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...

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 ...

Although the response was very cold when they started organizing the Guanacaste Art Festival in July, things have heated up, and now it promises to be quite a lavish display of talent from November 21 to 24 in the city of Tilaran. The regional promoter of culture for the province, Vera Vargas, indicated to the Voice of Guanacaste that they finally received more inscriptions than they anticipate...

The national route 160 traverses much of the coast of Guanacaste, beginning in Santa Cruz and extending to Paquera. The Constitutional Court ordered the National Roadway Council (CONAVI) to pave route 160, but the section to be paved does not include the segment of approximately 30 kilometers that connects Nosara and Samara. The constitutional appeal (recurso de amparo) was presented this ye...

STC Board of Directors Pledges to Match Donations up to a total of $10,000! Sea Turtle Conservancy (STC) has joined #GivingTuesday, a first-of-its-kind effort that will harness the collective power of a unique blend of partners-- charities, families, businesses and individuals-- to transform how people think about, talk about and participate in the giving season. Coinciding with the Thanksgivin...

New owner of La Vida Loca Bar in Playas del Coco, Zack Voelker. Pura Vida! If you come to Playas del Coco, you might be slightly surprised at how lively and busy this little beach town can get at night. Don’t underestimate the one main road going through downtown Coco, there are actually plenty of spots around Coco where you can have a night full of laughing, dancing, cold drinks, and celebrat...

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...

Donavon Frankenreiter returned to Guanacaste after a two-year absence. Thanks to the Safari Surf School organization and the Billabong program “Surf Like a Pro,” the Californian surfer and musician presented his new album “Start Livin” live, this time at the Tropicana disco bar in Nosara Center in front of 200 people. As soon as the doors opened at around 7:30 p.m., the first fans began arriv...

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...

It is nearly the end of 2013. Are you looking for a quick week-long vacation to get away from it all? Before the holiday season really gets going, escape for a week to sunny Costa Rica on a 7-day Tropical Paradise Vacation. This 7-day Costa Rica vacation package from Costa Rica Special Deals really is a good travel deal. For only $365 USD per person (based on double occupancy), you get thre...

As part of the anniversary celebrations, on November 15 the 25 de Julio Orchestra will perform at the inauguration of the new Briceño Leonidas School facilities. The Sinem Music School of Nicoya was founded in October of 2008 and despite limited economic resources, it has managed to survive and consolidate during its five years of existence. Currently the school is hosted in the Casa de la C...

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...

Playa Hermosa, Guanacaste - Come Join us this Saturday, November 16 at 10:30 AM to celebrate the raising of The Ecological Blue Flag on Playa Hermosa and to enjoy lunch and dancing during our Zumba Beach Party! Meet us on the Beach, right in the middle between the two beach entrances. You will hear the music and smell the food, so you can’t miss it. Everyone is invited. After we raise the flag...

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...

In a college atmosphere, the Youth and Politics Presidential Forum was attended by approximately 1000 people in the amphitheater of the University of Costa Rica (UCR) campus in Liberia on Wednesday, November 6. The activity was attended by presidential candidates Jose Maria Villalta of the Broad Front (FA- Frente Amplio) party, Jose Miguel Corrales, New Homeland (PN- Patria Nueva) and Luis Guil...

Entomologists from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have described 277 new species of braconid wasps in the tribe Heterospilini. The braconid family, to which the tribe Heterospilini belongs, is a large and diverse group of parasitoid wasps. There are about 17,000 recognized wasp species and many thousands more undescribed. Most braconid wasps are internal and external parasito...

In 2004, a decree from the Minsitry of Environment and Energy (MINAE) banned vehicles from using a 200-meter stretch of road parallel to Guiones Beach, between the cemetery beach entrance next to Cacho’s surf rental and a residential area at the end of the road from Giardano Tropical where Nosara Travel´s office is located. On September 25, the road was reopened after a new resolution from MINAE r...

