Space Junk. Source: NASA The human race has a seemingly unlimited capacity for producing waste, and this most unwelcome trait extends beyond our planet. Space junk, all those defunct satellites and miscellaneous debris that no longer serve a purpose, is growing at an alarming rate. This is something that the Ad Astra Rocket Company of Costa Rica is looking into. The issue of too much junk o...

Source: Fuerza Publica What do potato sack races, face-painting, community football leagues, magic tricks, balloon animals, and coloring books have in common? These are the secret weapons of crime prevention used by Fuerza Publica, the national police force of Costa Rica. Rookies who graduate from the National Police Academy of Costa Rica know that they will be expected to do two things in ...

File photo. Source: MSP Costa Rica The migratory patterns of certain marine species during the green (rainy) season prompt illegal fishermen and shark finning crews to ply their wicked trade in Cocos Island National Park, off the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. Tuna, sharks, large sea turtles, and even the curious-looking mola mola (ocean sunfish) are the typical catch that these poachers of Cost...

Source: Wikimedia Commons For more than four years, Sergeant gave his precious blood to his fellow canine species in Costa Rica. Until recently, the mixed breed male dog was a common sight at the Canine Blood Bank, which was organized by Veterinaria Machado in Heredia. Every four months, Sergeant would donate 450 ml of blood, but the dog’s age prompted veterinarians to retire him. Sergeant,...

Trade barriers between the EU, Costa Rica and El Salvador will be lifted as of 1 October 2013, when the trade pillar of the EU–Central America Association Agreement enters into application with these countries. The EU and Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama have been applying the Agreement since 1 August. Guatemala is finalizing procedures to allow for provisional application soon. This ambitious trade...

Source: Wikimedia Commons On October 1st, the Congress of the United States of America, through political inaction and disagreement, might end up “shutting down the government.” What this means is that a number of non-essential services will not be provided until Congress agrees on a budget resolution for the next fiscal year. For Costa Rica, the U.S. government shutting down would cause a cou...

Watching an enormous crocodile approaching from a river bank is enough to make most of us run a mile. But not for these intrepid tour guides who give a completely new meaning to the phrase “staring danger in the face”. The astonishing video below shows the men standing just inches from the giant reptiles as they hand feed them chunks of chicken. Jose Eduardo Chaves Salas, 32, runs Jose's ...

The Arms Trade Treaty is part of a larger global effort begun in 1997 by Costa Rican President and 1987 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Óscar Arias. Costa Rican Foreign Minister Enrique Castillo announced last Wednesday afternoon that 107 nations have signed the Arms Trade Treaty, an initiative of Costa Rica that was approved by the United Nations last April. However, only six countries (Costa R...

In early September, Costa Rica’s Security Minister Mario Zamora announced a multi-agency strategy involving security forces, the Public Ministry and the Judicial Investigation Organization. But he wasn’t targeting drug trafficking or violence; he was striking out at cattle theft. The announcement came two weeks after a Nicaraguan farmer with connections to Costa Rica was murdered alongside his ...

The Costa Rica Star previously published on the amount of Marijuana grown and consumed in Costa Rica versus the rest of the world. You don’t need dirt to grow a garden of organic vegetables and herbs. Hydroponics is a method of growing plants without soil, using mineral nutrient solutions in water as fertilizer. The agricultural practice offers economic benefits, healthier food, no pesti...

The Costa Rica Star recently reported on how Papaya seeds can defend your body against dengue fever contraction. This time of year, at fruit stands on the streets or in the supermarkets you are likely to find the spiky red Rambutan fruit, also known as mamon chino. This fruit has been employed in traditional medicine in Malaysia and Indonesia for hundreds of years as a treatment for various ail...

The Municipality of Nicoya will establish an environmental park on 15 hectares that were purchased during the administration of former County mayor Eduardo Gutiérrez to build a much-needed landfill. The reason why the park has been planned, instead of the landfill, is because the land is not suitable for a dump. Furthermore, the lot was purchased for about $330,000 (₡165 million), but according...

The Costa Rica Star recently reported on the 3-1 win for the Ticos against the U.S. in World Cup qualifying. The FIFA World Cup solid gold trophy will arrive in Costa Rica today, as it travels the world to return to Brazil for the start of the World Cup games from June 12 to July 13, 2014. The first time the Original FIFA World Cup Trophy made an unprecedented tour was in 2006. This is the t...

