Archive for March 15th, 2010
Monday, March 15th, 2010
The drunk driver you hit and killed a cyclist on the Florencio Castillo, autopista to Cartago, will be spending the next three months in preventing detention, jail.
The victim, Christopher Lang Arce, a 31 year old dentist, was cycling on the highway that is used by hundreds of cyclists every Sunday, when he was hit by the drunk driver in front of the Pasoca mall.
The 30 year old driver, only identified at Rivera, was found with 0.93 blood alcohol content, when the accident occurred shortly after 7am.
Rivera, an architect was taken into custody by authorities and was order to preventive detention Monday morning.
Neither the Policía de Tránsito, nor Rivera’s family would comment on the accident.
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Monday, March 15th, 2010
Paradise is great, but not if you’re trapped in it. Dan and his fellow passengers on US Airways flight 1922 were supposed to leave Costa Rica Saturday at 2:55pm. So far, with their broken plane awaiting a part, that hasn’t happened. Let’s check in on the front lines…
Dan writes, “Hello Gentle Folk of US Airways,
I hope this email finds you well. I know that you are all busy, and normally I wouldn’t bother you, but my fellow passengers and I currently have a lot of time on our hands, and mostly, we are thinking about you and your airline.
I generally enjoy US Air. I have a USA credit card, silver preferred status, and some miles in my account. I’ve had pleasant experiences in the past, and hope to have more in the future.
However, I find myself, in this very moment, in a very uncomfortable position. I have been in the San Jose airport for about 24 hours now. The plane that is supposed to take me back to Philadelphia seems to be horribly broken and indefinitely delayed. For some reason your employees here have been unwilling to put us on another plane, or even to give us any information. We are increasingly frustrated.
I was wondering if you could do something to take care of us?
It would be great if you could expedite us back to our most beloved United States Of America.
Thanks so much,
Daniel”
Passengers were given accommodations and food vouchers Saturday night, and told that their flight would leave at 6am.
The passengers returned to the airport at 3am, because passengers have to be at the San Jose Airport 3 hours before the flight leaves.
The passengers watched the sun rise. The flight got pushed back to 9am, and then indefinitely. The latest that Daniel heard, they are going to put the part they need to fix the plane on an inbound plane, and it will be ready when it is ready.
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Monday, March 15th, 2010
The body of a former Oregon man who ran a hotel in Costa Rica has been found floating in the ocean off the coast of the Central American nation, the apparent victim of a killing.
The Grants Pass Daily Courier reported Saturday the body of 38-year-old Kelly Nutting was found near the port town of Golfito, wrapped in a sheet and tied to concrete with his hands behind his back, possibly strangled.
The newspaper said Nutting was a student at Hidden Valley High School in Grants Pass and a Navy veteran who had been running the Hotel Delfina, which he bought from his parents.
His parents, two brothers and other relatives still live in Southern Oregon.
Family members said the death was under investigation but they knew few details.
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Monday, March 15th, 2010
The Costa Rican Environment, Energy and Telecommunications Ministry (MINAET) said that it will support a proposal to include eight different species of sharks in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
Their inclusion in the appendix would protect the sharks from commerce and control the removal of the animal from the sea.
Representatives from 175 countries will meet in Doha, Qatar from March 13 to 25 for the Fifteenth Conference of the Parties to vote on the on the inclusion of these eight species of sharks in the CITES convention. Attendees will also decide whether or not to add 41 other species of flora and fauna to various appendixes in the convention to guarantee their protection.
Among these 41 species are the North Atlantic red tuna and red coral. MINAET officials said the government institute will also back the inclusion of these two animals in Appendix II of CITES.
Appendix II is the second of three different categories of control in CITES. Appendix II allows for the “controlled trade” of any species that is included under its classification. Appendix I completely prohibits the trade of any plant or animal on its list.
MarViva, a Costa Rican marine conservation group, announced that they will vote for the inclusion of the North Atlantic red tuna in Appendix I of CITES.
In total, CITES guarantees some level of protection to nearly 41,000 species of flora and fauna.
