Guitarras Aristides Guzman is in Costa Rica, Costa Rica is in TicosLand.com

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Guitarras Aristides Guzman in Costa Rica

The company Aristides Guzman has more than 50 years making acoustic guitars for Costa Rica and the world. It is characterized by the use of fine details which lends an excellent sound to the guitars. We also have a music academy where we offer guitar, singing, keyboard and other instrument lessons

EU approves for Costa Rica not to be part of Parlacen.

The doubts about Costa Rica not joining the Central American Parliament (PARLACEN by its initials in Spanish), as one of the petitions made by the European Union at the beginning of negotiations for the subscription of an Association Agreement, were dispelled yesterday, after it was agreed that the representative for the dialogue would be the Legislative Assembly.

This was agreed to by the two trade blocs at the political dialogue table. And as for the other countries that are part of Parlacen, it will be that governmental body that represents them.

The head of trade negotiations, Roberto Echandi, said that having defined the institutional structure so soon almost finishes a chapter of uncertainty and gives tranquility, not only to the productive sectors, but the country in general.

“The fact that we have set aside these doubts generates a very positive environment and signals that the agreement is beginning to see the light of day. We never believed that Costa Rica had to be part of Parlacen to meet the objectives of this agreement," he said.

The Ministers of Economy and Foreign Trade of Central America met in Belgium with members of the Central American Committee of the European Parliament, chaired by Euro-deputy Raimon Obiols.

During the meeting, which lasted an hour and a half, Obiols said that the Commission he chairs is closely following the development of relations between the European Community and the Central American region and, in particular, this process of negotiation for an association agreement.

The Euro-deputies agreed that these negotiations should finish during the first half of the year, taking into account the changes in the institutional structure of the European Commission that will occur mid-year.

Another matter on which an agreement was reached was to include the issue of disarmament (as requested Central America) in the text on non-proliferation of weapons and mass destruction.

However, there are many details pending, not in depth, but in the form of the text on the fight against terrorism and establishing an economic and financial credit fund.

Echandi highlighted that there are two complex issues pending. The first is to define how Central America will address the issue of the International Criminal Court and therefore the signing of the Rome Statute, which El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua are not part of since it establishes that nations can be tried for crimes against humanity, such as genocide and torture.

The negotiator said that Costa Rica has no problem with this item, but it is in solidarity with those that are not included, which is why Costa Rica is asking that an obligatory membership not be established
and acknowledged that it is hopeful that this will be achieved.

This bit of news brings great expectations since Parlacen was once an item for which Costa Rica was frowned upon in Central America. However, over the years it has been proven that it would not have provided any benefit for the country.

For TicosLand.com, the possibility that the negotiations are going so well is an opportunity to boost our business sector if we have an agreement of this magnitude on hand.

If you want to read more about Costa Rica, try our internal blog.

Manatus Hotel is in Costa Rica and Costa Rica is in TicosLand.com

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Manatus Hotel in Costa Rica

Manatus Hotel is the finest hotel in Tortuguero, Costa Rica and is surrounded by the natural beauty of the Tortuguero Canals and wildlife. Manatus VIP Hotel in Tortuguero offers you a unique combination in the area: the comfort and luxury of our rooms and facilities, a delicious restaurant with an international and gourmet cuisine offering Caribbean fusion food, the relaxing services of our Spa, and the excitement of a variety of adventure tours, all a few steps from the worldwide famous Tortuguero National Park. Stay with us an experience your vacation at another level!


Teens uninsured and with low wages.

The United Nations Children’s Fund together with the University of Costa Rica, presented the VI State of Children and Adolescents in Costa Rica this week. The report highlighted two disturbing facts that are present in the country and they are that the workday for adolescents aged 15 to under 18, exceed the 36 hours that they can work by law can and also that their employers do not provide adequate social security.

National laws and international agreements are very clear in stating that a person under the age of 15 cannot work; this is illegal and can be punished, but those over 15 and under 18 must have a workday of no more than 6 hours a day, 6 days a week at most. At the same time, work should not prevent these young people from attending their study centers.

But most of those older than 15 who are working in Costa Rica do not attend classes. Among the reasons cited are the working hours of more than 6 hours per day that leave them too exhausted to go to classes, or the time available is not sufficient to study. 34% of these workers have only a grade school education and 58% have not completed high school.

The low academic preparation, as well as the socio-economic factors which these minors live with, which leads them to have to work for a living, condemns them to continue working in low-paying jobs which leads to a perpetuation of the cycle of poverty and vulnerability in which they live.

