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Keeping Faith: Nicaraguan Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo pays a historic visit to Costa Rica to celebrate the 150 th anniversary of the Nicaraguan Catholic practice of la gritería, meeting President Oscar Arias and spreading hope between Ticos and the growing population of Nicas in their midst. |
| Harmony Reforma | Tico Times. |
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Project to Expand Oil Refinery Gets Green Light |
Costa Rica appears to be on track to expand its petroleum refinery with the help of a Chinese oil company. |
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Banker for the Poor Speaks in Costa Rica |
It all started with a $27 gift. |
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Nicaraguan Cardinal Pays Costa Rica a Visit |
Nicaraguan Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo visited San José Thursday to celebrate the gritería (shout), a 150-year-old Nicaraguan custom to honor the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, or “La Purísima”. |
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Ticos Kick off Christmas Season With Giant Tamale |
A group of Costa Ricans took a Tico holiday tradition to new levels Friday by making a giant tamale to feed more than 2,000 people. |
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Casa 76: A Home Turned
Restaurant in Santa Ana |
Santa Ana is becoming a growing boomtown with shopping malls, fast-food eat-eries and swanky restaurants galore. However, this erstwhile farming town southwest of the capital still has neighborhoods that have not been invaded by the never-ending development.
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Project to Expand Oil Refinery Gets Green Light
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By Peter Krupa
Tico Times Staff | pkrupa@ticotimes.net
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Costa Rica appears to be on track to expand its petroleum refinery with the help of a Chinese oil company.
The broad goals are to triple the refinery's output and increase quality. Officials said the collaboration could also lead one day to oil drilling by the China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC).
That worries environmental groups, as it would mean an about-face from a nationwide moratorium on oil exploration and open-pit mining, enacted by former President Abel Pacheco (TT, June 7, 2002).
Top officials from the corporation visited Costa Rica last week to form an exploratory committee with their Costa Rican counterparts.
“The framework agreement we signed in October is now a reality,” said Costa Rica's National Oil Refinery (RECOPE) President José León, referring to an accord between China and Costa Rica signed by President Oscar Arias. He added, “This initiative has the green light.”
Environment and Energy Minister Roberto Dobles said the purpose of expanding the Moín refinery would be to “meet the national demand,” which he said is estimated to rise to about 60,000 barrels per day in the near future.
Currently, the refinery puts out about 18,000 barrels per day, Dobles said.
The other goal of the refinery upgrade is to increase the quality of the fuel refined in Costa Rica by, for example, decreasing the sulfur content.
Details of the project have yet to be determined, but the committee will meet again in February in China and March in Costa Rica. Robles said that, in the long term, the agreement leaves the door open to oil exploration by the Chinese corporation.
However, for environmental groups concerned about the government calling off the five-year old moratorium on drilling, the deal is a move in exactly the wrong direction.
About 100 protestors, armed with bicycles and drums, demonstrated Friday in San José, calling for government measures that would lessen, not increase, the country's dependence on fossil fuels.
“While most of the world is eager for concrete action to end, mitigate and dramatically reduce CO2 emissions, Costa Rica is backpedaling and choosing to ally itself with China to increase its dependence on fossil fuels,” said Alicia Casas, Mesoamerican Facilitator for the international network Oilwatch. |
Banker for the Poor Speaks in Costa Rica
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By Gillian Gillers
Tico Times Staff | ggillers@ticotimes.net
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It all started with a $27 gift.
When economist Muhammad Yunus distributed that money to more than 40 poor people in a Bangladeshi village three decades ago, they treated him like an angel.
“If you can make so many people so happy with such a small amount of money, isn't it time we do something more?” he asked.
The thought led him to create the Grameen Bank, which now gives tiny loans to 7.5 million borrowers worldwide, mostly women, to help them climb out of poverty. Yunus and the bank shared the Nobel Peace Prize last year.
Draped in a black gown and a yellow-tasseled cap, Yunus shared his story Friday at a graduation ceremony at EARTH University in the Caribbean Limón province. He encouraged 90 graduates from 21 countries to tackle poverty, malnutrition, health care, housing and drinking water quality.
Also in the audience were Ticas who have received Grameen loans. Nearly 3,000 women in Limón have borrowed money from the bank's Costa Rican branch, established in early 2006 with a three-year $1.3 million grant from the Whole Planet Foundation. The bank has lent $848,000 for such projects as fattening farm animals, making pastries, and selling clothes and crafts. Women pay back the loans in small weekly increments.
Arias said Friday he would try to find seed money to expand the program to other parts of Costa Rica.
While poverty is low and human development is high on a national level here, wealth is unevenly distributed. Some 20.2% of households in Limón are poor, compared with 13.7% in the Central Valley, according to the National Statistics and Census Institute (INEC).
In his speech Friday, Yunus imagined a world without poverty.
“We will create poverty museums,” he said. “Because there are no poor people in the world, our kids will want to know, ‘what are these poor people you talk about?'” |
Nicaraguan Cardinal Pays Costa Rica a Visit |
Nicaraguan Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo visited San José Thursday to celebrate the gritería (shout), a 150-year-old Nicaraguan custom to honor the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, or “La Purísima”.
“I am here by invitation of the (Nicaraguan) Ambassador to celebrate La Purísima with the Nicaraguans (in Costa Rica) and our Costa Rican brothers and sisters who would like to join us,” he told reporters.
Obando y Bravo, Central America's only cardinal, said he wished to send “a message of hope” both to Costa Ricans and the growing migrant Nicaraguan population in their midst.
