Top 10 Costa Rica

A week-long festival of audio-visual art will make its debut on May 24, significantly contributing to the cultural scene in Jacó.

The Primer Festival de Artes Audiovisuales de Garabito intends to draw the nation’s interest with a nine-day-long program involving all kinds of art from sculpture to circus.

Local artists and tourism workers have come together with the Municipalidad de Garabito to put on the show.

The grand opening will consist of a parade of 15 folkloric groups through the Avenida Pastor Díaz, starting at the Best Western Hotel and ending at the municipality building. It will be complete with mascaradas, carnival dancers and cimarronas, and will kick off at 10 a.m.

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On May 6, Costa Rican Foreign Minister Bruno Stagno made an official visit to China, the first such visit after Costa Rica shifted its allegiance from Taiwan to the PRC last year, in line with many other nations and the UN.

Given the upcoming construction of the new National Stadium in Parque Sabana, funded by China’s government, its easy to see why Costa Rica would want to align itself with the eastern giant instead of its rogue island holdout.

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Here’s a taste of what’s in the cards for Costa Rica:

1. 200 police cars
2. 40 scholarships
3. A credit line for small businesses
4. A possible free trade agreement
5. A new, modern $72M National Stadium in San Jose to seat 35,000
6. Chinese-directed public works projects
7. Cooperation to triple Costa Rica’s oil refinery capacity and improving quality
8. Offshore oil exploration possibilities

Of course China’s not in this for charity. Here’s what’s in it for them:

1. Further recognition on the world stage by a country well known for human rights and democracy and with a temporary seat in the UN Security Council
2. Showing the remaining 23 countries that recognize Taiwan the direct benefits of aligning with the PRC
3. Using Costa Rica as a transit point for import/export of textiles and other products to the United States tariff-free under CAFTA
4. Easing restrictions for Chinese tourists and immigrants

The tabloids have their long-lenses trained on Costa Rica once again this weekend, as Mel Gibson flies in with a special celebrity guest: Britney Spears.

The troubled pop singer arrived in Costa Rica Thursday, along with Gibson and his wife, Robin, who are two of Costa Rica’s highest-profile property owners. Ms. Spears’ father was the fourth person in the group.

Gibson reportedly befriended Ms. Spears earlier this year, as the two used to be neighbors in California. Ms. Spears, who became famous at the tender age of 16 with her song “. . . . Baby One More Time,” has kept herself in the headlines recently with a divorce, drug abuse, an inadvisable shaved head and the loss of a custody battle for her two children to ex-husband Kevin Federline.

Gibson is said to have reached out to her during her darkest hours, and is now hosting her in his recently-acquired beach home in Playa Barrigona, near Sámara on the south Guanacaste coast.

The group took a private jet from the United States to San Jose’s Juan Santamaría airport, for a connection to Carrillo airport.

In response to Costa Ricans’ voracious appetite for credit in recent months, state banks hiked interest rates by an average 1 to 1.5 percent for loans in colones and 0.5 percent for those in dollars.

The average interest rate for a construction loan in colones went from 11.3 percent to 12 percent. Meanwhile, the same rate in dollars rose from 9.77 percent to 10.5 percent.

Interest rates have been at historic lows, spurring rampant spending in various sectors of the economy. The increase is thought to be a move in the direction of fighting inflation.

Local hotels, adventure tour companies and transportation services filled several rooms at the Ramada Plaza Herradura conference center in Cariari, a northwestern San José suburb, yesterday for the first day of EXPOTUR.

The tourism conference, organized annually by the Costa Rican Association of Tourism Professionals (ACOPROT), runs through Sunday. Some 260 businesses set up stands for more than 100 travel companies.

Exhibitors yesterday held 20-minute meetings with potential “buyers” – travel agencies and tourism groups from the United States, Canada and Latin America.

“One of the most important (things) about being here is improving relations with clients, and making some new ones,” said Felipe Chacón, sales manager of Savegre Hotel, a bird watching hotspot famous for quetzals in San Gerardo de Dota. “Seeing (clients) face-to-face…helps to improve relationships.”

An early afternoon fire broke out in El Paseo de Las Flores mall in Heredia Tuesday and sent shoppers running for the exits. The blaze eventually worked its way through the roof where heavy smoke and flames could be seen from the parking lot.

The blaze started in a clothing storage room and involved three stores. No injuries were reported. Firemen used a snorkel to pour water on the blaze from above.

Costa Rica will plant seven million trees in 2008 to soak up as many greenhouse gas emissions as it produces, in a bid to become the world’s first carbon neutral nation, a top official said Monday.

“The stated goal is to be the first neutral country as far as greenhouse gas emissions is concerned,” said Energy and Environment Minister Roberto Dobles.

“To get there, this administration is betting on halting deforestation and on the ‘Plant a Tree’ project,” he added, referring to an ongoing government initiative to plant as many trees as possible in the country.

The project aims to “plant seven million trees this year, meaning that in our country there would be 1.5 trees for each Costa Rican.

He added that in 2007 the country managed to plant five million trees, spurred by the desire to forestall an impending environmental catastrophe.

“Climate change is the main threat facing humanity and, even so, the world still can’t agree to fight this problem,” Dobles said.

Every country can help in the struggle, even a small nation like his own, Dobles said.

“We all know developed countries and big developing nations like China, Brazil and India are chiefly responsible for most of the greenhouse gases that destroy the ozone layer.

“That doesn’t mean a country like Costa Rica should stand by doing nothing. On the contrary, we’re working on a series of initiatives on the national and global levels to lessen the impact” of climate change, the minister said.

