Women's Club “Get Acquainted” Tropical Tea
For western San José, Escazú, Santa Ana neighborhoods, Feb 24, 1:30-3:30 p.m., location details at 2288-1157, hankins.joan@gmail.com, www.wccr.org.

Exhibit by Charlsie Kelly
“La Sagrada Familia y Santos Varios” and “Adornos de Reciclaje,” mosaic-style-watercolors, through Feb. 28, National Gallery, Children's Museum.

Film and open mike jam session
Short film “ Cualquiera ” and open mike jam session, 7 p.m., El Lobo Estepario, Cuesta de Moras opposite Plaza de la Democracia, next to Rayuela bar, San José, info: 8376-1409.

Oscar Arias used his last minutes in the international spotlight as Costa Rican president to highlight the lack of progress by the nations of Latin America.

At a meeting between heads of state in Playa del Carmen, Mexico on Tuesday, the second-term president said, “The truth is our region has advanced little in the last few decades. In some areas, we have gone resolutely backward.”

He condemned governments in the region that “use election results to justify their desire to restrict individual freedoms and persecute their opponents.” And he reprimanded his colleagues for their inability “to meet the needs of our people and provide the benefits that democracy is obliged to deliver.”

The Nobel Peace Prize recipient, who has been a tireless advocate for disarmament, shook his finger at the region as a whole for failing to reduce military spending: “It shows a complete inability to set priorities in Latin America; a practice that prevents a true agenda for development.”

And, finally, he warned fellow heads of state not to blame others for Latin America's problems, saying, “Neither Spanish colonialism or a lack of resources or United State hegemony or any other theory of eternal victimization in Latin America” can explain its shortcomings.

The Latin American and Caribbean Conference (CALC) ended Tuesday and resulted in the preliminary stages of the creation of a community of states that excludes both United States and Canada. The next summits will be held in Venezuela (2011) and Chile (2012).

Arias' full speech can be found (in Spanish) here.

Three motorists have died on the new San José-Caldera highway, less than one month after its inauguration on Jan. 27.

While drivers are quick to blame faulty construction, poor design and bad planning for the fatal crashes, authorities say that motorists' disregard for the rules of the road is the primary cause of the accidents.

According to the Transit Police, most collisions along the new 77-kilometer toll way are the result of speeding. The road's speed limit of 80 kilometers per hour is reduced around sharp curves. Transit officials said drivers don't respect the reduction, thus the auto wrecks.

But motorists may be right about some issues. Some have complained about the size of the shoulder on the highway, which is too narrow for a car to pull entirely off the road and safely attend a problem with his or her vehicle.

On Monday this week, rainfall provoked landslides, causing large rocks to slam onto the freshly asphalted pavement. Autopistas del Sol, the private firm in charge of the highway's maintenance, closed the road for two hours while crews cleaned up the debris.

Along some stretches, 90-degree rock walls line the route and some of the steep cliffs have been reinforced with concrete to prevent landslides. However, by opening day last month, some walls had already begun to crumble, with winds blowing jagged rocks onto the expressway. The shoulder lanes are half the width of a sedan (TT, Jan. 29).

Drivers have also complained about a poor lighting and lack of reflectors along the new highway.

Bucking a trend in which tourist numbers dropped nearly 8 percent last year, sportfishing in Costa Rica actually became even more popular. The pastime drew 12.65 percent more tourists last year compared with 2008, a new study by the National Tourism Chamber (CANATUR) shows.

Some 85,636 visitors participated in sportfishing, making up more than 4 percent of the total number of tourists who vacationed in Costa Rica last year. These findings come from a CANATUR survey carried out among travelers at Juan Santamaría International Airport, northwest of San José, and Daniel Oduber International Airport in Liberia, the principal city of the northwest province of Guanacaste.

The new tally shows signs of the sector's rebound after declining from a high of 94,312 visiting sportfishing enthusiasts in 2007. According to Donald McGuinness, president of the Costa Rican Sportfishing Federation, the industry helps diversify Costa Rica's tourism offerings, generates employment and attracts tourists with higher-than-average purchasing power.

However, he added that neighbors in the region, such as Panama, pose stiff competition in reeling in visitors looking to fish.

Overall, a total of 1,922,579 tourists visited Costa Rica last year. The number represents the first decline since 2002, CANATUR said, citing the recession in the United States – home to the bulk of this country's visitors – as a leading factor.

Expecting a turnaround this year, the chamber predicts growth of up to 5 percent in overall numbers of tourists.