I normally only read La Nacion or some other Spanish language newspapers as they tend to get it right… and as I suspected, the information reported was not quite accurate.  The actual number of tickets was far less.  By 4 PM yesterday,  218 tickets had been handed out nationwide.

These tickets were for:

Using mobile phones without a hands free device or failure to use seat belts. (¢ 220,050  or $400.00)  (Yeah!!)

Driving in San José in violation of vehicle plate restrictions (¢ 29,340 -   $53.00)

Driving with polarized (darkened) rear window (¢ 117,360 – $213.00) and finally,

two people who were caught driving without a driver’s license (¢ 293,400 – $533.00 ) and whose cars were impounded on the spot. Wow!

Also, La Nacion staffers apparently did a bit of reconnoitering around the country and found that many transit officials had apparently not even been on duty, prompting the response “Promise Fulfilled” by Joselito Ureña, secretary of the Unión Nacional de Técnicos y Profesionales en Tránsito the transit officers union.  Interestingly…. Those officers did give out tickets  were officers who were working directly  under the supervision of Marin Germain, transit director aka the big cheese. Guess that confirms who is the real boss.

So the verdict?  None of the big cheeses (transit bosses nor the diputados) are thrilled about the officers not obeying orders and  handing out those tickets…  still it would be wise to keep your foot under control, not talk on your cell phone,  use your seat belts and generally be good little boys and girls!

In fact I have re-written this post about 3 times, the last time being Friday when they decided not to enforce some laws requiring everyone carry fire extinguishers, those reflective triangle thingies, and a couple of other items (like child seats)  that they probably should have left in! I was running out of time… but my guardian angel told me to wait until Sunday…

So I did wait, only to learn last night that the least likely group of all (that would be the transit police officers union) voted overwhelmingly to not enforce the new laws, but will enforce really tough drunk driving laws and those regarding reckless driving!  Sadly, those are the laws the courts are ignoring with only eleven convictions in over a year. I am thinking now that the police officers (that would be the group with the brains) should perhaps trade places with the diputados!

Interested?  Read on!

Sometimes Costa Rica is kinda like that old fairy tale about the king has no clothes. Everyone sees something is not going to work well, but they plunge ahead.  Oh… yeah!  I guess the USA is about the same, with pols trying to force the stupid, hugely expensive. and almost universally hated Obamacare, down the throats of voters who already know how dumb it is… HA!  And you thought Costa Rica was a better option! But I digress!

So immediately, the transit chief starts making noises (probably correctly) that officers who do not enforce these new laws will be  derelict in their duties.  The diputados, not to be outdone by management, join in the hue and cry for enforcement.  Should be interesting!

OK, so what is the big deal and why won’t the new laws work?

Basically, they are overkill. Costa Rica drivers are arguably the world’s worst. I have driven in a lot of countries, but drivers here just scare me to death. Therefore, new laws are a good idea… right?

Yeah…  unless you make the fines  so large that they can come close to the salary of the police office whose job it is to enforce them.

Oh… and before I begin, there is also a point system.  Once you get 50 points, you lose your license for two years.

Let’s look at a few: (If you want to know how much in US dollars, the formula is colones/550 = $$$  Example: 165,000 colones = about $300.00

Red light / U Turn – 165,000 colones – 20 points ($300.00 – now you do the math!)

Taxi or bus drivers who are rude to passengers 90,800 colones (no points)  (not a joke)

Talking on a cell phone while driving - 165,000 colones – 20 points (castration would be better!)

Taxis that fail to use the meter (la maria) - 90,800 colones (no points)

Driving without a license – 227,000 colones ($410.00)  – 25 points – HUH?

Bribing a police officer – 227,000 colones – 20 points

OK so why am I on a rant?

These fines, for many Costa Ricans, can represent all or close the monthly income of some families!   The last time I checked, a rookie police officer only made perhaps $250,000 colones (around $450.00)  per month.

