Costa Rica’s 10 Most Unique Hotels

Costa Rica is a place where competition for travelers’ dollars is intense and hotel property owners work hard to be different.

How does a “Hobbit Hotel” or secluded resort of geodesic-dome “jungalows” sound? Here are some of the ‘most unique’ hotels from all corners of Costa Rica.

U.S. Secretary of State Clinton in Costa Rica for Regional Ministers’ Conference

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived early Thursday in the capital of San José, Costa Rica to meet the country’s leaders as well as ministers from 16 Central and South American nations for a conference to discuss economic and democracy reform issues.

Mrs. Clinton will meet with President Oscar Arias Sánchez and president-elect Laura Chinchilla…

Internet and e-Commerce Industries Booming in Costa Rica

Central American countries, like Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama, are all experiencing a considerable scale of development in their telecommunication sectors.

However, Costa Rica has managed to reach a high level of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure and operation advancements due to its economic policies.

Is Costa Rica a Third World, Second World or Developed Country?

There is a multi-million-dollar mega-mall in Escazú, west of San José, which sports outlets of some of the world’s most exclusive stores. But, according to the State of the Nation report in November, at least 16,000 Costa Rican homes are “without basic services,” such as electricity and running water.

A constant feature of this disparity in the makeup of Costa Rica is that, while certain areas of the country are surging ahead, there are many areas in which the country is not keeping up or is, indeed, falling behind.

Costa Rica’s New Immigration Law Takes Effect March 1, 2010

Costa Rica’s new immigration law (nueva ley migratoria) was published in the official government publication La Gaceta on September 1, 2009 … meaning the new “Ley General de Migración y Extranjería” will be the Costa Rica immigration law of the land starting March 1, 2010.
Costa Rica is a world-wide destination for vacationers, travelers, those seeking [...]

Why and How To Do Business in Costa Rica

Investments in education and development make this Central American nation a hotspot for high-tech companies and suppliers.
Costa Rica’s vote and approval of the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) put the nation of 4 million people in the spotlight as a potential trade partner for U.S. firms. But savvy global companies—and even savvier buyers—have considered [...]

Costa Rica’s “La Gloria” Guanacaste Wind Farm Now Online

Costa Rica in its quest to be the first carbon neutral country on Earth has reached new heights toward its goal with the completion of the Proyecto Eólico Guanacaste or “La Gloria” electric generating wind farm.
55 wind turbines located at a spectacular site near the Miravalle Volcano (Volcán Miravalle) in Cordillera de Guanacaste, in close [...]

Costa Rica Gambling; In-Country or Online [but not at the same time]

Casino gambling in Costa Rica has been around for decades, for the most part doing business as they wish with few enforced regulations.

Today, there are more than 30 large casinos and well over 100 online casino, poker, sports book and bingo websites operating out of Costa Rica – available to gamblers worldwide.

The Agenda and Challenges of Costa Rica’s New President

Costa Rica’s first woman head of state, president-elect Laura Chinchilla, must now get to work.
For decades Costa Rica has been an oasis of stability in the troubled Central American isthmus. It is the only Latin American country to figure on a list of the world’s 22 “older democracies” compiled by Robert Dahl, an eminent political [...]

MedTech Opens Second Plant in Costa Rica

MedTech Group Inc. has opened a second plant in Heredia, Costa Rica, that will more than double the company’s capacity to manufacture medical devices here in Central America.
The company also is adding tooling capacity in Heredia that is scheduled to be running in July, said George Blank, president and CEO, in a Feb. 10 interview [...]

North Dakota Tourists Narrowly Escape Costa Rica Bridge Fireball

Costa Rica and Potholes
Costa Rica is as famous for its monkeys, beaches, volcanoes and hot springs as it is for its “potholes”.
Normal driving in Costa Rica includes cars and trucks weaving along narrow roadways, often times crossing into oncoming lanes of traffic, in attempts at avoiding potholes – or at least just trying to choose [...]

Costa Rica’s San José to Caldera Pacific Highway now Open

The Costa Rica government officially opened the new Autopistas del Sol San José to Caldera Pacific highway on January 28th, 2010 … 3 months ahead of schedule; but only after 30+ years of planning, stops, starts, controversy and perseverance.
Posted speed limits on the new autopista range from 80 kilometers per hour (50 miles per [...]

One Third of Costa Rican Children Live in Poverty

Children represent 32% of the poor in Costa Rica; limited opportunities for single mothers among causes.
One third of Costa Rican children under age 12, almost 300,000 in all, live in poverty according to government figures published January 25, 2010 by the local press in the Costa Rica, San José capital.
Statistics from the “State of the [...]

Cisco Entrepreneur Institute Opens in Costa Rica

Cisco® Systems Inc. announced the creation of the Cisco Entrepreneur Institute in Costa Rica to help small and medium business entrepreneurs improve their business skills and learn how to use information and collaboration technologies.
The Entrpreneur Institute’s courses are based on the experiences of successful entrepreneurs and important business leaders, combined with the practical knowledge acquired [...]

EARTH University – Carbon Neutral, Sustainable and Bananas Over Paper

EARTH University in Costa Rica opened in 1990 as a private, non-profit international institution dedicated to education, research and the generation of value through production, transformation and commercialization activities centered around agricultural sciences and the rational management of natural resources.
Officially named Universidad E.A.R.T.H. (Escuela de Agricultura de la Region Tropical Humeda), EARTH University’s 990 acre [...]

Intel’s new Core i3, i5 and i7 Computer Processors: Made in Costa Rica

Intel Costa Rica will test and assemble the new Intel 32-nanometer Logic Technology chips, the first of their kind in the world with smaller transistors and higher speeds than have ever been achieved for desktop and laptop computers.
Intel® formally introduced their new “Core“™ processor product family to the world February 7th, 2010 at the Consumer [...]

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 2010 Tourism Forecast

Costa Rica is a premier point of destination for travelers and vacationers.  Despite worldwide declines in tourism due to fragile economies, Costa Rica has held its own due to many factors.
Forecast:  Costa Rica tourist numbers to increase in 2010 and grow to 3.5 million arrivals in 2014.
After increasing from 2.06 million tourists in 2006 to [...]

Costa Rica Translator Helps With 911 Arizona Baby Delivery

Emergency 911 operator James Charron got a call from a desperate man who said his wife was ready to give birth in Tucson, Arizona. The problem? the caller did not speak English. When they first gave me the words that she’s having a baby, took a deep breath and said here we go,” said [...]

Wisconsin Native Named One of Costa Rica’s Most Influential People

Since he was at St. Catherine’s High School in Racine, Wisconsin – Paul Fervoy has been interested in foreign development issues.
That led to a career in Costa Rica, where the Racine native was recently named one of that nation’s 40 most influential people younger than 40.
Fervoy, 39, is chief executive officer, co-founder and part-owner of [...]