Pole dance combines dance and acrobatics, it requires a lot of strength, coordination, flexibility and ability and besides being very sexy it is also a great exercise. The times when pole dancing was considered vulgar are behind us, and now pole dancing has gained a lot of popularity as a form of fitness, an exercise that will not only help build your muscles and stay fit, but will also do wond...

The second edition of the popular Art City Tour in its 2018 season will take place March 14 under the slogan “Chepe nos une” (Chepe unites us) (Chepe is the way Costa Ricans’ refer to the capital city of San Jose). The free event will begin at 5 p.m. and conclude at 9 p.m. Remember these tours can be done by bus or foot. “ 'Chepe nos une' is a metaphor that honors the dynamic of the city as ...

On the International Women’s Day the walls of Catholic churches in San Jose, Costa Rica (La Merced, LA Soledad and Nuestra Señora de Barrio Luján) were vandalized with gender related messages and graffities done with spray paint during the evening hours. “Take your rosaries out of my ovaries” ; “Sexual Education Now”; “Sexist and Macho Church”, “My body is mine, I decide”, were just some of the...

We have all heard it, diet, an exercise routine and enough sleep will keep you from having to visit the doctor or having a serious health crisis. Exercise helps you keep stress under control, it helps you get in shape and get rid of the extra weight or build that lack of muscular tone that you may have noticed recently. Physical activity is in vogue, this is certainly a good thing, and we shoul...

Barrio Amón, one of the most traditionally upscale neighborhoods of Costa Rica, is undergoing a renaissance of sorts. As recently reported by the Sunday magazine of national newspaper La Nación, an exhibit of more than 100 paintings depicting scenes of this San José residential district was held at the Casa Cultural; the works of art were eventually transferred to the nearby urban campus of the Te...

The Municipality of San Jose, signed an agreement with Marviva Foundation through which they will support actions involving businesses and the general population to begin eliminating the use of single use plastic which represents 80% of the waste that is accumulated in the oceans. Concerned for the amount of waste that is generated in a daily basis and the repercussions this has in the environ...

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Over 100 free activities for the entire family will be part of the Amon Cultural Festival that will take place Saturday, March 3 in one of the most historic and emblematic neighborhoods in Costa Rica, Barrio Amon. This is one of the most important urban festivals in San Jose, and this is its third edition. Concerts, art exhibits, dancing shows, video mapping, theater, workshops, tours are just ...

The Chinese communities around the world prepare to welcome the Chinese New Year or Spring Festival this February 16, which is according to the Chinese calendar the Year of the Earth Dog. In Costa Rica the Chinese community has their own celebrations, one of them which is open to the general public will take place on Saturday, February 17 in San Jose’s Barrio Chino (China Town) from 10 a.m. an...

A new venue to enjoy concerts, live shows and even boxing or MMA events in Costa Rica is now available. Next to the Children’s Museum in downtown San Jose, a new “natural” amphitheater was created with capacity for 4000 people and parking for 600 cars. To build this outdoor venue they took advantage of a steep mountain and then built the natural bleachers in a semi-circle style. The inves...

Food Trucks have become a very popular way of taking different gastronomy options to many people, a fun, affordable way to try delicious food. This upcoming February 10 and February 11, another Food Truck Festival will take place at San Jose’s Barrio Chino (China Town), with the participation of 26 food trucks and 15 craft brewery options, live music and great atmosphere. The beautiful wea...

This year’s first date of the Art City Tour will happen February 9 and it is titled “Por amor a chepe” or “For the Love of Chepe” (chepe being the way Costa Rican’s refer to the capital city of San Jose), tours inspired in Valentine’s Day and with the goal of making many fall in love with the city of San Jose. Art City Tours are cultural events that take place every two months and take the publ...

The city of San Jose, Costa Rica is included among the top destinations on the rise, by Tripadvisor’s Traveler’s Choice 2018 listing. The Traveler’s Choice listing is created through the use of an algorithm that measures the increase in comparison to past years of positive traveler reviews with regards to restaurants, lodging options, and places of interest; it also considers the increase in...

Kahli Gastronomy Center opened doors in Curridabat, a space to enjoy amazing dishes and learn about gastronomy. The Center is led by Costa Rican chef Sophia Rodriguez owner of Kahli Café located in San Francisco de Heredia. The new project in a 2500 square meter property with 600 square meters of construction offers a restaurant, cooking school, special events area, executive area and VIP area....

