Vacation Travelers Group Blog

Beyond the idealized capsule of the resorts, there lies a whole other side of Costa Rica as filmmaker Todd Bieber discovered when he and his girlfriend visited the Nosara Wildlife Rescue, a side not dressed up by the tourist industry but where those devoted to wildlife do their part to rescue animal victims of modernity.

Many of the monkeys in Bieber’s short film, Encounters with Orphan Monkeys, are left to fend for themselves when their mothers mistake the many uninsulated power lines in the country for natural features and die. Though many of the babies can’t be saved, they do what they can for those who survive.

Tourists traveling to Costa Rica urgently need the Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT) and the country’s embassies to take the lead in prominently disclosing up-to-date information about how a tourist can enter the country on a one-way ticket.

At A Safe Passage, we regularly receive calls and emails from travelers stuck at the airport because the airlines refuse to let them board their plane without the necessary documents. It’s not that they didn’t research Costa Rica’s entry requirements. They couldn’t find them!

Although the law changed over a year and a half ago, Costa Rica does not have a single official site that includes accurate, comprehensive information about the country’s new requirements for entering the country on a one-way ticket. Without clear information, travelers have no way of knowing that a one-way ticket is not just a one-way ticket into Costa Rica. It also includes: 1) a ticket into Costa Rica and out of another country, and 2) a return ticket scheduled more than 90 days after entry. To my knowledge, this information is not published in English on any official site.

Ironically, airlines hold travelers accountable for complying with entry requirements whether they’re published or not. They actually profit by playing “it’s not my job” to disclose entry requirements and then “gotcha” when an unprepared traveler checks in at the counter. The cost of buying a last-minute return ticket can be $300 to $500 or more. Unsuspecting tourists are forced to either pay up or go home. Those who go home forfeit their non-refundable ticket and the airline wins again.

My hat is off to Frontier Airlines. After I met with them in January, they had the integrity to do what is right by changing their site. While the U.S. Embassy states that some airlines may not let you board without a round-trip ticket, Frontier is up front in stating that “travelers to Costa Rica can have an onward bus ticket as proof of onward travel.”

As “the leading … institution for the country’s tourism activity,” the ICT is the logical choice to bring about needed clarity by prominently disclosing all of the country’s current entry requirements and forwarding that information to embassies, airlines, guidebooks, and travel sites. Common sense suggests that if the ICT is spending millions getting tourists to come here, they should tell them what they will need to enter the country. It is not a quantum leap to conclude that what is good for tourists is good for tourism.

We solicit your involvement by signing our petition at Change.org. Look for  “Tourists Traveling to Costa Rica Need Your Help.” You can also call, email or fax the ICT. We are simply asking them to do their job. By adding your voice, we can make it happen.

Women at the UConn have an excellent opportunity to be a part of a cultural immersion that is coming to campus – the “Women’s Empowerment Exchange Program.” The program is hosted by the campus’s Global Training and Development Institute (GTDI) in conjunction with the University for Peace (UPEACE) in Costa Rica.

The program’s main goal is to develop and facilitate a two-way educational program that will last throughout multiple years between young leaders of both the United States and Costa Rica. As stated in the program’s press release, “20 young professionals from Costa Rica and 20 young professionals from the U.S. will receive fellowships to increase their knowledge about how to become effective social change agents using a social change entrepreneurship model.”

The program is funded through the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs through its Professional Fellows Program.

“The grant funding also supports ten follow-up social change projects in local indigenous and Afro-descendant communities throughout Costa Rica, and allows for ongoing networking and collaboration between the foreign exchange participants and their counterparts in the U.S. These educational and cultural exchanges are designed to advance UConn’s ongoing commitment to global citizenship,” said the Associate Director of UConn’s Center for Continuing Studies and the Principal Investigator for the exchange program, Roy Pietro.

Through a competitive selection process, the program seeks to find emerging female leaders in Costa Rica who may be employed through the government or healthcare agencies, civil society organizations, educational institutions or women-owned businesses. These women will, in turn, spend four weeks in the United States, beginning on April 9, 2012.

Similarly, the 20 American Professional Fellows will be selected for the program on the basis of strong leadership and a commitment to producing good work. As the press release states, “Fellows from both countries will work in teams in a dynamic online environment to plan for the implementation of 10 team-based social change projects located in indigenous and Afro-descendent communities in Costa Rica. These small projects, supported by mini-grants, will empower women to address a variety of health, environmental sustainability and economic development issues.”

