A three week expedition off the coast of Costa Rica has just expanded our knowledge of deep sea ecosystems in the region. Led by Dr. Erik Cordes, Temple University, the scientists aboard research vessel Falkor surveyed the continental margin for seamounts and natural gas seeps, where specialized biological communities are found. The seamounts extending from the mainland to the Cocos Islands Nation...

A high pressure system over the Caribbean ocean causes the acceleration of wind in the region. Due to the moderate intensity of this windy pattern, the National Emergency Committee (CNE) declared green alert for the Central Valley and the North Pacific. Strong wind gusts are expected in Guanacaste that could reach 80-100 km/h (50 – 62.2 mph) in the mountain range and 50-80 km/h (31-50 mph) in...

Jaco Air Fest is an aerospace event that will take place this weekend in Jaco, Costa Rica in the are close to the Jaco Walk Shopping Center. The event will gather some of the best acrobatic paragliding pilots of the world, the exhibit will include paragliding, paramotors, paratrikes, aeromodelling, skydiving, drones and a hot air balloon. The exhibit is completely free, and those that attend...

Costa Rica was included among the 5 Easiest, Most Welcoming Retirement Havens in the World by International Living Magazine. "A new report from International Living points to the top 5 retirement destinations across the globe where it’s easiest to fit in. The Fitting-in category of the 2019 Annual Global Retirement Index studies the character of the expat community, how easy it is for a single...

The already traditional Art City Tour, returns this 2019 with the first event of the year “Por amor a Chepe”, “For the Love of Chepe” (chepe being the way Costa Ricans' refer to the capital city of San Jose), scheduled on February 14, the ideal option for a fun and different Valentine’s Day. Art City Tours are cultural events that take the public in night tours through different emblematic plac...

The Costa Rican Tourism Board (ICT) is in the process of designing a new indicator to measure the arrival of tourists to the country. For this, ICT signed a cooperation agreement with the General Directorate of Migration (DGME) that will allow them to receive every month a higher level of detail of the international migratory flow of people in Costa Rica. Since 1958 and to date, ICT has estimat...

The Municipality of San José has decided to apply stronger action against businesses that do not respect the schedule established for garbage recollection. This Tuesday, February 5, the Municipality informed that members from the Environmental Services division closed  the restaurant Carl’s Jr. located near the Central Park for 24 hours, because they did not respect the scheduled established to...

For the first time, Costa Rica will host the 2019 Social Tourism Encounter of the Americas from June 12-15. The official announcement was made at Fitur, an international trade fair being held in Madrid, Spain. Costa Rican Minister of Tourism Maria Amalia Revelo made the announcement alongside officials from the International Social Tourism Organization (ISTO), represented by Inés Ayala Sender, IST...

Two women, both journalists, alleged to having been the victims of sexual assault by former two-time president of Costa Rica and Nobel Peace prize winner, Oscar Arias Sánchez; the women decided to speak up after a physician and antinuclear activist filed a criminal complaint against Arias for events that occurred back in 2014. Nono Antillón, a television figure back in the 80’s and who worked ...

Former two-time president of Costa Rica and Nobel Peace Award winner, Oscar Arias Sánchez, was formally accused by a physician and antinuclear activist of last names Arce von Herold, of sexual assault. The criminal complaint was filed on Monday, February 4, and it was national daily Semanario Universidad that released the information. The attack reported is said to have taken place on December...

According to the Continues Employment Survey recently published by the National Institute of Census and Statistics (Spanish acronym: INEC), the unemployed population was estimated in 294 thousand people in the last trimester of 2018, an increase of 89 thousand people in comparison to the same period of 2017. The unemployment rate increased in 2.7 points and reached 12% with respect to the fou...

The month of January registered 20 homicides less than the same period of 2018, according to information provided by the Ministry of Public Security. In the first 31 days of 2019 authorities handled a total of 39 homicides, while during this same time period in 2018 the number of homicides was of 59. This number has not had such a significant decrease since November 2015. The number of homic...

The Costa Rican Investment Promotion Agency (CINDE) and representatives from 20 communities outside the Metro area got together to share their 2019 annual plans. This is part of CINDE’s strategy to promote local competitiveness and new investment opportunities in these areas. These communities are: Buenos Aires, Corredores, Osa, Coto Brus, Golfito, Pérez Zeledón, Siquirres, Pococí, Limón, Turri...