Now what do you suppose will happen when that officer stops someone to issue a $300.00 traffic ticket? Or maybe a drunk driving citation that costs the driver 293,000 colones ($530.00) plus loss of license, car and jail time?

To put this into perspective, it would be like someone in the USA, earning $60,000 per year, having to pay about $4,000.00 for blowing a red light.

Now, the police officers union is also thinking that trying to ticket a driver who may not only lose his license but may be unable to feed his family or pay his mortgage just might tend to cause a conflict.  Gee… ya think?  The actual wording (translated) is that “officers could be exposed to dangerous situations.  Now you wags could argue that that is their job… but clearly, the officers do not relish these types of confrontations.

Oh… and did I forget to mention? When you go to court, you are asked about your income and if it is larger, these fines can get larger! Ahhh, and as these fines are tied to a base number, they will rise automatically every year. Just gets better and better.

Now…. raise your hand if you think any of this may affect tourists? Tourists won’t care about the points, but they can get tagged with the fines…even after they leave the country if renting a car…  and they won’t fight it. There are many, many stories about bribes being solicted and/or offered.  Most are true.  The nice thing is that tourists won’t report an officer for bribery either way.  They will just pay up and move on!

Another goofy think is that all new and (as I understand it) first time renewals of drivers licenses will now require a psychological exam! Cost will be about $30.00 and INS, your friendly local monopolistic insurance company will not be assisting. This means first time and maybe first renewal of licenses will cost a whopping 85,000 colones!

Life goes on.  The law will be in effect for most of you who will be reading this with your Monday morning coffee.  I have no idea if it will be enforced…. Be well, be careful out there… and pura vida!

A lot of people think that now there will be wholesale changes now that ICE will face competition.  I am not so sure… at least in the short term.  Let’s examine what has been happening. If this topic interests you, read on!

First,  ICE states that it will close or at least restructure Radiográfica Costarricense  (RACSA), its 245 employees, and move all those  Internet customers from Racsa, its wholly owned subsidiary, to its own network, affecting maybe  80.000 users.  RACSA customers would therefore be serviced by ICE and the rates would be unified.  Sound easy?  Nothing is so easy in Costa Rica.  Two issues here… and this gets a little screwy, so take notes!  Remember that RACSA, while owned by ICE, runs its own show.  RACSA customer service and in fact their overall service has been improving over the past several years  to the point where I now tell people they are quite good! RACSA also sells only Internet services (high speed and modem) but not communications.

ICE, however, is renowned for just terrible customer service and doing everything even remotely possible to inconvenience the customer base.  This is something that should not surprise anyone as most monopolies never have to compete and therefore do not have to deal with the concept of making the customer happy.   Further, the technicians at RACSA are clearly more knowledgeable, or perhaps they are more accessible.  Hard to tell… but either way, they solve issues whereas ICE techs often blame the problem on you or deny there is a problem.

OK… so with the existing structure, RACSA can re-sell Internet  service (i.e. wholesale it) and they do.  Two of their customers are Cabletica and Amnet both distributors of cable TV services. Both of those companies sell cable TV with optional Internet (cable modem Internet).  You can buy cable TV with no Internet connectivity, but you can not buy Internet service from them without buying the cable TV service as well.

Now when ICE restructures RACSA, Amnet and CableTica customers will be moved to ICE.  ICE though, does not sell cable services so far as I know… so that means if I am getting this correctly,  AMNET and CableTica customers will have to all have new DSL installs, new equipment, etc.  UGH! This will effectively put Amnet and CableTica out of the Internet business.  Why do we (or at least I) care?  Because CableTica has  hands down the best customer services of all the companies in my opinion. Those businesses using cable modem service from either company may therefore have some serious issues ahead of them. But…. now we have this:

THIS week,  Amnet has announced they will cut the umbilical with RACSA and sell Internet services directly.  How?  They must, of course, buy services and connectivity directly from ICE and must also arrange to connect to the two underwater international cables in Parrita and Limon that connect to the Internet backbone.

