The Ocaso Underground Music Festival will take place in Tamarindo, Guanacaste from January 4th to the 7th in three different venues with an impressive lineup of house and techno artists. This is the second edition of this event, “Ocaso is a unique, fun and exciting concert, guaranteed to provide a safe respectful and beautiful experience for everyone. Our goal is to establish a cornerstone even...

The Legislative Commission that investigated the bank credits awarded to Juan Carlos Bolaños and his company SINOCEM in the cement corruption scandal in Costa Rica (cementazo) finally presented their report yesterday, recommending sanctions for 29 people, some belonging to the different government branches and others from two public banks. (Read here all about the Cementazo case) The first p...

For the first time, the Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design (CIID) will teach its prestigious and innovative Summer School platform outside of Denmark. Costa Rica has the privilege to host its courses between April 9th-27th, 2018. The Summer School is focused on participants from both Latin American and from the rest of the world who are willing to learn about innovation and disruptive ...

The first Urban Wave in the country was inaugurated in the Jass Surf Shop in Playa Jaco, Puntarenas, where several surfers, including the coach of the National Surf Team, Jim Hogan, were able to test it out. An Urban Wave simulates popular boarding such as surfing and body boarding, specially produced surfboards allow you to surf standing up, on your knees or lying down. It is designed to pre...

No, you are not reading that wrong, the National Geriatric Hospital in Costa Rica carried out a study with the participation of 31 patients who had cases of diarrhea caused by the bacteria Clostridium Difficile. The patients were treated  with an infusion of feces dissolved in saline solution. The study, carried out between 2015 and 2016 and which had an effectivity of 90% in a first and second...

Two hunters were arrested this Monday as suspects of killing several tapirs (Tapirus bairdii), an infringement to the Law of Conservation of Wildlife. After a detailed investigation that began in September this year, the two men, one 23 years-old of last names Valverde Esquivel and the other 43 years of age and of last names Valverde Ureña, were detained in their homes located in the areas of E...

The Costa Rica Frontier Police intercepted yesterday (December 17) in the South Caribbean a truck carrying highly dangerous illegal fireworks. According to the director of the Frontier Police, Commissioner Allan Obando, the officers found boxes containing 85,290 units of pyrotechnics, some which have the power to cause serious injuries and even kill someone. In Costa Rica, the Law of Weapons...

A power outage affected the Atlanta Airport, one of the most frequented in the world, for over 11 hours, this caused hundreds of cancelled and rerouted flights and thousands of passengers stranded. In a time of the year when the number of passenger increases considerably the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport suffered an electrical failure at around 1 p.m. Sunday, December 17. The service...

The Central American Sporting Games 2017 came to their conclusion today in Mangua, Nicaragua; Costa Rican athletes had a solid participation and accumulated 176 medals in all. Costa Rica took the third place when it comes to the total number of medals in all but the second when it came to gold medals with 69, only behind Guatemala, country that obtained 277 in general and 107 gold medals; Nicar...

The investigation of non-governmental organization World Animal Protection entitled “A close-up to Cruelty: The negative Impact of Selfies with Wild Animals”, positions Costa Rica as the seventh country in the world where more selfies are taken with wild animals. The practice of taking selfies with wild animals is considered in many occasions animal cruelty. The investigation carried out regist...

If you still don’t have plans for this end of the year, there are several places in Costa Rica that are hosting dinners and parties in Costa Rica to welcome the New Year in style. Marriot Hotel: Say goodbye to 2017 Paris style. The beautiful hotel in Belen, Heredia has found the inspiration for its New Year celebration in this glamorous city. The party begins at 7 p.m. and will go on through 2 ...

The streets of San Jose, Costa Rica glittered last night as 14 floats made the delight of thousands that gathered to witness the 22nd edition of the Festival de la Luz (Festival of Light). The winner float was the DEMASA float (company that produces corn based food products); the second place went to the Kolbi float and third place went to the float created by the INS Group (National Insurance ...

In December when we are getting ready to welcome a new year it is not uncommon that we take a moment to look back on the previous 11 months and everything that we have accomplished (or not), sometimes we need a quiet space and a peaceful area to get in touch with ourselves and the nature that surrounds us. Finca Tres Equis in Turrialba, Costa Rica, may be just the right place to do this. Locate...

