Municipal Center of Carrillo. The Mayor of Carrillo and other municipal officials in this canton of Guanacaste are well-traveled public servants. According to a report published in recent days by online news site Primero en Noticias, official records show that Argentina, China, Mexico, Spain, and the United States are the destinations where Carrillo officials have or will travel to in 2014. Th...

Source: Fuerza Publica During a recent visit to the city of Liberia, President Laura Chinchilla did not mince any words when she sharply responded to comments made by a labor union leader and a legislator who are not happy with the investment of more than $750,000 in patrol cars, motorcycles and all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) to augment law enforcement operations in the formerly “forgotten provin...

If you own or otherwise manage a website or computer network in Costa Rica, you may want to ensure that your security systems and protocols are solid and up-to-date. Hacking and network security skills are in high demand in Costa Rica at this time, and many employers are asking job candidates that they bring factual proof of their exploits before they are hired, which means that they may target yo...

Delicious Tacos on the menu at Hotel ChantelHotel Chantel, the ocean view boutique hotel with the best 360-degree panoramic view of Playas del Coco in Guanacaste, is happy to announce that its scenic rooftop restaurant is now open to the public. This comfortable restaurant was inaugurated for the convenience of hotel guests just in time for the 2013 holiday season; however, management had to smoot...

Source: FEDESURF Costa Rica. Geovanny Vega Espinoza from Guanacaste won his second consecutive title after dominating in the 4.5 and 9 kilometer stand-up paddle (SUP) board races in Tamarindo Beach. Some of the best SUP action in Costa Rica takes place during the SurfTech 2014 Stand-Up Paddle National Circuit, and the most exciting races typically take place in Guanacaste, which is on its way ...

Source: Hockey Canada As Canadian snowbirds and visitors in Costa Rica were following the performance of their compatriot athletes at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, their Finance and National Revenue Ministers announced that an intergovernmental agreement with the United States had been reached on the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) of 2010. What this means for U.S. taxpayers is...

Among the numerous reasons medical tourism in Costa Rica has grown significantly over the last few years, quality of care stands out as being among the most important. In the 21st century, a handful of nations have consistently ranked among the top countries for health care in terms of quality and affordability, and Costa Rica is the most attractive destination for North American medical travelers...

An incredible display of going way past the "extra mile" for a customer by a Minnesota clothier has created plenty of Internet buzz right in the middle of the busy season for weddings as well as prenuptial parties in Costa Rica. As reported by Jim Adams of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Wayzata clothier Judd Frost: “put his 32-year-old daughter on a southbound plane with the $500, tan gaberd...

Source: La Voz Liberacionista Despite its world-class golf courses, massive luxury beach resorts and proposed water parks (complete with wave pools), Guanacaste is known to most people as the region with the most serious water challenges in Costa Rica. This is not, however, the view of legislator Maria Ocampo of the ruling National Liberation party, a Guanacaste native who sees “no problems wi...

Edgardo Baltodano Briceno football stadium in Liberia, GuanacasteThe Edgardo Baltodano Briceno football stadium in Liberia, province of Guanacaste, is now ready to make Costa Rica the proud host of the 2014 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup. Stadium staff recently announced that they have completed putting the final touches on the illumination system for night matches, which will actually exceed FIFA r...

Residents of Playa Coyote in Santa Cruz, province of Guanacaste, have always enjoyed massive arrivals of the equally massive leatherback sea turtles during nesting season. In 2014, however, the gentle giants have mostly ignored this quiet beach community in Costa Rica; a situation that has neighbors and conservation activists extremely worried. According to Pablo Rojas of online news daily CRHo...

Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman. Source: Wikimedia Commons The announcements by Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto as well as by the United States Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) reverberated around the world: Joaquin Guzman, the fugitive leader of the powerful Sinaloa Cartel, was captured by Mexican naval infantry forces over the weekend. Thousands of news media outlets around the world broadcast the...

Exploring Costa Rica by kayak is a fun way to enjoy nature and spot wildlife in a myriad of different settings. Costa Rica counts close to 800 miles of ocean coastline between the Pacific and Caribbean coasts, along with hundreds of rivers and estuaries, and several lakes – all full of kayaking possibilities. Kayaking is good exercise, and you can work on your tan at the same time! Oftentimes, ...

File photo from Casa Presidencial As part of her farewell activities before transferring leadership of Costa Rica to the winner of the upcoming runoff election, President Laura Chinchilla is busy making sure that Guanacaste is no longer known by its previous label of “the forgotten province.” On a return visit to Guanacaste, President Chinchilla recently inaugurated a remodeled vocational high...

