Source: President Laura Chinchilla of Costa Rica By the end of the year, people from the Abangares canton of Guanacaste will enjoy a new and spiffy marketplace where farmers and handcraft artisans will be able to showcase and sell their goods. This past Friday, President Laura Chinchilla inaugurated Costa Rica's first roadside market, which is located right off the Pan American Highway near th...

Source: UCR Music, theater and folklore were showcased alongside science, research and community development at the recent Guanacaste Expo of the University of Costa Rica (UCR). This major cultural and social event kicked off on November 6th at the Guanacaste Museum in Liberia, and it was deemed a sheer success by organizers who are pleased with the ongoing development and growth that this provi...

Source: Wikimedia Commons The most promising region of Costa Rica in the 21st century has not been able to flourish in relation to the country's national pastime and obsession. When it comes to football (or soccer, as some readers will insist) the Guanacaste province has a less-than-stellar past. This, however, is beginning to turn around thanks to various ongoing efforts. Football: More Ef...

Croc's Resort Sales Office in Jaco Beach At the recent World Travel Market fair in London, representatives from the national tourism boards of Central America and Mexico were anxiously waiting to hear the name of their respective countries called to receive the prestigious World Travel Award for best beach destination. Nominated for Costa Rica was Jaco Beach, a place that not long ago was pejo...

Foreign Workers at a Suger Cane Farm in Costa Rica From a macroeconomic point of view, Costa Rica has been mired in contradictions since the beginning of the 21st century. Consumer spending and prosperity are on the rise, but so are inflation and income inequality. With regard to the labor market, the current unemployment rate is the highest the country has experienced in 30 years; but, if you...

Source: Wikimedia Commons The Hagnauer Foundation of Costa Rica is pleased to announce that two rescued jaguarundis or eyra cats (Puma yagouaroundi) will be reintroduced to their habitat in Guanacaste in the next few months. The two felines were recently found by officials from the Guanacaste Conservation Area (Spanish initials: ACG) during a routine patrol in the Curubande sector, which is part...

Irazu Volcano Crater, Costa Rica November has been a busy month for the Irazu volcano, one of Costa Rica's most emblematic tourist attractions. Even though the high tourist season is still a few weeks away, the Irazu has been attracting a lot of attention in news media headlines around the world, which claim that volcanic ash, snow and even rose petals have been falling on the skirts of this a...

The discovery of the lifeless body of a three-month old baby by his grandmother in Guanacaste on Sunday, November 17, 2013, has prompted a forensic investigation. According to a news article by Cythia Bran of national newspaper La Nacion, the grim finding took place about 300 meters north of the Villas del Sueno hotel in Playa Hermosa, a beach community that is located just northeast of Playas del...

Source: Wikimedia Commons On the morning of September 5th, 2012, residents of Guanacaste were going about their business and preparing to celebrate Costa Rica's 191st anniversary of its independence from Spain when a powerful earthquake struck the Nicoya Peninsula. That seismic movement, which registered a magnitude of 7.6 on the Richter scale, is still producing aftershocks and striking fear ...

Pro Surfer Emily Gussoni from Costa Rica For the first time in the history of aquatic sports in Costa Rica, the gorgeous beaches of Guanacaste will host their very own surfing circuit. According to national newspaper La Nacion and Primero en Noticias, an online news daily based in Santa Cruz, the Costa Rica Surf Federation aims to drive even more tourism to Guanacaste through surfing and to gi...

Santa Cruz, Guanacaste - A local charity plans to give children in Guanacaste a very special reason to smile this Christmas. Una Sonrisa por San Cruz (A Smile for Santa Cruz) is an organization that has identified 150 children living in low-income neighborhoods across the county, and who could certainly benefit from getting a little help this holiday season. According to Primero en Noticias, an...

Source: Guanacaste Conservation Area A moribund tropical green sea turtle rescued by members of the Wider Caribbean Sea Turtle Conservation Network (WIDECAST) in Costa Rica is improving and might be returned to its habitat. Fishermen and maritime tour operators in the Guanacaste province found more than 40 dead sea turtles on Tuesday, November 5th, and immediately alerted nature conservation o...

An ongoing lightning strike detection and measurement program conducted by the Electricity Institute of Costa Rica (Spanish initials: ICE) has tallied more than 1.6 million atmospheric discharges across the country since 2011, and Guanacaste seems to be the most electrifying province, followed by Alajuela and Heredia. With more than 600,000 recorded lightning strikes in 2012, Costa Rica is now one...

