Costa Rica on List of Top 20 Countries for Drug Trafficking

Image by Defence Images via FlickrWhen you first read this headline you get alarmed. Dont let it scare you from taking a Costa Rica Vacation. For most of you that are reading this you probably are living in  one of top consuming drug countries on the Planet and that is the USA. What would you rather have a few boats and trucks entering and leaving or drugs, staying in your country, people consuming, and every problem that follows with addictions. This is just to not scare the tourist off and let you know that you are still welcome into a beautiful eco-adventure but to also let you know that our blog is all about the truth of Costa Rica and we try to inform from all angles.

Costa Rica is becoming a victim of some more than usually passing by of these drugs because they are a country with no army. What better place to try and pass by your load of cocaine knowing there is no army to stop you. Also the position Costa Rica is in surrounded by countries like Mexico, Venezuela, and Colombia. The time to take measures is now.

This info came up at an interest time because these last couple of months many Costa Rican's have been upset at the fact with the idea of the US sending their Navy ships down to the Coast of Costa Rica. I will be the first to admitt I was against the idea of all these ships in the start of these talks.  Ive heard so many stories to why they are being sent down. It turns out one boat showed up with some medical supplies for the port of Limon which was probably a good idea to calm some of the nerves of the local people.

The Costa Rican's are proud to not have an army and they should be (I am proud to live in a country that does not have an army). When it comes to small home invasions in Costa Rica I feel my 2 rotweillers will do me just fine. But when you start looking at the past history of Colombia and present history of Guatemala and Mexica you begin to ask yourself I will have to invest in a whole lot of rotweilers if I want to take on these cartels.

I know the US military has gone through some rough times lately but if just a presence might make a difference on where cartels make their next set up we all know Costa Rica for the last 50 years is underfunded in security to take on these guys and just having 50 US ships sitting out in your oceans might not be what you had in mind while sitting in third grade sitting your national anthem. But I have to ask you do you really think Don Pepe would risk giving up everything this beautiful country has to be taken over by a bunch of animal like cartels and go through the same tragedy as Columbia and Mexico. So my opinion would be to work with the US. There are still good people in the US military many that are not so good (thats why you always see people getting fired) and others that are trying to get things working correctly. Try and figure out a plan so that Costa Rica pays practicially nothing. This is very beneficial for the US to have Costa Rica not be affected by the Cartels.

Lets hope it works together and that there are people complaining for a system that works and not complaing for a system to not even try. The idea that US could not help Mexico or Colombia is ridiculous because they were two countries well advance in the drug trade. They were also two countries much larger in size (they also did help quite a bit in Colombia).

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Costa Rica: Two Independence Days?

Every since Ive moved to Central America my first years being in Belize and Guatemala and the rest of my years being in Costa Rica I have found it very interesting the stories on independence. I happen to like the one on Costa Rica because I feel it relates best to Latin  Time. Yesterday Costa Rica celebrated its 189th Independence day from Spain. Take a look at what happened and see if I have maybe proven an extra day off for the Ticos to enjoy your beautiful country. If not we will just stay with Sept. 15th.

Image by Costa Rican Resource via FlickrWell as most of us know a bunch of leaders in Guantemala got together and said "Lets give Cental America their Independence from Spain" (This happened on Sept. 15, 1821). The leaders signed the documents and sent them out to each Central American Country. Well it turns out that Costa Rica must have got the slow donkey mailing service because the document did not arrive until October 13th 1821. Now we all know how documents are in Costa Rica they usually just sit under other documents for awhile.

Take a look at the picture you can see the document was not opened and stamped in this building which we found in the old Capital City of Cartago until October 29 1821 (The picture says: "In this place was signed and stamped the act of our Independence").  This building can be found directly on the corner infront of a building of the ruins of Cartago. I always found this interesting because I have shown this to a number of National & foreign tourist and many of them had never seen it. It was a Costa Rican of course who showed it to me but if you have the time and you are in the area it is worth taking a look at.

Who knows maybe October 29th can be a second Independece day in Costa Rica. We spent our day with the some of the staff members of Hospital Catolica in the Pacuare River and I know they would love a second day on the river. Hope everyone enjoyed their Independence day!

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Costa Rica Bailouts: Arenal Hotels in La Fortuna...

