Just Clowning Around: About 50 children with cerebral palsy were entertained yesterday by clowns in town for the 2007 Clown Convention. Here, Bryan Morales, 5, gets a motorcycle-shaped balloon from Costa Rican clown Tuercas.

Concepción Volcano, located on Ometepe Island in southwest Nicaragua, yesterday spewed gases and ash over the town of Moyogalpa and two nearby communities without causing any injuries, according to a statement from the Geophysical Department of the Nicaraguan Institute of Territorial Studies (INETER).

Women's Club of Costa Rica (WCCR) Meeting
With Laura Montes de Oca, former WCCR president, preparing Mexican cuisine, 9:30 a.m., Mexico Institute, 250 m south of the Subaru dealership, San Pedro, 244-6683.

Free Film Showing
“La Vida que Te Espera,” 7 p.m., Spanish Cultural Center, San José, Ave.13, Calle 31. Info: 257-2919, ext. 118, mediateca@ccecr.org.

By Peter Krupa
Tico Times Staff | pkrupa@ticotimes.net

Five members of a family were killed in a flash flood while rappelling down a waterfall in San Ramón, northwest of San José, Monday. The mother, father and three sons were swept away when rainfall in the nearby mountains caused the river to flood suddenly.

A six-year-old daughter survived.

The deceased were Luis Fernando Salazar Gonzalez, 42; Isabel Rosales Barquero, 36; and their sons, Luis Alejandro, 15; Esteban, 12; and José Andrés, 11, according to Red Cross spokesman Jorge Jiménez.

The family was rappelling down a waterfall in the afternoon with a tour guide when the flash floods washed in. The daughter Valeria, 6, was rescued by tour guide Pedro Baltodano.

U.S. citizen Tamara Esrailin, 34, was rappelling with the group and also survived the accident after being taken to a nearby hospital by Red Cross workers, Jiménez said. Esrailin, from California, was in Costa Rica on a two-week Spanish immersion program, her husband Matthew Friedman told The Tico Times. She is out of the hospital and may come home early.

The daily La Nación reported yesterday that while the tour company had a license from the Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT) to conduct canopy tours, it had not received authorization to lead rappelling excursions.

The Costa Rican government has agreed to provide the $10 million necessary to reconstruct part of Calderón Guardia Hospital in San José that was destroyed by a fire in July 2005. Taiwan had planned to donate these funds, but it reneged on this offer when Costa Rica ended diplomatic relations with that country in order to begin relations with China last month.

Social Security System (Caja) president Eduardo Doryan announced yesterday that the necessary funds will be factored into the government's budget for 2008 and 2009 and that is has begun receiving offers from companies interested in taking on the reconstruction project.

The new 15,000 square meter building will have six levels and house several departments including Radiation and Nutrition and 280 hospital beds. The Caja hopes construction will begin as soon as a company is licensed and will be completed within 70 weeks. These parts of the hospital were destroyed when flames consumed the building, killing 19 patients (TT, July 15, 2005).

The Taiwanese had already donated $5 million of the promised $15 million when the donation was reneged. Costa Rica began diplomatic relations with China and broke ties with Taiwan June 1 (TT, June 8).

-ACAN-EFE

Concepción Volcano, located on Ometepe Island in southwest Nicaragua, yesterday spewed gases and ash over the town of Moyogalpa and two nearby communities without causing any injuries, according to a statement from the Geophysical Department of the Nicaraguan Institute of Territorial Studies (INETER).

The erruption occurred at 7 a.m., releasing “moderate quantities” of gases and volcanic ash, which were carried by the wind to the nearby communities of Moyogalpa, La Flor and La Concha.

This natural phenomenon was registered by an INETER seismic station north of the volcano.

INETER is monitoring Concepción Volcano and will inform the public of any significant developments, the statement said.