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| Costa Rica Expertise Ltd http://crexpertise.com E-mail info@crexpertise.com Tel:506-256-8585 Fax:506-256-7575 |
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upheld despite appeal By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
A Canadian caught at sea with a cargo of cocaine has been sentenced again to 12 years in prison. The man, Wesley Trimble, was arrested May 12, 2003. Police from three countries, including Costa Rica seized Trimble’s boat in Colombian waters in the Pacific. His boat, "Sin Rumbo," contained several thousand kilos of cocaine, and Trimble was found asleep. Trimble was sentenced to 12 years in prison Aug. 17, 2004. However, the Sala Tercera, the supreme court for criminal matters, annulled the original decision in March 2005. A new trial was ordered, and that panel also convicted Trimble and sentenced him again. This time the Sala III rejected an appeal. Trimble was a one-time resident of Paquera on the east shore of the Nicoya Peninsula. Trimble was the operator of a sailboat, "Sin Rumbo," when it was boarded April 12, 2003, in Colombian waters in the area of the Galápagos. Investigators found 1,360 kilos of cocaine they said was bound for Canada. That’s nearly 3,000 pounds. The arrest triggered 14 raids and 17 arrests by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Four arrests were made in Colombia. The investigation involved Costa Rica, Canada, Colombia and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Trimble was brought back to Costa Rica after his boat was confiscated because the boat was registered here. In addition to his prison term, Trimble lost the boat which will be turned over to the Instituto Costarricense Contra las Drogas. Environmental panel wants to protect workers' jobs By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Tribunal Ambiental Administrativo is asking the Ministerio de Trabajo to safeguard the salaries and jobs of displaced workers at a Limón pineapple packing plant. The tribunal closed down the packing plant last week over concerns about environmental violations and infiltration of insecticides and herbicides into the local water supplies. In a note to the ministry, José Lino Cháves, president of the tribunal, said that pineapple plantation employees who are not directly involved in the packing plant can keep working. There are some 600 hectares (1,480 acres) planted to the product by Del Monte, The closing was at the Finca La Babilonia, in El Cairo de Siquirres. The tribunal has said that laboratory tests confirm a high presence of bromacil and other agrochemicals in waste water that flowed into the Río Destierro and in waters sources in Milano, El Cairo and La Francia. Some 6,000 residents are serviced by these sources, it said. The Instituto Costarricense de Acueductos y Alcantarillados has been hauling water to these communities since August 2007. Seniors are protected class, high court decision says By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
What started as a dispute over subsidized bus fares has resulted in a broad statement from the Sala IV constitutional court saying that the state has a special responsibility to protect senior citizens Such protection constitutes a fundamental right that can be demanded from all the governmental dependencies and the Tribunales de Justicia, the constitutional court said. The case developed when the father of Óscar López, the legislator, was denied cut-rate passage on a bus. The Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social has from time to time has issued vouchers to pay for the bulk of the fare of senior citizens. The elder López simply wanted to show his cédula de identidad. The Sala IV said that would have been enough. But it went much further. It also combined a case from a senior citizen who wanted a vaccination. The decision was not directed at a bus company but at the Caja and the Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transportes. The Caja, which runs the hospitals and clinics, was told to administer the vaccine. The court cited a law favoring senior citizens which gives them access to public bus transport using just the cédula. The state must create a framework adequate to offer special protection to seniors and it must respect their rights, including equality of opportunities and dignity, participation in the creation and application of policies that affect them and the promotion of their role in the nuclear family and the community, said the court decision released Friday. Driver's license raid nets two and expediter By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
There will be no shortcuts today for expats who want to get a Costa Rican driver's license. Judicial police Thursday detained two employees of the transport ministry's Departamento de Licencias, and they also picked up a free-lance expediter. Investigators said that the expediter would obtain driver's licenses for individuals in an informal fashion, using the contacts with the two employees, one of which held a supervisory role. Specifically, the Judicial Investigating Organization said that the individuals face allegations of issuing three licenses without the property groundwork. The expediter is known as a gavilán in Spanish. These are the individuals who hang around government agencies and offer to help for a fee those needing official work. The judicial police said that the money involved in the license deal was 500,000 colons or about $875. The licenses were for a passenger car, a motorcycle and a truck. Invetigators said they also confiscated a number of documents, including those for medical examinations, in cars parked nearby. The license department, which is based in La Uruca now, has long been considered a source of corruption. Traditionally new motorists reward inspectors who give them road tests. And it appears that the corruption extends into the issuing of licenses. Expats who have a license from their home state, province or country can get a license here without a practical test or a written exam. If they do not have the actual license, they must go through all the steps as would a new Costa Rican motorist. Stolen boat recovered By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Costa Rican coast guard crewmen found a boat that had been stolen from Herradura hidden in vegetation in the El Congrejo area of Fray Casiano in Puntarenas, they said. The boat, the "Barrilete," is 30-feet long with two 150-horsepower outboards. The boat is reported valued at 35 million colons or about $62,000. The Servicio Nacional de Guardacostas gives members the same training as police officers.