Costa Rican stand-up comedian, actor, writer, director and producer, Hernán Jiménez will have the premier of his first English-language film “Elsewhere” this April in Costa Rica. With a cast including Ken Jeong (The Hangover 1,2) Parker Posey (Café Society, The House of Yes, Superman Returns), Beau Bridges (The Millers, Desperate Housewives, Code Black), Aden Young (Rectify), Jacki Weaver (Silv...

Once again, Costa Rican biker Kenneth Tencio, made Costa Rica proud as he took the third place in the BMX Freestyle “Simple Session Tallinn” in Estonia this Sunday, February 3. “It is huge to get a place on the podium, it’s a feeling of satisfaction after all the hours of training, of success and failure, this tells me it was all worth the effort. One year ago was also third in this tournament ...

Due to the severe environmental damage caused by the use of plastics in Costa Rica, the Executive Branch is promoting bill 21,159 “Law to resolve the contamination by plastic residues”, currently in the Legislative Assembly. The initiative, presented by deputy Paola Vega, hopes to decrease the pollution problem caused by plastics in the country, where almost 90% of the 600 million disposable p...

Wearing T-shirts that read: “Costa Rica Tourism = Death” -Irresponsible Government -Doesn’t Apply the Law -No Licenses -No security measures -No rescue measures The parents of three of the foreign victims of a rafting accident that occurred last October in Costa Rica, protested during a tourism fair in New York City and another one in Spain. The tragic accident occurred when a gro...

Costa Rican World Champion Boxer Hanna Gabriels announced she has signed a three year contract with US promotion company DiBella Entertainment. Gabriels, who just a few days ago successfully defended her WBA World Female Super Welterweight title (154 lbs) against Aussie fighter Sarah Dwyer, currently holds a record of 19 wins 2 losses and 1 draw. “When you have the opportunity to sign a fighte...

The Juan Santamaria Airport inaugurated this Friday the area known as Block Victor (Block V) which includes four new boarding rooms, contact bridges, basement to handle luggage, VIP room and pet area, among others. The block includes 6000 square meters ( 64,583.5 square ft.) in four levels and its another of the parts of the expansion plan of Aeris Holding Costa Rica, which has been executed b...

The newly inaugurated Oxigeno Human Playground in Heredia, Costa Rica, will host its first musical show February 22 and 23 with the live performance of Arrival, a Swedish ABBA tribute band. The event will take place in the “Vivir” world (O1)of the Oxigeno complex at 8 p.m. both dates. Arrival was founded in 1995 and soon became one of the most popular and most selling ABBA Show bands. Since ...

Officers of the National Coast Guard Service and the Drug Control Police (PCD) of the Ministry of Public Security intercepted a boat in the Caribbean carrying 946 kilograms, 477 grams of marijuana, 385 grams of marijuana cocoons as well as several containers filled with fuel. Four people were arrested, three of them with prior criminal records, a 40 year old man of last name Hartley Cristopher;...

The 14th edition of the CINDE Job Fair is scheduled to take place February 22 to February 24  at the new Costa Rica Convention Center in Cariari. This year the fair aims to fill 3800 positions available in more than 40 participating companies, the majority of which are foreign investment companies that require bilingual personnel in areas such as project management, accounting, customer service...

The United States Embassy in San José, Costa Rica, sent the following alert at 10:30 a.m. this Wednesday, January 30, regarding a security alert received and that will affect the appointments scheduled for today: Embassy San Jose has received credible information regarding an evolving security situation in the vicinity of the U.S. Embassy in Pavas, specifically at the Plaza del Oeste shoppin...

For third consecutive year, the Wine World Festival will offer wine lovers a great opportunity to enjoy premium wines at discounted price. This year the event will take place at La Caraña Equine Club in Santa Ana, and will include as usual live music, wine tastings, gastronomy, workshops, activities and kids area. The activity begins at 12 noon and will run through midnight on Saturday and t...

Costa Rican Drug Control Police carried out 9 searches this Tuesday, January 20 in Limón (Los Cocos, Cahuita and Hone Creek) and in San José (Aserrí and Desamparados) during which they arrested 9 suspects of drug trafficking. The investigation began in 2016 with information gathered by the police and through confidential sources, the National Security and Intelligence Agency (DIS) also assiste...

The company Standard Fruit Company in Costa Rica, a subsidiary of Dole, closed their work-center in the province of Limon, which included an operations department, terminal and workshop, affecting a total of 240 employees. The reason of the closure is due to the fact that the operations handled by this division are now offered by APM Terminals with a rate that is more convenient for the company...

The Transit Police in Costa Rica is now operating equipment acquired and provided by the Technical Vehicle Inspection company (RITEVE) with the purpose of improving road safety. The mobile units will be used on the streets with the purpose of checking gas emissions, and the general conditions of the vehicles, tires, lights, breaks, just as it is done on vehicles every year. It is mandator...