Another exciting opportunity that UPEACE provides for the women is the opportunity to attend a six-week workshop on social entrepreneurship, where participants are given the opportunity to enhance their own leadership skills and put them to use, by facilitating an orientation session for the U.S. participants upon their arrival to Costa Rica.

“Empowering Women through Social Entrepreneurship” is one of many programs funded by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs in an attempt to bring cultural opportunities to both Americans and people of varying backgrounds.

You’ll be following in Richard’s footsteps as you visit the Nectandra Institute, Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Reserve, Arenal Volcano National Park, and Tortuguero National Park. And you’ll do so with Costa Rica Expedition’s legendary master naturalist-guide, Carlos Gómez, and with Felipe Arias, the uncanny wildlife trackers featured in Richard’s PBS special.

Fourteen departures are scheduled for the coming year, beginning with Dec 17-25, 2011.

Three luxurious residences in Costa Rica’s Pacific coast were awarded by the prestigious international competition, America Property Awards, a global contest that rewards the best professional design and construction.

Two of them were designed by Costa Rican architect Andrés Morales. One was the home of Pin Residence, located in Playa Hermosa, Guancaste, and built in 2010. It received the award in the category Detached House Property Division (and architectural field).

The other house was Pura Vista, located in Manuel Antonio, Quepos, built in 2009 and awarded in the category of Single Family Housing in Architecture.

The third is the home home to award-winning South House, a project designed by Costa Rican architect Jaime Rouillon, in the forest and the sea, located in Nosara, Guanacaste. It won first place in category “Unusual Houses”.

The Americas Property Awards are open to residential and commercial property professionals from North America, Central and South America and the Caribbean.

There are 19 categories to choose from – up to two of the most outstanding entries will be given a Highly Commended Award, the best overall entry will be given a five star award.

All five star winners will be rejudged to be shortlisted for the Best International Property Award for each category. Up to five nominations from the shortlist will be selected. Only one company will win the top prize.

The 49.5 MW wind facility will be made up of 33 ACCIONA Windpower wind turbine generators (1.5 MW each).

ACCIONA Energía has won a tender called by the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) for the purchase of electricity from a 50 MW wind park in Costa Rica. ACCIONA will design, construct and operate the Chiripa wind park (capacity 49.5 MW) following an investment of 125 million US dollars (90 million euros at the current exchange rate). The award enables the Company to incorporate another country into its renewable energy program worldwide.

ACCIONA presented its bid together with the local company Grupo Ecoenergía, which holds a 35% stake in the development company; ACCIONA holds the remaining 65%. The wind park is planned for the municipality of Tilarán (Guanacaste province) in north-western Costa Rica, and will consist of thirty-three 1.5 MW wind turbines using ACCIONA Windpower technology.

The award involves the signature of a 20-yearPower Purchase Agreement and the materialization of the wind park through the BOT (build, operate and transfer) formula. Under the agreement, the developer will design, build and operate the wind park for the 20 years of its duration. Once this period is over, the ownership of the facility will be transferred to the ICE.

ACCIONA expects to start construction work on the wind park at the end of 2012 and put it into service in around one year, i.e. towards the end of 2013. Once grid connected, the Chiripa wind park -located on a site with a strong wind resource- will produce over 200 million kilowatt-hours in an average year.

The materialization of the Chiripa wind park will drive the incipient wind power development of Costa Rica -with an installed capacity of 179 MW at the end of 2010- and will contribute to the government’s strategic objective of reducing the country’s carbon footprint.

The wind park will enable ACCIONA Energía to include a new country in its process of internationalization. At the end of the first semester of the year, the wind power capacity owned by the company outside Spain was around 2,000 MW, 30% of the total; this figure will increase significantly at the end of the year.

ACCIONA now owns and operates wind parks in Europe (Spain, Germany, Portugal, Italy, Hungary and Greece); America (USA, Canada and Mexico), Asia (India and South Korea) and Oceania (Australia). It is currently building a wind park in Poland and has installed others for customers in France and Morocco.

In Latin America, ACCIONA leads thewind power sector in Mexico, with 556 MW owned and installed in that country (all in the state of Oaxaca). In 2009 it put the Eurus (250.50 MW) wind park into service, a self-sufficient project developed in collaboration with the cement company Cemex. In 2011 it has built another three wind parks, which will enter service in December this year.

