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José, Costa Rica, Monday, July 13, 2015, Vol. 15, No. 136
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 Instituto
Costarricense de Electricidad
photo
Workmen are
constructing a tower to carry high tension lines toconnect electricity generated by the Proyecto Hidroeléctrico Reventazón with the national grid. This is one of the institute's many projects. State
telecom
firm hurt by competition
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
There is another financial crisis coming into public view, that of the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad. The state telecom company has taken a big hit from private cell telephone competitors. The loss of customers was predictable, but the state company does not appear to have taken steps to adjust its budget. Fear that knowledge of the situation would send more customers fleeing is why a legislative discussion of the company's finances was secret last week. Perhaps the most endangered of the firm's subsidiaries is Radiográfica Costarricense S.A., the Internet provider. The contralora general went to a legislative committee Thursday to discuss the finances the firm known as RACSA, which is a subsidiary in the Grupo ICE. But other topics came up. The contralora general's agency, the budget watchdog, issued a statement before the noon meeting that it would be private. The decision by the Comisión de Ingreso y Gasto to hold a private hearing attracted the interest and suspicions of newspeople. Naturally there were leaks, and it appears the RACSA is just the tip of the iceberg. The firm known as ICE has many holdings in power generating, distribution and communications. But like the country that owns it, the firm appears to be generating budget losses, in part due to high salaries. Employees of the telecom company fought hard against the free trade treaty with the United States that opened the cell telephone market to private competition. The strong association of employees makes effecting major changes difficult for managers. Oceans have been much higher in the past By the Oregon State University news service
A new review analyzing three decades of research on the historic effects of melting polar ice sheets found that global sea levels have risen at least six meters, or about 20 feet, above present levels on multiple occasions over the past three million years. What is most concerning, scientists say, is that amount of melting was caused by an increase of only 1 to 2 degrees C in global mean temperatures. Results of the study are being published in the journal Science. “Studies have shown that both the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets contributed significantly to this sea level rise above modern levels,” said Anders Carlson, an Oregon State University glacial geologist and paleoclimatologist, and co-author on the study. “Modern atmospheric carbon dioxide levels are today equivalent to those about three million years ago, when sea level was at least six meters higher because the ice sheets were greatly reduced. “It takes time for the warming to whittle down the ice sheets,” added Carlson, “but it doesn’t take forever. There is evidence that we are likely seeing that transformation begin to take place now.” Co-author Peter Clark, an paleoclimatologist at the university, said that because current carbon dioxide, or CO2, levels are as high as they were 3 million years ago, “we are already committed to a certain amount of sea level rise.” “The ominous aspect to this is that CO2 levels are continuing to rise, so we are entering uncharted territory,” Clark said. “What is not as certain is the time frame, which is less well-constrained. We could be talking many centuries to a few millennia to see the full impact of melting ice sheets.” The review, which was led by Andrea Dutton of the University of Florida, summarized more than 30 years of research on past changes in ice sheets and sea level. It shows that changes in Earth’s climate and sea level are closely linked, with only small amounts of warming needed to have a significant effect on seal levels. Those impacts can be significant. Six meters (or about 20 feet) of sea level rise does not sound like a lot. However, coastal cities worldwide have experienced enormous growth in population and infrastructure over the past couple of centuries – and a global mean sea level rise of 10 to 20 feet could be catastrophic to the hundreds of millions of people living in these coastal zones. Much of the state of Florida, for example, has an elevation of 50 feet or less, and the city of Miami has an average elevation of six feet. Parts of New Orleans and other areas of Louisiana were overcome by Hurricane Katrina by a surging Gulf of Mexico that could be 10 to 20 feet higher in the future. Dhaka in Bangladesh is one of the world’s 10 most populous cities with 14.4 million inhabitants, all living in low-lying areas. Tokyo and Singapore also have been singled