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Only Child : Fewer Costa Rican women are opting for the seven plus kids their mothers had as the nation's fertility rate drops to 1.9, just below the two children per family needed to sustain the population replacement level.
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| Mónica Quesada | Tico Times |
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Mystery Sphere Spotted Again in Osa |
What's gray, round and keeps popping up all over? Stone spheres, hand-crafted by the country's indigenous population. |
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Fertility Rate at Record Low |
The fertility rate reached an all-time low last year at 1.9 children per woman of reproductive age, reports Costa Rica's National Statistics and Census Institute (INEC). The number has fallen just below the two-child mark needed to sustain the population replacement level. |
| See More... |
Last Gas Hike of the Year Goes into Force |
Fuel prices went up again today, as a hike approved by the Public Services Regulatory Authority went into effect. The cost of a liter of super and regular gasoline went up 22 colones ($0.044) and 20 colones ($0.04), while diesel went up by 25 ($0.05). |
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New Stamp Honors Arias |
The face of President Oscar Arias is soon to pop up on mail around the country as Ticos use new stamps launched yesterday by Correos de Costa Rica, S.A., the company that manages the country's postal service. |
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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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Mystery Sphere Spotted Again in Osa |
By Alex Leff
Tico Times Staff | aleff@ticotimes.net
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What's gray, round and keeps popping up all over? Stone spheres, hand-crafted by the country's indigenous population.
Archaeologists have found another one of Costa Rica's mysterious spheres in an excavation near the Osa Peninsula, the National Museum reported. The sphere is roughly the same size as one discovered at the same dig in 1993: 1.10 meters in diameter.
Regarded as indigenous monolithic treasures, hundreds of perfectly round balls have been spotted in different parts of the country. Many are no larger than a bowling ball. Some are more like a big boulder, weighing 16 tons. They are usually made of granodiarite, a hard, igneous stone.
This one was found at the Finca 6 site, in canton de Osa, at the foot of an underground entrance ramp to what archaeologists believe was a pre-Colombian chiriquí home, museum Director Francisco Corrales told The Tico Times.
The exact use and origin of the spheres remains a mystery; attempts to explain it have ranged from comic to cosmic.
But according to Corrales, this latest discovery reinforces a more scientific theory.
“The finding leads us to believe that these spheres were symbols of social prestige and hierarchical positions” during the Chiriquí period from 800 to 1500 AD, he said. The Chiriquí people were ancestors of the Brunca, one of Costa Rica's eight indigenous groups.
“This is important because it reinforces the fact that they (the spheres) were created by indigenous people who had a complex society, capable of constructing such things. (The Chiriqui) were experts with stone,” he said.
Ifigenia Quintanilla, the archaeologist who discovered the sister sphere in
1993, was delighted to hear the news. “After more than 50 years of destruction, by people mining for gold and exploiting the land for bananas, it is amazing that it's still possible to find spheres intact in their original place,” said Quintanilla, who will soon publish an illustrated book with explanations in Spanish and English of the sphere phenomenon.
Considering over 90% of the known stone balls are not in their original homes, she added, it is all the more remarkable.
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Fertility Rate at Record Low |
By Alex Leff
Tico Times Staff | aleff@ticotimes.net
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The fertility rate reached an all-time low last year at 1.9 children per woman of reproductive age, reports Costa Rica's National Statistics and Census Institute (INEC). The number has fallen just below the two-child mark needed to sustain the population replacement level.
Society has strayed a long way from the average 7.3 kids per household of 1960-1961. Since then, the rate has steadly declined. By 2003, INEC says, the birth rate was 2.1 babies per women; in 2005 it fell to two.
Luis Rosero, researcher at the Central American Population Center at Costa Rica University (UCR), attributes the birth decline to a number of factors. “Higher education levels among women and greater incorporation into the workforce, the high cost of raising children, more available contraception, changes in values,” he said, to name a few.
“Young people are placing less importance on maternity. It used to be that girls would become a woman through motherhood,” he added.
When asked if a reduced role of religion had played a part, Rosero said, “Not at all.”
“We have found no difference between practicing Catholics and non- in terms of the birth rate.”
The decline, however, isn't a threat to the Costa Rican population, Rosero said. “We predict that, most probably, the population will grow to 6 million until 2050, and will then stabilize,” he said. That is, he added, unless the birth rate continues to drop below 1.8, and immigration stops entirely. |
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Last Gas Hike of the Year Goes into Force |
Fuel prices went up again today, as a hike approved by the Public Services Regulatory Authority went into effect. The cost of a liter of super and regular gasoline went up 22 colones ($0.044) and 20 colones ($0.04), while diesel went up by 25 ($0.05).
That leaves prices of a liter of super, regular and diesel fuel at 574 colones ($1.15), 559 colones ($1.13), and 513 colones ($1.03), respectively.
A statement by the authority said this is the last price hike Costa Rica will see for the rest of the year. Since the beginning of the year, prices have gone up 17.6% and 21.5% for super and regular, and 40.9% for deisel.
Soaring fuel prices have helped push Costa Rican inflation to over 10% for the last 12-month period, one of the highest rates in the region.
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-Tico Times
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New Stamp Honors Arias |
The face of President Oscar Arias is soon to pop up on mail around the country as Ticos use new stamps launched yesterday by Correos de Costa Rica, S.A., the company that manages the country's postal service.
The 160,000 stamps were designed to commemorate the country's own Nobel Peace Prize winner. They began circulating yesterday with the name “Esquipulas II” after the peace accords Arias helped reach in the Guatemalan town by the same name in 1987.
That same year, Arias received a peace prize for these efforts, which helped end years of war in Central America.
Across the ocean yesterday in Oslo, Norway, the winners of this year's Nobel prizes received their awards during a ceremony.
The “Esquipulas II” stamp is the last one the postal company says it will release in 2007. |
-ACAN-EFE
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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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