Earlier this month, one of San José, Costa Rica’s main public hospitals, the México Hospital, installed new modern ophthalmological units, in addition to other equipment. The Costa Rican Social Security Agency (CCSS) which runs the state medical system, said an estimated 20,000 patients per year will benefit from the upgrade to the latest technologies for eye procedures and exams. The over U...

Bellazo is Kalia Living’s newest gated ocean-view community, located in the exclusive area of Nosara, Guanacaste, Costa Rica. Offering modern luxurious eco-friendly designed homes, overlooking the Pacific Ocean and surrounded by lush mesmerizing nature. A self-contained community with all the amenities, spa, gourmet restaurant, beach club, sports courts, biking, hiking trails, maid services and va...

Albert and Keith Toney may seem like an ordinary gay couple. But when the Massachusetts men moved to Costa Rica’s northern Pacific coast, their new cultural surroundings held some surprises. While being interviewed and photographed recently by the regional newspaper La Voz de Guanacaste, the couple garnered reactions from passersby that spanned the spectrum from shock to warmth. “Not five...

How often do we hear people complain about how expensive Costa Rica is? Yes, very very often, and it is true that in the past 10 years or so the country has indeed become more expensive, and some articles or items of course, more than others, for instance clothes, shoes, cars, touristic destinations, jewelry, personal care items, electronic devices, electricity are usually very expensive in Costa ...

Owning a vacation home has many advantages, it is a place you can escape to from your work routine and have a place to go any time you need to, it gives you all the privacy you like and want; you can travel with friends and family and have guests over, even bring your pets; you have everything you want and everything you need handy and the way you like it, so it is all about convenience and contro...

https://youtu.be/uEAKQmPYzWg One thing that can be said about the cities in Costa Rica is that they have grown in a very disorganized fashion, especially in the capital, San José, where the lack of planning has taken its toll and makes for traffic problems, flooding, and visual contamination among many other issues. Many developers coincide that one of the solutions is opting for vertical bu...

You’ve probably heard it time and time again, Costa Rica is one of the preferred retirement destinations for expats, the fact that it is so close to the United States and Canada, it is also considered one of the most secure countries in Latin America, its weather, its people, the least goes on and on, of course it is not perfect, like every country it has its problems, but when you balance out the...

Many foreigners fall in love with Costa Rica  during their vacation in the country, and buying a vacation home soon becomes a family goal; however, unless you are the impulsive buyer type that makes a decision at the spur of the moment, there are many aspects that should be considered before buying a vacation home in Costa Rica. The majority of the people looking to buy a vacation home in Costa...

As we grow older it is safe to say that our preferences and taste changes, we are more aware of what we enjoy and we are spending our own money so we become more demanding, the crowded bar with very loud music, people spilling drinks and picking fights might no longer sound like fun; instead a nice bar with a good service and a good selection of food and drinks may be our preferred choice. The ...

Kids like staying active and experiencing different things, as parents sometimes we run out of ideas on where to take them for entertainment purposes and going to the beach or taking tours is not always an option, for this reason we are giving you here a few ideas of different activities for kids in Costa Rica all of them are in the metropolitan area: Children’s Museum: This is a good place for...

Costa Rica is known to have excellent weather conditions, but particularly during the months of March and April the temperatures tend to go up and the radiation is higher. Experts from the National Meteorological Institute (IMN) warned that starting this week and through the second week of April Costa Rica will be exposed to dangerous levels of ultraviolet (UV) radiation as the sun rays hit per...

When the term luxury is mentioned many people think exclusively about extravagant living, splendor, even opulence; perhaps what comes to mind are images of magnificent resorts in Dubai; yet, luxury in Costa Rica goes a bit beyond that, sure, it encompasses great comfort and stunning designs, but it has a lot more to do with eco-friendly living, sustainability and natural settings that cannot be re...

World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) will present their show once again in Costa Rica, June 11 at the Coca Cola Amphitheater in Parque Viva as confirmed by production company Move Concerts and is already showing as an official event in the WWE website. Ticket prices will range from 13,800 colones (around $25.00) to 92,000 colones (close to $170.00) and they will be available for purchase as of M...