out as extremely vulnerable to sea level rise. “The influence of rising oceans is even greater than the overall amount of sea level rise because of storm surge, erosion and inundation,” said Carlson, who studies the interaction of ice sheets, oceans and the climate system on centennial time scales. “The impact could be enormous.” The Science review is part of the larger Past Global Changes, or PAGES, international science team. A working group known as PALSEA2 (Paleo constraints on sea level rise) used past records of local change in sea level and converted them to a global mean sea level by predicting how the surface of the Earth deforms due to changes in ice-ocean loading of the crust, along with changes in gravitational attraction on the ocean surface. Independently, Greenland and Antarctic ice sheet volumes were estimated by observations from adjacent ocean sediment records and by ice sheet models. “The two approaches are independent of one another, giving us high confidence in the estimates of past changes in sea level,” Carlson said. The past climates that forced these changes in ice volume and sea level were reconstructed mainly from temperature-sensitive measurements in ocean cores from around the globe, and from ice cores. The world's oceans have risen about 400 feet since the end of the Ice Age and continue to do so. Notary among those detained in raids By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Judicial agents have detained four men and a women in connection with the purchase of real estate linked to drug trafficking, said the Poder Judicial. One of the suspects is a notary who handled the paperwork for the purchase of property in Heredia and Guápiles, said the Poder Judicial. He was identified by the last names of Solórzano Campos. The case involves some $320,000, according to the judicial report. The properties were to serve as landing spots for helicopters, said the report. Agents also said that the case involves the purchase of a luxury automobile and a motorcycle that were paid for in three installments, each $9,000 to avoid being flagged by bankers. The arrests were made during raids in Siquirres, Heredia, Ciudad Neilly, Guácimo and Alajuela Thursday..
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| San José, Costa Rica, Monday, July 13, 2015, Vol. 15, No. 136 | |
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| Uninvited flattery is a dangerous pursuit, San Pedro partier
finds |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
There are a couple of rules for flattering young ladies. Rule No. 1: Make sure she is not with her boyfriend. Rule No. 2: If she is, make sure the flattery is so elegant and non-threatening that he does not get mad. Rule No. 3: Make sure he does not have five friends nearby. Rule No. 4: After violating all of the above, run! A 32-year-old man on Calle de la Amargura in San Pedro seems to have broken all of the rules, which is why he showed up at Hospital Calderón Guardia with a stab wound to the back. The Judicial Investigating Organization said that the stabbing happened early Sunday when the man appears to have delivered a piropo, an uninvited comment, to two women. The agency also said that a man was accompanying the women and took offense. Piropos are a Latin tradition, and some flattery is poetic and even humorous. In most cases, they are less obnoxious than New York City construction workers whistling and shouting at passing women. But piropos also can be crude and even obscene. In some countries they are or have been illegal. The judicial agency |
 A.M. Costa Rica graphic
This is a good way for an
expat to get into trouble.left to the imagination the nature of the flattery on the infamous beer soaked street in San Pedro. But the comment was sufficient for the offended man to return a few minutes later with five friends to engage the flatterer in confrontation. Hence the knife wound. The victim adopted Rule No. 4 a bit late, but he still managed to dash a considerable distance to the Fuente de Hispanidad in front of Mall San Pedro before he contacted the Cruz Roja for a trip to the hospital. |
| Annual pilgrimage of a million or more to Cartago is
approaching fast |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
From the middle of July the trickle of pilgrims grows into a flood headed to the basilica in Cartago. There is a long tradition of early bird pilgrims. those who seek to avoid the crush of a million or more fellow faithful on the roadways. The feast day of Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles has been celebrated since 1635, and in the present Costa Ricans and others from more distant lands take days or perhaps a week to walk to the basilica. The national holiday, the Anexión del Partido de Nicoya, is July 25, and that weekend will unleash the flood. The feast day of the Virgin is the following Sunday, Aug. 2, so many businesses and organization will take off July 31. Among these is the U.S. Embassy. The 9 a.m. Mass Aug. 2 will see all the nations bishops and most of the politicians in attendance. The day also will be a test of the nation's rail service, which will be a key element in moving the faithful back to their valley homes. The Virgen de los Ángeles is the patroness of the country. The history of the Virgen de los Ángeles is wrapped up in the social situation when it was discovered in 1635. The diocese of Cartago points out that in those days the whites were separated from the Indians and the mulatos. So it was a mulato woman, Juana Pereira, who discovered the small statue that is now venerated as a holy object. |
