Source: Fuerza Publica The non-fiction best-seller The Orchid Thief is one of the most acclaimed works of United States journalist and author Susan Orlean. As befits its title, The Orchid Thief is about a poacher of rare flowers whose life obsession is the Ghost Orchid, a magnificent endangered species. The book was masterfully adapted into the 2002 film Adaptation, which earned actor Chris Co...

File photo San Francisco, Mar 19 (EFE).- People in emerging and developing countries believe that the Internet has a positive effect on education, personal relations and the economy, but they feel that its impact on morals is mainly negative, according to a study published Thursday. The study prepared by the Pew Research Center is based on 36,619 interviews conducted in 32 emerging and deve...

A galllopinto breakfast during Lent. Wikimedia Commons In Costa Rica, the Lent season coincides with beautiful weather and traditions that are emblematic of the religious heritage of this country. By virtue of her Constitution, Costa Rica is a Roman Catholic country, and thus the Lent season is always special. The following recommendations for visiting our country during this time are kindly p...

Source: VIF International Elementary school teachers from Costa Rica who are proficient in the English language now have an option to work in the United States through a special international exchange program managed by VIF International Education. Interested teachers can apply to teach Spanish language arts at a Passport Global School mentored by VIF International.   The recruitmen...

Source: Wikimedia Commons MIAMI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Centroamerica TV, the official channel of the Central American community in the U.S., recently launched on Cox Communications cable systems in San Diego, Arizona, Las Vegas, Omaha, Orange County, Kansas, Northwest Arkansas, the Central Coast, and Sun Valley, significantly expanding Centroamerica TV’s distribution throughout the national Cox Com...

Royal Spanish Academy in Madrid. Wikimedia Commons San Juan, Mar 9 (EFE).- The director of the Spanish Royal Academy predicted a grand future for Spanish in the United States, thanks to the growing regard for the Hispanic population living there. "Spanish in the U.S. is gaining tremendous momentum thanks to the growing regard for Hispanics," Dario Villanueva said in an interview with Efe in...

Wikimedia Commons MIAMI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Latin GRAMMY Cultural Foundation™ announced today that it will begin accepting applications for its first ever scholarship program beginning Friday, Feb. 27. The program includes 33 scholarships totaling $600,000. The Gifted Scholarship Award and the Scholarship Tuition Assistance Award are the first financial assistance initiatives offered in 24 c...

Some of the pre-Columbian arhaeological pieces repatriated from France to Peru are put on display Tuesday in Lima, where officials held a ceremony to mark the return of cultural heritage items from Canada, Chile, Spain, the United States, France, Japan and Switzerland. EFE Lima, Feb 25 (EFE).- A total of 3,898 archaeological pieces will be repatriated this year to Peru from Argentina following...

File photo of U.S. actor Leonard Nimoy, who played the extraterrestrial Mr. Spock in the sci-fi TV series and movie saga "Star Trek," and who died Friday at his home in Bel Air, Los Angeles, at age 83 of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. EFE/File Los Angeles, Feb 27 (EFE).- Actor Leonard Nimoy, who played the extraterrestrial Mr. Spock in the sci-fi TV series and movie saga "Star Trek," d...

Source: Tulemar Resort (PRWEB) February 27, 2015 - Tulemar Resort, located in the Manuel Antonio and Quepos area of Costa Rica, was thrilled to see the Fiestas de Quepos of 2015 kick off this past week. The Fiestas de Quepos are an annual week long gathering of the town in order to raise money for civic causes and celebrate all things Costa Rican with one another. The resort, which offers luxu...

Source: EFE Atlanta, Feb 25 (EFE).- Beverage giant Coca-Cola will celebrate the centennial of its iconic "hobble-skirt" glass bottle with art exhibitions, a global media campaign and a commemorative song composed for the occasion, company representatives said. Atlanta, where the company has its headquarters and Coca-Cola, considered one of the most profitable creations of modern industry, was b...

Were You Can FInd Me Sheri Joseph has received a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship and the Grub Street National Book Prize, among other awards. She lives in Atlanta and teaches in the creative writing program of Georgia State University. In her latest novel, Where You Can Find Me, features Costa Rica as a familiar fictional backdrop: A benevolent place where North Americans can escape...

Source; ADTC A dance academy that specializes in summer camps for girls recently published a new video that explains their approach to dance instruction. The American Dance Training Camp features summer camp locations in seven different spot in the United States; its sole international location is Costa Rica, specifically in Playa Nosara. As it happens, the location in Costa Rica is very popul...

