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Yuletide Dragon: The Chinese dragon was a hit at Saturday's long and winding Festival of Lights parade in San José, winning the prize for “brightest” and “most original” float.
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| Harmony Reforma | Tico Times. |
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Chinese Float Steals Spotlight at Festival de la Luz |
One would never have guessed that the float to steal the show at San José's Saturday night Christmas parade would be Chinese. |
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Ecotourism Task Force to Meet in Costa Rica |
Costa Rica is set to host the next meeting of the International Task Force on Sustainable Tourism Development in February. |
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Campaign Says Toy Guns Are No Child's Play |
They seemed content to exchange their weapons for cars. |
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Foreign Minister Gears up for Return to U.N. Security Council |
In New York this week, Foreign Minister Bruno Stagno has been gearing up for Costa Rica's return to the U.N. Security Council on Jan. 1. |
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2007-08 National Surf
Circuit Kicks Off in Jacó |
More than 180 surfers signed up to compete in last weekend's Copa Man-go, the first date of the eighth annual National Surf Circuit, held in the central Pacific beach community of Jacó. And according to José Ureña, president of the Costa Rican Surf Federation, it's because they all want to be like powerhouse Tico surfer Diego Naranjo. Or Gilbert Brown. Or Federico Pilurzu. Or Jairo Pérez.
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Chinese Float Steals Spotlight at Festival de la Luz |
By Alex Leff
Tico Times Staff | aleff@ticotimes.net
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One would never have guessed that the float to steal the show at San José's Saturday night Christmas parade would be Chinese.
But indeed, the Chinese entourage took center stage when it ploughed through the Costa Rican Festival of Lights. Many spectators' jaws dropped while the glowing red and gold dragon float and human-controlled serpentine creatures slithered by, almost like a Chinese New Year's celebration. The troop won the top prizes for “brightest” and “most original” float, with 9.3 points out of 10.
On the Chinese float were the words Viva la Amistad China-Costa Rica, or “Long Live Chinese-Costa Rican Friendship,” reminding native festival-goers of their government's historic crossover in June, which ended diplomatic ties with Taiwan in favor of bridge-building with the China (TT, June 8).
However, San José's 11 th Festival of Lights once again showed that the Ticos, too, can put on an impressive Christmas street party, with 15 floats and almost as many marching bands crawling along Paseo Colón and Avenida Segunda at blaring decibels, but slug-like tempos.
Equally impressive was the Costa Ricans' stamina. Many families showed up in the morning to hold a spot close to the roped-off street parade. The parade finally started at 6:20 p.m. in a spat of rain and amid some 1,500 police, Red Cross and other security workers. The tail end was still trucking along at midnight.
Highlights included the bands' skillful drumming with twirling sticks, and horn sections that blasted songs ranging from traditional Christmas fare to U.S. band Black Eyed Peas' hip-hop craze “Don't Phunk with My Heart.” Also in gringo fashion, several cheerleading squads strutted top-notch acrobatics, and floats by Coca Cola and MasterCard led the league of corporate sponsors on display.
Judges gave the float driven by Canadian bank Scotiabank the top score of 8.9 points for its children's entertainment factor.
Deserving of another prize, perhaps, were those charged with the thankless task of cleaning up the mounds of rain-soaked trash left in the street by revelers. |
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Ecotourism Task Force to Meet in Costa Rica |
Costa Rica is set to host the next meeting of the International Task Force on Sustainable Tourism Development in February.
In an interview printed in this week's print edition of The Tico Times, Claire Hughes, a British Embassy adviser hired to assess Costa Rica's Peace with Nature initiative, points to tourism's potential for destruction, saying, “People come in, make their money, build their hotels and condos, then they're gone, on to the next place. What is Costa Rica left with?”
Participating countries including Australia, France, Germany, the United States and Great Britain have engaged in an almost two-year-old task force working on ways to prevent further ruin from tourism, whether culturally, economically or environmentally.
“I'm sure that it will be a fruitful meeting,” Costa Rican Tourism Minister Carlos Benavidas told reporters.
He boasted Costa Rica's green practices and efforts toward sustainable development, which have helped lead the country to become a premier destination for ecotourism.
“Tourism policies should foster an equal distribution of resources,” he said.
Benavidas also pointed to the country's goals to slash its greenhouse gas emissions, as President Oscar Arias declared in June, “By 2021, Costa Rica's 200 th birthday, we will be a carbon neutral country.” That implies the tourism sector, too, Benavidas said.
“Costa Rica is a country with one of the highest levels of biodiversity in the world,” said Benavidas, but it also faces the problem of climate change, “a serious challenge for humanity.”
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Campaign Says Toy Guns Are No Child's Play |
They seemed content to exchange their weapons for cars.
No, it was not some bizarre anecdote from a U.N. disarmament project. These were Costa Rican children exchanging toy guns and other children's gifts seen as promoting violence for more playful, peaceful Christmas gifts, such as toy cars, soccer balls or dolls.
The exchange was part of a campaign called “Peace, a treasure for humanity,” started Friday at the National Children's Hospital in San José, the daily Diario Extra reported.
Legislator Alexánder Mora, one of the leading voices behind the campaign, has also been trying to push forward bill that would regulate the sale of toys that mock guns and other weapons.
The next “farewell to arms” will take place Dec. 22 in the Southern Zone canton of Pérez Zeledón, and will be carried out every three months in a different part of the country, the organizers said.
