Five men in the northern region of Cañas, Guanacaste had their Sunday afternoon deer hunting spree put to a quick end by police who were tipped off on the subjects entering the forest with hunting dogs and rifles, said the Ministry of Public Security. Police were aided by officials of the National System of Conservation Areas (SINAC, in Spanish), who have been on alert in recent weeks for deer ...

For all of you readers who are tired of news saying to quit eating red meat, this story's for you. A recent study by researchers at the Center for Animal Nutrition Research (CINA) at the University of Costa Rica confirmed that beef produced in Costa Rica contains a significant amount of linoleic acid conjugate (LAC) or rumenic acid, a substance that can boost immunity, protect against cancer an...

Santa Ana and Mora counties in the western outskirts of the Greater San José Metropolitan Area will be without water on Tuesday, October 3, according to Costa Rican Institute of Aqueducts and Sewers (AyA, in Spanish). The agency will be carrying out work on a 300 mm water pipe that supplies the areas. Drinking water service will be cut from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the following areas: Lindora...

Multiplaza Escazú and Curridabat will be the first commercial centers in Costa Rica to join Costa Rica's National Strategy on Eliminating Single-Use Plastics, such as non-biodegradable straws, cups, bags etc. Currently, half of Multiplaza stores use paper or cardboard packaging, and the malls have a history of responsible waste management and environmental policies. The shopping centers, one lo...

Over the past decade, Costa Ricans are living on average an extra year, according to data from the Institute of Health Metrics at the University of Washington in the northwestern U.S., which analyzed health and longevity in 195 countries. The average life expectancy in Costa Rica is now 71.1 years versus 70 years a decade ago. While Costa Rican health authorities and others are working to en...

Tons of garbage clogging the rivers that traverse San José has caused some quite severe flooding in recent weeks with bridge closures, damage to homes, and landslides plastered in the headlines. A recent report estimated that in the San José metropolitan area, there are 136 clandestine trash dumps where residents and companies deposit their waste in open air mounds, according to a report on Cha...

At around 8:30 a.m. this morning, two trains crashed along the single track that runs from Belén, Heredia via Pavas and into the Pacific train station near the Bíblica Hospital in downtown San José, said reports in local media. Preliminary reports by eyewitnesses indicate that two trains were traveling in the same direction when a vehicle impulsively crossed the train track as the first train w...

A public-private partnership led by the multinational company Cuestamoras aims to make the urban areas of Heredia, Costa Rica greener, and more livable for residents, with a big reforestation effort. The Costa Rican National Institute of Biodiversity (INBio), with headquarters in Santo Domingo de Heredia, has determined that the city of Heredia has the least amount of green space per inhabitant...

Foreigners that invest in securities or bonds in Costa Rica but live abroad used to be subject to a 15% tax over the over the interests or revenue generated; however, as of September 25 this tax will now be only 8%, the same percentage which nationals are charged. This was determined by the Costa Rican Treasury (Ministerio de Hacienda) after a response by the Attorney General Office ruled that ...

Costa Rican architect José Manuel Pizarro made the news earlier this year with the building of the world’s longest over-sea zipline cable in the world with 1,800 meter (5,905 ft.) long at 100 meters (328 ft.) high, reaching a speed of 120 kph (75 mph) named Xtasea and located in Acapulco, Mexico. Now, Pizarro and his company Linea Vertical are in charge of the project Emoción Intensa (Intense E...

This Friday, September 29 at 8:58 a.m. local time the Rincón de la Vieja Volcano in Guanacaste, Costa Rica registered an eruption that reached 1000 meters above the crater and 2,916 meters above sea level (9,564.48 ft.). Rincón de la Vieja Volcano has presented in the past few weeks moderate activity, the eruption today according to Geoffroy Avard from the National University's Volcanology and ...

The Criminal Court of Quepos and Parrita in Costa Rica's Central Pacific region sentenced Freddy Cortés Peña, yesterday, Thursday, September 28, to 25 years in prison for assaulting and raping a U.S. tourist, according to the public prosecutor's office. The crimes date to April 20, 2006 when the American tourist and her boyfriend were on the beach at Manuel Antonio National Park adjacent to the...

CSS Corp the multinational company from the services sector, is looking for gamers with good proficiency in English and enthusiasm for videogames, who want to work and earn money by helping others video gamers in United States. The company is hiring personnel to fill 30 job positions and announces its intention to add more job positions for gamers in the short term The desired candidates for...

