A Costa Rica Blog  

The quake occurred this afternoon at 16:15, with an epicenter just off the coast of Quepos. Initial reports indicated 6.3, then 6.2, and have been revised to magnitude 5.9. Click on the little map image for a larger map of the area. Further information is available from the USGS. (This was a single strong, sharp jolt here in Portalón, about 25 km east of the center, and it knocked a couple of things off a shelf in my house.) If you felt this quake, let USGS know the details.

In This Issue: Costanera Sur, Crime, and New Laws

We’re getting into the rainy season. Nice partially sunny days with billowing clouds overhead changing into dark clouds and rain in the late afternoons or early evenings.

As usual, local news first followed by any national news that would have an impact on all of us. Read more »

Bridge over the Rio Blanco near the proposed dam site

Yesterday afternoon I received a surprise visit from Miguel Viquez, an Environmental Planner for the new hydroelectric dam proposed for the Rio Savegre named Proyecto Hidroeléctrico Savegre, or PH Savegre.

Part of this project includes a tunnel that will likely run beneath Hills of Portalon, and directly under my lot. The current phase of the planning includes taking core samples at various sites along two possible tunnel routes, and last year ICE indicated they wanted to drill a core on my property but, at that time, were not exactly sure where the drilling rig would be located.

Yesterday, Sr. Viquez arrived with a map showing planned locations of the core drilling sites. Since taking a core sample to a depth of 300 meters takes around three months, I had some questions — one of which was about the noise created by a diesel drilling rig near my house — and Sr. Viquez invited me on a tour to visit an operating drill site. Read more »

After experiencing many problems creating ‘bootable’ USB memory sticks that would work with my older PC, I spent hours on a long and frustrating search for good information about USB memory and ‘LiveUSB’ sticks. This article details the results of that search, including how to make a USB stick that will boot on both a PC and a Mac. Read more »

In This Issue: New Matapalo Business, Where’s the Beef?

A lot of news as usual. On the local level Matapalo has two new businesses both of which are heartily welcome plus another established business reinvented itself. On the national level the Keystone Cop comedies of the new traffic law and immigration law continues plus it looks like the snake head of the luxury home tax is raising its head. Read more »

Earlier I wrote about some serious problems with online banking, and even had a letter to to the editor published in A.M. Costa Rica. (And no, if you visit the link, it’s not the article about the hookers—you have to scroll down the page some). After that, I received some nice comments and offers of help from readers of that online newspaper.

What started out to be a little experiment in using a small and simple version of the Linux operating system called Puppy turned out to be a long ordeal, learning more about USB memory sticks than I ever wanted to know. Read more »

Because of all the confusion and contradiction concerning two new laws which went into effect yesterday, 1 March, I thought I better get something out. These new laws are the ones affecting immigration to include 90 day visas and the new traffic laws.

Immigration (residency & 90 days visas included). This just goes to show that no one including the head of the immigration department, Mario Zamora, knows what is going on. This law was passed over a year ago but only went into effect yesterday. In Costa Rica there is a six month lapse from the time a law is enacted and when it goes into effect. This one was held up past the six month period because of some inconsistences in it. Read more »

We had some very good news this week concerning our efforts to prevent the SIEPAC high-tension power line from passing along the beach and through Matapalo. On Wednesday, ICE lost their appeal of an earlier court decision which prevents them from installing the line along the beach. The case was tried in the Sala Primera, one of the four Supreme Courts of Costa Rica.

As you may remember, the ICE/SIEPAC consortium has been sued by two persons from Matapalo to prevent them from bringing the lines through the village. The two persons, José (Chepe) Briseño and Ronald ?, are acting as representatives of the entire village, and the suit is supported financially by donations from local citizens. To date, most of the financial support is coming from the Chamoro family and several Belgians who own property in the San Andres hills. The attorney for the two men is a young firebrand from Perez Zeledon who argued very persuasively in the hearing. Read more »

2010 will, I predict, be the year that banks must change how they do business online. Each day there are new reports of the dramatic increase in cyber crime. Increasingly, the various anti-virus products are unable to detect and protect against mal-ware called “trojans,” and law enforcement is unable to even identify many of the perpetrators, much less bring them to justice.

As with many of today’s issues, it will require a dramatic event to raise awareness of the seriousness of this problem, and that will just be a matter of time. But this means that, once again, many consumers will be blithely unaware of the issues until it is too late for them. Read more »

My wife, Karen, and I live in Matapalo de Aguirrie, sometimes referred to as Playa Matapalo. We moved here in April of 2007 from St. Petersburg, Florida to escape the horrendous cost of living we faced there. We were also fortunate enough to be raised by parents who taught us there is nothing wrong in spending money as long as you get value for your dollar. That makes us pay attention to prices. Well, the horrendous cost of living we tried to escape has caught up with us and we aren’t getting much value for our dollar here in Costa Rica any longer. Read more »

In This Issue: Highway Progress, and Luxury Tax

Here we are in a new year and a new decade and as usual a lot is happening down this way. For those following the luxury home tax issue I’ll include an up-date as I know it. Now, to what is going on in this area then nationally. Read more »

Earlier I sent an email message to the PR person at the Ministry of Finance. While they didn’t answer my questions, other than to extend an invitation to the breakfast-with-the-press meeting, they did add me to their email distribution list. Since then I’ve been receiving press releases that are mostly not interesting. However, today I received an email regarding the Solidarity Tax.

