Miss Costa Rica 2011 Beauty Pageant Tonight

This weekend is a big weekend in Costa Rica with the inauguration of the new National Stadium and tonight's (Friday) Miss Costa Rica 2011 beauty pageant, which is will be occurring across from the street of the National Stadium, in the studios of Teletica.

The Miss Costa Rica is an annual event that selects Costa Rica's representative for the Miss Universe pageant since 1954. The current titleholder is Marva Wright from San José. She won the title in a nationally televised event on April 16, 2010.

Women between the ages of 18-27, each representing a province, compete to represent Costa Rica for one year and participate in the annual Miss Universe international competition. Until 2006, the 1st runner-up of Miss Costa Rica would usually go to Miss World and until 1994, the first runner-up, the winner or a finalist would go to Miss International.

Tonight the 10 finalists compete for the crown.

Costa Rica has participated in the Miss Universe pageant since 1954 and has sent 56 representatives in the pageant's 60-year history. The event has been broadcast by Teletica since 1960.

During the years a total of 20 Miss Costa Rica titles have been won by candidates from San José, 7 from Cartago, 7 from Guanacaste, 6 from Heredia, 6 from Limón, 4 from Puntarenas and 5 from Alajuela.


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Retirement in Costa Rica v Ecuador: A comparison for potential expat retirees

By Jamie Douglas / Mar 11


Both Costa Rica and Ecuador have much to offer retired expats. I will start with the northernmost of the two: Costa Rica, which is much smaller, is more modern in North American/European terms.

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Retirement in Costa Rica v Ecuador: A comparison for potential expat retirees

U.S. Diplomats: "Costa Rica Is No Paradise "

INSIDECOSTARICA.COM | COSTA RICA NEWS | Sunday 20 March 2011

The tourist brochures do not tell the whole story, writes US diplomat in cable Have you ever wondered what American diplomats in Costa Rica really think of the country? The answer: "Costa Rica is no paradise, with raw sewage everywhere", according to Wikileaks reports printed in Costa Rica's largest daily, La Nación. "Costa Rica treats less than 3% of human waste and discharges 97% of the sewage into the rivers that flow into the sea and constitute little more than contaminated sewage ditches open (...) placing the country among the five worst in Latin America. And the country is going backwards. "The Central Valley, which includes the greater metropolitan area of San José and nearly two million people (almost half of Costa Rica's population), has an antiquated sewage collection, with many underground pipes dating back from the last century and perforated with rust". That is the report by Laurie Weitzenkorn, Public Affairs Office of the U.S. Embassy in San José in a cable dated April 4, 2007, the year that Weitzenkorn was give the task of reporting to the State Department the reality live by Costa Ricans. She added: "You can see spills on the streets. Although at least they have added 100 new residential network since 1981 no extensive work has been done on the sewer system. "Almost all sewage flowing from San Jose enter the rivers and empty into the Pacific, particularly in the Gulf of Nicoya by way of the Tárcoles river. Locals know to avoid that area beaches for the sewage. "Pollution has damaged mangroves and coral reefs, and is suspected of causing a decline in commercial fishing. It is also linked to water pollution hepatitis, cholera, skin problems and diarrhea cases increased by 16% in Costa Rica from 2002 to 2005. Read more

Full Moon Cause For "Green Alert" For Costa Rica's Coasts

The full moon this weekend is the reason for the "green alert" for high waves for Costa Rica's coasts. The alert was issued by the Comisión Nacional de Emergencias (CNE) as a preventive measure.

The CNE is advisory is from Sunday to Thursday. CNE officials say the Pacific coast and the area of Isla del Coco could be the most affected by the waves.

According to the Instituto Meteorológico Nacional (IMN) - national weather service - the high waves could have a greater impact at high time.

The lunar event this weekend, called by some as Super Moon Sunday, brings the moon closest to Earth in past 18 years. The super moon event is said to occur between March 16 and March 22 with the full moon being closest to Earth than any time in the past 18 years on March 19.

Celestial bodies do not orbit in perfect circles as the earliest scientist thought. Johannes Kepler showed us in 1609 that planets and moons sweep out their orbits in ellipses. This means that, at some points in their orbits, they are closer to the body they orbit than other points. Whenever a celestial satellite is at its closest point, it is known to be at perigee and when it is at its furthest point from the body it orbits, it is at apogee. 


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Los Suenos Signature Billfish Series 2011

The eighth annual Los Sueños Signature Billfish Series begins Wednesday off Costa Rica, and the call of "Hookup!" will likely be heard often throughout the tournament.

The strictly catch-and-release competition, fished out of Los Sueños Resort and Marina in Playa Herradura, Costa Rica, takes place in two legs -- January 26-29 and March 2-5 -- and targets all species of marlin as well as Pacific sailfish. The event is sanctioned by both the World Billfish Seriesand the International Game Fish Assn.

Points will be awarded for each successful release -- 500 for marlin and 100 for Pacific sailfish -- with the top three boats per tournament awarded trophies and cash prizes based on overall points.

Registrants can still sign up for one or both legs of the series. The entry fee is $7,000 per boat per tournament or $10,000 per boat for both events.

Last year, 43 teams from the United States, Nicaragua and Russia entered the tournament and ended up releasing a total 1,014 billfish during the six days of competition.

Read original article from L.A. Times

Cafe Britt: 25 Years of Success Sharing Costa Rica's Finest Gourmet Products

Heredia, Costa Rica (PRWEB) November 26, 2010

This year, Café Britt is celebrating its 25th anniversary, which further emphasizes the success that has been built on three core beliefs: superb quality, tremendous creativity, and a unique business model. In the beginning, Café Britt was just a small roastery that sold artisan coffee to locals and tourists. Now, it is a very diverse company with stores and operations in more than 10 countries employing over 900 people. The company's arsenal is packed with a wide range of gourmet products focusing on coffee but also including a vast array of chocolates and various candies. Its production and coffee distribution model became a case of study in Harvard University and gave the company the recognition of their costumers and stakeholders in different locations.

There was a time when all of Costa Rica's best coffee was exported as a commodity, leaving only the poorest quality of beans for local consumption. For New York coffee broker Steve Aronson, this situation was unacceptable. He recognized the potential opportunity for investing in Costa Rican gourmet coffee consumption and jumped on it. In 1985 when Café Britt was founded, not only did the company provide gourmet coffee to the local citizens, but it also expanded to export and share Costa Rica's gourmet coffees with the rest of the world directly from point of origin.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2010/11/27/prweb4831094.DTL#ixzz16VCs8jga

Living in San Isidro de General, Costa Rica - After the 2010 storm

Costa Rica Realtor Victor Guerrero

Costa Rica doesn't get hurricanes but we do feel their effects... San Isidro and the general valley area are recovering from the secondary effects of hurricane Tomas.

It started raining throughout the San Isidro area on Sunday morning October 31st and literally did not stop until the next Saturday the 6th of November. With periods of very heavy down pours to light showers, this was the most intense storm to hit Perez Zeledon since the effects of Hurricane Cesar back in '95.

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