Archive for January 6th, 2010
Wednesday, January 6th, 2010
If you have been hoarding those large, heavy silver coins known as “plateados”, keep in mind that the coins no longer have legal tender value and can only be exchanged at the local banks until the end of March, when they will only be accepted at the offices of the Central Bank.
However, keep in mind that some bank branches will only accept coins during certain hours and days.
Private banks are at lot more liberal when it comes to taking coins from its customers.
So, if you do have that jar or piggy bank full of plateados, call ahead or check with your local bank for its coin acceptance policies before heading out.
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Wednesday, January 6th, 2010
The Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transportes said on Tuesday it is evaluating the possibility of reducing the cost of the tolls at Piedades de Santa Ana (Cuidad Colón) or removing the tolls entirely.
MOPT minister, Marco Vargas, said he is studying the options in order to respond to the concern of the residents of Santa, Rio Oro, Cuidad Colón and Puriscal.
The toll, that was expectedto have taken effect on January 1, 2010, but postponed due to the outcry and protests of local residents, is set to cost ¢160 colones.
Vargas admitted that whichever of the two solutions – reduction or elimination – taken by the MOPT will affect the other toll costs along the San José – Caldera route.
The toll booths in both directions on the exit and entrance to the highway from Piedades, have been built and ready to go into use. Autopistas de Sol is waiting on a definitive decision by the MOPT.
However, Autopistas made it clear that the tolls are part of the contract between it and the government and although they are no opposed to the evaluation, the company said it expected the terms of the contract to be respected.
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Wednesday, January 6th, 2010
Costa Rica’s Turrialba volcano, last active in the 19th century, has erupted, spewing ash and steam and prompting authorities to evacuate a small number of people from its slopes.
The 3340m volcano is situated east of the capital San Jose in the remote, lushly forested central highlands of the Central American country.
It had shown increased activity since the weekend, Vanessa Rosales, president of Costa Rica’s disaster response commission, said.
“The area around the volcano is not very populated,” Rosales said, while adding that ash from the volcano could reach San Jose if activity were to became more severe.
Authorities evacuated 20 people from its slopes. Thirty more people near Turrialba will be evacuated on Wednesday, Rosales said.
The volcano is not near any major coffee production areas.
Turrialba has been dormant since a 22-year active period that began in 1864, according to Juan Segura, the director of the Costa Rican Volcanology and Seismology Observatory.
Ash from Turrialba’s last major eruption in February 1866 fell hundreds of kilometers away in Nicaragua, according to the observatory.
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Wednesday, January 6th, 2010
Costa Rica – Joan Rivers is many things: Funny lady. Jewelry mogul. Red carpet mercenary. But a terrorist?
Can we talk? Her side of the story.
Rivers, 76, was deemed a danger to national security and booted from a Newark-bound flight in Costa Rica on Sunday by a jittery Continental Airlines gate agent who found the two names on her passport fishy.
Her passport reads: Joan Rosenberg AKA Joan Rivers. Rosenberg was her late husband’s last name.
The “nasty and cruel” Continental gate agent bumped Rivers from the last flight out and the comedian found herself alone (her daughter, Melissa, flew out to Los Angeles earlier in the day) and with no ATM card and just $100 cash, she said.
Rivers’ tale of woe put a famous face on travel’s new reality – one that leaves many feeling like common criminals.
“If I were going to make up an alias, I wouldn’t pick Rosenberg. I’d pick Jolie or Pitt,” said Rivers, back home in New York with her sense of humor intact. “Do terrorists wear Manolo Blahniks? I can tell you Donna Karan does not make anything that hides a bomb,” she said.
“I tried the tears; they didn’t work. I tried reasoning. I couldn’t bribe because I didn’t have any money,” she said. “I said ‘I’m going to have a heart attack over this,’ so the woman called the paramedics.”
She said a porter, Eldon Ramos, took pity and found a friend to drive her 6-1/2 hours to the main airport in Costa Rica’s capital of San Jose for another flight leaving in the morning.
New York-area travelers were also reporting their own horror stories. “It was just one security checkpoint after the other,” said Carmella Rodriguez, 65, of Brooklyn, after barely making it through customs at Newark with her nephew after arriving from Panama. “I told my nephew I felt like I was a delinquent person.”
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