 The
Santuario Nacional Nuestra
Señora de Los Ángeles
The black rock that had been engraved with an image of mother and child continued to return on its own to the place where it was found, according to the legend. Eventually this resulted in the construction of a church there. The full name for the basilica is the Santuario Nacional Nuestra Señora de Los Ángeles. |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Monday, July 13, 2015, Vol. 15, No. 136 | |||||
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| Documentary recounts the rise and tragic fall of Amy
Winehouse |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Jazz superstar Amy Winehouse rocketed to fame, and disappeared just as suddenly and surprisingly. Her rise and fall is chronicled in a new documentary called simply, "Amy," by filmmaker Asif Kapadia. Using anecdotal home videos shot by Ms. Winehouse’s friends and producers, concert material, public interviews and recording sessions, Kapadia creates a delightful and haunting portrait of the iconic singer. It opens with a never-seen-before home video of a 14-year-old Amy Winehouse singing happy birthday to a close friend. The footage shows the adolescent singer already commanding a seasoned raspy voice that poured out like honey. But the documentary shows the singer never imagined how famous that voice would make her. “I don’t think I’m gonna be at all famous,” she tells a friend. “I don’t think I can handle it. I would probably go mad, you know what I mean? I would go mad.” The filmmaker revives Amy Winehouse’s fresh and starry-eyed days as a young musician and takes viewers along on the singer’s emotional roller coaster, all the way to her untimely end in 2011, when she died of an alcohol overdose. She was 27 years old. Kapadia does not provide any post-mortem analysis of Ms. Winehouse’s triumph and descent. Instead, he lets the story tell itself through countless personal videos with friends and family and the singer's own words and thoughts. The film also guides viewers through Ms. Winehouse’s blossoming music career. Her charisma pulls viewers in. The singer’s ever-present personal demons could not outshine her phenomenal voice and genuine presence on and off stage. Her immense success came from her need to find an emotional outlet writing lyrics and singing. That was her way, as she says on footage, to ward off her bouts of depression. But she never tried for fame or awards. The film offers the scene of a stunned Ms. Winehouse when she hears her very own idol, singer Tony Bennett, announcing her as Grammy winner for the record of the year in 2008. But the film also shows her personal weaknesses. One of |
 Part
of the poster for the moive
them was her addictive personality. She could not break from her destructive relationship with Blake Fielder, her husband and partner in drugs. As the marriage unravels she comes undone sinking deeper into drug and alcohol addiction. The documentary portrays her father, Mitchell Winehouse, as opportunistic and in denial about his daughter’s life-threatening drug addiction. He criticized the film as one-sided. “This is not the film Amy would want to. She’d want me not to be portrayed in this light,“ he says. It is rumored that he is planning to make his own documentary telling his side to the story about his daughter and her demise. But above anyone else, Kapadia’s documentary points the finger for Ms. Winehouse’s downfall at her adoring fans, who fell in love with her so hard they wanted a piece of her. Paparazzi followed her everywhere. Lack of privacy and space took a toll on the shy and frail performer. Kapadia’s "Amy" gratifies the fans with the singer's presence once again, but gradually causes a sense of unease as it chronicles her emotional and physical disintegration. This film points to the tragic irony that Ms. Winehouse crumbled under her own enormous talent and fame. It also levels unwavering criticism against popular culture and tabloid voyeurism that ruins what it loves. |
Here's reasonable medical care
Costa Rica's world class medical specialists are at your command. Get the top care for much less than U.S. prices. It is really a great way to spend a vacation. See our list of recommended professionals HERE!amcr-prom
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A.M. Costa Rica's Fifth
