Health officials ordered the Hotel Occidental Allegro Papagayo to begin preparations for closure yesterday after discovering pipes dumping unidentified wastewater into an estuary adjoining its grounds.

Health officials ordered the Hotel Occidental Allegro Papagayo to begin preparations for closure yesterday after discovering pipes dumping unidentified wastewater into an estuary adjoining its grounds.

Health Minister María Luisa Avila confirmed that the 300-room all-inclusive hotel, located in the northwestern province of Guanacaste, had received the orders and would soon be required to escort guests from the premises.

The announcement comes after repeated warnings and sanitary orders from local officials, who had kept tabs on the hotel since April, when an inspection revealed the hotel's sewage treatment plant had failed.

Shortly after the discovery, hotel manager Guillermo Guerra, in a letter signed and dated April 24, wrote that the problem had been “corrected,” and that officials could “rest easy” knowing that it “would remain definitively eliminated in the future.”

Following Guerra's assurances, officials discovered trucks leaving the hotel at the rate of 50 or more a day, carrying and depositing sewage in small-scale, sometimes archaic treatment plants that either lacked permits, or lacked the capacity to handle the loads.

The foul-smelling deliveries reached fever pitch in December, as sunny skies ushered tourists to Guanacaste's hotels.

Residents in the nearby towns of El Gallo and Santa Cruz, where the sewage was being delivered, cried foul, filing dozens of complaints, holding protests and blocking roads to prevent passage of the often unmarked trucks.

“The hotel was desperate,” said Liberia municipal environment inspector Augusta Otarola, who last month outlined its seemingly panic-stricken activity in a meticulous detailed summary. “It should have been shut down long ago.”

The issue was the lead story in Friday's Tico Times, which revealed the chain of events and the government foot-dragging that had allowed the hotel to operate despite countless irregularities.

Copies of The Tico Times article were forwarded by activists and concerned Costa Rican citizens to Health Minister Avila, as well as Presidency Minister Rodrigo Arias, and a Spanish-language translation was distributed to municipal officials.

The Allegro Papagayo, part of the global Spanish chain Occidental, is one of 25 concessionaires in the government-sponsored and directed Papagayo Tourism Project, the largest such development in Central America, and one which for decades has touted itself as “eco-friendly.”

Activists have long decried the government's plans to up the total number of rooms in the 2,000 hectare (7.7 square mile) project from the originally proposed 1,500 to 26,450. They question whether the region could sustain the pressure.

Gadi Amit, of the well-established Guanacaste Brotherhood Fraternity, a local environmental group that has long highlighted lack of water and sewage problems in the region, said the recent discovery and closure puts the development situation in perspective.

“This kind of growth is simply not sustainable, and this is proof. Before the government invites more investors here, it needs to regain control and put a more realistic plan in place,” he said.

A proposal by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez to create a united “Army of ALBA” to defend member states from potential hostilities from the United States or Colombia is being ridiculed by Nicaragua's opposition leaders as “crazy,” “adventurist” and – most importantly – unconstitutional.

Chávez proposed the idea Sunday afternoon during his weekly national address, “Alo Presidente.” He was accompanied by Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, visiting Venezuela for a summit meeting of the countries belonging to the socialist cooperation agreement known as ALBA, or the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas. During the address, Chávez spoke of the need to create an Army of ALBA to defend the member nations – Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, Bolivia and Dominica – from potential aggression from the United States.

As is the case with other ALBA initiatives, it was unclear whether the proposal to create a NATO-like military alliance was something that had been thought out in advance, or whether it was just Chávez talking off the top of his head. Regardless, Ortega agreed with the proposal and said that an attack on any member country of ALBA would be considered an attack against all countries.

Back in Nicaragua, the idea is being ridiculed as “crazy talk.”

Nicaraguan defense expert Roberto Cajina said that the creation of a common army is highly unlikely for legal reasons, as well as political and financial. Cajina said that the Constitution stipulates that the military can only be sent abroad for humanitarian purposes in times of peace, and that the National Assembly, which is controlled by the opposition, is the only competent authority to approve the deployment of Nicaraguan troops abroad or the entrance into Nicaragua of foreign troops.

Opposition lawmakers insist there is no way they would ever approve such a foolhardy plan.

Jamileth Bonilla, president of the National Assembly's Commission on Foreign Affairs, told The Nica Times yesterday that the proposal is just another example of “crazy talk” from Ortega and Chávez. She said she thinks the whole thing is a smokescreen to hide everything else that is going on under the cloak of ALBA, such as the mysterious Venezuelan aid and oil profits that no one in the Ortega administration has accounted for thus far.

Opposition leader Eduardo Montealegre, of the Nicaraguan Liberal Alliance (ALN), went a step further and said that Ortega's militaristic declarations of late could be an attempt to hide his intentions to once again reinstate the military draft – something that Ortega this week denied.

Read this Friday's Nica Times, an eight-page publication of The Tico Times, for more on the Sandinista government and National Security.

Here's a hardy ornamental for the home garden that rates high on the eco-garden list. I'm referring to the ti plant (Cordyline terminalis), which is highly esteemed for its foliage with striking hues of red, yellow, green and blue.

Many nurseries in Costa Rica use the name ti, though it's also popularly called caña india. This name is used for many of the dracaenas, which are close relatives to the ti plant. However, ti plants have distinctive stems with clasping petioles that cling to the trunk of the plant. Borne on long panicles among the leaves, the pastel flowers look like small, violet and yellow lilies and have a pleasant fragrance and appearance. These plants have a tendency to form an upright shrub, though older specimens become gangly and bend toward the ground.

Ti plants are most often used to enhance a tropical landscaping effect. They are best set in foundation arrangements or large pots, as single standing specimens or under larger trees, as they are very shade-tolerant. In fact, their colors are enhanced in shady habitats.

Landscape Star: Ti plants are prized for their striking red and green foliage.

Ed Bernhardt | Tico Times

It's interesting to note that the ti plant originated in eastern Asia and the Polynesian Islands. It has deep cultural roots in Hawaii, where it's known as ki and is planted around homes to bring good luck and ward off evil spirits. The plant's leaves are also used for thatching, rain gear, clothing, wrapping for food and fodder for livestock, and the roots for food and beverages.

Renowned botanist Henry Pittier, who classified many of Costa Rica's plants in 1908, did not include the ti plant, which leads me to believe this plant was a rather late arrival to the country. Perhaps it arrived decades later with the banana companies.

Propagating ti plants is simple. Stem cuttings 10 to 20 centimeters long can be planted in pots or plastic nursery bags or even planted directly in the soil in their permanent sites. Kids enjoy the magic of starting plants from cuttings; you can use recycled plastic cups and gain a “three Rs” lesson all in one.

Ti plants do well in a wide range of soils, though rich, fertile loam encourages the best growth. They require no water in the dry season, nor chemical fertilizers or insecticides. All you need is compost, which is easily made at home from organic kitchen and yard waste. Compost can change hard, red clay soil into dark, soft brown soil, or sandy soil into a brown sandy loam.

Nurseries carry a wide variety of ti plants, but it's also fun to check around the neighborhood and beg a cutting or two from a neighbor – why, you can even trade at times. Who knows? It may even bring a little luck your way.

For more information on tropical gardening, visit www.thenewdawncenter.info or write thenewdawncenter@yahoo.com.