Source: Wikimedia Commons Despite a significant downturn for the tourism industry in Costa Rica from 2009 to 2012, the theme parks in the province of Guanacaste have proven very resilient. According to a recent analysis by business reporter Leticia Vindas Quiros of financial weekly El Financiero, the theme parks of Costa Rica's gold coast have managed to weather the economic storm and also pre...

Source: Casa Presidencial Prior to the recent meeting between President Laura Chinchilla and Pope Francis at the Vatican, geopolitical analysts speculated on whether a certain delicate subject would be mentioned. We are talking about the dubious territorial claims over the northern regions of Costa Rica by the Nicaraguan regime of President Daniel Ortega, particularly the desire to “take back”...

Source: Flickr UPDATE: before you continue to read this news article below, be advised that there are some facts that are not correct and clarified by The Tico Times, please read this article and get your facts straight on what happened in Tamarindo. Big thanks to our friends at Witch's Rock Surf Camp for getting in contact with The Costa Rica Star to ensure correct information is provided to ...

Hybrid Daewoo Bus Operates in Asia Fuel-efficiency and clean emissions will soon be part of the public transportation system of the Guanacaste province. As part of a greater effort to turn Costa Rica into a carbon neutral nation, the Reyna del Campo transportation firm of Guanacaste recently announced that it had obtained a line of credit from the Bank of Costa Rica (BCR) to finance the acquis...

Source; ACG Costa Rica As marine biologists and members of the National Coast Guard Service of Costa Rica scramble to investigate the mysterious massive death of dozens of green tropical sea turtles off the Pacific coast of Guanacaste, disheartening news reports are arriving: 23 marine turtle carcasses have washed in Playa La Flor in Nicaragua, and many of them are showing inscrutable signs of...

Although Costa Rica is far from being an offshore financial center, certain aspects of its commercial code and business regulations make her a corporate-friendly jurisdiction. Until recently, foreigners and expats formed business entities in Costa Rica for specific purposes typically related to acquiring real estate and motor vehicles, and also as part of certain immigration strategies. In recent ...

Source: Fuerza Publica Talamanca Region, Costa Rica – They are courteous, bilingual and usually wear stylish white polo shirts. You usually see them on foot or riding mountain bikes in tourist hotspots such as Playas del Coco in Guanacaste. They also carry regulation weapons and are trained in special tactics to combat crime. These are the members of the Tourism Police of Costa Rica, a special...

For the first time in the history of presidential elections in Costa Rica, a rural campus of the country’s most prestigious university will host a debate among presidential hopefuls. At least five presidential candidates have confirmed their presence at Guanacaste campus of the University of Costa Rica (UCR) for debates scheduled to take place on November 6th and 20th. These candidates are: Jo...

Article content taken from La Prensa Libre newspaper. The use of real estate transactions and shell companies are two of the most common money laundering methods in Costa Rica, and they are often carried out by small real estate brokerage firms operating in red-hot housing markets such as Tamarindo in Guanacaste. Such were the statements recently made by analysts from the Costa Rica Banking Ass...

For all its tourism, real estate development and high-technology firms, Guanacaste leads Costa Rica as the province with the highest rate of unemployment. As recently reported on the pages of the Costa Rica Star, more than 40,000 adults in Guanacaste are currently out of work, which is something that the Ministry of Labor is handling as an emergency. According to a recent report written by Angi...

Source: Japanese Embassy On September 13, a new Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador to the State of Japan tendered his diplomatic credentials to President Laura Chinchilla. Having worked in his country's Science and Technology and Space Exploration agencies, Ambassador Mamoru Shinohara has a strong background in science and technology, which may explain his enthusiasm in bringing a cl...

Hilo de Pez by Daniela SalazarIn Costa Rica, the province of Guanacaste is known for its significant contributions to the following industries: agriculture, real estate, tourism, aerospace, and scientific research. It is now the fashion industry's turn to grow in Guanacaste, and it seems to be taking place in Playas de Coco. Guanacaste is no stranger to fashion. After all, this province is the...

It has been a few weeks since Runner Runner, a film starring Ben Affleck and Justin Timberlake premiered in the United States. The film, which was co-opted by the American Gaming Association (AGA) as the poster child and boogeyman of everything that is ostensibly wrong with the online poker industry in Costa Rica, seems to be having an immediate effect. Readers of the Costa Rica Star who are no...

Max is a one-year old pit bull terrier that was rescued from a vicious dog fighting ring in Costa Rica, and he is currently the most talked-about canine in the country. On Thursday, October 10th, Max was rescued along with two other dogs from a construction site in Pavas, in the western suburbs of the capital city of San Jose. Unscrupulous men abused these two pit bull terriers and a mutt as they ...

