Costa Rica

$113 million water projects in 32 Costa Rica cantons



The national water company is planning a $113 million investment in some 24 projects in 32 cantons of the country, according to an announcement from Casa Presidencial Thursday.

The Banco Centroamericano de Integración Económica is providing $68.5 million and the water company, the Instituto Costarricense de Acueductos y Alcantarillados, is coming up with $44.5 million.

One major job will be in the creation of a water system in Puerto Viejo de Limón. In Puntarenas province jobs will be in Buenos Aires, Esparza, Palmar Norte, Coto Brus, Golfito, Jacó and Ciudad Neily. Other projects are planned for San Ramón, Palmares, San Mateo, Poasito and Atenas in the province of Alajuela..

A major investment will be made in Pérez Zeledón, said Ricardo Sancho, executive president of Acueductos y Alcantarillados. Jobs also are planned in Nicoya and Liberia in Guanacaste province and in the west side of San José.

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posted by Costa Rica real estate @ 10:41 AM    

EU seeking stronger ties with Central America



Portugal's president, Anibal Cavaco Silva, has called for deepening political and economic ties between the European Union and South America.

Cavaco Silva said Portugal will use its current term in the rotating European Union presidency to strengthen political cooperation with South America and to revive trade talks. He spoke in Lisbon after meeting Thursday with Uruguay's President Tabare Vazquez.

The Uruguayan leader is head of the South American trade bloc, Mercosur, which also includes Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay.

Talks on a trade agreement between Mercosur and EU officials began in 1999, but broke down in 2004.

Vazquez also voiced his support for closer ties between the two regional organizations.

Tuesday, Mr. Vazquez met with European Commission President José Manuel Barroso in Brussels. The two discussed the possibility of a joint declaration expressing the commitment of the two organizations to seek closer ties.

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posted by Costa Rica real estate @ 10:39 AM    

New Tourism Tax Proposed



The tourism minister spoke out in favor of a proposed tax on tourists in a visit to an Asamblea Legislativa committee Wednesday.

The minister, Carlos Ricardo Benavides, was promoting the administration plan to dump the 3 percent hotel tax and collect instead $15 from each tourist who enters the country.

Benavides repeated the administration claim that it was losing money because some tourists do not stay in traditional hotels but in condos, beachside apartments and even in the homes of friends.

Benavides said that about $17 million would be raised from the measure. However, since an estimated 1.7 million persons are listed as tourists here every year, the number is closer to $25.5 million. Only about 900,000 tourists come from North America and about 250,000 come from Europe. About 500,000 come from Nicaragua and Panamá, according to official figures.

The minister told the Comisión de Turismo that the $15 would be collected from every person who does not live in Costa Rica. That statement would seem to exempt from the tax expats who live here. However, those who are perpetual tourists and leave the country every 90 days to restart their stay would have to pay the $15 each time they enter.

The text of the law, No. 16.752, is not yet available on the assembly Web site.

The minister said that the new income would support research and planning in policies of sustainable tourism.

The minister also said that the increase funding would permit his Instituto Costarricense de Turismo to increase the budget to promote the country. Similar and competing destinations are publicized much more, he said.

The institute, located in a palatial office building in La Uruca, has demonstrated an unsteady hand in promotion. For example it invested $4.2 million in a promotional campaign during the World Cup soccer championship in Germany.

Last month it kicked off a $346,000 radio, print and television campaign directed at the national market to help tourism locations get through the low season. It was the tourism institute, too, that spent more than $800,000 to create and host a Web page.

Under the proposal, a husband and wife with three children would pay $75 before they even left the airport.

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posted by Costa Rica real estate @ 1:15 PM    

25 years of Costa Rica Central bank's museums



Many Costa Ricans and expats are not aware that there are four floors of museums under the well-known Plaza de la Cultura. And few who were not here then know that the whole arrangement is only 25 years old.

The plaza is the pigeon-filled space just north of the Teatro Nacional. Up until 25 years ago, the space was just another city block filled with a two-story wood building.
If a visitor looks closely, he or she will see that the guards of the plaza are not municipal policemen. They are guards of the Banco Central, which also operates the museums.

The title is a bit strange: Museos del Banco Central. But that is because inside are several museums, including one devoted to Costa Rican currency and another containing the world-class prehistoric gold collection.

To celebrate the 25th birthday, the Banco Central plans a big fiesta Saturday at the plaza and the museums. The facility also will kick off a temporary exhibit showing the planning and construction of the country's only underground public building.

Historian Vivian Solano Brenes also has researched the history of the area on which the facility stands, and her work is included in the exhibition, too. Dora María Sequeira, director of the Museos del Banco Central, said that the construction created an urban meeting place and changed the face of the city.

The fiesta will start at 10 a.m. with music, clowns and masked characters. At 11:30 a.m. the group Mestizo will entertain with folkloric music accompanied by dancing.

The museums also plan a big concert Nov. 24 with Escats and Son de Tikizia.

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posted by Costa Rica real estate @ 10:27 AM    

Her Experience in Costa Rica



By Mahanya, progressiveu.org

After 13 hours of travel, I arrive in Costa Rica. As I left the airport, my excitement flourished. I sit in the back seat of a smal car, window down. My dead lay on my hand, rested upon the window sill. Green explosions encompassing the earth, whether welcomed or not, it does not matter.

The tropics engulf. The nature is closer to people here. In the U.S. seldom do people live off the land but in Costa Rica the land is one of their biggest attributes. The car ride continues, only entering further into this world of greens. The driver is cautious as he maneuvers through the rain, the seldom pedestrians, and the stray dogs. The rain only started as we climbed higher in the hills, into the rain forest. The car turns and as my gaze remains outward, rain slides through the opening of my window, and sprinkles my face and chest. I welcome the quick shower, feeling refreshed, for I hate the feeling of coming off an airplane.

