This weekend in Punta Leona, the community celebrates the arrival of the green season with live music, handcrafts, culture, sports, and fun activities for the whole family. Rain Fest is an annual event that greets the rainy season in the Central Pacific Coast of Costa Rica. This is the second year of the event, which seeks to bring together visitors and the community of one the country's premier t...

The third annual installment of the Art City Tour, sponsored by Banco Nacional, will kick off at 5:00 pm this evening in San Jose. The Art City Tour this year will be celebrated in tandem with the International Museum Day, which has been observed since 1977. This is a great introduction to a portion of the culture and arts scene in Costa Rica, and it is free for all who wish to participate. ...

Seventeen of the most skilled coffee cupping experts in the world have chosen the best beans in Costa Rica, and many of the wining roasts come from micro coops in the mountainous regions of Los Santos, province of San Jose. As written on the pages of Los Santos Hoy, an online news portal for one of Costa Rica's premier coffee growing and roasting regions, the 2012 Taza de la Excelencia (Cup of...

The beautiful Nazareth Cascante Madrigal recently earned the crown of Miss Costa Rica, and she is already gathering fans around the world. The lovely Miss Cascante, who is from Alajuela, is leading a poll on the website of Radio Programas del Peru (RPP), a major South American television, radio and online broadcaster that has a strong alliance with Movistar in the Andean nation. The online plat...

Reggae legends The Wailers, Bob Marley's original band, will headline the No Hunting World Music Fest in Costa Rica on Saturday, May 19th at Empire (the old Azotea in La Uruca). This is a special reggae festival supported by the Association for the Preservation of Flora and Fauna (APREFLOFLAS in Spanish), and it seeks to create awareness of a legislative proposal that has been floating in the Nati...

The National Amusement Park in San Jose, where Tio Conejo and Tio Coyote eagerly wait to entertain families with young children, will soon be the new home of Boomerang, a legendary, massive roller coaster ride built by the Dutch firm Vekoma Rides Manufacturing. Boomerang is a roller coaster that sends daring riders to the highest point of its structure before launching them at a speed nearing 90 ...

At the 2012 Miss Teen Universe pageant in Managua, Nicaragua, Julissa Castro Cubillo was one of the early favorites. She made a big splash during a fashion event that took place before the finals. Entrepreneur Enrique Gonzalez, who is the main organizer of the event and the current owner of the Miss Teen Universe franchise, mentioned to La Nacion last week that Julissa impressed the audience at th...

If you were not able to attend the first-ever Costa Rica Craft Beer Festival at Avenida Escazu a couple of weekends ago, you certainly missed out on a lot. While everyone hopes that a future iteration of the Craft Beer Festival will yield more master brewers, a greater range of microbrewery products, and greater overall interest in the craft beer scene in Costa Rica, you don't have to wait unti...

All eyes are on May Day or International Worker's Day tomorrow; after all, there will be elections in the National Assembly in Costa Rica and labor unions are planning massive demonstrations. While the importance of May Day must not be overlooked, the UNESCO has declared today, April 30th of 2012, the inaugural International Jazz Day. In observance of this important day, The Costa Rica Star bri...

On Friday night, Australian-born actor and filmmaker Mel Gibson appeared on the long-running Tonight Show with Jay Leno and gave a brief version and opinion of the sordid feud that has played out online between him and Hollywood screenwriter Joe Eszterhas. Mr. Gibson specifically made reference to the audio recording that Mr. Eszterhas’ teenage son secretly recorded at the actor’s palatial home ne...

Isabel "Chavela" Vargas Lizano was born during the first quarter of the 20th century in San Joaquin de Flores, a coffee-growing region of Heredia that former President Oscar Arias Sanchez calls home. When she was 17 years old, Chavela Vargas left Costa Rica for Mexico, a country where she would not only find fame and glory, but also the deep respect and love of the Mexican people. For the secon...

Flying will be cheaper than bus travel for a few days in Costa Rica. Nature Air, a domestic flight carrier that bills itself as the world's first carbon-neutral airline, will offer very cheap flights with a couple of promotions during May. These two promotions will be the most inexpensive flights offered in 2012. The first promotion started two days ago, and will run until Saturday, April 28th ...

Fourteen characters, two actors, two hours. That's the essence of ¡Que Zambrote! (What a Mess!), a sketch comedy especially written with modern Tico society in mind. This dynamic theater play is acted by experienced actress Rita Campos, who returns to the stage after a hiatus due to maternity leave, and Ricardo Segura, a young newcomer who graduated from the prestigious Conservatortio de Castella....