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...

This time of the year Costa Rica gets particularly colorful, as trees such as Rosy Trumpet Tree (Roble Sabana-Tabebuia rosea), the Coral Tree (Erythrina poeppigiana), the Golden Trumpet Tree (Tabebuia ochracea) and the Jacaranda, bloom, offering a magnificent spectacle. For the sixth year in a row the contest “Capture the Magic” (Capturá la magia) invites everyone to participate with photograph...

Can you really find a four-bedroom rental home in Costa Rica for $200 a month? Isn't our country home to the most expensive real estate in Latin America? The answer to both questions is yes; in 2012, the Inter-American Development Bank declared that the most expensive and least accessible real estate in Latin America could be found in the capital city of Costa Rica. Nonetheless, I recently found a...

In a survey carried out by InterNations, a network for expats with local communities worldwide, Costa Rica holds the second position in the world in the ranking of most welcoming countries. How easy is it to settle in the destination country? How easy is it to make friends? These type of questions were included in the survey that InterNations used to create the ranking. Cultural aspects, th...

Rural tourism is one of the many attractions Costa Rica has to offer, Finca El Porvenir (El Porvenir Estate) in Los Chiles, Alajuela, offers visitors an experience like no other. This 407 acre property has kept 50% of its territory for the preservation of primary and secondary forest, the other 50% of the property has a farm, a small, rustic house, and the rest is used to grow different organic...

March 17th through March 19th more than 150 artistic shows will take over San Jose, in the 13th edition of Transitarte Summer Festival. Transitarte is part of the initiatives of the San José Municipality to provide artistic and cultural events to the population and part of the efforts to recover the use of public spaces, it is also an option for foreign visitors to get to know the Costa Rican c...

The president of the Costa Rican Association of Spanish Pure-Bred Horse Breeders (Asocpre), Andres Garnier, said Sunday that "The Spanish horse is the world's most noble and beautiful." "The horse has things that are unique, such as its temperament. It's the most noble horse of all," Garnier told EFE during the 8th Central American Spanish Pure-Bred Horse Fair (Ferpre). "Of a spectacular tem...

To read previous entries in this series, click here for Part One and here for Part Two. On a Sunday afternoon three weeks ago, I was looking forward to watching the national derby match between Deportivo Saprissa and my favorite football club, Liga Deportiva Alajuelense. Instead, I ended up listening to the match on the FM radio application of my ancient Nokia mobile phone because the main swit...

According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) the citizens of Mexico and Costa Rica are the ones that work the longest hours. The OECD ran the statistics through its 38 member countries, from North and South America to Europe and Asia-Pacific. The study determines the average hours worked per year by taking the total number of hours worked per year and dividing i...

Costa Rica is slowly digging its way out of decades of delays in infrastructure improvements, one of the main priorities of the current Solís administration. Along these lines, much needed improvements to another Virilla River bridge, this one on the heavily transited highway connecting Belén to Santa Ana, will begin at the end of March, and last an expected 13 months. Ministry of Public Wor...

By Wendy Anders Have you ever filed for child support in Costa Rica, lodged a complaint for sexual harassment, or requested a restraining order from a partner or former partner? Your input and evaluation of these services is sought out as the Costa Rican justice system works to strengthen and improve their services for victims of gender-based violence, said the judiciary oversight department...

During 2015, a total of 9,300 college students from the United States chose Costa Rica as their learning destination, even over other countries like Australia or Japan. This number has grown in a 156% since 2001; back then the number of foreign students from the United States was of under 4,000. The statistics were offered by the Institute of International Education, Open Doors, and the inform...

The Quality of Life Index carried out by InterNations, the world’s largest expat network that provides information on destinations all around the globe places Costa Rica among the 21 countries that provide a better quality of life. The top five countries in the index are: Taiwan, Austria, Japan, Spain and Costa Rica. In the list of best 21 countries there are only two others from the Americ...

