Intuitive Kabbalah Workshop
Through Sunday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m., vkieke@ice.co.cr, 249-0739, 203-3652.

Tamarindo Improvement Association Monthly Town Meeting
Topics include sewage, water treatment plant, security, 4 p.m., Restaurante La Baula, 653-1679. bodapmt@tamarindocommunity.org.

Coe College Choir Concerts
7:30 p.m., Eugene O'Neill Theater, CCCN; Jan. 12, 7 p.m., Basilica, Cartago.

Son de Tikizia in Concert
Salsa, 10 p.m., Jazz Café.

Nacional Surf Circuit
Saturday and Sunday, in front of Hotel Backyard, Playa Hermosa, Puntarenas, www.surfingcr.net, 244-2400.

Mario Ulloa in Concert
Guitar, 10 p.m., Jazz Café.

Alex Piedra in Concert
Trova, 9:30 p.m., Jaz Café.

By Blake Schmidt
Nica Times Staff | bschmidt@ticotimes.net

Perhaps by the end of this year, it won't be so impossible to break your 500 córdoba bill, because the Central Bank plans to introduce a new 200 córdoba bill.

“We've realized there's a need for an intermediary denomination,” Central Bank manager José de Jesús Rojas told The Nica Times.

Though there's no date set for the currency to be circulated, Rojas said the bank is in the early stages of planning the bill's introduction, which could happen as soon as the end of the year.

The bill's color and design are yet to be determined.

Rojas said the 200 bill, worth roughly $11, would make ATM withdrawals more efficient, giving consumers a bill larger than 100 but smaller than 500. And it will make for better customer service as it will give clients an alternative to spending a 500 bill on small purchases, according to Rojas. The 500, in effect, will “be left for high-value transactions,” he said.

The bank is in the process of purchasing 131 million notes, which would be introduced over a period of five years. The bank is seeking bidders in North America, South America or Europe to print the bills.

The friendly soccer game between Costa Rica and Sweden scheduled for Sunday will be Tico striker Paulo César Wanchope's last match in professional soccer.

“Chope,” as fans and press affectionately call the second most prolific goal-scorer in the history of the national team, after all-time golden striker Rolando Fonseca, announced his retirement late last year.

He is also known for having played in the late 1990s in England's Premier League, for Derby County and West Ham United, to later be bought up by Spanish team Málaga CF.

Wanchope, 31, told reporters he is excited to once more put on the Costa Rican uniform, known as the Tricolor – like the flag of red, blue and white.

The Swedes arrived Tuesday to begin training for the friendly, which for them actually bears an ounce of antagonism, after the 1990 World Cup in Italy when Sweden fell to Costa Rica 2-1.

Salting the wound, Tico coach Hernán Medford is adored here for having scored the winning goal against Sweden that day in Italy, moving Costa Rica on to the second round.

Swede manager Lars Lagerbäck has brought a team of young-bloods, with 11 players debuting, mainly in defense.

Costa Rica also counts on newbie Marvin Angulo, making his national team debut in place of injured midfielder Cristian Montero.

-EFE

Last January, the Cornell University Wind Ensemble (CU Winds) visited the country from Ithaca, New York, and embarked on a 10-day concert tour and outreach mission, bringing along more than 50 donated instruments for a small music school in Matapalo, on the central Pacific coast.

This month, CU Winds returns to Costa Rica for another tour, to revisit the music school for a workshop and concert with students, and to deliver 70 more refurbished instruments to two other schools.

“We believe that giving the opportunity to make music to a young person can change their life for the better. This year, we've doubled our efforts,” said Canadian Cynthia Johnston Turner, conductor of the 49-member ensemble.

The schools receiving instruments are a music conservatory at the National University's San Isidro de El General campus, in the Southern Zone, and the Poás High School in Poasito, northwest of San José, which has an excellent music program but whose instruments are in serious disrepair, Johnston Turner said.

“At the National University conservatory, some of the instruments were donated to the school 50 years ago, and they are still using them,” she added.

Costa Rican composer Eddie Mora wrote a piece for electric violin and winds, and one of Mora's star violin students, Erasmo Solerti, traveled to Cornell last month for the piece's world premiere. The Tico violinist and CU Winds will perform the Costa Rican premiere at a benefit concert Jan. 15 at 7:30 p.m., at the Eugene O'Neill Theater in the eastern San José neighborhood of Barrio Dent. The admission fee is a donation of ¢4,000 ($8) to help schools in poor communities through the Canadian Club Outreach Committee.

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega has lost support in his first year back in office and is increasingly seen as authoritarian, according to a recent poll in the daily La Prensa.

The opinion poll said 54.6% of the Nicaraguan population does not support the Ortega administration, an increase of 18 percentage points from a 36.4 disapproval rating in April.

The poll, by M & R Consultores for the daily La Prensa, was carried out from Dec. 26-30 with 1,600 people in urban, rural and semi-rural areas, with an error margin of 2.5%.

According to La Prensa, the poll constitutes a “significant downturn” in Ortega's rule.

For those who approved, the poll gave the following breakdown: 21.2% have faith in the president and 22.3% support him with reservations. The remaining 1.9% did not give their opinion.

More than 60% said they see Ortega as “an authoritarian official.”

Some of Ortega's most ardent opponents, such as former presidential candidate and Nicaraguan Liberal Alliance leader Eduardo Montealegre, expressed fierce disapproval of the president.

“Instead of advancing, we've fallen behind,” said Montealegre, commenting on Ortega's first year in office.

Montealegre, also a former head of the treasury, pointed out that the country's inflation as of November, 15.41%, was the highest rise Nicaragua had seen in the last nine years and the highest in Central America.