College Week wrapped up on Friday September 6, after five days of recreational and cultural activities involving the Nicoyan public and students of the National University (UNA). For Daniela Alvarez, from the Student Association and member of the event’s organizing committee, the activity was a success because it had the support of students as well as a large number of Nicoyans. "The purpos...

Costa Rican officials want to close down public zoos and set the animals free. But releasing zoo animals into the wild is not quite so simple as it may seem. Costa Rica has long been known for the rich biodiversity its natural environments offer - and it is continuing to new steps to protect wildlife. The Central American country had previously banned the use of animals in circuses and sport h...

Source: Wikimedia Commons A late-August law enforcement interagency operation in Costa Rica deployed nearly one hundred officers who cracked down on illegal street racing at different points in the Greater San Jose Metropolitan Area (Spanish acronym: GAM). More than 1,000 vehicles and their drivers were intercepted at new gathering spots where illegal drag racers congregate. According to Ro...

Source: Wikimedia Commons Standing in line (or queuing up) for long periods of time is a staple of life in Costa Rica, but not everyone is willing to readily accept this social convention. Complaining about the inefficiency of services offered by Costa Rica's public and private sectors is a national pastime, which is actually better enjoyed at while standing in a long and serpentine line, but ...

Source: Flickr Creative Commons People in Costa Rica have equal access to education, but one gender has learned to take better advantage of this civil right. One of the goals behind Costa Rica's new country branding campaign is to showcase the high level of education of her people insofar as Latin America is concerned. Costa Rica has a significant edge when it comes to funding public educat...

Source: Twitter #laselecr A 1 – 1 tie between the National Football Teams of Jamaica and Costa Rica allowed the Ticos to secure a berth in the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, although the celebrations across the Central American country did not get started until one hour after the match ended at Independence Park in Kingston. A victory in Ohio by CONCACAF rivals United States against a lackl...

Ticos Air, the new Costa Rican airline on Monday presented the relevant documentation to the Dirección General de Aviación Civil (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) for the certificate of operation of several international destinations. The company says its goal is to fly first from Costa Rica to Mexico and then incorporate other routes. Last May Avianca announced the elimination of five...

It took some 8,000 use plastic bottles to create the work that aims to raise the awareness about the amount of discarded plastic material in the country. Artist Francesco Bracci used the thousands of discarded plastic bottles to form a missile that hangs overhead on Avenida Central (the Boulevard or Bulevar in Spanish). Bracci’s idea is to catch the attention of passerby and create an awaren...

Geneva / San José (ICRC) – The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is today inaugurating the second conference of national committees for the implementation of international humanitarian law of the Americas, in San José, Costa Rica. “The conference is a unique forum for regular dialogue between States, government experts and academics about international humanitarian law,” said Patr...

Back in June of 2010 and also in September of 2011, The Voice of Guanacaste published two articles that described the situation of the EBAIS clinic in Nosara and also the lack of funds to fix those problems. The most critical issue was the growth in the population of Nosara and the surrounding areas, but having the same amount of doctors, supplies and space at the clinic to provide the needed serv...

You too can be a responsible water consumer when you travel – re-use your towels at your hotel more than a day, ask that your bed linens not be changed daily, take a shower instead of a bath, wear water-resistant sunblock – these are some of the ways you can help protect the world’s clean water sources. Water conservation is the focus of this year’s United Nations World Tourism Day on September...

This is a guest article by Bill Grinstead of CostaRecon.com. The views and opinions shared herein are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star. You must be 18 years or older in Costa Rica to drink alcohol in a bar, please observe and follow the law. You can definitely get by in Costa Rica without learning Spanish, but I’m not sure why you’d want to. I’ve had plenty of English-speaking frien...

My identity is somewhere in that stack.The Costa Rica Star has recently published information about receiving your permanent residency in Costa Rica to avoid border runs, wasting time, and money. Over the weekend, I took a trip up to Nicaragua to get a new stamp in my passport. Costa Rica issues ninety-day tourist visas so if you are an expat trying to carve out a life here and you don't have...

Author’s Note: The following analysis and opinion of the video produced by the “Essential Costa Rica” branding initiative has been adapted into English from the online blog of Luis Paulino Vargas Solis, which also appeared in online news publication Informa-Tico. Mr. Vargas is the internal director of the Investigative Center on Culture and Development of the National Distance Learning University....