The Interlinea – intersectoral bus routes of San José – got closer to reality yesterday with the publishing in La Gaceta of the government decree reviving the plan that stalled in 2008. The Consejo de Transporte Público (CTP) now has three working days to put the plan into action, with the objective of providing relief to the traffic congestion cause by the temporary closure of the Circunvalaci...

The Costa Rica Star recently published about the legend of the phoenix and how social media is helping the president regain supporters. In an interview with the Spanish newspaper El País, Costa Rican president Laura Chinchilla Miranda said that there is no corruption in her government and there is free speech, without any kind of censorship to any dissident group, political party, etc. The i...

San Jose, Costa Rica’s capital city, is the fourth city in the world most vulnerable to natural disasters, according to a report by Swiss re-insurer, Schweizer Rück (Swiss Re). Swiss Re, is a leading wholesale provider of reinsurance, insurance and other insurance-based forms of risk transfer. The report reads: “In some conurbations, a natural disaster can have a devastating effect on the e...

My last guest article on The Costa Rica Star was about what to drink in Costa Rica. But, hey, we gotta eat too, right? So, this article will focus on 10 common Costa Rican foods that will have you eating like a Tico on your Costa Rica vacation. Enjoy! 1. Gallo Pinto – this is the signature Costa Rican dish. While it exists in other countries (Nicaragua, for instance), it is ubiquitous at the Ti...

The National Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica was included in the list of nominees for the 2013 Latin Grammy Awards. The nomination corresponds to a composition on the disc Symphonic Bossa Nova (video below of live performance), which ran in the category of best contemporary classical composition, thanks to Abertura Jobiniana composed by Rafael Piccolotto of Lima, in which the orchestra is dir...

Gwadar, before the earthquake. Flickr CC In the aftermath of the terrible earthquake in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, a new island has emerged off the coast of Gwadar, leaving the people of Costa Rica to ponder about two things: 1 – The geotectonic birth of our country in the Jurassic period, and 2 – How long before President Daniel Ortega claims the new island as part of Nicaragua (insert...

If you would like The Costa Rica Star to publish your business press release, please contact us. El Castillo, COSTA RICA – September 26 – Rancho Margot, innovator and educator in sustainable community development, permaculture and self-sufficiency, continues to build on a holistic lifestyle approach and will host two, 200-Hour Yoga Teacher Trainings (YTT) at its Center for Natural Living in 201...

How many species live on the Earth? Scientists estimate roughly 8.7 million, according to a study in the journal PLoS Biology, published by the Public Library of Science. The crucial point, however, is that approximately 83% of those plant and animal species have yet to be discovered. Scientists calculate that there are probably 6.5 million species living on land, and 2.2 million in the ocean, ...

Source: Facebook At a recent lingerie fashion show in Costa Rica, a Colombian model who also performed as a singer onstage was asked by daily tabloid Diario Extra: “So what did you think of the show?” to which she responded “Awesome, you know? I love the people of Puerto Rico!” You can cue the trombones at this point, but the fact is that Costa Rica gets confused with Puerto Rico more often th...

Los Suenos. Source: Wikimedia Commons A significant drop in sports fishing tourism and the global financial crisis are to blame for causing investors to shy away from marina projects in Costa Rica. According to a recent report by business journalist Ana Cristina Camacho Sandoval of El Financiero, out of 21 marina projects that filed for permits in 2007, only nine remain -and they are all stall...

Source: Wikimedia Commons Video game enthusiasts in Costa Rica and around the world have waited for two major events in 2013. One of those events recently took place: The release of Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto V, which managed to pull $1 billion in sales in less than a week. The other event is the forthcoming: The release of the long-awaited Xbox One console by Microsoft, which might end ...

Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla-Miranda highlighted in an address to the United Nations today the contribution of young people to the new development agenda through innovation and the use of new technologies. “Increasingly, innovation, technology, education and culture are recognized as promoters of development, and there is a growing consciousness on the need of actively incorporating y...

Happy and proud of the hard work done. In this way the soccer team of Torito and Sámara Schools finished as runners up in the province’s 2013 Student Tournament. The championship game was against the team from Alba Ocampo School in Liberia. In the first leg, which took place in the Torito soccer field (Plaza de Football del Torito) in Sámara this past September 18th, the score was 1-4 against t...

San José Costa Rica has the largest per capital density of fast food outlets in the world, according to restaurant chamber. 45% of Cámara Costarricense de Restaurantes (CACORE) – Costa Rican Chamber of Restaurants – member restauranteurs consider the biggest challenge of their business is the current oversupply. The wave of openings of restaurant chains and individual locations occurring in th...

