Municipalities in the Central and South Pacific regions of Costa Rica have shortened the time it takes to have a business permit granted, said government representatives of the Alcanzando Escala program (which translates to Achieving Scale). In order to improve the business climate in the Central and South Pacific region of the country, municipal procedures that previously lasted 33 days can no...

Heavy downpours this past Saturday, September 16 created flooding and mudslides on several parts of Costa Rica's Highway 27, a toll road linking the capital city of San Jose with popular points in the Central Pacific region including Los Suenos, Jacó, Manuel Antonio, Dominical, and areas on the southern Nicoya Peninsula such as Tambor beach. A cascade of water dumping water and mud onto the hig...

Assassinations, whether for settling a score between drug-related groups or for other motives, are increasingly part of the daily news in Costa Rica. This weekend saw what appears to be another such killing, this time on the popular central Pacific beach of Herradura, named for its horseshoe-shaped bay, which neighbors the tourist hotspot of Jacó. A man sitting near the beach was shot at by ...

If you are planning to go to Jacó for a couple of days and you are looking for a hotel that is both affordable and comfortable, Perico Azul Hotel might be exactly what you are looking for. The adult-only 7-room hotel made the Tripadvisor's Travelers’ Choice Top 25 bargain hotels in the world; it ranked in position 22, in a list that included hotels in United Kingdom, Morocco, Nicaragua, India,...

The Washington, DC-based Indian photographer, Tarun Sinha, captured the contrasting hues of crocodiles and sand on the banks of the Tárcoles River along Costa Rica's Pacific coast, and took a third prize in the 2017 National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest. "This image was captured in Costa Rica when I was traveling from Monteverde to Playa Hermosa . As you cross over this rive...

Hermosa Beach in Puntarenas will be witness to the final date of the “Kölbi” Surfing Tournament that will take place July 21, 22 and 23. After 5 dates of competition, the National Surfing Tournament comes to an end and the weekend is expected to have not just great surfing but also great entertainment. On Friday, July 21st after the different competitions there’s a concert scheduled at the B...

-- Gulf Coast and Central American Yacht Facilities to Collaborate on Service, Training, Activities Coastal Alabama’s Saunders Yachtworks and Costa Rica- based Marina Pez Vela have formed a strategic partnership that will allow the two full-service yacht yards to capitalize on their overlapping customer bases, announced the Gulf Coast shipyard earlier this month. For Saunders, the af...

A private lawsuit has been brought against the Municipality of Garabito, in Costa Rica's Central Pacific region, the Ministry of Public Works and Transport (MOPT) and the Directorate General of Transit (DGT) for a perceived dangerous situation along the southern Pacific coastal highway. Walter Brenes, a lawyer with the Energy Law Firm (ELF), filed the injunction against the entities requesting ...

Over 1,000 people in the area of Garabito, Puntarenas have been affected by a conjunctivitis outbreak, this includes the areas of Herradura, Jacó, Tárcoles, Quebrada Ganado and Quebrada Amarilla, according to information provided by the Costa Rica Public Health and Social Security Administration (C.C.S.S). Authorities suspect the outbreak is caused by a virus, but the C.C.S.S. is still waiting ...

The Costa Rican police dismantled a criminal band that was offering luxury houses, drugs and women to tourists in the Jacó area. The police operations took place in five locations in Jacó, Puntarenas and La Uruca, San José. The main target of this band were tourists with high purchasing power to whom they’d offer illegal drugs (marijuana, cocaine, LSD, etc.) and a catalog of women for sexual se...

With the support of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the Central Pacific county of Garabito is the first in Costa Rica to implement a public policy on controlling and monitoring plastics on its beaches, said the international agency yesterday. The beaches of Jacó, Hermosa, Herradura, Tárcoles and Guacalillo will be jointly monitored by surfers and the municipal government to fight...

Jacó beach offered great conditions for the competitors at the fifth date of the Kolbi National Surf Tournament this weekend; it was a Canadian-Costa Rican, Sean Foerster who took the first place in the male open category while Costa Rican Lisbeth Vindas won in the female open. 18-year-old Foerster from Samara, Guanacaste, won for the first time in the Open category and added his name to the fa...

Jaco will be the scenario of the fifth date of the “Kölbi” Surfing Tournament, and for the first time ever the Surfing Federation will be implementing random doping tests to the participating athletes. “It is a pleasure for the Federation to announce to the country that our surfing just like the rest of the Olympic disciplines will be seeking transparency and fair play through the use of doping...

Data from the Costa Rican Health Ministry for the first nearly five months of 2017 show a decrease in the number of new dengue cases compared to last year. Additionally, last year there were three strains of the virus circulating, and this year only two have been detected. Atenas and Montes de Oro in the Central Pacific foothills are the top two counties with dengue cases this year. Miramar nea...

