Danza Abierta Tour
Through Sunday, Limón, Guácimo.

Convergence 1.0
Lights, music, theater, circus, 8 p.m., Eugene O'Neill Theater, CCCN, Barrio Dent.

Swing en 4 in concert
Jazz, 8 p.m., National Theater.

Malpaís in concert
To benefit indigenous tribe Ngobe-Buglé, tonight and tomorrow, 9:30 p.m., Jazz Café, San Pedro, http://jazzcafecostarica.com.

The U.S. warship USS McInerney intercepted a 22-meter long semi-submersible vessel in the Pacific last Saturday, seizing six tons of cocaine and taking into custody four Colombian crew members, according to Costa Rica's Public Security Ministry.

It is the second bust of its kind in national or international waters off the coast of Costa Rica.

In November 2006, the U.S. Coast Guard seized a 14-meter-long submersible carrying three tons of cocaine near Isla del Coco. Its crew consisted of two Colombians, a Guatemalan and a Sri Lankan.

“This forms part of the coordinated work as a part of the joint patrolling agreement with the United States,” Public Security Minister Janina del Vecchio said in a press release. That agreement has been in effect since 1999.

Del Vecchio said deployment of the improvised subs is growing.

Authorities have given different versions of where the sub was seized. Here, the Public Security Ministry said it was in international waters off the Costa Rican coast but the press office for the Supreme Court said it was taken 350 nautical miles off the coast of Guatemala.

“For security reasons, the submersible is being (towed) to the Coast Guard station in Puntarenas where an inspection will be conducted,” states a court press release.

Not true submarines, the semi-submersibles are rudimentary and have to stay near the surface of the water and use breathing tubes to keep the crew alive. Although rudimentary, they are often effective at avoiding radar and surface detection.

Mexican authorities seized a 10-meter sub with six tons of cocaine off their Pacific coast in July, according to the Associated Press.

The recent cocaine seizure is the second for the USS McInerney, a guided-missile frigate, in the last two years. According to the U.S. Navy's Web site, the vessel seized 2.3 tons of cocaine from a fishing boat in February 2007.

Frugal travelers might be happy to hear that the 3 percent hotel tax in Costa Rica could soon be a thing of the past.

The bad news is that the lost revenue to the government would be made up in the form of a $15 fee on all airfares to Costa Rica, according to a bill recently presented to the floor of the Legislative Assembly.

In a week, spending $15 a night at hostels, budget travelers pay about $3.15 in taxes.

The point of the legislation, says Maureen Ballestero, a legislator from the majority National Liberation Party (PLN) and president of the commission that drafted the bill, is to increase funding to the Costa Rican Tourism Board (ICT).

Money from the 3 percent tax is sent to the ICT for tourism promotion, marketing and planning.

However, with more and more visitors to Costa Rica staying in condos and vacation homes, and therefore not paying the hotel tax, legislators felt it was time to update the system, Ballestero said.

The legislator also said some hotels avoid charging their guests the tax by not properly registering them.

“There are more hotels, more visitors, but the income (from the 3 percent tax) has pretty much stayed the same,” she said.

The numbers, however, do not appear to support Ballestero's claim, as hotel tax revenues seem to be tracking visitation.

In 2006, ICT received about $7.9 million from the hotel tax, an increase of about 19.7 over 2005's hotel tax revenues of $6.6 million.

Visitation during that same period was flat, with about 1.8 million visitors coming to Costa Rica in 2006, up slightly from the 1.7 million measured in 2005.

In recent months, tourism growth has slowed over last year.

Meanwhile, Panama, which has been challenging Costa Rica's throne as the premier Central American destination, tourist arrivals increased by 24 percent in the first six months.

What's in a bean? More noses abroad are following the aroma of Nicaraguan coffee.

Mario López | EFE

Nicaraguan coffee exports shot up 48.9 percent in the first 10 months of the 2007-08 harvest compared with the year before, according to the Export Processing Center (CETREX).

The center reports coffee exports reached $228 million during the latest harvest, while last year's crop sold little more than $153 million.

Higher prices are helping to drive the increase, CETREX's latest report says. A quintal (a 100-pound sack) of coffee sold for an average of $137.60, compared with $117.70 during the 2006-07 harvest.

Part of the hike has come thanks to speculative buying by commodity investors, Henry Dunlop of New York-based Atlantic USA Inc. told The Nica Times.

But larger quantities are pushing up export dollars too. While last year saw 1.3 million quintals shipped off, this year Nicaragua exported 1.65 million quintals.

The country estimates pulling in $250 million for Nicaraguan coffee beans by the end of the harvest.

At home, Nicaraguan coffee experts are prompting more domestic consumption too.

See the latest print or pdf edition of The Nica Times, an eight-page publication of The Tico Times, for more on Nicaragua's just-brewing coffee culture.