Sounds simple… huh? Oh, did I forget to mention that Amnet also announced that they will compete with ICE for the cell phone business in Costa Rica?  Amnet was purchased last year by cellular service provider Millicom International Cellular, S.A. .  Gee!  I wonder if ICE is happy about that! I betcha not!

Nothing so far from CableTica.

So why am I writing all this? Well for those of you old enough to remember, once upon a time in the giant country to the North, there was a pretty GOOD communications monopoly called American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T). Their service was just about as good as you an get anywhere.

Well one day, the mean old US government said, “NO MORE MONOPOLIES”  and broke apart AT&T.  The problem was that AT&T owned all the land, all the infrastructure, all the wiring, all the central offices… well you get the point. Startup company MCI just did not open the doors.  AT&T made life VERY difficult with major issues as regarded setting wholesale rates to providing access to all the above infrastructure. On the surface, they seemed cheerful enough about having the competition… but that was on the surface.  It took years and a zillion law suits and more zillions or dollars before MCI truly entered the US communications market.

ICE has kind made it clear they have no plans to go peacefully into the night…. so I asked myself, “I wonder who in Costa Rica  owns all the land, all the infrastructure, all the wiring, all the central offices, routers, contracts with backbone providers….”.  Things that make you go… hmmmm.

I have no idea how communiations and Internet services in Costa Rica will be affected.  Maybe everyone will just get along and overall, services and customer support will reign supreme with many happy and properous companies each providing these better services at lower prices.  Or not….?  Comment welcome~!

Crow tasted just fine. Besides, I knew that some offended person would file an appeal with Sala IV, the Costa Rica Constitutional Court.They did, and just days ago, the court  deemed  this restriction unconstitutional and thus declared it null and void.

Basically, the court said that the Executive branch of the government does not have the legal power to impede or violate fundamental rights such as the liberty of transit.Hours later, the Transportation Minister ordered the  Policía de Tránsito (traffic police) to suspend the restrictions.

Now, days later, the traffic is back and San Jose is all but gridlocked. What’s that old Russian saying?  “Be careful what you wish for?”

About 10,000 tickets were handed out since the law went into effect.  None were paid though as the government waited to see if their restrictions were legal.

Clearly, something must be done and the MOPT is making noises about making a restriction under some other guise.  Personal liberty or no, I hope they succeed because the current traffic sitution is truly intolerable.

The government, getting fed up with the huge number of alcohol related traffic accidents and the resultant deaths, passed last December La Ley de Tránsito or simply new driving laws.

Although signed into law and effective last December 2008, I did not blog about it because there were sure to be a ton of appeals to the Costa Rica Supreme Courts, called Salas, regarding the legality of the new laws and the associated punishments which are truly severe. Sala IV has upheld some and is still considering others, but it is time to talk about these new laws. In this post, I will provide my thoughts and more important, a shortened list of the new laws and the associated fines and/or imprisonment.  If this topic is of interest, read on!

The new laws are nasty but are receiving huge popular support.  La Nacion did a survey of Ticos over age 18, and a whopping 77% supported the new laws. Many respondents  (58%) told La Nacion they had altered their lifestyle and simply no longer drink anything if they are driving. I guess the government was not alone in their concern for traffic safety. Further, the law seems to be having the desired affect! In January, drunk driving arrests dropped 53% and that ain’t bad!

Stuck towards the bottom of the results was the interesting fact that women had fewer traffic accidents than men.  OK, this is where you say, “Well Duh!”.  This was probably a shock in machista Costa Rica.   Guess they have not figured out that women tend to drive using their big head… but I digress!

As I said, these laws are tough.  Some of the fines, however, actually exceed the monthly salary of the transit officers, so that might make bribe taking a real possibility.

The new laws not only have the usual fines, called multas in Spanish, they also include a point system though the point system here bears no resemblance to the systems used in the USA.

Everyone starts with 50 points and when those are gone due to traffic violations… well…  so are you, at least on the roads. The points do not come back.

