Sep 21st, 2009 | By Lance Harrell | Category: News

        

U.S. President Obama and Oscar Arias of Costa Rica
Costa Rican President Oscar Arias will take part with 25 other heads of state, including U.S. President Barack Obama, on Sept. 22 for a climate change summit at the United Nations in New York City. 
                                                                        United Nations Building

The U.N. Secretariat selected Arias as one of seven heads of state to address the summit with a short speech. Arias will also participate in discussion about each country's role in climate change negotiations.

Arias will speak as the global leader of developing countries, saidJairo Hernández, deputy permanent representative for Costa Rica to the U.N.

Hernández said. “Middle-income countries are called upon to play an important role since the main emissions problem is caused by developed countries,” He continued, “These emissions will have limits that will have to be accounted for by what developing countries do.” 
                                                                                                                                            President Hu Jintao of China
Reforestation, increasing energy efficiency and better agriculture practices, are some key points on the agenda After the climate change summit concludes, Arias will join President Hu Jintao of China and U.S. President Barack Obama in a nuclear arms debate Sept. 24.

For More Go To http://www.TheCostaRicaNews.com

        

Does the Model Central American Country Live Up to its Big Green Reputation, Particularly When It Comes to Climate Control? Everyone needs something to believe in, and for many Latin American progressives, that something for years has been Costa Rica.

The country has long been cited as a beacon of progressive tranquility in a region better known for violence, inequality and poverty. Following an uprising in 1948 led by Jose Figueres Ferrer, the country embarked on its own unique path of social democracy, involving extensive progressive taxation, universal health and education availability, and no armed forces. As a result, Costa Rica boasts high levels of human development, including the highest life expectancy in Latin America. Moreover, the country has for years stood out on the issues of environmental protection and conservation, with over 25% of its territory under protective status, as well as an internationally recognized eco-tourism sector. All of the above has led Costa Rica to find itself ruling the roost in the New Economics Foundation´s recent publication of the "Happy Planet Index," which claims that Costa Ricans are the "happiest" people in the world, enjoying an enviable life expectancy, and consuming considerably less resources than the nationals of more developed countries.

Now, in the 21st century, Costa Rica claims to be taking these advances to the next level: taking the initiative on climate change, and thereby reconciling the traditionally antagonistic processes of development and environmental sustainability. Its Government has unveiled a nationwide initiative aimed at making "peace with nature," and has put the country amongst a small but growing number of nations committed to going "carbon neutral." Besides the Maldives, Costa Rica, is the only developing country to make carbon neutrality an explicit government objective.

Carbon Neutrality: Definitions and Controversies

Of course, if it were to achieve its goal, Costa Rica would not actually be the first country to have sustainably low levels of carbon emissions. Many countries already have reached them, but they are generally highly underdeveloped societies, with levels of poverty so high that....Read More  http://www.thecostaricanews.com/eco-solutions.html

        

Whether you visit a yoga retreat, try a surf camp or just get some much needed R&R on the beach, Costa Rica is an excellent heart-healthy destination for your next vacation.

With zero trans fat and a wealth of free vitamin D, a trip to Costa Rica might just be what the doctor ordered to get you in a healthy state of mind and body. According to Conde Naste Traveler’s September 2009 article "Your Next Vacation Could Save Your Life", denying yourself vacation can lead to negative changes in your health and wellbeing.

Even the anticipation of going on vacation helps people to de-stress and improve their emotional health. While on vacation, travelers tend to get more sleep, try a broader range of foods, get out in the sun more and perform an increased amount of physical activity.

According to a 16-year study published by the State University of New York, Oswego in 2000, male patients at risk of heart disease who did not take an annual vacation had a 30 percent greater chance of dying from a heart attack than those who did.

Of course certain vacation habits like excessive drinking, self-inflicted sun poisoning, or spreading your time so thin you end up with no sleep or energy, are not exactly ideal when you’re in need of a recharge. It is important that you choose your destination and activities well and don’t forget to schedule in plenty of down time to relax.

So does Costa Rica fit the ticket for the perfect rejuvenating getaway? Taking the following points into consideration, the country might just be the perfect cure for depression, heart problems, obesity and more! It sure beats going to the gym…

1. World Class Spas & Yoga Retreats — From Arenal’s natural volcanic mud treatments to ocean front massage opportunities on the Nicoya Peninsula and yoga retreats paired with surf schools in Santa Teresa, Costa Rica is a health nut’s paradise. From the exotic to the tried and true, you are never too far from pure relaxation while traveling around the country. Sample Tabacon’s ayurvedic cuisine or a hot stone massage at Reserva Conchal and say goodbye to unwanted toxins and bad vibes.