At a time when the water crisis in Guanacaste has escalated into interventions by law enforcement officers, neighborhood vigils and scrutiny by politicians, a small coastal community is enjoying the benefit of two new water wells complete with their corresponding pumps, distribution pipes and a storage tank. What is surprising about these two new water sources is they were unusually donated by a r...

Former Crest of Liberia Mia Football Club A mystery surrounds the discovery of the lifeless body of Julio Cesar Sotela Canales, a Guanacaste native known as an athlete, entrepreneur and former owner of the Liberia Mia football team. The late Mr. Sotela was found on the banks of the Colorado River, apparently the victim of a brutal beating that has shocked football fans in Guanacaste and across...

Residents of Guanacaste, start your engines. The loud roar you hear is the sound of Costa Rica's future racetrack at Finca La Ponderosa in Bagaces, about 24 kilometers away from the Daniel Oduber International Airport in Liberia (LIR). According to a recent news article by Ariel Chaves Gonzalez of Diario Extra, racing could begin later this year. It has been a few months since Costa Rica's days...

Leaders and residents of Guanacaste’s coastal areas, Photo by Daniel PerazaLeaders and residents of Guanacaste’s coastal areas will take to the streets on Monday, February 24 to pressure congressmen to approve the Coastal Community Territories bill (TECOCOS – Ley de Territorios Costeros Comunitarios). A protest march has been scheduled for Monday on the Interamerican North highway, in the area...

Part of Santa Elena Preserve Luxury beach resorts, marinas, theme parks, and hotels: This is Guanacaste in the 21st century. It was not too long ago when this region of Costa Rica was known as the “forgotten province.” These days, however, luxury resort developers and assorted capitalists are looking at Guanacaste with hungry eyes. A new $125 million project recently announced that it will ...

Municipal Office in Nicoya Costa Rica, Photo by Adam DietrichThose interested in the effort to create a new Municipal District Council (MDC) that includes Nosara and Samara are now able to realize their goal, due to the approval of the Municipal District Council Autonomy Law on Tuesday, February 11th. The law, which regulates the creation, organization and functions of the MDCs, declares them ...

Playa Guiones in Guanacaste is often considered to have the most consistent surf conditions in Costa Rica; however, that was not the case last week as the 2014 Olympus National Circuit rolled into town. Conditions were sloppy and less than ideal for a high-caliber surfing tournament, particularly for Caribbean power surfers such as Gilbert Brown. Notwithstanding, Brown's experience prevailed in de...

In late December, the Costa Rica Golf Federation held a special event at the Cariari Country Club. More than 30 golf instructors received special training to achieve the standards of the United States Kids' Golf Certified Instructor Seminar. The ultimate goal of this training is to grow the sport at the junior level in Costa Rica and eventually become an official destination of the U.S. Kids' Golf...

Guanacaste is the province with the most water difficulties in Costa Rica, and the beach community of Playa Potrero is currently one of the most affected. As recently reported by the Costa Rica Star, police officers took the local water utility office in Playa Potrero by force in accordance to a court order, an act that scared neighbors of this once peaceful beach town. Politicians have been quick...

When a devastating earthquake hit Haiti in July 2010, within 30 frightening seconds, 220,000 were left dead. In the wake of this tragedy, nearly one million children were orphaned or abandoned. To simply sit back and only contemplate the atrocity of this situation was not an option for Nosara resident Kristin O’Connell. She felt the need to act. After volunteering as a midwife in Haiti in 2010,...

The immense plains, powerful volcanoes and dry, sunny climate of Guanacaste are becoming pivotal for Costa Rica’s production of renewable energy. The second largest province in the country is being tapped for its powerful resources of wind, solar and geothermal energy. Costa Rica currently produces 91% of its energy from renewable sources: 73% from hydroelectric power, 13% from geothermal plant...

There is a place, north of the Rincon de la Vieja Volcano in Guanacaste, where the dry brown rolling plains give way to tall, lush green forest. Suddenly you are in an enchanted paradise of gushing waterfalls, sky blue streams, warm thermal springs and bright orchids. This is a place where jaguars, pumas and tapirs roam free. Listen for the call of howler monkeys and the symphony of tropical birds...

A little more than four years ago, Ticos preparing to go to the polls in early February noticed that the skies above the Central Valley were crisscrossed by contrails (condensation trails, those fluffy white lines that airplanes leave behind). Claudia Calvo, a resident of Curridabat in the eastern suburbs of San Jose used her mobile phone to capture video of the sky along with her observations abo...

