Indy's back
“Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” – check with cinemas near you for times.

Play: 'Elsa Schneider'
By Barcelona playwright Sergi Belbel, tonight, tomorrow, Saturday at 8 p.m., Sunday at 5 p.m., Teatro de Bellas Artes, University of Costa Rica.

Film: 'Caballos Salvajes'
By Marcelo Piñeyro, at Casa del Estudiante in National University , 2 p.m.

Piano and poetry
4 p.m., José Figueres Ferrer Cultural Center.

Sasha Campbell in concert
Jazz Café, San Pedro, 10 p.m., http://jazzcafecostarica.com.

National Forum on Social Security
Walter Kissling Gam Campus, INCAE, La Garita, Alajuela.

Costa Rican President Oscar Arias has a benign cyst on his vocal chords and must not speak for the next four weeks, said doctors at a private clinic in the U.S. city of Philadelphia, where the president underwent medical exams yesterday.

If he does not feel better after a month, Arias will explore whether to undergo surgery, according to a Casa Presidencial press release.

The president will return to Costa Rica Saturday after spending four days abroad with his daughter, Silvia Eugenia Arias.  

If you're planning on going to the Multiplaza Escazú mall, or passing it on your way to Guachipelín or Santa Ana, prepare for delays.

Construction has begun on the first section of the long and long-awaited Caldera highway, which will provide a much faster route to the Pacific coast than the winding, two-lane highway that crosses the Aguacate pass.

The highway, which will stretch 76.8 kilometers (about 48 miles), has been in the planning for 30 years, and it appears to have finally broken free of the bureaucratic quicksand it was caught in.

The firm behind the project, Autopistas del Sol, began work earlier this month on the Próspero Fernández Highway, which goes from San José to Santa Ana, passing Escazú. It is the beginning of Section 1 of the highway project, which is a 14-kilometer section that will reach Ciudad Colón, west of San José. The firm estimates it will take one year to finish this phase.

Nicaraguans such as these migrants seen lining up to cross the southern border after a recent holiday break say they favor the United States, Costa Rica and Spain to seek a better life.

Mario López |EFE

The United States, Costa Rica and Spain are the favorite destinations for two-thirds of Nicaraguans who want to emigrate to another country, according to a new survey.

The poll, conducted May 3-9 by the firm M&R Consultores, and published Monday by the daily La Prensa, revealed that 66.3 percent of the Nicaraguans consulted are ready to move away from their home country.

Another 31.7 percent of those asked said they would not leave Nicaragua and 2 percent did not respond.

According to the opinion survey, 44.5 percent of the Nicaraguan citizens consulted would prefer to go to the United States, 28 percent to Costa Rica and 12.3 percent to Spain.

Nearly 88 percent cited economic considerations when asked why they would consider emigrating.

The poll also found that 61 percent of those surveyed who identified themselves as sympathizing with the ruling Sandinistas are ready to leave Nicaragua for another country, again, mainly for economic reasons.

In December 2006, a month before the return to power of Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega, the percentage of Nicaraguans ready to leave to “try their luck” in another country rose to 55.5 percent, the study found.

The survey was carried out among 1,600 people age 16 and up in the 15 provinces and two autonomous regions of the country and has a margin of error of 2.5 percent.