Costa Rican artist Juan Carlos ValverdeShowing an interest in arts as a child, Costa Rican artist Juan Carlos Valverde spent many of his childhood afternoons canvassing red-dirt roads for materials like clay and Poró wood to create all types of figures and shapes, spending days crafting small cars and other toys. In his early adult life he came to realize that studying visual arts was his drivin...

The Telethon this year will be broadcasted nationally on December 6 and 7 and will have a goal of 700 million colones ($1.4 million). This time the main beneficiaries will be the children of Guanacaste, as the money will buy medical equipment for the hospitals of Nicoya and Liberia, as well as the canton of Upala in Alajuela. “This year we turn our eyes to the Guanacaste area, specifically Enri...

For years, members of the communities of Nosara and Samara have voiced grievances that the Municipality of Nicoya does not invest back into the communities an amount corresponding to the income generated by these districts, but hard data to back these claims was lacking. Now efforts are being made to gather this data. Preliminary data obtained by the Voice of Guanacaste seems to confirm these c...

As the national elections approach, the political environment isn’t heating up among Guanacaste’s youth, according to an opinion poll conducted by the Voice of Guanacaste with young adults between 18 and 25 years old. Of a total of 30 people interviewed in Nicoya, Nosara, Samara and Santa Cruz, 70% said they were not interested in politics. They justify their disinterest with two fundamental re...

In order to not hinder progress on the Coastal Community Territories Law Project (TECOCOS), the portion that dealt with the Ostional Wildlife Refuge has been separated from the project. “It is the same TECOCOS proposal, only that it will be dealt with as an independent project while presenting environmental studies required by the Constitutional Court (Sala IV) in order to complete the process ...

Sick leave and vacation have become synonymous for many people around the globe, as healthcare costs skyrocket in top nations. The world medical tourism industry has become a $10.5 billion business based on the availability of high-quality medical services at reasonable rates in many developing countries. Patients are travelling abroad not only for quick-recovery cosmetic surgeries or dental pr...

Talk about Nosara, Costa Rica, and you actually mean a stretch of several beaches on the Nicoya Peninsula – from Playa Ostional to Playa Nosara, Playa Pelada and Playa Guiones. This remote area of Guanacaste, just north of Samara in the country’s north Pacific, is known for long wide beaches, fantastic surfing, peace and quiet, and of course, it’s impressive wildlife. Three top nature activitie...

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...

Playas del Coco has become one of the growing hotspots in Costa Rica for tourists and locals to come and enjoy a weekend away from the ever busy city life. With beaches all around, fantastic weather, and a laid back atmosphere, this little beach town is never asleep and never dull. If you stay for a weekend, you’ll want to keep coming back to enjoy all that Coco has to offer. But if you are...

I met a woman and her husband in the airport recently, while we were waiting to board our flight out of Costa Rica. They were tanned and relaxed, and had been enjoying the country’s beaches and rainforest … all for free! They had won a work contest to sell the most furniture for their company and earned the free incentive trip. This was actually the couple’s second year in a row to win – last year...

Imagine this Costa Rica vacation: Traverse the entire country from coast to coast and north to south, but only using mountain bikes, kayaks, rafts, zipline cables, and your feet. Sleep under the stars wherever you may be – mud, sand, grass field, rocky stream bed – but only for a few hours at a time. Brave the thrills of mosquitoes, venomous snakes, crocodiles, rain, boiling sun, and sweltering ra...

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...

Although it is one of Costa Rica’s most spectacular destinations – for its gold and white sand beaches, world-class surfing, warm blue Pacific Ocean, and lush rainforest – the southern Nicoya Peninsula stays off the beaten tourist path. The reason is the region’s remote location. Going by ferry is the traditional way to get to the towns and beaches of the southern Nicoya Peninsula – Tambor, Mon...

Knowing a little something about a country’s cultural and social nuances before you travel there could mean the difference between having a fun or a frustrating vacation. You’d want the same for a visitor in your own country, so why not make cultural awareness just as important as what you pack when planning an international trip. The more information you gather before traveling to a foreign...