Costa Rica-Real Estate Condos for sale in Guanacaste

As I promised I collected a lot more information about the Transitarte, the art fair taking place in San Jose, Costa Rica this weekend. Their idea is to bring arts to the people on the street and create an activity where everyone can enjoy everything from shows, performances and music during those two days and learn more about the talent in Costa Rica.

The activity will take place in the main city parks in down town San Jose: Parque Morazan, Parque España, Parque Nacional and El Jardin de Paz. All the activities will be taking place starting today at 10:00 am but the official ceremony will take place at 6:00 pm this evening. The official schedule for all the activities can be found on these files: http://www.vueltaenu.co.cr/docs/programa%20arte%20retiro.jpg and http://www.vueltaenu.co.cr/docs/programacion%20arte.jpg .

If you are going to be in San Jose during this weekend, this is your opportunity to enjoy a lot more than Costa Rica sight seeing and catch really good performances, buy nice Costa Rica souvenirs and learn more about the culture for free. From hip hop performers to stand up comedians and sports showcases, Transitarte has really become one of the most expected summer activities in Costa Rica and people seem to really like it.

The Costa Rica Zoo Africa Mia, located in the beautiful province of Guanacaste is celebrating a first in Latin America: Roxi, a giraffe weighing 50 kilos and standing 4.9 feet tall, was born at Africa Mia Animal Park. This is the first giraffe to ever be born in Central America. As you probably know tourism in Guanacaste is one of the main businesses in the area and the fact that the animals brought into the Zoo are reproducing marvelously has everyone excited.

Both Roxi, who was born this past Sunday and her mother Adriana the giraffe are doing well and recovering perfectly. Africa Mia can now move on to have more and more species reproducing and help these animal species continue their legacy. Guanacaste’s weather somehow resembles the weather in Africa with a few minor differences and the animals seem to be doing really good there.

Park officials have also said that Roxi could soon have company since another female giraffe, Amapola, is pregnant. Animal species in Costa Rica are always taken care of since the whole country strives to maintain and ecological friendly atmosphere. If you are interested in visiting Africa Mia, you can arrive either at the Liberia Airport and the Zoo is located only 20 minutes away; if you arrive at Juan Santa Maria Airport, Africa Mia is located in the Pacific coast province of Guanacaste, 124 miles west of San Jose.

Either way this is a trip worth doing, since all animals are let to run free in the Zoo and people can just appreciate them by riding in Hummer trucks and walking through the several trails inside the property. Guanacaste has many other ecological reservations and national parks that are open to the public all year long.

Worldwide surfing organization Ticket to Ride is now offering a sweet adventure in the love paradise of Costa Rica. Surfers from all over the world are able now to opt for a nice 5 weeks trip to Costa Rica where they can enjoy world renown surfing, learn some of the culture of the country and give back to the community teaching English, sports, music and arts in different Costa Rica locations.  

As part of the Ticket to Ride Costa Rica deal, interested surfers will combine learning to surf, with learning Spanish and each Rider will give something back into the local community by teaching in the local school. The first location offered by Ticket to Ride is Nicoya, where surfers will have easy access to some of the most impressive Guanacaste beaches.

In the words of Will Hayler, co-founder of Ticket to Ride: “Costa Rica is a country of outstanding natural beauty. To be able to integrate our Riders into the Costa Rican way of life marks another exciting milestone for what we are all about a Ticket to Ride - Worldwide Surfing Adventures“ The Ticket to Ride Costa Rica adventure will take place twice a year for the moment and depending on the increase of the demand they will set up more yearly trips. All the pertinent information about the Costa Rica trip can be accessed on their website: http://www.ttride.co.uk. They also run surfing adventures to worldwide locations such as South Africa, Mozambique, Portugal and Morocco.

Guanacaste beaches are already one of the surfers’ hotspots so these kinds of trips to Costa Rica can be more accessible and will give the surfers much more than nice waves since they will also learn and help those locations in Costa Rica they enjoy so much.

