A dear reader named Marianna recently sent us the following question via email:

I worked for a Honduran wine company in Roatan, Honduras. Now the owner wants me to be the distributor here in Costa Rica. I tried to talk to the Health Ministry and they would not talk to me. How do we ship wine from Honduras and what is the process to get it here so I can begin selling it to stores and restaurants?

Another reader named Sharon left us a question on our Facebook wall:

What about shipping prescription medications from the US for vets and even vitamins? Also, at the Aerocasillas in the free trade zones in La Aurora, are there customs or duties that are added to shipments?

We will answer Marianna’s question first:

Hello Marianna, thanks for writing. We have already touched on a similar topic, specifically related to bringing frozen salmon and other food products through the Juan Santamaria (SJO) and Daniel Oduber Quiros (LIR) international airports. Some of the requirements mentioned in that article will apply in your case.

You mentioned approaching the Ministerio de Salud (Health Ministry) to no avail. You did the right thing, as your chosen import will need to get approval from that entity. It is unfortunate that they did not help you, as their involvement will be crucial for what you wish to accomplish. Your success in this endeavor will require you to navigate the intricate landscape of trade regulations, and to this extent you may wish to retain the services of an expert in import affairs, such as an attorney or a customs agent. We can discuss laws, regulations and business practices since it is our constitutional right to do so, but we cannot give you advice. That falls strictly under the purview of certain professionals.

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A dear reader named Trisha recently left a question on our Facebook wall in reference to the article “Why Monsanto Left Costa Rica“.

Here’s Trisha’s question:

“The date of the Monsanto pull-out in Costa Rica was 2004; this 60 page paper was written in 2005. Does this all hold true for 2012 post-CAFTA which theoretically could’ve opened the floodgates for GMOs? As you well know, I am very concerned about this issue.”

Hello Trisha, thanks for your concern. The scope of the article was to highlight Monsanto’s departure in 2004, and a lot has happened since, but Monsanto still does not have an office in Costa Rica. This does not mean that the company’s products, including Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs), are not present in our country. The fight against the irresponsible use of transgenic crops, however, goes on.  Here is what is known:

The International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA) is an non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of biotechnology such as the GMOs pushed by Monsanto.  A search of their database of GMOs approved for use in Costa Rica reveals 17 transgenic cotton seeds and two soybean seeds, most of them manufactured by Monsanto.  Some of these seeds are pest-resistant, while others are Roundup Ready -meaning that you can spray herbicide on these soybeans and they will continue growing unperturbed.

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A dear reader who wishes to remain anonymous recently sent us the following question:

“I am an expat who has been living here for a few years, and I can’t seem to figure out Ticas. I just got dumped because I came back home too late from a bar in Escazu after watching the Super Bowl with my friends (go Giants!). She said that she tried calling me, but she should know by now that my Kolbi cell phone does not get a signal at the bar. This isn’t the first time something like this happens. I love Ticas, but I just can’t understand them. They either want me for my money or they say I’m not romantic enough. So now it looks like I’m going to be alone for Valentine’s Day…”

The letter from anonymous goes on for quite a bit, but the excerpt above gets to the heart of the matter and is sufficient to formulate an answer or two.

Hello anonymous, thank you for writing. Sorry about the breakup. Could it be that your ex-girlfriend is a Tom Brady fan by any chance? You know, he owns a beach home here with his better half Gisele Bundchen.

It is clear from your lengthy letter that you have a compelling desire to understand what goes on in the hearts of Ticas; a sentiment shared by Ticos, expats and sociologists at large. It is a subject of deep mystery and wonder, one that surpasses the enigma of the stone spheres you can find strewn about our country.

Sage advice here would be for you to look into switching your wireless service to one of the new carriers -and to also stop your inquiry before it drives you insane- but you are in luck. The stately newspaper La Nacion, which in the past has been unfairly labeled as icy and stuffy, recently decided to get all romantic and commissioned polling service Unimer to go door-to-door in search of what really makes Ticas and Ticos tick when it comes to dating and relationships. The article appeared on La Nacion’s Revista Dominical (Sunday Magazine), so you can head over there and read it now in Spanish, or keep reading the summary below in English.

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A few dear readers have asked variations on similar questions regarding the bills and sales receipts they get from restaurants located in tourist hotspots such as Jaco and La Fortuna, close to where Will Smith is currently filming After Earth.  A notable question came from a reader named Stacy who told us about the time she dined at a nice restaurant in Quepos and she asked the waiter to bring the check:

“OMG, what is this 23% Costa Rica tourist tax?”

Hello Stacy, thanks for your question.  That 23 percent you saw on the receipt from the restaurant does not entirely represent taxes.  Only 13 percent of the meal price was assessed on value-added taxes (Impuesto al Valor Agregado, or IVA in Spanish).  The remaining 10 percent was allocated to the waiter’s tip.  It looks like the restaurant did everything correctly, particularly if it itemized and indicated the IVA tax and tip separately on the bill.

What the law says about taxes

There are 17 different taxes that some Ticos could reasonably expect to pay at some point in their lives.  Here’s a list of the different taxes, and some of them will contain links to previous relevant articles that have appeared in The Costa Rica Star.

