The National System of Areas of Conservation SINAC announced that tickets to visit the Irazú Volcano National Park and Tapantí National Park in Cartago are not available online through their page: https://serviciosenlinea.sinac.go.cr/. Irazu and Tapantí, join other national parks that already use this modality: Chirripó, Poás Volcano, Manuel Antonio and San Lucas Island. SINAC is trying to impl...

Renown travel website Lonely Planet recognized Costa Rica in its Best in Travel 2021 Awards, "We decided to make this year’s Best in Travel different by recognizing places and people demonstrating a genuine commitment to sustainability, community and diversity", reads the message of Lonely Planets' CEO Luis Cabrera. Costa Rica received the award under the "Diversity" category specifically as th...

Rescue teams received a call the morning of this Sunday informing of people stranded near the crater of the Turrialba Volcano. Members of the Fire Department and Red Cross had to walk several kilometers to get to the place where they found two people, one of them a woman who apparently had a fractured arm. Getting the couple back to safety took several hours. This was the second call received ...

Hurricane Iota strengthens and is now a category 2 as it heads towards Central America, expected to make landfall by late Monday, confirmed the National Hurricane Center and Central Pacific Hurricane Center of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “Iota is expected to bring potentially catastrophic winds, life-threatening storm surge and extreme rainfall impacts to Central Ameri...

Christopher Corrales is the creator of the website: CostaRicaBeaches.vacations which provides information and valuable details on Costa Rican beaches both in English and Spanish. According to what the creator states on the website, he decided to travel throughout the country and lived for a month in the areas where the best beaches are located, this with the purpose of really offering complet...

Bernard Leon La Duke, an American citizen, and his wife Seidy Sánchez Chaves were dug out of under a mountain of mud and rubble yesterday, in the community of Concepción de Agua Buena in Coto Brus, South Pacific region of Costa Rica. The heavy rain caused by ETA during this week in Costa Rica has caused floods, landslides, and road damages in different areas of the country. According to neig...

As a result of the heavy rains that have affected the country in the past few days floors are saturated and floods have been reported in different areas of the country, the National Emergency Commission (CNE) in Costa Rica declared a red alert for five counties: Nicoya, Nandayure and Hojancha in Guanacaste and Corredores and Coto Brus in the South Pacific region. Red Alert is issued when there...

This Monday, November 2nd the National Insurance Institute (INS) began charging the 2020 Marchamo, the vehicle’s circulation permit, similar to the registration payment in the United States; this tax must be paid by December 31st for the 2021 period, otherwise, drivers risk getting a ticket and will have to pay a late fee. There is a total of 1,568,375 vehicles registered in the country. Tak...

At 11:01 p.m. on October 31st an earthquake described by many as "long and strong" shook Costa Rica and was felt in most of the Central Valley. According to the National Seismologic Network (RSN) the earthquake registered a magnitude of 5.7 and the epicenter was located 1 kilometer north of San Juan de Tibás in San José, it had a depth of 77 km. The movement was a result of the subduction of...

President of Costa Rica, Carlos Alvarado, exercised his right to veto a bill and said No once again to the practice of trawling. Alvarado gave a total veto to the bill, he explained that the analysis carried out to this date have not provided sufficient scientific elements and technical studies to guarantee the sustainability of the technique described in the bill. “For this reason and exercis...

The practice of trawling in Costa Rica has been a topic of discussion for several years, and since 2013 the Constitutional Chamber had forbidden the renovation or emission of new trawling permits due to the environmental damages this practice causes. There are currently no valid licenses for trawling. However, the topic was brought back to life this past few days when 28 members of Congress a...

Costa Rican authorities located 2.4 tons of cocaine in a container that arrived from Colombia and located in a container transport facility in Liverpool, Limón, in the Caribbean of the country. The investigators of the Drug Control Police carefully checked the container in a routine inspection and found a total of 2,420 packages containing what apparently was cocaine. Each package weighed appr...

As part of its expansion plans, Concentrix Costa Rica, which has operated since 2005, is now opening its fifth location in the country. The company is currently in the midst of a Costa Rican expansion, with the creation of more than 1,300 jobs in various parts of the metropolitan area; this has generated work opportunities at the new offices and in work-from-home positions. The new building is ...