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A.M. Costa Rica is read in more than 90 countries every day |
 A.M. Costa Rica/Anonymous reader
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| New
arrivals at Juan Santamaría airport seem to face a choke point,
perhaps encouraged by the requirement that each visitor fill out a
summary for health officials concerned about swine flu. The line snakes
out of the immigration reception area and far down an airport |
corridor. The length astounded a frequent visitor who took this photo just after noon Friday. The man arrived on Delta Flight 411 and said the line extended to the end of the terminal and then looped back for 100 meters more. |
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Panama's president-elect
suggests a joint tourism effort
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Ricardo Martinelli, the president-elect of Panamá, suggested a joint tourism promotion with Costa Rica during a visit Friday. Martinelli, who takes office July 1, said that both countries have a competitive advantage in working together. Only half of the tourists who go to Bocas del Toro on the Panamá Caribbean coast just south of Sixaola, ever visit Costa Rica, he said. He said both countries should exchange more information and perhaps promote international tourism with a joint budget. For a time, Costa Rica was trying to develop joint tourism with Nicaragua, but little has been heard about this lately. Martinelli is a businessman as well as a politician. He and President Óscar Arias Sánchez agreed to a renegotiation of |
the
Panamá-Costa Rica free trade treaty after Martinelli gets into
office. Arias just signed the treaty in August 2007. Casa Presidencial
said that a renegotiation might allow Costa Rican insurance companies
to sell their products in Panamá. Costa Rica is soon to open its insurance market to private companies. Marco Vinicio Ruiz, the minister of Comercio Exterior, said that Costa Rica was anxious to include refined olive oil as a product without tariffs in the treaty. Now the product has a small quota and faces a long period of gradual elimination of import duties. Martinelli also said that Panamá would like to be included in negotiations with the European Union for trade access. Arias noted that the European community includes 500 million persons. Costa Rica and other Central American states are trying to negotiate trade access for some of their products now. |
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Some coral found to resist
bleaching at higher temperatures
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Ocean coral may be tougher than scientists thought. Half the world's coral could vanish in the next 50 years due to global warming, according to some predictions. But Stanford University reports that an experiment there suggests that this may not be the case. A biology professor set up two tanks in American Samoa and placed coral samples in each, according to the university news service. One tank's temperature was raised |
2 degrees Celsius or just over 3.5
degrees Fahrenheit. The professor, Stephen Palumbi, reported that he found some coral could endure the change. The key element are the algae hosted by the coral. When the temperature is raised to the point where the algae stop producing food, the coral eliminates them in what is known as coral bleaching. Palumbi said that there are heat-resistant algae that keep coral from bleachings at higher temperatures, Stanford said. |
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Can the U.S. do anything to
reform U.N. rights council?
