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Cooped up high: Chickens wait for the flooding to fade yesterday afternoon on the roof of a house off the side of Playas del Coco Highway in Costa Rica's northwest Guanacaste, where emergency officials issued a red alert because of heavy rains and flooding they said are side effects of Tropical Storm Hanna. |
Devon Magee / Tico Times |
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| Costa Rica rivers overflow with Hanna rain |
With heavy rains falling over the last few days, the National Emergency Commission declared red and yellow alerts in parts of the country. |
| See More... |
| U.S. citizen found dead in Barrio Escalante |
| Costa Rican authorities are investigating the death of U.S. citizen with the last name Hendrix, whose body they found in an apartment in San José's Barrio Escalante, the Judicial Investigation Organization said in a press release yesterday. |
| See More... |
| La Sele gear up for two international games this week |
The Costa Rican men's soccer team is gearing up for two World Cup qualifying matches this week, although there will be some new faces on the field. |
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| Costa Rica wants gender equality by 2017 |
Costa Rica has passed a law aimed at closing the gap entirely between men and women in politics and the workplace by 2017. |
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| Guanacaste town gets tough on unlicensed businesses |
The Municipality of Carrillo closed down more than a dozen small retail businesses on Monday in Plaza Colonial, a new shopping center in Playas del Coco, in the northwestern province of Guanacaste. |
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Polideportivos Have
People on the Move |
All over Costa Rica, people are on the move. They're spinning, running, swimming, walking with dogs, walking without dogs, playing tennis, soccer, béisbol and more. People of all ages are becoming health-conscious and keeping fit as well as getting “unstressed.” |
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| Costa Rica rivers overflow with Hanna rain |
By Nick Wilkinson
Tico Times Staff | nwilkinson@ticotimes.net |
With heavy rains falling over the last few days, the National Emergency Commission declared red and yellow alerts in parts of the country.
Rains blamed on outcroppings from Tropical Storm Hanna have caused multiple rivers in the northwestern province of Guanacaste to overflow their banks and numerous bridges have been hit by floodwater. Residents in the U.S. East Coast braced themselves this week for Hanna, which killed 90 people in Haiti, according to Radio Netherlands.
Some Costa Rican communities have already been flooded, cut off from electricity and potable water and at least 500 people have fled their homes in the wake of the destruction to shelters set up by the Commission.
Authorities shut down vehicle traffic Wednesday between Liberia and Filadelfia because the Tempisque River was dangerously close to cresting above the bridge connecting those two cities. One Liberia resident, Erik Dannau, said the water already crested above the bridge. Dannau said the local Barrio de la Cruz is completely under water.
Government offices shut down as certain parts of Filadelfia were evacuated because of concerns about the Tempisque River breaking through dykes. Other flooded areas include Bambú in Filadelfia, Nacascolo in Liberia and parts of Cañas, where authorities ordered an evacuation of the Bagaces sector.
Cut-off communities include La Cruz y Murciélago and Sámara because of the overflowing Cuajiniquil y Combo River.
The daily La Nación reported that 200 meters of road had been destroyed by the rains between Miramar and Arancibia in Montes de Oro canton.
Other affected rivers include the Cañas y Bebedero in Bagaces canton, Enmedio y Diría in Santa Cruz, and the Tempisquito, Sapoá, Cuajiniquil in La Cruz.
All of Guanacaste province and two cantons – Puntarenas and Montes de Oro in Puntarenas province – are under red alert.
Yellow alert covers other Pacific coast cantons further south, including Orotina, San Mateo, Puntarenas, Parrita, Esparza, Aguirre and Garabito. The rest of the country is under green alert, the most benign of the warnings.
The commission declared yellow and green alerts for the same regions Wednesday but upgraded them yesterday. |
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| U.S. citizen found dead in Barrio Escalante |
Costa Rican authorities are investigating the death of U.S. citizen with the last name Hendrix, whose body they found in an apartment in San José's Barrio Escalante, the Judicial Investigation Organization said in a press release yesterday.
Agents found Hendrix with a gash in his throat, “apparently caused by an edged weapon, but the preliminary results from the autopsy will have to determine the exact cause of death,” the bulletin said.
As of yesterday, authorities hadn't detained any suspects. |
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La Sele gear up for two
international games this week |
By Holly K. Sonneland
Tico Times Staff | hsonneland@ticotimes.net |
The Costa Rican men's soccer team is gearing up for two World Cup qualifying matches this week, although there will be some new faces on the field.
La Sele will host Suriname's national squad tomorrow at 8 p.m. at the Ricardo Saprissa Stadium in Tibás, on the northern side of the capital. They then plan to travel to Haiti for a game on Wednesday, Sept. 10.
Alvaro Saborío, who scored Costa Rica's lone goal during their Aug. 20 qualifier against El Salvador off a penalty kick, will miss tomorrow's game after having received a red card in the match last month. After injuring a knee in a game with his club team in Switzerland, Saborío has been OK'd to play Haiti.
Junior Diaz and Froylán Ledezma will try to be on their best behavior as they are both carrying yellow cards from the previous game as well.
Several players are also out nursing injuries. Defender Cristian Montero, who plays locally for Alajuelense, will miss both games due to a muscle injury to his right leg. Starting keeper Ricardo “Gallo” González and forward Alonso Solís are both recovering from injuries.
Head Coach Rodrigo Kenton called up eight new players to the roster for the upcoming pair of games. The absences, however, have not given cause for serious concern as Costa Rica is expected to easily handle the competition this week.
While the game in Port-au-Prince is still on schedule, a series of storms that have ravaged the country recently, including Tropical Storm Hanna, may alter those plans.
