One of Carlos Alvarado’s first actions as President of Costa Rica was signing an order along with the Minister of Public Works and Transportation (MOPT), Rodolfo Mendez Mata, to find a solution to 28 “bottlenecks” that cause the main traffic jams in the Greater Metropolitan Area (GAM). The President also indicated that the order also includes repairing 60 kilometers of roads located in the more...

The idea is to get travelers, specially foreign tourists to identify with the country the minute they get off the plane at the Juan Santamaria Airport in Costa Rica. “Sense of Arrival” is the name of the project that will transform the cold halls of the main international airport in Costa Rica into scenes inspired by the rainforests, the paradisiac beaches and culture and traditions of the cou...

International Living Magazine recently posted an article written by Gregory Herman which shares what he considers to be the three best golf courses in Costa Rica. “I have played in recreational and national tournaments here in Costa Rica over the years, and it is a wonderful country for the novice and advanced golfer alike. Not only are the conditions of the courses exceptional, but—compared to...

During the presidential inauguration ceremony, and in his first speech as president of Costa Rica, Carlos Alvarado promised to “work, work, work” for the country and to be the best version of himself to build a better Costa Rica. After being sworn in as president number 48 of the country, Alvarado offered a speech where he made emphasis on the need the country has to work in unity to make impr...

Carlos Alvarado Quesada was sworn in the morning of Tuesday, May 8th, at the presidential inauguration ceremony held at Plaza de la Democracia in San Jose as the 48th President of Costa Rica for the period 2018-2022, which means he will celebrate the country’s Independence bicentennial in 2021. Alvarado has taken on the commitment of guiding the country towards a more equitable development, inc...

Costa Rica’s President elect Carlos Alvarado will name a commissionaire that will be in charge of promoting the LGBTI agenda during the four year presidential term. The president will choose the commissionaire between the candidates proposed by organizations that defend the rights of the LGBTI population. The commissionaire will serve as a link with the Legislative Assembly in the discussion...

The United States Secretary of Labor, Rene Alexander Acosta, who leads the entourage that represents Donald Trump’s government arrived in Costa Rica this Monday afternoon to take part in the presidential inauguration ceremony Tuesday, May 8. The Secretary of Labor did not offer a statement to the press, he was accompanied by Costa Rican Sandra Cauffman who is the Deputy Director of the Earth Sc...

Thule Group, the Swedish company market leader in cargo carriers for automobiles and leading company in the outdoor and bags market, chose Costa Rica to establish his first store in the region. The store opened doors in Multiplaza Escazu offering accessories for cars such as roof racks, baskets and bike racks as well as strollers, luggage, cargo carriers, bike trailers, child bike seats, backpa...

Costa Rica inaugurated the new domestic terminal at the Juan Santamaria Airport this Monday morning. The construction work of the new building began in November 2017 and although it was expected to be ready by the end of March it took an additional month to complete the work. The new terminal operates 38% on solar energy, has counter space for domestic airlines and comfortable boarding rooms...

Cosmetic surgeries are performed every day in Costa Rica and around the world, in fact, these type of surgeries attract many medical tourists to the country since it has earned a name for the high quality of its medical services at a much cheaper rate than in North America; however, every surgery has its risks, cosmetic surgeries are not the exception. A study carried out by the University of C...

The number of road accidents in Costa Rica this 2018 has decreased in comparison to the same period of 2017. In total between January and April 2017 a total of 179 people lost their lives, while for the same period of this year road accidents account for 148 deaths, in total 31 less. “We see that the decrease is important. We have the rainy season coming up, mid-term vacations, and the Romer...

The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) awarded 20 public and private organizations in Costa Rica the seal “Living Integration”, in recognition for their support to refugees or those who are applying for their condition as refugees in Costa Rica. The seal Living Integration certifies the commitment, through concrete actions that the organizations have implemented in the last year with this po...

The presidential inauguration ceremony in Costa Rica will take place on Tuesday, May 8; public employees have the day off and therefore public service offices will be closed for the day with the exception of emergency services; the event will also bring some road closures. The ceremony in which president elect Carlos Alvarado will be sworn in for a four-year term of office, will take place at t...

Press Release TripAdvisor announced the winners of the second annual Travelers' Choice awards for Rentals this week. The awards recognize 30 of the best holiday homes across the globe in three categories -- luxury ($300+ USD per night), mid-range ($100 - 150 USD per night), and affordable ($99 USD per night and under). The winning homes have traveler-loved amenities including private pools, ho...