The company Fresh Del Monte recently launched an exotic product: the pink pineapple, currently only grown in Costa Rica, more exactly in Buenos Aires de Puntarenas. These pineapples are known as “Pinkglow”. This genetically modified fruit has the approval of the FDA “The pineapples were simply "engineered to produce lower levels of the enzymes already in conventional pineapple that convert the ...

With the objective of reactivating tourism and employment in the country, especially in the rural areas of Costa Rica including Guanacaste, the North Zone, Central and South Pacific and the Caribbean, the Government announced today during a press conference that national and foreign travelers flying in will no longer need a Covid-19 negative test to enter the country. “This decision is taken in...

Different Unions in Costa Rica have announced they will be protests in different areas of the country starting at 8 a.m. this Monday, October 19. This is part of what has been called a “national strike”, a movement that is trying to pressure the government to go back in their plan of creating more taxes, they are also protesting against the initiative of eliminating salary incentives for two ye...

According to the National Institute of Statistics and Census (INEC), the number of poor homes in Costa Rica reached 419,783 through June 2020, a 26.2% of the total, this is the highest percentage since 1992 when that percentage reached 29.4%, and a rise of 5.2 percentual points in comparison to 2019. As of July 2019, the number of homes living in poverty was estimated in 335,895; however, une...

The government announced this Thursday, October 15 that as of this weekend the vehicular transit restriction will continue only by schedule and not by plate number. All plates will be allowed to transit on Saturdays and Sundays from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. The measure will go into effect this weekend, October 17. Authorities had also announced earlier this month an extended schedule to visit beac...

A shipment of drugs was found hidden inside a container loaded with bananas in the APM Terminal dock in Limon, the container had Amberes, Belgium as the final destination. In total, Drug Control Police (PCD) of the Ministry of Security found a total 2,903 kilograms of cocaine in one of the containers that were randomly selected to be scanned. The packages were distributed in 117 black gym bags....

“The tourism of sun and beach is the cornerstone of our industry, Costa Rica has 1,228 kilometers of coasts and around 600 beaches, and the activities related to these are the preferred ones for national and international tourists, extending the visitation schedule allows the country to continue to reactivate employment”, informed this Thursday the minister of tourism Gustavo Segura. The visita...

This Monday, October 5, Costa Rica reached a grand total of 81,129 confirmed cases of COVID-19 out of which 49,703 have recovered. 1004 people have died in relation to this virus and 570 people are currently hospitalized, 212 of them remain in the intensive care unit. Despite this, the Minister of Economy, Industry and Commerce, Victoria Hernández announced the decision to reopen bars and casin...

Residents and citizens of the United States will be able to enter Costa Rica again starting November 1st, and before this date, on October 15th, access will be granted to citizens and residents of the states of Florida, Georgia, and Texas. This measure was announced by the Costa Rican Tourism Board “to help the economic reactivation of the country”, stated the Minister of Tourism Gustavo Segura...

United States Attorney William M. McSwain announced that the internet sports betting company, 5D Holdings Ltd. (operating under the unincorporated brand name, “5Dimes”) and Costa Rican Laura Varela, have agreed to forfeit more than $46.8 million in gambling proceeds as part of a settlement agreement in a criminal investigation into 5Dimes’ sports betting operation based in Costa Rica that allowed ...

Heavy rainfall this Tuesday caused problems for drivers in different areas of the country, particularly in the General Cañas highway which connects Alajuela and San José and some areas of Heredia. In the General Cañas highway close the Real Cariari Mall the sewer system collapsed and caused the highway to flood which damaged 7 vehicles and of course caused severe transit problems that extende...

The US Embassy in Costa Rica has the following message for US Citizens in Costa Rica that wish to submit their vote for the upcoming elections in the USA: If you plan to vote in the November 2020 election it is important to ACT NOW! Don’t wait, return your voted ballot right away! Remember U.S. embassies and consulates are not polling places; same-day in-person voting is not available outside t...

On Monday, September 28 for unknown reasons a pick-up truck caught fire on Route 27 Santa Ana – San Jose near the toll booths. The incident occurred after the pick up truck had passed the toll booth, the fire started, the driver got out of the car, and the driver of a tank truck stopped to offer help, however, the truck starts rolling in reverse and out of control towards the toll booths. Th...

The security cameras of a store in Alajuela, Costa Rica captured the exact moment in which a baby stroller rolls out of control across the parking lot of the commercial center and heads towards the main road where it impacts a bus on the side. The footage shows the moment when the woman in charge of the baby opens the door to her car leaving the stroller to the side, she then proceeds to put so...