I would suggest readers also check out the section on drivers licenses in Costa Rica and owning a car here.

Below, I will break out the new laws and the associated fines and possible prison sentences involved.   I’ll put them is order of seriousness/fines/penalties.  Note that not all of these laws are effective today.  All drinking related laws ARE in effect, and the others phase in over the next months. All drivers are required to know these laws, so if you do not because you do not speak the language, that will not be a defense.

To be clear here! You get the fine AND the loss of points.

Example:  Driving (you or adult passenger) without seat belts.  Pay $310.00 AND you lose 20 points.  Same thing for talking on your cell phone

Jail – the biggie!

Reckless driving, speed more than 100 MPH (150 kph), death of a person from the accident (and perhaps injury!) blood alcohol level exceeding 0.75%. You get to keep your car (which is not too useful as you are in the slammer), but it may become State property at your trial. Loss of 50 points i.e. all your points.

No jail but real costly!

227,000 colones (or about $415.00 at today’s exchange rate) plus points lost

Category A offenses.

Reckless driving, in this case speed exceeding 80 MPH  (120 kph) 0.5%, drag racing. Lose 50 points.

Driving without a valid drivers license or learners permit  (and I would urge expats, especially those expat “perpetual tourists”)  to read this as this WILL affect you!

Driving under a suspended license.

Driving a child without proper safety seats (and you lose all 50 points).  Included is driving a motorcycle or any other motorized similar vehicle (like quadracycles with a minor and that minor has no helmet.

Transporting or carrying anything considered dangerous.  This is broad and I am not going to go into it, though I do wonder if this would include my menopausal wife…

170,250 colones or about $310.00 plus points lost

Category B stuff.  Includes driving 14 MPH over the speed limit, exceeding 16 MPH when passing schools entrances or exits, hospitals or clinics. PS:  These are many times NOT marked.  Lose 20 points.

Talking on your cell phone not using hands free.  Lose 20 points

Running a stop sign, illegal u-turn,  or driving a restricted vehicle.  Lose 1o points

Driving without the minimum insurance required by law.

Driving with illegal plates…. meaning I think, not corresponding to the car driven. Lose 20 points.

Driving older children but who are still minors not using seat belts. Lose 20 points.

Driving motorcycles or as above ANY similar vehicle without a helmet.  Lose 20 points.

Driving or carrying passengers (adults) and not using seat belts. Lose 20 points.

113,500 colones  ($210.00) plus the loss of points shown.

Driving in the wrong lane (I think).  Lose 15 points.

Driving a motorcycle between cars while stopped or moving.  Yeah sure! This will never be enforced.  Lose 15 points.

Driving too slow in high speed lane. Lose 15 points

Improper vehicle lights. Lose 15 points.

Driving too slow and impeding traffic and failure to yield to faster traffic.  Lose  15 points.

Stopping in the middle of an intersection blocking traffic. Lose 15 points.

Brakes lights etc, Lose 15 points

Driving a souped up vehicle that bypasses environmental pollution rules. Lose 15 points

Driving on the beach. Lose 15 points.

Driving a vehicle without plates.  Lose 15 points.

Improper passing.  Lose 15 points.

Littering or transporting garbage illegally.   Lose 20 points.

These are the biggies and the ones I believe might most affect my readers, whether tourists or visitors.

There are about 60 other items  such as driving the wrong way, excess cargo or passengers, driving without a windshield (I am serious), parking in handicapped zone,  tooting your horn in front of a hospital, driving on a foreign drivers license while in violation of your visa (US is 90 days), jaywalking, playing music too loud in the evening, failure to have your drivers license with you while driving, driving with an expired license,  failure to maintain assured clear distance,  etc.  The list goes on ad-nauseum and covers all the normal stuff.

Those fines range from 90,800 colones ($180.00) down to 22,700 colones ($40.00) and most include some loss of points.

