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Kids' Nutrition Workshop
For parents, how to feed your kids an optimal diet, June 24, 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.; June 26, 9 a.m.-1 p.m., United World College, Santa Ana, info with Julie Godfrey. Info: 2214-2515, 8854-5274, www.foreverhealthyco.com.

Canada Day Pig Roast Party
Old-fashioned pig roast, cash bar, with dancing, swimming pool, vineyards, fishing pond, nature trails, June 26, 10 a.m.-3 p.m., Zamora Estate, Santa Ana, purchase tickets in advance before June 24 at ARCR, San José. Info: 2233-8068, www.canadianclubcr.com.

“Desde el Jardín de las Hespérides a la Ribera Atlántica”
Art exhibit by Gabriel Rigo opening June 24, 7:30 p.m., Country Art Café, Costa Rica Country Club, Escazú. Info: 2208-5016, artcafecr@gmail.com.

Music at Dusk
Camerata INM, June 24, 5:10 p.m., National Theater, Av. 2, Ca. 3/5, 2221-5341, www.teatronacional.go.cr.

Classic Concert
By Soprano Mercedes Sánchez and guitarist Ricardo Fonseca, June 24, 8 p.m., Taller del Artista, 300 m east of Saint Gregory School, old road to Tres Ríos. Info: 2278-3594.

Vacation Camp
For ages 3.5-13, games, experiments, talks, adventure, food included, July 5-9 and 12-16, 7:30 a.m.-5 p.m., Children's Museum. Reserve at 2258-4929, ext. 124 or 125.

Adventure Kids Day Camp
Ages 5-12, nature activities, sports, crafts, swimming, field trip, bilingual, July 5-9, 9 a.m.-3 p.m., Escazú and Ciudad Colón. Info: 2289-0404, advkids@gmail.com.

The main highway to the Caribbean coast will close again on Thursday, as specialists from Spain work with the Costa Rican government to improve safety for future travelers.

According to transportation authorities, Route 32 will be closed from 5:30 to 11 a.m. Thursday, Saturday and Sunday so that tests can be conducted without disruption from passing traffic.

“The computers being used in the testing are highly sensitive, so any noise or movement greatly interferes with the sensors and makes scanning impossible,” a Transportation Ministry statement said.

The road will reopen after 11 a.m. each day unless there is severe weather. Meanwhile, traffic will be rerouted through Turrialba, adding an additional 90 minutes to what is normally a two-and-a-half-hour trip from San José to Limón.

Since it opened in the mid-1980s, Route 32 has been plagued by mudslides and closes frequently in the rainy season. To find out whether the road is open, call the Zurquí office of the Traffic Police at 2268-2157, or the Limón bus lines at 2750-0023 or 2257-8129.

Costa Rica is on its way to approving a World Bank credit line that could save the country as much as $70,000 a day, the government said Wednesday.

The World Bank's $500 million development policy loan passed first debate in the Legislative Assembly Tuesday, with approval from 42 of the 46 lawmakers present. The policy loan bill is expected to pass in the second, final vote on Thursday.

“The political will is clear from all the parties to seek urgent solutions for the country,” Marco Vargas, minister of the presidency, said in a statement.

He explained that the savings were calculated by President Laura Chinchilla's economic advisers based on the new resources the credit line would free up “to achieve important progress for the country,” according to the statement.

The World Bank approved the loan in April 2009, authorizing its International Bank for Reconstruction and Development to disburse $500 million in one tranche, payable in 30 years, including a five-year grace period.

The loan is meant to bolster Costa Rica's public finances and competitiveness “with respect to infrastructure shortcomings, skills gaps and excessive red tape,” the World Bank said in a statement to publicize its approval.

Just as global economies were buckling last year, in February 2009, the World Bank's vice president for Latin America, Pamela Cox, visited this Central American country and announced plans to offer the loan “to give help to the government in this difficult time,” she said ( TT Daily News, Feb. 12, 2009 ).

However, it has taken the legislature until now to give the funds the go-ahead. The offer was met with some skepticism.

