Costa Rica Guitar Quartet in concert
Feb. 5, 7 p.m., Spanish Cultural Center, Barrio Escalante, Av. 13, Ca. 31, 2257-2919, www.ccecr.org.

Malpaís in concert
Trova, Feb. 5, 10 p.m., Jazz Café, San Pedro, www.jazzcafecostarica.com.

Cantoamérica in concert
Trova, Feb. 5, 10 p.m., Jazz Café, Escazú, www.jazzcafecostarica.com.

Play “The Little Prince”
By Antoine de Saint- Exupery, directed by Allan Calderón, Feb. 6, 10 a.m., Spanish Cultural Center, Barrio Escalante, Av. 13, Ca. 31, 2257-2919, www.ccecr.org.

6th Coastal Challenge
250 km, from the Pacific to the Caribbean, finishing at the border with Panama, through jungle, trails, asphalt, beaches and more, started Jan. 30, runs through Feb. 6, www.thecoastalchallenge.com/index2.html. 

Live From the Metropolitan Opera House “Simon Boccanegra,” by Giuseppe Verdi, shown on high-definition screen, Feb. 6, noon; 1 p.m., at Eugene O'Neill Theater, CCCN, 2207-7554.

Downchild Blues Band
Featuring Donnie Walsh and Chuck Jackson, Feb. 6, 20, 8 p.m., Bar La Vida Loca, Playas del Coco, 2670-0181, 2670-1463.

“Tango Pasión”
Tango show, Feb. 6, 8 p.m.; Feb. 7, 5 p.m., National Auditorium, Children's Museum, tickets at 2207-2025.

Super Bowl Party
Feb. 7, at Players Sports Bar and Casino, White House Hotel, Escazú, 2288-6362, www.playerscostarica.com.

Elections Day, for adults and kids
Costa Ricans go to the polls to choose their next president. No sports or cultural events will take place, although the streets themselves will be a spectacle of different party supporters. The Children's Museum, at the north end of Ca. 4, Av. 9, is hosting its own unofficial voting site for children. Operating from 9 a.m.-4 p.m., the little ones must bring some sort of ID to be able to vote. Inter-American University in the Heredia province will also serve as a voting site for kids, the institution will receive them 8 a.m.-4 p.m.

The Supreme Elections Tribunal is putting finishing touches on the preparations for Sunday's presidential elections.

They've distributed a half million dollars worth of supplies to the country's 6,163 polls. They've registered more than 122 international observers and thousands more volunteers to work the stations. And they've made arrangements to handle the country's 2,822,491 registered voters in the rare case they all make it to the polls.

“We've completed 100 percent of the logistics,” said Hector Fernández, director of voter registration for the elections tribunal. “We still need to arrange a few details.”

Sobrado advises voters to get to the polls early to avoid lines. He said all polls are open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. and preliminary results will be available online at www.tse.go.cr after 8 p.m.

Transportation will be complimentary to voters in select locations.

The Supreme Elections Tribunal has budgeted $14 million for this election and $2.4 million for a potential second round.

They've prohibited media outlets from publishing polls in the next few days “to facilitate a space for reflection,” said Luis Antonio Sobrado, president of the elections tribunal. But, unlike in years past, the sale of alcohol will be permitted.

There are more than 8,050 candidates, with seven of them vying for the presidency. While Walter Muñoz of the National Integration Party and Rolando Araya with the Patriotic Alliance have both withdrawn their presidential bids, both names will appear on the ballots. Their votes will not automatically be transferred to Ottón Solís, of the Citizen Action Party, with whom they formed a coalition in January.

For the results and coverage of election day, visit www.ticotimes.net.

Just when it seemed Costa Rica's cell phone market was on track to open for competition, the Telecommunications Superintendency (SUTEL) announced another postponement on Thursday afternoon.

The decision to delay the opening comes in response to political bickering sparked this week by Ottón Solís, the presidential hopeful of the Citizen Action Party (PAC), who sent a letter to President Oscar Arias urging him to delay the opening of the market a month.

In proposing a schedule for the opening of the mobile market, SUTEL announced in January that the final signature on the bill ushering in the new competitors in the cell phone market would be May 5, three days prior to Arias leaving office. Solís argued that the signing should be bumped back a month to allow the new president to ring in the opening of the cellular phone market. Competition in the cell phone market was officially opened on Jan. 1, 2009, when the Central American Free Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA) went into effect, breaking up the long-standing monopoly the state-run Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) had held over the telecommunications market.

“The decision to postpone the opening of the market is a political decision,” said Carolina Mora, communications officer for SUTEL. “It is a logistical decision … Currently, we do not know when we will reschedule a date for the opening of the market.”

The recent date reshuffling was prompted by the letter from Solís, who last Friday wrote to Arias, saying, “Your administration has pressured the licensing process for the awarding of the cellular telephone frequencies and the executive branch is trying to sign the contracts of the concession on May 5, just before the transfer of powers.”

Solís then asked, “Why rush the awarding and final signing of the cellular telephone contracts?”

The letter said that delaying the signing would provide the country greater “transparency” in the process of opening the cellular market frequencies.

On Tuesday, Arias responded to the letter from Solís.

“If the calendar indicates that I have to give closure to the opening of the telecommunications three days before finishing my term, truly I prefer that it is done in the next government. There is a false idea that we are running to do it ourselves.”

Arias' response prompted SUTEL to redesign the timeline for entry of new competitors into the national cell phone market. Originally, SUTEL had planned to begin accepting applications from interested cellular companies today.

The process of selecting the new entrants into the market is anticipated to be a three-month process in which SUTEL will hold a “hybrid auction” to determine the best qualified companies to provide cellular phone service to Costa Rica. Of the many providers looking to enter the Tico market, three companies will be selected that have the most comprehensive financial and technical plans for market entry. Once admitted into the market, the new entrants will begin to compete for cell phone coverage with ICE, who held a monopoly over the national telecommunications market for decades.

The Costa Rica Agriculture and Livestock Ministry (MAG) recommended on Wednesday that farmers who own land within a three kilometer radius of the crater of the Turrialba volcano check their crops for acid rain damage.

The rain, which has been falling for several years around the volcano, could intensify in density and range as toxic gases begin to seep out of the mountain.

Francisco Brenes, Cartago's regional MAG director, encouraged farmers to buy instruments that measure pH levels in morning dews, waterways and rainfalls. Since crops have different acidity tolerances, farmers should check crop requirements and capacities in order to gauge how much acid is harmful for their yields.

Officials also recommended that farmers wash ash off of their plants to prevent diseases and allow the leaves to breathe.

Eliécer Duarte, a scientist with the Volcanological and Seismological Observatory of Costa Rica (OVSICORI), said that acid rain is “nothing new” in Turrialba. The observatory began documenting acid rain in the area as far back as 2002. He noted that in 2007 and 2008 the region experienced a peak in acid rainfall levels and yields were mildly affected.

The ash and gases that have begun to seep out of the volcano since it began spewing particles in early January, he said, “could increase the amount of acid rain and effect even more that the zone that has already been affected.”