Christian Music Concert
By Danilo Montero, winner of a Billboard Award for Best Latin Album, Feb. 26, 7 p.m., Vida Abundante Church, Coronado.

“Song for Mother Earth”
Music, dance, theater and art exhibit, Feb. 26-28, Taller del Artista, Tres Ríos, 2278-3594, arte@calirivera.com.

Used Car Fair
Feb. 26-March 1, at El Tobogán, Barrio Tournón.

A world-class boating event set to arrive in the Caribbean port of Limón later this year could contribute indirectly to the creation of at least 2,000 jobs in the region, particularly within the hard hit construction sector, a port official said.

After a year-long bidding process, it was announced that Costa Rica's port of Limón will be the final destination for the Transat Regatta Race that will take place in November.

“The event is creating the opportunity to create jobs in the sense that if we maintain the infrastructure, we can hold other types of events in the future,” Francisco Jiménez, president of the Atlantic Port Authority (JAPDEVA), said Tuesday.

The Transat Jacques Vabre regatta is the world's third-leading yachting race, during which more than 60 sailboats from 14 different countries will set out on Nov. 7 from Le Havre, France seeking to be the first to arrive at Limón Port.

The Costa Rican Tourism Board (ICT) plans to spend about half a million dollars promoting the race in major European markets such as France, Italy, Finland, England, Spain and Germany, said Tourism Minister Carlos Benavides.

The estimated initial price tag for a larger project to revitalize the port of Limón is about ¢400 million (more than $716,000).

“This project is part of the overall betterment project of the Limón Port,” said Rashid Esna, engineer in charge of the project. “So as a result, this event will help speed up improvement projects that were planned for this area in the near future.”

The regatta typically follows a “coffee route,” using coffee-producing countries such as Colombia and Brazil as the finish line in previous years.

Panama and Mexico were two other contenders being considered for the final destination.

However, according to the event's promoter, Pierre Bojic from Pen Duick, the organizing committee, “ Costa Rica was chosen for being a very important coffee producer in the world.” “In addition, we think Limón has a great deal of potential for the development of its marina,” Bojic said.

Local officials and residents worked Wednesday to postpone the possible closure of Manuel Antonio National Park, on the central Pacific, and find a solution to sanitation problems which the park has until Thursday to correct or face closure at the hands of the Health Ministry. But their efforts to stem the publicity fallout met a setback Tuesday, when the Costa Rican Water and Sewer Institute (AyA) revoked the Ecological Blue Flag for the park's four beaches because of the risk of sanitary contamination.

Last week, Health Minister María Luisa Avila gave the Environment, Energy and Telecommunications Ministry (MINAET) 10 days to correct the problems at the park, which include mosquito-breeding standing water, a garbage dump within the park and sewage leaks from the bathrooms near the park's most popular beach.

On Wednesday, Richard Lemire, president of the Aguirre Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Tourism, sent a letter to Avila asking for an extension. The problems of standing water and garbage have been cleaned up, Lemire said, but the sanitary issues involve a longer-term solution that requires more than 10 days.

“As the Chamber of Commerce, we don't want a patch,” Lemire told The Tico Times. “We want a good, long-term solution to this problem.”

Avila is set to visit Manuel Antonio on Friday, along with officials from AyA, to inspect the park's progress and announce a decision on its closure, which health officials said would be “the last resort.”

Losing the Blue Flag, which recognizes cleanliness and eco-friendliness in the country's beaches, is not a good sign. Darner Mora, director of water laboratories at AyA, said the beaches at the park were “in good condition,” but the risk of contamination from the nearby sewage leak was enough to warrant revoking the distinction.

Alarmed about a possible park closure, members of over 50 local businesses met in Manuel Antonio Tuesday night to discuss strategies. And, dismayed by the apparent governmental inaction, some concerned individuals sought to take matters into their own hands.

In November 2007, Matt Cook, the former director of the non-profit environmental group Fund for Costa Rica, set out to raise $20,000 to install environmentally friendly compost toilets in the park. But Cook said interest from local hotels, restaurants and tourist outlets was minimal, and he could raise only $1,500 from local businesses, including $500 of his own money.

“The vast majority could not be bothered to do something about this problem,” he said. “We had those toilets designed and ready to go. It was basically a big middle finger to the national park and the environment of Manuel Antonio by these businesses. And here we are.”

Tuesday morning, however, Cook resent his e-mail and found local businesses more receptive to his idea. By Tuesday afternoon, Café Britt owner Steve Aronson had offered to donate water-free urinals for the park, which the coffee company currently uses in its factory and tour facility. And Wally Pereyra, who had offered to match up to $10,000 raised in 2007, upped his offer to match up to $12,500 today.

“This was not a surprise that the park was being contaminated,” Cook said. “The whole place is going down the toilet, literally.”

The Costa Rican government has seized a commercial fishing boat caught with its fishing lines inside the waters of the Isla del Coco National Marine Park, one of the country's most prized protected areas.

Park guards boarded the boat and released three live sharks and a mahi-mahi back into the sea, according to a statement from MarViva, a non-governmental sea conservation organization.

The boat, called the Zaragoza II, was caught by the MarViva I, a patrol boat belonging to the conservation NGO. The organization conducts regular patrols with park guards from the Environment, Energy and Telecommunications Ministry (MINAET) aboard.

The Zaragoza II was caught 8.5 nautical miles from the island of Isla del Coco, which lies 365 miles off Costa Rica's Pacific coast. The Isla del Coco National Park encompasses the island and the biologically rich waters surrounding it within 12 nautical miles of the shore.