On May 14, three people fled – or were chased – away from a narco submarine in Playa Llorona in Osa Peninsula in southwestern Costa Rica’s Corcovado Park. They left behind their ominous-looking gray homemade boat. The Fuerza Publica, Border Police and Coast Guard seized more than two tons of cocaine neatly stored aboard the otherwise messy boat’s interior. There have been several such boats found ...

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced that Costa Rica does not comply with International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) safety standards and has been assigned a Category 2 rating based on a reassessment of the country’s civil aviation authority. A Category 2 International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) rating means the country either lack...

Costa Rican authorities received the alert from the US Coast Guard Service on a semi-submersible boat in waters of the Pacific; immediately the Costa Rican Coast Guard Service with the assistance of US Coast Guard Service organized the patrolling operation and after a chase they finally intercepted the vessel at 3 a.m. on Saturday close to Playa Llorona in Corcovado. “The weather conditions a...

A 6.0 magnitude earthquake shook Costa Rica the afternoon of this Sunday, May 12 at 1:24 p.m., its epicenter was in the South Zone of the country in Corredores, Puntarenas near the Panama boarder; this first movement was followed by several replicas with magnitudes of between 3.0 and 3.9; another important earthquake was registered at 7:01 p.m. with a magnitude of 4.8 on Richter scale, this one wi...

The third edition this year of the Art City Tour is scheduled to take place May 15, “Chepe de Moda” (“Chepe in Style”, Chepe being the way Costa Ricans’ refer to the capital city of San Jose)w will connect once again activities in different museums, galleries, cultural centers, historical buildings and open spaces in downtown San Jose, including the neighborhoods, Amón, Otoya, Escalante and Sabana...

Alejandro “Alex” Castillo is on the lamb from the US after being accused of sexual misconduct with minors – something for which he already served one year in prison in 2012 – yet the church welcomed him back, even promoting him to Diocese’s Director of Department of Faith Formation and Evangelization for Oakland, California. He has now been placed on administrative leave while he skips around, one...

American Airlines will add, starting December 18, another daily flight from Dallas, Texas to two Costa R Rican destinations, the Juan Santamaria Airport and the Daniel Oduber Airport. Both flights will be scheduled during the evening (red-eye) and involve the use of a B737-800 plane with capacity for 172 passengers. “These new services between Dallas/Fort Worth and San Jose and Liberia, Gua...

Jaco is still reeling from the apparent suicide of one of their favorite local residents and businessmen, Marc Pontbriant. Marc radiated energy and a love for life, and his girlfriend and friends are having difficulty accepting the tragic fact that he is gone. He died on May 3, in his bed in Esterillios, of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. He left his passport, wallet and contact list a...

All expats living in Costa Rica part or full time that have investments in the country should take in consideration what will happen in case they die. Making plans regarding this difficult topic could avoid leaving legal swamps fo your loved ones. People always expect to live as long as possible, but certainly an accident or unexpected disease could suddenly change everything. The legal document t...

Marc Pontbriant, a pillar of the Jaco nightclub, entertainment and real estate scene has passed away, much to the surprise of the many friends and family members who knew and loved him. His death is being considered a suicide unofficially; the American Embassy and the OIJ are withholding confirmation until his family has been notified. Pontbriant’s business associates and close friends are stunned...

Embassy San Jose announced the upcoming Consular outeach for U.S. citizens in Puerto Viejo, Limón. The Consular staff will be on hand to provide routine services and answer any questions. To RSVP for passport renewals, notary services, and federal benefits inquiries, you must indicate your preference by writing to [email protected]. Any applicable fees must be paid in cash. No checks or doll...

Photo Credit: WSL / TIM HAIN Costa Rican surfer Leilani McGonagle took the first place of the Krui Pro 2019, WQS 1000 points in Indonesia. McGonagle got the win with a score of 14.84 (8.67 one of the highest scored waves in the competition and 6.17), beating Hawaiian contender Keala Tomoda who scored 13.76. "I am shaking right now!". "I know how good Keala has been surfing all week and I ...

The Costa Rican Judiciary Investigative Police (OIJ) confiscated $3 million USD in cash and detained five people in an operation carried out this Tuesday, April 30 in a building located in China Town in downtown San José. The building had experienced a fire last April 11, with the Fire Department called to put out the blaze. The third floor was engulfed in smoke, people out on their balconies t...

Air Canada airlines announced it will increase its flights to Costa Rica by extending the 2019 season into September and October. The season, which is beginning this month, was initially to be put on hold for these two months and resumed in November and December. However, the company decided to fly from April to December without interruptions. During these two additional months, Air Canada will fl...