The lake at the Poas Volcano National Park in Alajuela, Costa Rica has drawn the attention of scientists and investigators that believe its extreme conditions could offer information about life on Mars. According to Guillermo Alvarado, geologist of the National Seismology Network (RSN), the characteristics of the lake make it almost impossible for there to be any form of life, due to its acidit...

This Saturday, May 5, the Minister of Public Works, German Valverde, and President of Costa Rica, Luis Guillermo Solis, inaugurated the works done in the crossroad close to the Juan Santamaria Airport in Alajuela. According to Valverde, the changes made in this road will make the traffic in the area a lot more fluent, allowing drivers to save as much as 30 minutes to reach their destinations. ...

The Judiciary Investigative Police in Costa Rica (OIJ) require the help of the public in finding German tourist Gerlinde Hahne, a 75-year-old woman that went missing the afternoon of May 3. According to information released by the family, Hahne came to Costa Rica on April 30 from Munich, Germany, with the purpose of attending her son Tobes Hahne’s, wedding that was scheduled for Saturday, May 5...

The presidential inauguration ceremony in Costa Rica will be celebrated on Tuesday, May 8, when Carlos Alvarado will be sworn in for a four-year term of office; this year, for the first time, the ceremony will be carbon neutral, which means that measures are being taken to reduce the waste and limit the carbon footprint, and also, to offset the unavoidable emissions generated by the event. The...

“New Acquisitions” (Nuevas Adquisiciones) is the name of the exhibit that the Costa Rican Art Museum chose to celebrate its 40th anniversary with all art lovers in Costa Rica. The exhibit is available in the Temporary Room and gathers a selection of 36 works. Between April 2016 and April 2018 the Costa Rican art Museum acquired 131 works of art through purchases and donations by artists a...

Thanks to the effort of neighbors of the areas of Cuajiniquil, El Jobo and Puerto Soley in La Cruz, Guanacaste, the 732.1 hectares that make up Santa Elena Bay are now a Marine Protected Area. The objective of establishing this zone as a Marine Management Area is to reserve it for particular purposes, among them the conservation of marine life, the promotion of recreation and tourism and the s...

The Costa Rica Tourism Board signed an agreement with the Florida Caribbean Cruise Association (FCCA) entity that will offer its assessment to help the country position itself as a cruise destination. Through the implementation of the National Cruise Strategy the country will promote the country as a destination for cruise ships through the proper development of adequate port infrastructure, ...

The market of domestic flights in Costa Rica had been for years dominated by Sansa Airlines, even when the operations of Nature Air where growing, Sansa always kept the leading position, statistics by Civil Aviation from 2016 showed that at that time, Nature Air was absorbing close to 30% of the market, while Sansa had almost 55% and the rest of the travelers used charter flights or smaller compan...

As The Costa Rica Star reported yesterday, the General Directorate of Civil Aviation suspended the operation permit of company Nature Air, indefinitely, and sustained their decision stating that the airline had not resumed its operations even though their previous suspension was lifted in February. Representatives of Nature Air held a press conference this Thursday at the Tobias Bolaños Airport...

The night closures of the bridge over the Virilla River which connects Lindora in Santa Ana with Belen will continue through May 10. Although initially the closures were scheduled through May 3, the Ministry of Public Transportation (MOPT) informed that the labors of ensemble and welding in the new bridge will require the night closures to continue for a few more days. The bridge will remain...

According to data by the Regional Institute of Studies of Toxic Substances (IRET) of the National University (UNA) in Costa Rica, the country uses on average an alarming 18.2 kilograms of pesticides per hectare of cropland. The information, published by local newspaper Semanario Universidad, establishes that when compared to other countries, Costa Rica takes first place in the world, followed b...

Photo by Andy Mann / Waitt Foundation Facebook The expedition between Galapagos Island National Park in Ecuador and Coco Island National Park in Costa Rica took place April 2 through April 13 with the purpose of identifying marine migratory species that use this route and to quantify their distribution, abundance and diversity of their predators. The expedition was possible thanks to the joi...

Wednesday, May 4, the Costa Rican Government entered into an agreement with technological platform Global Fishing Watch to improve the controls over illegal fishing. The Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Environment and Energy hope to improve through this alliance with Global Fishing Watch the analysis and mapping of the activities in Costa Rican waters and the patters of fishing in...

