|
|
|
IN the Ring: The annual festivities in Palmares, a town northwest of San José, kick off today with the traditional horse parade at noon. Bull fights, rides, music and lots of eating and drinking are planned for the festival, which runs through Jan. 22. |
| Shannon Mendes | Tico Times |
 |
| Residents in San José Suburbs Without Water Today |
Approximately 135,000 residents in suburbs around San José including Escazú and Santa Ana, to the west, and Desamparados and Alajuelita, to the south, will be without water today as the National Power and Light Company (CNFL) cuts off electricity to a pump in San Rafael de Escazú, according to a statement from the National Water and Sewer Institute (AyA). |
|
| Stolen Relic Returned to Los Angeles Basilica |
A sacramental relic stolen Saturday from the Los Angeles Basilica in Cartago, east of San José, was returned to its home Monday by the owner of a San José pawn shop, according to the daily Al Día. |
|
| Pharmaceutical Company Hospira Expanding Operations in Costa Rica |
The U.S. pharmaceutical company Hospira Inc. announced yesterday it plans to invest $9 million to expand its operation in Costa Rica and create 200 new jobs, according to a statement from the company. |
|
| Arias: Cubans Should be Consulted About Their Country's Future |
| President Oscar Arias yesterday called for the Cuban government to consult its citizens about whether they want Raúl Castro, brother of President Fidel Castro, to take over when his brother dies. |
|
|
|
|
Divers Encounter
Large Life in Pacific Waters |
If you want to know what it feels like to be small, take a dive in Costa Rica's Pacific Ocean. Really, the Pacific is where the wild things are. Big wild things such as sharks and rays and other fish that weigh more than you do. While Costa Rica is perhaps most famous for its biodiversity, the big-school-and- predator productivity of the Pacific is just as impressive. |
|
| |
|
|
|
Residents in San José Suburbs Without Water Today
|
By Amanda Roberson
Tico Times Staff | aroberson@ticotimes.net |
Approximately 135,000 residents in suburbs around San José including Escazú and Santa Ana, to the west, and Desamparados and Alajuelita, to the south, will be without water today as the National Power and Light Company (CNFL) cuts off electricity to a pump in San Rafael de Escazú, according to a statement from the National Water and Sewer Institute (AyA).
CNFL is doing routine maintenance work on electric systems that power the pump, which provides water to all these areas, explained AyA customer service director Roosevelt Alvarado.
The following Santa Ana areas will be without water from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. today, according to the statement: Gavilanes, Pozos, La Chispa, Concepción, Obando, the center of Santa Ana and Casa Blanca. The Escazú areas of San Rafael, Bello Horizonte, Anonos, Tena, Betina, Quesada, Vista Alegre, Maynard, Faroles, Tabas, Mirados, Alto Palomas, Miravalles, Matapalo, Guachipelín, Laureles, Trejos Montealegre, Calle Pilas and the center of Escazú will also be without water during these hours, as well as the Price Smart store and the Multiplaza mall.
In San Antonio de Escazú, Lotes Badilla, La Avellana, Corazón de Jesús, Alto Carrizal, Barrio el Carmen and Bebedero will be without water, and in Alajuelita, San Josecito, San Felipe, Tejarcillos, La Aurora, Concepción Agajok, the center of Ajajuelita and Concepción Arriba will have their water cut off. In Desamparados, San Rafael Abajo, Viscaya, Valencia, Treviso, Autofores, Maiquetía, Santa Cecilia, Los Angeles and La Florita will be affected.
Those living in these areas should store water in containers for use during the day, Alvarado said. |
|
Stolen Relic Returned to Los Angeles Basilica
|
A sacramental relic stolen Saturday from the Los Angeles Basilica in Cartago, east of San José, was returned to its home Monday by the owner of a San José pawn shop, according to the daily Al Día.
The relic, called a custodia, or metal stand used to hold a bread wafer representing the body of Christ, was reported stolen by two women inside the church. The owner of the shop, who was not identified by the daily, brought the piece back to the church after seeing reports of it missing in local media.
The Judicial Investigation Police (OIJ) are investigating the theft of the piece, worth about ¢400,000 ($776), the daily reported. So far, they know only that it turned up at the San José pawn shop.
Meanwhile, church officials plan to meet with the Public Security Ministry and a private security company to discuss how to reinforce security at the famous church, to which thousands make a pilgrimage every year to visit Costa Rica's patron saint, Nuestra Señora de los Angeles. |
-Tico Times
|
|
Pharmaceutical Company Hospira
Expanding Operations in Costa Rica
|
The U.S. pharmaceutical company Hospira Inc. announced yesterday it plans to invest $9 million to expand its operation in Costa Rica and create 200 new jobs, according to a statement from the company.