As far as I can see, when/if you lose points they never come back. If you lose all your 50 points, you must take the driver’s exam again and perhaps attend driving school.  I can assure you that neither is offered in English.

In addition, there are another dozen or so that affect taxi drivers and other livery/bus drivers.  As I doubt any of my readers fall into this category, I have not included them.

While I am not thrilled with the fact that the points do not come back over time, I am generally happy with the law, though I also expect the extortion by transit officials to go way up. Clearly the problem is many of these fines, especially categories A and B, exceed or come close to the entire monthy income of many Ticos. The payoffs cometh methinks.

First… let’s look at what this is all about.

The two most popular forms of residency are Pensionado and Rentista. I am NOT going to cover the variations… just using generalities. For more info, Read This.

Pensionados must currently show a guaranteed for-life (not always easy!)  source of income of at least US $600.00 per month.  This is pretty easy to do if people  use their Social Security payments as the guaranteed source (or perhaps a military pension), but not always easy if funds are coming from the private sector.

Rentistas need to deposit $60,000 (equal to $1,000 per month for 60 months) in a Costa Rica bank to assure they have adequate funds on which to live. After 3 years, they can switch to Permanent Residency and no more deposits are required.

Both plans are fair, in fact far more fair than in just about any country in the world.

The proposed plans (you see the bold and italics?) would change this to $2,000 per month for Pensionados and $5,000 per month for Rentistas.

These of course, are the biggies.  $2,000 per month from Social Security would be difficult if not impossible unless one waited to perhaps age 74 to file and had paid in the max each year for many years. The vast majority of applicants would be thus eliminated.

The $5,000 per month for Rentistas would eliminate a huge number of applicants, leaving only a non-stop stream of real estate developers able to afford Costa Rica Rentista Residency… though with no one else coming, I guess they’d just have to sell their products to each other!

There are some other changes like… increasing the time to convert to Permanent residency to five years…  requiring all residents to join and pay to the CAJA – Caja Costarricense del Seguro Social (”CCSS”) Costa Rica’s socialized medical care and retirement, which I think would be an excellent idea… and fining anyone who gives either Pensionados or Rentistas jobs as neither class are permitted to work legally.

One online source put the panic into a lot of folks by warning that it appears this law would be retroactive and affect all Rentistas and Pensionados at renewal… a truly stupid statement designed only to cause panic as Sala IV (the constitutional court) has never permitted that sort of thing.  Again, panic sells!

While I think many would agree that the current immigration law needs to be reviewed and changed, this is far away from actually happening.  By far away, I think six months to two years is about right.   I think it is getting a lot more difficult to live here on $600.00 per month, though not impossible I suppose.  At the other end, it does not take $5,000 per month to live here.

Readers of the ARCR Forums and other user groups have been given the email addresses of the various legislators to whom they can write their thoughts and opinions. In fact, there are even simple emails in Spanish!  I would urge you to do this if you wish to make your thoughts known.

Finally, and this is part of our culture, everyone seems to think that these proposed laws are aimed at US citizens.  This is pure silliness, of course.  It affects anyone from any country who wishes to live here legally.  If it were to be passed “as is”, it would cause far more damage than the good it would do. I think the chances of it passing are about nil.  The negative effects, like the immediate increase in perpetual tourism (or just illegal residency) would be an huge issue.  It further would send a message to the world that I am fairly sure Costa Rica does not want to send.

My advice?

Calm down… send emails if you wish but make them sound intelligent and well thought out.  As you can’t vote regardless of residency, using an agressive or threatening tone is not only stupid, it makes you sound like… well…  a Gringo… NOT a good thing in general.  Use logic! Don’t rant. Remember… Gringos are not nearly as important to the Costa Rican economy as many think we are.

Finally… If possible, begin your residency process now because if changes are made in the future, and there will be some changes for sure, , they almost assuredly will not affect current residents or applicants in process.