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A dear reader named Gordy Lee asked a question through Facebook comments on our page:

What is legal to bring to through the airports, what is not? Seems like San Jose and Liberia have their own separate ideas, with Liberia being less tolerant. I tried to bring in vacuum packed smoked and cooked salmon through Liberia, had it confiscated and destroyed (yeah right). My friend has brought in raw frozen salmon and halibut through San Jose many times, never a problem.

Hello Gordy Lee, thanks for your question. There’s little chance that the confiscated salmon was destroyed. Salmon has been traditionally missing from our cuisine, but Costa Rica is slowly warming up to the global village concept, and thus it is very likely that the impounded fish ended up in a delicious recipe such as Spaghetti with Salmon-Flavored White Sauce, made with Maggi condiments and Ideal evaporated milk.

The Costa Rica Star does not give legal advice, but our democratic roots allow the free discussion of our laws, which is what follows:

The customs officer at Liberia probably had every right to confiscate the salmon in the absence of a declaration or approved form requesting the importation of food items for the purpose of exhibition and tasting. Laws and rules pertaining customs tend to be complicated affairs, often depending on international and regional treaties, like the Central American Customs Treaty, World Trade Organization rules, and even the Kyoto Protocol.

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A dear reader named Ana recently sent us the following question:

What do you do if you have a dog or cat that you cannot care for any longer here in Costa Rica (due to sickness or family emergency). Is there an ASPCA-style organization here that will help with animal relocation?

Hello Ana, thank you for taking the time to write, and thanks for your concern. We have several organizations dedicated to animal control, rescue, adoption, and humane treatment. If you are unable to care for your pet for the reasons you stated in your question, or for any other reasons, our advice is that you contact one of the organizations we will discuss below. These organizations are managed and administered by animal lovers, and many of them have English-speaking staff members and hard-working volunteers.

Costa Rica has a pretty good track record before the international community when it comes to wildlife preservation and rescue efforts. In the past, we have written about the unique sloth sanctuary in Cahuita, Limon. Our government-sponsored Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad (INBIO) coordinates several wildlife rescue and protection efforts around the country. Such efforts are in line with our ecological-minded goals and commitment to sustainability that we have previously discussed here in The Costa Rica Star; but unfortunately, we are falling short of our goals when it comes to our relationship with domesticated animals.

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A couple of dear readers have sent us questions related to environmental issues in Costa Rica. Our country has considerably stepped up conservation efforts since the mid-1970s, and there is a commitment in place to achieve carbon neutrality by the year 2021. Conservation and carbon neutrality are two issues that go hand-in-hand to ensure that our country remains pretty and pristine, and thus The Costa Rica Star is delighted to answer the questions below.

Carol is a real estate entrepreneur who lives in Cartago and asked us the following questions:

Do you know what government or non-government program pays you to put your primary and secondary forest into a conservation program? How does this program work? Who would you contact to become involved it the program?

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A few dear readers recently sent questions regarding a number of immigration affairs that visitors to our country regularly experience.  We have consolidated the relevant questions and answered them in this article for a more convenient reading experience.  Please note that the information below is not meant to be legal advice.  Immigration issues are legal proceedings that can be better handled by Costa Rican attorneys.  Thanks to our democratic roots, we are free to discuss our public laws and administrative rules, which is what we are doing here.

We thank Greta and John for their questions.

- If a foreigner has a child within Costa Rica does the child automatically become a citizen and does this help with increasing the mother’s chances of getting permanent residency?

Here’s what our laws states about your question:

Title II, Article 13, section 3 of our Constitution states that a child born to foreign parents in Costa Rica is considered a Tico unless he or she renounces such citizenship after coming of age.

Title II, Article 78 of Law 8764 as it pertains to Immigration and Foreigners, states that parents and other first-blood relatives of Ticos have the right to apply for, and be granted, Permanent Residence.

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Click here to view past “readers mail” questions that we have answered in published articles.

A couple of dear readers recently sent us questions regarding air travel in Costa Rica. We have consolidated their questions and respective answers to make it more informative for everyone.

A reader named Bill from Chicago asked general questions about our airports and airlines, whether it’s possible to bypass San Jose and fly in to Guanacaste’s fabulous beaches, and about flights from Costa Rica to other tourism hotspots in Central America.

Thanks for writing, Bill. We have good news for you: Budget airlines USA3000 and Frontier are currently offering some direct and non-stop flights from Chicago O’Hare to Liberia’s spiffy-new Daniel Oduber Quiros International Airport (LIR) through American tour operator Apple Vacations. As we have previously reported, Guanacaste is becoming a prime destination for medical tourists, surfers, celebrities, and seasoned visitors -like you, Bill- who want to skip the hustle and bustle of the Juan Santamaria International Airport (SJO) and head straight for the balmy paradise beaches in the Nicoya Peninsula and our North Pacific shores.

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A dear reader named Camille recently sent The Costa Rica Star the following questions via email. If you have any questions about Costa Rica that you would like answered in a news article, contact us as time permits and we will do our best to find the answers you are seeking.

Here are the questions that she sent to us.

1. What’s up with the high cost of traffic tickets?
2. Should you bribe a policeman?
3. What are some of the best places to buy meat?
4. What is that new card that is needed to access your bank account?
5. Where can one find exceptional value in lodging in a great area to see?
6. What do Ticos really think of us expats?
7. What can you bring in your luggage to Costa Rica?

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