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-Tico Times
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Foreign Minister Gears up for
Return to U.N. Security Council |
In New York this week, Foreign Minister Bruno Stagno has been gearing up for Costa Rica's return to the U.N. Security Council on Jan. 1.
Costa Rica will work to improve cooperation between the council and the International Criminal Court (ICC) in fighting crimes against humanity, he wrote in a statement while attending a two-week meeting of the court's Assembly of States Parties, which Stagno has presided over since 2005.
“Costa Rica intends to promote peace and justice at the same time and in a parallel manner,” said Stagno.
There are five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council— China, France, Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States. Costa Rica next month will become a member of the 10 non-permanent members, elected by the General Assembly for two-year terms.
Other newly elected two-year members are Burkina Faso, Croatia, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya and Vietnam.
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2007-08 National Surf Circuit Kicks Off in Jacó |
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More than 180 surfers signed up to compete in last weekend's Copa Man-go, the first date of the eighth annual National Surf Circuit, held in the central Pacific beach community of Jacó. And according to José Ureña, president of the Costa Rican Surf Federation, it's because they all want to be like powerhouse Tico surfer Diego Naranjo. Or Gilbert Brown. Or Federico Pilurzu. Or Jairo Pérez.
Or Nino Myrie, who from his first heat Saturday morning in front of Hotel Copacabana was hungry to win the trophy. The 23-year-old surfer from the southern Caribbean coast's Puerto Viejo did indeed take the top spot after all was said and done on Sunday afternoon.
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| Winners' Podium: Nino Myrie (second from left) shares his winner's trophy with son Ziggy, flanked by second-place Jason Torres (second from left), third-place Gilbert Brown (far right) and fourth-place Diego Naranjo (far left). |
Photo by Shifi Surf Shots |
“It's been quite a year for the circuit veterans,” Ureña said, referring to some recent big wins among circuit old-timers.
Jacó's Naranjo, 26, after winning the 2007 National Surf Circuit championship, placed third in the Mexpipe Vans Pro in Mexico. Also from Jacó, Luis Vindas, 21, winner of the country's first Triple Crown competition, had some top Latin American Surf Association (ALAS) wins this year. Federico Pilurzu, 24, of Tamarindo, on the northern Pacific coast, was in the top 100 on the Association of Surfing Professionals World Qualifying Series and made it to the Hawaiian North Shore's Triple Crown. Puerto Viejo's Gilbert Brown, 25, scored a bronze medal at the Pan American Surfing Games in Chile to become the third best surfer in all of Latin America. And 17-year-old Jairo Pérez of Jacó won the ALAS Reef Classic Latin Pro earlier this month, beating both Mexican National Champion Diego Cadena and three-time ALAS Pro Junior Champion Manuel Selman of Chile.
“Costa Rica is maintaining a very high international reputation in surfing right now, and that's because of the circuit system,” Ureña added. “With the start of the 2007-08 season, the young kids starting out are looking at the contest and thinking that they can one day become like these veterans and do what they are doing. They can also compete now against these champions. And that's exciting to them.”
And that's exactly what happened last weekend in Jacó, with competitors coming from all over the country to compete in the circuit's 13 categories, from “open” to “novice.” Interestingly, the categories that grew the most in numbers were “boys” and “mini-grommet girls.”
Naranjo said he was very impressed with the amount of young surfers he saw out paddling in waves of four to six feet – sometimes barrels – particularly those kids between the ages of 8 and 10, who “charged the field, even though the waves this weekend were big,” he said. “They pushed their level.”
Myrie, looking to take advantage of the circuit for himself, was on fire from start to finish during the Copa Mango. His focus was noticed by circuit announcer Carlos Brenes in the tower, who shouted, “Myrie is hungry!” during his semifinal heat, while the surfer smacked the lip backside once, twice, then three times.
But it was during the open finals, which also featured Naranjo, Brown and Jason Torres of Jacó, that Myrie pushed himself the hardest. Not satisfied with his 360 front-side spin, which wowed the crowd, he came back shortly after with a back-side 360 air and landed perfectly. The result: Myrie – the 2002-03 national surf champion – won first place, followed by Torres in second, Brown in third and Naranjo in fourth.
“I did all my heats whole and full force,” Myrie said after the final, sharing the winner's podium with his young son Ziggy. “I feel really good about that final heat. I'm really content.”
In the women's category, returning to the spotlight was five-time National Surf Circuit Women's Champion Lisbeth Vindas of Jacó. The 26-year-old veteran scored the women's trophy from reigning champion Nataly Bernold, 14, who placed second this year. Vindas, who on Sunday rushed from university exams to the water, making her heats with about three minutes to spare, thanked Bernold for challenging her, and keeping her own level of competition high. Look for these two to battle it out back and forth this year in the water.
One happy surprise last weekend was when shortboard aerialist Luis Vindas won first place in the longboard category. Vindas said he had been watching his brother-in-law Naranjo's efforts on the big stick and got curious about it, but “never practiced,” though he knew the national team needed some help in that department. Earlier last week, Vindas shaped his own longboard and started riding, performing airs and receiving loud applause from those on the shore.
“I'm surprised I won,” Vindas said, looking at his trophy. “I didn't expect this, but I got good waves.”
“Luis is super-talented,” Naranjo acknowledged. “Everything he does, he does perfectly.”
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