Top 10 Costa Rica

Costa Rica’s Foreign Minister Bruno Stagno and China’s ambassador in San Jose, Wang Xiaoyuan, interchanged notes on Friday for China to build Costa Rica’s new National Stadium.     The diplomatic act officialized the mission headed by Chinese specialists to study the plan to build this Central American country’s new National Stadium, expected to be concluded in late 2009.

    ”It is Costa Rica’s most important sports infrastructure,” said Costa Rica’s Health and Sports vice minister Osvaldo Pandolfo.

    The construction of the 40,000-seat stadium forms part of the accords signed between the presidents of Costa Rica and China, Oscar Arias and Hu Jintao, respectively, during Arias’ first visit to the Asian country in October of 2007.

    ”This is the first step to comply and follow up the accords and to benefit Costa Rica’s people. We also expect it is a friendship symbol between both countries,” said Wang.

    Stagno highlighted that “all the accords signed during President Arias’ visit to Beijing contribute to strengthen the relations between both countries.”

EagleRider, the world’s largest motorcycle rental and touring company, is excited to announce the addition of its first location in Costa Rica. The new EagleRider Affiliate is located in San José at the world famous White House Hotel, Restaurant, Casino, and Spa.

Its private location in the hills of San Antonio de Escazú and a magnificent view overlooking three volcanoes and the entire San José metropolitan area make the White House Hotel, Restaurant Casino, and Spa the ideal destination for those travelers seeking luxurious accommodations, personalized service, and fine dining during their stay in Costa Rica.

The White House Hotel Restaurant, Casino, and Spa is perched on the slopes of the Pico Blanco mountainside, enjoying lush surroundings and impressive views while providing convenient access to downtown San José and the Juan Santamaría Airport. It is also minutes away from the cosmopolitan district of Escazú, where an exclusive array of shops, restaurants, and bars can be found.

The White House has purchased a fleet Harley-Davidson Road Kings and has developed the first “Ride the Volcano” tour. It is now possible for a tour group to ride through the mountains of Costa Rica while enjoying the beautiful scenery and winding roads. All of the White House Harley-Davidson tours are accompanied by a Ford Excursion, trailer, spare motorcycle, and a tour guide for safety and convenience.

About EagleRider:
EagleRider pioneered the Harley-Davidson rental concept in 1992 and today operates the world’s largest motorcycle and powersport rental fleet from premier manufacturers such as Harley-Davidson, Honda, BMW, and Polaris. EagleRider’s expansion of its franchise rental facilities targets global tourist destinations and currently offers adventure travel enthusiasts the opportunity to experience their dream vacation from rental facilities in the USA, Mexico, Spain, and France.

Tourism professionals invite entries into a photo contest with $1,000 cash prizes

The association of tourism professionals is hosting a photography contest open to the public.  The organization is attempting to gather social, architectural, tourism, landscape and folklore images under the broad heading of “tourism and sustainable development.”

Submissions are divided into amateur and professional photographers, with the latter required to submit a brief resume, citing past experience.  Each submitted image is required to be printed at 5 by 7 inches.  Participants must also provide a CD holding the images in JPEG format with a minimum resolution of 300 dots per inch, a general information sheet stating artists’ name, telephone, e-mail, title of work and category the work is submitted under.

Participants can submit up to three photographs, with each one accompanied by a description of the image and location where it was taken.  The images must be original, unpublished, digitally unaltered and taken in Costa Rica.  Photo montages and photos taken outside of Costa Rica will not be accepted and all images of people must be accompanied with a consent form, said the organization, the Asociación Costarricense de Profesionales en Turismo.

Submission opened last month and is running through Feb. 1.

The best photographs in three different subject groups for the two separate categories will be awarded $1,000.  Photographs can be submitted at the association offices in Los Yoses, San Pedro, end of Avenida 10, Calle 47.  The office is open Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Telephone: 280-5375.

Documents must be labeled: Primer Concurso de Fotografía ACOPROT, said the contest rules.

When a tourist uses a credit card to make an international call at one of those funny looking telephones at about 400 hotels here, everybody wins. Except the tourist. ICE (the only phone company in Costa Rica) allows U.S. phone firm to skin callers. Its $36 for the first minute of a New York call, the hotel gets $7 and the Costa Rican phone company gets paid, too.

BBG telephone stands ready to charge $36 for the first minute of a call to New York.

And the owner of the phone, BBG Communications of San Diego, California, gets a payday that may run into the hundreds of dollars.

BBG Communications has managed to accrue at least 800 complaints since 1996 at the San Diego Better Business Bureau. Not all are from Costa Rica. The company places its funny looking phones all over the world where tourists travel as well as in hotels rooms around the country.

“BBG Communications is a company of extraordinary concern for the better business bureau,” said Sheryl Bilbrey, president of the bureau in San Diego. “BBG seriously overcharges customers and they are reluctant to do anything about complaints,” said Ms. Bilbrey. Bilbrey said customers at times are forced to use the services of BBG, and some say they never even used the services at all. Most complaints are international, but the bureau has received some complaints from within the United States as well.

Ms. Bilbrey said one of the major concerns the bureau has had with BBG is their untimely and static responses to customers’ complaints.

“We take every complaint seriously,” said Christina Rodríguez, corporate counsel for BBG Communications.  She said, “once in a while” customers are not satisfied with the services, and BBG handles these complaints in a timely manner. Ms. Rodríguez said that over the years “we have improved a lot,” and that BBG is now working with the better business bureau and is able to respond quickly to complaints because of their “automated voice system.”

She declined to say who owned the private company.