Still from a Costa Rican short film entry. Luck has not run out for film lovers in Costa Rica. Hollywood celebrities such as Danny Glover were recently here at the Flowers of the Diaspora Film Festival in honor of Afro-Costa Rican Heritage Month, and the 2013 Costa Rica International Film Festival, Peace with Earth, is scheduled for October 11th to the 19th. Before then, however, shnit will go...

Source: Joel Campbell's Facebook Timeline Encouraged by the recent 3 – 1 revenge victory against the United States, Costa Rica is ready to face the Jamaican National Football Team and secure a berth in the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. Costa Rica does not have home field advantage this time around, and although some factors are coming together in favor of La Sele, a key player feels that Jama...

A new mobile application for business account holders and a system for easy domestic money transfers in Costa Rica are the latest offerings by Banco Nacional. BN Movil Empresarial is a mobile application for smartphones powered by the Android operating system, as well as Apple iPhone and iPad devices. This new service is an electronic platform especially designed for business account holders wh...

Today is Día del Niño (Children's Day) here in Costa Rica and I had the chance to celebrate with the kids, parents and teacher from the Escuela de Playa Hermosa Guanacaste in Carrillo. The Playa Hermosa School is a small school with 25 students in grades 1 through 7. It's quite literally a "one room schoolhouse" run tightly and passionately by it's headmaster (maestro) and teacher, Mr. Javier Rosa...

If you would like The Costa Rica Star to publish your business press release, please contact us. Costa Rica has 801 miles of coastline along with scenic rainforests, and the Los Suenos Marriott Ocean & Golf Resort wants visitors to take in as much as they can while visiting. So, for bookings through Sept. 28, 2013, the resort in Costa Rica is offering one of the premier Costa Rica vacation p...

Costa Rica can take another step towards the World Cup finals when they face a Jamaica side on the brink of elimination on Tuesday. Jorge Luis Pinto's team moved into first place in the final stage of Concacaf qualifying group for Brazil 2014 thanks to a 3-1 win over the United States on Friday. Goals from Jhonny Acosta, Celso Borges and Joel Campbell in San Jose put Costa Rica one point cl...

A survey of youth conducted by the Young People's Council of the Ministry of Culture shows that young people generally agree on the need for sex education classes in high school but are deeply critical of the courses offered early this school year. The Education Ministry was tardy in implementing such a course, under Minister Leonardo Fournier, and against a push back by Evangelicals and other ...

According to El Financiero, the first two stores will be strictly ice cream parlors, while a third location planned for Curridabat, on the east side of San José, will be the fast casual style of Dairy Queen (DQ) stores in the United States. The Costa Rica franchise is being developed by Honduran businessman Miguel Hernández, who immigrated to Costa Rica a decade ago and with his brothers Frank ...

The Costa Rica Star previously published about Mara Street gangs and why they have not spread to Costa Rica in volume. A study of gender roles in Central America's "maras" sheds light on the dual role of women, who are simultaneously violently exploited and heavily relied on by male gang members. The study "Violent and Abused", a joint initiative between several non-governmental organization...

New York — A powerful cohort of women leaders from +35 countries including Christiana Figueres the Executive Secretary at United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and Lorena Aguilar the Global Senior Advisor for International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) both from Costa Rica, will come together in New York later this month to take bold action on climate change ...

Source: Wikimedia Commons Workers in Costa Rica are feeling the pinch of globalization and inflation as their salaries stagnate and their consumption patterns increase. According to a recent radio feature aired by Radio Monumental, 93.5 FM, most people in Costa Rica believe that upward salary adjustments in the next 12 months will not be sufficient to support their lifestyle. As the 39th co...

File photo of CELAC with the late President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela With just 124,609 of her citizens residing abroad, Costa Rica has the lowest rate of emigration in Central America and one of the lowest of Latin America and the Caribbean. This is in sharp contrast to the overall Latin American immigration phenomenon around the world, which counts with 25 million people and makes up 13 perce...

Free Syrian Army forces fighting in urban terrain. Source: Flickr CC. Recent communications by Costa Rica's Ministry of Foreign Affairs reiterate the country's allegiance to, and respect of, International Law and Human Rights with regard to the conflict in Syria. The diplomatic mission of  Costa Rica to the United Nations expressed the Central American nation's repudiation of the use of che...

