Five members of the University of Costa Rica (UCR) came to study the state of the reefs of both Samara and Carrillo. In charge of this expedition was Juan José Alvarado Barrientos, professor of biology and a specialist in coral reef ecology. The Voice of Guanacaste had the opportunity to interview him about the importance of our reefs, their current state and keys for maintenance. After the stu...

When renting an apartment or house in Costa Rica people should always have their lawyer look over the rental contract before signing it. Nevertheless, there are a few things you should know to avoid misunderstandings and headaches down the road. (1) The amount of the monthly rent should be stipulated in a written contract. (2) The amount that the rent may be increased yearly if in colones. ...

Earlier tonight when listening to 99.5FM radio dos we heard Joe Walsh of Witch's Rock Surf Camp mention they have a new webcam that shows the conditions for surfing in both Tamarindo and Playa Grande. Which is a nice treat for both locals and people who are on vacation to check the conditions before heading down to the beach to set out on a day of adventure catching waves and hanging out in the su...

Introduction to Costa Rica If you’re looking for an epic environmentally friendly surf trip, Costa Rica should be high up on your list. As we’ll point out in this Costa Rica Surf Guide, there are so many cool things to see and do, especially along the Pacific and Caribbean coasts. Whether you’re looking to relax and completely disconnect or you’d like to incorporate a bit of adventure into ...

Source: FEDEFUTBOL CR After a shutout victory against Cuba, members of the Costa Rica National Football Team are ready to face their Belizean counterparts, who are in the midst of an investigation by the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) on bribes and nasty allegations of match fixing. Costa Rican fans will see a radically changed lineup of th...

A sharp increase in real estate acquisition and development by foreign investors in Costa Rica contributed $377 million to the national economy in the first quarter of 2013 (Q1). In real estate offices around the Central Valley, purchasing activity during the first three months of the year climbed by 13 percent when compared to the previous year. According to a report by Oscar Rodriguez of La Nac...

There are many exciting things to do in Costa Rica like zip-lining, snorkeling, or horseback riding on the beach. However, nothing will elicit a bigger reaction from locals than discovering their road is finally getting paved. It’s not often this happens, but when it does you can all but hear your neighbors holler “hallelujah” from their porches. The Project Begins The dirt road from Surfsid...

Written by Sunny A. M. Fitzgerald.  Dedicated to anyone who has lived, worked, or played in rural Costa Rica. Please feel free to add your “Sure Signs” in the comments section below. Pura vida! 1. You were never considered a “morning person,” but now you don’t even require an alarm clock; the sun beaming into your bedroom window and the birds chirping wake you up quite consistently. And t...

Quiznos, the pioneer of the toasted sandwich, announced it will work closely with its suppliers to eliminate controversial pig “gestation crates” from its supply chain between 2017 and 2022. The cages, used to confine breeding pigs, have been criticized in recent years by animal welfare advocates and the food industry alike, and Quiznos had introduced some gestation crate-free pork into its restau...

Rob and Nadine Pisani were successful business owners in New Jersey, but when the stress of their lives landed Rob in the hospital, they decided it was time leave it all behind and start over in Costa Rica. Five years later, they are happier and healthier than ever. Rob is in a band, Nadine has written a book, and they wake up every morning excited to see what the day will bring. From shopping for...

Source: Wikimedia Commons Environmentalist Jairo Mora Sandoval was the victim of a violent and senseless murder, but his life was not in vain. Case in point: Around 82 leatherback sea turtle hatchlings were released by the volunteers of the Widecast environmental protection non-profit organization this past weekend in Moin, province of Limon. These hatchlings emerged from the eggshells and nests...

Source: Flickr Creative Commons Yes, espionage and monitoring take place in Costa Rica, but not to the Orwellian extent carried out by the United States. Unpleasant snooping activities in Costa Rica have been revealed in the past; in fact, there is an ongoing legislative effort to either shut down or minimize the National Directorate of Intelligence and Security (DIS), an agency tasked with prot...

For the first time all fishing sectors are working together on a common goal in Costa Rica. To have more fish so everyone can work in harmony. Nearly 100,000 people depend on commercial and sport fishing to maintain their families and each year there are less and less fish to go around. After years of throwing rocks at each other, the commercial and sport fishing began meeting to discuss ways to m...

A makeshift Costa Rica/United States flag arrangement flies in Portland. Source: Twitter The national football (or soccer, if you must go there) teams of Costa Rica and the United States delivered goal-fests against their respective Cuban and Belizean foes last night at the Jeld-Wen Field in Portland, Oregon. Fans who purchased tickets for both games were in football heaven: Costa Rica opened t...