The company says on its telephones that it will give rate information to callers, but sometimes operators require a credit card number before doing so. A company employee eventually yielded the information Wednesday that a call to either New York City or Anchorage, Alaska, would be $36 for the first minute.

The service works closely with the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad, the phone company known as ICE, via a contract signed in 2001. The company maintains the telephones and service personnel here, but one employee said that the firm pays no taxes in Costa Rica.

In fact, the man with the BBG e-mail address bragged on a complaints Internet board that the company had the help of highly placed government officials to set up the operations.

What does BBG do? It appears that the company’s sole function is to handle credit card calls to international locations. ICE abdicated that responsibility in the original contract.

The contract does not identify BBG Communications as being registered as a foreign corporation in Costa Rica, something many firms do to have a legal presence here. The contract was negotiated during the presidency of Miguel Ángel Rodríguez who is already facing corruption charges for unrelated deals made by the phone company.

Dunn & Bradstreet, the U.S. credit agency, estimates that BBG Communications takes in more than $3 million a year.

San Diego newspapers only now are beginning to look into the question of why the firm has so many complaints.

Costa Rican officials have been reluctant to provide information on the contract. Only recently ICE provided a copy of the contract. The contract was made without competitive bidding, said an ICE spokesperson.

In Costa Rica, what BBG is doing is legal said an engineer from the Autoridad Reguladora de los Servicios Publicos in Costa Rica. ICE has full capability to provide these services, he said, but they don’t want to deal with the hassle of the credit cards and complaints. ICE gets the money from each call and each minute no matter what, so they prefer to work with BBG rather than handle it themselves, he said. The authority only sets rates between the local telephones and ICE, he said.

After a short lived debut for the Swiss beer Hanfblute, which was banned by the Costa Rica Ministry of Health just days after its arrival due to its ‘aroma of cannabis’, another beer, which claims to have aphrodisiac powers, is under scrutiny by the National Federation of Consumer and User Associations (Fenasco).

Costa Rica News — Hanfblute beer, banned in Costa Rica on Nov. 29

Fenasco claims that the newly arrived Swiss beer Vollmond is misleading the public by claiming that is holds aphrodisiac powers. They say that sexologists have proven that there is no substance that can have such an effect, despite popular belief.

A representative from the Federation said they plan to present an official complaint to the National Consumer Commission and to ask the Ministry of the Economy to seize the products due to “deceitful marketing”. They will also speak with the Public and Health Ministries to find further support for their argument.

The representative added that the beer is causing cultural contamination, and that the only reaction that the beer might cause is due to a placebo effect. He said the company should not be allowed to use such a claim in its publicity unless they can prove it by consulting a sexologist. Consumers may be mislead to think that the beer can solve problems such as erectile dysfunction or the absence of sexual desire. The president of Fenasco said that such claims provoke curiosity in the consumer, and that the younger population is the most susceptible to believing and experimenting with it.

The beer claims to be made with sacred herbs from a small European town.

Fenasco was also the first party to file an official complaint about the Hanfblute beer that supposedly contained marijuana. Studies at the University of Costa Rica proved this to not be true. The beer was banned Nov. 29, 2007 and the Ministry of Health claims that they have yet to submit a request to be re-legalized. In the Ministry’s defense, the beer bottle does show people harvesting a crop of a marijuana, and the lid displays a large marijuana leaf.

Mr Beanbastic (Mr. Bean Dancing) - The best free videos are right here

There is a wide disparity between the perception of tourism in Panama and the reality.

The fact that the number of “visitors” coming to Panama has increased dramatically over the past 10 years is undeniable. Yet it’s important to make a distinction between “visitors” and “tourists”. 41 percent of the increase in visitors over this period can be attributed to the increase in cruise ship passengers. Less than 15 percent of the current visitors to Panama arriving by air or land spend any time at all outside of Panama City. Any tour operator or travel agent will tell you that most real tourists only spend a short time in the city. Panama’s real attractions (and the attractions promoted by IPAT) are all the wonderful sights located throughout the country at the beaches, on the islands and in the mountains. However, the numbers show that only a small fraction of the visitors coming to Panama travel outside of the city.

THE GROWTH OF TOURISM IN PANAMA

The foundation for any sound business decision is the ability to collect and analyze accurate data. Without reliable numbers, any decision that’s made is a gamble, a simple crap shoot.

On paper, tourism is the fastest growing industry in Panama. According to statistics provided by the Panama Tourism Bureau, IPAT (STATISTICS REPORT 1997-2006), in 2006 the tourism industry contributed $1.45 billion dollars to the nation’s economy. This amount represents 9.5 percent of Panama’s total Gross Domestic Product (GDP), making it the largest single industry in the country. By comparison, in 2006 the Panama Canal generated $1.08 billion dollars in income while the total economic impact of the Colon Free Zone was a paltry $696.2 million dollars.

IPAT’s statistical analysis also showed that the number of international visitors arriving in Panama was equally impressive. In 2006, a total of 1,215,083 people came to visit Panama. This is an incredible accomplishment given that in the year 2000 visitor arrivals were just was about half that number (600,169).

What’s driving these remarkable achievements? According to IPAT, the answer can be found in their report: “We can say that incoming tourism to Panama has maintained a sustained growth due to efforts made to strengthen strategies to promote Panama internationally in US, Latin-American, European and Canadian markets, as well as efforts to consolidate the cruise ship industry.” In other words, the growth in the tourism industry is a direct result of IPAT’s marketing strategy.