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By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The United States has just been elected to the United Nations Human Rights Council. But the big question is can the United Sates help reform the body that frequently appears to be an embarrassment or a silent witness to oppression. The U.N. Human Rights Council was established three years ago as part of sweeping reforms championed by then secretary general Kofi Annan. The resolution by the General Assembly establishing the council said the new body would be responsible for promoting universal respect for the protection of all human rights and fundamental freedoms for all. In addition, the 47-member council would address human rights violations around the world. Anne Bayevsky, a U.N. expert with the Hudson Institute, says the council replaced the 53-member Human Rights Commission. "The commission was composed of many countries who were major human rights abusers," she said. "At one point in recent history, Libya chaired the Human Rights Commission. And it simply became discredited because of its very poor performance in dealing with major human rights catastrophes." Many analysts say what began as a genuine effort to create a new council, produced in the end a body very similar to the old commission. Attempts to reform the election process and put strict membership criteria on the countries sitting on the new council were — in the end — watered down by many U.N. members. John Bolton was the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations at the time. "I'll give you an example. One of the last things that the Europeans gave away, was a provision in the very original draft resolution creating the new council, that said no country that is under Security Council sanction for human rights violation or support for terrorism can serve on the new Human Rights Council," he said. "We thought that was a pretty simple, straightforward provision. But a lot of countries objected to it, and the Europeans finally agreed that they would not insist on it. That to me was the final sign that this new body was going to be, at best, no different from its predecessor," he added. The United States along with three other countries — Israel, Marshall Islands and Palau — voted against the creation of the council. Washington also decided not to stand for election to the new U.N. body. Analysts say the majority of the council's members — 25 out of 47 — are rated by the Freedom House human rights organization as countries that are either 'not free' or 'partly free.' Experts say the council also has members that are |
cited for human rights abuses such
as Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, Cuba and Kyrgyzstan. Nancy Soderberg was former alternate U.S. representative to the United Nations during the Clinton administration (1997 - 2001). She says one positive note is that some of the worst human rights offenders who were on the commission are no longer on the new council. "So you don't see the Irans on there anymore," said Ms. Soderberg. "You don't see the Zimbabweans and other countries who pro-actively got elected to these bodies with the express purpose of trying to keep them from doing anything. And they did. It's not perfect, it hasn't done as much as human rights activists would like - but it's progress." But Ms. Bayevsky says the council's record has been dismal. "In the last three years, the Human Rights Council has abolished human rights investigations that even had occurred under the commission on countries like Iran and Belarus and Cuba and Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan and so on," she said. "They just eradicated human rights investigations in all these countries because human rights abusers hold the balance of power and that's the way they want it," she continued. Many experts say after just three years in existence, the U.N. Human Rights Council is already in need of serious reform. Michael Doyle, former special adviser to Annan, says changes must first happen in the way members are elected to the council. "I'd like to have a change in the election procedures so that there are more candidates than places for every region," he said. "Number two — I would like to see the countries that are running have as a platform an evaluation of their own human rights practices and a platform statement about what their candidacy will contribute to the furthering of human rights. So in other words I'd like to see a real election and a substantive campaign - those are the two things I think would be very important reforms for the institution." The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, recently said Washington is looking forward to strengthening and reforming the Human Rights Council. She made that statement right after the United States was elected to a three-year term on the council beginning June 19. But despite those positive words, many experts question whether Washington will be able to push through substantive reforms given the current composition of the council. |
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Chávez enlarges his hold
on Venezuelan steel firms By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez has ordered the government takeover of several iron and steel companies as part of his drive to create a large, industrial complex within a socialist state. Chávez announced the move during a nationally televised speech Thursday before a group of industrial workers. He told the workers the decision was final and there was "nothing to discuss." At least one of the companies is partly owned by Japanese-based Kobe Steel. Many of them manufacture and export iron briquettes, which are used in the production of steel. The Chavez government has moved to take control of several industries in recent years, reasserting national control over sectors such as oil, electricity, cement, steel and telecommunications. U.S. offers to resume talks on migration of Cubans By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The U.S. State Department says it has offered to resume talks with Cuba on Cuban migration to the United States. The State Department said Friday it proposed that the discussions be restarted to "reaffirm both sides' commitment to safe, legal and orderly migration." There was no immediate response from Cuban officials to the offer. Talks on the issue were suspended in 2003. The U.S. employs a wet foot, dry foot policy for illegal Cuban immigrants. Under the policy, Cubans who make it to U.S. soil usually are allowed to stay. Those intercepted at sea are most often returned. The latest move by the U.S. follows President Barack Obama's decision in April to ease travel and money transfer restrictions on Cuban-Americans with relatives on the island. But Obama left the long-standing U.S. embargo against Cuba in place. He has said it is up to Cuba to take the next step. Cuban President Raúl Castro recently repeated an offer to discuss "everything" with the United States to try to improve ties, but said Cuba does not have to make gestures to the U.S. |