Turn left at the White Anchor heading into Playas del Coco, follow Peacock signs up to Hotel Chantel Guanacaste, Costa Rica – October 28th, 2013 – Hotel Chantel, an ocean-view boutique hotel located in the relaxing beach community of Playas del Coco in Costa Rica, is proud of its acquisition by a new owner and a fresh management team. From November 1st to November 15th, lucky guests at Hotel Ch...

Wikimedia Commons Although residential construction in Costa Rica fell by about 4 percent in the first six months of 2013 in comparison to last year, commercial construction in the province of Guanacaste expanded by nearly 20 percent. This increase in building activity is benefiting the overall economy of Guanacaste, a region where the value of commercial real estate has appreciated by nearly ...

Wikimedia Commons Juicy and delicious oranges that could rival those grown in California, Florida, Brazil, ad Spain are being grown right here in Costa Rica, particularly in certain coffee farms in Guanacaste where citrus trees are being introduced to break up the monoculture practice of cultivating a single crop. Oranges are now the fastest-growing crops in Costa Rica; in 2012, production gre...

Source: Flor de Itabo Hotel The sleepy town of Comunidad, in the Carrillo canton of Guanacaste woke up to news of a ghastly incident that transpired on one of its few roads. According to metro beat reporter Carlos Eduardo Vargas of national newspaper La Nacion, a guest at the Flor de Itabo resort, which is located about a kilometer from the beach community of Playas del Coco, died when he purp...

Wikimedia Commons The coastal waters of Costa Rica are teeming with sharks. Many species of the Elasmobranch subclass swim in the waters off Guanacaste, Puntarenas, Cocos Island, Limon, and many other coastal communities in Costa Rica. This rich selachian biodiversity suits Brett McBride, captain of the Research Vessel (RV) Ocearch just fine, you see, this is a man who recently fell asleep amo...

Source: INCOFER A freight train project in Costa Rica aims to connect the communities of La Cruz in Guanacaste with the port city of Limon in the Caribbean. According to national newspaper La Nacion, the Ministry of Public Works and Transport (Spanish initials: MOPT) recently put this ambitious plan on paper and hopes to begin construction in 2018. This project is part of Costa Rica's National...

Dibujando Nuestro Mapa A few months ago, a couple from the Balearic Island of Majorca in Spain converted their 1999 Ford Transit van into their living quarters for what will become an epic 8-month road trip on the other side of the Atlantic. They recently drove into Costa Rica and visited various beaches around Guanacaste. They are only about halfway through their journey, which started in Eur...

Source: UCR Residents in some regions of Guanacaste are enjoying better roadways thanks to a special mix of asphalt tested by Costa Rica's National Laboratory of Structural Models and Materials (Spanish acronym: Lanamme). This special asphalt formula presents various advantages over mixes that have been previously in Costa Rica; in particular, it presents greater permeability at a more reasona...

Ask any fashionable Tica about designer shoes and the name Daniel del Barco immediately comes to mind. Mr. del Barco is the founder of Calzado del Barco, a footwear design and manufacturing firm in Costa Rica that is a favorite among the proud winners of the Miss Costa Rica beauty pageant. Mr. del Barco is a native of Guanacaste who spent his childhood in Playas del Coco, and he draws inspiration ...

After years of demands by residents and tourism operators, one of Costa Rica's most precious natural treasures is getting a modern, paved highway. According to a recent news article by Roberto Portuguez of news daily La Prensa Libre, the Ministry of Public Works and Transportation (Spanish acronym: MOPT) gave the green light to a highway project that will lead right up to the Monteverde Cloud Fore...

Source: Facebook The future of residential living in Costa Rica involves physical security, efficiency, technology, industrial design, and privacy. Lots of privacy. So much privacy, in fact, that you may never see your neighbors. You and your community will be enshrouded behind a veil of secrecy, and the brutalist architecture surrounding you will be similar to that of sci-fi films such as Aeo...

Source: Zoo Ave Fecebook One of the most beloved and emblematic wildlife species of Costa Rica had its own special celebration last Saturday. Zoo Ave, Costa Rica's premier wildlife rescue center, observed International Sloth Day with a series of educational activities centered on one of the cutest and most docile arboreal creatures in Costa Rica and 17 other countries in Latin America. Octo...

Source: Pacific Plaza More than a year after a mostly modest and unassuming inauguration in Costa Rica, the CIMA Hospital in Guanacaste is one of the few medical centers hiring in a region that is experiencing a dilemma with regard to unemployment. The current job vacancies at this fine hospital are for professionals in the fields of microbiology and direct patient care assistance, and they ar...