In July 1999, 21-year-old Claire McFarlanel was brutally raped and left almost dead in the streets of Paris, France when she was about to take a cab home after leaving work. Her attacker was captured 10 years later by means of DNA tests; since her attack, she has been fighting for her cause in the French courts. Last year, McFarlanel, now 38, started what she says is the "biggest journey of her...

Most people who buy a vacation home do so, of course, with the idea of spending as much time as possible there, they choose the perfect spot to spend their free time, and a house they absolutely love. Many others think of it as an investment, the opportunity to make money with your vacation home in Costa rica along the way, but how do you turn your vacation home into a cash cow ? We’ve all hear...

The first stage of the real estate project Jacó Walk in the beach-town of Jacó, Puntarenas was inaugurated this past March 19, and it involves 50 commercial spots. $8 million USD was the investment involved in this first stage which has 10,000 square meters of construction which are occupied by brands like: Bac San José-Credomatic, Subway, Rip Curl, Pharmacy don Gerardo, Movistar, Claro, Tsunam...

Coast guard officials yesterday confiscated an estimated 30 kilos of marine life and arrested five Spaniards in connection with violating several fishing laws, reported the Public Security Ministry. The men were found in an overloaded fishing boat near the Gulf of Nicoya off the Pacific port town of Puntarenas, using prohibited fishing gear, among other irregularities, by officers of the Calder...

There is no doubt that Costa Rica is a land of contrasts, and few places demonstrate this more than the Central Pacific coast, where several mountain ranges meet the Pacific Ocean, creating some of the most spectacular landscapes one can imagine. Stretching from the southern tip of the city of Puntarenas all the way down to Punta Uvita, the region offers something for everyone; from busy beach ...

The Jungle Jam festival is taking place in Jacó this weekend, next to the Best Western Hotel, and will feature concerts with national and international artists and yoga workshops on the beach. Jam, rock, reggae, funk and soul are part of the rhythms that will fill the ambiance at Jacó beach; Ryan Montbleu, Thievery Corporation, Harley Jane, Matt Carey and Roots of Creation are part of the int...

The beach town of Jacó continues to attract visitors, its closeness to the city has a lot to do with this as for many it is the perfect destination for a day trip to the beach; a lot of people talk about the insecurity of the area or have a negative view of the place because they perceive it as a “party” zone. Granted, Jacó has quite a party atmosphere as do most beach towns, but it also has a ...

An unexpected tragedy was in store last weekend for Canada’s Manitoba Rugby team who was in Costa Rica competing in the Rainforest 7s competition. On a trip to Costa Rica’s Pacific coast, player Peter Scouras, 33, drowned Monday around noon in the rough surf at Playa Hermosa beach, and Red Cross officials who responded to the accident were unable to resuscitate him, according to local Red Cross...

By Wendy Anders A 55-year-old Costa Rican man was described by local media as being in “stable condition” after being bitten by a crocodile several times in his left leg yesterday evening at Herradura beach near Jacó along Costa Rica’s Central Pacific coast. Firefighter rescuers were called from the local Garabito station to aid just before 6:00 p.m., said Costa Rica’s Channel 7 Teletica new...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.  It’s a great time to be living in Costa Rica - far from the maddening politics dividing the United States of America right now. Although only a 3-hour flight from Houston or Orlando, Costa Rica is a world away from President Donald Trump, Nancy Pelosi, R...

By Wendy Anders Source: Fuerza Publica Pacific ridley turtles, know in Spanish as the tortuga lora (parrot turtle) due to their green color, have a new hatchery in Jacó thanks to the efforts of the Coast Guard and local government, reported the Ministry of Public Security. High tides this week along Costa Rica’s Pacific coast destroyed the existing infrastructure, where patrols to ensure...

By Wendy Anders Jacó's seaside boulevard is suspended in mid-construction. Visitors to the bustling Central Pacific tourist hotspot of Jacó will be able to walk partially along the beach on the planned municipal seaside boulevard. The boulevard was halted in mid-construction in February after the country’s environmental secretariat was granted a court injunction against the project. T...

By Wendy Anders The recent rainy conditions that are typical at this time of year in Costa Rica are propitious for crocodiles to enter into the sea from swollen river mouths, reported Teletica, Costa Rica’s Channel 7 TV. Rainy conditions encourage the animals to mate, said Adrian Arce, ranger at the Central Pacific Conservation Area, to Teletica. During mating, larger male crocodiles disp...