The four teams make up Group 3 in this “quadrangular” phase of the regional CONCACAF (Confederation of North and Central American and Caribbean Football) tournament. The top two teams will meet with the top two teams from the other two groups for a six-team “hexagonal” phase beginning next year. The top two teams from this CONCACAF championship will go on to the 2010 World Cup, to be held in South Africa. |
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| Costa Rica wants gender equality by 2017 |
Costa Rica has passed a law aimed at closing the gap entirely between men and women in politics and the workplace by 2017.
The National Policy of Gender Equality and Equity was signed Wednesday by Vice President Laura Chinchilla, Public Health Minister María Luisa Avila and Planning Minister Roberto Gallardo, in an almost 100-woman strong ceremony.
The legislation comprises 85 measures hoped to boost women's salaries up to par with men's and put females in more power positions of government, as well providing better safeguards for their rights against domestic violence.
The decree also says, by 2017, all young Costa Ricans are to learn about sexual reproduction, sexual health and how to break down gender stereotypes.
Chinchilla, the acting president while Costa Rican leader Oscar Arias tours Europe, said she was “honored” to sign the decree.
“To deny that in our country there's gender discrimination is as unreasonable as it is unjust to our women,” she said. |
-EFE |
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Guanacaste town gets tough
on unlicensed businesses |
By Devon Magee
Special to The Tico Times | editorial@ticotimes.net
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The Municipality of Carrillo closed down more than a dozen small retail businesses on Monday in Plaza Colonial, a new shopping center in Playas del Coco, in the northwestern province of Guanacaste.
Aida Pizarro, the municipality's licensing director, confirmed the development lacked construction permits.
Videocentro, a movie rental store, reopened on Tuesday. “People think that we're closed, and they don't come in,” said owner Iván Stoyanov, pointing to the red tape that blocked entry to the neighboring stores. “Now my clients think that this isn't a serious business.”
Pizarro said she is confident all businesses would reopen in the near future. Mega Super, a grocery store chain in the same development, was the only business not forced to close. |
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| Polideportivos Have People on the Move |
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All over Costa Rica, people are on the move. They're spinning, running, swimming, walking with dogs, walking without dogs, playing tennis, soccer, béisbol and more. People of all ages are becoming health-conscious and keeping fit as well as getting “unstressed.”
The polideportivo in Alajuela, northwest of San José, is just one of the sport complexes set up by different levels of government to add vim, vigor and fun to our lives. This one, located in Monserrat, an area behind the Mall Internacional, was built in 1987 for the national games held there that year. After the games ended, the playing fields, track, gymnasium and Olympic-size pool remained. The complex is now run by the Alajuela Municipality.
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| Movin': Rosa Isela Salazar, right, leads an outdoor aerobics class at the Alajuela polideportivo. |
Mitzi Stark | Tico Times |
All cantons have sport and recreation committees. Some are more elaborate and some are bare basics, depending on the whims and purses of the committees. Alajuelans are lucky; the Ciruelas River and an avenue of trees on one border make their polideportivo cool and attractive.
The boulevard in front of the gym is for walking, pushing baby strollers, running, exercising dogs, biking, skateboarding and even wheelchair experts doing wheelies. On weekends, families ride bikes together, skate, walk around the perimeter and watch the more daring do tricks on skateboards in the concrete bowl. It's a comfortable and safe place to bring the kids with their scooters, bikes or skates. There is also a play area especially for children.
Also on weekends, sport teams, soccer, speed skating, track and baseball get going, and there are benches for those whose sport activity consists of watching.
But it's inside the gym that we see real action. Weekday mornings from 8 to 9 a.m., Rosa Isela Salazar leads a group of up to 60 people in aerobics. They are all ages and all sizes, mostly women, but a handful of men come regularly.
“Whoever comes joins in,” says Salazar, a certified aerobics teacher.
It's totally free and there are no fancy clothes or tools for this sport, just “tennis shoes and comfortable clothes,” she adds.
A few come in snazzy, matching spandex outfits that stretch with the vigorous movements and are certainly becoming, but anything apart from tight jeans will do.
It's not easy coordinating arms and legs with the rapid salsa, cumbia or merengue music. Just when you think you've got it together, Salazar calls out “ avance, ” and everyone marches forward and out of step until she calls “atrás.” It's a wonder no one gets kicked or tangled up.
Aerobics classes are free. Some people come every day, others when they can.
Swimming in the 50-meter-long pool is inside lanes in one-hour sessions. Trainers are there to give pointers or to teach swimming lessons. A monthly fee of ¢4,000 ($7.30) covers twice-a-week swims; ¢6,000 ($11) a month gets you four times a week.
Sometimes sports centers host special events, such as the international chess tournament held at the Alajuela polideportivo in July. Chess is a sport in Latin America, and this tournament drew players from 17 countries, topnotchers from Europe, the United States, South America, Cuba and Israel. Chess is by far the quietest sport, even with 240 participants ranging in age from 6 to 83; they're all concentrating on their next moves and nobody dares to talk, whistle or even crunch food.
Polideportivos give athletes a place to train and compete, on the track or in the ring, pool or field. At Monserrat, all activities are free except for swimming and classes.
There are sport installations and polideportivos throughout the country. The Palacio de Deportes in Heredia, north of San José, is right next to the soccer stadium. Around the Central Valley, Santo Domingo, San Antonio de Belén, Parque de la Paz and La Sabana Park have polideportivos, as do Cartago, east of the capital, the Southern Zone's Pérez Zeledón, and Cañas, in the northwestern Guanacaste province.
To find out about sports programs near your home or place of work, contact your municipality.
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