President of Nicaragua Daniel OrtegaA few years after the turn of the century, Costa Rica stopped being the darling destination for long-term visitors, expats and retirees. Around the time the housing bubble in the United States was about to burst, jaded (and broke) expats started looking for a Shangri-la known as “the next Costa Rica,” a place many believed could be found in the ultra-cheap neig...

Donavon Frankenreiter returned to Guanacaste after a two-year absence. Thanks to the Safari Surf School organization and the Billabong program “Surf Like a Pro,” the Californian surfer and musician presented his new album “Start Livin” live, this time at the Tropicana disco bar in Nosara Center in front of 200 people. As soon as the doors opened at around 7:30 p.m., the first fans began arriv...

Nicaragua cannot catch a break. After bringing a conflict with Colombia to the United Nations and having a tiff with Costa Rica over a border town, Panama announced on Thursday it had a bone to pick with its northern neighbor: President Ricardo Martinelli said Panama would be joining Colombia in its dispute with Nicaragua over territorial waters. Martinelli accused his Nicaraguan counterpart, D...

My identity is somewhere in that stack.The Costa Rica Star has recently published information about receiving your permanent residency in Costa Rica to avoid border runs, wasting time, and money. Over the weekend, I took a trip up to Nicaragua to get a new stamp in my passport. Costa Rica issues ninety-day tourist visas so if you are an expat trying to carve out a life here and you don't have...

Candidate Solis Editorial Note: This is a communication by a politician who is a candidate in the upcoming elections in Costa Rica to succeed President Laura Chinchilla. Being informed about political intention is an important part of the democratic process that Costa Rica holds dear; however, this content shall not be construed as an endorsement by the Costa Rica Star. Position by Luis Guiller...

The proposed project seeks to enhance the climate resilience of investments in Nicaragua's rural water supply sector. The project is closely aligned with relevant national policies, strategies, plans and legislation. In particular, the project would support the implementation of the National Environment and Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan for 2010-15. The SCCF grant ($6 million, ex...

Retiring to Nicaragua does not have to mean that people’s healthcare will suffer, especially if they are going to be moving close to the capital city Managua and other major cities. Healthcare is very good in Nicaragua and it is also less expensive than it is in the United States. Therefore, people have the opportunities to maintain their health even if they move out of the States and retire i...

Picture above by Arthur Lavooy. From the back of a truck bed, fat Nicaraguan men auctioned off produce through giant loud-speakers. The assorted fruits and vegetables they advertised culminated into a song, and I smiled because it was familiar song, one that I hadn’t heard in two years. It was nostalgic, just like the smell of burning trash. The burning trash and strong scent of resin mi...

English-speaking people have not always had a positive impact in Nicaragua. In fact, until recently it has been all negative. In the 1600’s, Sir Henry Morgan was given a Letter of Marque by the British Government. This meant that the British thought the Spanish were not good people and Morgan could steal anything he wanted from them. He chose to sack Granada and take all their gold. Ha...

“The greatest risk in action is the risk of revelation, and that is also action’s greatest joy. No one can know us fully, not even ourselves, but when we act, something of our inner mystery often emerges, and it can shock or delight us when it does.” –Parker Palmer I knew it would be a challenging experience, but I could never have imagined the extent to which it would push all of my bounda...

An interview with former drug boss "Freeway" Ricky Ross. Former cocaine trafficker and C.I.A./Contra/crack-conspiracy fall guy Rick Ross only refers to the rapper "Rick Ross" by his real name, William Roberts. You can understand why. It must be pretty strange to be sitting in a jail cell back in 2006, and hear of a new rapper out there with your name, claiming to know all about the cocaine ...

There’s plenty of reasons why you may be considering making the move to Nicaragua. You may have been transferred there by your employer. You may be seeking a vacation home property along the coast. California beachfront properties are beyond your budget and Nicaragua offers you the same coastline but at bargain prices. Perhaps you are ready to retire, or close to retirement and you want t...

Nicaraguan prosecutors have accused alleged members of the Charros gang, linked to the murder of Argentine folk singer Facundo Cabral, of laundering more than $1 billion in the country. The network, led by Costa Rican Alejandro Jimenez, alias "El Palidejo," is accused of laundering over $1.11 billion in illegal profits through Nicaragua's financial system between 2005 and 2012. The charg...

Valdosta State University will send 12 students and an instructor to Nicaragua for a 10-day field study in transcultural care. The study abroad excursion will be a first for the College of Nursing and was made possible when one University System of Georgia institution of higher learning reached out to another. Troy Spicer, a faculty member at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College’s School o...

Earlier this week, President Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua introduced a legislative proposal that would authorize the construction of a canal that would allow ship transit from the Caribbean to the Atlantic, according to a news report from the Agence France-Presse (AFP) published on Yahoo News. Officials in Costa Rica reacted to the news by demanding an explanation from Nicaragua over concerns that s...

These days, with all the governmental turmoil in Costa Rica, some expats and others who want to retire in this part of the world are beginning to take a closer look at Nicaragua and Panama as possibilities, many focusing on the comparative crime rates as a major criterion in their choice. Nicaragua in particular is being promoted as the future “next Costa Rica” because of its supposedly lower crim...

It is a case of the proverbial pot calling the kettle black. When Costa Rica began construction of the Juan Rafael Mora highway parallel to Nicaragua's San Juan river in our northern border region, the Daniel Ortega administration was quick to claim that the road construction caused environmental damage to the river and filed a complaint before the Central American Court of Justice. Now ...

The picture accompanying this article shows Costa Rica rendered in Google Maps' new Quest view. Google Maps Quest was released on April 1st, 2012 as a cartridge for the 8-bit Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). According to a software engineer at Google: "Our engineering team in Japan understood the importance of maps on retro game systems. With the power of Google's immense data center...

The Minister of the Exterior has presented a formal diplomatic complaint against its counterpart in Managua regarding an alleged invasion by Nicaraguan soldiers this past Monday. According to the Europa Press news bureau, the diplomatic dispatch explained that members of Nicaragua's security forces were conducting a patrol and advanced about a kilometer into Tico territory, voicing taunts directed...