Mobile internet usage in Costa Rica has increased by nearly 60 percent over the past twelve months. Nearly half of mobile customers are currently using mobile data services on their handsets, according to a study by local newspaper El Financiero. Costa Rican operator ICE reports that over 38.2 percent of its mobile customers are using smartphones. Around 50 percent of Movistar’s user base is us...

Michael Barrantes scored a pair of second-half goals and Costa Rica defeated Cuba 3-0 Tuesday night in the opening round of the CONCACAF Gold Cup. Barrantes broke open a scoreless match with a left-footed goal from the top of the box that got past diving Cuban goalkeeper Odelin Molina in the 51st minute. He added another goal in the 77th minute after Jairo Arrieta's scored in the 71st, exten...

At the recent Expoinnova 2013 fair of invention and ingenuity organized by the University of Costa Rica, one exhibitor's clever product stood out: Cookies made with the crushed and finely pulverized larvae of beetles. Equally ingenious is the name of these cookies: Buzzcrunch. The inventors of these elaterid-based delicacy admitted that their product is clearly destined for marketing to curious to...

Bitcoin, a controversial digital currency that is being widely adopted in many parts of the world, is not likely to make too much of a splash in Costa Rica. This is a sad fact of reality since the peer-to-peer nature of Bitcoin will probably appeal to many Ticos who do not trust in their Central Bank's ability to balance the value of the national currency against inflation and pressure from other ...

This article was provided by BNAmericas.com, the leading business and technology insight website for Latin America. Mobile operators Claro and Movistar are calling on Costa Rican authorities to clarify the nation's spectrum management policy. Clear spectrum regulation would ensure fair competition between firms and attract investment, Claro executive Victor García was quoted as saying in a r...

On Monday, Costa Rica printed a controversial law in its official publication, La Gaceta, that could open the door to gay marriage. The measure, a reform of the country's Young Persons Law, modifies part of the code covering civil unions, or what could be called common-law marriages, between those who have been co-habitating for three or more years. It outlines “the recognition of the right, wi...

The world of international fashion and modeling already includes a few names from Costa Rica such as Juliana Herz, but Leonora Jimenez Monge is the closest we have to a supermodel. The achingly beautiful blonde, who is a native of Santa Ana, has graced catwalks in the major European haute couture (high fashion) capitals. Her classic looks and solemn demeanor give her a timeless beauty that designe...

A rising drug cartel from the state of Michoacan de Ocampo, located on the Southern Pacific coast of Mexico, is having a hard time establishing its operations in Costa Rica. Old-fashioned police work by members of Fuerza Publica, the Organization of Judicial Investigations (OIJ in Spanish) and the Drug Control Police (PCD in Spanish) is thwarting the nefarious work of the Caballeros Templarios (Kn...

This is a creative writing style Blog article from Scott Alexander, a photographer who calls Costa Rica home and is not afraid to get out and find the best photos ops in all of the land. I wonder for a moment if the lack of oxygen to my brain is why I am suddenly rationalizing, "If I'm going to find a monkey, I need to think like a monkey." Then I realize that I have not a clue how a monkey th...

A good way to summarize the frantic activity in the days leading up to President Barack Obama's historic visit to Costa Rica back in early May is by the use of onomatopoeia: THUD-THUD-THUD-THUD. Such is the distinct audio signature of a Sikorsky UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter as its massive rotor blades cut through the air, and it is what the skies over San Jose and its surrounding districts sounded l...

The Jaco Rays Club Sport Herediano (CSH) is the reigning champion of First Division football (or soccer for readers who insist) in Costa Rica, but that did not seem to prevent the second division team Jaco Rays from beating them during a visit by the champs to the beach. CSH traveled to the Garabito Stadium on Saturday night, and left with a loss to the Rays by a single goal. The goal by Jaco s...

Tip: it's important to note that in remote parts of Costa Rica your best chance of finding anti-venom for a snake bite is at a veterinarian clinic, even for bites that effect humans. Most CCSS medical clinics in remote locations do not have anti-venom. Fer-de-lance pit vipers, known as terciopelos in Costa Rica, are wreaking havoc in many rural areas across the country. Two children are the lat...

