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

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Requests to Biden

The vice president of the United States, Joe Biden, came to Costa Rica yesterday and will start his contact with Central America beginning today. He will analyze the proposed capitalization of international banks directly linked with the region in his meeting in the Presidential House.

While Biden descended with his wife on the staircase, at base two of the Juan Santamaría International Airport, there were two black Lincoln limousines and 15 vehicles all equipped with armor and the highest standards of safety, brought directly from Washington three days earlier, ready and waiting. Alongside, there were 10 traffic officers to guide the caravan that would take the high functionary a little after 4:30 to the Marriot Hotel in San Antonio de Belén.

On one side of the red carpet spread on the runway, stood the foreign minister, Bruno Stagno, the U.S. ambassador, Peter Cianchette with his family and the diplomat Javier Sancho to greet the Vice President and his wife.

The entourage that travels with each has over 40 members and includes the deputy assistant secretary for Latin America, Craig Kelly and National the Security Advisor, Daniel Restrepo.

The Chancellor said that the set of proposals that will be proposed to Biden today is guided by support for the region in the face of the international economic crisis. The thematic agenda also includes the analysis of programs for cooperation in combating drug trafficking and crime and issues related to the environment and trade.

Regarding support to the region on the face of the economic crisis, the Costa Rican ambassador in Washington, Tomás Dueñas, explained that it is one of the main issues because all of the countries in the region are still awaiting the position of the United States as one of financial leaders at the G20 meeting this week in London.

How could the United States work with Costa Rica or Central America in the face of the crisis? That is the question. In this respect, the American diplomat said that this nation is going to the G20 meeting open to negotiating with China, Europe, and the Latin American members of that organization, Argentina, Brazil and Mexico. Naturally, what we are looking for, beyond a stimulus, is also regulating the financial markets so what we are going through doesn’t happen again,” said the diplomat in his last week as a representative of Costa Rica in Washington.

Tomas Dueñas believes that his mission was fulfilled with the FTA, so that his successor, Luis Diego Escalante, has the task of strengthening the relationship with United States, as well as fomenting programs for cooperation and development of a “Post CAFTA Agenda” to move forward with a very close relationship with the United States and the Government of Barack Obama.

Stagno circulated a Central American proposal during the meeting last Wednesday in Managua with the Central American leaders present at the meeting of the Economic Integration System (SICA).

“There were eight points that we wanted to agree upon with the other countries attending the meeting, clarifying that it is not a call in SICA format and therefore, the other countries of Central America, Belize and Panama are only being invited to Costa Rica.

The eight points agreed upon will be discussed at the meeting of Heads of State at the Presidential House. As for the issues that we are going to have at the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago where the president Obama will be in attendance, we will have the opportunity to talk with him directly.

The idea, said Stagno, is for Vice President Biden to take the list of suggestions and concerns to the White House in two weeks, so they can be defined and dealt directly with president Obama in the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago.

“It is fitting for the United States to have a positive agenda with Latin America. He needs to turn the page on what was basically a negative for drugs and immigrants. What was positive before was certainly trade, but we believe that there needs to be further discussion on areas such as climate change, social development, teaching English, technology transfer, green investments and green job creation. I think there are many areas where we can begin to work on a positive agenda,” said the Chancellor.

Costa Rica is one of the beneficiaries of the Merida Plan funded by United States to develop a Latin American network to combat drug trafficking; specifically the initiative and the link with our country and the region is one of the topics to be discussed today at Home Presidential.

For today's meeting the leaders from Nicaragua and Honduras, Daniel Ortega and Manuel Zelaya, who cited agenda problems but do not hide their alienation from the United States and its political vision were absent.

At TicosLand.com in Costa Rica, we hope that the visit will generate good chances of advancement for the countries of the region with the Government of the United States with a world vision that is very different from the previous one.

There is a lot more about Costa Rica in the TicosLand.com internal blogs and forums.