“Odissey 2050″, an animated film made in Costa Rica was released to the public last Friday. The movie was produced in collaboration with the British Embassy, and its purpose is to teach about climate change and the destructive actions of humans on Earth.

“We are very happy to have this great opening here in Costa Rica; in this country there is a lot of talent among youths, and thanks to this initiative, a lot of kids are going to be able to learn about the importance of taking care of the planet,” said Bruce Callow, from the Communications Office of the British Embassy.

“Odyssey 2050″ was declared of Public and Cultural Interest by President Laura Chinchilla in May this year. According to the movie’s website, the project wants to present in a fun and enthusiastic way, the consequences of climate change.

The film also represents a big leap in the Costa Rican movie industry.

“Costa Rica has a lot of potential in the field of animation, because there is not only talent, but also a lot of creativity,” said Alejandro Hernández, Director of Science and Technology Promotion of the MICIT.

“This is just small sample of what could be done. It is the first animated movie produced in Costa Rica and directed by a Costa Rican,” he added.

Synchro Studio started developing the project two years ago. The movie was directed by the tico Thelvin Cabezas. The first of 10 modules of “Odyssey 2050″ was presented during the visit of Jeremy Browne, Foreign Affairs Minister and member of the British Parliament, last week.

Browne said that the British Government wants to closely collaborate with Costa Rica in the protection of the environment and the fight against climate change.

Luis Liberman, second vice-president; Enrique Castillo, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Sharon Campbell, British Ambassador in Costa Rica, also attended the activity and presented recognition certificates to a group of students who participated in a workshop destined to reflect on the importance of preserving the planet.

Costa Rica’s Juan Santamaría International Airport in San José has successfully completed a three-year restructuring and is preparing to more than double its passenger capacity after partnering with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC).

Last month, the IDB and OPIC disbursed $100 million in loans to Aeris Holding S.A., the airport’s operating company, owned by sponsors Brazil’s Andrade Gutierrez Concessões and ADC & HAS Finance Ltd.

Juan Santamaría International airport, Central America’s second biggest airport, receives 85 percent of all international arrivals in Costa Rica and 80 percent of all tourists that arrive into the country.

The restructuring and financing is the result of close work between the IDB, OPIC, the sponsors and the Costa Rican government to revamp the airport operations, complete all pending construction works under the first two phases of the expansion program, restructure existing debt and obtain additional financing to complete new expansion phases.

“This project has provided the financial structure and contractual stability for the airport to continue to expand and meet rising demand,’’ said Gian Franco Carassale, the project team leader at the IDB’s Structured and Corporate Finance Department. “With the completion of the first two phases of the expansion plan, the airport now has the capacity to better serve its passengers and airlines and become an important transportation hub in Central America.”

These works included a terminal extension to permanently house security, immigration and customs processing, additional hold rooms, renovation of existing and new boarding bridges, remote stands for buses and an additional remote parking positions, and reconstruction of the apron and one of the taxiways, among other investments.

Stuck with an aching tooth and very little cash, Brennan Mulligan was faced with a painful dilemma:

Wait weeks to get a dental procedure in the city that he couldn’t afford or fly off to see an unfamiliar dentist in a foreign country at a fraction of the cost.

Mulligan, a 23-year-old uninsured Manhattan bartender, chose the latter.

Within five days, he was inside a gleaming dental office in Costa Rica. His severely damaged tooth was extracted and replaced with a metal implant for $1,500. He said New York dentists told him the same procedure would have cost more than $7,500 in the city.

“Everybody was saying, ‘You’re going to this shack in thejungle in Costa Rica and there’sgoing to be a witch doctor there,’” said Mulligan, who had the work done outside thecapital city of San Jose in mid-July.

“I got there and it looked like the Starship Enterprise. It was beautiful … and the dentist was probably the best dentist I had ever been to.”

Mulligan is part of a rapidly growing wave of Americans who have gone overseas for medical treatment.

Less than 10 years ago, “medical tourism” was considered a dirty word in U.S. medical circles. The phrase conjured images of shady doctors performing unregulated procedures in dingy back alleys.

Now, lured by cheaper costs and top-class facilities and doctors, hundreds of thousands of Americans are opting to get their teeth fixed, hips replaced and eggs fertilized overseas each year.

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