The 2018 edition of the Tamarino Art Wave Festival “En-light” comes loaded with art, music and entertainment. The vibrant beach town is ready to offer visitors and residents an exciting weekend on January 25 through January 27. As usual local and foreign artist, close to 200 in total, will be showcasing their talent; a gigantic art piece shaped as a fish and made with recycled materials will “e...

On January 11, The Costa Rica Star reported on the change of coloration of Rio Celeste, which was caused apparently by material that had feel in the rivers consequence of a landslides that were caused by an earthquake swarm that registered at least 42 movements in the area of Guanacaste from January 9th and through January 11th. Authorities of the National System of Areas of Conservation (SINAC...

As it had been informed by the National Meteorological Institute, a cold front entered the country on Saturday night and has affected mainly the province of Limon with heavy rainfall and strong winds, these conditions are also seen in the different beaches in this province which currently present strong swell. Route 32 which leads to Limon, and route 10 which connects Turrialba in Cartago to th...

Cesar Millan, the famous “Dog Whisperer” will bring his show “Once Upon a Dog-Tour 2018” to Costa Rica this February 18 at Parque Viva. This is the second time the dog behaviorist is performing in Costa Rica, the first time was in 2012,and he promises a completely different show; in an interview with online news site CRHoy, Millan explained “In the show I speak of exercise, discipline and affe...

This Monday, January 15 is the deadline for owners of luxury houses in Costa Rica to pay the “Impuesto Solidario” (Solidarity Tax) without fines. Best known as the luxury home tax, this tax is to be paid by people who own residential properties in Costa Rica with a total value of ¢129 million colones (approximately $229,600.00 USD) or higher. The value of a property is determined by consider...

Tickets to the Andrea Bocelli concert in Costa Rica scheduled for February 22 at the Coca Cola Amphitheater of Parque Viva will go on sale this Monday, January 15, announced production company SD Concerts Costa Rica. Ticket prices range from $92.00 to $570.00; the high prices took many by surprise who immediately shared their opinion and disappointment in social media; the prices per location a...

The Costa Rica Ministry of Security launched the prevention campaign “Verano Seguro” or Safe Summer with the objective of bringing down the number of crimes and accidents in this vacation season. “The purpose of this campaign is that through different operations and actions we can offer national and foreign tourists more safety during their vacation time in the country, but at the same time we...

As The Costa Rica Star reported last year, Costa Rica averaged over 1 death daily in road accidents last year; by December 31st the number was of 457. This number has continued to go up year after year and has reached a rate of 9.16 per every 100,000 inhabitants; motorcyclists make up for almost 50% of those fatal accidents. In addition to the number of people that have lost their lives on the...

Individuals and companies that wish to build a house or are involved in the development of real estate projects of any kind, residential, commercial, tourist places, etc. may have to invest in an additional requirement, a hydrogeological study that has a cost of between US$5,000.00 and up to US$100,000.00. The new requirement (Matriz Genérica de Protección de Acuiferos or Generic Matrix for the...

The United States’ Embassy and the Department of Labor of the US, will be donating US$2 million to improve the implementation of labor laws in the Costa Rican agricultural sector. The Bureau of International Labor Affairs of the Department of Labor describes the objectives of the project: “The project’s goal is to improve enforcement of minimum wage, hours of work, and occupational safety and h...

The Directorate of Civil Aviation in Costa Rica suspended the operations of Nature Air effective as of today. “The General Directorate of Civil Aviation received copy on January 9, 2018 of the notification of the resignation presented by Mr. Jorge Valverde Esquivel, Director of Operations of the company Nature Air S.A.; this Administration is also aware of the death of Mr. Juan Manuel Retana ...

The Meteorological Institute (IMN) in Costa Rica warns of another cold front that will be affecting the country as of this weekend. “A strong cold front is located right now over the Gulf of Mexico, and will continue advancing towards the Central American territory today”, states the report. According to the IMN's forecast, it is expected that this phenomenon will affect the country start...

A unique magic show will be presented this Saturday at 3 p.m. at the Teatro Espressivo in Momentum Pinares with the participation of 9 professionals from England, China, Taiwan and the United States, members of the Yale Magic Society. The magicians will share the stage with national talent, members of Magos Sin Fronteras Latam (Magicians Without Boarders Latin America), including Carlos Lopez a...

