk a cow, harvest a mango tree, or use medicinal herbs. La Gran Vista gives everyone an opportunity to learn ab...

Playa Hermosa, Guanacaste - Come Join us this Saturday, November 16 at 10:30 AM to celebrate the raising of The Ecological Blue Flag on Playa Hermosa and to enjoy lunch and dancing during our Zumba Beach Party! Meet us on the Beach, right in the middle between the two beach entrances. You will hear the music and smell the food, so you can’t miss it. Everyone is invited. After we raise the flag...

Source: Wikimedia Commons Despite a significant downturn for the tourism industry in Costa Rica from 2009 to 2012, the theme parks in the province of Guanacaste have proven very resilient. According to a recent analysis by business reporter Leticia Vindas Quiros of financial weekly El Financiero, the theme parks of Costa Rica's gold coast have managed to weather the economic storm and also pre...

From the concrete jungle of Johannesburg, South Africa, to the wilds of the Costa Rican rainforest is quite a change. Two months ago, South African couple Gary Kritzinger and Shayne Mrazek left behind electric fences and heavy security, hour-long 6 km commutes, and a metropolitan beehive of 12 million people, for a different kind of jungle where their closest neighbors are tree frogs and toucans. ...

Source: Casa Presidencial Prior to the recent meeting between President Laura Chinchilla and Pope Francis at the Vatican, geopolitical analysts speculated on whether a certain delicate subject would be mentioned. We are talking about the dubious territorial claims over the northern regions of Costa Rica by the Nicaraguan regime of President Daniel Ortega, particularly the desire to “take back”...

Source: Flickr UPDATE: before you continue to read this news article below, be advised that there are some facts that are not correct and clarified by The Tico Times, please read this article and get your facts straight on what happened in Tamarindo. Big thanks to our friends at Witch's Rock Surf Camp for getting in contact with The Costa Rica Star to ensure correct information is provided to ...

Gandoca, Costa Rica — In an emotional reunion, Todd Steiner, Executive Director of Turtle Island Restoration Network, delivered a check for over $14,000 US to the family of Jairo Mora Sandoval, the sea turtle conservationist murdered earlier this year while protecting nesting sea turtles on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica. The funds were collected from some of the 150,000 individuals and ...

Hybrid Daewoo Bus Operates in Asia Fuel-efficiency and clean emissions will soon be part of the public transportation system of the Guanacaste province. As part of a greater effort to turn Costa Rica into a carbon neutral nation, the Reyna del Campo transportation firm of Guanacaste recently announced that it had obtained a line of credit from the Bank of Costa Rica (BCR) to finance the acquis...

Source; ACG Costa Rica As marine biologists and members of the National Coast Guard Service of Costa Rica scramble to investigate the mysterious massive death of dozens of green tropical sea turtles off the Pacific coast of Guanacaste, disheartening news reports are arriving: 23 marine turtle carcasses have washed in Playa La Flor in Nicaragua, and many of them are showing inscrutable signs of...

The Judicial Investigation Organism (OIJ) arrested three lawyers, who are serving preventive prison terms related to property fraud. Many of the properties involved are in the Nosara area. The investigation gathered force after the December 2012 edition of The Voice reported on 16 cases of fraudulent property registration transfers. By October, the office of NCCC Consultores reported 22 cases, ...

In a college atmosphere, the Youth and Politics Presidential Forum was attended by approximately 1000 people in the amphitheater of the University of Costa Rica (UCR) campus in Liberia on Wednesday, November 6. The activity was attended by presidential candidates Jose Maria Villalta of the Broad Front (FA- Frente Amplio) party, Jose Miguel Corrales, New Homeland (PN- Patria Nueva) and Luis Guil...

Recently, two women, both in their early 20s, have been attacked during the day by men on two separate occasions in the Nosara area. Both managed to escape, but the incidents have given rise to concern in the community and arrangements are being made to offer a free self-defense class for women. First, a woman, who wished her name to be kept anonymous, was attacked in an attempted rape on Octob...

Nine British companies will take part in the VI Summit of the American Police Summit (Ameripol), scheduled to take place in San José, Costa Rica, from November 11-13, at the Hotel Real Intercontinental. On November 12 and 13, British companies will have the opportunity to exhibit their vast range of security-related products and services at the venue. Organised by the UK Trade and Investment (U...

Tales of epic struggles with huge Marlin usually grab the sportfishing headlines, but there are other gamefish that provide anglers with just as much excitement. The majestic Tarpon, often referred to as the Silver King, is among the most popular of all catch-and-release sportfishing trophies. Pound for pound, this survivor of prehistoric times – the Tarpon is one of the world’s oldest fish; th...

Entomologists from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have described 277 new species of braconid wasps in the tribe Heterospilini. The braconid family, to which the tribe Heterospilini belongs, is a large and diverse group of parasitoid wasps. There are about 17,000 recognized wasp species and many thousands more undescribed. Most braconid wasps are internal and external parasito...

In 2004, a decree from the Minsitry of Environment and Energy (MINAE) banned vehicles from using a 200-meter stretch of road parallel to Guiones Beach, between the cemetery beach entrance next to Cacho’s surf rental and a residential area at the end of the road from Giardano Tropical where Nosara Travel´s office is located. On September 25, the road was reopened after a new resolution from MINAE r...