US Voting Process

I was shocked and dismayed at this. Although I have no issue with the candidate who was elected, I am sad that much of the political drama in the upcoming 2008 election will now be somewhat less meaningful. I am, however, glad to see that the overt silliness of our political system will remain intact!

Diebold Accidentally Leaks Results Of 2008 Election Early

Central Bank Changes and the Effect on Currency Exchanges and Interest

A couple of weeks ago, the Central Bank of Costa Rica decided to stop the ages-old policy of setting a daily buy/sell rate (exchange rate) for converting dollars to colones and vice versa. This daily exchange rate was known as the tipo de cambio, and was generally a very small spread, maybe 2.5-4 colones. It changed every day, increasing a fraction of a colone and thus devaluing the currency against the dollar… daily.

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No More Cell Phone Lines… AGAIN!

For most of the years I have been in Costa Rica, you could not just run down to your local cell phone store or to ICE and get a new phone line. You could always buy the PHONE but not the line. Nope… You had to wait. You had to place you name on a waiting list… and wait. Sometimes a year or two. Once your name came up on the list, you could buy a LINE (presuming you were a legal resident, a citizen, or owned a corporation), and have it installed on the phone.

Well thanks to your local friends at ICE (why YES!, The very same ones who are fighting the Free Trade Agreement tooth and nail), the good old days are returning!

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SALA IV Rules for accessible buses

Ley (law) 7600 ((Igualdad de Oportunidades a las Personas con Discapacidad)) was approved ten years ago and required that all buses be equipped to transport handicapped individuals.

Not too surprisingly, the bus operators decided to wait ten years to see what was going to happen. What happened, of course, was that the law is now being (sort of) enforced and bus drivers are being ticketed whose vehicles are not to the new level. To date, only 12% of all buses have handicap ramps installed.
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Costa Rica Tourism Down - Finally, They Admit it.

I have been saying for some time that the government’s sunny reports of Costa Rica tourism have not seemed to match up with the reality of what we who live here are seeing.

We now have a new government headed by Oscar Arias, and with the new government, we get new cabinet ministers. The new Tourism Minister, Carlos Ricardo Benavides, is finally admitting what everyone has been noticing for some time. Tourism is declining.

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Visit the new Real Costa Rica

I am not sure what on earth possessed me to do an entire re-write of The Real Costa Rica, but I did and it is now online for your viewing pleasure or displeasure. The most obvious thing you will notice is the new color scheme and menu system. There are also a lot of new pages, new pictures, about 500 new links… ugh. I still have to install the new search engine though the olde one seems to be working perfectly. Go figure!

Thanks to those who tested the site. Reading the same old pages for errors is booooring, but you really helped!

Anyway… here it is: The REAL Costa Rica

Enjoy!

The Bri Bri

Fellow blogger Colin recently made a comment on my post about gay marriage in Costa Rica, and thanks to THAT, I now remember that I wanted to provide a link to his blog and more specifically, his photos about the Bri-Bri Indians who live near him.

Colin lives in Puerto Viejo on the Carribean side of Costa Rica, the side that has thankfully been ignored by tourists. I say that as the Carribean side is delicious! It is almost like a different country. Everything is different and beautiful; oceans, jungles, roads, folliage, the people… the works. Of course once the tourists discover it, it’s all over.

Colin’s blog includes some beautiful photos of the Bri Bri indians of that area, and those of you interested in some fine photography might like to stop by his blog for a visit.

The Bri Bri live in fairly poor conditions, and the area is sadly in lack of simple medical and dental health treatment. ARCR is now sponsoring trips to provide medical support and other assistance. Contact Ryan Piercy at rpiercy@casacanada.net for more info.

No Gay Marriages in Costa Rica

Surprise, surprise!

The Costa Rica Constitutional Court (SALA IV), turned the thumbs down on gay marriages in Costa Rica.

Do ya think maybe the fact that by the Catholic Church had anything to do with the results? The Costa Rican constitution makes the Catholic Church the official state religion, and about 80% or more of the country is Catholic. Obviously, this came as no surprise to anyone considering the Church’s stance on the gay and lesbian lifestyle.

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The REAL Costa Rica (redux)

Every since I published the Real Costa Rica web site, I have received a zillion emails and comments in the Guestbook. Most are complimentary and a few are from people who have really dug into the RCR and found errors (precious few!), typos (a LOT) and have made suggestions on how to better the web site.

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Immigration Gets Two New Bosses

Immigration department got two new bosses yesterday. Mario Zamora Cordero (36) is the new Director and Xinia María Sossa Siles (32) is the sub-Director. Both are lawyers.

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