The new San Jose to Caldera highway, which was opened to traffic on Wednesday, January 27, got its first real workout Saturday, when Ticos and visitors alike flocked to try out the new shortcut to the beach. Let’s start with the good news. The surface is good. Nice and smooth. It’s not as winding as before, either, much straighter. Some parts even have 4 lanes. Okay, now on to the rest of the story. 32 years of pent up demand may have caused the massive traffic jams. One reliable source said that there were massive, kilometer-long backups to get through the toll booths. Al Dia, the Costa Rican newspaper, reported delays of an hour.
Although other motorists also complained about the toll booth delays, Autopistas Del Sol, the private firm that is running the show, reported the toll booths worked well and they were well prepared and trained. I guess reasonable people may disagree. Probably depends on your point of view. The view from the Autopistas Del Sol press office might be different than from the lines in front of the toll booths.
There were five minor collisions Saturday morning caused by the traffic jams, but no problems in the afternoon, according to the transit police. Some more good news.
Saturday the trip from downtown San Jose to Jaco took 2.5 hours. When the old road wasn’t crowded, that’s about how long it took. But the road wasn’t smooth. And of course, the road WAS often crowded.
I am not surprised that there was a flood of traffic the first weekend the new highway was open. It was a nice day, great for going to the beach. I’d like to check it out personally, someday. I think I’ll avoid weekends, though. And Semana Santa.
The video shows the winner of “Ukraine’s Got Talent”, Kseniya Simonova, 24, drawing a series of pictures on an illuminated sand table showing how ordinary people were affected by the German invasion during World War II. Her talent, which admittedly is a strange one, is mesmeric to watch.
The images, projected onto a large screen, moved many in the audience to tears and she won the top prize of about £75,000.
She begins by creating a scene showing a couple sitting holding hands on a bench under a starry sky, but then warplanes appear and the happy scene is obliterated.
It is replaced by a woman’s face crying, but then a baby arrives and the woman smiles again. Once again war returns and Miss Simonova throws the sand into chaos from which a young woman’s face appears.
She quickly becomes an old widow, her face wrinkled and sad, before the image turns into a monument to an Unknown Soldier.
This outdoor scene becomes framed by a window as if the viewer is looking out on the monument from within a house.
In the final scene, a mother and child appear inside and a man standing outside, with his hands pressed against the glass, saying goodbye.
The Great Patriotic War, as it is called in Ukraine, resulted in one in four of the population being killed with eight to 11 million deaths out of a population of 42 million.
Kseniya Simonova says:
“I find it difficult enough to create art using paper and pencils or paintbrushes, but using sand and fingers is beyond me. The art, especially when the war is used as the subject matter, even brings some audience members to tears. And there’s surely no bigger compliment.”
With a little more a week to go, it appears that Laura Chinchilla of the Partido Liberación Nacional (PLN) has a lock on the vote with a 45.1% support, according to the latest poll by Demoscopia.
Otto Guevara of the Movimiento Libertario (ML) continues to hold second place firmly with 30% of the decided vote, while Ottón Solís of the Partido Acción Cuidadana (PAC) continues in third place with 9.5%, followed by the Luis Fishman of the Partido Unidad Social Cristiana (PUSC) with a 3.8% approval.
The Demoscopia poll firmly dispells the requirement of a second round vote.
However, during several interviews and round table discussions before the television cameras, all the candidates assure that they will win the vote of the majority of Costa Ricans.
Ottón Solís was quick to remind that four years ago the poll results weren’t much different when he faced off against Oscar Arias, then on voting day almost winning the election. Solís lost to Arias in 2006 with less than a 1.000 votes.
The Demoscopia poll was taken between January 20 and 26, taking into account the results of 1.209 people.
The poll results show that 71% of the voters have decided for whom they will cast their vote.
Costa Ricans will go to the polls on Sunday, February 7th.
The Inter-American Human Rights Court says Colombia’s government has acknowledged responsibility in the 1994 killing of a communist senator and asked forgiveness.