But, what exactly is that strategy. Well, by judging past marketing efforts including the recent “The Path Less Traveled” campaign, IPAT has been positioning Panama as a wonderland of sun, tropical beaches, remote islands, unspoiled rain forests and cosmopolitan city life. With such a successful marketing campaign and with well over 1 million visitors traveling to Panama, the beaches, islands, mountains and rain forests must be teeming with tourists with hotels bursting at the seams, tour operators running at full capacity and domestic flights packed with vacationers. All these areas must be singing songs of praise for the fabulous job done by the nation’s tourism authority.

THE NUMBERS TELL A DIFFERENT STORY Curiously, if you dig a little deeper into the IPAT study, if you do a little research and find the numbers for hotel occupancies and airline passenger data, a different story emerges.

Before analyzing this data however, let’s look at a comparable tourism destination with equally impressive visitor numbers - Costa Rica. Costa Rica has been Central America’s premiere tourist destination for nearly 25 years. During that time a mature tourism industry has evolved with a substantial amount of investment made in areas throughout the country.

In 2005, the last year of published statistics, the number of international visitors arriving in Costa Rica totaled 1,679,051. Of these arrivals, over two thirds came from North America and Europe (over 1 million visitors).

How do these visitors get to the country? Costa Rica has 30 different international airlines servicing their main airport, Juan Santamaria in San Jose. Of the 1.6 million visitors to Costa Rica, 1.2 million (75 percent) passed through the country’s airports and over 1 million of these passengers originated in North America and Europe. International visitors are not just arriving in the capital city. In 2005, nearly 300,000 foreign tourists arrived at Costa Rica’s second international airport in Liberia located in the Guanacaste Province.

It is also interesting to note that, unlike Panama, Costa Rica does not include cruise ship passengers in their visitor arrival statistics. Rather, they classify the 255,336 cruise ship passengers as “Excursionistas” since they spend just a few hours in the country.

Where do these visitors stay? Costa Rica’s official statistics reveal that 38.8 percent of total available hotel capacity is located in the capital city while 60.2 percent of the capacity is located outside of the city and spread fairly evenly across the country. Most tourists visiting Costa Rica spend the majority of their time outside of San Jose.

When asked what impact a million tourists have on Costa Rica, a leading tour operator explained it this way, “A million tourists mean packed hotels on the beaches and in the interior. Every domestic flight is filled and buses and tour guides are in short supply. Simply put, you see tourists everywhere, particularly in the areas outside of San Jose.”?

HOW PANAMA COMPARES TO COSTA RICA

Of the 1,215,083 official international arrivals in Panama, 703,545 arrived via Tocumen International Airport or 58 percent of the total. According to statistics provided by Tocumen International Airport, 35 percent of these passengers were from North America and Europe (compared with 67 percent in Costa Rica) while 39.4 percent were from South America. 13 airlines operate scheduled passenger flights into Tocumen Airport (versus 30 international airlines operating to Costa Rica) and just one airline, COPA, dominates Tocumen with 66.4 percent of all passenger and freight traffic into the airport.

Where are these visitors staying? According to the IPAT statistic report, between May of 1995 and December of 2006, $1.56 billion dollars was spent in tourism related investment in Panama. Of this investment, $1.5 billion was allocated in the construction of lodging and hotel rooms. Expenditure statistics show that 86 percent of the total investment was spent in Panama City alone while just 2 percent was invested in Chiriqui and only 6 percent in Cocle (the beach hotels). Bocas del Toro, one of Panama’s favorite tourist destinations, saw less than $5 million in investment over 10 years, or just .03 percent of total expenditures. Contrary to development in Costa Rica, where most tourism investment is directed to areas outside of San Jose, over the past 10 years nearly all tourism related investment in Panama has been spent in the capital city.

Let’s take a closer look into these numbers. According to figures provided by IPAT, just 18,714 foreigners (extranjeros) stayed in hotels in the Province of Chiriqui during 2006. Information obtained from an internal domestic airline study showed that a total of 22,044 foreign passengers flew to Bocas del Toro in 2006. The Pacific Beach area between Coronado and the Decameron is perhaps the most popular destination for foreign visitors. Based on room availability and an estimated annual occupancy of 75 percent (pretty optimistic), the maximum annual number of visitors to this area is approximately 85,000.

The table below summarizes these results:

Location Number of Foreign Visitors % of Total Visitors In 2006

Chiriqui 18,714 1.54%
Boca del Toro 22,044 1.81%
Pacific Beaches 85,000 (estimate) 7.00%
Total 125,758 10.35% of 1,215,083 visitors

What these numbers show is that only a fraction of the visitors reported to have arrived in Panama are traveling to the three most popular tourism destinations in the country. Compared to Costa Rica, where the vast majority of tourists spend most of their vacation outside of the capital city, most visitors arriving in Panama (nearly 90 percent) never leave the city.

SO WHAT ARE THESE VISITORS DOING AND WHERE ARE THEY GOING?

The first thing that is important to know is IPAT’s definition of a visitor. IPAT segments international visitors arriving in Panama into three categories:

VISITOR - Any person who travels to a country different from his permanent place of residence, for any reason other than carrying out a remunerated activity in said country. (This is anyone entering the country that is not paid to do so).

TOURIST - Visitors whose minimum stay in the country is more than 24 hours and whose maximum stay is no longer than 12 months. (Anyone entering the country and staying for at least a day)

EXCURSIONIST - Visitors whose stay in the country is less than 24 hours. (Primarily cruise ship passengers). Unlike Costa Rica, IPAT includes Excursionists in their total visitor arrival statistics.

So, by these definitions, everyone arriving in Panama is considered a visitor but not all visitors are considered tourists or excursionists.