Added to the above is the fact that the wages that they are paid are much lower than what they should be paid by law. The work they have access to, for the most part, is in agriculture. However, 60% of this population is paid only ¢100,000 per month. The law states what is required as a minimum wage and it is set according to the work being done. If we take a look at what is the lowest minimum wage that is being paid in Costa Rica, we realize it is that of an agricultural laborer and the wage paid should be ¢145,000, which clearly shows that they are paid much less than they should be.

In the same way, as was already mentioned, apart from receiving very low wages, they are not paid social insurance and do not have work insurance when this is a requirement for employers to hire minors.

The problem goes beyond non fulfillment of the law by the employers, but also involves the patron and guide of children and adolescents which is the National Children's Office (PANI by its initials in Spanish) and the Ministry of Labor, who say they do not have enough inspectors to be able to follow situations like these, or the process isn’t followed as it should be when there are complaints due to the exploitation of child labor.

Many cases are never reported simply because those who suffer labor exploitation are unaware of their rights and nobody tells them what they are, and those who are in charge of doing it do not carry out the strategic actions which will enable the information to reach those most in need. Many of these teenagers see what they do as something normal because they would not otherwise have enough to live on, but the government has an obligation to provide the necessary tools so that the children can complete their education and thus have a better chance of improving their living conditions.


If you would like to read more about Costa Rica, visit out internal blog.

Accessos Automaticos is in Costa Rica, Costa Rica is in TicosLand.com.

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Accesos Automaticos in Costa Rica

Garage Doors, Automatic gates, automatic doors and road barriers. We sell, service and install.

New transnational company in the country.

The U.S. firm Critical Mass joined the Costa Rican group Garnier to open its subsidiary of The Hangar Interactive, an interactive marketing firm that will provide services to companies in North America and Europe.

The firms that resort to interactive marketing use the Internet, e-mail and cell phone as a means to promote themselves and attract more customers.

In the country, The Hangar Interactive will make web sites specifically for marketing and hire 30 people, but it will reach 250 in the next three years, said Gabriela Llobet, director of CINDE, by its initials in Spanish.

The company is part of the digital services, advertising and interactive marketing operations subsector and opened yesterday in the free trade zone called Metro Park in Heredia.

The firm seeks bilingual staff in Costa Rica with studies in digital animation, graphic design, web page development and computer systems and IT engineering.

Those interested can send their resume to the email address: humanresources@criticalmass.com.

The Costa Rican Critical Mass Office will serve as support for its offices in Chicago, New York, Toronto, London and Geneva, said Diane Wilkins, president of the firm.

“We opted for Costa Rica thanks to the talent, creativity and level of professionals that we found in the country,” Wilkins added.

Javier del Campo, manager of The Hangar Interactive, added that services will be only for international customers of Critical Mass and the Omnicom Group, not for local businesses.

Critical Mass is associated with Omnicom Group, one of the largest communications firms in the world. Among the clients of the transnational marketing companies are Rolex, Mercedes-Benz and Citigroup.

We say once again in TicosLand.com that this kind of news is very satisfactory and even more so when there Costa Rican companies are participating. It is a way to generate jobs while showing that our workforce is highly appreciated worldwide.

If you want to read more about Costa Rica, try our internal blog.

Terragaia is in Costa Rica, Costa Rica is in TicosLand.com.

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TerraGaia in Costa Rica

TerraGaia.Net has been offering solutions for the intelligent development and maintenance of Internet projects in Costa Rica since 2000. Our professional team advises you from the initial registration of your domain, to the last aspect of the implementation of your virtual presence in the network of networks. In TerraGaia.Net, we do innovative Internet, of course. We specialize in Managed Web Hosting.

Transnational Services Company Opens in Costa Rica.

The transnational service company, Experian, opened its operations in Costa Rica.

Experian is an information analysis company for businesses and consumers. The company was born in 1980 in the UK and its offices are located in the Ultralag free trade zone, in Lagunilla de Heredia.

It has four business areas: credit services, analysis for decision-making, marketing and interactive services.

We will know the number of employees and the services they provide from Costa Rica when they open their facilities tomorrow.

Experian has offices in 38 countries including the U.S., South Korea, India, Chile, Mexico and Brazil. Costa Rica would be the fourth office in Latin America.

This transnational will join the large number of companies that already exist in the country in the services area, a sector that has grown considerably in the country and demonstrates that the plan has been successful in attracting investments in this sector.

This is good news for TicosLand.com and the rest of Costa Rica. It means job opportunities and is a sign that the country can continue to grow and be attractive for doing business. Everything will be up to being able to continue to offer opportunities for a quality education

Papito Dios is in Costa Rica, Costa Rica is in TicosLand.com.