The revelation came in a statement Thursday involving the assassination of Sen. Manuel Cepeda.
The court quotes Colombia’s government as saying it profoundly regrets the crime and asks to be forgiven.
The senator’s son says that isn’t enough and is demanding Colombian President Alvaro Uribe make the apology in a national broadcast.
A Colombian judge convicted two soldiers of assassinating the senator and sentenced each to 43 years in prison in 1999.
The Costa Rica-based rights court operates under the aegis of the Organization of American States.
Singapore and Costa Rica have successfully concluded negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) after four rounds of talks.
The two countries will sign the accord “once domestic processes are completed”, Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry said in a statement, referring to the ratification of the pact by their respective parliaments.
Under the agreement, Singapore and Costa Rican companies will enjoy greater access to each other’s markets.
“Singapore will grant immediate duty-free access for all imports from Costa Rica, while Costa Rica would eliminate tariffs for 90.6 percent of its tariff lines upon entry into force of the agreement,” the statement said.
Tariffs on the remaining products would be eliminated over a period of 10 years.
The services and investments chapters cover key areas of interest for Singapore companies, including hotel and restaurant services, private education services, and construction services.
In addition, under the agreement, investors will be assured of protection for their investments.
The statement added that the conclusion of the Singapore-Costa Rica FTA is a sign of the warming bilateral economic relations between both countries, and provides a platform to grow bilateral trade and investments even further.
Bilateral trade hit S$413.7 million in 2009, up 40 per cent from 2004. Singapore’s imports from Costa Rica comprise mainly electronic valves and machine parts, while Singapore exports to Costa Rica were mainly measuring instruments and rubber.
For the lover of outdoor adventure, Costa Rica provides a tropical paradise with shimmering blue ocean, incredible resort properties along with jungle and city adventures. Whether you prefer a restful day at the beach, excitement in the water or a brush-beating safari in deep tropical jungle, you’ll find it in Costa Rica. And, with a variety of all-inclusive vacation resorts, you can go first-class and experience Costa Rica on your terms without breaking the bank.
Paradisus Playa Conchal
Stay in luxurious and eco-friendly surroundings at the Paradisus Playa Conchal. The all-inclusive resort offer more than 400 suite-sized rooms, eight dining options, five bars, an 18-hole Robert Trent Jones Jr. golf course, lagoon-style pool, spa and fitness center, and activities for those with energy to burn. Beach excitement includes catamaran sailing, snorkeling and laser skeet shooting. Take a fly over the jungle with a canopy tour, or take a cooking class.
Paradisus Playa Conchal
Bahia Brasilito, Playa Conchal
Santa Cruz, Costa Rica
(888) 741-5600
paradisus-playa-conchal.com
Barcelo Tambor Beach
Much like Paradisus, the Barcelo Tambor Beach has a wealth of restaurants and activities to keep even the most active of adventurers busy the entire stay. The five-star resort offers safe, clean beaches, exotic plant life on the grounds and lush, vegetation-filled hills of the surrounding Costa Rican biological corridor. Beach activity, nightly entertainment, a casino, a variety of dining and drinking establishments, along with the all-inclusive tag, help to make for a relaxing or exhilarating stay.
The Tamarindo Diria Beach & Golf Resort is a 4-star all-inclusive on the northwestern Pacific coast. Being the first resort on the white sands of Tamarindo Beach, the resort has a prime location where you can explore the lush tropical gardens, swim in the deep blue waters, sink your toes in to the warm sand or enjoy the modern conveniences. The resort has several different pools, three restaurants, two bars, a variety of accommodation types and two nearby golf courses, which resort guests can play for a reduced rate.
Beginning in March, Costa Ricans may be paying an additional ¢85 colones on their telephone bills - fixed line and cellular - that will go towards financing the costs of the 911 emergency services.
Currenlty the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) applies a ¢79.56 colones charge on all telephone bills. If the request by 911 is approved by the Superintendencia de Telecomunicaciones (Sutel), the charge will increase to ¢166.49.