For the estimated 70,000 American citizens living in Costa Rica, what will President Donald Trump’s new proposed federal tax cuts for the middle class and corporations mean to them? Will U.S. tax cuts make any difference to the average retiree living on Social Security and perhaps a pension as a Costa Rican resident or perpetual tourist? For these expat retirees, these new proposed tax cuts ...

Update; Sunday, October 1: The suspect in this case, Andrew Roy Willis, will be kept in detention for 4-months while the case is investigated, report the courts. Andrew Roy Willis, a U.S. citizen, was charged with homicide yesterday, Thursday, September 28, in the southern Costa Rican town of Pérez Zeledón after his sentimental partner, Melania Calvo Víquez (33), was discovered buried near thei...

Costa Rica's first shipload of golden pineapples set sail for China in June of this year, and demand for the sweet variety is growing. Costa Rican pineapples face competition in the Chinese market from the Philippines, but exporters say their main concern is boosting production in order to meet both existing and new demand. "Our challenge is the increase in production ... At this moment the ex...

Turrialba Volcano in Costa Rica registered important eruptions of gases and ashes that have reached up to 800 meters above the crater and 4,140 meters above the sea level (13,579.2 ft.). The first eruption of importance took place at 5:30 a.m. this Thursday morning, and reached 500 meters above the crater, a second and stronger eruption occurred at 8:25 a.m. of 700 meters above the crater and t...

A total of 384 tourism companies have received the Tourism Sustainability Certification from the Costa Rica Tourism Board which is recognized by the World Tourism Organization. “For over three decades Costa Rica conceived sustainability as a base to its Model of Tourism Development, making it a competitive advantage and the main differentiation of the country as a destination. The country crea...

The Costa Rican Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG), with the support of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), is launching a farm-to-table initiative to improve food quality at schools and also support family farms. "For the MAG .. it is important that children learn to consume and produce vegetables. In addition, this pilot plan demonstrates that it can beco...

Diners at McDonalds along the main drag in San Rafael de Escazú, an upscale district west of San José, were in for more than they bargained for when they went out for a bite last night. At around 9:40 p.m., two armed men entered the locale and robbed all customers and cash registers at gun point, reported police. No one was physically harmed in the hold up, but customers and workers were lef...

The Global Competitiveness Index 2017-2018 of the World Economic Forum ranks Costa Rica as the second most competitive country in Latin America only behind Chile. “Ten years on from the global financial crisis, the prospects for a sustained economic recovery remain at risk due to a widespread failure on the part of leaders and policy-makers to put in place reforms necessary to underpin competi...

Costa Rican Vice Minister of Foreign Trade, Jhon Fonseca, concluded a third round of negotiations on a recent trip to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) centered on attracting investments for the country's planned "megaport" on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica. At the site of the Moín, Limón port, an expanded facility with improved capacity and logistics aims to be able to receive over two and a h...

Walmart stores in Costa Rica are launching a campaign starting September 30 and every weekend in October to help breast cancer patients in the country. Hair stylists will be present at each of the 11 locations the supermarket chain has and will cut the hair of all those willing to donate it to elaborate wigs for patients battling breast cancer. “An approximate 900 people contributed with th...

A United States citizen was taken into police custody late this afternoon, Wednesday, September 27, near the southern mountain town of Pérez Zeledón. The detention occurred shortly after police at around 4 p.m unearthed the body of a woman who is preliminarily presumed to be the man's wife. The body was found partially buried about 500 meters from their rural home, according to a press conferen...

Traffic police and municipal governments in 16 of Costa Rica's counties are joining forces to bolster monitoring at specific areas with high car accident rates, such as Jaco beach said the Ministry of Public Works and Transport this week. The effort comes as the calendar approaches the end of the year, a time when car accidents historically spike in Costa Rica. "We want to focus on areas that ...

That annoying paper you are always given to fill out while trying to sleep on your flight or bus back to Costa Rica may be a thing of the past. The Costa Rican General Directorate of Migration and Foreigners announced a pilot test of a digital system that will take the place of the paper forms travelers have had to fill out by hand when exiting or entering the country. For the average travel...

Experts alert that from August-December, when Costa Rica's crocodiles are breeding, there is often an uptick in attacks on humans. This is due to the fact that when males compete with other males for a mate, weaker males are often displaced from their usual habitats in and around river mouths and make forays into other areas such as oceans, beaches, canals, and mangroves. Sunday, September 2...

