2009 Francophone Festival
Features a conference about Jean-Marie Le Clézio, March 23, 4 p.m., UCR School of Modern Languages, Roberto Murillo Auditorium. 

“Mujer … es de barro” Dance Show
Performed by Ena Aguilar, March 23-25, 30-31, April 1, 8 p.m., National Theater Company, Calle 29, Avenida 5/7, next to La Aduana, 2257-8305. 

Chamber Music for Percussion
By Vassilena Serfimova and The Ka's Trio, March 23, 8 p.m., Eugene O'Neill Theater, CCCN, Barrio Amón.

SAO PAULO and MANAGUA – El Salvador President-elect Mauricio Funes has been invited by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to participate in summit of Central America leaders and U.S. Vice President Joe Biden to be held March 30 in San José, Costa Rica.

Costa Rica President Oscar Arias had previously extended him an invitation, but Funes said Clinton also called to invite him while he was in San Paolo meeting with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio da Silva.

In San José, Funes will meet privately with Clinton and Biden, and hopes to meet U.S. President Barack Obama at the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago next month.

Funes said he received a call from Obama March 16, the day after his electoral victory, who said Lula had spoken highly of the soon-to-be Salvadoran head.

Funes said stronger relations with the U.S. are “fundamental,” citing remittances the 3 million Salvadorans who live and work in the U.S. – one-third of the country's entire population – send back to family in El Salvador.

Salvadorans send an average of $3.5 billion annually back home, which amounts to 18 percent of the Central American country's gross domestic product.

“It would be suicide for me and for Salvadorans to not want to strengthen relations with the U.S.,” he said.

Funes, of the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) will assume the presidency June 1.

Meanwhile, his colleague to the south, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, has said he will not be attending the summit in San José next week, according to a communiqué on Friday from the Foreign Ministry. The statement did not list a reason. Vice Foreign Minister Manuel Coronel Kautz will be attending in Ortega's place.

Political opposition strongly criticized that decision Sunday.

Nicaraguan Fund for Economic and Social Development (Funides) Director Mario Arana said it was a “lost opportunity” for Ortega to try and improve strained relations with the U.S.

The U.S. Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) decided on March 11 that if the government in Managua had not resolved doubts over contested November 2008 municipal elections within 90 days, it “would be very difficult” to reactivate the $62 million in frozen Millennium Challenge funds for Nicaragua.

Ortega dismissed the significance of those funds last week. “The truth is that this country, with or without the Millennium Challenge funds, will continue to advance forward.”

Ortega is the only Central American head of state who will not be attending next week's summit.

Costa Rica registered a trade deficit of $363 million in the first two months of 2009, down 62 percent from the same period last year, the Central Bank (BCCR) announced Saturday.

The drop was primarily due to a fall in imports, due to the global economic crisis, said the bank.

The country imported $1.7 billion worth of goods in January and February, down from $2.5 billion in those same months in 2008.

Exports were down only 16 percent, from $1.6 billion in 2008 to $1.3 billion this year.

The country closed 2008 with a $5.8 billion trade deficit, a 60 percent increase over the $3.6 billion deficit registered in 2007.

Biking in the blood: U.S. champion mountain biker Marla Streb tears through the Costa Rican jungle, where she will be offering skills camps starting in June.

Photo courtesy of Marla Streb

Professional mountain biker Marla Streb has won world and U.S. national championships, taken gold in the extreme-action-sport X Games, and biked professionally across the globe. Now she's ready to tackle the jungles of Costa Rica, and is inviting beginner and advanced bikers along for the ride.

This year, Streb debuts her mountain bike skills camp in the jngle around Montezuma, a Pacific beach community on the southern tip of the Nicoya Peninsula. Her three-day, four-night camp aims to help bikers of all abilities improve their riding skills and techniques, while allowing them to enjoy Costa Rica's myriad other attractions.

Streb, 43, says she chose Costa Rica as the site for her camp after racing La Ruta de Conquistadores five years ago with her pro team, Luna. The world-class, four-day race starts in Jacó, on the central Pacific coast, and ends in the Caribbean port of Limón.

“After I raced ( La Ruta ) the first time, I stayed with a friend in Montezuma,” Streb says. “I loved the town and its relative remoteness. After exploring the country further, I found the Nicoya Peninsula to be a good place for trails, because it doesn't get as much rain as many other areas.”

Adventures with Streb and her camp will include morning skills clinics in which participants will work with Streb and her team of other pro coaches to learn about the mechanics of biking, tricks and jumps, as well as proper balance and bailout techniques. Afternoons will give the bikers the opportunity for yoga, surfing, ziplining and snorkeling.

Participants don't have to worry about getting their bikes down to Costa Rica, as Streb provides the bikes for the camp. This year, participants will have the use of 10 Orbea Occams, high-end mountain bikes that retail for about $4,000 each, Streb says.

“Participants can literally bring only a helmet and shoes,” Streb says. “We'll take care of the rest.”

See the Weekend section of this week's Tico Times print or digital edition for the full article on Streb and the camp.