Sculpture gathering and San Ramón Fair
Aug. 31, San Ramón downtown, Alajuela.

Dance show: “Tele-Invision”
Aug. 28-29, 8 p.m., and Aug. 30, 6 p.m., Teatro Giratablas, Barrio La California, 2253-6001. 

Play: “La Loca de Gandoca”
Drama, Aug. 28-Sept. 20, weekdays 9 and 11 a.m., Sundays, 4 p.m., National Auditorium, Children's Museum.

Cardamomo in concert
Belly dance and Middle Eastern music, 10 p.m., Jazz Café, San Pedro, www.jazzcafecostarica.com. 

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

Guitar concert
With Technology Institute of Costa Rica Guitar Orchestra, Kalrtac Bulrarke Orchestra, La Séptima Cuerda, Guitar Orchestras of Universidad de Costa Rica (UCR), Turrialba campus, Castella Conservatory, Universidad Nacional (UNA), Municipal Orchestras of Mercedes Norte (Heredia), Santo Domingo (Heredia), and Unión de Cartago, Aug. 29, 7 p.m., Melico Salazar Theater.

Mozart Chorale in concert
Performing works by Schubert, 7 p.m., Teatro Mozart, San Francisco de Dos Ríos, 500 m. south of Tierra Colombiana Restaurant, 8997-6363

Ecology hike
To Pozos (El Salto de Acosta), Monterrey de Aserrí, leaving at 7:30 a.m. from the bus stop to Acosta, 350 m. south of C.C.S.S., behind Acueductos y Alcantarillados, 8306-6354, caminarshkuk@gmail.com.

San José Band and Lubín Barahona y los Caballeros del Ritmo Band
Salsa, Aug. 30, 11 a.m., boulevar next to National Museum. Free.

JUNCOS 2009
University Sports Games, Aug. 28-Sept. 5, UCR Sports Court.

Following in the footsteps of leftist presidents throughout Latin America whom he has criticised, Costa Rican President Oscar Arias is proposing a constitutional reform. However, his idea is being pitched from the other end of the political spectrum: in the language of promoting free markets and entrepreneurship.

Presently, Costa Rica ranks 50 th – behind countries such as Cuba, the Czech Republic and Argentina – in the realm of human development, according to the United Nations.

In hopes that Costa Rica would creep up that list to sit comfortably among countries such as Spain, Canada and the Bahamas, outgoing Costa Rican President Oscar Arias this week proposed formation of a national constituent assembly to reform the nation's constitution and “pave the way” to status as a developed nation.

To Arias, “excessive controls” on the executive branch impede “vital projects” from coming to fruition.

“Reforming this situation will be the great challenge of Costa Rica in the coming years,” he said to an audience at the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday night. “We cannot afford to continue tireless debate on the reforms our country needs…. A restricted state, bloated and unable to execute its decisions, violates the public interest just as much as a state that abuses its power.”

A constituent assembly would work to address excessive regulations, he said, promoting action and implementation over heightened control.

“To the extent that we remain a country of controllers, not entrepreneurs, I see it very difficult to reach our goals, whatever they are,” Arias said.

San José has kept the amount of air-borne nitrogen dioxide (NO2) under control in its residential areas but is seeing increases in the industrial sector, a new study on air quality shows.

Released Thursday, the report looked at several air pollutants, including toxins from metals and carbon dioxide between 2004 and 2008, but in their presentation, the report's authors focused mainly on the increase in nitrogen dioxide (NO2) in certain areas.

NO2 is a toxic chemical compound mainly produced by internal combustion engines and manufacturing plants.

The results of the study revealed that San José has kept the amount of air-borne NO2 under control in its residential areas, but has seen increases in industrial sectors.

Heredia, north of San José, has work to do in both areas.

Exact numbers vary greatly because nitrogen dioxide quantities depend heavily on the season, but the tendency has been for San José to lower the amount of in the air by four percent in residential areas.

By contrast, Heredia's residential areas have seen an increase of 18 percent between 2005 and 2008.

The reason for this disparity between San José and Heredia's residential sectors remains in doubt.

Jorge Herrera, Director of the environmental analysis lab for the National University (UNA), who organized the report, said it will take more analysis to find the reasons for the gap between the two cities, but he noted that rapid population growth in Heredia could be an explanation.

According to Infocensos, a University of Costa Rica (UCR) system that gauges populations in Costa Rica's counties, Heredia has boomed from close to 39,000 residents in 1970 to about 130,000 in 2008.

San José's population has also risen but not quite as sharply. During the same time period San José grew from approximately 220,000 people to 330,000.

Herrera also said that San Jose's vehicle restrictions, which prohibit vehicles with certain license plates from entering the city once a week, could also have contributed to the improvement in the city's air.

Hundreds of thousands of people pass through the doors of the country's public hospitals each year to receive services and medicines made available to them by the Costa Rican government.

The 67-year-old health care giant dispenses a cross section of services on a slim budget, and it still maintains one of the healthiest populations in the Americas.

Yet, many Costa Ricans agree that their health care system would fall short were it not balanced by its private arm. For all the acclaim the Costa Rican Social Security System ( Caja) has received over the years, private services plug the holes that the government-run entity can't reach, and it does so with agility the lumbering Caja can't match.

Whether it's the day-bright halls and up-to-date facilities of Escazú's CIMA Hospital or the wooden floors and homey common spaces of Hospital Bíblica in downtown San José, Costa Ricans celebrate the fact they have private health care alternatives.

“Many people come here because Social Security hospitals and clinics have long waiting lists,” said Jorge Cortés, chief medical officer at the Hospital Clínica Bíblica. “So if they need an exam or if they need a diagnosis, they can get it here today.”

See the Aug. 28 print or digital edition of The Tico Times for more on this story, the second in a series on health in Costa Rica.