Spanish professional football club Atletico Madrid are establishing official camps in Costa Rica to recruit children between the ages of 5 and 17 who are talented soccer players and want to be part of their soccer school. Official trainers from La Academia traveled to Costa Rica and have been receiving applications since January 8; the process will continue January 12 at the Ernesto Rohrmoser s...

The Organism of Judicial Investigation (OIJ) in Costa Rica confirmed that the remains of the 10 U.S. tourists who died in an airplane crash back in December 31st have been properly identified and the remains have been released for their burial. On Tuesday authorities had already released the bodies of the crew members, both Costa Rican, and their funerals were held on Wednesday. The body of ...

Since the evening of Tuesday, January 9, an earthquake swarm has been affecting the area of Guanacaste, in particular to the southeast of the Tenorio Volcano. The first mild earthquake was felt on Tuesday the 9th at 8:56 p.m. (right after the earthquake that rocked the coast of Honduras), several were registered on Wednesday and Thursday. The National Seismology Network had registered a total o...

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...

The Department of State recently made a new system available for US travelers to have access to security information on their travel destination. In the past the Department of State only issued travel warnings and advisories which informed travelers about any particular dangerous situations in the different countries; this new option provides safety and security information for every country in...

The Westin Golf Resort & Spa, Playa Conchal in Guanacaste, informed the public through a press release of their recent purchase of 12 electric vehicles with an investment of $370,000. With this measure the Westin Hotel becomes the first in the country to have a vehicle fleet 100% electric. The purchase of the electric cars takes place just after Congress approved a law to exempt cars and...

When you vacation or live in a foreign country part of the experience is about really immersing yourself in the cultural life and traditions of the same. If you are currently in Costa Rica you can enjoy an event that is highly anticipated by Costa Ricans, the “Fiestas de Palmares” or “Palmares Festivities”. Palmares is the name of a community in Alajuela, it is known by the slogan “un pueblo pa...

The bodies of Juan Manuel Retana and Emma Ramos Calderon, pilot and copilot respectively of the Cessna aircraft that crashed in the mountains of Guanacaste last December 31st were properly identified and released to their family members on Tuesday. The Organism of Judicial Investigation (OIJ) informed that their identity was confirmed through dental records and forensic anthropology. The fact t...

In 2017 Costa Rica closed the year with 602 homicides, 24 more than in 2016; unfortunately,2018 is not up to a good start since in just 9 days there’s been 17 homicides. When we compare the data from last year for the first 9 days of the year, there had been 15 murders. Michael Soto, Chief of the Plans and Operations Office of the Judicial Investigative Organism, stated that their goal this yea...

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) presented a complaint this Wednesday to the General Directorate of Migration in Costa Rica for the delays that have continued to take place at the airport due to the slow migratory control; a situation that started occurring after the new system was implemented just a few months ago. IATA stated that when they received notification that the ne...

A 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit the Caribbean coast of Honduras this January 9th at 8:51 p.m; the movement was felt in other Central American countries, among them Guatemala, Panama, Belize and El Salvador. The earthquake’s epicenter was 218.10 km Northeast of Barra Patuca, Honduras, and had a depth of 10 km. Because it occurred in the middle of the ocean it is expected that the movement wasn’t...

In an article published 4 days ago by Fox News, titled “Deadly Costa Rica crash highlights dangers of non-commercial tourism flights, aviation experts say” (//fxn.ws/2mdaTjd) James Hall, the former head of the National Transportation Safety Board offers Fox News’ Cristina Corbin the following remarks over a telephone interview: "These private tourist flights do not have the type of oversight a...

The Vice-President of Costa Rica Ana Helena Chacón Echeverría along with Marvin Carvajal, Legal Director for the Presidency and Eugenia Gutierrez, Legal Director for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, had requested back in May 18, 2016 and advisory opinion to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights regarding same-sex marriage and transgender rights; today he Government received the official ruling....

Two freight wagons loaded with cement beams which were parked in an area of the train track in San Rafael de Alajuela, detached for reasons still unknown and dragged a vehicle that was crossing the railroad. According to witnesses the wagons dragged the car for close to 400 meters and eventually overturned crushing the car and killing the driver and passenger; a third victim which was not in t...