2. A Jet Setter’s Dream — Costa Rica is less than 3 hours flying from main U.S. hubs like Miami and Dallas and direct flights leave from most of the major cities including Denver, Chicago, New York, Washington D.C., Orlando, Boston and more. That means instead of spending your first day dreary-eyed and jet-lagged, you can head straight to the beach or on a tour.

3. Sunshine – We weren’t joking about that vitamin C. As Brits will attest, a little bit of sun goes a long way! Let your body store up on this essential vitamin while you work on your jealousy-inspiring tan. There are worse ways to care for your health — just don’t forget the suntan lotion!

4. Fresh Air — Most visitors are shocked when they first witness the endless plots of undeveloped land that anchor this tiny eco-conscience nation. More than 25% of it is actually government protected in national parks and wildlife reserves, while so many more acres remain untouched. Be it a cool Guanacaste evening or a night of start watching on the Caribbean coast, you can’t help but breath deep and enjoy a heightened feeling of purity and freshness.

5. Fresh Food — The fruit salad you order here didn’t spend 3 weeks frozen in a cargo container before reaching your supermarket shelves. Costa Rica is known for its fresh produce which includes avocados, mangos, papaya, coffee, bananas and more. Local coastal cuisine is also infused with fresh seafood, while protein-rich black beans are a staple throughout the country.

6. Natural Thermal Hot Springs — The prevalence of active volcanoes in Costa Rica has brought with it naturally heated rivers throughout the center of the country. Imagine taking a dip in a natural river or one of the many landscaped hot springs properties. You can feel your worries melt away as the warm water and steam open your pores and relax your muscles. No wonder they are fabled to have healing powers according to local lore.

7. Adventure Sports – Depending on your level of fitness, a trip to Costa Rica doesn’t have to be just lounging around dining on fresh fruits — the dynamic landscapes and plentiful coastline have given way to a wide availability of adventure sports as well. Try your hand at surfing in Tamarindo, ocean or river kayaking, white water rafting down the Pacuare or even kite surfing on Lake Arenal. Even a refreshing hike to see exotic wildlife or a stroll down the beach may be an improvement on your regular home exercise regime!

For The Best Travel Info Go To http://www.TheCostaRicaNews.com

        

Liberia, Costa Rica, August 28, 2009 --(PR.com)-- Craig Williamson, President of ERA Real Estate in Latin America and Chairman of the Green Building Council of Costa Rica, and Frank Biden, brother of U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and Director of a major philanthropy in Central America that provides pediatric aids relief, homes and scholarships for the poor, are headlining a multilateral partnership between ERA Real Estate in Latin America, Cygnus International and the Guanacaste Country Club. The goal of this partnership is to call on resources available to the companies and individuals to reform the social, economic, and environmental practices of real estate developers across the world by example.

"Now that I am involved with Craig Williamson as a business partner and friend, I want to bring that same spirit of giving and service to everything we do. Not only is it the right thing to do as a developer in the local community; it is intensely practical from a business standpoint. Prioritizing the health and wellbeing of employees, members of the local community and protecting the breathtaking beauty that is Costa Rica is a money maker", Biden said. Their goals include leveraging the Green Building Council chapters to promote sustainable building practices and socially sensitive development in Latin American countries.

The LEED Platinum rated Guanacaste Country Club, the only LEED certified clubhouse in Latin America, is a luxury development designed to operate on a logical pricing model while internalizing wealth in the region. Mr. Williamson said that "by adhering to our core principles of integrity, socio-environmental responsibility and technological innovation; we want to build a relationship of trust with our customers and neighbors in Guanacaste. As a derivative of those principles, we have created our logical pricing model, which bases its price on fundamental equity value rather than artificially inflated market values."

He explained that the current model of luxury home sales creates an artificial barrier by increasing the price based on the "luxury" title, while logical pricing focuses on the actual value of the home and places the price within the means of prospective buyers. This logical pricing model is made possible due to the large scale of the development, so costs are reduced and passed on to the buyer. Another result of the creation of the Guanacaste Country Club is that it will generate a wealth of new employment opportunities during development, as well as permanent positions in staffing.