The hospitality and tourism industry of Costa Rica welcomes a diversity of tourists. From surfers to eco-tourists and from science researchers to language learners, Costa Rica loves them all –even sexual tourists, as long as they do not engage in garish behavior in public. There is, however, one special interest tourist group that Costa Rica should strive to attract for various reasons: Birdwatche...

Summer has arrived in force, and with the rise in temperature comes the temptation to try and escape the heat with air conditioning. However, there have always been theories that air conditioning causes sickness and promotes infection among people in closed spaces. In general, lack of maintenance is responsible for respiratory infections ranging from simple nasal colds to severe pneumonia, bron...

Photo by Wilbert VillalobosThe early morning of Tuesday, February 18 brought commotion to the coastal community of Playa Potrero in Santa Cruz, with the intervention of officials from the Public Force and the Costa Rican Institute of Aqueducts and Sewers (AyA - Instituto Costarricense de Acueductos y Alcantarillados). The officials invaded the ASADA’s (water management committee) communal aqueduc...

Trash buildup and waste go uncollected in Playa Ocotal, Guanacaste, Costa RicaTrash and littering is still a major problem in Costa Rica, contradicting the self-proclaimed, ecological, diverse and clean reputation of the country. Tico littering mentality is combination of a number of factors, with short sightedness and laziness topping the list. Many in Costa Rica believe that someone else should...

Liberia bullring under construction Costa Rica is feeling the growing pains of transitioning from a dignified rural economy to a developing nation under the rule of globalization. News reports from the municipality of Liberia, one of the most important cities of Guanacaste, indicate that a requirement from the National Institute of Insurance (Spanish initials: INS) could effectively prevent th...

Carlos Hiller hanging his artwork at the Liberia International Airport in Guanacaste Costa RicaFast, tenacious and colorful: these adjectives are subjective of course, but nonetheless describe the fundamental nature of these magnificent fish which have become icons of the sport and commercial fishing on Costa Rica's Pacific coast: sailfish, roosterfish and golden fish (Mahi-Mahi). The paintin...

Source: Wikimedia Commons Guanacaste is the aquaponics capital of Costa Rica and perhaps of Central America. This agricultural discipline has been lauded for the way it integrates principles of sustainability. The most basic aquaponics systems involve raising aquatic animals and growing plants in a way that is symbiotic for all species, but the complexity of these systems can be increased for ...

The new Peugeot 3008 Although executives at new vehicle dealerships in Costa Rica are not quite ready to expand their showrooms to Guanacaste, they are paying close attention to the number of car buyers from that region. The year 2013 was highly satisfactory in terms of new car sales in Costa Rica, and they expect 2014 to be even better. With slightly lower import taxes for new cars in Costa Ri...

Horse infected with equine anemiaSome Nosara horse owners are concerned about a possible outbreak of infectious equine anemia among animals in the area, due to the death of one horse that tested positive for the disease on February 8th. Carrie Anderson, a resident of Nosara, said that “Tornado” was the name of the horse that had the sickness, in addition to an ailment known as Laminitis that a...

Hotel guests enjoying a cocktail at Living Hotel NosaraThe Living Hotel is now a whole complex of services to cater to health-conscious guests. Located across from the Mini Super Delicias del Mundo, it is fully operational this high season with its own Living Café restaurant, full service spa, yoga classes, Nosaranet office center, bike rentals, surf lessons and airport transportation. Ricardo Mi...

One of the best music festivals in Costa Rica takes place in Playa Nosara, province of Guanacaste, each year. The Caricaco (Beach Crab) Music Festival has been taking place since 2009, and each iteration has been more exciting than the previous one. This year's Caricaco Music Festival will be no exception, and it will be held in Finca Austria, closer to Playa Guiones, in order to accommodate t...

Regardless of how you may feel about buying drinking water that has been taken from an everyday source and put into a plastic bottle, the fact is that bottled water is big business in Costa Rica. When the ongoing arsenic contamination brouhaha in Guanacaste reached a boiling point back in August, a group on unscrupulous businessmen began selling bottled water that was found to have the same arseni...

Lloret de Mar beach, Costa Brava, Spain Until recently, Costa Rica was considered the best option for North Americans considering retirement or a permanent change of scenery. To this effect, regions such as Guanacaste now boast the highest concentration of expats in Costa Rica. Rampant inflation and a relentless increase in the cost of living is making some expats explore their potential optio...