Top 10 Costa Rica

Costa Rica is urging all of Latin America _ currently nuclear-weapon free _ to ratify the nuclear test-ban treaty, its ambassador to Austria said Monday.
Ana Teresa Dengo, Costa Rican ambassador to Vienna, said Costa Rica aims to turn the region into a nuclear-free zone during its two-year-term as head of the preparatory commission of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
Her announcement came a day after Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said his government was building a nuclear reactor with Russia’s help. Read the rest of this entry »

Quepos is a town located in the Manuel Antonio province of Costa Rica on the Pacific Coast. Manuel Antonio is a popular tourist destination in Costa Rica for backpackers and luxury tourists alike. Manuel Antonio is built up with some of the most luxurious places found in Costa Rica. Unlike the Caribbean coast and the province of Limon, Manuel Antonio features high rise buildings, fancy boutiques, 5 star dining and resorts, and even sidewalks! Many Americans and Europeans seek a vacation there because of the common comforts offered and backpackers who tend to stray a far into more budget and back packer friendly areas visit Manuel Antonio and Quepos just to see what its all about.

Like much of Costa Rica, the list of things to do in Quepos will never go blank. With tour operators, surfing, restaurants and live music, as well as many other activities how can one get bored in Quepos? Read the rest of this entry »

The community organizations in the canton of Garabito, Puntarenas, are making efforts to restore clean waters at Jaco Beach. Resident, tourist developers, municipal officials, and representatives of the Health and Environment ministries, as well as from the Ombudsman Office, met to draft a short term plan to stem pollution. Jaco is one of the most visited beaches in Costa Rica, but it is also among the 13 most polluted ones, according to official sources.

Costa Rica will not be able to export $18 billion in the year 2010, as had been expected. Now the goal is lower, $15 billion. This will be one of the most dramatic adjustments that the Government will have to handle in the definition of the goals of the National Development Plan. Planning Minister Roberto Gallardo blamed the undesired modification on a “change in the environment” resulting from the high prices of oil, recession in the United States, and the increase in the international market of basic grains.

The sales abroad of medical implants, including those used to enhance breasts and the ones that help lose weight, increased markedly this year’s first two quarters. Costa Rica exported $134 million worth of this type of implements from January through June. The amount is 452 percent higher than the one reported in the same period in 2007 ($24 million), according to data from the Promoter of Foreign Trade (PROCOMER in Spanish). The United States is the market for 65 percent of these exports. In addition, Allergan is investing $7 million in a new plant next to its current one in the Global Park Free Zone in Heredia. The firm is gradually closing its plant in Ireland and increasing the production of implants in Costa Rica

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi met here Friday with his Costa Rican counterpart, Bruno Stagno Ugarte, to discuss relations between their two countries on the sidelines of the 63rd session of the United Nations General Assembly.

Yang thanked the Costa Rican government for its support on Taiwan, Tibet and the Beijing Olympics, saying relevant departments in China are actively implementing consensus reached by leaders of the two countries, and are speeding up the process of implementing bilateral economic and trade cooperation projects.

Stagno, for his part, said Costa Rica would abide by its commitments made when it established full diplomatic ties with China and stands ready to further widen the areas of cooperation between the two sides so as to incessantly reinforce and deepen bilateral ties.

China and Costa Rica established full diplomatic relations on June 1, 2007.

The San Jose government Saturday imposed restrictions on Chinese milk products in the midst of the scandal over China’s tainted milk. Costa Rica’s Ministry of Health and Commerce said it would monitor imports at customs and remove any milk products which could be suspicious.

“We are going to retire all the products of this type that we find in commerce. Nobody can sell any milk products” coming from China, said Minister of Health Maria Luisa Avila.

At least four Chinese infants have died as a result of consuming melamine-contaminated milk powder, while some 13,000 infants were hospitalized and 40,000 others experienced health problems, according to China’s health ministry and state media.

Import restrictions or outright bans have been put in place around the world, including Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, New Zealand, India, South Korea, Nepal, Hong Kong, the Philippines and Taiwan.

In 2007, internationally distributed toxic pet food and melamine- contaminated meat or wheat protein was traced to Chinese producers, and a food scare in Japan in early 2008 involved frozen dumplings imported from China.

Melamine is a toxic chemical used as a binding agent and coating for particle, fiber and laminated board. It is also used to make fertilizer.

Costa Rica opened diplmatic relations with China little more than a year ago.

When you hear of a surfer whose been attacked by something in the water it’s typically a shark. But check this out, a 13-year old boy was down in Costa Rica a few days ago having a great surf session when all of sudden he was being dragged and thrashed around by a crocodile. Dakota Kilbride was at Playa Hermosa which is a well know surf spot where the waves are good and the water is warm, but there’s a nearby river mouth where these deadly creatures like to hang out. And while croc attacks on humans in the area are apparently unheard of, it doesn’t mean that occasionally one of these beasts will go for a little exploration into the ocean. Dakota Kilbride is lucky to be alive, let alone lucky he didn’t lose his right leg.