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papitoDios in Costa Rica

papitoDios.com is a place in Costa Rica and all over the Internet world where you can make your testimony known about the blessings with which God has improved your life without discriminating against your religion, as well as read the testimonies of other people around the world. After all, we see around us and the fruit of his works in our lives every day, and like all things, we must feed our faith with testimony. The testimonies are 100% anonymous, but if you want to leave your name, it can also be published.

In spite of the crisis, ReMax Opens in Costa Rica.

The Company ReMax Empire, a franchise of the brand ReMax real estate, began operations in the country, although the outlook in the property market may not be optimal. For the company, Costa Rica is a growing destination in which many foreigners will seek to place their investments.

Its president, Edward Baecher, said they are seeking to introduce the Costa Rican Greater Metropolitan Area to the world market through his company.

This is because it is a country in expansion, with large horizons, a diamond in the rough, which made him invest here.

The company has 20 years of combined experience in the field of commercial, industrial and residential real estate, both in Costa Rica and the United States.

His decision to invest in our country although there is a crisis in the real estate market is due to fact that he sees Costa Rica as a country friendly for doing business and that due to the same crisis, more and more foreigners are coming to Costa Rica trying to escape from the rare and growing world inflation.

Their desire is to expand in the country every day and that people will see them for what they are, professionals in the field of real estate, and that their professionalism cannot be copied by people who only want to make money fast.

Its operations are not intended to be limited to one area. However, their office in is Escazu for the time being, which makes the west part of San Jose their priority, but they do have other options in elsewhere in the country.
Among the services offered are advising clients and tracking the buying, selling or renting of property from start to finish. Its services help consumers to avoid losing money, to save time and keep them from having an unnecessary bad experience.

The franchise is present in 67 countries, with more than 125 thousand agents in 7600 offices around the world.

This is another way of showing how attractive Costa Rica is for business, so we must continue working to maintain and improve the conditions.

It is a viewpoint that TicosLand.com maintains. You do not need a free trade to know that we draw the attention of companies so that they can come and do business here.

If you wish to read more about Costa Rica, visit our internal blog.

Hotel Dunn Inn is in Costa Rica, Costa Rica is in TicosLand.com

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Hotel Dunn Inn in Costa Rica

If you are traveling for business or pleasure, Dunn Hotel in Costa Rica is a perfect option for a memorable stay. You will be close to restaurants, museums, the National Theater, curio shops, the central market, shopping centers, banking centers and much more.

People who are delinquent in their payments will be offered prepaid system

It is incredible that in Costa Rica we will have to see the option of prepaid telephone systems as the best option for those who are delinquent in their payments.

The Costa Rican Institute of Electricity (ICE by its initials in Spanish), announced that it will launch this service, and start to provide it primarily to customers who have outstanding bills or are often late with their payments.

Although this type of service has been announced since 2002, it had not been implemented so far. The service will not be made available massively. However, the customers who have had payment problems will be contacted and offered a switch to the new system.

The service is only available to customers in Costa Rica who have cell phones hooked up to the lines laid by Alcatel.

As a second step, the ICE plans to launch 5000 prepaid lines by year-end, a product of customers who persist in being delinquent with their payments. The service will include amounts of ¢ 2500, ¢ 5,000 and ¢ 10,000.

It is hoped that this service will be offered massively during the first few months of 2009. To this end, a bid was announced, which was won by the Ericsson Company, which allows the release 2.5 million lines for prepaid cellular phones and fixed land lines. This depends on what the Comptroller General of the Republic says in respect to appeals over the bid.

For TicosLand.com, this is great news. It is time for Costa Rica to advance in this respect. This type of prepaid service allows many people to acquire a line in a quick manner and without delays, and ensures that people will not end up owing money.

To read more about Costa Rica, you can go to our internal blog.

Galeria 11-12 is in Costa Rica, Costa Rica is in TicosLand.com

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Galeria 11 12 in Costa Rica

Since 1986, Art Gallery 11-12 has been sponsoring and disseminating historic and contemporary Arts in Costa Rica. The gallery has a vast experience and a reputation gained thanks to the efforts of its directors, who have devoted special attention to the sale of guaranteed original art. We welcome collectors to the permanent exhibition of historical and contemporary Costa Rican artists.

Time to clean Jaco Beach

Costa Rica maintains its image of a clean and green country, respectful of its natural resources, at the international level. However phenomena such as the growth of tourism resulting from this promotion and local governments that have not been prepared to deal with what the large numbers of tourists in their communities implies, has seriously affected the chances for some beaches to remain attractive for tourism.