The director of the 911 emergency service, Rodolfo Jugo, says the increase will allow the service to have an additional ¢2.5 billion colones for operating cost for 2010.
Jugo says the increase is necessary to cover the costs of providing adequate emeregency response services due to an increase in calls.
Finally, after more than three decades of planning, promises, starts, stops and delays, the San José - Caldera highway, is a reality. Travel between the interior of Costa Rica and the Pacific coast is at least 45 minutes faster.
On Wednesday, Costa Rican president, Oscar Arias, officially inaugurated the highway at a ceremony in Orotina..
The highway officially was opened to traffic Wednesday night and the toll stations began collecting at midnight.
Even though the highway is now open and the tolls are being charged, parts of the road is still missing signaling, bus stop bays, lighting and rail guards.
What the highway means to many is a savings in time, fuel and wear and tear on their vehicle, however, Ruta 27 is not cheap. A round trip between the Sabana, San José and Puerto Caldera, Puntarenas, costs ¢3.860 in tolls (¢1.930 in each direction), for the 77 kilometer trip that takes less than an hour.
Until yesterday, the only routes to and from the Pacific coast from San José was the Cambronero or the Desmonte (Aguacate), which took almost two hours to make the trip between San José and Puntarenas.
The new San José - Caldera highway now means the trip takes less than an hour and no mountains to climb or descend. Also, the new road offers passing lanes at points where there some gentle climbs, allowing slow moving traffic to the right.
It could be a matter of weeks before an Ozarks father can finally bring his daughter back to the United States. Last week, Roy Koyama traveled to Costa Rica to get his daughter Emily back.
In February 2009, Emily’s mother Trina was charged with parental kidnapping and she traveled overseas.
On Tuesday, Roy says a judge in Costa Rica has accepted his trial and is now working on translating and doing the paperwork. Roy says he’ll most likely be going back in about three weeks, once the trial wraps up.
The U.S. State Department and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children have helped Roy in this legal battle.
He says his ex-finance may be extradited to face her charges. She says she is just trying to protect her child.
If Starbucks has slowed coffee buying in Costa Rica and Guatemala, as Reuters reported, then maybe it’s helping make up for it with Peruvian coffee beans.
The Peruvian Coffee Chamber said that Starbucks has boosted buying there, because the quality of the coffee has improved.
Starbucks did not confirm, but spokeswoman May Kulthol said that 78 percent of its coffee came from Latin America in 2008. The company bought about 383 million pounds of coffee that year, according to its global responsibility report, at an average $1.49 a pound.
In light of the upcoming presidential elections in Costa Rica set for February 7, the country’s bishops issued a statement reminding the faithful that their Catholic faith is not just another aspect of their lives, but rather has “unavoidable implications in the field of political morality and public life.”
In their letter the bishops urged Catholics to vote by discerning the best choice “with the help of the Lord” and to use sound reasoning in the search for what is best for the country.
After noting that “politics is a noble activity,” they added that it must be guided by “paths of justice, respect for human life, marriage, the family, religious freedom and the search for the common good.” The bishops then pointed to the various challenges the next president must address such as the country’s breakdown in security, violence, disrespect for life, ongoing poverty, unstable families, unemployment, corruption and drug trafficking.
The letter reminded Catholic voters they must not check their Catholic identity at the door of the polling booth, and stressed that the Christian faith “has unavoidable implications in the field of political morality and public life.”
The bishops also exhorted “all people of good will to analyze ahead of time and to attentively discern, guided by reason and ethics, the proposals set forth by candidates, in order to cast a vote that is responsible and reasoned.”
“At this time in our history,” they said, “we invite the entire People of God to invoke the help of the Lord and the maternal protection of Our Lady of the Angels, so that we may once again feel her intercessory presence and she may guide us to strengthen our democracy in peace, justice and freedom.”
The ousted president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, has been flown out of the country after spending four months under siege in the Brazilian embassy in the capital Tegucigalpa.
He is thought to be travelling to the Dominican Republic, having failed to serve out the final months of his single term in office.
Mr Zelaya was arrested by the Honduran military in June 2009 and taken to Costa Rica before returning to Honduras clandestinely in September.
