Costa Rica information, activities and news
Costa Rican authorities destroyed 1.057 plants of marijuana in the Península de Osa.
The plantation was located in the jungle of Puertas del Sol de Tinoco, in the area of Palmar, in the southern zone.
The police report says that officials had to walk 10 miles to get to the plantation and now are looking into who might have planted the crop.
Police say they found no one on the plantation and have no suspects.
Costa Rican health authorities confirmed Sunday the deaths of two Nicaraguan women from pneumonia caused by the H1N1 virus, bringing the total number of people who have died of – or of complications from – swine flu here to 40.
The deceased were 33 and 51 years old and both died about two weeks ago, Costa Rican Health Minister Maria Luisa Avila told local reporters.
The two patients had other risk factors working against them, including obesity and diabetes, said Avila, who added that – in addition – the women waited to go to health centers until they had already been having symptoms of the virus for five days, which is generally too long in the estimation of the medical community, particularly if one has other risk factors.
Costa Rica is expecting in the coming weeks to receive 200,000 doses of swine flu vaccine which will be administered first to health care workers and then to the most at-risk population, including pregnant women.
In January, authorities said that they are scheduled to receive another 250,000 vaccine doses.
In all, according to Avila, Costa Rica will invest some $3 million in purchasing the vaccine.
Costa Rica said Sunday it will sign with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) an information exchange agreement aimed at avoiding possible sanctions by the grouping.
Costa Rica’s Treasure Minister Jenny Phillips told Xinhua that the government will seek to amend existing laws to permit investigations of bank accounts in the country, as required by the OECD.
Under the country’s law, probes of bank account data require the authorization of a judge.
According to Phillips, the government will send a law amendment bill to the Legislative Assembly before Dec. 15, as a way of showing its willingness to cooperate with the OECD.
The OECD will also sign similar agreements with 12 other countries, including Mexico, France, Germany, Switzerland, Chile, Colombia, Canada, Brazil and Argentina, Phillips said.
Many are excited for the arrival of 3G in Costa Rica, especially with the announcement by the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) will begin marketing the 950.000 next generation of cellular lines by mid December. However, some will be severely disappointed.
ICE, the sole provider of cellular service in Costa Rica, says it will offer 3G only with basic services at the start and none of the innovate and sophisticated options available on a 3G network.
The 3G network installation contract in Costa Rica was gien to the Chinese company Huawei Technologies and a price tag of us$235 million dollars.
It was expected that by the end of this year this marvel in technology would be available in full, like it is available in just about every country that has cellular service, including neighbouring Nicaragua, the poorest country in Central America.
ICE says that the network will be delivered in three stages, the first is basic services, which allows the making and receiving of telephone voice calls and text messaging with a greater coverage and speed that what Ticos are accustomed to.
According to Elbert Durán, ICE spokesperson, the 3G will be transmitting on a wide band and no the 64Kb that the current cellular networks (TDMA and GSM) are using.
The difference that to download, say a video or music, can take less than a minute on the 3G while it can take many minutes under the current network.
However, 3G is more than just a network for making and receiving telephone calls. The wide band allows the transmission of data – large amounts of data, like photos, movies and even television (mobile tv) – all in the palm of a hand. But, not in Costa Rica.
Durán failed to say when the other two stages of the service will be available, nor the exact date when the first 3G will be available.
The introduction of the 3G is crucial for ICE as it heads into a new era for Costa Rica, competition in the telecommunication sector, with the expected authorization of three additional cellular carriers by next year.
Currently there are 1.8 million cellular users in Costa Rica.
With the addition of the 950.000 3G lines, ICE will have locked in the market, as a change to a competitor will surely mean a change in phone number, something that Ticos are simply not accustomed to, where many subscribers, have the same phone number since the first day cellular service was introduced in Costa Rica.
Finding a place to stay on your vacation can seem like a chore with all of the options that are available to you. When looking at San Jose Costa Rica Hotels you have options of beach hotels, city hotels and of course airport hotels.
For a great beach hotel, the Jaco Beach Resort will offer you a great view of the ocean while providing the perfect place to escape on your vacation.
If you are looking to stay in the heart of it all, two great city hotels are the Irazu Hotel & Casino and the San Jose Downtown.
The Irazu will offer you the great relaxing day with a Jacuzzi, pool and of course the spa. You will also get all of the night life with a jumping bar and the casino.
If you choose the San Jose Downtown, they are close to museums, the park and of course the bank. Here you will also find a pool that you can take a cooling swim in after a day on the go.
For those that prefer to stay near the airport, you will find several great airport hotels including the Holiday Inn Express and the Hampton Inn & Suites.
The express offers you breakfast that is complimentary as well as free wireless internet. The Hampton is close to all of the attractions for you to see as well as a swimming pool and studio rooms are available if needed.
You can see that you have many different options for your stay in San Jose Costa Rica Hotels. It all depends if you want to be close the beach, the action or close to the airport to avoid travel back when it is time to leave.
December will be a month of increases in the gasoline, taxi and buses. According to Carolina Mora of the Autoridad Reguladora de los Servicios Públicos (Aresep) the increases will be significant.
The Aresep has approved the last increase in gasoline prices that will see a liter of super gasoline jump ¢24 colones, regular or plus ¢26 and diesel ¢23. The increase will see gasoline prices go from the current ¢564 to ¢588 for super, from ¢547 to ¢573 for regular and from ¢488 to ¢511 for diesel.
Taxi fares could go up 35% following an application by the Federación Nacional de Cooperativas de Taxi (Fenacotaxi) to offset increases in operating costs.
If approved the cost of the first kilometre would increase by as much as ¢160 colones and ¢15 for each additional kilometre. With that increase the first kilometer would go from the current ¢455 to ¢615 and additional kilometers from ¢415 to ¢430.
The Aresep is also studying a request by bus operators for an increase of 3.5%.
Now, if that is bad enough, more increases are on their way after Christmas, when electricity will be more expensive as the Instituto Costarricense de Electrididad (ICE) applies the approved rate increase on January 1, 2010.
That increase will see the cost of electrical service jump from ¢17.150 monthly for the consumption of 250 KWh for ICE direct customers. Customers of the CNFL (an ICE agency) will pay ¢15.200, JASEC customers ¢13.650 and customers of ESPH ¢12.750, Coopeguanacaste ¢15.400, Coopelesca ¢12.70, Coopesanto ¢17.350 and Coopealfaro ¢16.900.
In January water will be more expensive as well when rates jump 23.8%.
The rate has been approved by the Aresep. However, an appeal to the Sala Cuarta by residents of Turrujal de Acosta, saying that they could not attend the public hearings held by the water utility due to their distance from the location of the public hearings site. The court ordered the AyA to hold a public hearing in Turrujal de Acosta, which will take place between December 15 and 17.