According to a report by the New York Times posted this Wednesday, the Washington Redskins cheerleading squad revealed that they could have been victims of sexual exploitation during a trip to Costa Rica in 2013. The group of women apparently traveled to Costa Rica for a calendar photo shoot which took place at the Occidental Gran Papagayo Resort in Culebra Bay, Guanacaste, Costa Rica. Some ...

Costa Rica will host the first lesbian event in the Central American region, the Ella International Lesbian Festival, an event that will put Costa Rica on the map as a tourism destination for the lesbian and LGBTQ population. The activity which this year celebrates its 6th edition in Mallorca, Spain, is a culture, music, art and sports Festival “thought for the modern lesbian woman” where more ...

Civil Aviation in Costa Rica decided to suspend indefinitely the operation permit of domestic airline Nature Air. The reason behind the suspension, according to the aviation authority, is due to the “abandonment of routes”, since the company has not resumed its operations even though the previous suspension has been lifted since February. “They have a certificate and an approval of routes, t...

Costa Rica once again holds a privileged position in the InterNations’ Expat Insider Report, as the second best place for expats thanks to its “warm welcome and pura vida vibe”. “If you’re looking to make friends, Costa Rica is the place to go. It ranks first in the Finding Friends subcategory, taking the top spot for every question. Expats say it’s easy to make local friends, with almost one i...

“Chepe se Tatúa” is the name of a tattoo marathon campaign, organized by the Costa Rican Technology Institute and the project “Chepe se Baña”, which provides homeless people of San José with the opportunity to take a shower and have access to a bathroom in a bus adapted for this purpose. The marathon hopes to raise funds to modify a bus into a mobile barber shop. Those interested in getting ...

The practice of Golf in Costa Rica has gone from being a hobby practiced by a few to a well-organized sport that now forms players since a young age, the country in fact is one of the stops this May and for second consecutive year of the PGA TOUR Latinoamerica. Considering the growth that this sport has experienced in the country in the past few years, the Costa Rica Golf Federation is working ...

It’s Labor Day, and in Costa Rica like in many parts of the world this day usually involves parades usually raising awareness over particular issues concerning the general population, other times, like today in Costa Rica protesting against a particular political situation. Today, representatives of different workers’ union groups marched in the streets of downtown San Jose, expressing their op...

It’s a once in a lifetime experience, the possibility of seeing Roger Waters in concert in Costa Rica may not happen again,  thousands of fans were counting the minutes for the tickets to go on sale on April 30. By 7 p.m. on Monday over 20,000 tickets had already been sold and the majority of the locations were already sold out (The Wall, Animals, Wish You Were Here and The Dark Side of the Moo...

In 2017 Costa Rica closed the year with a record high 602 homicides. 2018 is shaping-up to be even more violent, adding 202 deaths through April 30 which represents 18 more than the number registered during the same period of 2017. Just this past Saturday there were 14 violent deaths reported, including accidents, a beheading, and a triple homicide in Pococí. With an average 50 homicides per...

Avianca Airlines has announced it will fly from San Jose, Costa Rica to Orlando, Florida as of August 2. The flight will have a three day frequency, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday from San Jose to Orlando and Monday, Wednesday, Friday from Orlando to San Jose which will have a stop over in Guatemala. As an introductory price Avianca is offering a promotional fare of $299.00 (roundtrip and ta...

During this past weekend, officers of the Ministry of Public Security managed to stop three vehicles loaded with cocaine packets in Coto Brus, Puntarentas, Costa Rica. The first vehicle was intercepted on Saturday, an SUV carrying over 60 packets of cocaine. The second case involved other two cars intercepted Sunday evening at around 8:30 p.m. by the Drug Control Police of the Ministry of Pu...

Once again, Mexico and Costa Rica are listed as the countries whose citizens work the longest hours according to the  “Employment Outlook” study carried out by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The analysis of the OECD includes 38 member countries, from North and South America to Europe and Asia-Pacific, the hours worked is calculated as follows: “Average annual ...

A new species of Vanilla flower was discovered in Costa Rica in the country of Corredores in the South Zone of Costa Rica, close to the Panama frontier; the flower was named Vanilla-karen-chistianae in honor of Costa Rican scientist Christiana Figueres Olsen. The discovery was made by Patricia Lehmann Calderon, student of Management of Natural Resources of the UNED who worked alongside investig...