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Police Force Captures Seven Fugitives of Justice

Details: Published on Friday, 07 December 2012 17:03

Photo Credit:  dailymail.co.uk

Officers of the police force during their weekend duties, managed to capture seven subjects in different parts of the country, who had arrest warrants on charges of; selling and transporting drugs, contempt of authority, aggravated robbery and simple robbery.

Hard Rock Café Opening in Costa Rica January, 2014

Details: Published on Thursday, 06 December 2012 18:57

Photo Credit: purpleroofs.com

The opening of the first Hard Rock Cafe in Costa Rica is scheduled for the last week of January as announced earlier in the year. The restaurant will have an area of 1,600 square meters and will have a design alluding to Costa Rica.

Samara Beach Cleanup Gathered 250 Pounds

Details: Published on Sunday, 02 December 2012 17:20

A teacher from Marea weighs garbage

There was a great turn out in Samara on Saturday, November 24, as more than 50 people gathered for the first beach cleanup organized by CREAR, a nonprofit organization helping kids after school with various education programs.

What the F$%# Is Going With Amnet, Sorry Tigo?

Details: Published on Friday, 30 November 2012 16:38

It’s been days that the internet cable connection at Tigo (formerly Amnet) has gone from bad to worse. The little icon on your computer shows “connected” and “internet access”, but there is no surfing going on.

The Tigo logo. Suggest renaming it “TiNOgo”.

Following is a screenshot of my browser.

The problem can be intermittent, last only a second or two – which in today’s information highway

is a lifetime – to endless minutes of the browser “connecting”.

Medical Tourism Booms in Costa Rica

Details: Published on Wednesday, 28 November 2012 17:22

When Canadian house cleaner Marlene Trithardt needed a tooth replaced, she drove past her local dentist’s office in Alberta and flew to the beach paradise of Costa Rica – to save money.

Trithardt is one of a growing number of North Americans who turn south for medical care lured by lower prices, contributing close to 0.8 percent of Costa Rica’s gross domestic product.

“I chose to come here because I find in Alberta the prices are about 80 percent higher than in Costa Rica,” says Trithardt, 57, who makes $30,000 a year.

Her treatment will cost $4,000. But even including airfare, hotels and meals for two weeks, the total amount is lower than the $10,000 she said she was expecting to pay for the dental carealone in Canada.

In the bargain, Trithardt got to take a few days to visit Costa Rica’s national parks.

Around 40,000 medical tourists visited Costa Rica last year, compared to 36,000 in 2010 and 30,000 in 2009. Most of them are American and Canadian, according to the country’s tourism institute, ICT.

Of that number, almost 15,000 of them travelled for dental care, said Massimo Manzi, director at Promed, the council for international promotion of medicine in Costa Rica.

Manzi estimates that medical tourism brought in $196 million to Costa Rica’s health industry in 2011, with patients spending an additional $84 million in hotels, meals, travel and shopping. That makes for a total of $280 million spent on medical tourism in 2011, compared to $252 million in 2010.

Costa Rica competes for medical tourists with the likes of India, Brazil, Panama and Mexico, and its proximity to the United States gives it an advantage over Asian and South American destinations.

And while some doctors in the United States discourage travelling abroad for cheaper treatment – saying the quality may not be vetted and that follow-up care is lacking – technologyechnology and care standards in the private sector are perceived by the medical community and patients alike to be high.

The dental tourism niche is booming in Costa Rica, a country of 4.5 million people best known for its white sand beaches and lush rainforests. Now accounting for 36 percent of all medical tourism, that figure is seen rising to 50 percent over the next two years, said Promed’s Manzi.

Trithardt’s doctor, 32-year-old Costa Rican Ignacio Vargas, says tourists represent 70 percent of his business.

Virtually all medical tourists are uninsured and pay their own way, said Brad Cooke, head of Medical Tours Costa Rica, a travel agency that works exclusively with patients.

Casa La Mariposa is one of the many plastic surgery retreats in Costa Rica!

As a result, healthcare reform passed in the United States that will require Americans to get basic insurance by 2014 could reduce demand. However that reform does not cover dental care.

“We had a gentleman, for example, who was interested in coming in for a knee procedure about six months ago and then he decided not to come. He said he’d rather wait and see if Obamacare would cover it”, said Cooke.

A few insurance companies in the U.S. like Cigna Corp (CI.N), Satori and Blue Cross Blue Shield are already expanding their supplier network to include overseas clinics and facilities to help cut costs.

“What we’re hoping, and it would be an important step, is that these insurance companies offer an incentive to those who choose the international option,” Manzi said.

Costa Rican health officials are grappling with booming demand as it is.

“We are learning how to handle this demand so that we don’t get to a point where we are facing waiting periods which would turn patients away from Costa Rica,” said Health Minister Daisy Corrales.

To help ensure that demand can be met, Promed works as a guide for investors looking to build new clinics and hospitals that can welcome tourist-patients.

Original Article:  qcostarica.com

Surf Tournament Seeks To Fight Student Dropouts

Details: Published on Tuesday, 27 November 2012 17:02

Photo Credit: surfersvillage.com

The second annual Intercollegiate Surf Tournament in Playa Tamarindo, Guanacaste will be held On Saturday, December 1st.

Foreigners MUST BE LEGAL RESIDENTS To Drive in Costa Rica

Details: Published on Monday, 26 November 2012 15:08

Rick and Lorraine have been coming to Costa Rica for the last ten years. Like good tourists they fueled the country’s top industry, tourism. And like many Canadian tourists, they fell in love with paradise.

Since their first arrival in Costa Rica, the couple made numerous visits, each time staying longer and longer. In 2007 their plans for the future to make Costa Rica home included the purchase of a lot in Guanacaste.