Sep 11, 2008

Drumming for independence: Students of Colegio de Señoritas in downtown San José rehearse for Monday's big event, the Costa Rican Independence Day Parade.

Ronald Reyes / Tico Times

The Costa Rica men's national soccer team beat Haiti last night 3-1, holding its place atop its World Cup qualifying group with a third straight win.

Despite four successive storms, including Hurricanes Ike and Gustav, that led to the deaths of at least 550 people in weeks prior, the game was played as scheduled on a water-logged field in the Sylvia Cator Stadium in Port-au-Prince.

Tico forward Bryan Ruiz drew first blood with a goal in the 12th minute, but Haiti responded with a goal in the 39th minute, and the two teams went into the halftime in a draw.

In the second half, the Haitians outscored La Sele, but only Tico shots found the net, as Ruíz notched his second goal in the 74th minute, and Alejandro Alpizar scored the game's most stylish goal on a cross that slid just over the keeper's hands and under the far upper V.

Earlier in the week, Costa Rica pounded Suriname 7 to 0. Froylán Ledezma commenced the barrage by scoring the first two goals, however, drew his second yellow card in as many games, disqualifying him from last night's match.

Halfway through the six-game quadrangular phase, Costa Rica leads its qualifying group with nine points – three for each win – to El Salvador's six. Although the wins take La Sele have the team sitting pretty (and secure) in qualifying, many say the team has yet to meet any considerable opposition and remains relatively untested under new head coach Rodrigo Kenton, who took over this summer.

For now, La Sele gets a break until they play in Suriname on Oct. 11.

The United States and Trinidad & Tobago lead Group A after two games; Mexico and Honduras Group B. The top two teams from each of the three groups will advance to next year's hexagonal final qualifying round.

Tomorrow about 150 managers of small hotels from around Central America will gather in San José's Radisson Hotel for their sixth annual conference, searching for ways to remain competitive in the face of a growing number of foreign-owned chain hotels.

The irony of their chosen venue is not lost upon the event's organizer, local hotelier and president of the Costa Rican Network of Small Hotels, Jane Lemarie, but she says the problem with small hotels is they just don't have the space to host a big conference. That is why the message of the conference, which is also organized by the Central American Federation of Small Hotels, will be strength through numbers, she says.

Some 2,500 hotels are open in the country and 80 percent of them have fewer than 50 rooms, according to figures from the Costa Rican Tourism Board. Yet the increasing presence of foreign hotel chains, such as the Hilton, which recently announced a fifth hotel project here, presents a challenge to smaller hotels with fewer resources, especially in marketing.

But Lemarie, who is the president and founder of the, has a plan. She hopes that small hotels can better compete by emphasizing service and by cooperating with each other as a network.

GRANADA, Nicaragua – The decision this week by U.S. Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez to cancel his trip to Nicaragua later this month represents a “chilling of relations between the United States and Nicaragua,” according to a top foreign policy analyst here.

Ex-Foreign Minister Emilio Alvarez said yesterday that Gutierrez's decision to cancel his trip to meet with President Daniel Ortega indicates relations between the two governments could be “less friendly” moving forward.

The U.S. Embassy has confirmed that Gutierrez canceled his trip here because “international circumstances have changed.” U.S. Ambassador Robert Callahan would not elaborate.

Arturo Cruz, Nicaragua's ambassador to the United States, has described Gutierrez in the past as one of Ortega's closest allies in the U.S. administration of George W. Bush. The two have met on several occasions and his trip here later this month was going to be an effort to strengthen relations even further, while exploring possibilities of bringing new U.S. investment to Nicaragua.

Alvarez says that the cancelation sends a clear diplomatic message that the United States is not – at the moment – interested in strengthening those ties with Ortega's government.

For Alvarez, the decision is a response to Ortega's recent controversial recognition of two Georgian separatist provinces that are seeking independence following Russia's military intervention in that region last month. Ortega announced Sept. 2 that Nicaragua will officially recognize the rebel provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, making Nicaragua the only country in the world besides Russia to do so.

Alvarez said Ortega's recognition of the rebel provinces has to do with a “nostalgia” for leftist solidarity with the Soviet Union in the 1980s and a political gamble that Nicaragua could benefit from Russian oil if Ortega buddies up to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

But in recognizing the breakaway provinces, Alvarez says, Ortega is sticking his nose in an international problem he has nothing to do with, threatening relations with the United States and the European community.

MADRID, Spain – Costa Rican President Oscar Arias said here yesterday that if Europe wants to contribute to development in Latin America, “it must make sure” in advance that the aid it provides will actually be used for that purpose.

Arias, on an official visit to Spain, made the remarks at the New Economy Forum, where he was introduced by Spanish Deputy Prime Minister María Teresa Fernández de la Vega after being received by King Juan Carlos at Zarzuela Palace.

In his speech, Arias said that Latin America and Europe cannot enter a new phase of cooperation while “being weighed down by the burdens of the past.”

He said nations should lessen military spending, given that almost 200 million Latin Americans “are languishing in poverty.”

“The time has come for the international community to recognize which expenditures translate into a better quality of life for human beings and which do not,” the 1987 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize said.

The president cited the $36 billion in military spending in 2007 in Latin America, a region that “with the exception of Colombia, is not experiencing any armed conflict.”

“With that money," Arias said, citing World Bank figures, “all the Millennium Development Goals in the areas of education and the environment worldwide could be achieved.”

As long as “abysmal” inequality persists, thousands of people will continue emigrating every year to Europe in search of opportunities they are unable to find in their own countries, he said.

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.

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.