For that reason, one of the most visited beaches in the country, Jaco Beach, due to the proceeds of an uncontrolled construction growth and tourism, has suffered serious setbacks and caused the beach to be extremely dirty.
Due to the foregoing, community organizations in the area, specifically in the canton of Garabito, have met with other neighborhood groups, tourism developers, municipal officials, public health and environmental institutions and the Office of the Ombudsman to take the necessary action to avert the pollution of this part of the country.

Jaco is currently one of the 13 beaches with the most fecal contamination. This occurred in part because of the large number of pipes that discharge sewage into its beach, which can generate serious health problems for its people and the tourists who visit.

In order to combat this wrong, monitoring was begun on 35 water treatment plants in the Canton to find out if they work as they should. Both the Environmental and Health Ministries pledged to track down the points of greatest water contamination.

All involved expressed great satisfaction with these actions and indicated that it is now an issue on which everyone is working, which does not put the onus on one particular place and also puts greater pressure on those people or companies that are not complying with the measures.

This is an initiative that should be implemented in all communities in Costa Rica regardless of whether it is a tourist area and so once and for all the enforcement compliance with the laws for access to a better quality of life.

We welcome a new friend to the TicosLand.com family.

We are happy to announce that there is a new member of the TicosLand.com Costa Rica family of listed websites and business.



Fusion Discomovil in Costa Rica

Discomovil Fusion. We offer the best entertainment, intelligent lighting structures, fog machines, bubble machines, karaoke, carnival show, more than 30 thousand types of songs, computerized mixes, modern equipment, expertise and seriousness, with staff that is identified through its excellent presentation. We accept all credit cards. We have two mobile discos available.

TicosLand.com is the leading web directory in Costa Rica.

El Paraiso Spanish School is in Costa Rica, Costa Rica is in TicosLand.com

El Paraiso Spanish School in Costa Rica

El Paraíso Spanish Language School is located in Manuel Antonio National Park, 2.5 hours' drive from San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica. Manuel Antonio National Park is one of the most visited parks in Costa Rica, and also offers some of the most beautiful beaches in the country and beautiful and extraordinary biodiversity.

El Paraiso Spanish Language School in Costa Rica is the sponsor of today's blog.

Let’s clean the beaches.


While there are a lot of people in Costa Rica who reach adult age without understanding the damage caused by garbage pollution, there are others who care about stopping it.

Many private companies, educational institutions and volunteers know first-hand how difficult it is to clean up what others have dirtied.

Last weekend an event like this was held in Playa Guacalillo, in the Garabito Canton, Puntarenas. Hewlett-Packard (HP) employees and collaborators armed themselves with tools and a lot of will beginning early Saturday morning.

On this occasion, there were 270 volunteers who signed up for the first edition of the activity Rescuing Oceans.

“Our goal is to contribute to the conservation of the planet through responsible environmental practices," said Maria Luisa González, human resources manager at HP.

Last month, students from Obando Chan High School in Puntarenashe had the opportunity to do the same thing. The young people collected and then separated materials, for later shipment to the Municipality of Puntarenas to be recycled.

In early October, the beach chosen to be the protagonist of a cleanup was Brasilito, with the initiative, “Diadesol” (Sunny Day.) The neighbors of San Cruz went there and took care of the cleanup under the slogan “Juégale limpio a tu comunidad,” (Play clean with your community.)

This year, some of the beaches that have been cleaned by companies, communities or students were those in Tárcoles, Garabito.

Tamarindo whose cleaning once a month is supervised by the Surfrider Association should also be added to this list.

In August, surfers also participated in the replacing garbage fir trees at the mouth of the Rio Barranca.

This work is done in Costa Rica without ulterior motives. Generally, a day is sacrificed to spend it working on cleaning the beach, which is a great partnership for coastal areas.

In many of these cases, it is the citizens who fulfill the duties which should be done by the municipalities. Volunteers show up in a timely manner to pick up the garbage left by others.

Of the many options where you can register if you are interested in assisting in environmental cleanup, the volunteer program at the University of Costa Rica can be mentioned, as can the Neotropics Foundation, INBio and the Environmental Association Life.

At TicosLand.com Costa Rica, we say that it is not enough for us not to litter. It is necessary that at least those of us who are aware of the damage being done to help collect the litter, only then can we generate a cleaner culture. Besides, this experience is unique, fun and it allows more people to meet one another and interact doing a good deed.

You can read much more about Costa Rica in our internal blog.