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| Latin
American news digest |
U.N. agency reporting spate of Colombia threats Special to A.M. Costa Rica
The United Nations high commissioner for refugees in Colombia has expressed deep concern over a spate of death threats made against human rights workers, including uprooted people defending their communities’ rights. In the most recent wave of intimidation, one of the South American nation’s new illegal armed groups distributed pamphlets last week, targeting several state bodies and civil and human rights organizations. The National Ombudsman Office, one of the high commisioner's closest partners in Columbia, was singled out by the group for issuing early warnings to people of critical human rights situations in several areas. The office is in charge of overseeing the protection of civil and human rights in the country’s legal system and its early warning system is a unique method of preventing rights abuses and forced displacement, the U.N. agency said. Andrew Purvis , the agency spokesman in Geneva, added that there is a rising climate of intimidation in Colombia in recent months, with native communities, social leaders and representatives of displaced groups having been targeted. In some cases, those threatened have been forced to leave their communities for their safety, while some have even lost their lives, Purvis said, noting that often, survivors, their families and colleagues refrain from speaking out against the intimidators for fear of reprisal attacks. His agency strongly condemns these acts and is extremely concerned that new illegal groups that have begun operating in Colombia in the past few years are increasingly turning into another factor behind forced displacement in a country that already counts a very large internally displaced persons population, Purvis said. In the country, roughly 3 million people are registered as internally displaced, with an average of 300,000 new cases registered annually in the past two years. The U.N. high commisioner has one dozen offices in Colombia and works closely with the uprooted, supporting government efforts to protect and assist them, as well as find long-term solutions. |
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| Chemical seen leaching from polycarbonate bottles to humans |
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By the Harvard School of Public Health news service
Researchers have found that persons who drink from polycarbonate bottles have a higher level of chemical bisphenol A , which is used in producing the containers. Exposure to bisphenol A, used in the manufacture of polycarbonate and other plastics, has been shown to interfere with reproductive development in animals and has been linked with cardiovascular disease and diabetes in humans. The researchers were led by Jenny Carwile, a doctoral student in the department of epidemiology at Harvard School of Public Health, and Karin B. Michels, an associate professor of epidemiology. Researchers recruited Harvard College students for the study in April 2008. The 77 participants began the study with a seven-day washout phase in which they drank all cold beverages from stainless steel bottles as a control. Participants provided urine samples during the washout period. They were then given two polycarbonate bottles and asked to drink all cold beverages from the bottles during the next week. Urine samples were also provided during that time. The results showed that the participants' urinary bisphenol A concentrations increased 69 percent after drinking from the |
polycarbonate bottles. The study authors noted that concentrations in
the college population were similar to those reported for the U.S.
general population. Previous studies had found that bisphenol A could
leach from polycarbonate bottles into their contents. This study is the
first to show a corresponding increase in urinary concentrations in
humans. One of the study's strengths, the authors note, is that the students drank from the bottles in a normal setting. Additionally, the students did not wash their bottles in dishwashers nor put hot liquids in them. Heating has been shown to increase the leaching of Bisphenol A from polycarbonate. Canada banned the use of bisphenol A in polycarbonate baby bottles in 2008 and some polycarbonate bottle manufacturers have voluntarily eliminated the chemical from their products. With increasing evidence of the potential harmful effects of Bisphenol A in humans, the authors believe further research is needed on the effect of Bisphenol A on infants and on reproductive disorders and on breast cancer in adults. In addition to polycarbonate bottles, which are refillable and a popular container among students, campers and others and are also used as baby bottles, bisphenol A is also found in dentistry composites and sealants and in the lining of aluminum food and beverage cans. In bottles, polycarbonate can be identified by the recycling number 7. |
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Pigs with the right genes
sought
for the best tasting meat By the University of the West of England Press Office How can pigs be produced that provide healthy
and yet good tasting meat?
Meat eating quality and healthiness are closely
related to the amount and type of fat. During the last decade there has
been extensive selection towards leaner genotypes which has resulted in
reduction of not only undesirable subcutaneous fat, but also in a
dramatic decrease in desirable intramuscular fat (commonly known as
“marbling” fat).