In absolute terms, visitor arrivals into Panama increased from 555,026 in 1999 to 1,215,083 in 2006 or 660,057 additional people. On the surface, these are impressive numbers. However, what was the biggest source of new visitor arrivals? According to IPAT statistics, 41 percent of the increase is due to cruise ship passenger arrivals. This means that nearly half of the increase in visitor arrivals between 1999 and 2006 can be attributed to just one source - cruise ship traffic.

What is the economic impact of these cruise ship passengers? IPAT calculates that each cruise ship visitor spends $95 during their short stop over in Panama. Based on 2006 visitor arrival statistics, 356,140 visitors arrived through the marine ports in Panama. Although this represents 29.3 percent of all visitor arrivals, these passengers account for just 2 percent of total visitor expenditures. So cruise ship arrivals significantly increase visitor arrival statistics but have very little financial impact on the economy as a whole.

In 2006, according to IPAT statistics, 858,943 visitors arrived in Panama by land or air. Of that amount, only 14.6 percent (125,758) left the city to visit the most popular tourist destinations in the country - Bocas del Toro, the Pacific beach areas and Chiriqui. This means that over 85 percent of the visitors arriving in the country by air or land never left Panama City.

Do real tourists come to Panama and just stay in the city? The question that needs to be asked is “What are these visitors doing in Panama?”. Are they really tourists or are they coming for other reasons? If they are coming for other reasons, is the money and effort that IPAT is spending really effective at bringing tourists to Panama? Or is the economy, the growing commercial market and, yes, residential tourism really driving the visitor increase?

Other than increased cruise ship passengers (representing nearly 30 percent of all visitor arrivals into Panama), real tourism growth outside of Panama City has been virtually non-existent.

WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT

It is important to analyze this data in order to determine the impact the tourism industry is having in Panama and what is driving this market. IPAT has spent a lot of time and effort orchestrating a public relations effort to show how effective it has been in growing the tourism industry. On the surface, the number of visitors coming to Panama is significant and impressive. If a million tourists were coming to Panama and traveling to the interior of the country, the impact would be huge both economically and environmentally. However, the real numbers show that only a fraction of the purported visitors are actually leaving the city and the vast majority of this minority are going to one place - the Pacific beach resorts.

IPAT is using these statistics to support proposed legislation that will have a significant impact on the way tourism is developed over the next 20 years. Unlike previous tourism master plans, this new plan will be put into law and will have a lasting effect. This influence will go well beyond the marketing and promoting of tourism to Panama. According to Jaime Cornejo, the national director of the Tourism Master Plan, the new plan “showed concerns for issues such as human resources, IPAT’s autonomy on territorial ordering as well as the laws and regulations of the industry’s development.”

Most disturbingly is the reference to “territorial ordering.” What this means is that IPAT wants the authority to dictate how land will be used throughout the country. The minister of tourism is on record as saying that “residential tourism is an oxymoron”. Yet IPAT statistics include “residential tourism” visitors in calculating total visitor arrivals. Given the authority to establish “territorial ordering,” IPAT is likely to limit residential projects throughout the country at the very time these developments are providing the catalyst for the little tourism that reaches the interior of the country.

Accurate numbers are the foundation of sound business decisions. Investors and developers of hotels and resorts depend on reliable statistics to make their decision to locate in a particular country. Unfortunately, there is a wide disparity between the perception of tourism in Panama and the reality.

The most common way to travel in Costa Rica is by bus. An excellent bus service connects all parts of San José and all places in the country. You can get to almost all locations for a maximum of US$ 5 by bus. Busses and bus stops are marked by the name of the destination.
Since most locals do not have cars, busses can be full during certain hours of the day as well as on the weekends. San José has no central bus station and most lines have their own place of departure. Most travel guides include lists of locations and prices to different places of interest. Busses for short ways often are old school busses, but busses to far destinations are comfortable and nice. Some even have air condition, color TV and bath.
To get around in the city, we recommend the use of taxis. There seem to be millions of them and they have very low prices. The law requires tachographs.

Our advice: Always check, if tachograph is running or ask for the price before you get in.
If you take a taxi at the airport to go to Alajuela for example, make sure not to take on from the Airport taxis, since they have a higher basic rate.

The taxi system is well organized. If you feel cheated, note the number of the taxi permission or the license plate and complain at the “Ministerio de Obras Publicas y Transportes”. Taxis are red with yellow signs on top. From San José to Escazu it costs about US$ 2. Taxis are allowed to charge 20% more from 10pm to 5 am.
Many tourists are crazy for a trip with the train. A railway web did never exist in Costa Rica. There was a jungle train between the two coasts, but after an earthquake has destroyed the railway in 1991, the traffic stopped completely. People who could experience this trip in the past can be happy, since it was a remaining adventure. They say that there is a group of people being interested in a re-construction, but this will need many years more.
Costa Rica offer reasonable priced flights through the country by SANSA. They fly to destinations like Samara, Golfito and Quepos. All flights start near the international airport Santa Maria. If you need to fly, ask for a ticket in advance. It is better to go directly to the office of SANSA instead of relying on a travel agency. Flights can be booked out often, make reservation at least 2 weeks before or contact us by mail and we take care of the problem.

Travel agents are generally nice folks, but they sometimes do not tell you what you need to know. Why don’t they? It may be because many have never personally visited the
countries they sell.

What I DO know for sure is that many travel agents tell people who are visiting Costa Rica a whole lotta bunk on many subjects… and they FAIL to tell folks about the stuff they NEED to know. So I decided to put up a few things that are really important to know when visiting Costa Rica. If YOUR travel agent told you all this, then patronize them again and again as they are probably knowledgeable in other areas of travel. These are brief, but I hope clear.