By Wendy Anders An American identified as John Joseph Lonegan was killed Wednesday in Jacó after a quarrel with a man after he refused to buy drugs from the latter, reported El Diario Extra, a Costa Rican tabloid paper, this afternoon. El Extra spoke with the Judicial Investigative Agency (OIJ) who said the facts were reported at 5 a.m. at a disco on Jacó’s Avenida Pastor. “The foreigner ...

Photo: ISA-Jimenez After eight days of world-class Surfing competition at the 2016 INS ISA World Surfing Games in Playa Jacó, Costa Rica, Team Peru has emerged victorious and earned the Team Gold Medal and coveted Fernando Aguerre World Team Trophy. The Gold Medal was the second for Team Peru in three years, having won the Team Gold Medal at the 2014 ISA World Surfing Games in Peru. Rounding o...

Source: ISA On Day 5 of the 2016 INS ISA World Surfing Games Team Portugal and Costa Rica surged into the lead of the overall team points standings, the only two teams that have five of their six competitors remaining in the competition. Main Event and Repechage Rounds ran and the Open Women Semifinal heats of the Main Event were decided. After the closing of the fifth day of competition, 1...

By Wendy Anders On a more positive note for surfers, Costa Rica will host an international surfing competition at the Central Pacific’s Jacó beach starting next Friday August 6 and lasting until the 14th. Costa Rica’s Central Pacific Hermosa beach was the site of the international event in 2009. The top National Surfing Teams in the world will flock to the north end of Playa Jacó for the ...

By Wendy Anders Thursday night a 23-year-old woman from the United States was found dead inside her car after it crashed head-on into a pick-up truck near the Tarcoles River along the main Central Pacific highway, stated the Judicial Investigative Agency (OIJ) in a press statement this afternoon. The regional Garabito OIJ unit was called to the scene of the crash around 9:00 pm. Trave...

Source: Fuerza Publica John Wesley Saatio, a slippery sex offender from the United States who escaped after being extradited from Costa Rica, was recaptured in Florida right before fireworks were set off to celebrate the Fourth of July. According to a news report filed by Hana Frenette of the Pensacola News Journal, Mr. Saatio was intercepted by deputies from the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s...

Source: Fuerza Publica A sex offender from the United States is on the lam again after being extradited from Costa Rica. John Wesley Saatio, a fugitive facing several criminal charges in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, escaped from a van transporting prisoners in Florida on Saturday night. According to a news broadcast by WEAR, an ABC affiliate television station in Pensacola, Mr. Saatio h...

By Wendy Anders From 7:00 am to 3:00 pm today and tomorrow everyone is asked to bring old tires, electronic waste, plastics, aluminum waste, glass, and tetra-brik packages for disposal at the Jacó Gollo. The activity is part of an ongoing community effort to eliminate mosquito breeding areas and to reduce the transmission of mosquito-borne diseases. The Jacó-Garabito area of Costa Rica’s ...

Bruce Irons at the Bali X-Games Bruce Irons, a Hawaiian pro surfer who once defeated the legendary Kelly Slater at the Billabong Pipeline Masters, will be in Costa Rica next month for the Airborn Huck & Hack Tour. The surfing event will be a first for Costa Rica in terms of how the heats are scored. The venue will be Playa Hermosa, precisely on the breaks in front of Backyard Bar, a spo...

Source: Fuerza Publica A scene straight out of a circus strongman act unfolded in Costa Rica about 10 days ago. John Wesley Saatio, a citizen of the United States, tried to bend the prison bars of the cell he was thrown into after an investigation by a neighborhood watch group and police in the coastal community of Jaco Beach. According to an official press release issued by Fuerza Publica,...

Source: Fuerza Publica Los Angeles, CA -  Today, on World Oceans Day, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is proud to announce its latest campaign to defend, conserve and protect our oceans. The campaign, Operation Jairo II, will span three countries including the United States, Honduras and Costa Rica to protect endangered sea turtles. The launch comes on the heels of Sea Shepherd’s announce...

Star Breeze SEATTLE, WA (PRWEB) June 02, 2016 - Luxury cruise line Windstar Cruises announces its 2017 Voyage Collection. Known for in-depth cultural exploration, the line’s broad spectrum of worldwide cruise vacations includes two new cruises added to dozens of itineraries visiting more than 150 ports of call — including 13 new ports for 2017 — in 50 countries. The luxury cruise operator d...

Source: OIJ On Monday afternoon, undercover agents from the Office of Judicial Investigations (Spanish initials: OIJ) arrested a 50-year old man from Colombia after he broke into a car rented by German tourists visiting Costa Rica. The undercover OIJ agents were from the regional office assigned to Jaco Beach and nearby Playa Hermosa. It was at the latter coastal town that they decided to c...