Intramuscular fat has the key input in meat tenderness and juiciness and a low level of intramuscular fat is associated with dry and unpalatable pork. The challenge which the pig producing industry is facing now is how to increase intramuscular fat without increasing subcutaneous fat? A project which has recently started at the Institute of Biosensing Technology in collaboration with the Centre for Research in Biomedicine at the University of the West of England (UWE) aims to identify the genes controlling subcutaneous and intramuscular fat deposition. The end-aim of this work is to provide data which could form a basis for developing a genetic test for intramuscular fat and which could assist pig breeders in genetic selection. The project is undertaken by Duncan Marriott, a doctoral student with a amster's degree in meat science and five years experience as a research technician at the University of Bristol's School of Clinical Veterinary Science. “Pigs need to be leaner to produce healthy meat
but to carry sufficient intramuscular fat to maintain good eating
quality," Marriott explaind. "The project will be conducted on a number
of commercial pig breeds, which differ in intramuscular fat content. My
challenge is to identify the genes controlling both the intramuscular
and subcutaneous fat content in different breeds.”
 A.M. Costa Rica
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The first step is to half the palm nutsEditor's favorite soup is easy
and very much Costa Rican By Jay Brodell
editor of A.M. Costa Rica Here's the lowdown on the editor's favorite soup. One serving is about a zillion calories, so Weight Watchers can tune out now. The beauty of pejibaye soup is that it is easy to make, tastes great and is uniquely Costa Rican. The fruit have been grown here since long before Columbus. Pejibayes are those palm nuts found in the vegetable sauna at the grocery. They range from orange to green and resemble large, bobbing acorns. When they are hot, they are easier to peel. Purdue University in Indiana says that one average pejibaye fruit contains 1,096 calories. They are the perfect junk food: low in protein, high in fat. Of course they're high in fat, they are the product of a palm tree. One palm tree can produce more than 140 pounds of nuts in a year. So they are far from endangered. The biggest challenge in making pejibaye soup is in forcing yourself not to eat the peeled halves. They make a nice hor d'oeuvre topped with mayonnaise. Another challenge might be in getting someone else to peel and halve the fruit. There is a pit that must be removed. (Hey, Honey, can you give me a hand for a minute . . . . ?) The soup is a snap. Drip a little oil in a saucepan and make tender chopped onions, garlic and maybe even jalapeños. Then drop in about a dozen pejibaye halves . Or two dozen. It really makes no difference because you can cut the soup with milk or cream to make it the consistency you desire. Add a cup or two of water and begin breaking up the pejibaye. Or you could run the whole mixture through a blender. Add milk or cream to reach the consistency of soup. Serve hot and season to taste. A little experimentation will show that the pejibaye mixture is perfect for a sauce over traditional foods. And they say fermented pejibaye will knock your socks off.  A.M. Costa Rica
photo
A quick snack of green mango
Time for a sour green fruit
that's loaded with vitamin C By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Among the more underrated offerings of the Costa Rican produce markets is the green mango. Most expats know about ripe mangos and have enjoyed the drippy, juicy fruit with its unique flavor. They may also have used it in blended drinks or as a flavor for ice cream or soda. Less respected is the green mango. This can be found prepared in the little baggies offered by street vendors. Included in the bag with the strips of mango is a bit of lemon and salt. Nice vendors also will add special ingredients, like chili, upon request. This is street finger food. The long mango strips are bitter and an acquired taste. And that's about all the average Tico sees of green mangos. The inhabitants of India and some Asian countries have a 4,000 to 5,000 year head start on using the fruit. Chutney, the condiment identified with the British Empire and India, has a mango base. Green mangos can hold their own in any taste test, and the addition of sea salt, chili, chilero or black pepper can cater to the desires of the consumer. A real treat is a green mango salad. There are an infinite number of recipes. The basic salad contains either grated or strips of mango. From there on in, the choices are many. One version uses baked coconut and various nuts, bean sprouts and basil. Those who want to add fire to the sour treat can create a mango-jalapeño salad, heavy on lime or lemon and pepper. The fruit is so accommodating that a chef can hardly go wrong. The salad can become a main course with the addition of chicken or shrimp. The mango also contains all sorts of healthful compounds, including vitamin C and fiber. The only downside is the large seed in the middle that sometimes can be a challenge. Freestone versions of the fruit exist, but they are foreign to Costa Rica.