Saturday was World Tapir Day, a day to celebrate this odd jungle animal, and draw attention to its status as an endangered animal in 2019. Tapirs are the largest mammals in Central America, with four species of “mountain cows”, with Baird’s Tapir being the one found mostly in Central and South America. These tapirs are found in several Costa Rican national parks, but sadly their numbers are dwi...

In Costa Rica there is a law governing the relationships between the Landlord and Tenant for two specific situations: 1) When renting houses, apartments or condos 2) When renting a property for commercial, industrial or professional purposes. This Rental Law has been in effect since 1995, with only a few amendments since then. It has a number of different rules for similar situations, so kno...

When dining out in Costa Rica knowing where to go is important. Let me take the guess work out for you. Nestled on the main strip in Manuel Antonio (Waze) with a menu fueled from inspiration culled from the coasts of Thailand - Samui Thai Restaurant is one you most definitely want to visit. The indoor/outdoor venue features a retro-chic aesthetic, decked out with wooden accents, industrial ceiling...

Costa Rican company Vertical CR is currently waiting for permission from the Ministry of Health to be able to commercialize its health products based on medicinal marijuana. The company offers oils, lotions, pills, among other products for human use and even for dogs all of them using marijuana for medicinal purposes, eliminating THC, the chemical responsible for most of marijuana’s psychologic...

This Friday Costa Rica's Ministry of Labor and Social Security along with the company SYKES signed an addendum to an agreement that will train and hire hundreds of people in the upcoming months, thanks to the SYKES’ English Academy. From now on, SYKES will teach English to those who are willing to work but don’t have B2 or C1 English levels, which are required at the Services sector. The Emp...

The owners of the Escazu AirBnB, Villa le Mas, where Carla Stefaniak spent her last night alive, have come forward through their lawyer to explain that they were in fact on the premises on the night of Stefaniak’s murder, but in a villa on the other side of the property. The property in question is quite large, comprised of individual villas set apart from each other, not like a traditional hotel ...

First Lady of Costa Rica, Claudia Dobles, was named by among the World’s Greatest Leaders by Fortune Magazine, she is the only Latin American in the top 15. “Dobles helped her husband, Carlos Alvarado, win the election in 2018 with a pledge to “decarbonize” Costa Rica by 2050. An architect and urban planner, she’s now in charge of turning that promise into reality—setting deadlines, brokering a...

The Judiciary Investigative Police (OIJ) detained a 14-year-old this Wednesday as the person responsible for threats made against students and personnel of the San Luis Gonzaga high school. OIJ searched the house of the suspect in Agua Caliente, Cartago and confiscated a computer, cell phones and USB devices as proof. The threat was made public on social media using a profile that was later ...

Jose Efrain Lopez Mendoza, aka “Dante” or M1, is wanted for drug smuggling by the FBI, DEA, and Costa Rica’s OIJ. He is the head of a highly sophisticated gang of drug smugglers known as Movimiento Revolucionario de Crimen Organizado (Moreco), who pattern their gang style after the violent and lethal Mexican gang known as the Zetas. They operate throughout Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico, and even i...

Among Costa Rica’s fun accomplishments such as Inventors of the Zipline Tour, Discoverers of a lizard who breathes underwater, Creators of the catchy salutation “Pura Vida”, Owners of the title of “Happiest Country on the Planet” – comes a truly serious and remarkable achievement. Costa Rica ranks tenth in Press Freedom, as ranked by the prestigious Reporters Without Borders, a French nonprofit or...

Costa Rican authorities, with the help of Interpol, turned Henry de la Hoz over to U.S. Marshals last week to be returned to Miami to serve out a 12-year prison sentence. De la Hoz had been sentenced in absentia for killing retirees Victor and Olga Lisabet on Easter of 2003, as they headed to celebrate Easter mass with fellow worshipers. De la Hoz had spent the night before the tragedy in a sports...

By Tradition April 20 is  “weed day” and for the consumers of marijuana it is almost an obligation to celebrate this day, smoking of course! But this year, an event was announced on social media that called the attention of many, even though, it also took place last year in 2018. LaCopaCR (Costa Rica Cannabis Cup) is the name of the activity that was being advertised through different social me...

Costa Rican boxer Bryan “Tiquito” Vásquez loss via Unanimous decisión against Puerto Rican Felix Verdejo the evening of Saturday, April 20 at Madison Square Garden in New York. The Vasquez vs. Verdejo match was part of the preliminary bouts to the event headlined by WBO world champion Terence Crawford and challenger Amir Kahn. 25-years-old Verdejo, took the win with scorecards 97-93 X 2 and ...