The Ministry of Environment of Costa Rica has ordered Ponderosa Adventure Park in Liberia to forbid visitors to take selfies with the wild animals they have and feed them, they have also ordered the Park to stop the reproduction of the animals they have. These are part of the changes that Ponderosa Park must put in place in order to comply with the Law of Conservation of Wildlife which was pub...

Costa Rica announced the Gender Parity Initiative (GPI) to increase women’s participation in the labor market, reduce the wage gap, and increase women’s representation in leadership positions. The proposal is part of the fifth objective of the United Nations’ sustainable development goals, which works toward gender equality. The Vice Presidency of Costa Rica, led by Epsy Campbell, heads the...

The Costa Rica Central Bank (BCCR) published this September 24, 2020, the first fixed limit to the commission paid by commerce for the use of the point of sale terminal to accept debit and credit cards as a form of payment, the same was established at 2.5%. Charity organizations, transport services regulated by ARESEP, and service stations will pay a maximum 1.5% commission This new commissi...

The Ministry of Health confirmed 1,087 new cases of Covid-19 positive patients for a grand total of 66,689 confirmed cases, out of which 25,706 people are already recovered. 637 people are currently hospitalized, 260 of them in the intensive care unit. Costa Rica has registered 760 deaths related to this virus. The Government estimates that the hospitals will reach their absolute maximum cap...

According to a report published in SemanarioUniversidad.com prices of medicines in Costa Rica are as much as 50% more expensive than in the rest of Latin America “due to the advantages that international labs have which fix high prices and also to the power of the companies that distribute the medicines”. Several studies including one from the Ministry of Economy and Commerce (MEIC) confirm tha...

This Sunday a group of Costa Ricans gathered in front of President Carlos Alvarado’s house to protest against the proposals of crazy new taxes presented by the government in order to possibly qualify for a loan with the IMF (International Monetary Fund) this week. The group of protesters met in La Sabana and took Route 27 in a caravan which concluded in front of the President’s house in Santa A...

The Government of Costa Rica presented this Thursday to the Legislative Assembly the proposal (Plan to overcome the fiscal impact of the pandemic) to negotiate with the International Monetary Fund for a new loan of $1.750 Billion. “We need to maintain economic stability and activate employment to improve the situation in the country generated by COVID-19. If we do not act, the risk is in the hi...

The United States Coastguard Service intercepted in international waters a Costa Rican vessel with four people aboard and upon inspection discovered 700 packages of cocaine, each with a weight of close to 1 kilogram. The four men, three Costa Rican and one Nicaraguan with ages ranging from 33 to 48 years were arrested and turned to Costa Rican authorities in Golfito, Puntarenas. As a result ...

Concentrix, a Customer Experience (CX) solutions company is working to increase its presence in Costa Rica with over 1,300 new jobs at various locations. With these new positions, which will be offered to start this month, Concentrix hopes to strengthen local communities through a variety of new job opportunities for skilled workers throughout the region. “Concentrix Costa Rica gives you mo...

Seven members of the same family died in a car accident that took place in Cartago. The accident involved a van and a police truck. The police car was on its way to a disturbance call that had been reported in the area of Llanos de Santa Lucia when it crashed into the van that was going across and intersection. The victims are a 70-year-old male, three women ages 43, 32, and 30, a 16-year-ol...

Costa Rica's not just about rainforests and beautiful beaches. It is also a competitive world leader in agricultural exports. The country has plenty of experience in the food industry, coupled with innovative growing processes, superior soil quality, and a year-round growing season, have resulted in a cornucopia of high-demand crops sought worldwide. The country's coffee industry is known acros...

Costa Rica celebrates 199 years of independence this September 15 dealing with Covid-19, historically high unemployment rates, and street demonstrations from gold miners in Abangares, Guanacaste. Gold miners of the area of Abangares blocked a sector of the Interamericana Norte street which connects to Monteverde and the road that leads to Cañas in Guanacaste for more than 24 hours not allowing ...

The Minister of Tourism, Gustavo Segura, announced this Thursday, September 10 during the daily press conference in relation to the pandemic, that the entry to Costa Rica will be authorized for 7 other USA states as of September 15 and 8th one by October 1st. Residents of the following states will be able to enter Costa Rica after September 15: Washington, Oregon, Wyoming, Arizona, New Mexico, ...