Back at the airport you could see the hills we reside on currently. The fog starts on the lower hills, but we continue to climb in the little car, and the fog begins to intensify. Thicker spots limit my vision to maybe 50 feet an not much more, other times maybe a half mile of vision, then pure fog. The mystique of fog: it moves so slowly, hugging the hills, masking the trees and all the creatures that live within. But the fog cannot cover everything, because one can always see green in Costa Rica. An everlasting, prehistoric green. Pure, untouched green.

The spastic hummingbirds jet around me. The panoramic hills are my view. They are covered in forest, which is covered in rain. At certain times, like sheets it falls. Or, Just provides a cool mist. The unexpected beauty of rain showers in Costa Rica. There is an appeal to rain in warm weather. Instead of suggesting a stormy, boisterous rain, it implies abundance, rhythm, mystery, romance. It is not a rain to destroy, but yet one to help life live. It is a Costa Rican rain.

It's the seldom occurrences that make the biggest differences. The interest in the animals and the plants. The respect for them, the cohabitation. The small town feeling. It's honking as you drive pass someone, but to say "Hola!" not "Yo Schmuck! MOVE." even if you don't know the person you are greeting across the road. It's using "my friend" (or "amigo") at the end of a sentence. It's the interests in our surroundings and ourselves. But why? Could it be just a facade? A so called mask for tourists? Unfortunately I might never know, unless I learn more Spanish and escape these tourism spots. But you know, It could be a result of pure humility, which is taught when people live so closely to the earth. Because when dealing with the earth, one must practice respect.

It's the emphasis on education and the de-focusing on military and authority. Has not having an army been the cause of their...compassion? It has saved their national funds for educational needs and other things. One finds many things to do with the billions of dollars that most countries waste on armed forces and other militia. But tourism has allowed Costa Rica this peaceful opportunity. Is this just the beginning of a non-aggressive trend? I hope so!

No matter where I travel to in Costa Rica, I am still treated with sincerity. On this trip, I meet those who I feel I could be life long friends with, but our relationships never last for more than 2 or 3 days though. And as I write this, feet in water, a light rain starts to fall from the dark sky, raining on me, my book, and this small gecko on the leaf of a plant a couple feet away from me. My only problem now is fending off the mosquitoes and not having any light to see what I'm writing.

As George Orwell said, the Spaniards have a miraculous sense of comradship. I believe that Costa Ricans are the same. Also, Orwell describes Britain in such a way that oddly resembles America. But that should make sense because America was derived from the unhappy British. the separation of classes, the strong distinctions between minorities, all very similar. But to differ from England, America is not run by the old and odd, rather the leaders of America are the two-faced heroes. The ones that will say what you want to hear, be who you want to be, to win your vote. Which takes politics as we know it (or at least how I ideally pictured it), and turns it on its head. It is no longer honesty, it is popularity. It is publicity stunts. It is money and advertisements. Its billions of dollars to campaign. It is sabotage, cheap hits, and "innocent" white lies. It is hidden agendas, and it is dirty.

But how is this different from other political histories? The one thing the world can share is the dirty tricks that people of all races, ages, colors have done to gain power. Is it possible to work towards an honest politic? I don't know, probably not because naturally humans are greedy. And where there is power, there is greed. If only so many great advancements didn't come from the government, because given the right circumstances, people working together can lead to some beautiful things.

Costa Rica is one of the countries that is advancing at an amazing rate. Part of the country still lives as the majority of the world, in rural conditions, not taking advantage of technology's advancements. But a large part of Costa Ricans are not happy with that. They have a hunger for a "better living". An example of this is Hewlett Packards role in Costa Rica. About 6,000 people work for H.P. in Costa Rica. These are the first of so many that have stepped up the standard of living. They are moving from coffee pickers, to shop owners, to business men and women, waiters and waitresses, travel guides, and connoisseurs. Now they say the Nicaraguans are the ones working on the fields, as it is with some of the Mexican immigrants working the fields in California. That alone shows these people are looking for a more complex life, looking for more than farming.

It is exciting to see such changes, hopes, even revolution take place. I hope this newly discovered way of life doesn't spoil the Costa Ricans' hard work ethics and humility, like it has done to most of Americans. Advancement in dangerous.

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posted by Costa Rica real estate @ 11:38 PM    

Costa Rica via Bus



Traveling through a foreign country with few paved roads, confusing road signs, gigantic potholes, and constant traffic can be tough on a traveler. So why have to worry about the details when you don’t have to?

Let the bus drivers do all the work as you sit back, put your head phones on, and zone out as you watch the countryside go by through the window of a bus.

This could be the easiest way to travel in Costa Rica.

It is easy on the budget and you get the real Costa Rican experience.

There are two ways to get around the country and they provide completely different experiences.

They are indirecto and directo.

If you have time to spare and would like to see the smaller villages of the country, indirecto is the way to go. Be prepared for stops every 20 minutes and be sure to buy your ticket ahead of time as the drivers often pick people up to fill the isle way. A ticket, for the most part, guarantees you a seat and on a 6 hour journey, standing could get uncomfortable.

Directo is very easy and only makes one stop at a roadside shop for a bathroom and food break. The driver does not pick people up along the way, so the isle is kept clear and gives you a chance to stretch your legs. Both services are no more than $6 (US) each way, so it is the best option for a budget.

Taking the public bus is an excellent way to see the country and experience traveling a bit more like a Tico.

If you are traveling throughout Costa Rica, in my opinion, you should take the bus at least once, just to say you have experienced it. No one should ever be too prideful to try the bus at least once. It is a great way to see everything the country has to offer and if you have time to spare why not.

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posted by Costa Rica real estate @ 12:48 PM