A Costa Rica Blog  

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 [...]

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, [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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.

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 [...]

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.

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

A digest of news articles from popular websites, including the Tico Times, and Inside Costa Rica. Today’s top story: Happy Independence Day, Costa Rica!

A digest of news articles from popular websites, including the Tico Times, and Inside Costa Rica. Today’s top story: Electricity rates will be cut by 7.3 percent.

According to an article this morning in the Tico Times, Costa Rica’s tough new traffic law has been delayed until March, 2010 following a vote two days ago in the Legislative Assembly. The penalties were seen as being too harsh.

The tremor occurred at 23:02 and was centered just east of Golfito near Rio Claro. Some information is available from the USGS Earthquake Center, including maps, along with a Spanish translation. Click on the little map image here for a link to an interactive Google Map of the Golfito area. If you felt [...]