According to some studies and researches I have read, the financial crisis in Costa Rica will not be so bad during 2009. Apparently people in Costa Rica have been very clever about saving money and it has been a prove during these holidays where sales were not as good as other years, people are really saving cash preventing an awful monetary crisis.

In Guanacaste, hotels are packed but definitely not as much as last year, and Ticos are avoiding paying hotel rates and renting villas or cabins which is a lot cheaper than a regular hotel room. Guanacaste beaches have received a lot of visitors as usual, that is why I know people are just going for cheaper stays.

Another good thing is that starting tomorrow, private companies in Costa Rica will provide a salary increase to their employees and the Free Trade agreement with the US begins operations, so there will be more jobs available for Costa Rica professionals.

There are many reasons to feel safe during to 2009 money wise as you can see; even banks will be providing more housing loans and real estate investments in Costa Rica are expected to get back on track by mid-2009.

I will be back with my articles on Costa Rica real estate, news, living in Guanacaste and more on January 2^nd, right now I am off to prepare new years dinner for family and friends. Happy New Year to everyone and God Bless!!!!

This week I couldn’t help to notice that all the local Guanacaste companies are throwing several Christmas parties for the children in the area: all week long I have seen children passing by with gifts and party goodies wearing their new outfits and having fun.

It is really nice to see them since most of the kids here in Guanacaste come from low income families, their little faces are worth to enjoy for a while, Children in Costa Rica do enjoy things a lot differently than we do in the States, but for some reason I think they are having more fun.

Christmas in Costa Rica has been quite a ride and me and my family have enjoyed it a lot, my parents arrived last night and will stay until Tuesday so this weekend we will have some fun riding around the Guanacaste beaches and sightseeing.

I was interested in purchasing a small lot near Tamarindo beach, this past week I saw several real estate listings in Guanacaste and apparently Tamarindo is offering nice property deals, unfortunately any business in real estate will have to wait until January since everyone has gone in vacations right now, for the moment I am planning on resting and enjoying with my family.

I hope you all enjoy a nice Christmas dinner tonight with your loved ones and like they say here in Costa Rica (and perfecting my Spanish): Feliz Navidad!!! Drive safely and although is time of celebration try not to drink too much, eat lots of tamales and God Bless!

In Costa Rica, traffic law instates a certain day for specific car plate numbers to drive through San Jose, Capital of the country. This driving restriction was set as a solution for the excessive traffic jams seen everywhere in down town San Jose. One a day a week cars with specific car plate’s numbers are not allowed to drive through down town streets for 24 hours.

This restriction will removed for the next couple of weeks son people can go and do their Christmas shopping, visit their relatives and enjoy the holidays peacefully without any problem at all. In Costa Rica there is an excessive amount of cars and the streets in most places are certainly not built for them, excessive traffic jams are seen everyday in San Jose, Heredia and Alajuela due to this.

The restriction was removed because during the holidays lots of people go on vacation and traffic are lesser than usual, also the people in Costa Rica who don’t have vacations need to drive freely through San Jose so they can run regular Christmas errands, visit their families and enjoy the traditional Christmas celebrations all over Costa Rica.

Here in Guanacaste, Costa Rica traffic restrictions are not valid given the fact that this is mostly a tourist area and well, it would be a bit difficult for people to enjoy or plan their vacation around their traffic restrictions. While I sit here and enjoy a nice cold agua dulce and prepare for a day a the beach I am happy to see so many people truly enjoying the holidays in the Guanacaste beaches, Ticos sure know how to take advantage of their beautiful sceneries.

It is amazing how the financial crisis is really hurting everyone’s pockets even during Christmas. Lots of stores in Costa Rica are actually cutting down prices before Christmas Eve, when usually this happens right after Christmas. It is sad somehow that all these economic problems affect the industry so much, especially since in Costa Rica some stores are owned by families and they count on their holiday sales.

People in Costa Rica have cut out most expenses due to the terrible financial situation the world is going through and some companies even had to cancel their Christmas parties and bonuses for employees, but this does not bring down the energetic and spirit of the Costa Rica Christmas traditions and people just try not spend as much, yet having all the things they usually need for the rompope, tamales and pierna e’ chancho. Maybe the plates will be a bit smaller this year, but it doesn’t mean that there is not going to be a celebration.