● The water here IS safe to drink! Exceptions may be in VERY remote or rural areas, but unless you are way out in the boonies, you’re OK. I personally drink bottled water, but it’s your call.

● You do NOT need typhoid or malaria shots when you visit Costa Rica. That is just silly, but I constantly meet folks who get a bunch of inoculations before visiting. They were told to do this by their travel agents. A tetanus shot or booster is of course always a good idea. See your doctor.

● DO be concerned about is Dengue Fever!

● The sun here is HOT. We are only ten degrees North of the Equator, so bring sunscreen and use it. You can burn to a crisp in 30 minutes if you run around unprotected. The UV factor here is at least double that of Florida or Arizona. A wonderful vacation can be made not so wonderful if you are in pain.

● If you rent a car here, remember there are FEW or NO street signs here. There are also no street addresses. The BIG highways are marked, but as soon as you leave them, you’re on your own.

● Costa Ricans are… well lets say, creative drivers and often pay little or no attention to traffic laws. Be very careful.

● If you have an accident here, you MUST remain at the site without moving the vehicles until BOTH the police AND the insurance agent show up. If you don’t, you’re guilty and you may have no insurance.

● Many traffic laws are different here, like handling traffic circles (rotundas). Lanes often end without notice. Many bridges are narrow and one way (alternating). The potholes here are DEEP and DANGEROUS. Manhole covers are often missing. Do NOT drive at night until you thoroughly know what you are doing.

● In general, do NOT shop at stores or restaurants that have no prices marked, you are just asking to get taken. This is especially true in any area that caters to the tourist trade.

● Credit Cards. Use your credit card as much as possible for purchases as you will always get the correct exchange rate. Use your ATM card if you need cash funds in colones. Don’t do a cash advance thing unless you wanna pay silly interest rates. Now saying that… I have traveled extensively and I believe Costa Rica is about the ONLY country that does not extort money when you exchange foreign currencies. There are exceptions, but in general, you will be treated fairly. Finally, and VERY important, TELL YOUR BANK you are going to CR. Tell your credit card companies too. Many will block your credit cards, especially for cash withdrawals. Also, set a realistic daily withdrawal limit that fits your needs.

● Be very careful of petty theft like pickpockets, grab and run… etc. You are very unlikely to be the subject of a violent crime in Costa Rica, but you are always at risk for the small stuff. Don’t carry your passport. Have a copy made of your front (picture) page and the entry stamp. The police here are cordial to tourists and unless you act like a jerk, all will accept that as a valid ID.

● Never act like a jerk in Costa Rica. Relax. Enjoy this wonderful country and remember always you are a guest. Things are different here, and not always the way you want them. Foreign travel IS foreign and the Costa Rican culture is wonderful, but is very different from your home country.

● You can eat the food here. It is quite good and some of the best spots are the little roadside restaurants and ’sodas’. There is often some little old abuelita (grandmother) working in the kitchen and she likely makes a truly excellent meal. My WORST Tico meals are at the the big roadside restaurants that cater to tourist and advertise genuine Costa Rican cooking.

● You can’t legally drink alcohol and drive in Costa Rica. But remember, many people disregard this, so keep in mind that everyone else on the road could potentially be drunk and drive accordingly.

● While you do not need to worry about malaria or typhoid, you DO need to worry about Dengue Fever. This is especially true if you visit the tropical areas, rain forests or beaches. However, it also affects the Central Valley. Dengue comes in two varieties. The first causes flu-like symptoms and though you are uncomfortable, you are not dead. The second is NASTY and extremely painful and makes you wish you WERE dead… which you can be without treatment. The good news is that this is easily avoidable. Bring bug repellent or buy some here. Use it especially during the daytime hours (dengue is spread by a mosquito that ONLY bites in the daytime!)

● You DO need a passport to enter Costa Rica. It also must not expire in less than six months. You cannot enter with just a driver’s license or a birth certificate.

● Distances here are weird. Folks look at a map and say things like, “We can drive that in an hour, honey!”. No… you can’t. There are mountains, traffic, accidents, bad roads… and of course, as there are no street signs nor addresses, you will likely get lost. If you can possibly be delayed, you will be. The general rule I use is that I will average 20-30 MPH (30 KPH - 45 KPH) for travel around the country. So for example, if you see a place that is 100KM away (about 66 miles), plan on two hours to three + hours to get there.

● Do they accept dollars and credit cards everywhere in Costa Rica?No, they do NOT. Hotels and many restaurants take credit cards of course, and many will accept dollars, but there are MANY places especially outside the Central Valley where nothing is accepted except the colón. This includes some fine restaurants. And here is a hint… some of the best stuff you can buy at great prices are in the more remote areas… and they will happily accept colones, but will not take credit cards or dollars. The good news is that CR is full of ATM’s where you can use your bank card to get some colones at the proper exchange rate. Also many places will not accept travelers checks as they can take merchants up to two months to receive the funds. Also, many hotels now no longer accept travelers checks.

● When you leave Costa Rica, you will need an exit visa… about $26.00 per person as of this writing. You get them inside the airports. They accept dollars, credit cards or colones. Great way to get rid of the extra colones as you leave.

● When renting a car here, HUGE deposits get pre authorized on your credit card. This freezes your available funds. If you do not have a large credit limit, you can find yourself unable to use your credit card. Organize your credit and cash needs before you come.

● Check your bills at restaurants. While almost all restaurants are honest folk, I have had ‘errors’ on maybe as many as ten percent of my bills. Check for ‘extra items’.