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| San José, Costa Rica, Monday, July 13, 2015, Vol. 15, No. 136 | |||||||
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| Pontiff returns to Rome after Latin American trip By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Pope Francis flew home to Rome from Paraguay Sunday, ending a week-long, three-nation visit to South America. The first South American pontiff reinforced his place as spokesman for the world's disenfranchised Sunday by visiting a flood-prone slum. Hundreds of thousands of people gathered on a huge swampy field called Nu Guazu inside a military base. Paraguayan President Horacio Cartes and Argentine President Cristina Fernandez were among the throngs of worshippers. A special altar composed of 40,000 ears of corn, 200,000 coconuts and 1,000 squash gourds was constructed for the Mass, to honor Paraguay's native Guarani people and to show respect for the Earth, as Francis continued his call for worldwide environmental reforms. The pontiff told the 15,000 slum inhabitants on the shores of the Paraguay River he could not leave the country without visiting them. Many of them are squatters who live in the barrio's plywood and corrugated metal shacks, as pigs rummage through the garbage for leftovers. During his visit to Ecuador, Bolivia and Paraguay, the pope spent much of the week criticizing the injustices of the global capitalist system and demanding a new economic model in which rich and poor share equally in the Earth's resources. Drug lord flees Mexican jail for second time in 15 years By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Mexico's notorious drug kingpin, Joaquin Guzmán, has escaped from a maximum-security prison for the second time in 14 years. The Mexican national security commissioner, Monte Alejandro Rubido, told a news conference Sunday that Guzmán, who headed the powerful Sinaloa cartel, was last seen late Saturday in the shower area of the Altiplano prison. He said Guzmán escaped through a rectangular hole found underneath the shower. He said the hole connected to a 1.5 kilometer long tunnel that led to the local town. Officials said Guzmán dropped by ladder into a hole 10 meters deep that connected with the tunnel that was fully ventilated and had lighting. Authorities also found a motorcycle adapted to run on rails that they believe was used to carry dirt out and tools in during the construction. Rubido said 18 prison workers are being held for questioning. Security forces have suspended flights at Toluca airport, which is near the prison outside Mexico City. The Sinaloa cartel is known for the elaborate tunnels built underneath the Mexico-U.S. border with ventilation, lighting and even railcars to transport cocaine, methamphetamines and marijuana Guzman's escape is a major embarrassment to the administration of President Enrique Peña Nieto, which had received plaudits for its aggressive approach to top drug lords. Since the government took office in late 2012, Mexican authorities have nabbed or killed six of them, including Guzmán. Peña Nieto, who arrived in France Sunday, said he wants a full investigation into the escape. He also voiced confidence in the ability of Mexican law enforcement officials to recapture Guzmán. Guzmán was caught in February 2014 after more than a decade on the run. He was first captured in 1993, but escaped from prison in 2001 with the help of prison guards. He is wanted in the United States on various drug trafficking charges. U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch on Sunday offered Mexico the assistance of U.S. federal agents in the search. The Sinaloa cartel controls most of the border crossings for illegal drugs between Mexico and the United States. Puerto Rico's debt crisis may hurt U.S. economy By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
While Greece has center stage in the arena of on-the-brink finance, the precarious situation in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico may actually take a greater toll on the American economy. Last month, Puerto Rico’s governor, Alejandro Garcia Padilla, announced that the island’s public debt of $72 billion was not payable. This includes debts owed not just by the central government, but also those of public corporations, like utility companies, and cities. An archipelago of islands that lie off the tip of the Dominican Republic in the Caribbean, Puerto Rico is the third-largest issuer of state and local debt in the United States, behind California and New York. Much of the island's debt is held by individual U.S. investors in hedge funds, mutual funds or other investment accounts, raising questions about how the U.S. economy might be affected were Puerto Rico to fall behind on its debt payments. That could happen as early as his week, which raises the possibility that investors might sue for their funds. Yet, Puerto Rico’s plight is lost among the reports of the economic crisis in Greece. In part, this is because economic troubles in Puerto Rico are not new. The