Increased enforcement by Fuerza Publica earlier this week near our border with Panama has yielded a few instances of "contrabando horminga" (small-time smuggling) of tires and liquor. It is customary for Fuerza Publica to look out for smugglers around this time of the year. The increased enforcement takes place at Paso Canoas and the border cantons of Corredores, Coto Brus and Golfito. I...

The grand opening of the world's most recognizable brand of coffee shops will take place in May, and it is looking for 30 new employees to join its ranks. As expected, the first Starbucks will open in Avenida Escazu, on the ground floor of the new complex of upscale shoppes next to the Residence Inn Hotel. This is the only location that has been confirmed thus far. The Seattle-based coffee r...

Plans to develop  Costa Rica's new international airport are currently being considered. According to business daily La Republica, the new airport should begin operations in the year 2026. On that same year, the management contract now held by Aeris Holdings over the Juan Santamaria International Airport in Alajuela will come to an end. A New Location Preliminary studies by civil aviatio...

Costa Rica was the first country to announce her intention to become a carbon-neutral country by the year 2021. We are ten years away from achieving that noble goal, and the progress that has been made thus far at the community and private levels outshines the efforts by the government. While some experts have criticized public officials for dragging their feet in this matter, other analysts a...

Correos de Costa Rica recently completed its formulation of numbered postal codes for the entire country. The system is now similar to the ZIP+4 utilized by the United States Postal System. The switch to a numbered code system comes after a century and a half of operation by our postal service without needing one. The new system is codified by province, canton and district. For example, if some...

As everyone knows, the cost of living definitely is not going down and we are entering times in which money saved can be put to better uses. The costs of electricity are certainly no exception at a time when our energy requirements are also on the rise. The nice thing about all this is that it is possible to whittle those monthly electric bills down and make your house or business a safer place...

Abiel is the name of a friendly robot that an inventor named Walter built for his twin grandchildren David and Elisa. He is the star of Grandpa's Robot, a 3-D computer animated television series created by Morpho, an animation studio based in San Jose. Yesterday, Abiel took a break from being a playmate to David and Elisa to travel to Hyderabad, India. Abiel's mission was to accompany Anabe...

In a previous Reader's Mail article published on The Costa Rica Star, we answered a question regarding the importation of wine and other products for the purpose of tasting and sampling. On that article, we mentioned that the famed California winemaker Kerry Damskey was studying the possibility of choosing a high-altitude region to grow quality grapes. According to wine industry journal Decanter, ...

At the recent annual meeting of the Inter-American Development Bank, Treasury Minister Fernando Herrero Acosta announced that Costa Rica is planning to issue a new round of sovereign debt. Financial media outlets Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal reported on the story, citing a minimum figure of $500 million, although the proposed yield and maturity date are still unknown. One thing that Fe...

At the beginning of 2012, the U.S. dollar (USD) was on track to recover ground lost against the humble Costa Rica colon (CRC) by a healthy margin. Economists and foreign currency analysts still expect a gradual increase on part of the USD against the CRC thanks to several factors; including the certainty that several measures of the Fiscal Reform plan will be implemented in the next few months, an...

Everyone knows that coffee is only second to crude oil in terms of trading commodities, and thus the coffee industry can be pretty lucrative. Billions of dollars in future contracts for coffee are traded daily in commodities exchanges around the world. The burgeoning coffee culture and high demand for the drink around the world puts money in the pockets of large-scale farmers, distributors, and gi...

In a news article aired by the National Radio Chamber of Costa Rica (CANARA in Spanish), renowned agricultural and ecosystems expert Alexander Bonilla Duran gave some interesting insight behind Kolbi, ICE's amphibian choice for branding of its popular wireless communications and data services. The powerful government-sponsored ICE consortium currently enjoys the lion's share of the lucrative Tico ...

Authors Note: Randy Berg of CasitasForSale.com is an advertiser with The Costa Rica Star, however we felt inclined to show you why Randy and his Real Estate developments are so unique and compelling, and what goes on inside his head. The answers to these questions were provided via email and nothing has been edited or changed. Randy was featured in Newsweek for his unique approach to real estate h...

We have here in Costa Rica -- and all the rest of the World, for that matter – a perfect solution for all construction and building needs, but incredibly, almost no one knows anything about it. It is especially ideal for the tropics, because it is very cheap, strong, lightweight, cool, waterproof, and so varied in its applications that it can be used for making almost anything you can imagine – bo...