Take the Chinese liquor plunge and drink that mystery elixir By Arron O'Dell
Special to A.M. Costa Rica China is a country known for the Great Wall, temples, big cities, big culture, a billion people and their seeming love to eat anything. If it grows out of the ground, walks, crawls, slithers, swims, flies or does any combination, the people of China have found a way to kill it, cook it, eat it and enjoy it. However, the liquor traditions of China seldom come up in conversation. There are more Chinese than you can shake a stick at around the globe and not one beer that is popular around the world. This is the sort of thing not to be taken lightly. There must be a good reason for it. Most Chinese joints here don't even sell an Asian beer and, if they do, it's almost always Thai or Japanese. You will never here a Chinese expat say something like "Yeah, this Pilsen is okay but you should try this beer I use to drink back home." What the Chinese did bring with them was liquor, high octane, burn-on-the-way-down, glorious liquor. You haven't seen the stuff at Hipermás, any of the big mercados or your local super, because it is not there. You cannot find it in any of the places you frequent for your standard shopping needs. The only way to track down Chinese liquor is to search out the small shops around town with the Chinese characters on the front. These shops are here. You can find them. When you fall into one of these places you hit gold because of the strange and exotic smells. A good shop will have two or three shelves of bottles in a variety of shapes sizes with red and gold labels and writing that means nothing unless you read Mandarin. My friend and I have found the best way to pick the best one is by style. The first bottle we took home was chosen this way and still remains a favorite. It was a short and fat bottle shaped like an oversize pineapple hand grenade with a colorful label. When my friend saw it, he said something like 'I've got to have that bottle. It looks cool!' He was that excited about this new elixir we had found. With bottle in hand we quickly made our way to the closest place to home that sold beer and yanked several six packs off the shelf and darted home at a near run. With two open cans and empty shot glasses in front of us we stared admiring the bottle for a moment. Then with stupid giddy expressions on our faces we poured. After the straight shot, we felt compelled to try it every way we could come up with until there was no more. We sipped it, drank it on ice, with soda, chased it, used it as a chaser for beer. This tasting was was done very scientifically. It was very similar to Jägermeister without the bite on the front, and for 2,000 colons it was a superb deal. Somewhere around around the bottom of the bottle it occurred to us it might be nice to have a name to put to this wonderful concoction. We studied every character that The People's Republic of China felt necessary to put on the ornate paper label on that fine, cheap bottle, and all of it was in some form of Chinese. When we inquired of the proprietor of the local Chinese restaurant, he told us that it was an “export-only” liquor from mainland China. How fortunate for us that they chose to export this fine elixir!
Yes, there is good typical
food
on the Costa Rican menu By Saray Ramírez Vindas
of the A.M. Costa Rica staff When visitors to Costa Rica turn up their nose at the concept of Tico food, its because they have not looked hard enough. Those who come to San José can find a wide assortment of great typical food at a place like the Central Market or Mercado Central. At one time this was where most food transactions took place. The building itself is an historic site. The structure is on the Avenida Central pedestrian mall not far west of the Banco de Costa Rica. Tourists and locals alike will find that gallitos, a typical Tico canape or snack, is available here at the several sodas or inside lunch counters. Around the eating spots, daily commerce takes place. The smell of leather goods, flowers and all kinds of foods and plants fill the air. Inside, the gallito you can get a chile relleno (a filled pepper), an almuerzito de repollo (cabbage), tortas de huevo con cebollin (a scallion omelette) a barbudos (string bean omelette), a canellone ticos rellenos de carne (pasta stuffed with meat) or an enyucada with beef as well as cheese. The last is meat or cheese wrapped in yucca and deep fried. There also are empanadas, pastry stuffed with meat, chicken, beans, potatoes with meat and/or cheese, all good food anytime of the day. The word soda has a unique Costa Rica usage for a luncheon spot or snack bar. The stands are small with some inside tables surrounded by a counter with stools. As you eat, you can see the food being prepared. The Mercado Central is operated by the municipality, so proper food preparation can be expected. One well-known place is the Soda San Bosco at the western part of the Mercado Central. It is run by Luis Garcia Campos and his family. They have had the location for at least 30 years. Even though the place is small, it is very popular with locals. Garcia said the reason for the popularity is the freshness of the food, the friendly and quick service and the prices. You can drink the juice of different kinds of fruits for 350 colons (62 U.S. cents), a coffee for 400 colons (71 cents), a gallito of chile relleno, canelloni or barbudos just for 600 colons ($1.06), the gallo de salchichon (sausage) with salad and tortillas for 500 colons (89 cents) as well the similarly priced empanadas, enyucadas and torta de huevo.  A.M. Costa Rica/Saray Ramírez
Vindas
Luis Garcia Campos at his Soda San Bosco |
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