Happy New Year

North Americans and others always have a real problem understanding “how things work” in Costa Rica. In the USA, for example, laws are more or less clearly defined. The “rules” are clear. If you go to renew a drivers license, you know what has to be done, and you are confident that all the clerks and others who assist you will follow these rules. Nobody does things on-the-fly.

This is NOT the case in Costa Rica, and most assuredly it is not the case when dealing with migración.

While there is certainly law underlying the activities in most government offices, you can and often will be completely and totally at the mercy of the person assisting you. That means the actions of these people can be influenced by everything from “the word” passed down from above to whether they had a fight with their spouse the night before. In some cases, they simply do not have any idea what is the law nor the correct process.

In some past administrations, there was a distinct policy of xenophobia. This affected you whether dealing with immigration or simply going to the CAJA. The administration encouraged this and this was evident to all of us who lived through it. It flowed right from the casa amarilla (Costa Rica equivalent of the White House) to all levels, and it was often not fun to have to have to interact with any government office.

Things changed under the current Arias administration, and it is generally better now. Immigration certainly seems better from many reports, but still, you must understand that every time you interact with an immigration official, he can pretty much do as he pleases, and you have little recourse, or none. A good example of this is at entry points in Costa Rica. More and more perpetual tourists (those who flaunt the law and never get residency preferring to leave the country every 90 days to “renew” their visas) are being turned back at the borders or having the immigration agent refuse to stamp their passports upon re-entry. Some are simply told to go back and refused admittance. The problem is that this seems to be entirely at the whim of the official.

Anyway… back on topic… my permanent residency expired in July 2007. Because of some glitches in immigration, everyone got a free year, so my new expiration (vencimiento) was moved to July 2008, and I must now renew my cedula.

The process seems simple enough, but when dealing with any government office, there is always that feeling in the pit of your stomach. The process begins with a phone call made by me to immigration. Seems simple but may not be. To reach the immigration appointment person, you must dial a 900 number. Yes, kids, a 900 number here is used as in the USA. YOU pay for the call (5 colones per minute), and you better not mis-dial or you’ll get some porn business at $10.00 per minute! Further, the use of a 900 number is blocked on many phones in Costa Rica, especially if you do not own the phone number. That means it is possible you will need to go elsewhere to make the call.

As my regular readers know, I urge the learning of Spanish, and after today’s call, I especially urge it before you have to renew your residency. The process went smoothly. I dialed the number. A polite young man named Alejandro took me though the process and I now have an appointment in September. I need to make a deposit to the bank account of immigration in the amount of $58.00. Their bank is Banco de Costa Rica.

As there is little more to do at this point but wait until September, you will just have to wait for the update!

Pura Vida!

This phenomena occured on 9 June when I wrote the post entitled “3,000 Jobs Gone? Why?“. I am 99% sure I read in La Nacion that the new regulation had been published in La Gaceta. It appears I was wrong and it was not published. As Bugs Bunny would say, “Whatta maroon!”.

In Costa Rica, before a law or government decree can be enforced, it must be first published in La Gaceta. The fact that it was not explains why, during my (purely research based) visits to the various casinos, I found them operating as normal. So now I must grovel to my readers and apologize for the mistake. The rest of that post is just fine.

However some of these changes will be published… perhaps as soon as this week, though it seems the decree affecting hours may not be published. If it is, those 3,000 workers will be unemployed as nearly all casinos are 24 hour per day businesses, and the reduction to an 8 hour day (6PM to 2AM will certainly hurt a lot of people.

But… as the government does not appear any too anxious to publish the decree relating to hours, who knows? Could be somebody’s brain kicked in and they realize what a truly bad idea is the cutting of jobs.

Further, there seems to be some question as to whether these decrees will affect existing businesses. One of the new “rules” is that a casino must be part of (actually IN) a hotel and may not take up more than 15% of the total space. How places like the Horseshoe, a landmark and not connected to any hotel, will fare is anybodys guess. The same is true for the Fiesta Casino near the San Jose airport. It too stands alone.

Anyway… now you know!

