U.S. Independence Day celebrations:

4th of July Picnic
Games, food, beverages, prizes, entertainment, 8 a.m., Cervecería Costa Rica, Río Segundo, Alajuela, highway to airport, ¢2,000/$4 admission, tel: 2208-4801, american_colony@yahoo.com.

Doce Lunas Independence Day fiesta
Pool party, food and drinks, games and fireworks, Doce Lunas is in Quebrada Seca, Jacó.

Canada Day meets the 4th at Rock and Roll Pollo
Live music by Blues Devils and Blue Desert, 6 p.m., Rock and Roll Pollo, Santa Ana, 1 km east of the Red Cross, Santa Ana, 8982-3772.

International Conducting Seminar and Band Festival
With seminar faculty from Brazil, Switzerland, Costa Rica, Norway and the United States, through Sun. Concerts Fri. at 2 p.m. at the Amphitheater, CENAC; 5 p.m. at Multiplaza del Este, Curridabat; 7 p.m. at Teatro 1887, CENAC. Sat. at 5 p.m. at Multiplaza Escazú; 6 p.m. at Metropolitan Cathedral. Sun. at 10 a.m. at Central Park; 4 and 7 p.m., Melico Salazar Theater. Tel: 2283-5654.

Guacales dance festival
Poetry, acting, concerts, food and dance, Colegio Técnico Profesional, Santa Bárbara, Santa Cruz, Guanacaste.

Sasha Campbell in concert
Soul, R&B, 6:30 p.m. at Rock and Roll Pollo, Santa Ana, 1 km east of Red Cross, Tel: 8982-3772.

Phoenix Quartet in concert
7 p.m. at Spanish Cultural Center.

‘The Freedom Comedy Show'
By the Little Theatre Group, Fri. and Sat. 7:30 p.m., Sun. at 2:30 p.m., Laurence Olivier Theater, www.littletheatregroup.org.

Bruce Callow in concert
Solo and acoustic, 9 p.m., Green Dragon Pub, El Tirol Hotel, Los Angeles de San Rafael, Heredia.

4th Annual Jungle Golf Tournament Fundraiser
Organized by Women of the Osa, all profits go toward conservation projects, at Bosque Del Cabo Resort, tel: 8353-8619.

Rugby sevens tournament
In memory of Saúl Rodríguez, 5 p.m., Polideportivo Aranjuez, www.rugbycostarica.com.

Las Tortugas in concert
Classic rock cover band, 10 p.m., Jazz Café, San Pedro. http://jazzcafecostarica.com.

Son de Tikizia live
Salsa, 10 p.m., Jazz Café, Escazú.

Parque de Diversiones activities
Plays and performances Sat. and Sun. afternoons.

Acrobatics workshop for kids
By Metamorfosis Group, dance, theater, music, 10 a.m., Spanish Cultural Center.

Martial arts seminar
Jujitsu, tae kwon do, muay thai, 8 a.m.-1 p.m., tel: 2273-7865, 2273-1820. 

Beach volleyball benefit tournament
To help Cahuita School reconstruction, 10 a.m., Playa Negra, Cahuita, tel: 8343-9343.

Octavia in concert
Jazz, Bossanova, 10 p.m., Jazz Café, San Pedro.

American Legion Post 16 U.S. Independence Day Picnic
Hamburgers, hot dogs, fried chicken, chips, beer and soda, ¢4,500 adults, ¢3,000 kids 5-12, 9 a.m.-2 p.m., La Cueva, Barrio San José, Alajuela, tickets at door or reserve with José Ruiz, tel: 2269-3190, 8853-6833, or Dan Spitzer, tel: 2261-6944, 8314-7914.

Ecobike 2008
Monteverde's recreational mountain bike race, raffle, snacks, free cloud forest tour for kids registered in advance, 9 a.m., start and finish at Monteverde Cheese Factory, www.ecobikemonteverde.com, tel: 2645-5029.

Driving restrictions will switch to 24-hour periods, possibly within the coming week, according to one government official.

Public Works and Transport Vice Minister Viviana Martin said Wednesday that the new all-day restrictions will go into effect as soon as the decree is published in La Gaceta, the official government.