Following is the brief intro, and then the entire press release in both English and the original Spanish. In addition, this information was summarized in a La Nacion article today, and there was a prior article yesterday on this topic. (The links above will do a reasonably good job of translating the articles into English—to read the original articles, here is today’s article in Spanish, and yesterday’s article in Spanish.) Read more »

An article published online today in La Nacion briefly discusses some problems people are facing when attempting to pay the Solidarity tax. The article also provides the account number at Banco Costa Rica to which tax payments can be made via transfer or wire.

A second article published today indicates that, of the anticipated ten thousand declarations from luxury home owners, only fourteen have been received. As such, the deadline to file has been extended to 15-Jan.

The above links will translate the articles into English and, at the top of each page, there will be an option to translate the articles into other languages.

Looks like it’s now possible to pay the Solidarity Tax either using international wire transfer, or make payments locally, directly to a Hacienda account. A new document available describes the process. It does not mention registering / declaring a value on Hacienda’s web site, and checking this just now shows that Extranjero cedula numbers still do not fit into the declaration form. Read more »

I have lived for over 16 years full time in Costa Rica with 15 years of permanent residency. I understand how things work here and also how things don’t work here. Laws are written by politicians with good intent but with very little understanding of how difficult or impossible it is to comply with them. Most laws passed in Costa Rica are eventually challenged in the Supreme Court and ruled unconstitutional. I would hope that this will happen in this case. The end result should be a better and fairer law and a means of helping the poor and the housing problems. Read more »

In This Issue: Turtles, Bicycles, and Ladies

Here’s hoping that everyone enjoyed a great Thanksgiving and is well on their way to getting ready for Christmas. Karen and I are back stateside for Thanksgiving and greatly enjoying ourselves, particularly with shopping and food being as cheap as it is when compared to Costa Rica. Read more »

Dear Friends and Guests of Villa Esmeralda in Costa Rica: Thank you so much for visiting us in our little slice of paradise! Please feel free to leave any comments that you have about your stay, our service, or our house. We look forward to seeing you again soon, and hope that your reentry back into the “real world” is not too traumatic. Best wishes wherever your travels take you. Cheers,

Queridos amigos y huéspedes de Villa Esmeralda en Costa Rica: ¡Muchisimas gracias por visitarnos en nuestro pequeño trozo de paraíso! Por favor, siéntase libre de dejar los comentarios que usted tenga sobre su estancia, el servicio, o nuestra casa. Esperamos volver a verte pronto, y espero que la espalda de reentrada en el “mundo real” no es demasiado traumática. Mis mejores deseos a donde tu viajes. ¡Salud!,
Chris and Cindy Cobb
Villa Esmeralda, Costa Rica

The quake occurred this afternoon at 15:20, with an epicenter roughly halfway between Parrita and San Jose. Click on the little map image for a larger map of the area. Further information is available from the USGS. If you felt the quake, let USGS know the details.

Or, if you’re from across the pond, Where in the World is Wally? As we sit here in the Greater Matapalo Area, and contemplate a future that will soon be rolling down the newly paved highway, we can thank Christian for reminding us how fortunate we are.

Take some time this weekend and visit the Playa—look to the right, then look to the left, and wave at your nearest neighbor a hundred meters up the beach—then thank the lucky star that brought you to this wonderful place. Read more »

After further clarifications from Hacienda today I prepared this for additional clarification. Land value is part of the calculation only if there is construction on top of it, this means, if you own a lot in a luxury resort the lot will not pay the new tax until you build a luxury home on it. Other relevant matters related to this new tax are explained in this communication. Read more »

This month we are beginning to see some details regarding the long-awaited Luxury Tax. Since the new law went into effect on Oct. 1, there has been a lot of confusion around the specific details. This article includes information about calculating your tax liability and registering your property value—all of it online. Read more »

The world is heating up, we’re causing it, and life as we know it is coming to an end…Not! Why would so many scientists blatantly disregard known facts and overstate a problem to mislead the general public? Why would so many reputable magazines and newspapers publish the bad and ignore the good? Why would so many politicians let this continue? It’s quite simple: money and power. Increasingly there are voices of reason in this storm of controversy. Read more »

A digest of news articles from popular websites, including the Tico Times, and Inside Costa Rica. Today’s top story: AH1N1 flu death toll now at 37 in Costa Rica. Read more »

We Gringos were blessed to have been raised in the most prosperous country, during one of the most prosperous times in human history. As I think of the great changes and prosperity will soon be coming to this area, I recall a popular aphorism. Read more »

A digest of news articles from popular websites, including the Tico Times, and Inside Costa Rica. Today’s top story: Gasoline Price Up Tomorrow. Read more »