Daily Edition: San José, Costa Rica, August 08, 2005
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Festival Takes to the Air
To Showcase Paragliding
In Costa Rica
In Caldera, near the port city of Puntarenas on the Pacific Coast, the 2005 Air Festival invited participants from around the world to race through the sea, across land and finally, into the air, in a laid-back competition with an exciting finish on Saturday, Aug. 6.
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National Museum Archeologists
Discover Pre-Colombian Ruins
Archeologists from the Costa Rican National Museum discovered the ruins of a large pre-Columbian home dating back to the year 1,000 B.C. in the Southern Zone of Costa Rica, a local daily newspaper reported Sunday.
(Click for more)
San José Transit Police
Fine 508 Drivers Friday
508 drivers whose license plates ended in 9 or 0 were each fined ¢5,000 ($10.50) for driving in San José Friday during restricted hours, the daily La Nación reported.
(Click for more)
August 08
Surprise LTG Open House
Auditions for “The Good Body,” a play by Eve Ensler (author of “The Vagina Monologues”), need 14 women, one man, directors and backstage crew. Also, a sneak preview of a multimedia show with a combination of sketches from comedy movies, shows and books, and live acting onstage, Aug. 8, 7-9 p.m., Blanche Brown Theatre, Escazú. Info: 355-1623.
VII Festival of Black Culture Alfred Henry Smith. (Mr. King)
Remembering Mayor Benjamín Lynch 109 years, at 10 a.m., Límon Public Library.
Edited By Leland Baxter-Neal
Tico Times Staff
lbaxter@ticotimes.net
Festival Takes to the Air
To Showcase Paragliding In Costa Rica
By Leland Baxter-Neal
Tico Times Staff
lbaxter@ticotimes.net
In Caldera, near the port city of Puntarenas on the Pacific Coast, the 2005 Air Festival invited participants from around the world to race through the sea, across land and finally, into the air, in a laid-back competition with an exciting finish on Saturday, Aug. 6.
Some 70 participants from Costa Rica, as well as other countries such as Canada, Colombia, Germany, Guatemala and Mexico, formed teams that competed in a relay of sea kayaking, mountain biking and paragliding.
Put on by the Asociación de Vuelo Libre de Costa Rica (the Free-Flight Association of Costa Rica), the event was less focused on the race, and more focused on the paragliding contest at the end.
Once the biking and kayaking legs of the race were finished, the paragliders from each team unfurled their parachutes on the edge of a tall and steep hill and, as wind permitted, lifted off to drop bags of sand on a large target on the beach and then attempt to land on a second, smaller bullseye nearby.
Once the contest concluded, more paragliders filled the air, while instructors of the sport gave tandem rides to interested observers.
The two-day event was continued Sunday with an exhibition of aerial maneuvers by experienced enthusiasts.
National Museum Archeologists
Discover Pre-Colombian Ruins
Archeologists from the Costa Rican National Museum discovered the ruins of a large pre-Columbian home dating back to the year 1,000 B.C. in the Southern Zone of Costa Rica, a local daily newspaper reported Sunday.
The director of the Costa Rican National Museum, Francisco Corrales, confirmed the finding to the daily La Nación and announced that the archeological structure is “in good shape and with impressive dimensions.”
“It is a house with a 25-meter diameter with an 18-meter access ramp,” located in Palmar Sur, some 300 kilometers south of San José, Corrales explained.
The home has a 1.5-meter tall wall made of river rocks, which was possibly built to protect the building from the constant flooding from the nearby Térraba River, originally named “Diquis,” which means “big water.”
The ruins were discovered by National Museum specialists during the first large-scale archeological excavation in the last decade on “Finca 6,” in the community of Palmar Sur.
The investigation spreads over 10 hectares the National Museum has in the area, which form part of a very large archeological site.
The museum wants the site to be declared World Heritage of Humanity, as it is home to the famous stone spheres discovered only in Costa Rica, whose origins remain a mystery.
The National Museum will announce its candidacy next year to the United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organization (Unesco).
-ACAN-EFE
San José Transit Police
Fine 508 Drivers Friday
508 drivers whose license plates ended in 9 or 0 were each fined ¢5,000 ($10.50) for driving in San José Friday during restricted hours, the daily La Nación reported.
Friday was the first day that traffic police began ticketing drivers for violating new driving restrictions in San José decreed by President Abel Pacheco (TT Daily Page, Aug. 5). The new measures are aimed at reducing national fuel consumption by reducing traffic. Drivers are restricted one day a week Monday-Friday, depending on the last number of their license plate, from driving between Avenida 9 and Avenida 16 and between Calle 11 and Calle 22, 7-8:30 a.m. and 4-5:30 p.m.
According to La Nación, approximately 50 police officers were on patrol during the restricted hours Friday.
Director of Operations for the traffic police Juan Rodríguez said the police would continue to enforce the restrictions, which are in effect for the next six months.
“We will not lower our arms, and we will be at specific points such as Avenida 2 and other areas patrolling,” Rodríguez told La Nación.
Traffic cops were placed at 11 points throughout the city Friday as a part of the operation.
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