The 13th multilingual Cinde job fair began this Friday and will extend through this Sunday, February 19. 49 companies are looking to fill 2,700 positions that require candidates to dominate at least a second language, particularly English or Portuguese. Microsoft, Amazon, Convergys, IBM, Western Union, Citi, Bayer, Dell, Siemens, Roche, Kimberly-Clark, 3M, and Sykes are just some of the com...

The Costa Rican State Electricity Agency (ICE, its Spanish acronym) is working to get the Pacific surf towns of Mal País, Santa Teresa and El Carmen better connected, said the company yesterday. With a team of 50 technicians, the country’s fiber optics network is being expanded in this region of the Costa Rican Pacific located on the southern end of the Nicoya Peninsula. The improvements wil...

The word “Motel” is defined in the dictionary as: “a hotel providing travelers with lodging and free parking facilities, typically a roadside hotel having rooms adjacent to an outside parking area or an urban hotel offering parking within the building”, and although technically motels in Costa Rica fit into this definition, the concept behind them is quite different to what foreigners are used to ...

A great opportunity to buy your house or property in Costa Rica. Banco Popular a public bank in Costa Rica has 94 properties for sale with discounts of up to 60%. The properties located in different parts of the country, specially rural areas and the majority located in Guanacaste, there are properties with a price of ¢2,5 million colones (under $5,000 USD). Land, houses, and commercial s...

The food and drinks event will happen March 18th from 11 a.m to 8 p.m in Avenida Escazu, presenting over 180 types of beer, both national and international. Several food trucks offering the traditional bar and restaurant dishes, cocktail stand, sangria and wine are part of the menu that will be offered that day, which won’t be short on entertainment with presentations of urban music concerts w...

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...

Coffee is of course, one of many things Costa Rica is famous for, it's part of the country’s history, economy ,culture and  probably the most popular beverage in the country, ticos call it colloquially “yodo”. According to travel magazine, Lonely Planet, Costa Rica also has one of the best coffee shops in the world. The proud holder of this distinction is Cafetería Privilegios, located in Santa...

By Wendy Anders By 2021, San José, Costa Rica’s westbound Route 27 should have some major changes in place. Costa Rica’s National Concessions Council (CNC) found that the existing road has reached a saturation point of 70 percent and requires expansion. The highway’s current operators, concessionaire Globalvia, are required under their contract to expand the stretch between La Sabana Metropo...

Five days ago, the owner of the house I have rented in Costa Rica since 2010 told me she had executed a contract with a new tenant. She gave me two days to pack up and leave; since then, I have consulted with a few attorneys about this situation. By all means, I should be evicted by means of a court proceeding; whether this will actually happen remains to be seen, and there is a chance that Fuerza...

On a recent Wednesday afternoon, my landlady knocked on my door and asked me if I had deposited the monthly rent payment corresponding to January. I told her I had the full payment in cash in my wallet since early January, but I was purposely waiting to deposit until the 19th day of the month, the day after her visit. She told me not to bother making the payment because she had rented the house to...

Corporate Stay, leader in corporate and furnished apartments, is expanding its popular Signature Collection to Costa Rica and becomes the first and only corporate accommodations available in the country. The company built the entire building from the ground up with the needs of their corporate and vacationing guests in mind. Following the Signature Collection quality standard, these world-class...

By Wendy Anders Business owners expressed concern at an announcement late today by the Costa Rican Transportation and Public Works Ministry (MOPT) that the main artery connecting San José with points westward including the main international airport in Alajuela would be closed for six weeks starting Saturday, January 21, 2017 in the direction of Alajuela-San José. The bridge, known as "La Pl...

One again Costa Rica is included in the top ten of the world’s best places to retire in 2017 by International Living. International Living stated: “For just over a quarter of a century, International Living has ranked rated and named the best retirement destinations in the world. Each year we’ve redefined and improved the process, bringing new categories and considerations into play, gathering ...

Dogs will soon have a place of their own to enjoy in Pavas and Sabana Sur in San Jose where two dog parks will be situated. The Bella Vista Park in Pavas and Nacionalidad Costarricense in Sabana Sur will continue open for the general public but part of their area will be transformed into a dog park, featuring ramps, mazes, socialization areas and recreational areas specially designed for our fo...