As we begin the last week of 2017, traditional activities take place in Costa Rica for the entertainment of Tico families. Zapote: The popular Zapote festivities begin today and will extend through January 7th . The fair includes mechanical games for young children and adults, food stands, bars, and the center of all action of course, the Zapote redondel or bullring. There’s no bullfighting...

Costa Rica’s Ministry of Public Security confirmed that officers from Fuerza Pública conducted a raid in the district of Pavas, San Jose the afternoon of this Wednesay, December 20 with the objective of getting rid of drugs, illegal firearms and other items that represent a risk to the inhabitants and with the purpose of battling organized crime in this area. A total of 250 police officers with t...

Many years back it was simply known as the Irazu Hotel, later it became part of Best Western and is known as Best Western Irazu Hotel and Casino, now it has transformed once again to include the Best Western Plus. Grupo Marta Hospitality a management company of long trajectory and experience in Costa Rica, and which has managed the Best Western brand in Costa Rica since 1990 has now opened the...

If you are familiar with “El Mercado” (The Market) in Barrio La California, San Jose, a similar concept will be opening doors this December 14 in Barrio Escalante. The main difference is that El Mercado in La California is geared towards young adults who are looking for not just a place to eat but also a fun bar where they can hang out; El Mercado in Barrio Escalante is targeted to families and...

The Del Rey Hotel, a known sexual tourism hot spot located in downtown San Jose, Costa Rica near the Morazan Park was affected by a fire this Wednesday evening, at around 7 p.m. The five story building had to be evacuated, but fortunately no one was hurt. Apparently the fire began in a room in the third floor for reasons that are not clear at the time. Several firefighting units arrived quic...

The developer company, of Ecuadorian origin, chose Costa Rica thanks to its good economic reputation in Central America and because it is home to important multinational companies worldwide, which generates greater market confidence. With an investment of US $ 45 million and the direct and indirect contracting of 200 people, the Furoinani Obras y Proyectos (FOP) real estate group starts operati...

A few weeks ago, a Red Cross ambulance driver was threatened at knife-point and asked to hand over his cell phone when driving to the scene of an emergency in the agricultural town of Santa Rosa de Pocosol in the north-central region of San Carlos, Alajuela, Costa Rica. This and other potentially life-threatening incidents involving aid workers in different parts of Costa Rica have the agency c...

Bogged down in a mobility crisis that is the bane of local residents, Costa Rica's capital is nevertheless pursuing its dream of transforming itself into a modern and "friendlier" city via civil, business and government initiatives. "Amid the mobility crisis that the greater metropolitan area is experiencing, San Jose is a city that is getting trendy, acquiring a very special dynamic, with its ...

An outdoor, casual environment for lunch, dinner, and afternoon snacks invites diners in Curridabat to a newly opened food truck park in this eastern San José, Costa Rica suburb called "Food Truck Park Calle Vieja" With seven trucks, that include a minibar and an ice cream cart, the eateries are open seven days a week from 11:30 a.m. until 10 p.m. Diners can sit in roofer corridors alongside...

This Saturday, November 11 at 8 p.m. at the downtown San José, Costa Rica National Theater, U.S. and Costa Rican musicians join together for a delightful and inspiring concert dedicated to friendship between the two countries. Award-winning U.S.-based Medical Musical Group's chorale and symphony will perform together with Costa Rica's Coro Voces de Libertad, directed by Carol Guzmán, and the Un...

Friday, November 10, the United States Embassy and Consulate in San José, Costa Rica will be closed in commemoration of the U.S. federal holiday, Veterans Day, In May 1938, this day was set as a commemoration of world peace and to celebrate what was known as Armistice Day, when it was customary to honor the veterans of World War I. "However, in 1954, after the Second World War, its name was ch...

Così, the Boston, Massachusetts-based fast-casual restaurant chain known for its homemade flatbread, opens its eighth eatery in Costa Rica this Friday, November 10. The new Così locale will be inaugurated in the northern San José suburb of Guadalupe, in the canton of Goicoechea, at the Distrito Uno shopping plaza. Situated next to Distrito Uno's new Auto Mercado grocery store, Così in Guadal...

This Halloween, clients of the upscale Multiplaza Escazú shopping center had the scare of a lifetime - but not from goblins or ghosts. Clients reported running for cover as shots rang out on the first floor of the glitzy shopping center as robbers assaulted Eurochronos around 2 p.m., according to police reports. This same store was robbed last April. It is estimated that the robbers made off...