The sharks MINAET officials hope to include on the list include three types of hammerhead sharks, the gray shark, the sand shark, the oceanic whitetip shark, the spiny dogfish shark, and the white sardine shark.
MINAET’s declaration of their support for including these animals in the CITES register come on the heels of the announcement that the ministry will spend $26,000 on a national campaign to help prevent illegal trafficking of flora and fauna. As part of the campaign, MINAET will buy new vigilance equipment and post public announcements at national parks and border crossings.
Story by TT
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Monday, March 15th, 2010
Some 200 trucks are still stuck in “nowheres” land waiting to cross into Nicaragua from Costa Rica following the closure of the border by Nicaraguan officials on Friday.
The border was closed for about 24 hours to all commercial truck traffic in protest of Costa Rica’s policies on increased controls of Nicaraguan beans into Costa Rica.
The closure of the border to trucks on the Costa Rican side to cross into Nicaragua has meant the loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars in spoilage of perishable goods and thousands more of lost time and costs to hang out at the border with nothing to do but wait.
“Nowheres” land is described as the territory between the immigration and customs border controls between the countries, where once checked out of one, there is lapse to check into the other.
The closure on the part of the Nicaraguans stranded hundreds of tractor trailers loaded with goods to Nicaragua and points north to Mexico.
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Monday, March 15th, 2010
Looking to get away for Semana Santa? Better make reservations in advance, as hotel operators report an 80% occupancy for the holy week.
The occupancy rate is reported by the Cámara Nacional de Turismo (CANATUS) that interviewed 61 tour and hotel operators.
The Cámara report says that 27.5% of the reservations are from nationals, while the rest are from international tourists.
Operators expect a good Semana Santa this year with occupancy reaching close to 95%.
The head of the Cámara, Juan Carlos Ramos, assures that the expectations this year are much better than the results of last year, as the effects of the world economic crisis seems to be waning, as indicated by the occupancy levels of the last three months.
According to the report, the Central Pacific region should see an occupancy level of 92%, while the Caribbean 87% and Guanacaste 85%.
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Monday, March 15th, 2010
A 46-year-old bull rider with the last name of García died Thursday night when he was savaged by a bull at a local festival in Judas de Chomes, said the Judicial Investigating Organization.
The man died a short time after being admitted to Hospital Manseñor Sanabria in Puntarenas.
Bull riding and bull baiting are staples of Costa Rican festivals. Injuries are frequent.
García was identified as an agricultural worker who participated in bull riding from time to time.
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Monday, March 15th, 2010
Although 57 percent of Costa Ricans drink alcoholic beverages, they do so in moderation, but 10 percent of the population drinks 80 percent of the total liquor consumed in the country, a new study shows.
The report, prepared by the Latin American School of Social Sciences, or Flacso, and published Saturday in the daily La Nacion, found that 5 percent of Costa Ricans who drink more heavily ingest 65 percent of all the alcohol consumed in the country.
The situation of the 1 percent of the adults who drink even more heavily is even more serious, since this group consumed 34 percent of all the liquor sold each year in the Central American nation.
The study says that, on average, Costa Ricans consume 3.9 liters of pure ethanol per year, although there are important differences between the sexes.
A liter is equivalent to just over 1.05 quarts.
Men are the ones who drink more, consuming an average of 6.06 liters of ethanol per year, while women’s consumption is just 1.74 liters per year.
The results of the study are the product of a combination of quantitative and qualitative methodologies among which stands out a study by the firm Unimer of 1,812 people all over the country, a survey that had an error margin of 2.3 percent.
Another relevant fact that emerged from the study was that 25.8 percent of men and 10.6 percent of women in Costa Rica began drinking before they were 18 years old.
Carlos Sojo, the coordinator of the study, said that that some positive figures also came out in the study.
Some 43 percent of the population does not drink any alcohol and 72 percent of the drinkers do not drink more than four drinks per night, Sojo said.
The researcher, however, emphasized the need to attend to and rehabilitate the 10 percent of the population that drinks more heavily and consumes 80 percent of the total alcohol ingested in Costa Rica.
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