OLD NEW

End of an arena: Freiland Gutiérrez supervises the demolition of Costa Rica’s National Stadium in La Sabana Park yesterday, the end of an era for a venue that not only has hosted great moments in soccer, including an appearance by the legendary Pelé, but has been graced by the likes of Pope John Paul II and Pavarotti. Construction on a new stadium, a gift from China, is set to begin in July.

Demolition of Costa Rica’s National Stadium has begun, marking an adiós to an era that for 84 years has seen moments in sports, culture and social history.

It’s also paving the way for a new stadium triple its size, one of the recent gifts China has showered over this Central American country

The stadium, in the city’s west Sabana district, has hosted figures from soccer hero Pelé to Pope John Paul II, and concerts by Luciano Pavarotti, Aerosmith and Bruce Springsteen.

By yesterday, much of the arena had been turned to rubble.

But nostalgic fans last Sunday had already taken home chunks of the historic stadium. At the end of the last game – Brujas beat University of Costa Rica 3-2 – spectators rushed to grab pieces of earth and grass, goal net and cement as souvenirs.

Pura Vida is common expression in Costa Rica that roughly translates as a mixture of “life is great, everything is ok, don’t worry be happy”.

Costa Ricans are set to hit another bump at the pump, paying more colones for gasoline starting this coming Saturday after the Public Services Regulatory Authority (ARESEP) approved a gas price hike.

The price of regular will go up ¢16 (a little over 3 U.S. cents) per liter, super will rise ¢20 (4 cents) and diesel by ¢31, according to an ARESEP press release.

That means the price of super will go from ¢601 ($1.21) a liter to ¢621 ($1.25); regular will go from ¢588 ($1.185) to ¢118 (nearly $1.22); and diesel from ¢556 to ¢587.

These prices could rise again in the next month after a bid by the National Oil Refinery (RECOPE) to push the price of regular gas up another ¢40 on top of ARESEP’s rate, the daily La Nación reported.

Sights of Costa Rica will be enjoyed by people traveling on buses in New York and San Francisco, California, as part of the strategy developed by the Costa Rican Board of Tourism (ICT in Spanish) to attract more visitors. Also, via their cell phones, New Yorkers will be able to “visit” the rainforest for a few seconds. ICT marketing director Maria Revelo said that even though the Costa Rican tourist sector has kept on expanding, it must act as if it were amidst a crisis, in order to keep promotion up. This year’s first quarter, arrivals recorded at international airports were 17 percent more than in the same period in 2007. Also, the promotion of Costa Rica will be reinforced this year in Europe, Latin America, and emerging markets such as Portugal, Russia, Ireland, China, and Japan.

The Government of Costa Rica is enforcing the regulations on casinos, which until now have been operating around the clock and will have to limit themselves to a 6 p.m.-2 a.m. schedule. Casinos were first conceived as entertainment for guests of 3-or-more star hotels, but have proliferated in such a way that they operate by themselves, observe no time limitations, serve liquors, and can be accessed directly from public streets, among other irregularities. A spokesperson for the casino association said that they need to operate for at least 18 hours every day, from 12 noon through 6 a.m., and that the new schedule means the loss of at least 3,000 jobs.

Dole Food Co., Inc. announced that its operating division in Costa Rica, Standard Fruit Co. de Costa Rica S.A., will purchase carbon offsets from the Costa Rican government’s program in amounts equal to the carbon dioxide emissions generated by the inland transport of Dole-produced bananas and pineapples.

The announcement is part of a broader agreement Dole signed last August with the Costa Rica’s Ministry of the Environment and Energy and the National Strategy for Climate Change to produce a carbon neutral supply chain for bananas and pineapples. Costa Rica is seeking to become carbon neutral by 2021.

“Dole is determined to take the lead in environmentally friendly production and distribution methods,” said David A. DeLorenzo, president and chief executive officer of Dole Food Co., Inc. “We are committed to helping the government of Costa Rica achieve their sustainability ambitions.”

Under the accord, the National Forestry Financing Fund will offer Dole carbon credits from government-certified forestry projects that will annually sequester an equivalent amount of carbon from the atmosphere as that emitted by fossil fuel use in road and rail transportation. In essence, the Dole products will be “carbon neutral” with regards to transportation from company-owned packing plants to the ports of export in Costa Rica.

The carbon credit approach is one of many strategies that Dole is employing to neutralize the carbon footprint resulting from the growing, harvesting, packaging and distribution of the company’s bananas and pineapples in Costa Rica. Reforestation programs are occurring and thousands of trees are being planted on Dole plantations in Costa Rica, including local farms and neighboring communities.

Danilo Roman, general manager of Dole Standard Fruit de Costa Rica S.A., commented: “Among the many steps we have taken to reduce emissions at source is optimization of fertilizers to deliver nutrients more effectively. In this way, we can directly reduce the emission of nitrous-oxide, a potent greenhouse gas. We expect that this program will decrease emissions by over 12 percent or nearly 9,000 tons of CO₂ equivalents per year.”

A Costa Rican official says China has promised to donate 200 patrol cars and $10 million USD to the Central American country. Costa Rican Vice President Laura Chinchilla says the money will go to an emergency fund to use in case of natural disasters.

Chinchilla says the gifts were announced by Chinese Vice Premier Hui Liangyu, who is visiting Costa Rica.

China had already donated $20 million USD to the country’s emergency fund and promised to build a new stadium in Costa Rica’s capital.

Costa Rica officially recognized China in June, after years of allying itself with Taiwan.

Visiting Chinese Vice Premier Hui Liangyu and Costa Rican President Oscar Arias vowed Tuesday to further strengthen bilateral relations.

Costa Rica is willing to maintain high-level exchanges with China and further broaden communication and cooperation, he said.