● I have traveled extensively and Costa Rica is was the only place I know where you will not get screwed exchanging dollars for colones… even at hotels. Sadly… this is changing as businesses here are now catching on that most tourists have no clue how to convert currency “on the fly”. Thus, I must caution you to learn how to do these conversions before you arrive in order to avoid getting taken.

Although the bull fighting and rides officially ended Sunday evening in Zapote, there is more fun just up the road. The Fiestas Cívicas in Palmares officially start Jan. 16, and preparations are heating up, according to the Asociación Cívica Palmareña.

The festival includes the tope or parade of horses, bull fighting, rodeo events, sports competitions, concerts, rides, and a carnival. The festivities will run through Jan 28.

This year’s concerts feature reggaeton stars Jowell y Randy, Argentinian rock band Enanitos Verdes, and Mexican rock

group Moderatto. Singer Alicia Villareal of Mexico will be the highlite of the Ranchero Festival which includes 12 ranchero singers in a special indoor stadium.

Sports events will include minor league soccer games, the Clásica Palmarín mountain bike race, and other events. A countdown to the festival, down to the last second, is available on the festival’s Web site.

Safety of the visitors is of utmost importance, according to the Asociación Cívica Palmareña. The group will be working with firemen, the Ministerio de Salud, the Cruz Roja, security officials and the Comisión Nacional de Emergencias, the organization said.

Story by Am Costa Rica

This year Costa Rica is starting off with a bang —Many Costa Ricans will be moving and shaking as they attend the many of concerts that are scheduled to take place here in the coming weeks. From mariachi to reggaeton to heavy metal, Costa Rica will play host to many international vocalists including Alejandro Sanz, Molotov and Iron Maiden.

Costa Rica Music — Spanish singer Alejandro Sanz

The festival of Palmares, which begins Jan. 17, will also host a wealth of famous Latin singers including ranchero singer Alicia Villarreal and Puerto Rican reggaeton stars Randy, De la Ghetto and Noel. Mexican group Molotov, who often include heated yet comical political and social rhetoric in their songs, will have a show at one of the bars at the festival, as well as Mexican pop artist Alex Syntek. The second to last night of the festival will include performances by Mexican rockers Moderatto and the Argentinian group Enanitos Verdes.

Come February, the music will continue with performances by renowned international artists including reggaeton king Daddy Yankee, Spanish pop star Alejandro Sanz and British heavy metal group Iron Maiden.

Sanz will be performing at the Ricardo Saprissa stadium on Feb. 12 as a part of his “El tren de los momentos” tour, promoting his new album that was released in Nov. 2006 and features artists such as Shakira, Calle 13 and Juanes. The album has been nominated for the”Best Latin Pop Album” Grammy Award, which will be decided on Feb. 10 just before the concert.

The Costa Rica Iron Maiden concert, which already has fans from all over Central America crazy with anticipation, will take place on Feb. 26 at the same venue in Tibas, San Jose. The Somewhere Back in Time World Tour 2008, which kicks off on Feb. 1st in India, promises to be one of the loudest music events in Costa Rica history.

Over 5,000 tickets were sold in the first 12 hours of ticket sales for the upcoming Iron Maiden concert that will be held in Costa Rica on Feb. 26, 2008. Servers and phone lines were saturated within the first 15 minutes by dedicated fans when the ticket sales opened up to the public on Saturday at “2 Minutes to Midnight” – the name of a popular song by Iron Maiden.

Costa Rica Nightlife — Iron Maiden coming to Costa Rica

Fans from all over Central America are taking part in the rush to buy tickets because Costa Rica is one of two stops the legendary British heavy metal band will make in the region during the Somewhere Back in Time World Tour. The tour will begin on Feb. 1 in India and continue on to Australia, Japan, the U.S., Mexico, Colombia and 14 other destinations.

The concert will take place at the Ricardo Saprissa stadium in Tibas, San Jose – the venue for the Maná concert that took place Nov. 20 with a turnout of over 20,000 fans.

Evenpro is organizing the event. Tickets can be purchased at specialticket.net, by calling 207-7770 or at Sapristore locations in Multiplaza, Desamparados, Tibas and Pavas; MasXMenos in Plaza America, Cuesta de Moras, Metrocentro and Tibás; or Hipermás locations in Heredia, Curridabat, San Sebastian and Guadalupe.

The prices range from about $14 for stadium seats furthest from the stage to $70 for VIP standing area.

The Daddy Yankee concert was reported in La Republica daily newspaper, but the date has not yet been confirmed.

The fact that more than one million tourists visit Costa Rica each year does not happen by chance. Our country, located in Central America, is an isthmus where life seems to have created its roots. Covering only 0.03% of the surface of our planet, Costa Rica has approximately 6% of the world’s biodiversity.

In addition, Costa Rica is characterized by an impressive scenic beauty, consolidated system of protected areas, social and political stability, high educational levels, and efficient infrastructure and services. All these characteristics you can find in a territory of only 51 thousand square kilometers, surrounded by both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, only three to four hours away from each other by land or 45 minutes by air.

The country’s strategic position, in the heart of the western hemisphere, the Government’s positive attitude towards foreign investment, its infrastructure, access to international markets, and labor quality and cost, make Costa Rica an ideal place to establish commercial operations.

Why Costa Rica?

During the past century, Costa Rica has experienced an outstanding period of political stability. In the past years, significant facts and achievements have placed Costa Rica as the leader in the Central American region with a number of noteworthy milestones.

Then-President Oscar Arias authored a regional peace plan that earned him the 1987 Nobel Peace Prize — his popularity had him re-elected in February 2006. Astronaut Franklin Chang-Diaz has served in various and important Space Shuttle missions. Claudia Poll won an Olympic gold medal for Costa Rica.