Blue Planet II is a documentary series produced by the BBC Natural History Unit, presented and narrated by David Attenborough which explores de planet’s oceans; the filming of the documentary series was done over the course of four years and involved 125 expeditions across 39 countries, one of these was Costa Rica. Costa Rican photographer Sergio Pucci was the person in charge of filming the wo...

The dangerous criminal that the Costa Rican authorities were after and whose information was released just two days ago to the public, was found dead in Bajo Los Ledezma in La Uruca; the information was confirmed this Saturday morning by the Ministry of Security, pending the autopsy results. Irving Guido Toruño (A.K.A. Erwing Guido Toruño) of Nicaraguan origin and nicknamed “El Gringo” was ...

A Costa Rican woman of last names Mora Sibaja was arrested in Perez Zeledon, Costa Rica under charges of Human Trafficking and Human Smuggling. According to the investigation which began in 2016, the woman charged between US$8,000.00 to US$10,000.00 to smuggle people to the United States through different routes; Mora would receive 50% of the payment in Costa Rica and the balance was paid befor...

Getting married in a beach in Costa Rica is the dream of many couples who have spent time in the country and fallen in love with one or several of the many romantic sites the country offers. If you’ve made up your mind about having the wedding of your dreams in Costa Rica, you are going to need a hotel, listing the many options there are would be a never ending story so in this occasion we wi...

The bill for Electric Transportation was approved by the congressmen at the Asamblea Legislativa on Thursday afternoon. This new regulation benefits those who want to import or sell cars that operate 100% on electricity by establishing several tax exemptions, cars with a cost of under US$30,000.00 will benefit form 100% exemption, while vehicles with a higher cost will also have their tax rate...

Among the many medical services that are offered in Costa Rica cosmetic surgeries are one of the procedures that attracts more medical tourists; now a new service is added to the offer with the opening of the first clinic for vaginal redesign and rejuvenation. Vaginoplasty or vaginal rejuvenation is a procedure that helps correct vaginal relaxation, tightening the vagina to enhance sexual gra...

The Costa Rica Fire Department and the National System of Areas of Conservation (SINAC) signed and agreement to open a fire station at the Isla del Coco National Park which will begin operating in January 2018. This will be the 76th fire station in the country; the initiative will provide uninterrupted paramedic services in the island to provide medical attention to all those that visit the Nat...

Costa Rican boxer Francisco Fonseca, won this Wednesday night in Panama City the WBO Latino Title in the 130 pound division against local Daniel Miranda with a fifth round technical knockout. Fonseca, who has a record of 21 wins (15 by KO), 1 loss and 1 draw managed to stop the Panamanian who came into the fight with 13 wins and 2 losses. The Costa Rican fought back in August against Gervonta ...

Low-cost airline Volaris Costa Rica has provided all the details pertaining to the opening of three new routes that will connect Costa Rica to the United States. The first route will begin operating March 15 and it will connect San Jose, Costa Rica with Los Angeles, California, via San Salvador, this flight will operate every Thursday and Sunday going from San Jose to San Salvador and finally L...

The Organism of Judicial Investigation (OIJ) released the information and photo of a man that according to their investigation is the leader of a drug trafficking gang related to the two dead bodies found this Wednesday in a van in La Sabana, among other crimes. The man (Photo included) is 32 years-old of Nicaraguan origin identified as Irving Alejandro Guido Toruño; according to the OIJ the s...

Starting this Friday, December 15, the Naviera Tambor ferry that provides service between Puntarenas and the southern Nicoya Peninsula town of Paquera will resume its operations with normality after working in a reduced scheduled since early October. One of the vessels (Tambor 2) had been out of service and in maintenance in Cartagena, Colombia but has not been fixed. The service will go back t...

Star Wars fans in Costa Rica will be able to enjoy once again the Star Fest in Avenida Escazu this Saturday, December 16 and Sunday, December 17, starting at noon and through 7 p.m. “Star Fest is born in 2014 to begin a tradition in Costa Rica, is a special date for fans to share and celebrate as a family the passion for the Star Wars world”, explained Marco Morales, organizer of the event. ...

Four underage females of ages ranging between 16 and 17 were detained in Costa Rica as suspects of recruiting other two teenagers to have sex for money. According to the information gathered by the Public Ministry, the two minors that acted as pimps would receive between ¢75,000 and ¢175,000.(US$134.00 and $312.50) depending on whether the girl recruited was or not a virgin. The young ladie...