Mr Zelaya left his refuge hours after his successor, the conservative businessman Porfirio Lobo, was sworn into office.
Mr Lobo has promised national reconciliation after months of confrontation, and granted an amnesty to all those involved in the coup as his first act in power.
He must now try to win support from major Latin American countries, including Brazil and Argentina, both of which refuse to recognise his election in November.
•Americans eat 100 acres of pizza every day, about 350 slices per second.
•There is one pizzeria for every 4,000 Americans. In Italy, there is one pizzeria for every 1,400 Italians.
•50 percent of an average pizza’s total food cost is the cheese.
•25 percent of American adults ages 18 to 24 eat pizza five-plus times a month.
•Some of the more popular toppings around the world are pickled ginger, minced mutton and tofu (India); eel and squid (Japan); coconut (Costa Rica); green peas (Brazil) and mockba, a combination of sardines, tuna, mackerel, salmon and onions (Russia).
•The largest pizza ever baked was 122 feet in diameter, made at the Norwood Hypermarket, Norwood, South Africa, 1990. Ingredients included 9,900 pounds of flour.
•A slice of a Domino’s hand-tossed large pizza contains 248 calories — 72 calories from fat, 40 calories from protein and 136 calories from carbohydrates.
•David Smith II from Smith’s Pizza Plus, Emporium, Pa., won for the largest dough stretch (72.25 cm) at the 2009 American Pizza Championship.
•The soldiers of Darius the Great (521-486 B.C.) baked bread flat upon their shields and then covered it with cheese and dates during long marches. Cato the Elder, in his history of Rome, described a “flat round of dough dressed with olive oil, herbs and honey baked on stones.’’
•According to Domino’s Pizza Tracker, which allows customers to track their pizza after they order online, Republicans spend more per order than Democrats, rely more on credit cards and tend to order two large pizzas at a time. Democrats rely more on delivery and like more variety with their orders, going for more side items.
•Carryout accounts for 36 percent of all pizzeria orders, while delivery accounts for 31 percent.
•Three of the top 10 weeks of pizza consumption occur in January. More pizza is consumed during Super Bowl week than any other week of the year.
Today, the inauguration of the San José - Caldera takes place, when after almost 40 years of planning and delays, Costa Rican president, Oscar Arias, makes the 77 kilometre road official.
However, a group of residents of Santa Ana and Cuidad Colon are not very happy about all of this and this morning took to blocking the section of the road that runs through their community, saying the road is unsafe and never considered the concerns of the area residents.
The road that was first promised in 1978 was to have cost us$158 million dollars in 2001 when the Rodriguez administration announced its intention to complete the road. The good intentions followed delays and was put on the back burner by the Pacheco administration that followed, only to revived by the current administration.
Karla Gonzalez, the former ministra of the MOPT, said that the delays were due to the problems in the expropriation of some 100 lots that run across the highway and the ramps.
The total cost of the completed highway is $230 million dollars.
Today’s inauguration marks the completion of dream of decades. But also a headache for some living near the highway.
The Santa Ana/Cuidad Colon residents are upset mainly at the installation of the toll booths leading to and from those communities from the highway. For the time being, although the toll booths are built, the charge of tolls has been suspended while the government attempts a resolution between the residents and the road concessionaire, Autopistas del Sol.
The car-maker took the unprecedented action because the vehicles’ gas pedals can get stuck and cause unwanted acceleration. Toyota will also stop making the cars and trucks Monday.
Toyota Motor Corp. has taken the unprecedented step of halting sales and production of eight models — including its top-selling Camry and Corolla — saying their gas pedals can get stuck and cause runaway acceleration.
Industry experts could not recall any time in recent history when a car-maker had stopped both production and sales of so many models at once. Tuesday’s move follows two recent recalls aimed at preventing Toyota-made vehicles from surging out of control, which has been blamed in at least 19 deaths and scores of injuries over the last decade, more than for all other automakers combined.
Toyota could pay dearly for the problem, industry analysts said.
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