The Tico Times Online Daily Page

Daily Edition: San José, Costa Rica, March 4, 2004

SPACE-AGE anthropology: A NASA DC-8 Airborne Science laboratory made arrived in Costa Rica yesterday during its mission to explore what lies hidden beneath Central America's tropical forests. Equipped with a radar that can penetrate trees, sand and snow, scientists hope to find new evidence of Pre-Columbian civilizations.
Photo courtesy of NASA

NASA Search for Central American
Archeology Lands in Costa Rica
An international team of NASA scientists arrived in Costa Rica yesterday during the third day of an expedition to unearth archeological secrets in Central America.
(Click for more)

March 4

Film Festival
Festival features "Citizen Kane," by Orson Welles (Spanish subtitles), 6 p.m. at Calderón Guardia Museum, 100 m. east, 125 m. north of Santa Teresita Church in Barrio Escalante. Info: 255-1218, 222-6392.

Art to Save the Rainforest
Fundraising auction, 7:30-9:30 p.m., Café de Artistas in Escazú, Info: 288-5082, funcorco@racsa.co.cr.

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NASA Search for Central American
Archeology Lands in Costa Rica
By Rebecca Kimitch
rkimitch@ticotimes.net

An international team of NASA scientists arrived in Costa Rica yesterday during the third day of an expedition to unearth archeological secrets in Central America.

The scientists are traveling aboard a DC-8 equipped with the Airborne Synthetic Aperture Radar (AirSAR), which can "see" beneath treetops, through thin sand and below dry snow pack. This technology will provide aerial visuals of what lies below the forests of Central America, providing evidence of ancient roads and Pre-Columbian human existence in the region.

In addition to cultural research, the scientists are studying biological diversity in collaboration with the National Center for High Technology (CENAT).

Although the DC-8 is equipped as a flying laboratory, the mission used the National Hanger of Aerotransportation Investigations at Juan Santamaría Airport as a temporary base for the afternoon. Welcoming the flight were NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe, Minister of Science and Technology Fernando Gutiérrez, CENAT director Dr. Pedro León, and U.S. Ambassador John Danilovich.

NASA has embarked on the journey in an effort to accurately inventory Central America's environment and archeology before they are destroyed by current human activity, officials said.

AirSAR is able to detect features such as fortifications, causeways, walls and other evidence of advanced human civilizations not discovered in ground data collection because of difficulties penetrating the forest terrain. This information will be used to understand how humans have interacted with their landscape in the past and present, NASA officials said.

After studying Central America, NASA scientists will go to the ice fields of South America's Patagonia region and Antarctica to study the effects of climate change.

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Plant, Flower Exports
Continue to Grow

Costa Rica exported $151 million in flowers and ornamental plants during 2003 - 3% more than in 2002. The sector is now responsible for nearly 40% of the country's non-traditional agricultural exports (excluding banana, coffee, pineapple, and sugar), according to the Foreign Trade Promotion Office (PROCOMER).

The European Union, which last year bought 52% of the country's exports, is the largest buyer of Costa Rican plants. North America was second with 42%, and Asia third with 4%.

Costa Rica is home to 273 firms involved in the flower and plant export business. According to PROCOMER, the largest buyers of these products are the Netherlands, Germany, Japan, Canada and the United States.

The country exports $66.5 million in plants, $55.3 million in foliage and $28.9 in flowers. Costa Rica imports approximately $9 million a year in bulbs and dormant tubers used to grow plants.

According to Bart de Lange, president of the Association of Costa Rican Flower Farmers (ACOFLOR), 90% of the country's flower exports are sold to the United States. In 2003, the country exported roses, lilies, chrysanthemums and mixed bouquets, among others. Tropical flowers such as heliconias, ginger and foliage are popular in Europe, he said.

The country also exports geraniums, impatiens, mint, medical plants and ornamental plants.

"We've seen important growth since 2002," de Lange explained. "There are factors that have benefited us, such as the experience in production and marketing and the improvement of the U.S economy.

Jorge Bermúdez, administrative and financial manager for flower exporter Florexpo S.A., said he considers the market stable and steadily growing. His company exports an average of $10 million a year.

"We began exporting grafts six years ago," Bermúdez said. "During the first year, we sold 300,000 species. During the second we sold 1.2 million and during the third year we sold 3 million. In flowers, we currently export 2.1 million bunches to the United States each year."

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Costa Rican Man Places Second in
World Coffee-Tasting Competition

Carlos "Chino" Lizano is the latest Costa Rican to place well in a coffee tasting competition, ICAFE announced yesterday. He placed second among 14 competitors from as many nations in a competition organized by the Association of Fine Coffees of Europe in Rímini, Italy.

"It turned out to be an extremely exciting and moving experience, because of the magnitude and transcendence of the event," Lizano said in a statement.

"Competing with people who had years of experience in the business and who represent huge businesses gave me absolute satisfaction and a great deal of enthusiasm, especially knowing that our country is small but we're very competitive people," said Lizano, who works for Deli Café, a quality coffee exporter.

Coffee is not just his job, it is in his blood. His grandfather, Arturo Lizano, was the executive director of the Chamber of Exporters of Costa Rica and probably the first official coffee taster in Costa Rica. Carlos Lizano won his place in the world competition with the spoon that his grandfather used for more than 30 years.

Under the pressure of a running clock, the competitors had to taste three mugs of coffee placed before them and determine which one had a different flavor. Next, they repeated the feat with 24 mugs of coffee in three rounds (eight mugs each round).

Other competitors were from France, Sweden, the United States, Italy, India, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Brazil, El Salvador, England, Germany, and other countries. Italy took first place and Brazil third.

The ex-president of the Association of Fine Coffees, Alf Kramer said, "The names of Chino (Lizano) and Costa Rica will forever be in the records of the planet."

According to Kramer, the goal of the championship is to promote interest among youth who work in the fine coffee business in the competitive tasting of coffee. He would like the work of coffee tasters to be held in such high esteem throughout the world as that of wine tasters.

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Agriculture Ministry Announces
New Measures to Prevent Avian Flu

Costa Rica remains free of the deadly avian flu virus spreading across Asia, officials from the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG) announced yesterday.

The Ministry released a statement yesterday outlining measures the government has taken in recent weeks to prevent an outbreak of the virus here.

The statement said the government has banned imports of birds and bird products from countries that have reported outbreaks of a highly pathogenic strain of the virus known as H5N1 (TT, Feb. 13), which has nearly a 100% death rate among birds and a 66% death rate among humans during this outbreak, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

There is also a ban on imports from U.S. states that have reported outbreaks, including Delaware, Pennsylvania, Texas and New Jersey.

The government is requiring the sampling of imported fertile eggs and day-old chicks, as well as ornamental birds, according to the Ministry. Samples are taken both in the importing country and in Costa Rica.

As of yesterday, there had been 33 reported human infections of H5N1, 22 of which were deadly, the WHO reported. All human infections thus far have occurred in Thailand or Vietnam.

The WHO reported Monday that in the past two months, more than 100 million birds have either died of the disease or been culled - a greater number than all previous major outbreaks of the virus combined.

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Wednesday October 26, 2005