Holidays in Costa Rica are celebrated with the family and friends, there is always a place to go, In Guanacaste, hotels are in some cases offering a Christmas dinner for tourists and ex-pats, but in my case, I am having a few friends over from the area.

Well, Ticos have already entered the Holiday mode and people are finally going crazy in the stores supermarkets all over Costa Rica, I guess aguinaldos were finally given away. Yesterday, I went to Liberia to run some errands and I have to say I haven’t seen so much people in town since I came here: buying food and doing Christmas shopping.

Another good thing is that a 12:00 pm yesterday the 2 million visitors arrived: a nice New Jersey family of seven came for two weeks to enjoy the a lovely Costa Rica holiday and now they will have twice as much fun visiting amazing Costa Rica locations for free: swimming with dolphins, going to great hotels and restaurants, traveling through Costa Rica for free has to be 3 times better.

It is very nice to see how neighbors are going strong with Costa Rica traditional holiday foods: I have eaten 3 different types of tamales so far and they have all been very good. Another thing that caught my attention is that everyone cooks pork for Christmas, but only the leg (pierna e’ chancho is how they call it) and I did get a chance to taste it a couple of days ago, it was juicy and delightful. In Guanacaste people also make tamal de elote and chorreadas which are great with sour cream.

Once you live in Costa Rica for a while you tend to get excited about the details, like a well baked home made bread or a good fresh ceviche, and before I forget, if you are visiting the Guanacaste beaches these days, make sure you have a glass of agua dulce, it just can’t get any better than that.

The very famous travel website Fodor’s Travel which is a division of Random House, Inc has announced their Costa Rica photography contest. The official theme of the contest is “Show Us Your Costa Rica.” The main idea of the contest is to have everyone: tourists and Costa Rica citizens share their most memorable Costa Rica pictures and the best ones will be selected to be featured in Fodor’s Costa Rica 2010 guidebook– on sale in October 2009.

Since the website is specialized in traveling, the pictures are expected to be show beautiful Costa Rica sceneries, culture and traditions and anyone interested can participate, the deadline to send the pictures is January 5^th, 2009. Among prizes, Fodor’s will be giving the winning photographer a suite of Fodor’s new full-color guidebooks and the 10 runners-up will receive two Fodor’s guidebooks of their choice, the selected pictures will also be featured in the Costa Rica guide at www.fodors.com as well.

Costa Rica has really incredible locations to take unbelievable pictures so; basically anyone who is in Costa Rica and has a camera can participate. I think the most trouble will be for the judges since I am sure the material for Costa Rica will be a lot even though the deadline is only two weeks away. Also since there are some many people coming to Costa Rica for vacations material will be plenty for sure.

For those interesting in sending their Costa Rica picture to the contest visit Fodor’s website and upload your picture as soon as possible, who knows, maybe your picture will appear in their Costa Rica travel guide.

As I advertised a few weeks ago, Costa Rica will be receiving their lucky 2 000 000 visitor this week and the ICT (Instituto Costarricense de Turismo) has arranged a warm welcome to the tourist that walks in and hits the mark.

The lucky Costa Rica vacation will be sponsored by several tourism companies and what they want is to celebrate the record set by giving the visitor the best Costa Rica experience possible: tours, free hotels, transportation, meals at well known restaurants and much more freebies to make this experience the best one for the lucky 2 000 000 Costa Rica visitor.

According to some statistics, the lucky 2 000 000 Costa Rica tourist is schedule to arrive tomorrow December 17^th at the Juan Santamaria Airport where personnel from ICT will be expecting him or her since early in the morning, so if you have and schedule flight to Costa Rica for tomorrow you might be the expected winner and will be able to enjoy the best Costa Rica vacation one can experience, all for free!

Another good thing is that if you are flying to Costa Rica, the weather could not be better meaning that you will be able to actually enjoy every tour and trip available in the area, not to mention the great holiday traditional activities in Costa Rica: El tope, the carnival, Zapote and all the cultural activities Costa Rica usually plans for these days.