El Paso de Las Lapas is in Costa Rica & Costa Rica is in TicosLand.com

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The hotel in Costa Rica has 10 fully equipped suites, each with its own private terrace, kitchen, 2 Queen beds and a sofa bed, AC, LCD TV, Wi-Fi at no additional cost, 100% purified water, mini bar, daily housekeeping, laundry, safe and hair dryer. In the common areas, you will be able to enjoy two swimming pools with water slides, Jacuzzi and cascade. There are two decks with cozy sunbathing beds and a BBQ area. There is also a thatched roof area to enjoy breakfast and a Spa surrounded by nature. Breakfast is included and we offer a food concierge to solve your lunch and dinner needs, tour information and sales. It is located in Jaco, Costa Rica and has a spectacular view over a virgin mountain with dense vegetation that constitutes a constant path for the mystical and beautiful red macaws and toucans.

Green Macaw Population is Increasing in Costa Rica

This is very good news for all those environmental advocates and bird lovers. The scientist, Javier Chassot, of the Tropical Science Center (CCT by its initials in Spanish) who has been studying green macaws (Ara Ambiguus), considered endangered, for 15 years, announced the news that the population of these birds is growing in Costa Rica .

According to the project that is studying these birds in the northern zone of the country, in 1994 there had been about 200 individuals detected. This monitoring also indicated that there were between 25 and 35 pairs of green macaws in 2003 with reproductive capacity, which means that there were about 70 individuals.

But this year the numbers have improved; the number of green macaws was estimated at 250 and at least 66 permanent nests were found in the almond trees (trees from which they feed on an exclusive basis and that is vital for their existence).

While the news is good, it was also noted that much still needs to be done. In order to have a healthy population of this species will need at least 500 specimens and we barely have half.

To learn a little about this type of macaw, it is important to know that the green macaw is the largest macaw and that it has historically lived in Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia and Ecuador. It measures approximately 79 cm long and weighs approximately 1.4 kg. Its tail is relatively short and more robust than the red macaw (Ara macao) and has a much thicker beak. It is considered that this bird has lost 90% of its habitat, a product of deforestation and destruction of the forests for commercial purposes.

Due to the danger that this species is facing, among the actions that Costa Rica has implemented are the temporary closure of the exploitation of almond tree because of how necessary it is for the species; the attorney general has also consolidate biological corridors in the areas in which these birds normally live and thus be able to stimulate their traffic and increase the population and fighting illegal logging and the traffic and commercialization of their chicks.

Hence, the importance of the awareness not to acquire any animal that has been taken from its natural habitat and for citizens to file a criminal complaint if they have knowledge of someone doing this. They are living beings that also suffer drastic changes in their environment and we must bear this in mind.

You can read lots more about Costa Rica and TicosLand.com in our internal forums and blogs. Register and you can receive a daily bulletin with lots of information about Costa Rica.

Costa Rica is in TicosLand.com and Arenal Volcano Inn is in Costa Rica

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Number of Tourists Arriving in Costa Rica Fell.

The total number for the 12 months ending in October 2008 shows that Costa Rica received 10,000 less tourists than the total number for the 12 months ending in August 2008. The accumulated number of visitors to Costa Rica between November 2007 and October 2008 was 2,107,000, while the total number between September, 2007 and August of this year was 2,117,000. The accumulated number through August was the one that had the largest influx of tourists, but after that month, the entry of visitors began to decline.

The number of tourist coming into Costa Rica for November has not yet been quantified by the Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT by its initials in Spanish). Carlos Ricardo Benavides, Minister of Tourism for Costa Rica, attributed the decline in the inflow of visitors to the economic recession afflicting mainly the United States, from which Costa Rica receives 54% of its tourists.

Benavides accepted that the months of September and October were particularly “more difficult” than in previous years. “It was a low season varied by the elections in the United States, months where Americans ate crisis for breakfast, lunch and dinner,” Benavides said.

Just in October, there were 122,000 foreigners who vacationed here, which is 8,500 fewer people than there were for the same month last year (130,500).

However, the arrival of visitors for the whole of 2008 will be higher than 2007 thanks to the first half of this year which saw a lot of visits.

In 2007, 1,900,000 people came to Costa Rica. For this year, the ICT estimated growth of between 7 and 7.5% in tourist arrivals.

