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Russian Film Festival
Features “Fascismo ordinario,” 3 p.m.; “La fortaleza inmortal,” 7 p.m. all May 12 at Sala Garbo, Av. 2, Ca. 28. Info: 2222-1034, 2223-1960.

Tuesday Night Concerts
Antique Music Festival, through May 12 at 7 p.m., Room 107, School of Music, UCR, San Pedro.

Rock Concert
By Max Goldemberg, May 12, 7 p.m., Spanish Cultural Center, Barrio Escalante, Barrio Escalante, Av. 13, Ca. 31. Info: 2257-2919, www.ccecr.org.

Richard Whitten's favorite piece of his collection is the birdwing butterfly of New Guinea. An exquisite and rare butterfly that's also “as big as your head.” But also found in Whitten's assortment of arthropods – insects, arachnids, centipedes and other types of creepy crawlers – are walking stick bugs and millipedes the size of one's forearm, beetles the size of a small bird and spiders that look like they could eat a small bird (for example, the aptly named “Goliath bird-eating spider”).

All these creatures – thousands of species – will be donated to the University of Costa Rica's biology department.

“I just grew up loving insects,” Whitten said. “It's a hobby that got out of hand.”

The one hundred boxes of mounted organisms, including scorpions, moths, cockroaches of all shapes and surprisingly gigantic sizes eventually will be housed in a new building on the UCR campus. The collection will rival some of the world's largest arthropod collections such as the ones found at the Smithsonian and the New York Museum of Natural History. Some of the more exotic creatures on display came from such far-away places as Ghana and Papua New Guinea.

Whitten and his wife, Margaret, lived in Monteverde, Costa Rica for 16 years, and he accumulated many bugs in his collection while living in the country. Whitten now lives in Idaho, and he had planned to donate the collection to a children's a museum in the United States. However, permit issues made that plan too hectic, so he decided the UCR was a better option.

The decision thrilled the UCR biology department. Close to 50 students and professors and hundreds of mounted bugs were packed into a classroom at the UCR on Tuesday to announce the donation. Whitten was floored by how crowded the room was for the presentation of the collection. But the university's staff understands the significance of receiving such a massive collection.

“The value is in principle,” said Hammer Salazar, who works at the Biological Reserve on UCR's campus. “The value doses not serve us in economical terms. The value is for the nature.”

With less than eight days in office, newly arrived legislators are already looking for a pay raise.

Six of the eight parties represented in the legislative assembly have voiced interest in upping their monthly income from ₡ 2.5 million ($4,700) to ₡ 4 million ($7,600). The average salary in Costa Rica was $455 per month in 2008, according to the Central Bank of Costa Rica.

The executive branch, under incoming President Laura Chinchilla, said it would support the increase.

“It's absolutely necessary that we resolve an issue that's been present in the country for many years,” said Marco Vargas, minister to the president, “and that is the inequality of salaries between the different branches of government.

“Of course we are concerned about the effect it will have on public spending,” he continued, but quickly added that legislators are looking for ways to reduce “unnecessary spending.”

The proposal to increase legislative salaries was first broached by the majority National Liberation Party in the last assembly, which left office on May 1. Two left-leaning parties – Citizen Action Party and Broad Front – have expressed opposition to the bill.

While the executive branch is supporting an increase for the legislative branch, it has not discussed raising the salaries for ministers, according to Vargas.

The National Meteorological Institute (IMN) is forecasting an “intense” rainy season for 2010 when compared to last year.

The disappearance of El Niño, the meteorological phenomenon that forced dry weather in Costa Rica during 2009, as well as a temperature increase in the Atlantic Ocean, have created conditions favorable for extra rainfall, meteorologists said.

The IMN also predicts that rainfall from eight hurricanes will affect the country between June and October, four of which will be category four or five storms – with winds faster than 240 kilometers per hour (although hurricane winds rarely affect the country directly).

Last year, four hurricanes had an impact on Costa Rica's rainfall. During an average rainy season, six hurricanes can bring heavy rains.

For the month of May, meteorologists forecast a normal amount of rainfall, which, in the Central Valley, means roughly 260 millimeters of precipitation and 21 days of rainfall. Rainfall will strengthen in June, meteorologists said, and surpass averages from August through October.

The Central Valley and the Pacific will be the most affected areas, according to the IMN.