Cerveceria Costa Rica new beer, Rock Ice Golden Monkey has been described as too fruity and heavy tasting.
Costa Rica’s national brewery, the Cerveceria Costa Rica, which is owned by the Florida Ice and Farm Company produces over 39 million gallons of beer a year. That amount does not include the imported beers like Corona and a few US beers. So, wanting to add more zest back in June they announced a new beer, the Golden Monkey Rock Ice. This is Costa Rica’s first designer special beer for the gourmet beer drinker who likes those micro-brewery exotic flavors. This beer flaunts the flavor of the mangosteen fruit from Indonesia.
Cerveceria Costa Rica is spending a lot of money promoting this beer, complete with hot looking Ticas, cruising in strange custom built cars.
Personally, we have never heard of this fruit and probably of the reasons why (according to our research) is that it can not be legally imported into the United States … in other words, not available commercially … something about a fear of fruit flies. Read more... (819 words, 4 images, estimated 3:17 mins reading time)
Costa Rica shrimp boat will just be one of 1000s that fish off the coast are now being tracked by satellite to see if they are involved in the drug trade.
In Sept, 2009 Costa Rican Fishing Institute (Incopesca) and with the help of organizations like The Billfish Association, established a satellite monitoring system to monitor and control the activity of the fishing vessels engaged in tuna fishing with purse seines in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of Costa Rica. Generally, a countries EEZ extends to a distance of 200 nautical miles (370 km) out from its coastal baseline.
But was there more to this … was this just a preamble for more to come?
Last week Costa Rica had a reality lesson when US warships and troops suddenly appeared off the coast to help with President Chinchilla, commitment on the war against drugs. It is no secret that Costa Rica in the last few years has become the hub of drug trade. Cocaine in the bellies of shark and capturing mini submarines filled with the 1970 pounds of cocaine are just the tip of the iceberg. Read more... (670 words, 1 image, estimated 2:41 mins reading time)
US Marines have been deployed to Costa Rica to help combat the drug smuggling
Last week our email box was pretty much filled with, “Why the US Marines were invading Costa Rica?” Even at our Facebook account, a few commented on right-wing political BS, “It’s all about the oil, about building a military base in Costa Rica, and of keeping an eye on all the other dangerous countries around like Venezuela.”
However, I would like to comment on the one of the insanely ridiculous rumors and accusations received from Playas De Cocos where we quote from her email:
“Many of us believe that these ships have been evacuated from the Gulf because of the threat of an explosion from the oil well that has been spewing oil for over 80 days. Apparently the sea floor has raised up almost 30 feet and fissures are forming. Even though they have capped the well as of the early hours of the morning, no one seems to know yet if this cap will hold. They say that if the well explodes, this will cause a fire as large as a mountain and a tsunami that will wipe out many of the Gulf States.” Read more... (1137 words, 2 images, estimated 4:33 mins reading time)
Expats will have a surprise when their names will be published in El Financiero, the weekly business newspaper for not paying sales tax
Sometime next week Expats that have not paid sales tax (or other taxes) may find themselves in an embarrassing situation; this is when their names will be published in El Financiero, the weekly business newspaper put out by Grupo Nación.
Currently there are 1000s of Expats who own small businesses that vary from B & Bs, eco-tourism, gift shops, online sales, travel agents, real estate etc. Costa Rica is a haven for expats and the government allows foreigners to own business and work in the country, so long as they follow regulations and conduct business ethically. Usually a business has to be register with Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social (CCSS, Social Security Institution), with the National Insurance Institute (Instituto Nacional de Seguros) and record deeds of the incorporation charter (if your business is a SA, which is highly recommended) before the Mercantile Section of the Public Registry.
And of course pay sales tax, which many do or have not in this case. The current sales tax is around 13% the amount paid for goods and for some services. Professionals like lawyers, doctors, dentists and other independent professionals are exempt from sales tax. Read more... (551 words, 1 image, estimated 2:12 mins reading time)
President Chinchilla has another victory, the Appellate Court decision to keep the ban on the open pit gold mine in Cutris de San Carlos alive.
During Ms. Chinchilla presidential campaign, she had gone on record that she opposed any new open pit mines. This week it appears that she kept her promise by influencing the judges when the appeals courts declined to lift a ban on the open pit gold mine in Cutris de San Carlos.
The company, Industrias Infinito S.A., (Costa Rican subsidiary of a Canadian company), cannot keep developing the mine even though former president Óscar Arias Sánchez declared it to be in the national interest. Obviously, he was looking at the millions or billions of colones revenue ; a nice sum of money to be dumped into the government.
The main issue in this [day one] protest and controversial project focused on over 100 hectares of trees that would be cut to develop the mine. Costa Rican Supreme Court (Sala IV) ruled last April (see, Crucitis Mine Protest) Infinito can proceed with its open-pit gold mine, striking down complaints from environmental groups that the project was destroying virgin forest. But this week the Tribunal de Apelaciones Del Contencioso Administrativo del Segundo Circuito Judicial ruled in favor of nature, which got a standing ovation from environmentalists. Read more... (574 words, 1 image, estimated 2:18 mins reading time)