In a recent article titled "Is Wall Street Bullish on Costa Rica?", The Costa Rica Star mentioned that shares of the Ad Astra Rocket Company seem like a good investment due to the tenacity of NASA officials in allocating funds for Mars exploration, despite a sharply reduced budget. This move by NASA bodes well for commercial space exploration outfits like Ad Astra that can support NASA's missions ...

The Prado has been tried and true, but can it hold its identity as Toyota aims for the luxury SUV market? It’s hard to see a 4x4 grow up. As the avid car lover I am, I hate to see the way they get fatter and less capable off road. Their interiors get filled with more and more extras like an overly complex entertainment system, heated seats with Thai masseuse mode and chilled cup holders; their...

The chart accompanying this article shows a graphical representation of historical data released by our Executive Branch in relation to the rate of traditional and non-traditional exports across a five-year period. This chart took a couple of minutes to make and did not involve downloading data. By using a powerful web application called Junar, charts like the one here can be easily created simply...

The rise of Chinese cars, a new flock of hybrids and several of the veterans stand out in this year’s Expomovil. I went down to the Pedregal Fairgrounds to check what’s what in 2012. For years, Expomovil has been luring buyers with great deals on new cars and in 2012, most of the 23 dealerships are fighting to sell, sell, sell and recover from the dire economical times we’ve seen lately. What ...

In the eleventh hour, hard rock station 91.5 FM "The Species" survived a fate worse than oblivion thanks to the hard work and dedication of Tico headbangers who simply refused to let their beloved missing link fade away. The radio station had been slated for closure or change in format by parent company Cadena Radial Costarricense (CRC), a modest media group that counts nine radio stations in Cost...

Author's Note: The Costa Rica Star does not hold any interest in the financial instruments mentioned below, nor does it recommend anyone to take a position in any financial market without first consulting a qualified advisor. The lucrative and ultra-risky world of trading financial instruments based on equity securities and precious metals may seem far removed from a sleepy developing nation li...

A dear reader named Ruth recently sent us the following question: How does the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act affect other nations doing business in Costa Rica, if at all? Do Canadians and Europeans have to be concerned with understanding this at all? Hello Ruth, thanks for writing. The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) is a provision of an American law that was passed by the 11...

One of the most awaited presenters at the upcoming 2012 International Design Festival (Spanish acronym: FID) is Benjamin Garcia Saxe, a London-based Tico who was also a presenter at the recent TEDx Pura Vida conference. Benjamin is an acclaimed architect and visual designer who has worked in several world-class projects, including the design of Three World Trade Center, one of the new skyscrapers ...

Considered as everyday tools, our cars have become cocoons of safety, comfort and practicality, but how much do they affect the environment? Here are some pointers to see how green our cars really are. Cars began as steam powered vehicles, cumbersome, impractical and slow, in 1796 according to records in several automotive clubs. It wasn’t until two inventors, Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz, t...

For most people, describing a cup of coffee involves just a few adjectives. Aromatic, bold, good, smooth, strong, tasty, and maybe a few more. For coffee enthusiasts familiar with the practice of coffee cupping, those adjectives are far from sufficient. In coffee cupping terms, a cup of the acclaimed La Minita coffee from the Tarrazu region would probably be described as bright and mild with aroma...

Brassy new design, a heap of gizmos and gadgets, but a lot to live up to for the newest Merc; I got invited to the premier of the Mercedes Benz ML here in Costa Rica and took my time analyzing what Mercedes brings to the plate. Click here to see a cool picture of the premier from last night. The first ever Mercedes Benz ML entered the market in 1997 after very smart marketing moves by the co...

Centuries before the Wright brothers made their seminal engine-powered flight, humans were clearly obsessed with flight. From the Daedalus and Icarus tales of Greek mythology to Leonardo Da Vinci's ingenious sketches of flying machines, humanity has been set on defying gravity and soaring through the air in search of that ultimate freedom bestowed upon the bird species by Nature. Flying and to...

Give me more, give me more; wait, not on the diesel? And so it begins; Nissan is the latest victim of the new trend where everything with an 'i' stands for intelligently designed and uber cool. But their Nissan X-Trail 'i' line is quite confusing and not so smart. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always considered the Nissan X-Trail as a great car, I had one and loved the comfort, the ride and the ame...