Universal literacy, the eradication of many preventable diseases and safe drinking water for everyone could all be achieved if the world spent as much on those causes as it already does on military forces, Costa Rica’s President told the General Assembly tonight in a call for a radical re-think of global spending.

Óscar Arias Sánchez told the Assembly’s high-level debate that many governments were hurting their citizens by indulging in excessive military spending.

“On a planet where one-sixth of the population lives on less than a dollar a day, spending $1.2 trillion on arms and soldiers is an offence and a symbol of irrationality,” Mr. Arias said. Read the rest of this entry »

President Oscar Arias attended a forum on free trade yesterday with U.S. President George Bush, weeks after a Supreme Court decision threatened Costa Rica’s entry into the Central American Free-Trade Agreement (CAFTA).

The White House convened the meeting for leaders from 11 countries in the Western Hemisphere that either have a free-trade agreement with the United States or are in the process of entering one.

In a joint statement, the leaders agreed to promote trade liberalization and open markets in the region and exchange best practices on labor and environmental standards. Read the rest of this entry »

The International Guitar Festival starts tonight at the National Theater, Teatro Nacional, in downtown San Jose. More than 100 musicians from the United States, France, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Brazil, Cuba, Spain, and of course, Costa Rica will gather together for the 15th annual “Festival Internacional de Guitarra.”

Among the many renowned international artists, headliners who will take the stage include Mike Stern from the U.S., Carlos Barbosa Lima from Brazil, Berta Rojas from Paraguay and Rafael Andujar from Spain.

On Saturday two concerts will be held; the first will begin at 3 in the afternoon and will feature a special recital from the Guitar Orchestra, a group from the University of Costa Rica who will perform a tribute to its 25 years of existence. Ticket prices will range from 8,000 colones ($15) to 16,000 colones ($30). Read the rest of this entry »

A new report from the Costa Rica government indicates the number of illegal abortions there is supposedly on the rise. The Central American nation, like other predominantly Catholic and Hispanic nations in the region, is strongly pro-life and protects the right to life of unborn children.

The new Asociación Demográfica Costarricense (ADC) report indicates there are about 27,000 illegal abortions occurring in the country annually for women between the ages of 15 and 49.

That’s a rate of one abortion for every three lives births in the nation in 2007.

It has increased from a rate of 10.6 for every 1.000 women between the ages of 15 and 49 to 22.3 last year.

ADC official Cristian Gómez prepared the report and, according to the Inside Costa Rica web site, he said abortion presents a number of health risks for women.

He said the rise is due to a less frequent use of birth control and contraception and supposedly supports an effort to make some abortions legal.

While abortion advocates typically point to supposedly large numbers of women dying from illegal abortions as a reason to allow them, the ADC report indicates no women in Costa Rica have died from illegal abortions recently.

Costa Rica was in the news last year when abortion advocates used the case of a 9-year-old girl who became pregnant to try to promote the decriminalization of abortion internationally.

A former executive with French telecom equipment supplier Alcatel has been sentenced to 30 months in prison for a US$2.5 million bribery scheme in an attempt to win a mobile telephone contract from the government of Costa Rica, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

During Tuesday’s sentencing, Christian Sapsizian, 62, was also ordered by Judge Patricia Seitz of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida in Miami to forfeit $261,500.

Sapsizian, a French citizen, pleaded guilty to two counts of violating the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. He was indicted in March 2007. Sapsizian agreed to cooperate with U.S. and foreign law-enforcement officials in an ongoing investigation. Read the rest of this entry »

San Jose isn’t just the capital of Costa Rica, it’s also the nation’s largest city. With an estimated population of 1.6 Million people, San Jose is a genuine metropolitan area offering a little something for everybody.

#1 San Jose

Fans of the fine arts will have no shortage of places to go, Costa Rica’s high education level means museums abound. If you’re traveling with the little ones, El Museo de los Niños (The Children’s Museum) offer exhibits about children’s culture, science, music, and geography. Recommended for children up to 12. If anthropology is your thing, be sure to check out El Museo de Oro Pre-Colombiano (The Museum of Pre-Columbian Gold) where you can see how Mayan artisan crafted fine gold before the arrival of the Spanish.

#2 The Central Valley Volcanos

Costa Rica’s Central Valley is home to two of the most spectacular Volcanoes in Central America. Volcan Irazu is only about 20 miles from Cartago, the country’s former capital and is part of Irazu Volcano National Park. Volcan Poas is an hour and half drive from from downtown San Jose and features a main crater 2 kilometers in diameter! The crater creates a beautiful blue-green lake and numerous waterfalls can be found nearby. Read the rest of this entry »