Freight vehicles will be exempted from the new decree, Martin said.

Previously, drivers were prohibited from entering downtown San José and the Circunvalación, a route tracing the perimeter of the capital, according to day of the week, hour and last number of their license plate.

The initial schedule was from 6-8:30 a.m. and from 4:30-7 p.m.

By the ministry's count, transit police have issued an average of 700-750 tickets per day since the decree was first enacted June 26. Each ticket is for ¢5,000 (roughly $9.70).

Presidency Ministry Rodrigo Arias said President Oscar Arias' administration will also send guidelines to all public offices urging employees to carpool when they go on official trips. Public vehicles, except for police cars and ambulances, will be included in the driving restrictions.

The cost of living in Costa Rica keeps getting higher, as the consumer price index for June saw the second highest spike this year, registering at 1.4 percent, according to the National Statistics and Census Institute (INEC).

So far this year, consumers have seen 6.55 percent inflation in basic goods and services, easily threatening to surpass the Central Bank's goal of 8 percent for 2008. Inflation for the past 12 months has now reached 12.82 percent.

That year-to-year rate for June is the second highest in 10 years. The highest was in June 2005 at 13.76 percent.

The consumer price index measures the average variation in price of a group of most commonly used goods and services. In June, 73 percent of the items in this basic basket increased, while 18 percent decreased.

Prices for transportation, and food and non-alcoholic beverages spiked the most last month at 2.98 percent and 2.09 percent, respectively. INEC pointed to rising gas and plane ticket prices for high transportation costs, while increases in the price of tomatoes and cilantro caused higher food bills.

The only sector in which prices dropped, by 0.07 percent, was rent and utilities.

Costa Rican consumers have been hit hard on the road and in the markets during the past 12 months. INEC reported that food and beverage prices increased 23.61 percent, eating in restaurants 16.59 percent and transportation 11.89 percent from June 2007 to the same period this year.

Artist Victor Pérez-Maldonado stands in front of a painting depicting a menorah, a Jewish candelabra, just one in his show “ Jojmá, Biná, Daat ” that draws from Hebrew, Judaism and the mystical Cabala, at Amodeo Gallery.

Hannah Rexroth ¦Tico Times

An arched, bearded figure wearing a skull cap and praying at a wall. A burning hot desertscape. A glowing candelabra.

Abstract depictions of such familiar Jewish imagery illuminate canvases this week at San José's Amodeo Gallery, as emerging Guatemalan artist Victor Pérez-Maldonado makes his Costa Rica debut with the show “Jojmá, Biná, Daat.”

Earlier this year, as friends were winding down from celebrating Pascua, or Easter, Pérez was gearing up for a different religious experience – “Pascua judía,” he said, the Spanish name for the Jewish exodus celebration of Passover, which usually falls near the same dates.

Participating in the seder, the symbols-heavy meal that marks the Jews' path to liberation from Egypt, this non-Jewish artist took a keen interest in the age old faith and its language, he told The Tico Times at the art opening last week.

That inspired him to study and to paint. He said three Hebrew words, jojmá, biná, daat (in Spanish transliteration), guide the new exhibition by the same title. They loosely mean “wisdom, understanding and knowledge,” and are regarded as fundamental concepts in mystical Judaism's Cabala.

Much of the work conveys hardship, happiness, and solitude endured along life's paths, he said, but added that he'd like viewers to interpret each one for themselves.

One of the show's most striking works, entitled “Experiencia,” contains a scorching red sky with orange-yellow slashes, beating on a black desert. Hasty black brush strokes form people, trudging along. Streaks of blue in the thick black mass are meant to provide depth and cool relief, said Pérez.

He added that the piece reveals his personal love for the work of Latvian-born U.S. abstract expressionist Mark Rothko.

Just as the other paintings, this one is accompanied by a poem. It begins, “The desert of the path, or the desert of fate...”

Initially scheduled to run until Saturday, July 12, curator Alonso Duran said the paintings could remain on display through the following Tuesday, July 15.

Amodeo Gallery (2291-1908, www.amodeogallery.com) is located 100 meters before the end of Rohrmoser Boulevard.