Congratulations to all women in celebration of International Women's Day!

Quebrada Ganado Fair
Including rides, food, soccer games, dances, March 7-9; including a 4x4 race, 10 a.m. and horse parade at 1 p.m. on March 8, Quebrada Ganado, Jacó.

Son de Tikizia in Concert
Salsa, March 6, 10 p.m., Jazz Café, San Pedro.

Concerts by the National Symphony Orchestra
March 6, 7 p.m., CENAC. Free entrance.

Salomé
Play By Oscar Wilde and cooproduced by the National Dance Company and the National Theater, Drama, March 6-7, 8 p.m., March 8, 5 p.m., National Theater. Info: 2221-5341. www.teatronacional.go.cr

“La Fundación Infantil Ronald McDonald” (RMHC) Yearly Golf Tournament
March 7, La Iguana Golf Course, Marriott Los Sueños Golf & Resort, Playa Herradura. Funds raised at this event will be directed to the First Bank of Wheelchairs for Children and Teenagers with Physical Disabilities and limited resources of the country, 2523-0214, 8305-4831.

Magic Show for Children
March 7 a.m., Spanish Cultural Center.

Skateboarding Championship
Opening March 7, 10 a.m., with an exhibition by Team Arenas and registration, competition starts at 11 a.m., Hipermás Heredia, San Francisco, Heredia. Participants must be older than 18, have to bring their own skateboard and must buy three products of the sponsors.

Gallo Pinto Festival
Free Gallo Pinto for all, March 8, 9 a.m., Paseo Colón.

VI Classic Women's Race
Celebrating Women's Day, race only for women 15-70 years old, competitors can run or hike, and all are invited to have free lunch after the competition, March 8 at 9 a.m., three laps around La Sabana Park, leaving from León Cortés Statue, free registration at San José Municipal offices.

V Race and Hike Celebrating Women's Day
5-km. for runners, leaving at 8:30 a.m., different categories, women 5-more than 55 years old and wheelchairs, leaving from the west side of Curridabat Municipality, hike (2 km. one category) leaves at 8:15 a.m. from Casa Presidencial in Zapote, finish line in front of Clínica Carlos Durán, Barrio Vasconia. Free registration at Tienda Brooks Pavas (200 m. east of U.S. Embassy, 2232-0477); Runners Store Sabana (250 m. west of Channel 7, 2290-7212) Curridabat, Plaza del Sol (2280-5713); Deportes Tibás, (50 m. north of Más x Menos, 2240-1649).

THE HAGUE – Friday is the last day of opening arguments in the case between Costa Rica and Nicaragua before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over control of the San Juan River.

Nicaragua argued Thursday that it should regulate the navigation of Costa Rican boats within these border waters.

Costa Rican navigation rights in the river, established in a treaty signed by both countries in 1858, are “limited by certain conditions” that must be set by Nicaraguan regulations, according to Ian Brownlie, professor of international law at Oxford University, who argued in favor of Managua.

The treaty establishes Nicaraguan sovereignty over the river but recognizes Costa Rica's “perpetual navigation rights over commercial objects.” However, the two countries dispute the interpretation of that phrase.

Costa Rica, basing its case in the English translation of the treaty, maintains that the phrase “commercial objects” implies all things with commercial purposes or ends.

Arguing for Nicaragua, professor Antonio Remiro Bretóns, of the Autonomous University of Madrid, said the phrase “commercial objects” must apply exclusively to “articles, cargo or goods that can be traded,” which would exclude the transport of people along the San Juan River, such as tourists.

Nicaraguan authorities prohibited armed Costa Rican police from conducting patrols along the river in 1998. The countries tried to resolve the matter through three years of negotiations beginning in 2002, but when no resolution could be agreed upon, Costa Rica filed a claim against Nicaragua before the ICJ – the United Nation's highest court, at The Hague, Netherlands – in 2005.

Earlier in the week, Kate Parlett, foreign affairs advisor for Costa Rica, argued that the restrictions “have affected the police force's capacity in the fight against drug and human trafficking, especially that of children.”

The two countries will present their final arguments next week, after which the judges will deliberate. It could take several months to hear a ruling in the case.

One of Latin America's longest running and most dynamic rock bands, Café Tacvba is making a pit stop in San José this weekend, on tour for their latest album, SINO.

The Mexico City quartet known for its eclectic, folkloric and rarely traditional sound met with members of the press on Thursday to discuss their return to Costa Rica and their upcoming plans to celebrate their 20-year-anniversary later this year with a world tour, a documentary and even a book.

Rubén Albarrán, lead singer, explained that, although the business of selling music has changed during the last 20 years, the group's relationship to music has not changed one bit.

“The situation affecting record labels has changed a great deal because of the introduction of the new technologies and piracy,” said the pigtailed, flip-flop-clad Albarrán. “But in reality, music does not change. Our relationship with music has not changed; it continues to be intact.”

The critically acclaimed Café Tacvba (proncounced tah-KU-bah – the “v” is a stylistic spelling), which has sold millions of albums worldwide and won numerous Latin MTV awards and Latin Grammy awards, is famous for fusing different genres, beats and sounds in their music.

“The group was born from an experiment … from an anxiety to find something that we had not heard before … that did not exist,” said Emmanuel del Real, one of the group's guitarists and sometimes keyboardist and vocalist. “From that point on, we have always done the same thing with different results.”

Café Tacvba will wow audiences this Saturday at the Autódromo La Guácima in Alajuela starting at 7 p.m., with doors opening around 2 p.m. Costa Rican rock bands Parque en el Espacio and Evolución will be the opening acts.

Tickets costing ¢10,000, ¢15,000 and ¢25,000 are still being sold at http://todoticketcr.com. As of Wednesday afternoon, about 1,700 had been sold for the event. The venue can hold around 20,000 people, said promoter Alvaro Estrada.

That taxi ride across town will be a little bit cheaper next week.

Costa Rica's Public Services Regulatory Authority (ARESEP) approved on Tuesday a resolution to cut fares by ¢40 (U.S. $0.07) for the first kilometer and ¢45 ($0.08) for each additional kilometer, which will take effect March 10.

ARESEP spokeswoman Carolina Mora said the reduction reflected a six-month decline in fuel costs.

Taxi rides will now cost ¢430 ($0.77) for the first kilometer, with additional kilometers costing ¢385 ($0.69). Waiting fares, however, will increase to ¢2,505 ($4.47) from ¢2,470, per hour. The cuts apply to all of the country's 12,000-plus taxis.

“What can we do? Work a few hours more?” said taxi d river Arnunfo Montoya, 67, from San José, who estimated he would have work 14 to 15 hours to day after the rate cut, up from his 10 to 12 hour workday now.

The rate change comes on the heels of a 5 percent cut in bus fares, set to take effect Friday. The reductions, which range between ¢10 ($0.02) and ¢360 ($0.64) depending on the route, mark the first general bus fare cut in 10 years. Fuel prices were also cited as the primary reason for the bus rate cut, ARESEP said.