Source: Flickr CC If there is something that foreign visitors and residents of Costa Rica quickly learn is that lining up (or queuing up) is a tradition. Costa Rica thrives on long lines and waiting times; this is how business is done and how errands are accomplished. It has been this way for quite some time and is unlikely to change any time soon; it is also highly inefficient, but there may ...

The Southern Caribbean Society of the School for the Arts (Spanish acronym: EDACS), the Municipality of Talamanca and the Chamber of Tourism and Commerce of the Southern Caribbean (Spanish acronym: CATCCAS) cordially invite you to ArteViva, a special festival that features art, music, gastronomy, film, sports, and a permanent program in arts for the people of Puerto Viejo in Talamanca, Costa Rica....

Source: Wikimedia CommonsCaring for companion animals has always been an important aspect of life in Costa Rica, but over the last few years this activity has turned into a lucrative industry. This is part of the greater Latin American Pet Boom, which has been closely followed by the business world. For veterinarians in Costa Rica, the Pet Boom means increased profit opportunities. According t...

Source: Facebook The death of a pizzeria owner in a sleepy beach town in Costa Rica has many expats wondering what may have happened to the 36-year old man. Jose Elkin Gomez Sanchez had been missing since Thursday, August 15th, when Costa Rica was busy celebrating Mother's Day and the Feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. His body was found floating off Playa Flamingo, province of Guanac...

This is a list of photos that we at The Costa Rica Star feel should be retired and never again used by any Costa Rican tourism company. These photos below have been used over and over again, online and in print advertising for many years, often without the approval or consent of the copyright holder to the photo. It's time that tourism operators and businesses spend some money to get new photos...

If you would like The Costa Rica Star to publish your business press release, please contact us. Costa Rica´s ecotourism industry, which is committed to sustainability and responsible tourism, is preparing the fourth edition of the Planet, People, and Peace International Conference, to be held from November 3rd to 6th at the National Auditorium of the Children´s Museum. The conference will a...

If you would like The Costa Rica Star to publish your business press release, please contact us. The International Pineapple Organization (IPO) is pleased to announce the IPO Global Pineapple Conference which will be held in San Jose, Costa Rica on Friday November 01, 2013 at the San Jose Marriott Hotel. Join Major Stakeholders from the Global Pineapple Industry as we discuss critical issue...

We had the privilege to spend the day with the team at Croc's Casino Resort preparing content for an upcoming article, however there are a few photos below of the updated construction process as of September 7th 2013. The construction has come a very long way since the opening media event and ground breaking party that we attended a few months ago. It looks as though they are on track for a Decemb...

In many places around the world, this remedy has been used to treat countless maladies, from digestive problems to allergies to skin issues, while at the same time improving conditions in diabetes and Alzheimer’s, increasing energy and boosting metabolism. It’s not a miracle cure, nor a pharmaceutical breakthrough. Rather, it is simple coconut oil. Coconut oil’s popularity in the Western wo...

During a recent trip to Jaco, I learned about a free community newspaper called The Jaco Journal, photo herein. Print media is not doing very well as an industry globally, as everyone moves online and uses smart phones, however hyper local print newspapers will always have a marketplace and locals will read them in volume. Especially a great service like this in English for expats and English ...

What do a tomato, blueberry, onion and dark chocolate have in common? No, it’s not some weird recipe. They are “superfoods,” so-called by doctors and nutrition and health experts for their amazing beneficial properties that can help you keep the right weight, fight off heart disease and cancer, live longer, and even put you in a better mood. You don't need specific foods for specific ailment...

The United States didn't just lose a World Cup qualifier at Costa Rica. The Americans likely will be missing four players for Tuesday night's match against Mexico in Columbus, Ohio. Johnny Acosta and Celso Borges scored as Costa Rica burst ahead in the first nine minutes, Joel Campbell added a goal on a late counterattack and the Ticos beat the visiting United States 3-1 Friday night at San Jos...

The second meeting of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) on Migration began in San Jose yesterday, with interesting proposals that opened the discussion among delegations. Among the initiatives is the creation of regional consulates in certain parts of the world that deal with the problems of emigrants from CELAC countries, as well as the establishment of mobile consul...