"The GCC, ERA Real Estate in Latin America, Cygnus International and all of the companies and organizations involved in this mission are dedicated to the same objective: to create better way of doing business for customer and community and spread this business model by showing that doing right is the morally and financially sound decision," Williamson said. Plans to involve strategic real estate, governmental and banking institutions in Latin America throughout construction and operation of the GCC will streamline the development phase and provide better opportunities for investors locally and abroad.

"Engagement and entrepreneurship are 21st Century concepts to be propelled by technology and the new paradigm linking development with social justice," Frank Biden said. Mr. Williamson added, "There is also a great and growing demand for sustainable homes as environmental awareness and energy prices rise. We are filling that demand by using the latest technology and techniques to create an eco-friendly community in this slice of paradise. Sustainability is the natural and only future option in society, and consumers and investors alike are coming to that realization. I've always held that doing well without doing good is an aimless pursuit, so I want to do whatever we can to move society in this direction sooner rather than later."

For More Go To http://www.TheCostaRicaNews.com

        

Costa Rica, a small developing country of 4.6 million people, in Central America, surprised many people by having a health care ranking by the World Health Organization higher than the United States. The life expectancy of people in Costa Rica is higher than the U.S. and the infant mortality rate is approximately the same. What is incredible is they are spending $6,000 less per capita than the U.S. and they are covering all of the people.


The Costa Rican Social Security System was started in 1941, by President Rafael Angel Calderón Guardia, a Costa Rican physician, who was educated in Europe. He modeled the program after the one in Chile.

As in the U.S. now, the Costa Rica national health care system was strongly opposed by doctors, employers and pharmacies at the time. There were concerns, just like in the US that it would eliminate private medicine and related businesses. However, the government of Costa Rica had the courage to move ahead and coverage was gradually expanded. Each step was met with complaints that it would elimin

ate private medicine. The Caja, the name of the Costa Rican national health care program, is funded for the most part by employers who pay 9.25 percent into the social security system and employees who pay 5.5 percent. The government provides only for the 17 percent of people that live below the poverty line.

Costa Rica also offers a private option, which primarily serves the upper middle and upper class. The cost is approximately $800. a year depending on age and medical condition. This allows them to avoid the wait time associated with the Caja. They have found, in order to compete with the public system, that private practices are keeping their rates low.

Is the Caja perfect? Absolutely not and they are working to make it better. There are wait times for non-emergency care. An example is a man who has waited 35 days for hip replacement surgery. The country is also working to expand services in rural communities making it unnecessary to come to San Jose, the capital, for treatment. However with these problems, the Costa Rican people are justifiably proud of their health care system which provides high quality, the latest technology and doctors who divide their time between private and public sectors of health care.

Chrissie Long of the Tico Times, the leading English-language newspaper is doing an excellent in-depth analysis of Caja. In her interviews she found that while people interviewed in Costa Rica voiced concerns about delays, they would not trade their system for the one in the U.S. A doctor she interviewed, Danilo González stated, "Anyone – anyone can receive care in Costa Rica, and they’ll receive the best care available in the country. In the United States (what happens) if you don’t have insurance and can’t pay? Out the door. You are left to die in the streets. "

Rosa Climent, the director of the day to day operations of the Costa Rica Social Security System stated the biggest obstacle to the U.S implementing national health care was the lack of solidarity. Referring to the U.S., she stated, "They don’t have the same commitment to solidarity. We have a culture of solidarity in our country, in which people with more economic means, take care of those with less."

For more go to http://www.TheCostaRicaNews.com

        

    Elizabeth Kunz left her dentist's office this spring with a mouth full of problems and no way to pay for them. The South Carolina resident went out of her way, literally, to find a solution, which turned out to be in Central America. Her trip to the tropics is part of a health insurance experiment for trimming medical costs: overseas care.

As Washington searches for ways to tame the country's escalating health care costs, more insurers are offering networks of surgeons and dentists in places like India and Costa Rica, where costs can be as much as 80% less than in America.

Until recently, most Americans traveling abroad for cheaper non-emergency medical care were either uninsured or wealthy. But the profile of medical tourists is changing. Now, they are more likely to be people covered by private insurers, which are looking to keep costs from spiraling out of control.

The four largest commercial U.S. health insurers — with enrollments totaling nearly 100 million people — have either launched pilot programs offering overseas travel or explored it. Several smaller insurers and brokers also have introduced travel options for hundreds of employers around the country.