The governor of Washington, Jay Inslee, declared sanitary emergency state due to a measles outbreak that has affected some 30 people since the beginning of the year. Costa Rican health authorities insist on vaccination campaign for children under 10 years of age. Inslee, explained through a press release that Washington has a very low vaccination rates and therefore there is an “extreme risk t...

The Costa Rican Meteorological Institute (IMN) expects high temperatures in the Central Valley and Guanacaste. The weather conditions for this Monday, January 28 and the rest of the week will be similar to those experienced Sunday, with temperatures that could reach 86°F in different areas of the Central Valley. As the week progresses the wind will be stronger in particular during the evenin...

Using live bait and a surf rod US Expat Mike Hughes caught this 5-foot Nurse Shark the morning of Sunday January 27th on the beach in the Esterillos-Bejuco area south of Jaco. More than 100 bystanders witnessed the hour-long battle. "The locals were all amazed that I as able to get it to shore. I do have the biggest surf rod in Costa Rica.I was physically beat and for a while I thought I had an...

Many anxiously await the announcement of the concert season of the Costa Rican Philharmonic Orchestra, popular music interpreted in an innovative format by a large group of talented musicians. The proposal of Director Marvin Araya has paid off, each of the shows sells out, the public knows they are guaranteed a high quality show. This year’s season includes several English music concerts, amon...

The 8th edition of the Costa Rica Blues Festival is scheduled to take place February 16 at the Costa Rica Sailing Center in Playa Potrero, Guanacaste. This year the headliner is blues rock guitar legend Walter Trout, and some of the guest bands and artists include The Craig Thatcher Band from Philadelphia, The Sparky Parker Band from Houston, Texas; Grey Gregson from Austin, Texas; The Honky To...

Another edition of ¨Smoke Free Sundays¨ comes back this 2019 for six Sundays in Paseo Colon, San Jose. This is an activity promoted by the San Jose Municipality and the Ministry of Health that began back in 2011 with the objective of motivating families to visit the capital city without having to worry about cars and the contamination caused by them while also promoting a healthy "smoke free" ...

During a conversation with my good buddy and fellow competitor Merv Low last night, he mentioned how I 'fished blind' because I don’t use any electronics. I jokingly replied "on the contrary Merv, it’s the lack of electronics that makes me fish with my eyes wide open". When you are fishing with no gps and no depth finder you are forced to use every bit of available data such as birds, visible l...

Domestic Airline Nature Air is working on reentering the domestic flights market in Costa Rica only one year after the tragic plane accident where 10 American tourist and a Costa Rican pilot and copilot died. Finally, the resolution $27 million dollars of the Airline’s insurance came through, “This resolution will eliminate another important obstacle in our process of refinancing to fly again”...

The Minister of Tourism, María Amalia Revelo and the president of airline company Iberia, Luis Gallego, signed a promotion agreement for Costa Rica in Europe. The announcement was made during the 2019 International Tourism Fair (Fitur). Revelo stated that this agreement will tighten the friendship of Costa Rican tourism with one of the most strategic allies in Spain. “The signing of this agree...

Yesterday after the Government of Costa Rica presented a bill to the Legislative Assembly to legalize Uber and similar platforms allowing them to coexist with regular cab services, Uber analyzed the proposal and stated its position in this regard. According to Uber ¨the vision of the government is far from being a proposal that promotes innovation, competition and development of technology¨ ...

Tuesday January 22nd The Costa Rican Government presented a law project to Congress that would legalize Uber and similar platforms allowing them to coexist with regular cab services. According to the Minister of Public Works and Transportation, Rodolfo Méndez Mata, Costa Rica must accept the reality of the new technologies and economic models that are already regulated in other parts of the wor...

The Minister of Tourism, Maria Amalia Revelo, took part of the XXII Ibero-American Conference of Tourism Ministers and Businesses (CIMET), an event held in the run-up to the official program of activities of Fitur 2019 in Madrid, Spain. Participants from Latin America, Spain and Portugal shared their advances and innovations in the tourism industry. They also discussed new trends in a highly conn...

On September 1st, 2017 law number 9428 named Ley de Impuesto a las Personas Jurídicas or Tax on Corporations took effect, imposing an annual tax on all corporations registered at National Registry based on the Code of Commerce such as SAs and LLCs plus all of those branches of foreigner corporations that obtained a corporate ID number for their Costa Rican divisions. This tax is due again for 2019...