‘Understanding Costa Rican Politics'
Speaker's forum with Robert Nahrgang, Jan. 18, 7-8:30 p.m., Beacon Escazú Hotel, Escazú Centro, 150 m west of park and church, 2289-6333, 8821-4708.

Palmares Fiestas
Bullfights, 7 p.m.; fireworks, 9 p.m. www.fiestaspalmares.com.

‘Vacaciones Felices' Urban Camps
Includes snacks and lunch, acting techniques, puppet-making and puppeteering, traditional games, science workshops and more, Jan. 18-22, 25-29, 7:30 a.m.-noon (ages 3-6); 7:30 a.m.-5 p.m. (ages 6-13), Children's Museum, 2258-4929, ext. 125 or 126, educacion@museocr.org.

The political left united behind one candidate with 22 days to go on the campaign trail.

At a press conference on Friday morning, the National Integration Party, Patriotic Alliance and Citizen Action Party announced their intention to combine platforms under educator and economist Ottón Solís, founder and candidate of Citizen Action Party (PAC).

“Our central objective … is to achieve electoral victory in the next elections and to win the presidency for Ottón Solís, who serves as the presidential candidate in representation of our political organizations,” read an agreement signed by all three parties at the Hotel Clarión in San José.

The last-minute move may not be enough to upset the country's center and right-wing parties, however.

Laura Chinchilla, of the ruling National Liberation Party (PLN), enjoys 40 percent of voter support while the Libertarian Movement's Otto Guevara has 30 percent, according to a Unimer poll published Sunday by the daily La Nación. If the vote were held today, according to the poll, these candidates would have to face each other in a runoff. In a poll of those voters who said they would vote in a second round, Chinchilla and Guevara practically tied, at 47 percent and 45 percent, respectively.

According to recent studies, Solís would muster only 15 percent of the vote.

The only left-wing party not to joint the leftist coalition was the Broad Front Party and its candidate, Eugenio Trejos.

“We have received a very strong response from people all over the country,” he told The Tico Times on Friday afternoon. “That enthusiasm is not transferable.”

However, he said he is not opposed to coalitions. “We have fought to form coalitions at the municipal level for years … but a decision made by (party leaders) was to elect me as their candidate, and we are not going to waver from their decision.”

Front-runner Chinchilla looked to collect on disenfranchised voters following the move to form a coalition.

She said in a statement, “We respect the decision and invite the people who sympathize with these parties to join the National Liberation Party. I am sure we can agree on issues like defense of the Caja (the Social Security System that oversees public health care), public education and a country with better employment.”

Legendary Spanish singer-songwriter Joaquín Sabina has confirmed a Costa Rica date in his “Vinagres y Rosas” tour, according to concert promoter Interamericana de Producciones.

Sabina is scheduled to perform with a full band on May 12 in San José, said Cecilia Chavarría, the promoter's marketing director. However, she said Interamericana de Producciones has yet to determine a venue and ticket prices.

Fans liken the gravelly voiced singer-songwriter to a Spanish Bob Dylan. In the great troubadours' tradition, Sabina's poetic lyrics and the stories they tell take primary importance in his songs. His music has been celebrated in Spain and around the Spanish-speaking world for at least 30 years.

Sabina's tour kicked off this weekend in Argentina and includes several dates in that country as well as in Chile and Uruguay, before hitting Mexico and other Latin American countries.

Costa Rica was unable to make contact by the end of last week with at least three Ticos believed to be in Haiti as international search efforts continued following the magnitude 7.0 earthquake that struck that country Jan. 12, foreign relations officials said.

A news release issued Friday by the Costa Rican Foreign Ministry listed the names of three citizens who haven't been located: Eithel Rodolfo Sojo Ramírez, Jorge Antonio Mora Mejías and Javier Quesada Crochieri.

Families or officials have made contact with 17 other Costa Rican citizens or residents who were in Haiti during the devastating earthquake and are in good health, the ministry said. The list includes: Hernán Aguilar Gómez, Carlos Weeden, Susan Herrera, Rodolfo Sovalbarro, Ana Laura Sovalbarro, Diego Sovalbarro, Henry Molina Calvo, Dunia Cruz Hernández, Hendry Molina Cruz, Erica Molina Cruz, Tifany Molina Cruz, Oscar Navarro Suárez, Erick Guevara Ulloa, Walter Jiménez Herra, Francisco Rodríguez, Nelsi María Flores Quirós and Carlos Wilfredo Chacón Gamboa.

Most of the people on the list of confirmed survivors have been taken to neighboring Dominican Republic, although several decided to stay in Haiti to help in the international rescue and relief efforts there.

Almost 30 international rescue teams, including groups of Costa Rican Red Cross and National Police, worked hard through the week to move rubble left by collapsed buildings in and around the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince. By Friday, 13,000 bodies hade been recovered, U.N. Assistant Secretary General for Peacekeeping Edmond Mulet told CNN. At least 15 U.S. citizens perished, while more than 300 U.N. personnel were unaccounted for and 37 confirmed dead, the cable television network reported. Estimates of the final death toll range from 50,000 to 150,000.

Click here for a list of ways to help Haiti.