He said he hoped the joint Catholic celebration here would “unite us more, and help bring us peace.”
During the three-day trip, the cardinal also met with Costa Rican President Oscar Arias.
“Costa Ricans are a noble people, always showing solidarity in times of need, such as instances of earthquakes and hurricanes,” the cardinal said.
Obando y Bravo's visit comes at a time when Tico-Nica relations have wavered between lukewarm and frosty, charged with the thorny issues of immigration and diverging paths as Nicaragua verges further politically to the left.
When he was still Managua's archbishop, Obando y Bravo denounced the “godless communism” of his country's Sandinista movement, whose leader Daniel Ortega is serving as Nicaragua's president.
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Ticos Kick off Christmas Season With Giant Tamale
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A group of Costa Ricans took a Tico holiday tradition to new levels Friday by making a giant tamale to feed more than 2,000 people.
Measuring more than two meters long and one and a half meters wide, the cornmeal-and-pork Christmas specialty was made by employees of the tamale factory Arley Navarro in Aserrí, south of San José.
They used 40 kilos of cornmeal, 60 kilos of pork, 25 kilos of bacon, 60 red peppers, three kilos of garlic, 30 kilos of carrot and 30 bundles of cilantro in addition to 30 kilos of potatoes, 25 kilos of rice, 21 kilos of beans, 21 kilos of chickpeas, 15 kilos of olives, 100 kilos of plantain leaves and 200 meters of string to hold it all together.
The giant tamale elaboration was sponsored by Wal-Mart Costa Rica, which owns Costa Rican grocery stores including Más x Menos and Hipermás.
About 20 people spent eight hours Friday preparing it, and it was ready to be served up yesterday afternoon at the Hipermás in San Sebastián, south of San José.
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Casa 76: A Home Turned Restaurant in Santa Ana
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Santa Ana is becoming a growing boomtown with shopping malls, fast-food eat-eries and swanky restaurants galore. However, this erstwhile farming town southwest of the capital still has neighborhoods that have not been invaded by the never-ending development.
San Rafael de Santa Ana is one of these, and it is here that you will find Casa 76. Owner Gilda Sancho has converted her home of 20 years into a delightful restaurant surrounded by a colorful tropical garden, offering tranquil dining away from the bustling center of town.
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| Casa 76: The Santa Ana home of Gilda Sancho has been converted into a restaurant surrounded by a tropical garden. |
Ronald Reyes | Tico Times |
The restaurant specializes in pasta and pizzas, but also offers choices for those who prefer a “less Italianized” menu, Sancho says. Full of energy and enthusiasm about her recently opened venture, the charming Sancho is the owner of the original Casa 76 in Ciudad Colón, farther west along the valley. Her son runs the Ciudad Colón restaurant, while she concentrates on the new location.
“It's nice to be operating out of my own home,” she says.
The large house is built of a mixture of wood and every imaginable construction material.
“It's like a patchwork quilt,” Sancho says. The only new additions she has made are a large modern kitchen, bathrooms and an enlarged parking area.
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| Casa 76 calzone. |
Ronald Reyes | Tico Times |
The first thing you notice is the white wooden facade with its large, shuttered windows. Alfresco dining on the spacious veranda is a pleasant alternative to the interior dining room, where family dining tables and a large, open fireplace add to the friendly feeling of a private home.
Once the rainy season is over, Sancho says, the garden will be lit to offer attractive seating among the shrubbery.
I've visited Casa 76 twice and really enjoyed the ambience and food. I've since recommended it to friends who agree with me, and were happy with the friendly service and atmosphere.
For starters, the menu offers salads that I'm told are enormous and delicious, but should be ordered to share, or as a main course. Hot and cold appetizers include the usual Italian antipasto plates, salmon and beef carpaccio, mussels and soups. Prices, not including tax and service, range from ¢2,000 to ¢4,500 ($3.80-8.60).
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| Fettucine puttanesca. |
Ronald Reyes | Tico Times |
Twenty-two varieties of pizza boggle the mind, and calzones, stuffed oven-baked pizza turnovers, come with three different fillings. I tried the Casa 76, which was generously stuffed with ham, salami, mushrooms and bacon. My only complaint was that the bacon was undercooked for my liking. I have heard enthusiastic reviews of the Calzone Especial with ham, mushrooms and blue cheese. Prices for calzones and pizzas – which come in small, medium and large – range from ¢3,150 to ¢6,900 ($6-13).
Pasta lovers have 11 choices offering an interesting variety, and not one complaint have I heard. The fettucine puttanesca, a great favorite of mine, was delicious, as was the alfredo and del mar with a variety of seafood. A vegan guest ordered the simple spaghetti pomodoro and thoroughly enjoyed it, while the lasagnas and raviolis were all deemed excellent.
I've yet to try the pizza, but the talents of chef Jovanni Ramírez, when it comes to pasta and sauces, are certainly worthy of praise. The menu also offers chicken, steak and fish dishes (¢5,250-6,500/$10-12). The former two were fine, but the salmon was excessively salty, and a disappointed diner ate only a few mouthfuls.
The three desserts, panna cotta, ice cream and the traditional tres leches, all ¢1,500 ($2.90), remained unsampled by my crew. Perhaps the generous portions of pasta and pizza defeated even the heartiest appetites.
Casa 76 has no liquor license, but you are welcome to bring your own, and there is no corkage fee. However, the fresh fruit drinks served in individual jugs are delicious and will sate anybody's thirst.
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