A group of residents in the small Central Pacific port town of Quepos, bordering the popular tourist destination Manuel Antonio National Park, have come together to seek to increase safety on the streets. The initiative, "Quepos Seguro, Quepos Libre" (A Safe and Free Quepos), held a kick-off meeting Monday afternoon at the site of the weekly local farmer's market. Their Facebook page already ha...

Costa Rica's 300-odd electric vehicle (EV) drivers have some welcome news with new charging stations coming to rural areas. Two stations to join the grid will be located in the mountains south of San José along the Interamerican Highway: one in San Marcos de Tarrazú and the other in the vicinity of the Los Santos Wind Farm. The recharge points are being built by the National Consortium of El...

Article 121 of the Costa Rican Penal Code states that "abortion practiced with the consent of a woman by a doctor or an authorized obstetrician is not punishable if it has been done in order to avoid danger to the life or health of the mother." However, in recent years women in Costa Rica with high-risk pregnancies that threaten their health have found it difficult and at times impossible to us...

Costa Rican President Luis Guillermos Solís called emergency officials and local government leaders for an urgent meeting today, Tuesday, September 26, at 6:30 a.m. to evaluate the extensive impact recent heavy rains have had throughout the country. The rains have caused damages to homes, road closures, and mud slides in at least half of the counties throughout the country. Between September...

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) recognized Dr. Stella Bolaños Varela of Costa Rica Monday, September 25, for her outstanding career and longstanding commitment to the quality and management of health services in Costa Rica, by presenting her with the 2017 PAHO Award for Health Services Management and Leadership Services. The award recognizes Bolaños Varela's outstanding contribution...

The eastern San José suburb of Curridabat is the planned site of a 25-story innovative residential tower to be undertaken by Civitar Desarrolladores, together with Constructora Volio & Trejos and Grupo Pijao. Civitas Desarrolladores has built several recent unique towers in Costa Rica, many in conjunction with Constructora Volio & Trejos, including iFreses, Ü Nunciatura, and Nunciatura ...

The Costa Rican Railways Institute (Instituto Costarricense de Ferrocarrile, INCOFER) and the Ministry of Public Works and Transport (MOPT) have made available to the public a mobile phone application called  "Incofer Móvil" with alerts on changes in train service and delays. The app also includes train schedules on the urban routes that connect Belén, Heredia, Alajuela and Cartago with San Jos...

At last week's United Nations 72nd General Assembly, recommendations from the Global High-Level Panel on Water and Peace were presented, said Costa Rica's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Costa Rica joined the panel when it was established in 2015, and played an important role in developing mechanisms and best practices for promoting cooperation regarding water supplies and sources. Costa Rican ...

President of the Criminal Cassation Board and Coordinator of the Gender Commission, Costa Rican Judge Doris Arias Madrigal participated last week in the launch of the social medica campaign "Métele un gol al machismo," promoted by the Justice and Gender Foundation of the United Nations Latin American Institute for Crime Prevention and Treatment of Offenders. The campaign translates to "Score a ...

The construction of the new Flamingo Marina in Guanacaste, Costa Rica has been talked about for years, over a decade actually, ever since the government shut down the prior marina in 2004 by order of the Administrative Environmental Court after a lot of controversy since it didn’t have the proper environmental impact study and there were reports of contamination. Grupo de Desarrollo Marina Flam...

According to data by the World Health Organization, accidental drownings are the third cause of accidental death in the world, statistics show that over 370 thousand worldwide die by drowning every year and more than half of these victims are under 25 years of age. When it comes to Costa Rica, between 2001 and 2012 there were a total of 1,391 deaths by accidental drowning, averaging 120 deaths ...

The Festival ART&TUR, International Tourism Film Festival of the wellness tourism fair Termatalia recognizes the best tourism audiovisual productions worldwide and in this year’s edition Costa Rica was recognized as the Best Production in the competition with the video of new international image “Costa Rica, My Choice, Naturally”. Termatalia is considered the world’s most important wellness...

October usually brings several walks to raise awareness about breast cancer and also raise funds for the treatment of patients that are battling different forms of cancer in Costa Rica; this year is no exception. The first event, “Corre por mí” (Run for Me), will take place this Sunday, October 1st at 6:30 a.m. going out from the National Stadium in La Sabana. This event offers several modalit...