Source: Wikimedia Commons The life and times of one of the most iconic and controversial musicians in the history of rock 'n' roll have been adapted for the stage by a Costa Rica-based author. Some readers of The Costa Rica Star and Jaco Beach residents are familiar with Britt Nelson, a man with a long and illustrious journalism career in the United States. Growing up in the DC area in the ...

Source: Flickr Sand Sign, a multi-national artistic project featuring Andres Amador, is launching a social initiative for Valentine's Day 2015. For one month, the campaign will be collecting messages with love declarations to draw them on some of the world's most beautiful beaches so that a World Record can be established. As expected, Costa Rica is one of the countries participating in this r...

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) today observes World Radio Day, a special celebration of one of the most significant inventions in the field of broadcasting and communications. Per the UNESCO:   From news and public debate to music and entertainment, radio continues to inform, captivate and inspire us in a way that no other medium can. Radio i...

Screenshot from Archive.org From late 2006 until late 2012, a high-class call girl named Kattia captivated the minds of readers in Costa Rica with titillating prose and highly erotic writing style. Kattia's experiences as a highly paid prostitute who was eager to please her clients in Costa Rica appeared in the defunct magazine SoHo, published by the Grupo Nacion media empire. Kattia was on...

Originally from Kingdom of Spain, and inspired by medieval jousts, 'La Carrera de Cintas' is one of various equestrian events in Costa Rica, particularly in the province of Guanacaste, which is renowned for its cowboy (sabanero) identity and culture. The essence of this equestrian tournament is to catch the colorful tape positioned on a rope, which is hoisted up at about 3 meters from the groun...

Source: Amazon Costa Rica is increasingly being chosen as a fictional backdrop by authors who specialize in crime and adventure novels. A few months ago, The Costa Rica Star featured two exciting excerpts of The Specialist: The Costa Rica Job, a novel penned by Charles Peterson Sheppard in collaboration with his brother, reality television star Phillip Sheppard. Now we have David Putnam, a ...

Go Film Magazine Later this year, film lovers in Costa Rica will once again be treated to a unique, international festival that highlights the many facets of short cinema. The shnit International Shortfilmfestival is hosted around the world in various cities, and San Jose has been once again selected to host this special cinematic event. Go Film Magazine, a publication dedicated to the digi...

Far Corner Theater in Costa Rica Honolulu, HI (PRWEB) January 31, 2015 - Far Corner Community Music Theatre announces that its Costa Rica Program, Musical Theatre Connections, is currently enrolling both high school participants and college interns for youth international programs this summer. Far Corners Community Musical Theatre, a small non-profit organization, brings musicals and other per...

“Diversity in reflection; unity in action. These, dear friends, must be our greatest strength and the joint effort that must guide our community.” Such was the statement by Luis Guillermo Solis, President of the Republic of Costa Rica, during the opening ceremony of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), one of the most powerful blocs in the Americas.   Although t...

UCR campus Students who wish to learn Spanish as a foreign language often forget to evaluate what is perhaps the best educational source in this regard: The University of Costa Rica (UCR). Each year, UCR welcomes more than 400 students who wish to learn Spanish in an institution of higher learning that is ranked among the 30 best universities in Latin America and among the best 500 in the worl...

Earlier this week, members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences sat in their Sunset Screening Room and enjoyed the second screening of a movie directed by Laura Astorga, a filmmaker from Costa Rica. Making it to a second screening at the Academy is a big deal for a movie that hopes be nominated for the Foreign Language Film category of the 2015 Oscars, and there is a strong chance th...

The people of Catalonia, an autonomous region of Spain, have democratically spoken: They want out of the Kingdom of Spain, and they are supporting their leaders who are concocting a plan for independence to be achieved in the next two years. As 80 percent of more than two million Catalans turned to the polls to vote on an unofficial independence referendum, some residents of Guanacaste, the former...

On Thursday, November 25th, the Ambassador of Costa Rica to Nicaragua, Don Javier Sancho, officially inaugurated a library located in a public school serving the community of Ciudad Sandino. According to institutional communique 4099 of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the new library is about 15 minutes away from the populous capital city of Managua, and it holds many volumes of literature relate...

At the Regional Museum in San Ramon, province of Alajuela, twenty works of art from the 20th and 21st centuries await visitors, who do not have the benefit of knowing either the title or authorship of the works. Visitors to this museum, which is located in a thriving agricultural region of Costa Rica, must investigate the background of the untitled works of art and make their own determination as ...