Costa Rica will be adding its National Park number 29, announced the Minister of Environment and Energy, Carlos Manuel Rodríguez. The new protected area is located in Miravalles, Guanacaste, and it will be named after Jorge Manuel Dengo Obregón (1918-1922), founder of the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE), Vice-President of Costa Rica (1986-1990) and minister (1982-1986), expert in Natura...

In separate police raids, Costa Rican authorities confiscated almost three tons of cocaine this week with a street value of over 33 million USD. Police operations carried out in the South Pacific of Costa Rica concluded with a total 456 kilograms of cocaine seized and four men arrested. Public Police Force located a vessel carrying the load of drugs in the area of Dominical in the South Paci...

The joint efforts of public institutions, the community and private companies lead to the lifting of the sanitary restriction the Manuel Antonio National Park held, and with this the visitation to this park, the most visited in Costa Rica, was reactivated, for a maximum allowed of 2,700 people a day. “The Ministry of Environment and Energy (MINAE) managed to make improvements to the wastewat...

By John McPhaul All the elements of a development of hydrogen energy in Costa Rica to power public transportation, trucks and even part of the electric energy grid have been invented and are proven technologies, now all that is missing is putting the elements together to sizably reduce Costa Rica’s carbon footprint, said Juan del Valle Gamboa, Director of Operations for Ad Astra, the Costa Rica...

A mobile app to monitor waves and tides, an agreement to hire lifeguards, and a digital advertising campaign are part of the first stage of the strategy announced by the Costa Rican Tourism Board (ICT) to prevent drownings on beaches. The app "MIOCIMAR" (available in Play Store for Android or App Store for iOS) in English and Spanish contains seven-day forecasts of surf currents, wave forecasts...

The National System of Areas of Conservation (SINAC) has warned national and foreign tourists who are visiting the different Costa Rican beaches during this Holy Week to watch out for the presence of crocodiles. SINAC authorities explained that the presence of these reptiles in the area close to the estuaries is normal and recommend to stay alert and in the event of spotting one of these animal...

Two drug-chasing boats donated by the United States last November to Costa Rica’s National Coast Guard Service (SNG), have scored a huge victory of drug interdiction recently: six tons of cocaine seized since January of 2019. The boats were donated by the Government of the US via the Office for Counternarcotics, Citizen Security and Justice of the US Embassy. Christopher Harris, Director of th...

The Juan Santamaria Airport will have a terminal exclusively for private international flights which will operate under the name GAT SJO General Aviation Terminal and that will be managed by Universal Aviation Costa Rica and other local partners. Costa Rica’s main international airport received over 800 private flights in 2018 and this number is expected to increase to at least 1000 this year. ...

The governments of the United States and Costa Rica presented the Aerial Training Specialized Program directed to personnel of the Aerial Surveillance Service in Costa Rica; the program has the objective of strengthening the security and tools for the Ministry of Public Security. The program is part of multiple cooperation agreements between both countries. The presentation took place in Aerial...

KLM has announced it ill expand its offer in Costa Rica, adding a flight to Liberia, Guanacaste, starting October 2019. Just after two years of having inaugurated its first direct flight to Costa Rica, KLM is ready to include four flights a week originating from Amsterdam, stopping in San Jose, and continuing to Guanacaste. The route is already available and the service will begin October 29...

The Costa Rican state refinery RECOPE had announced its plan to begin selling gasoline with ethanol by the end of May; however, this Tuesday, April 9, the Government announced it was putting the plan on hold for at least one year. RECOPE planned to include 8% of ethanol in the current fuel formulation, the norm allows between 5% and 10%, this with the objective of reducing the CO2 emissions. Th...

Costa Rica has contributed yet another amazing animal to the field of Herpetology – a river anole lizard that can remain underwater for up to sixteen minutes, seemingly by using an air bubble on the top of its head to refresh the air in its lungs. Two scientists were filming anole lizards hurling themselves off of rocks and branches in Coto Brus, when they realized the little guys were staying un...

The Government of Costa Rica presented its plan “Route of Reactivation of San Lucas Island”, with the objective of generating a tourism destination that potentiates the cultural, historic and natural advantages that this site offers. San Lucas Island is located off the Gulf of Nicoya in Costa Rica, 5.4 miles from Puntarenas, and has an area of less than 500 hectares. This island is famous in C...