As surprising as it may seem, Costa Rica doesn’t have the most expensive fuel in the region. According to information by GlobalPetrolPrices.com which monitors the prices of fuel in 100 countries, the most expensive fuel was sold in Honduras and Nicaragua. The annual average price for premium gas (gasolina super as it is known in Central America) during 2017 was of US$0.98 per liter in Honduras...

The Magaly Movie Theater and the Costa Rican-North American Cultural Center begin their 2018 season of Exhibition on Screen several documentary style films that tell the stories of famous painters and that are created in high quality exclusively for movie theaters around the world. This year the works of Edvard Munch (1863-1944) will kick off the season, Exhibition on Screen brought together th...

New Jersey is the destination of the month at Avianca Airlines; this route which was inaugurated in November by Avianca is being promoted with prices starting at $409.00 roundtrip. Avianca flights leave the Juan Santamaria Airport and arrive at the Newark Airport five days a week: Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday, flights make a stop in El Salvador. The rate is available for ...

If you have been dreaming of escaping the winter in Canada and head to the wonderful summertime in Costa Rica, this is your opportunity, Air Canada Rouge, the low-cost airline of Air Canada just brought ticket prices down to $397.00 CAD ($319.60 USD) roundtrip from Toronto to Liberia. This is an amazing deal considering that right now it’s the high season in Costa Rica, and non-stop tickets usu...

The Judicial Investigative Organism (OIJ) in Costa Rica carried out three searches this Monday, January 8th to collect documents and information related to the airplane accident that took place December 31st in the area of Nandayure, Guanacaste and where 10 tourists died as well as the 2 crew members. The searches were conducted in the offices of Nature in located in the Juan Santamaria Airport an...

The Juan Santamaria International Airport in Costa Rica will increase the number of Migration control counters from 8 to 14 to speed up the process for passengers leaving the country. In the past few months travelers have faced long lines when exiting the country after the new migration system was implemented. In the past passengers filled in a paper form, and the process of checking the pass...

(Photo: Illustration Purposes Only) An African American man from the United States and his wife, a Costa Rican woman from Puerto Viejo, Limon were stopped today by the transit police because their “marchamo” (vehicle’s circulation permit, similar to the registration payment in the United States) was not visible. Apparently the marchamo was indeed paid and up to date but the sticker was place...

Masked men holding firearms stopped a tourism bus in the area known as La Platina, in La Pavona, Tortuguero and stole valuable items from the passengers aboard, a group of tourists from Germany and the United Kingdom. The incident occurred at around 11:20 a.m.  Sunday, January 7th . The items stolen included computers, cell phones, cameras and backpacks. The bus belongs to tour agency Aventu...

Weather conditions in most of the Costa Rican territory are returning to normal for this time a year, according to the National Meteorological Institute expects that the cold front will stop affecting the country entirely by this Monday. The Caribbean region has been the most affected region with moderate rains that have caused the saturation of the floor and have caused floods in some communit...

Costa Rica’s General Migration Directorate informed this Saturday that the weather conditions in the United States’ East Coast which caused the cancelation of several flights during the week is now causing heavy aerial traffic in the Juan Santamaria and Daniel Oduber International Airports in Costa Rica, saturating the services and surpassing the airports’ infrastructure capacity. In January 5t...

Costa Rican immigration authorities denied entry this Saturday, December 6 to a Canadian citizen who apparently is part of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club. The man, of last name Gallant, was denied entry as he was doing immigration control at the Daniel Oduber International Airport in Liberia, Guanacaste and was sent home in the same flight in which he arrived. According to immigration auth...

The University of Costa Rica proudly presented the first generation of students with Down syndrome and intellectual disability that graduated as assistants (for offices, libraries, restaurants, veterinaries and preschool). In total 31 students received their degree and out of these number 14 already have a job. The higher education inclusion program for people with intellectual disabilities...

Residents to the East of San Jose, have a new movie theater since this past December when the Imax Hybrid experience opened doors in Ciudad del Este, Curridabat. With an investment of over $5 million Nova Cinemas opened doors of its third location in Costa Rica and the first hybrid movie theater, which consists on a combination of VIP service and regular seats in the same room. Imax opened ...