San Jose, Costa Rica – July 7, 2013 – Amatierra, a unique mountain Yoga retreat and wellness center located in the pristine mountains of Costa Rica, and the privileged recipient of the 2013 TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence, is happy to announce their current promotions. These new promotions are ideal for travelers who are looking to get away and immerse themselves in a surrounding of sere...

News reports of a proposed inter-oceanic canal in Nicaragua to be developed with a sizable investment by China have stirred up geopolitical debate not only in Central America but around the world. Costa Rica has every reason to monitor the situation, but the news reports and Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega's rhetoric on the matter are also being followed by international news outlets. An edito...

Approximately 800,000 smuggled tobacco cigarettes are smoked in Costa Rica every day, an estimate that represents a 19 percent increase over the previous year. To get an idea of this quantity and its impact, imagine that a shipping container completely filled with packs of smuggled cigarettes enters Costa Rica every two weeks, with the caveat that the government and the people do not enjoy revenu...

Aedes aegypti mosquito, known dengue carrier. In Costa Rica and other countries located in the tropics and subtropics, advisories related to dengue fever are typically issued around this time each year. For this 2013 rainy season, however, Minister of Health Daisy Corrales has added some alarming statistics to go along with her annual advisory: There have been three recent deaths due to de...

File photo According to media reports of documents leaked by former spy agency contractor Edward Snowden, the United States National Security Agency (NSA) is capable of running a virtual wiretap on magicJack and other Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) communications. The NSA has admitted that it collects information about telephone calls originating from ...

Source: Widecast San Jose, Costa Rica - The senseless and thus far unsolved murder of the young environmentalist and biologist Jairo Mora Sandoval while he protected the delicate ecosystem of Playa Moin in Limon, where leatherback sea turtles massively arrive to nest, has prompted dialog between public officials and environmental protection groups to ensure that Jairo's legacy be continued and h...

President Morales, left, speaks with former President Lula of Brazil Naranjo, Costa Rica - President Laura Chinchilla is the latest Latin American leader to extend support to her Bolivian counterpart President Evo Morales on the matter of being forced to land in Austria on suspicions of fugitive Edward Snowden being aboard the presidential aircraft. President Morales and his Bolivian delegation ...

If you are familiar with products released by the Mozilla Foundation, such as the popular Firefox web browser, you might be interested in the latest offerings by smartphone manufacturers Alcatel and ZTE. Earlier this week, the Mozilla Foundation and its strategic partners announced the release of the ZTE Open and Alcatel Touch, two smartphones powered by the new Firefox OS mobile operating system....

The friendly skies over Costa Rica are attracting the attention of airlines and business leaders who see plenty of opportunities to generate handsome profits. The abrupt cancellation of a handful of flight and the summary layoff of more than two hundred employees by the airline Taca back in May left a sour taste in the air travel industry of Costa Rica, but recent news point to a positive recovery...

A nice and lovingly made cup of coffee is a perfect way to lift anyone's spirits, specially when someone else paid for it out of the kindness of their heart. Such is the underlying philosophy of cafe pendiente, a philanthropic practice that essentially consists of treating someone to a cup of coffee without even looking at the beneficiary. Cafe pendiente is a trend that recently started to make i...

Everyone who has been diving out of Playas del Coco, Costa Rica has their own story. Whether it is seeing the biggest sea turtle you have ever seen come out of a hidden canyon on the back side of the Bat Islands, coming upon a group of adolescent Humpback Whales with their Mother calling in the distance out at Santa Elena Point, being engulfed by a huge school of fish only to have them ins...

A happy man who studies happiness: Prof. Ruut Veenhoven Although Costa Rica’s number one position on the World Database of Happiness has been publicized ad nauseam, skeptics and detractors have questioned the validity of the research. How can the people of a developing country with limited resources and a conservative, social-democratic system government riddled with corruption and bureaucracy...

Costa Rica’s only brewpub, Volcano Brewing Company, is moving to the Pacific Coast and beaches of Tamarindo in Guanacaste. Since first opening its doors in 2011, Volcano Brewing Company has been providing delicious microbrewed beer, tasty cuisine and plenty of smiles and unique experiences to a large part of northern Costa Rica, for both locals and visitors alike. With a long­ awaited plan for ...

ARC Valle del Cauca. Source: Colombian Navy Public Affairs On Friday, June 21st, the Vice Ministers of the Presidency and Public Safety along with the Director of Costa Rica's National Coast Guard Service welcomed the Valle del Cauca, a Colombian Navy patrol boat with a crew of about 100. The Valle del Cauca docked in Caldera for more than 1o days and was set to sail today. A few days later, th...