Don't even get me started on bailouts. I did not think my Costa Rican Travel blog would take me here but apparently it has. Just last week hotel owners in La Fortuna area (I will not mention Hotel names I would rather not get in a fist fight next time Im in the Arenal area) went to the government asking for bailout money to payback their loans. I thought this was hilarious and if the Costa Rican government thinks for a second to bail these hotels out I think its ridiculous. Not only because I've seen a few of these owners hanging out in the Disco and scooting around in their Jetskis on weekends (I can say this about some of the hotel owners not all)  but we are talking about hotels people. These are big business's but my gosh they are not that big where the government and tax payers money needs to step in. There are also some simple living hotel owners I'm sure that just decided to take a gamble and they lost and thats life. But others just dont want to let go of the lifestyle of luxury they have started living.

It turns out that a number of hotels in Arenal got GREEDY. There is no other way to put it. Things were going good and they wanted more. What happened is they over extended themselves, started living lifestyles they shouldnt, and got dealt a bad card (which the whole world gets everyonce in awhile).  Do I feel bad for them? Honestly? Yes,  I do. It sucks to lose money. I dont want to throw my sob story out there but I lost all my money in my first business which I did very well for myself and what had to happen as a result of losing it all: A LIFESTYLE CHANGE!

I feel like the Dali Llama's next book should be the secret to the recovery of a world recession which apparently nobody is getting it: A LIFESTYEL CHANGE! The USA didnt get it because they went ahead and bailed most of those companies out that showed up in their private jets to ask for their bailout money. Its funny from what I heard the hotel owners in La Fortuna are still driving around in their fancy SUV's which is no private jet but you get the picture.

Even after President Obama fired the CEO Wagoner of GM he still made out with millions. Thats what bailouts are. Put government money where it should be and not in the haImage by Jean-Sien Kin via Flickrnds of risk takers that have lost. Put the money into education, healthcare (we are going to need the money in healthcare with all the new fast food chains in Costa Rica in about 15 years, 29 new fast food chains in 2010), and whatever else you want but paying a hotel so a tourist can enjoy their hot-tub and massage and not paying a school so kids can not be crowded in a classroom and learn under adequate conditions is just craziness (keep inmind the tourist in hot tubs is what pays my bills so  I want the best for them but lets think level headed on this).  

Somebody asked me if the banks take the hotels what are they going to do with it. Our reservations office just spent 3 days last week trying to find space in Fortuna for two different groups next March and April. This is a good indication that things will be improving next year an estimated 2 million or more tourist will be arriving in Costa Rica. My advice for the bank would be to flip it or even better work something out with INA where they operate the hotel (the government educates locals in tourism) and they pay back the loan. Just a thought.

As for the hotel owners, shit happens and sometimes you have to walk right through it before you smell it. Maybe its time for a little lifestyle change in La Fortuna. There is a freakin Burger King in La Fortuna you cant tell me you didnt see this coming. If you have thoughts on this we would love to hear?

The gap between rich and poor in Costa Rica is spreading FAST. I dont want to talk negative but I do feel there needs to be some voices. Just drive through San Jose: Its RICH or POOR for now where in years to come it could be SUPER RICH or SUPER POOR. Again, I feel bad for these hotel owners but I dont think bailouts for society as a whole is going to fix the big picture which is learning a lesson and living a little bit more simply. Let me be clear. If you have the money and you want to live it up a little its fine. But understand if you dont have the money it is also fine to not have to live it up. I just feel if people gamble and they lose they lose. Thats why you shouldnt gamble with money that isnt yours.

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OIL IN COSTA RICA

Hold up cowboys. Before every direct flight from the state of Texas to Costa Rica is filled (well atleast the first class seats I dont know if big oil Texan boys will sit in coach) let me explain what Oil in Costa Rica means? Yes, It means energy but ufortunately for all you money sucking capatlist idiots this is a little something we call White Oil. By now I probably lost 90% of my readers that I attracted by the title of this blog. Costa Rica does not have oil and no random blogger like myself would be the first to blurt to the world that a country of 5 million with no army just struck oil.

If you didnt already know Costa Rica lends itself to a number of different sources of generating energy. Costa Rica is a narrow country with two coast,  high mountains, and a lot of rain. If you use your imagination with what I just said you should be able to see that rivers go racing down from these high mountains at a very high speed because the country is narrow and full of water because of the rains. Costa Rica also has some areas where they have generated energy through wind. Well this blog is not about either of those. This blog is about $White-Oil$.

I had never heard the term white oil until an official from ICE (Costa Rican Institute for Electricity) used it when interviewed about Costa Rica's Geo-Thermal Energy. He was being interviewed because ICE can only tap into 23% of Costa Rica's Geo-Thermal energy and the rest of it is located in protected areas and national parks. The reported asked this ICE official what he thought of this restriction: "It is a shame we cant tap into the national parks for geothermal energy it is the white oil of this country". Now tapping into Natoinal Parks just sounds wrong but their is a nice little ring to white oil, so I will say he had me for about 3 seconds.