These new employees will join the 2,000 people currently working in manufacturing, quality control and support for the company that produces medical products at its plant in Heredia, north of San José.
“We are very happy with the results we've achieved through our operations as well as with our employees' production, and both factors have driven the continued growth of operation,” said Jonathan Waldron, Hospira Latin America operations director, according to the statement.
Hospira is based in the U.S. city of Chicago and has been producing medical products for the past 70 years. The company employs about 13,000 people in 14 plants around the world. |
-ACAN-EFE |
| |
Arias: Cubans Should be
Consulted
About Their Country's Future
|
President Oscar Arias yesterday called for the Cuban government to consult its citizens about whether they want Raúl Castro, brother of President Fidel Castro, to take over when his brother dies.
Arias, a former President and 1987 Nobel Peace Prize winner, told Radio Monumental that in 1959 President José “Pepe” Figueres said he hoped Castro's government didn't become a Communist tyranny.
“I am following in the footsteps, not just of don Pepe, but of all Costa Ricans who love freedom and democratic plurality,” he said.
President Castro has been sick for the past five months, during which his brother Raúl has reigned over the Caribbean island nation.
The Cuban government recently fired criticism at Arias, calling him a “servile parrot of Yankee imperialism” and a “vulgar mercenary” in a statement from the Cuban Foreign Relations Ministry printed Dec. 27 in the government daily Granma (TT, Jan. 5).
Arias' relations with the Cuban government have been strained since August, when he cancelled a meeting with Cuban Vice-President Carlos Lage while both were in Colombia for the inauguration of President Carlos Uribe. |
-ACAN-EFE |
|
|
|
Divers Encounter Large Life in Pacific Waters |
|
If you want to know what it feels like to be small, take a dive in Costa Rica's Pacific Ocean. Really, the Pacific is where the wild things are. Big wild things such as sharks and rays and other fish that weigh more than you do. While Costa Rica is perhaps most famous for its biodiversity, the big-school-and- predator productivity of the Pacific is just as impressive.
True, there are not as many species in Costa Rica's Pacific as in other places in the world, but the sheer numbers of some groups of the same species are just as awe-inspiring. Fish schools that number in the thousands seem to support a few predators of very large proportions. But schools, or shoals, of fish that number in the millions support many large predators. And many large predators, from plankton eaters to meat eaters, swim with divers in Costa Rica's Pacific waters. Rays provide some classic examples.
 |
| Size Matters on the Pacific: a diver keeps a safe distance from a stingray. |
| Photos by Shawn Larkin | Tico Times |
Manta rays feed in the open water on tiny animals known as plankton that drift with the currents. The giant manta grows to be among the largest of Costa Rica's fish – just one would probably fill any room in your house.
Mantas in Costa Rica school in enormous numbers. The flapping groups can seem to be the size of a small island. When they school in groups, they also leap from the water in what could be a sort of mating dance. Often, several at a time will fly like popcorn from the water, flapping like huge bats, before splashing back down into the water. Maybe, with a few million years of evolution, they will learn to fly!
On the sandy bottoms of the Pacific coast, large numbers of stingrays gather at certain times of the year. Stingrays do not swim through the open water like manta rays, but rather hunt along the bottom for fresh fish, eel and crab. Divers need to take care not to swim too close over them, as they can live up to their name. Their famous stingers can be longer than your hand and covered with slimy, nasty bacteria. To avoid the stingray's scorpion-like tail-sting response, shuffle your feet at the beach. If you avoid getting over them, they are unlikely to cause problems. Sometimes the sand can seem covered with these strange beasts.
 |
| Orcas make regular stops along the Pacific coast to feed on big prey such as stingrays and manta rays. |
| Photos by Shawn Larkin | Tico Times |
Rays, in turn, are preyed upon by even bigger predators such as hammerhead sharks and orcas. Both stingrays and manta rays appear to be favorites with these large, toothy hunters. Ray congregations may even be the main reason orcas make regulars stops along Costa Rica's Pacific coast.
Pacific diving has been excellent recently by all reports. Sadly for divers, Caribbean diving has all but shut down during the past two months of big surf. With El Niño in effect, the Caribbean will probably remain a surfing paradise until March or April.
For info on diving or to contribute to this report, call 835-6041, e- mail shawn@costacetacea.com or visit www.costacetacea.com. |
|
|
| 
| Exchange Rates
