Costa Rica’s New Luxury Tax – Meat, Fruit and Floors Mops

Meat Department in Costa Rica Mercado Central, San Jose

I don't know what is going on with the government of Costa Rica and it seems like every day I/m feeling more sorry for the Ticos. Last January, the government hammered the people with higher traffic fines, tolls increases and corporation Tax and before that,  the cigarette tax. We all know how importing luxury items like cars, boats, electronic products are already taxed to death ... … [Read more...]

Dogs In Costa Rica – Stray, Puppy Mills and Abuse

abused dog

  About 2 to four times a month we get these heartbreaking emails from animal lovers about stray dogs that wander the streets.  And of course the story of the man who took a machete to a street dog, who only survived by a generous veterinary,  pretty much had animals lovers in rage. Those loving and caring pet owner know that owning pets, especially dogs, is a big responsibility. … [Read more...]

Serving Legal Papers in Costa Rica Via Facebook

Facebook Notifications of Being Served

Take The Poll The distance between Costa Rica, Social Media, Internet and technology is narrowing all the time. No, I'm not referring to iPhones and better Internet services, but to a judge in the United Kingdom's High Court, who ruled this week that legal claims can be served on Facebook. The big question, whether or not, Costa Rica's Judicial System will … [Read more...]

What Does SOPA and PIPA Have To Do With Costa Rica?

Craigs List Blackout

Yesterday many websites were in a World-Wide Blackout against The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) bill, and it's sister bill, Protect IP Act (PIPA), that is currently working their way through the United States Congress and the Senate. These new bills threaten every facet of the internet by letting government regulate what can and can not be seen; a form of censorship -  just like China and Iraq … [Read more...]

Higher Traffic Fines, Tolls, Corporation Tax in Costa Rica

Costa Rica Toll Road Incease

One again, as the New Year gets started, Costa Rican's will find themselves paying more to the government. Ticos by nature are non-aggressive, but this time the government may experience what American's have seen, "country wide protests" and what some of the Bloggers are writing about, "WTF - The don't understand land!" Starting today (Jan 1, 2012) Costa Rica will see ( to name the few) … [Read more...]

Costa Rica’s Unions Strikes – Benefits & Privatization

Laura Chinchilla

I don't know if it is just me, but it seems like every time you turn around Costa Rica is having some sort of labor strike. Last Monday, about 2000 union workers of Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) (government monopoly on power and light company) went on strike, and snarled traffic on several major streets in and around San Jose. They were protesting a bill in the Legislative … [Read more...]

Will Canada’s Seniors Immigration Increase to Costa Rica?

Canadian Expats in Costa Rica

Costa Rica is an expats haven, taking advantage of their world class medial & education systems, democratic government, gorgeous tropical climate, diverse economy and of course the affordable real estate. The ones that top the list are Americans and Canadians. Currently, over 100,000 Americans and 20,000 Canadians live in Costa Rica. Like the U.S., Canada’s  baby boomers are … [Read more...]

Are Costa Rica’s Internet Service Providers Going to Be Charging Extra for Excessive Bandwidth?

Bandwidth Cap for Costa Rica

In the last couple of weeks one of our accounts has been having a hard time logging into their server. So after they rebooted the router a few times and then cleaned the ends of the cables the problem still existed. For a while it was driving me a bit crazy why this was happening until suddenly that light bulb clicked on; I remembered the article I wrote back in April, 2010,  Net Neutrality For … [Read more...]

Protecting Costa Rica’s Rainforest – Most Expensive ($18,000) Flip-flops – Chipkos

Chipkos- David Palmer- Sandals

No doubt ecology is a big issue, and no doubt businesses will hype their ecology concern in an effort to increase sales. However, one company takes it to the extreme and hopefully it will benefit Costa Rica. Last week, designer sandal’s guru, Chipkos announced their latest pair of flip-flops. They will be the world’s most expensive, jaw-dropping $18,000 for a pair. WOW!!! -  H.Stern's … [Read more...]

Costa Rica’s Internet Future – IPv6, Competition and Fraud

Internet Birthday

The world’s most advance technology will have it  20th Birthday on Aug, 8th; thats when the “World Wide Web (www)” first gained a public face in 1991. CERN, which straddles the border between France and Switzerland, publicized the new World Wide Web project, two years after,  British scientist Tim Berners-Lee had begun creating HTML, HTTP and the first few Web pages at CERN. The … [Read more...]

American Football is Alive in Costa Rica – Invited to Football World Cup in Mexico City, 2012

american-football

Back in April, 2009 we wrote about how Costa Rica was forming the Costa Rica Federation of American Football (FCFA) -  since then, the game is becoming more popular with its 3rd season. For more info, contact Cody Gear at 321-218-9209 or via email at codygear (at) codylgearandassociates dot com. Costa Rica has also been invited to the World Cup of American Football to be held in  Mexico … [Read more...]

Costa Rica and China Make Another Free Trade Deal

Costa Rica and China Free Trade

One of the biggest bummers in Costa Rica is their infamous import tax, a horrendous tax that is applied to so-called luxury items, such as boats, vehicles and electronics. A tax that makes these items VERY expensive. Anyone that has tried to import a vehicle knows how a $10,000 vehicle can quickly become a major investment and/or headache. However, this week may have changed that.  It is no … [Read more...]