There are many benefits to Geo-Thermal Energy for Costa Rica which now runs 15% of its lights of this type of energy and can only tap into 23% of its resources. The "White Oil" is also a lot cheaper. It cost about 4 cents for each KW as compared to gas which is 46 cents for each KW.  So the cost is a no brainer. The second benefit which Im sure ICE plans to use on their side is that GeoThermal is much nicer to the environment. With gas each megavolt burns 1,000kilos of CO2 and with Geothermal it reduces to 59 kilos of CO2.

Image via WikipediaNow the question starts should the energy company be able to tap into the national parks. They had a deal in 2008 that said if they did the National Parks would get land that was 5% larger that the area used by the energy company to compensate for the area lost. So the final result would be that the National Park would be the same size even a bit larger. I know there are two sides to this story and I look forward to following it. This is just the basic info now that the energy company has used all 23% of the resources outside of the National Park we should start to see true colors fly with environmentalist and ICE officials as the debates begin. If you comments or thoughts on this we would love to hear. Also I dont know why but Jorge W. Bush the ExPresidenta of the USA uses GeoThermal energy to run his house in Texas according to this site click here.  We feel this is a very interesting subject area for tourist that will be visiting and we would love to inform them the best we possibly can?

Source: http://www.nacion.com/2010-09-12/ElPais/NotasSecundarias/ElPais2516365.aspx

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Costa Rica: Literacy Day Could Become More

Image by Raymond Yee via FlickrI have been working in developing countries for years now and always making education a major part of what we do. We deal with bringing US students down to Central America and getting them involved with the culture in rural areas. One of the first questions asked is what is the literacy rate of the country they are visiting? Well Costa Rica is right up there with some of the top countries at 96%.

It turns out that on celebrating literacy day we have to ask ourselves how long will reading and writing be enough to celebrate. Just to read and write in a few years might not be worth celebrating. It seems weird to say and of course we will always need to be able to read and write as part of basic education but it seems that learning basic technology is going to be a part of the literacy question for countries in the years to come. We brought our first student group to visit a rural school where we finally got computers and students on Facebook. It was quite amazing to see US students teach the rural kids how to open their accounts.

I would not doubt in the near future that a stat is given to countries such as Costa Rica to rate their literacy on technology for kids. Its a far way from being where it needs to be but just talking about it is a good start for now. Happy Literacy Day!

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No to Condos at Lake Arenal Costa Rica

Image via Wikipedia North American investors were planning to put some condos up at Lake Arenal, the home of the planets most active volcano. It is a beautiful spot; however, they were stopped short by the Supreme Court who ruled in favor of a non-profit environmental watchdog. It seemed that water and waste resources were inadequate. A new Environmental Impact Study will be done. Don’t mess with Mother Nature, in Costa Rica.

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Adventure Tours in Costa Rica

I happen to be a lover of outdoors and adventure. When it comes to picking the top 5 in Costa Rica I'm dealing with my personal favorite. This might mean we have to leave grandma and grandpa at home. I'm making them all 5 commercially operated tours. All 5 of these tours will keep the adrenaline you will want to be in half decent shape or atleast have good enough self-esteem for your friends to make fun of you while you are huffing and puffing.

We will list them from number 1 - number 5 all being lets say equal. It was just too hard of a pick to have to come up with a winner.

Costa Rica's Top 5 Adventure Tours

1.) Overnight hike and Rappel in Cavern: This is a tour we operate in the Southern zone of the country. It is an intense two hour hike to a cavern where we sleep behind a waterfall. You will be spending all night listening to the sound of the water of 3 different powerful waterfalls. From the cavern you will be rappeling a 120ft fall and doing a number a differen hikes in the area. You will also hike to the top of Costa Rica's tallest waterfall which is the Diamante Falls.

2.) Chirripo Trek: This is a 2 night hike to Costa Rica's highest point. This is the second highest point in all of Central America. The height you will reach is 12,352ft on the second morning leaving base camp at 3am to reach the top for sun rise. There is an endless amount of hiking to do in the area which lends itself to without question the most amazing views Costa Rica has to offer.

3.) Corcovado National Park: The two day hike to the Sirena station takes you deep into the jungle to the most bio-diverse place on the Planet. This is an adventure of hiking, being in the wild, and keeping your eyes out for the Jaguar. This hike takes you past some of the most beautiful beaches on Earth also.