Lots of music, dancing and fun for all ages. In this way the community of Playa Brasilito will celebrate World Tourism Day on Friday, September 27th. The activities will begin at 11:00 AM and will take place in the communal center (Salón Comunal) and Brasilito’s sports field (Plaza de Deportes de Brasilito). Jason Vargas, head of the tourism management department of the police in Playa Brasi...

The Ministerio de Educación (MEP) – Ministry of Education – tops the list of the 10 top public institutions spending the most on wages, followed by the Caja Costarricense del Seguro Social (CCSS) – Social Security in English. According to a report by El Financiero, the MEP spends ¢991.7 billion colones annually on wages, while the CCSS ¢946.1 billion. See chart below. Following the list (in ...

The Costa Rica Star recently reported on how Gollo and the Ministry of Health are working together to fight dengue fever in Costa Rica. Mauricio Monge, manager of chainstore Gollo's Grecia outlet, was freed early Saturday after being held hostage by four criminals who attempted to rob the store Friday night. The quartet surrendered themselves to police after five tense hours of negotiation w...

With determination, the group of five police officers line up next to their patrol vehicle for a photograph, following the order of their captain, Omar Chavarria, who introduces me and explains my job. Four men and one woman made up the team that would go out on the afternoon of Friday, August 16, as part of the operations being performed by a new division of the Nicoya Public Force that was fo...

Normally, you don’t see tough, radical conservationists attending lectures by land developers. But there they were, 100 strong, from the Nature Conservancy, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and from all over Latin America – all raptly listening to how land development can actually preserve forests. Nervous before his formidable audience, Guillermo Piedra Gonzalez e...

One of the biggest thrills in birding is to chance upon a bird that has wandered far out of its normal range. In Central America, the majority of these accidental species have come from North America, but there have also been a number of sightings of vagrants from South America. The most recent addition to the list of South American birds that have strayed to Central America is the Maguari St...

Moody's Investors Service lowered its outlook on Costa Rica to negative, citing worries about the Central American nation's rising debt burden and legislative logjam to address those woes. The ratings firm said large fiscal deficits and a rising debt burden are the main risks to Costa Rica's credit ratings. Though the government debt burden remains lower than average for its ratings group, i...

In the latest poll results by Unimer for La Nacion, Johnny Araya maintains a clear lead over his rivals for the presidential chair that will be emptied by Laura Chinchilla in May 2014. Araya, presidential candidate for the Partido Liberación Nacional (PLN) – also known as the “verdiblanco” (green white) party – has the support of 27.5% of the 1,206 people polled between September 6 and 12. T...

Christian Marin-Muller, molecular biologist and business manager with a PhD in molecular virology, is the 33 year old Costa Rican that has what few scientists achieve in life: a patent for a vaccine. From his laboratory at Baylor College of Medecine in Texas, Marín paved the way for a vaccine against pancreatic cancer. The vaccine is not preventive, rather it is a therapeutic vaccine that is...

The average family in Costa Rica will see a break in the ever increasing cost of living in the country. With a reduction in the electrical consumption rates between ¢1,200 and ¢2,600 monthly, if the consumer uses less than 200 kilowatt hours per month. The Autoridad Reguladora de los Servicios Públicos (Aresep) approved Monday a decrease of 13.6% for all electrical energy distributors, due ...

The nation's child welfare agency PANI has filed formal charges with prosecutors for two photos that appeared on Facebook of the parents profiles. In the first case, the video shows a baby drinking liquid from a beer bottle. In the second, posted this week, the image on another Facebook profile shows a child of apparently two or three years old holding a revolver in one hand while making what a...

The 2013 XTERRA USA Championship proved that there is no specific formula for success, especially when it comes to XTERRA experience. Leonardo Chacon took the overall title in his first appearance at the XTERRA USA Championship, and just the third XTERRA race of his career. Meanwhile on the women’s side, Lesley Paterson captured the title for the second consecutive year, continuing her amazi...

If you would like The Costa Rica Star to publish your business press release, please contact us. Today, the Costa Rica Tourism Board announces goCostaRica, a new travel iPad app created by advertising agency 22squared and developed by MaxMedia. The app allows travelers to explore Costa Rica through a selection of videos, photos and interactive maps. Users can also build their own Precatio...