Most foreigners living here feel they do have that right. Perhaps they do. Certainly, it is hard to not form opinions and even harder to keep those opinions to yourself. However, I have yet to hear of a case where a North American was asked his opinion on an issue by anyone in the government.

Saying that, there are times when the government does something that to me just makes no sense whatsoever. A few weeks ago, the government announced a new policy that for the life of me I did not understand and still do not understand.

The announcement I am referring to involved a edict telling casino operators that henceforth they would be limited to allowing casino gambling only from the hours or 6 PM to 2 AM. Further, casinos must be part of, meaning inside, the hotel. Costa Rica’s casinos are for the most part inside the hotels, but a few, like the large Fiesta Casino near the San Jose airport, are not attached to any hotel, though it is across the street from the Garden Court. Other rules included no direct access from the street, and rules about alcohol being served.

I thought immediately of the huge sums of money that these companies had invested in building the casinos. Really, invested in Costa Rica. I thought of the tourists that would be affected. I thought of the thousands of Ticos employed by the casinos. Basically I just asked myself why would they do such a thing? Tourism is the cash cow of Costa Rica. Why do anything to screw that up? Why take the chance of losing just one tourist?

I read a statement by someone in the tourism bureau that visitors to Costa Rica do not come here for the gambling and I thought “This guy is making decisions that affect thousands of jobs and a ton of tourists, yet has not a clue as to what he is talking about!

While technically he is right and gambling may not be the prime reason for choosing Costa Rica as a vacation spot, I know that when most people make their vacation plans, they take into consideration things to do as a family, things their kids can do, and things they can do as adults, especially if there are no kids on the trip. When I do play at the Fiesta, Del Rey, Cariari (now Doubletree) and others, those are not Ticos I am sitting next to! Most are foreigners and they are tourists. Lots of people, especially from the US do look to see if gambling is available probably because so many states prohibit it and vacation is a great time for some harmless sinning!

Why is it so hard for Ticos to realize that tourism is a business, and if they want their share of those vacation dollars, they sure better offer services at least equal to all the other Caribbean vacation spots. They should be thinking of offering more services, not less.

If that is not enough, the cutback in hours and the closing entirely of some casinos would mean the loss of 3,000 jobs. 3,000 jobs would be a big deal in the US with what, close to 300 million people? The population of Costa Rica is under 5 million. 3,000 jobs. Incredible. For what?

I like to play Blackjack, or as that is not really available here, the Costa Rican version called Rummy. I play maybe every two months or so, so I am far from being a regular client. Still, it means I could now go only at night, and as that is the time I spend with my wife, I can not go when I want and now, maybe not at all. I felt really irritated.

I waited all this time to blog about this as I wanted to see if this would be read into the legal newspaper which is the final step in activation of any new law in Costa Rica. It was. I thought to myself that certainly someone would come to their senses and stop this silliness. They didn’t. It is now law. One newspaper on May 9 informed the readers that this law was now being enforced.

So this week, when I had an opportunity to meet with a client in the Del Rey Hotel (at 11:00 AM), I was surprised to see the casino operating all tables! Hmmm! How could this be? A quick stop at the Fiesta showed me that they too were open in the afternoon. Huh? What happened to the new law? Were the jobs lost? What happened to the law? Shrug.

Odd huh? Makes me wonder why I wrote this post.

Life in the tropics.

Costa Rica! No Artificial Ingredients! A types need not apply.

I can now say that this law has been changed and the news is good and bad.

The good news is that you may now once again bring your birds to Costa Rica.

The odd part? You may NEVER export those birds to any other country after they are here! I guess this should be called the bird version of Hotel California… You can check in, but you can never leave…

Therefore, as I have written at least 1,000 times before, if you are not 100% SURE that you will want to live permanently in Costa Rica (currently about 50% leave before first year), I would urge you NOT to bring your pet birds until you have lived here at least 6-9 months and are sure this will be a lifelong move.

For further information, I would suggest contact ARCR . I am sure members can get the hot skinny on this topic.