4.) Rafting Pascua Section: This is a section of the Reventazon River which in 2011 will no longer exist because of a dam project. But if you are reading this blog and you get a chance to run this section and you are up for advetnure it is an amazing run. When it comes to adrenaline in Costa Rica on a commercial level this is hard to beat.

5.) Overnight Pacuare Rafting Trip: This is the cream of the crop when it comes to rafting. Not only do you get the big rapids but you also get the scenery. Voted as one of the top 5 rivers on the planet and one of the top 3 most scenice by National Geographic the Pacuare River is a must do for anyone who loves the outdoors. I went on it once and I returned everyday for three years. Its a place of complete peace and to spend the night in one of the few lodges or camping areas is an experience like no other surrounded by virgin rainforest.

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Costa Rican Chess Champion

Image via Wikipedia Here’s one for you: Who won the US Open Chess Championship this year?

Answer: Alejandro Ramirez, from Costa Rica.

He beat some of the games superstars and became the first Latin American to win the tournament. Costa Rica is not a chess Mecca, but Ramirez took every chance he could find to compete in Europe, Argentina and Russia. It paid off.

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Rainforest Radio

Image via Wikipedia Down on the Osa Peninsula, where it is hot and humid, a new AM radio station has come on the air. It sits high above the rinforest and broadcats a casual message. People call in and the broadcaster describes the wildlife as it passes by. People in the villages around the station love having their own media. They call in and interact. The real message of the rainforest radio is to take care of the environment. That is the main message, and it is one that the people of this area believe in, but it is also a message for visitors to take home with them.

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One of the Nicest Species on the Planet

Image by Costa Rican Resource via FlickrUS companies are finding out that one of Costa Rica's prime assets are its people. They are well trained, well educated, kind, gentle and bilingual. They can provide service to Spanish speaking countries as well as the English speaking countries, and they do it for a competitive salary. Chile attracts business because of its minerals. Costa Rica attracts business because of its human capital.

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The President's Plan

Image via Wikipedia Costa Rica's first woman President, Laura Chinchilla, unveiled her four-year plan. She wants to reduce poverty, increase security for citizens and create economic growth. They all sound like admirable goals, but they hinge on tax reform. Ticos are like everybody else. They do not like to pay taxes, but if you have to, you at least hope you get something for your money. I know some North Americans here who do not mind paying taxes. They are used to it in the US. However, they too hope that they get something in return for their money.

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University March

Image via Wikipedia Once again Costa Rica showed the world it was a democracy. 10,000 students, faculty and administrators from Costa Rica’s public universities marched to president Chinchilla’s house. They set up a stage with loudspeakers and gave the Costa Rican president an earful. They want more funding for the universities. More scientific equipment, more field study and more scholarships.

Chinchilla had in mind an increase of around 5% for university budgets. The marchers were thinking more along the lines of at least 11%. Will they get it? Time will tell. But it is nice to see people so concerned about higher education. I might add, that as usual Costa Rica did all this peacefully.

The New Ambassador

Image via Wikipedia Who knows the name of the Costa Rican ambassador to the USA?

She is Muni Figueres, daughter of former Costa Rican President José “don Pepe” Figueres and his first wife. She will serve as Costa Rica's ambassador to the United States, after being nominated by her government on this past Tuesday morning.

Muni Figueres was born in Costa Rica but was also a U.S. citizen because of her mother's nationality. In order to accept the ambassador’s post in Washington, D.C., she was forced to relinquish her U.S. citizenship. She admits that it was not easy to do.

Costa Rica President Laura Chinchilla said she sees Figueres' former U.S. citizenship as an advantage to Costa Rica because she will have “fluid access” in Washington.

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Interesting Costa Rica Information

Image via Wikipedia Here are some facts about Costa Rica that you might have missed:

1. Costa Rica abolished its army permanently in 1949.

2. It is the only Latin American country on the list of the world’s oldest 22 democracies.


3. It is among the top Latin American countries on the Human Development Index.

4. On the Environmental Performance Index, Costa Rica is number three in the world and number one in the Americas.

5. The Costa Rican government plans to be the first carbon neutral country.

6. Costa Rica ranks first on the Happy Planet Index, which measures long and fulfilling lives.

7. Costa Rica is the greenest country on the planet.

Thank you, Wikipedia

Family Adventure Specialist
The Costa Rican Resource
http://www.crrtravel.com/
mail.crrtravel.com
info@crrtravel.com

The Costa Rican Astronaut

Image via Wikipedia Did you know that Costa Rica had an astronaut? His name is Franklin Chang, and he is a real hero here. Chang has made seven voyages into outer space. Not only has this inspired a nation, but it has made this agricultural economy of Costa Rica, where only 6 to 7% of the university students study science, start thinking more about science.