This history of outstanding success has been translated across other platforms including economics. Costa Rica is the only nation in Central America with industries such as Tourism and Technology that surpass agriculture as the main source of revenue. Tourism is one of the main economic activities in Costa Rica; in 2005, 1.6 million tourists generated $1.5 billion.

Major investment players such as Intel, Unysis, Acer, Procter & Gamble have established a solid presence in Costa Rica. The travel / hospitality industry has seen the arrival of major hotel chains from the U.S. (Marriott, Best Western) and Spain (Barcelo, Melia).

New foreign investment is in the growth in Costa Rica and names such as McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, Burger King, KFC, Subway, TGIF, Tony Roma’s and others are seen across the country.

The U.S. and Costa Rica have a history of friendly relations. As many as 35,000 U.S. citizens reside in Costa Rica and 500,000 U.S. citizens visit the country annually. Important numbers are also applicable to residents from Canada and Western Europe.

To learn more, we invite you to view the Costa Rica profile by the U.S. Department of State.

With 755 miles of coastline on two oceans, Costa Rica has more breaks than you can shake a stick at. The country’s selection of surf spots range from idyllic beach breaks to coral platforms where the water leaps up and tubes like a miniature Pipeline.

Having coastline on two oceans is quite an advantage, since when one ocean is flat, there is usually something breaking on the other side of the country. Often enough, there is good surf pumping on both coasts.

And the country’s surf is complemented by its comfortable water temperatures – you can leave that wet suit at home – beautiful scenery, and the convenience of a variety of accommodations and restaurants near most breaks.

Since it is five times longer than the Caribbean coast, the Pacific has considerably more surfing spots. Many of the country’s best breaks are found in the northwest province of Guanacaste, but there are also some excellent spots in the Central Pacific and Southern Zones. And the few breaks that are available in the Caribbean province of Limon are certainly nothing to complain about. The following is a listing of the country’s best surf spots:

Carribean

Playa Bonita: Left over reef off popular beach just north of Limon City. Cahuita: Beach break on Playa Negra, near hotels and restaurants. Puerto Viejo: Fast right over coral reef, plenty of hotels and restaurants. Cocles: Beach break just south of Puerto Viejo. Manzanillo: Beach break, only when big, some accommodations nearby.

Central

Boca Barranca: Long river mouth left just south of Puntarenas. Tivives: Beach breaks and river-mouth left, south of Puntarenas. Jaco: Popular beach break with abundance of hotels and restaurants. Hermosa: Several very consistent beach breaks south of Jaco. Manuel Antonio: Beach breaks near plentiful accommodations. Dominical: Great beach breaks near hotels and restaurants. Matapalo: Right point break at tip of Osa Peninsula. Pavones: Very long left at mouth of Golfo Dulce.

PLAYA HERMOSA/JACO is one of the easiest spots to get to from San Jose. It is only 2 hours from airport and caters to the intermediate to expert surfer. There is plenty of accommodation for all budgets and loads of nightlife.

MANUEL ANTONIO caters beautifully to beginners and those traveling with non-surfing partners. It is 3 hours from San Jose by car and the area offers plenty non-surfing activities.

DOMEICAL is and excellent choice for serious surfers who wish to avoid the crowds in favour of a more relaxed atmosphere than Jaco without compromising the quality of the surf.

Pacific

The Pacific coast has the upper hand over the Caribbean when it comes to surfing in Costa Rica. Most of the hotspots are located on the Northern and Central Pacific coasts with a few on the southern coast near Panama and some others on the Caribbean coast

Guanacaste Potrero Grande: Right point break in Santa Rosa National Park, only accessible by boat; no camping. Playa Naranjo: Great beach break by Roca Bruja, in Santa Rosa National Park, accessible with four-wheel-drive vehicle or boat; camping permitted. Playa Grande: Very consistent beach break north of Tamarindo. Tamarindo: Good beach break, excellent base for surfing nearby beaches. Playa Langosta: River mouth break south of Tamarindo. Avellanas: Very good beach break further to the south. Playa Negra: Right point break further to the south. Nosara: Several beach breaks near selection of accommodations.

The Northern Pacific Coast

TAMARINDO is a gigantic surfing mecca. The area is quite built up and provides a way to find lots of different surf in short period of time. There is plenty of accommodation and positively hopping night scene. Tamarindo is 4½ hours from San Jose via paved road.

NOSARA is somewhat unique amongst Costa Rican surf spots in that it offers world class surf all year long. It is the perfect middle ground between Tamarindo and Avanelles/Negra in terms of accommodation, amenities and nightlife.

AVANELLES/NEGRA is perfect for those that want a slower pace than Tarmarindo or Nosara. The hotels are adequate and nightlife is virtually non-existent. This area is accessed via dirt road from Tamarindo.

MEL PAIS is a haven for intermediate surfers and occasionally offers swells large enough to challenge more advanced surfers. The area has an incredibly green backdrop, adequate accommodation and no real nightlife. It is, therefore, the perfect destination for a relaxed surfing in Costa Rica experience.

Southern Pacific Coast

MATAPALO features uncrowded, pristine beach in an extremely remote location. Everything in the local area operates on solar power so there is very little chance of staying in self-catering accommodation. It can be quite expensive as all meals are included in the price.

PAVONNES is also extremely remote and quite difficult to get to. The surf is very inconsistent surf but if you happen to be there at the right time, it is well worth the hassle of traveling there. On a good day, you can catch rides of up to three minutes.