Paul Solano, director of the Costa Rican Chamber of Hotels (CCH), commented that there is uncertainty about the aftermath of the economic recession in the United States. A recent poll by the CCH confirmed that 3 out of 10 hotels in Costa Rica experienced cancellations for 2009, ranging between 5% and 40% of advance reservations.

The lower number of tourist arrivals also affected sales at some stores within the Juan Santamaria International Airport.

Pablo Vargas, manager for Cafe Britt, said that the three stores that are in the terminal the lower sales allows them to predict that the influx of tourists decreased by about 5%. “In some hotels, where we have shops, we have also seen a decline in the purchase of our products," said Vargas.

In the case of duty-free shops belonging to the Joint Social Welfare Institute (IMAS by its initials in Spanish), vendors resorted to rebates to keep their merchandise from stalling in the inventories.

“Yes have seen fewer passengers, but it has not affected us so far because our suppliers have more promotions. For example, the customer pays for one product and takes two,” said Jose Antonio Li, executive president of the IMAS. Li recalled that three years ago 38% of their customers were Costa Ricans who were leaving the country.

Ernesto Gonzalez, in charge of U-Save rent a car in Guanacaste, said that the rental of vehicles fell 30% in the past two months in connection with the same period of 2007. “The planes are arriving empty in Liberia,” he said.

Since March, the accumulated 12 months of visits by tourists to Costa Rica has been falling. In that month, the accumulated 12 month variation was 19%, but in the months that followed it began to go down until it got to 9.7% in October.

Minister Benavides acknowledged that the growth rate in tourist arrivals this year will be lower than that of 2007 due to the impact of the recession in the U.S.

Last year, foreign arrivals increased by 12% with respect to 2006 and the total number of visitors was 1,900,000 as we previously mentioned.

“It is clear that the growth in 2008 is based on the extraordinary first half we had. What remains to be seen is what the behavior will be in 2009," said minister Benavides.

We have already spoken on this subject in TicosLand.com and how the crisis comes to affect all economic sectors, not only tourism, but there is no doubt that tourism is one of, if not the most important because it generates revenue in dollars. Lesser tourist visits means lesser foreign currency earnings, which can generate greater problems in general terms.

This is bad news for Costa Rica but good news for tourists visiting the country because they will be able to find better deals, especially during the low season which is right around the corner.

If you want to find out more about Costa Rica and TicosLand.com, don't fail to visit our internal blogs and forums.

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

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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.

Illegal Fishing Gains Ground Around Cocos Island

In Costa Rica, in a matter of ten years, illegal fishing has managed to become the major problem faced by guards stationed at the Cocos Island National Park.

Disadvantages in resources and technology facilitate the activities of poachers, and make the job of monitoring and preservation by national officials virtually impossible.

To enforce the law within the 2310 hectares of land, and it is especially difficult to do it around the 12 nautical miles which encompass the Costa Rican territory. The Government has four old boats, one of which is used for shipments of supplies and staff and is in very poor condition.

Due to this, tons of tuna, sharks and other marine species fall into the hands of the illegal fishermen, after being extracted from the unguarded waters.

The delivery of the vessel, Faico II, to the authorities is intended to enhance the combat of these problems. The donation comes from the Foundation Friends of Cocos Island (Faico by its initials in Spanish), and is the product of the work between the NGO and the supermarket chain WalMart.

“We had practically run out of boats that would allow us to do control work in the open sea. This vessel exceeds what can be expected from a small boat. It is perfect for the job that must be done with regards to the illegal fishermen,” said Fernando Quiros, director of the Cocos Island Marine Conservation Area.

With a value of ¢60 million, Faico II meets the conditions of speed and load capacity that makes it perfect for patrolling the area comprising the waters around the island.

Well, it must be seen that if Costa Rica is participating in the competition of the seven natural wonders of the world precisely with Cocos Island, the resources are invested for its care are not commensurate with its meaning.

The team at TicosLand.com is entirely in favor of spending more resources for the preservation, care and vigilance or our parks because ultimately they are the bastions not only of Costa Rica’s green image, but also lungs for our planet and a means to conserve the life that is around us.

You can read much more about Costa Rica and TicosLand.com in our internal blogs and forums.