“We're swiping a credit card we can't afford to pay,” Luis Barrantes, then legislator with the Libertarian Movement Party, said at the time of Cox's visit.

In an interview with The Tico Times, Cox stressed that the World Bank does not add conditions on development policy loans, other than the promise from the country to repay and not misuse the money.

See related story: Borrowing Worries Some as Debt Nears $2.5 Bil.

Laura Chinchilla had been in Casa Presidencial no more than 10 days when a crowd swarmed through the streets of San José in protest of one of her government's first initiatives.

Her party, the National Liberation Party, had proposed a 72 percent pay raise for newly installed legislators, an increase that would bump their salaries from $4,700 to $8,000 a month.

Most of the population was incredulous and furious, and many waited outside the Legislative Assembly until late in the evening on the day of the vote, marching in circles and calling out chants and insults.

“It seems that the Chinchilla administration miscalculated the political reaction or they didn't care at the beginning,” said political analyst Agustín Castro. “Either way, it was a poor move.”

Chinchilla watched public outrage grow louder, and although she had already expressed support for the increase, saying it would even out the pay scale among the three branches of government, she began to back off. Then, just days after legislators approved the increase in the first vote, she said she would veto the bill.

Although Chinchilla may have salvaged her popularity, she left the 24 legislators in her party exposed to a withering barrage of criticism – and without a raise. And to make matters worse, her health minister soon after issued an eviction order for three buildings housing Legislative Assembly offices, based on long-standing health code violations.

“The decision to shelve the issue (of pay raises for legislators) created injuries that cannot be hidden within the party,” said former Minister of the Presidency Rodrigo Arias in an interview with the daily La República. “It was a bad start.”

Castro said the political cost of the incident is clear. Not only is there now a sticking point between Chinchilla and the members of her party in the Legislative Assembly, but also the new president showed interest groups that she is vulnerable to public opinion.

“Whatever political honeymoon the Chinchilla administration had was over right then,” Castro said.

For more on this story, see the June 25 print or digital edition of The Tico Times.

For a video from Casa Presidencial on the achievements of the Chinchilla Administration, click here.

A new production of “Don Quixote” by a local theater group will embark on a 40-day tour around Costa Rica. Along the way, it'll be introducing a new education program to the country.

The Terruño Espressivo adaptation of “Don Quixote” debuts tonight at Variedades Theater in downtown San José. Afterward, Terruño Espressivo and TNT ensemble theater group of England will bring the play to places as far as the Southern Zone and up to the Nicaraguan border. The wide-ranging tour will assist in promoting the International Baccalaureate (IB) program at harder-to-reach public schools.

An initiative begun in February 2008 by the Association of IB Schools of Costa Rica (Asobitico) plans to install the internationally recognized high school curriculum in 20 Costa Rican public schools over the next few years. The “Don Quixote” production hopes to advance the initiative by using the play as a way to introduce the specialized and highly regarded curriculum to more rural schools. Information about the production and the IB program will be available at the shows. All proceeds from the play also will go toward the initiative.

Seven girls from the Palmares School, the first public school in Costa Rica to graduate students from the IB program (TT, March 12), helped with production of the play. They helped create scenery, helped organize the tour in communities and aided in actors in preparing for their performances.

“They're very close to what's happening,” said Eduardo Mosheim, a producer with Terruño Espressivo.

The students will accompany the tour depending on their schedule. A rotation will allow students to work – and promote the IB program – on some dates while still allowing them time to return home for exams and other work. After opening night, the performance will begin its tour in the northwestern province of Guanacaste the following week.

Alicia Méndez, one of the students helping on the set, said it's a tough commitment. However, working with the cast and the production has been great, she said.

“I love it, because you meet a bunch of people and have a lot of experiences,” said Méndez, 16. “For example, yesterday I learned to hook up the sound. I've already learned a ton of things.”

Pablo Morales directed this version of the play based on the Miguel de Cervantes classic novel. Tonight's debut is at 7 p.m.; admission costs ₡ 3000 ($5.80).