On Thursday night, former Minister of Foreign Affairs Enrique Castillo Barrantes was awarded one of the highest honors issued by the French Republic. The ceremony took place at the diplomatic residence of Jean-Baptiste Chauvin, Ambassador of France to Costa Rica, and Mr. Castillo was accompanied by relatives, friends and the current Minister of Foreign Affairs Manuel Gonzalez Saenz. Mr. Castill...

The United States today celebrates Veterans Day, and in Costa Rica the American expat community often gathers to celebrate those who served their country’s Armed Forces.   Author’s Note: The use of the noun and adjective “American” in this article conforms to the definition in Princeton’s WordNet: (A native or inhabitant of the United States), and the recommendation by the Associated Pres...

  Afro-Costa Rican Fashion. Source: Corredor Cultural del Caribe The history of Costa Rica cannot be told without recognizing the important sociocultural contribution of the Afro-Caribbean community. In 1980, the Union of Educators in Costa Rica realized that a truly multicultural and ethnically diverse society needs to take time to celebrate its roots, and thus El Día del Negro (Afro-...

Remember the film Chocolat, and how chocolate transformed a cold, inhibited French town into a loving, friendly community? Chocolate has that power. Prized by the Mayas, Aztecs and Inkas, and formerly kept only for royalty in Europe, chocolate was once considered so valuable that cacao beans were used for currency. In Costa Rica, indigenous tribes used cacao beans for currency for thousan...

They are known as cantinas or, less elegantly, “chicheros.” Cheap and disreputable dive bars can be found in all regions of Costa Rica, but most of the cantinas in the lovable city of San Jose are as legendary as they are infamous. According to architect and social researcher Andres Fernandez, cantinas form an important part of the archeological and anthropological record of Costa Rica; for this r...

Not much is known about the first native peoples to live near the massive Rincon de la Vieja Volcano in Costa Rica’s Guanacaste province. A new archaeology tour at the area’s eco-lodge Hacienda Guachipelin will help shed some light on the mysteries of these indigenous ancestors of Costa Rica. “We’re rescuing the cultural traditions of Guanacaste,” said Fernando Camacho Mora, archaeologist in ch...

Bribri woman artisan in Costa Rica During any given week at university campuses around the world, the thorny topics of feminism, gender roles and female empowerment are perennially discussed and dissected by students and faculty. Lecturers, researchers, activists, and observers are all part of a sociopolitical microcosm dedicated to controversy. In the Talamanca Region of Costa Rica, however, ...

In the shadows behind the bullring in Samara on January 1st 2014, the guys gather around, dressed in blue jeans and the blue and white plaid shirts that distinguish them as members of the professional bull riders known as Los Nicoyanos. Some stand, others kneel on the ground for a group prayer. A couple of them hold a child in their arms. After the prayer, one by one, they draw a name out of a hat...

Small town life in Costa Rica consists of the "Holy Trinity"Quaint and charming little towns in Costa Rica have a few things in common, but there is something that tourists notice as soon as they visit them: Each community will have at least three central places for residents to enjoy and be proud of. This small town trinity will vary slightly in terms of configuration from one community to anoth...

Finished in July, 1908, the historic prison in Heredia has long fallen into disuse and deterioration. But today it is undergoing a 450 million colon facelift that will turn back the clock from its decline through weathering and neglect. The project began last September, a project of the Ministry of Culture's efforts to preserve historic landmarks. The architecture is typical of the massive (and...

Gonzalo Pizarro Barrantes is one of the few Santa Cruz cowboys who still lives in the fields. Although he doesn’t work on a ranch, he is used to riding a horse at 84 years old. On a daily basis, it’s common to see him riding his horse in the middle of the city, shopping or having a drink at one of the popular bars in the area. For many years, before the folkloric city was full of cement, when t...

The 32nd edition of the annual Culture Week event is taking place now in Santa Cruz, province of Guanacaste. The event started on January 4th at the Carlos Rodriguez amphitheater, located in the Bernabela Ramos Park. This week-long celebration of local culture and tradition is believed to be the oldest continuous cultural event in Costa Rica. Culture Week in Santa Cruz is made possible by the C...

Costa Rica's first female president, Laura Chinchilla Undeniably “machismo” is an integral part of Costa Rican and Latin society in general, where men are still seen as the primary breadwinners even when they are not, while women are seen as being responsible for domestic work. The traditional family roles of men and women have certainly changed over the last few generations. Women in Costa...