The current globalization trend is affecting many areas of business, particularly the legal profession. Law firms and solo attorneys used to follow a strict jurisdictional pattern, but in the last few years the practice of law has been increasingly crossing boundaries. A good example is the RITEVE v. MOPT case, which is currently being mediated in the United States by powerful legal teams. Legal p...

Costa Rica keeps playing the role of gracious and comely host to the international community, and to that extent we have some of the most interesting fair and conferences coming up. From May 22nd to the 25th, the Institute for Business and Finance Research will be holding a Global Conference on Business and Finance in San Jose. Presenters at the conference will read from works related to different...

A-1 Auto Transport is your best choice for shipping a car to Costa Rica. Visit their website at www.A1AutoTransport.com or call 1-800-452-2880 to learn more. Car culture is becoming a widespread phenomenon in Costa Rica that shows no signs of abatement. Buying an automobile is expensive enough due to high import taxes; adding the price of fuel, maintenance, repairs, insurance, tolls, downto...

Here’s the lowdown on one of the simplest, and best, cars you can find in the Costa Rican market: the Daihatsu Terios Bego. Finding a car that can cope with the Costa Rican driving conditions is a pretty interesting challenge for those of us with fuel flowing through our brains. Should we go practical or ditch practicality (and money) for a great driving car? Potholes, traffic jams and fuel pr...

A wide range of classes and monthly cultural events provide new outlets for education, culinary interests and entertainment. New on the culinary scene in Costa Rica, the Underground Cooking Club is making waves with their unique class structure and monthly cultural events. Using Okra Restaurant in Barrio Escalante as their stage, the Underground Cooking Club creates a setting where people can l...

Costa Rica is becoming an even greener country than it already is; sometimes at an ecological cost for other countries, and often to the gain of a few savvy investors. In the hills of Santa Ana, overlooking the city of Escazu and its ritzy suburbs, construction crews from the National Power and Electricity Company (CNFL in Spanish) have begun work on the future Planta Eólica Valle Central (the ...

Well this is the definition of a feel good story. A man who works and lives in Northern Canada, bought a lottery ticket for the Lotto Max, and ended up walking away with a cool $16,666,666.00. Now that is sweet, good for him. The best part is that he plans on spending his time and winnings in Costa Rica! Which is a good thing for the economy and for worldwide publicity, for the beautiful country t...

The name of our country says it all: Rich. When Christopher Columbus arrived here during one of his last voyages centuries ago, it is believed that he bestowed our land the name of Costa Rica because he thought he had found a place where riches would spring forth magically. He confirmed his beliefs towards the end of 1502 when he arrived in Panama and was greeted by natives who showed him gold and...

It was the warm, flower-scented breeze drifting across Tamarindo that hooked me. I was in Costa Rica for less than twenty-four hours but had already fallen head over heels with the country. That was over four years ago. I knew then I had to find a way to make this place my home. When I wrote Happier Than A Billionaire: Quitting My Job, Moving to Costa Rica, & Living the Zero Hour Work Week, I ...

SAN JOSE - The acquisition of HSBC retail banking operations in Costa Rica earlier this week was reported in several news media outlets, including the Wall Street Journal and La Nacion. The latter newspaper approached the corporate offices of HSBC on January 23rd regarding the impending sale, which at that time the bank chose to label as a rumor that would later be confirmed by Efrain Forero Fonse...

SAN JOSE – While median home prices in the United States keep adjusting downward to some of their lowest levels in decades, real estate values in some areas in Costa Rica soared in 2011. According to a report in El Financiero this week, the western suburbs of San Jose experienced a 10 to 15 percent gain in value, and the outlook for expansion is very positive. The development of commercial project...

The Costa Rica Star has recently published information about receiving your permanent residency in Costa Rica to avoid border runs, wasting time, and money. Moving to another country can be one of the most rewarding experiences in one's lifetime, but it could also become one of the most frustrating and stressful if not done correctly.  Potential residents have a lot to learn, and thus proper in...

SAN JOSE - Costa Rica is far from being considered a Paraiso Fiscal (offshore financial heaven), unlike other countries in the Central American and Caribbean regions have been labeled. While some revenue collection and levy practices in the country are decidedly lax, that could soon change if the National Assembly and the current administration find some common ground. One of the taxes that ...