Costa Rica's own rocket lab in the northwestern Guanacaste province blasted into another new endeavor yesterday by signing an agreement with the U.S. Air and Space Administration (NASA) to use the lab's technology.

Free Screening of Film on Human Trafficking
Organized by Rahab Foundation, 6 p.m., multi-use center, Jacó. Info: 643-1225.

Real Estate and Tourism Expo
Today through Sunday, Plaza Santa Rosa, Liberia, www.guanacaste.tk, 364-9354.

5th Culinary Festival
With “best ceviche” award, concerts, dance music, 7-10:30 p.m., Plaza del Pacífico, opposite cruise ship terminal, www.puntarenas.com/festival.

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

It was late on a Thursday morning when a stranger called Laura Paris to tell her she was being robbed.

Or rather, he asked if she knew anyone named Solís, whose bank account had just received a $2,133.85 transfer from Paris' account.

The stranger, a bank teller at the Banco Nacional branch in San José's Barrio México, had thought it odd that a scruffy-looking guy like Solís would have so much money to withdraw.

But by the time bank security sprang into action and stopped Solís, it was far too late: Over the course of the past 24 hours, Paris' account had been drained completely through a series of 14 other transfers to five different people.

A total of $21,726.48, the operating capital for her auto repair business — gone.

Paris' case is one of at least 400 similar ones that have taken place this year, thefts that total up to more than $2 million.

But she and victims like her have almost no chance of getting their money back. The Judicial Investigation Police (OIJ) is chronically understaffed. Banco Nacional and other public banks say they are legally not allowed to offer reimbursements unless ordered to by a judge.

That's not good enough for Paris, her husband and their business partner. They say they want to sue Banco Nacional

Turrialba Volcano, 40 kilometers east of San José, spewed gas and vapor two kilometers into the sky yesterday morning, its first eruption since 1866.

“People living near the foot of the volcano described a thick white column wafting up from the crater,” reported the Volcanological and Seismological Observatory of Costa Rica, based at National University in Heredia, north of San José.

In the summer, park rangers and volcano experts started noticing minor landslides, sulfur flow and vegetation dying in the area around Turrialba, putting Costa Rican authorities on guard.

About 45 minutes from the volcano, the more than 80,000 people living in the village of Turrialba — most of whom work cultivating sugarcane or coffee, or in the tourism sector — awaited their fate. But according to the National Emergency Commission (CNE), no crops, animals or humans were harmed by Turrialba's recent activity.

By yesterday afternoon, the region's inhabitants had reported a significant drop in the pungent odors emitted from the volcano, a statement from CNE said, concluding that yesterday's show was “normal” for an active volcano such as Turrialba.

-Tico Times

Costa Rica's own rocket lab in the northwestern Guanacaste province blasted into another new endeavor yesterday by signing an agreement with the U.S. Air and Space Administration (NASA) to use the lab's technology.

Astronaut and national hero Franklin Chang was flanked by President Oscar Arias as they announced this latest advance at Ad Astra they say is putting Costa Rica on the technological world's map.

The agreement creates the framework for future projects using the plasma technology being developed at Chang's lab by addressing issues that could potentially stall them, such as intellectual property, according to a statement from Casa Presidencial.

Chang said the team at the lab is celebrating the agreement as a solid way to close out the year, thanking the National Learning Institute for helping to train engineers to keep it running.