Walking through downtown San José between the hours of 3 - 10 p.m. is considered the most likely way to be the victim of an assault in Costa Rica, according to the most recent data from the Judicial Investigation Agency (OIJ). San José's central area - comprised of the Hospital, Merced, Catedral and El Carmen districts - is where most of the country's assaults occur, according to Marco Carrión,...

One of Russia's wealthiest individuals had over $20,000 in cash seized yesterday afternoon, Thursday, October 26, 2017, at Costa Rica's main Juan Santamaría International Airport near San José when he was leaving for his home country after a vacation. Andrei Bokarev, 51, whose wealth is estimated by Forbes at $1.69 billion, had arrived in a private jet earlier in the week and participated in a ...

The National Center for Energy Control (CENCE, its initials in Spanish) will have state-of-the-art equipment and a new building by the end of 2017, when it inaugurates its new facilities, the most modern of its kind in Central America. Its operations - now in the Sabana North section of San José - will move to San Miguel de Santo Domingo de Heredia, a location strategically chosen by the Costa ...

Commercial centers in an around San José, Costa Rica have a full agenda lined up with free events for kids and families to celebrate Halloween in a safe, comfortable environment. On Friday, October 27, from 2 - 6 p.m., Lincoln Plaza in Moravia, east of downtown San José, offers an afternoon of fun with inflatables, cotton candy, treats and face-painting, with a trick-or-treating session from 3 ...

The casual clothing and accessory store, American Eagle Outfitters, opened its second locale in Costa Rica this week, said the company. The new location in the fifth stage of the Multiplaza Escazú shopping center, off Highway 27 in Escazú, opened Friday, October 20. The store's first locale opened in 2016 at Lincoln Plaza in Moravia, a district in eastern San José. The Escazú opening high...

From October 24 to November 11, the XVIII International Festival of Baroque Music is being held, and all concerts are free. The activity is organized by the Santa Ana Municipal School of Integrated Arts (EMAI). The majority of the concerts will be held at the downtown Santa Ana musical school and at the Catholic church in Santa Ana. Free concerts will also be given at the Monteverde Institut...

Believe it or not the city of San José, Costa Rica is ranked as the “least stressful city” to live in Latin America, according to British company Zipjet and its 2017 Global Least & Most Stressful Cities Ranking. Zipjet develops technology which aims to reduce stress in people’s lives; they carried out a study to find out how the most stressful cities around the world can benefit from the exampl...

San José, the capital city of Costa Rica is considered by many as dirty, collapsed by heavy traffic, street vendors, and affected by insecurity; many times, however, we have highlighted the many treasures that this city hides and that are worth discovering; and apparently there are many tourists that have made their way to San José attracted by some of those jewels. According to Global Destinat...

The Costa Rican Children's Museum (Museo de Niños) in downtown San José, recently opened a new area for children and adults alike to learn and explore different science topics. The new space was funded by the Costa Rican State Electricity Institute (ICE) and the Foundation Fundación Ayúdenos para Ayudar, which translates to "help us to help." The foundation's mission is to run the Costa Rican S...

The Costa Rican supermarket chain, Auto Mercado, opened its latest retail outlet in Guadalupe, a northeastern district of San José, making it the fourth Auto Mercado store in the eastern section of the capital. With a US$1 million investment, this is the upscale supermarket's second new store to open in 2017, said the company. The other opened in Santo Domingo de Heredia in January, which is...

According to recent research by  the University of Costa Rica (UCR), 80 percent of residents in the San José, Costa Rica Greater Metropolitan Area (GAM) can't afford to buy the new houses, apartments and condominiums being built and sold in a recent real estate boom. The latest data from the National Institute of Statistics and Census' Household Survey (2015) was  compared with housing prices, ...

Anyone who has attempted to walk in and around San José knows the many challenges of being a pedestrian. Whether it be the utter lack of crosswalks, gaping holes, high curbs that you can't push a baby stroller up, slippery patches from rain and algae, or garbage strewn about, walking the city streets can often be unpleasant. A new Costa Rican non-governmental organization called "Hagamos Ace...

A terrible smell apparently originating in the air control tower forced Costa Rica's Juan Santamaría International (SJO) airport, west of the capital San José, to close briefly this afternoon, Tuesday, October 10. The country's principal air terminal was paralyzed for approximately 35 minutes due to the unrelenting, and as of yet unidentified, stench. And I thought nothing could top Poás Vol...