All Entries in the "Blogs" Category

Costa Rica – a Rock & Roll, Fire Spitting, Living Earth Paradise

The natural forces that make Costa Rica beautiful are still hard at work. Costa Rica has several mountain ranges that cover a large part of the country. Nestled within the mountains and standing majestically elsewhere on their own are 50 known volcanoes, with several being active at all times.

Traveling with Kids in Costa Rica; an Age-by-Age Guide

Costa Rica is a near-perfect family vacation destination. Not only does it have exotic wildlife, jungles, and volcanoes, it’s easy to get to, warm, and safe for tourists —all in all a perfect entry-level adventure trip.
Thinking of venturing to Costa Rica with your family this year? Here’s a guide to the best kinds of trips [...]

My Dream is to Own a Costa Rica Bed and Breakfast

So your dream is to own a B&B in the Paradise of Costa Rica?!
Wake up; wake up from that nightmare…. Yes, shake yourself; make sure you don’t eat real late at night again.  Owning a B&B sounds romantic and great.  It seems like a real money maker and it can be.  It can also [...]

Online Videos add Humor to Costa Rica Presidential Elections

The Costa Rican Presidential elections are this Sunday, February 7, 2010.  Many Costa Ricans are expressing their concerns regarding the candidates and the future of their country through the use of age-old parody and humor by way of modern online videos.

First, we have an online video uploaded by El Basureo where they propose an [...]

Blogger Receives National Culture Award for Journalism in Costa Rica

Alternative media is taking important steps in Costa Rica. The 2009 Pío Viquez National Award for Journalism (Premio Nacional de Periodismo Pío Víquez) was granted this year to Cristian Cambronero for his achievements in alternative journalism.
Cristian has been publishing his blog Fusil de Chispas since 2005 encouraging the participation of readers on topics from politics [...]

Break Me Off A Piece Of Costa Rica

Nicholas Kristof has a happy-go-lucky column yesterday in the New York Times about Costa Rica that reads as part tourism advertisement, part political common sense.
He goes on and on about how the country is consistently ranked high in “happiness” surveys. This is true. How, then, did they get that way?

What sets Costa Rica apart [...]

Costa Rica’s Indigenous Boruca Indian Tribe

The Boruca (also known as the Brunca or the Brunka) are a native American tribe of indigenous people living in Costa Rica.
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Americas, their descendants, and many ethnic groups who identify with those peoples. They are often also referred to as Native Americans.
The Boruca [...]

2010 Social and Political Unrest for Latin America – The Failure of Lula?

This map lifted from The Economist will do fine to introduce a Latin American forecast of 2010 because it explains a lot.
If you observe well, All of Hispanic America is In Trouble, besides Costa Rica, Uruguay and Cuba (then again, how could trouble start in totalitarian Cuba?). Flanking this zone of probable social unrest there [...]

T’was the Week Before Christmas and All Through Costa Rica…

…drivers continue to engage in road-combat during the holiest of holidays in this Catholic country.
Kids are out of school, government employees are off work, many are on vacation for most of the month and churches can become standing room only gathering places for several generations of entire families.
The mood of Costa Rica as a whole [...]

Exploring Costa Rica’s Bat Jungle in Monteverde

Costa Rica is home to 109 species of bats, which number fully half the mammal species in the country. You’re sure to come across them during a visit.
By day, certain species are easy to spot snoozing by clinging like vines to tree trunks. Another species gathers huge banana leaves together and weaves them into a [...]

Costa Rica Police, Crime Fighting and Security are Not Often Considered Synonymous

U.S. ‘expats’ that now reside in Costa Rica try to explain the Tico culture to their families and friends back home as, “Costa Rica is like the United States was 40 years ago”. In other words, many of the social norms and government problems the U.S. went through in the 1960’s are still experienced [...]

Drugs, Guns… and Eggs?

“She’s got eggs!” shouted the police officer behind mirrored aviators from the bow of the boat. Dressed in dark blue SWAT-style fatigues, the officer held up a wet, woven plastic sack at arm’s length.
I was in one of the three water taxis departing Tortuguero, Costa Rica at 11:30 a.m. which were all stopped mid-stream. Blocking [...]

Blogger’s View of ‘Hopenhagen’ Climate Summit featuring Costa Rica

My name is Aubrey Ann Parker, I am 24, from Traverse City, and I am one of 12 student representatives from The University of Michigan attending the 15th Conference of the Parties United Nations Climate Change Convention beginning this week in Copenhagen, Denmark.
I will be blogging for the Detroit Free Press from Tuesday to next [...]

Montana Expat Learns to “Love The Rain” in Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica

If you have read my Costa Rica travel journals from this time last year, (now in my book), you know that the amount of rain we had during rainy season, especially last November, was devastating. I was determined not to spend another rainy season in the Caribbean. Well, guess what? Here I am and loving [...]

U.K. Family Gets Caught Up in Monkey Mayhem in Magical Costa Rica

When your two sons’ favourite TV programmes are Weird Creatures With Nick Baker and Austin Stevens: Most Dangerous! you have a choice: stick your fingers in your ears and pretend it isn’t happening or go with the flow.
So it was that I found myself crouched on the floor of a hotel room in Costa Rica [...]

Beautiful Life is Every Day in Costa Rica

Costa Rica has become one of the most popular destinations for those seeking freedom. And there are many good reasons for it.
A stable government since 1948 is one good reason. A climate that rarely sees temperatures lower than 65 or higher than 85 is another, and the smiling, happy, friendly people are more good reasons [...]

Coasting in Costa Rica

They say there are three kinds of people who go abroad: 1) the adventurously awesome person 2) someone who’s running away from something and 3) the socially inept person who hopes that things will be different in a foreign land. I have encountered all of these people living abroad. I fancy myself in the first [...]

A Tico Day in Costa Rica

Cannot get enough of the Costa Rican way of life. Chill. Simple. Hilarious. And after I explain today, you will understand.
Wake up. I have class at 9 a.m. I hear the tucans. Need to eat breakfast. It is pinto (rice and beans, mixed with cilantro and onion) It is pinto everyday. I’m addicted.
Strap on my [...]