Elevating the quotidian to sacred status; I see the mundane as sacred, because it really is. I see daily life as an spectacle for the soul. I perceive artistic essence in the daily rituals of the people in India. - Jenny Kozlow I see discarded objects as fragments of a culture on the brink of extinction, and yet the perennial symbols of mystic wisdom move me. - Michael Sims Jenny Kozlow ...

The feud between screenwriter Joe Eszterhas and actor and director Mel Gibson continues, and this time Mr. Eszterhas has made public an audio recording that his son Nick, who is a teenager, surreptitiously captured in his iPod at Mr. Gibson's Hacienda Dorada in Playa Barrigona, Guanacaste last December. The audio file and transcript were published by entertainment news site The Wrap. It is ...

Hundreds of Tico headbangers were disappointed earlier today when they learned that the Rock N' Roll All Stars presentation, originally scheduled for May 3rd, was canceled due to a disagreement between the American and Costa Rican event organizers. According to Telenoticias 7, Brunca Productions delivered the sad news this morning. The concert would have taken place at the Ricardo Saprissa ...

Don Herman Davis, better known as Daddy Banton, is one of the Tico hip-hop recording artists scheduled to visit the United States in August for a series of live performances. Joining Banton will be DJ P, Masta and Toledo, all from the "Top a Top" hip-hop crew, a music collective that is responsible for most of the rap and dancehall hits in Costa Rica. The Top a Top crew will perform in the ...

As scientists from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea announced the launch of the Unha-3 rocket last week, Tico graphic artist and cartoonist Arcadio Esquivel Mayorga retreated to his studio in Curridabat and penned a simple cartoon: a stylized red rocket that looked more like a firecracker than a ballistic missile, surrounded by accusatory index fingers pointing at it. The online ed...

She is a 21-year old pharmaceutical sciences student from El Tambor of Alajuela, who at 5'8" stands taller than the average Tica. Nazareth Cascante Madrigal became our new beauty queen after she consistently scored 9.5 on the judges' scorecards at the 2012 Miss Costa Rica pageant held at Teletica's studios last night. Among the musical guests at the pageant was Debi Nova. Contestants at 59t...

Australian-born actor and filmmaker Mel Gibson, whose palatial Hacienda Dorada in Nicoya was recently listed for sale, is once again making the rounds of the tabloid and celebrity gossip media. The issue this time involves a falling out between him and Hollywood screenwriter Joe Eszterhas, whose writing credits include blockbuster films like Flashdance and Basic Instinct -as well as critically...

Tickets are now on sale for the first-ever Craft Beer Festival in Costa Rica, which will take place at Avenida Escazu on Saturday, April 21st at 11:00 am. The festival will feature the best that our microbreweries have to offer, tastings, workshops, presentations, music, and a brew-off between craft beer makers based in Costa Rica. The cost of a VIP ticket is 15,000 colones. A VIP ticket gi...

The National Museum, in conjunction with community associations of the Osa, Palmar and the Diquis Delta region, invite you to the VII Festival of the Stone Spheres this weekend. This is a cultural and festive event that will serve as a warm up for the future UNESCO candidacy of the magnificent National Park of the Stone Spheres of Costa Rica. The activities will start at 9:00 AM and will wrap u...

If you miss the colorful doves that formed part of the Peace Parade in San Jose over the last few months, you'll have a chance at keeping one (or more of them) at your house when the prettiest 40 doves go on auction a week from today, on April 17th. According to national newspaper La Nacion, bidding on these doves is more than just taking home a part of Costa Rica's recent history, but also a c...

Young Ticos are no different than other youth cultures around the world when it comes to fashion. They innovate and emulate in equal amounts, they set trends, and are painfully aware that the world can't seem to take their eyes off them. It's not just parents or the moral majority keeping tabs on what they wear; marketers, industry observers and the media are always examining young people for diff...

Francisco Castillo is a master oboe performer and classical music composer who has toured with Andrea Bocelli and the New West Symphony Orchestra. The world premier of his composition "Rhapsody for Oboe, English Horn, and Orchestra" will be performed by the Redlands Symphony at the University of Redlands Memorial Chapel in California's Inland Empire on April 14. This will be a special perfo...

A set of photographs of Hollywood actress Reese Witherspoon and her family vacationing at what looks like one of our beaches on the Pacific coast is currently making the rounds of several celebrity gossip websites. The famous actress, who is married to talent agent Jim Toth, has not announced her pregnancy, although paparazzi and the informants they employ have been feeding reports to the t...

American musician and columnist Duff Mckagan is better known for his 12-year bass run in the legendary rock band Guns N’ Roses. What few people know is that Mr. McKagan and fellow rock icon Mike McCready, who plays guitar for Seattle-based grunge icons Pearl Jam, have a little bit of Costa Rica history in them. Mr. McKagan grew up in Seattle and knew Mr. McCready from the vibrant rock scene...