PUERTO VIEJO is the home of the famous Salsa Brava and is for experts only. There is some accommodation in the town proper but most of the nightlife is a little further south in Cocles. The town is three hours from San Jose by car almost all on paved roads.

Safety

There is very little to worry about when surfing in Costa Rica. The country is relatively free of crime so your possession will be safe unless you are quite careless. In regards to the water, most of the breaks, Salsa Brave being a notable exception, are beach-bottom. One small concern, particularly when surfing on the Caribbean side is crocodiles. If there have been heavy rains, there may be more than usual around river mouths.

Two oceans, magnificent inland lakes and countless miles of pristine rivers provide anglers in Costa Rica with some of the finest and most diverse fishing you’re likely to find in such a small and easily accessible area anyplace in the world.

From the capital city of San Jose, fishermen are only 30 to 40 minutes flying time from the prime fishing regions on the Pacific and Caribbean coasts, with two national airlines providing daily service and a variety of charter airline services available to meet any schedule.

And because Costa Rica is a small nation geographically , there’s hardly anyplace in the country you can’t reach within six hours driving time, and some of the best inland fishing regions are within two to three hours from the capital.

Costa Rica’s reputation for incredible fishing is well justified, but like anyplace in the world, there are never any guarantees. Action will vary with the seasons and prevailing wind, weather, currents and other natural conditions at any given time, and the following break-down, should be considered only as a general guide. Visitors will be well advised to check on what’s happening shortly before their trip.

Keep in mind that fishing licenses are required of residents and visitors alike to fish inland and ocean waters. Charter operators normally provide the salt water license as part of their packages. If fishing inland waters, you will normally have to obtain your own license, and should also be aware of closed seasons. See section on Inland Fishing, below.

PACIFIC COAST: The Pacific Coastal region is divided roughly into the Northern, Central and Southern fishing areas, with conditions varying with the seasons in each area. Increasing numbers of charter boat operators on the Pacific have been “following the fish” in recent years, moving operations from one area to another depending on the season and making it possible to assure visiting anglers the best fishing available whenever they choose to visit.

Leo Hickman on a carbon offsetting scheme that really works - because you can see where the money is going from your airline window seat

Flying the green flag… NatureAir supports a range of local projects, including protecting the rainforest it flies over

I didn’t know it at the time, but I have flown with the “world’s first and only zero emissions airline”. But don’t get too excited: I’m not talking about a new paradigm in jet propulsion, or the revival of the airship. This airline still uses fossil fuels just like every other.

In the summer of 2006, while conducting interviews for my book The Final Call: In Search of the True Cost of Our Holidays, I took a short flight from Punta Islita on Costa Rica’s Pacific coast to the capital San Jose. I joined a dozen or so other passengers aboard one of NatureAir’s de Havilland Twin Otters, thereby avoiding the best part of a day’s travel on Costa Rica’s notoriously bad roads. The flight was memorable for me because it carried us over some stunning rainforests and mangroves at a low enough altitude that you could appreciate some of the detail below.

What I didn’t know at the time - most other airlines would be ramming such marketing gold dust down your throat at any given opportunity - was that the airline supports a range of local projects in Costa Rica aimed at reducing emissions. The most notable of which is a scheme whereby 200 hectares of rainforest on the Osa Peninsula have been protected from loggers. This, the airline calculates, compensates for roughly 20,000 tons of carbon dioxide that it has emitted into the atmosphere since 2004.

I’m highly sceptical about carbon offset schemes - and NatureAir’s actions are no different really from those of any firm offering offsetting - principally because they often make decidedly dubious claims, they don’t encourage us to address our polluting ways but only disguise them, they lack independent verification, and rarely can they demonstrate “additionality” (that these actions wouldn’t have been undertaken without the offset scheme). But I am in favour of remedial environment projects that are located close to the problem. It makes sense for a Costa Rican airline seeking to atone for its carbon sins to fund and nurture environmental projects in its own backyard - even if I don’t buy the claim that the airline’s emissions can be said to be “zero” as a result. Nonetheless, the projects still appear to be worthwhile in their own right.

When I watch the tourism industry racing to paint itself green, I do wonder why more within the industry don’t try to play the “local” card, as you see happening so much within the food industry. I’m sure it would lead to a lot less cynicism about the true motivations and usefulness of offsetting. Rather than pay a sum to a faceless offset scheme, as most airlines now offer their customers the chance to do, I’m sure passengers would much rather know that this money was being spent on projects at the destination, thereby helping to improve the often strained relationship between the visitor and the visited. Perhaps a visit to such projects could be part of the trip?

The fundamental point is that we like to know where our money is being spent - and that it is being spent well. For example, there are very few fans of Advanced Passenger Duty (APD), the departure tax levied on the UK’s outbound passengers, outside of the Treasury, even though it claims to be an environmentally motivated tax. But if the £2bn revenue it raises each year was ring-fenced for certifiable and visible environmental projects, then it would instantly achieve much more support from travellers.

A fast-growing number of us appreciate that we must start paying the true environmental cost of our travel, but we are only ever likely to support the necessary green taxes that would curb the current runaway growth in emissions if we know and can see they are directly funding projects that also reduce or mitigate these rising emissions.
In Costa Rica, NatureAir is able to achieve a lot of “buy in” in relation to its offsetting initiative with its customers because passengers can look down and see the very thing that is worth saving below them. Just how you achieve that on, say, a mundane transatlantic flight is certainly a challenge, but the fundamental point remains: travellers must see that the tax hikes that will inevitably affect air travel in the coming years are truly benefiting the environment they have been introduced to protect.