Traditional Tope in Santa Ana

Yesterday my chicas and I attended the tope-a traditional horse parade/party in Santa Ana. It was a lot of fun. Tope’s are very traditional cultural events in Costa Rica and I highly recommend people to attend. You must like loud music and having a few drinks. I, of course, being the equestrian enthusiast that I am, brought my lovely horse on the trip. It was lots of fun!

New Rating for Costa Rica’s 1st Female President

After being in office for only 2 months, Laura Chinchilla has received a 64% approval rating, right on par with her predecessor Oscar Arias. When she began her presidency in May she wont with 46.7% of the vote and started off with a rough first few weeks. She inherited two messes from the Arias Administration: the premature opening of the Caldera Highway out to the Pacific Coast from San Jose and the self-appointment of former Foreign Minister Bruno Stagno to the ambassadorship to the United Nations. Additionally she added some chaos of her own by backing a 72% legislative pay raise and then later announcing she would veto the wage increase. Even so she is ranked pretty average for Central America, she follows behind President Mauricio Funes (76%) and Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli (66%). However she is still above The Honduran President (60%), Guatemalan President (50%) and far beyond the Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega (38%).

Pro-Soccer Team Comes to Jaco Beach

In Costa Rica there is only one national sport, Soccer, so needless to say it’s a VERY big deal here! Ticos take their soccer very seriously, so you can imagine how exciting the news of a Professional Soccer Team coming to our little Jaco Beach was for the locals. However it is not just the locals benefiting from this great purchase, tourists from all over the world will be able to experience the excitement and cheer on the Rays at the new soccer field. Right now the city government is in the process of renovating the Municipality Soccer Field and getting it ready for crowds of fans and lots of excitement by adding upgraded bleachers and skyboxes!

Disastrous Oil Spill-Advantageous for Costa Rica?

The Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico has been and will continue to be very harmful for the states along the gulf; however Costa Rica may end up benefiting from this enormous accident. The accident has spilled an estimated 150 million gallons of petroleum into the ocean, therefore utterly destroying the marine-life in these regions.

Undoubtedly there will be an increase in tourism to the Costa Rican beach towns due to the amount of cancelled vacations to Florida and Louisiana. Nonetheless the real advantage for Costa Rica will come from the business markets now vacated. Seafood companies that used to provide a large percentage of seafood to the US are now completely out of business and unaware of when they will be able to return to work. Many of these business owners and workers are now trying to relocate their entire families and businesses because they really don’t have another choice. So as we are already noticing in Costa Rica and will continue noticing, there has been an increase in Real Estate interest from US Investors. Additionally many sport-fishing companies that used to be based out of Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida are now trying to move their companies to other locations like Costa Rica. They feel helpless staying along the gulf where there seems to be no hope for success, so many are left with no choice but to leave.

Update Hwy:

IT's open again. HURRAY. We can start making those lovely day trips again to San Jose!

Update: the New Highway to San Jose

The New hwy to San José opened to everyone’s pleasure on the coast and in San Jose providing us so much convenience for months. Then that convenience abruptly stopped when complaints were made from the falling rocks and landslides when the company was ordered by the government to make the repairs to retain the walls.

The reopening was to be this week from the areas San Jose to Caldera. This reopening was contingent upon the weather. The weather has been rainy especially in the San Jose area therefore putting a delay on the reopening.

The MOPT officials met on Thursday afternoon discussed all the options of getting the highway reopened for the weekend.

Due to the volume of rainfall in the last week it seems unlikely, according to officials the highways will be reopened this weekend. They stress that it will be opened soon.