On Friday, December 8 at close to 4 p.m. a boat of Panamanian flag ran aground in Manzanillo Beach, Limón, apparently, water was entering the boat and therefore the captain decided to run aground so it wouldn’t sink. The captain of the boat explained that he was headed towards the Limon port to load some materials when the emergency occurred; local authorities have kept the boat under custody s...

As of 9 p.m. this Wednesday some of the streets in downtown San Jose will be closed partially in preparation for the traditional Festival de la Luz, (Festival of Light or Parade of Light). The partial closure will be on place from 9 p.m. on Wednesday, December 13 through 5 a.m. on Thursday, December 14 and again at 9 p.m. Thursday through 5 a.m. Friday. On Saturday, the area close to Paseo C...

Does it snow in Costa Rica? Costa Rica is known, among other things, for having excellent weather conditions, which is why it makes one of the preferred destinations of tourists from North America and Europe who wish to escape the freezing cold during the winter time. Costa Rica, does have some of the most bio-diverse climates in the world. The country, with a small area of just 51,100 squar...

Photo credit: CRHOY The Costa Rican police and members of the Organism of Judicial Investigation (OIJ) chased a van in the area of La Sabana this Wednesday morning; during the chase some of the men abandoned the car close to the baseball field in La Sabana and tried to escape running, there was an exchange of gunfire and as a result one of the suspects received a bullet in his back, the police au...

The first Jewish settlers arrived to Costa Rica shortly after Christopher Columbus (1502), there was also a number of members of this community that arrived at the end of the XIX century. The Jewsish settlers from Poland and some from Central Europe arrived during the first decades of the XX century. Today, the estimated Jewish population is of approximately 5,000 the majority live in Escazu, San ...

The Free Trade Zone of El Coyol, Alajuela Costa Rica is one of two free trade zones included in the Site Selection Top Free Zones ranking which was carried out in November this year and which picked the two best free trade zones per region, in the Latin American and Caribbean region the only two to make the list were El Coyol and the Bogota Free Trade Zone in Colombia. “Zona Franca El Coyol” ha...

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...

According to the Organism of Judicial Investigation (OIJ) the last few weeks there’s been an increase in the number of homicides in comparison to the average of the previous months. The criminal organizations are using 9mm fully automatic machine guns that allow burst fire in a matter of a few seconds. A lot of the incidents are confrontations between gangs that are looking to settle scores ...

Photo Credit: Accidentes de Costa Rica A tragic car accident that took place at 5:54 a.m. this Tuesday, December 12 in the area of Route 34 close to the bridge in the area of Portalon de Savegre, Quepos, Puntarenas, caused the death of three people. The crash involved a sedan and a 4x4, although the causes of the accident are not confirmed, apparently one of the drivers lost control of his v...

The cold front that has been affecting Costa Rica since Saturday night has left damage in its wake, from people who have tragically lost their lives, to others who have suffered injuries as a result of fallen trees and material damages. Many houses have had their roofs blown off by the strong winds, streets had to be closed due to mudslides and fallen trees; in total the National Emergency Commiss...

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...

Expat Insider's Ease of Settling in Index 2017 “covers various ‘soft’ factors that can be vital to making a staying abroad a success”. The survey took into consideration 65 countries. Although Costa Rica dropped one spot in the general index from 2nd out of 67 in 2016 and 3rd out of 65 in 2017, Costa Rica was ranked best in the subcategory of "Finding Friends". “When it comes to friendships ...

A series of photographs that show the richness of Costa Rica’s biodiversity, particularly that of the Pacuare Nature Reserve is being showcased at the Royal Botanic Garden in Madrid, Spain. The exhibit organized by the Royal Botanic Garden (RJB-CSIC) showcases a collection of photographs taken by the students of the Official Program of Masters and Doctorate in Biodiversity in Tropical Areas an...

The Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries (GFAS) certified the Zoo Ave Animal Rescue Center and Las Pumas Rescue center for their high standards in animal wellness and conservation of wildlife. The accreditation was decided after a long process of evaluation and the recognition was given during a ceremony with the participation of the Ministry of Environment and the organization Human Socie...