But a growing number of consumers with high-deductible plans, which make patients pay more out of pocket, could make these trips more inviting.

In the meantime, the insurance industry's embrace of overseas care has had a pleasant side effect at home: some U.S. care providers are offering price breaks to counter the foreign competition.

This domestic competition and the slumping economy have led to slower growth for medical tourism over the past year, as patients put off elective procedures that involve big out of pocket costs, said Paul Keckley, executive director of the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions.

Last year, the center estimated that 6 million Americans would make medical tourism trips in 2010. But Keckley has since shaved that projection to about 1.6 million people. Still, that more than doubles the roughly 750,000 Americans who traveled abroad in 2007, the last year for which Deloitte had actual numbers.

Keckley expects the medical tourism industry to recover, as more health insurers offer the option and as more people wind up with high-deductible plans.

Health care costs for employers who offer insurance to their workers were projected to rise 9.2% this year and another 9% in 2010, according to the consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers. That could mean double-digit percentage increases for employees through higher premiums, deductibles or copays.

Overseas care can lead to price breaks of more than... Read More Go To  http://www.thecostaricanews.com/health-costa-rica.html

        

FISHING

For those who are unaware, the fishing in and around the Central Pacific Coast of Costa

Rica is some of the best in the world. In fact, Quepos is often call the “the billfish capital of the

world.” The water up and down the south and south central coastline is teaming with a wide

variety of the finest game fish (and table‐fare) in the world. These waters are called home by

sailfish, marlin, swordfish, wahoo, dolphin (mahi/dorado), and tuna (blackfin and yellowfin).

Inshore one can find grouper, many species of snapper, roosterfish, and even tarpon and

snook. There is fishing for any type of fisherman. In addition, there is an enormous number of

professional charters located throughout the area that offer a wide range of services for both

the experienced and novice. The vast majority of these charters are English speaking, with full

day or half day options. Without a doubt, one can expect the highest quality of fishing and

chartering crews in Costa Rica.

GOLF

Following is the current golf course situation in the closest “proximity” to Hacienda Matapalo:

Los Suenos: 18‐hole course outside of Jaco in Los Suenos Resort, about an hour north of

Quepos. Completed and open to public.

Cabo Caletas Ocean and Golf Club: Planned 18‐hole course 35 minutes north of Quepos in the

town of Esterillos.

Del Pacifico: 18‐hole planned course in Esterillos. Currently stated to be a private course.

San Buenas: Planned 18‐hole course a little over 30km south of Dominical.

Villa Ives Kena Golf Course Project: 18‐hole PLANNED golf course in Golfito, Osa.

For More Go To http://www.thecostaricanews.com/travel-costa-rica.html 

        

   University of Costa Rica scientists discovered a new species of frog in a mountainous region of their country. The frog is about 2 cm. in length and lives in the Altamira-Valle de Silencio area at an altitude of around 8,000 feet. The habitat there is rainforest with cool temperatures.

The frog was named Diasporus ventrimaculatus. Females are black and the males are orange, or grey.

“This differentiation in the skin of males and females was a feature that had only been detected in the country in the late golden toad of Monteverde,” said the biologist from the UCR, Gerardo Chaves.

Males typically make their calls in the early evening. Females don’t vocalize in exactly the same manner, but respond with vocalizations that sound like hissing. Currently the population is estimated at at least 1,000. They live at ground level between bromeliads and shrubs.

For More On Costa Rica Go To http://www.TheCostaRicaNews.com

        

Many associates and friends have said to me, they were thinking about moving their money and or business, or starting a new business in Central America… and ask “what can I do there?” Well, it is an “underdeveloped region” which means pretty much everything needs development. The lure of the tropics, new markets, corporate incentives, lower labor costs are attractive, and the Central Americas are an “emerging market”, so opportunities abound.

You will have to be a “hands on” leader. You cannot take your eyes off the ball in Central America.

The Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFT) has/is and will continue to alter the business landscape. New industries such as Biofuels and Medical Tourism, to name a couple, are fast rising, providing new opportunities and subsequent value chains.

You will be dealing with a social/nationalist mentality that is in a state of flux as the region adjusts to the “international” mindset.

If you have not been in business or at least lived here for a number of years you will need good intelligence of the region and the market you are entering.

Unforeseen costs in start up phase and Bad accounting... for more go to http://www.thecostaricanews.com/seven_deadly_sins_business.html