Chang is the astronaut and co-director of Ad Astra Rocket Lab. He has plans to use plasma-fueled rockets to rid space of obsolete satellites. Currently there is no way to retrieve satellites once they cease to function. Chang was not expecting Ticos to invest a lot of money in his project, but he has been overwhelmed by their support of this project. One man makes a difference.

Costa Rica-China Relations

Image via Wikipedia Michael Shifter, president of Inter-American Dialogue, does not think that there is anything unusual about Costa Rica’s recognition of China, nor is it odd that China is Costa Rica’s number two trade partner. After all China is the third largest economy in the world right now. He thinks that the conspiracy talk about China wanting to control Central America is unfounded. Most likely China just wants to make money.

China does consider Costa Rica’s recognition as a feather in its cap, and it hopes that other countries will follow suit. China has tried to show appreciation by furnishing Costa Rica with gifts. China’s most elaborate gift to Costa Rica is the 83 million dollar soccer stadium, soon to be finished. The former US ambassador to Costa Rica, Frank McNeil, who also served some time in a post in East Asia, thinks such gifts are legitimate, but he does suggest that in the future Costa Ricans be allowed to work on projects, even if they are gifts. No Tico labor was used in the construction of the stadium. The Ambassador feels that the gift did not help Costa Rica develop because it offered no jobs.

No, Not my Address!

Image via Wikipedia The one thing you do not want to hear in Costa Rica is the question: “What’s your address?”

Addresses in Costa Rica are basically the directions to your house. Giving someone your address is like writing an essay. For example, my address is San Jose de la Montana, the main road out of Barva, 200 meters before the church, on the right, with the wooden gate. That is what you write on the envelope of you letter, in Spanish. Other addresses are even more involved than that. A couple that Mary and I met at immigration started to give us their address on the back of an envelope. They ran out of paper. We settled for their phone number.

We moved recently, and I do not even know my new address. It has something to do with so many meters passed the two bars and around the bend, the first right. That’s why I got a P.O. Box.

However, this address system, as convoluted as it sounds, is amazingly efficient. I have had to find several people using this address method, and I always found them without a problem. If you can’t find them, then all you have to do is ask once you have gone as far as the address will take you. It seems like all the people in Costa Rica know one another. They even know me, and I do not speak the language very well. An American friend of mine could not quite get to my house using my address. So after he got to my village, he stopped in the grocery store, which also serves as a welcome center, and asked if anyone knew me.

“Si, he is the gringo hombre,” the clerk replied. “He lives back there.”

San Jose, the capitol, is going to spend over a million dollars to put numbers on streets and houses. Taxi drivers love the idea, but will it work for the general public? I’m not so sure. I still think people are going to say, “I live a hundred meters past the Shell station on the right, next to the Dairy Queen.”

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The Dying Art of the Marimba

Image via Wikipedia The marimba, a deep-toned xylophone, is the national instrument of Costa Rica. It came to this country by way of Africa. The name marimba is actually a Bantu word meaning “wood that sings”. The problem is that the marimba is dying out. Antonio Ortiz, a Tico, is trying to keep the art alive. He makes marimbas by hand. It takes him three months to make a marimba. The US seems more interested in buying his marimbas than his own country. Ortiz says that a lot of the old men who used to play marimbas at parties and celebrations are not around any more. He calls the marimba “the piano of Central America.” Ortiz will keep trying to save the marimba tradition, but he worries whether he is already too late.

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Plazas, Plazas Everywhere

Image by Wha'ppen via Flickr In Costa Rica every town has at least one church and across the street from the church is a plaza, or square or in American parlance a park, the size of a square block. The plaza is all grass with sidewalks through it. Trees are scattered around it, and benches sit in shady spots and in the sunshine. People utilize the benches. Young couples sit holding hands. Old men play chess. Young mothers chat while children romp in the grass. I usually sit in the shade and read. All around the square are shops. You can get a hamburger, an ice cream or your dog groomed.

You can sit in these parks without feeling self-conscious because everyone does it. If you sit in the park long enough, you will meet someone you know. The plaza are a throwback to another time and an imitation of European style. Nevertheless they are a reminder to slow down, sit down, think, pray and maybe even make a friend.

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