Chasing a Guinness Record

A Costa Rican town called Naranjo will seek to achieve a Guinness world record this July 30 by making a cup of coffee that is 8,000 liters. They are doing this to promote internationally the coffee of that area.

The goal to break Guinness’ World record is the idea of ​​the Youth Ministry of Naranjo. Until now, the world’s largest coffee cup contained 7608 liters, 392 less than the Naranjo's goal. The coffee holding the current world record was prepared in the U.S. in October 2010.

The coffee cup combines 8,000 liters of boiling water with 400 kilos of coffee. It is unclear how they will prepare a cup of coffee almost three meters high. "We want to promote that we produce one of the best coffees from Costa Rica", said Marco Vinicio Ruiz, the sponsor of the initiative.

IBM To Invest US$300 million in Costa Rica Creating 1,000+ New Jobs

The announcement was made by President Laura Chinchilla, who called the IBM initiative as "the most significant foreign investment in Costa Rica in the last 13 years and the largest ever in the field of services."

According to Costa Rica's most influential daily newspaper La Nacion, IBM is to invest US$300 million in opening a high technology professional services center which should generate 1,000 jobs in the next three years.

The announcement was made by the Minister of External Commerce (COMEX) and Patt Cronin, General Manager, Global Technology Delivery and Delivery Excellence, IBM Corporation. With them was the Costa Rica President Laura Chinchilla, the VP Luis Liberman and Senior Management of the Costa Rican Investment Promotion Agency (CINDE) and the Ministry of Science and Technology (MICIT).

This significant new investment by IBM is certainly a huge vote of confidence in Costa Rica, it's government and the people. IBM already employs around 1,000 people in Costa Rica and this new US$300 million investment means more high quality employment opportunities in the rapidly expanding high technology services field.

You can see some example of the pages and pages of IBM jobs available in Costa Rica right now at JobCentral.com

Patt Croin said that: "This center plays a vital role in IBM's ability to offer customer support at all levels-local, regional and global, in order to provide flexibility, scalability and the security our customers expect."

"We chose Costa Rica for our newest center for the strong working alliance which exists between the public and private sectors, for the quality of the city of San Jose, it's competitive business model and the talent and skills offered by the Costa Rican people."

There are however some challenges ahead as was discussed at the meeting where the Americas Society/Council of the Americas, together with the World Bank and the Government of Costa Rica hosted its first Latin American Cities Conference in Costa Rica.

At the conference Costa Rica's Minister of Education Leonardo Garnier pointed out that: "Education is not only important in terms of competitiveness but it is important for life. In Costa Rica, we have many strengths--we have schools in every corner of the country. However, we have a few major challenges. Perhaps the most serious one is that many people still aren't finishing high school."

Patt Cronin of IBM added that: "We know there is talent in Costa Rica and we can serve our global customers with the quality we need."

Written by Scott Oliver, author of 1. Costa Rica Real Estate Scams & How To Avoid Them, 2. How To Buy Costa Rica Real Estate Without Losing Your Camisa, and 3. Costa Rica's Guide To Making Money Offshore.

Tourism in Costa Rica

The tourism in Costa Rica is one of the main economic sectors and fastest growing in the country and since 1995 is the first source of foreign exchange economy. Since 1999, tourism generates more income for the country than the export of their traditional crops of banana, pineapple and coffee together. The tourism boom began in 1987. There were 329,000 visitors in 1988, increasing to one million in 1999 and reaching 2 million foreign tourists in 2008. This has generated and astounding USD $2.14 billion in foreign currency. In 2005, tourism was responsible for a 13.3% of direct and indirect jobs, and in 2008 contributed 7.2% of GDP of the country and 22.7% of foreign exchange generated by exports.

The main comparative advantage of traveling in Costa Rica is its system of national parks and protected areas; covering about 25% of the country, this is the highest percentage on the planet. It is also estimated to contain 5% of the biodiversity of the world in less than 0.1% of the world's land mass. In addition to the vast flora and fauna, Costa Rica has beaches on the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea separated by only a few hundred kilometers. On one trip to Costa Rica, tourists can easily visit volcanoes in the north, multiple national parks, the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. In the early nineties, Costa Rica became known as the chief representative ("poster child ") of ecotourism; period in which foreign tourist arrivals reached an average annual growth of 14% between 1986 and 1994. Some well known sites in Costa Rica are:

· Heritage, the Isla del Coco is one of the most outstanding natural destinations of Costa Rica and was one of 77 finalists in the competition for the 7 Natural Wonders of the World.

· Manuel Antonio National Park is a popular destination for its four beaches located within a natural environment, Quepos Puntarenas.

· Some of the most visited beaches are Hermosa Beach and Jaco Beach, also known for surfing.