"The year is 2050 and alien space travelers witness the terrible destruction and suffering that planet earth has undergone from climate change and environmental destruction at the hands of its most dominant species - humans. These travelers return to the present day to warn young people about the kind of society that awaits them if action is not taken to save the planet." The above may soun...

On Tuesday, April 3rd, classical music lovers will be treated to a free concert at the Plaza de la Cultura in downtown San Jose. The repertoire today will include Franz Schubert's Symphony No. 8 in B Minor (the Unfinished Symphony) and The Marriage of Figaro by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, among others. The Manuel Maria Gutierrez Symphonic Orchestra (OSMMG or MaMaGu in Spanish) is an ensemble f...

The picture accompanying this article shows Costa Rica rendered in Google Maps' new Quest view. Google Maps Quest was released on April 1st, 2012 as a cartridge for the 8-bit Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). According to a software engineer at Google: "Our engineering team in Japan understood the importance of maps on retro game systems. With the power of Google's immense data center...

Residents of Playa Jaco in our Central Pacific coast are in for a spectacular sunset. On Sunday, April 1st, at the Malecon Bar Restaurant in Jaco, acclaimed Tica pop singer Debi Nova will perform an acoustic set as the sun goes down, as part of the Roxy Sunset Unplugged event. For those who are not familiar with Debi Nova, she is a talented singer and songwriter who has found success in the int...

From May 7th to 13th, beautiful representatives from the United States, the Caribbean and Latin America will participate in a series of presentations and pageant events in San Jose, Aguas Zarcas, Sarchi, and tourist hotspots of our Pacific Coast. The contestants will charm audiences to promote tourism to their respective nations in competition for the crown of Reina Internacional de los Mares ...

Carolina Trigueros is a young fashion designer who loves to play with geometric shapes and colors. Her signature style is ultra-feminine; she is partial to fabrics that are soft and that gracefully hug the natural contour of the female figure. Color is very important to Carolina, which is why she was selected as one of the designers behind the 2012 Color Fashion Tour, sponsored by Grupo Kat...

According to The Wall Street Journal, Hollywood star Mel Gibson has once again decided to test the waters of the luxury real estate market. His impressive Hacienda Dorada in Nicoya, with its seven bedrooms, two guest homes and 500 acres of pristine land in Playa Barrigona is currently listed with Plantacion Properties of Escazu and Christie's International Real Estate of Palm Beach. Mel Gib...

UPDATED: Go here for the most up to date information on the Beer Festival at Avenida Escazu. Beer lovers in Costa Rica are no longer limited to the commercial offerings of the Florida Ice & Farm S.A. and expensive imports at the store. On Saturday, April 21st, the first ever Microbrewery and Craft Beer Festival will take place in Avenida Escazu (map), featuring the best Costa Rica has t...

From now until March 20th at 6:00 pm, readers of The Costa Rica Star have a chance to get creative with messages left on our Facebook wall and win two weekend tickets to the 2012 Festival Imperial. There are many reasons to participate, like TV on the Radio, the beautiful and talented ladies who will grace the stages, the onstage antics of Gogol Bordello and Cypress Hill, and many more. Ele...

This year's Festival Imperial is heavier on the estrogen than in previous years, and that's a very good thing. While we wait for the lucky reader who will take home two free weekend tickets to the festival, here's a look at some of the female artists who will grace the stages at La Guacima speedway in Alajuela on Saturday, March 24th and Sunday, March 25th. The Great Wilderness – Costa Rica ...

The free, open-air concert of Puerto Rican musical wonder group Calle 13 drew around 60,000 Ticos to La Sabana last night and set the stage for the rest of the 2012 International Festival of the Arts (FIA). Calle 13 managed to heat up the FIA, which will continue until March 25th. The night concert started with "Digo lo que pienso", followed by the mega-hit "Baile de los pobres." As is their si...

For millions of people around the world who share some sort of cultural affinity with Irish culture, the Saint Patrick's Day celebration is a special time to rejoice. It has been part of the liturgical calendar of the Catholic Church since the 15th century, and in Costa Rica it is celebrated as a religious feast day with a Mass service, although it isn't a holy day of obligation like it is in Irel...

One of the most exciting musical acts that will play at the Festival Imperial this year is TV on the Radio, a Brooklyn-based band that has been producing an interesting brand of indie rock. TV on the Radio may not be as popular as some of the other acts playing at Festival Imperial, such as Maroon Five and Bjork, but they are darlings of the finicky indie rock critic industry spearheaded by Pitchf...