territory's economy has been in recession since 2005, when the U.S. Congress ended a tax credit designed to attract businesses to Puerto Rico. Since then, the territory has borrowed to stay afloat. “Puerto Rico’s illness is a chronic condition.” Puerto Rican congressional representative Pedro Pierluishi wrote Friday in The New York Times. “The unemployment rate, poverty rate and median household income have always been far worse than any state’s. The main cause is inequality.” Pierluishi was making the case that Puerto Rico’s status as a territory, rather than a state, has led to second-class treatment. Residents of Puerto Rico cannot vote for the president or senators, and Pierluishi is a nonvoting member of the House of Representatives. “Congress routinely treats Puerto Rico and the other territories worse than it does the states,” said Pierluishi, pointing out that medical and other benefits paid to the territory are considerably less than those provided to states. "It is little wonder then that Puerto Rico is in recession, has excessive debt and is bleeding population. Unequal treatment at the federal level, combined with mismanagement at the local level, has a debilitating effect on the island's economy." Pierluisi has sponsored a bill in the House asking that Puerto Rico be granted bankruptcy protection, the ability to restructure in order to pay off debt. Bankruptcy is open to U.S. municipalities — the city of Detroit filed for bankruptcy in 2013 — but not to territories. “The alternative is a legal no-man’s land that benefits neither Puerto Rico nor those who have loaned the territory money,” Pierluisi said. His bill is still in committee, but bankruptcy protection for Puerto Rico has gained support from some presidential candidates. “We’re not talking about a bailout. We are talking about a fair shot at success,” Democrat Hillary Clinton said in a statement Tuesday. "I think that Puerto Rico ought to be treated as other states are treated as it relates to restructuring," Republican Jeb Bush said during a visit to the island in late April. While Puerto Rico has a population of 3.5 million, almost 5 million Puerto Ricans and their descendants now live in the States, many of them in the swing state of Florida where they are voters to be courted. NAACP drops its boycott of South Carolina over flag By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
One of the United States' largest civil rights organizations has ended its boycott of the state of South Carolina. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People announced the decision Saturday, just days after a bill was passed removing the controversial Civil War era Confederate battle flag from the state capitol grounds. The boycott had been in place since 2000. In a statement, the NAACP said that "while the removal of the confederate flag is not going to solve most of the severe tangible challenges facing nation . . . it does symbolize an end to the reverence of and adherence to values that support racially based chattel slavery and the hatred which has divided our country for too long." The Confederate flag was removed permanently from the capitol grounds on Friday following legislation passed by the state's Senate, House of Representative and Gov. Nikki Haley. The bill followed an intense statewide campaign which began after a white gunman shot and killed nine black church members at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in the city of Charleston June 17. Meanwhile, the National Collegiate Athletic Association has also lifted its ban on holding championships and tournaments in South Carolina. The NCAA has boycotted the state since 2001 over the controversy surrounding the flag. That flag represented a handful of southern U.S. states that seceded from the nation in the 1860s in a failed push to keep slavery legal. Flag opponents call it a symbol of white supremacy and slavery. Flag supporters say it is a sign of history and pride in their family heritage. Many of them abhor the racists who they say have hijacked the flag. Congress faces decisions that cause partisan splits By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Congress would have 60 days to review, debate, and vote on a nuclear pact with Iran, a timeframe that would include lawmakers’ annual August recess, which halts work in both chambers for an entire month. Additionally, it would come as Congress finds itself at partisan loggerheads over U.S. military and domestic funding, with deadlines fast approaching to sustain critical federal operations and initiatives. Last week, Sen. John Cornyn, a Republican, stated what everyone in Congress already knows. “There is a lot of work we have to do, that needs to be done,” Cornyn said. Inaction on Capitol Hill already halted a U.S. trade facilitation entity, the Export-Import Bank, whose charter expired at the end of last month. Billions of dollars in federal funding for the nation’s highways is soon to run dry with lawmakers deadlocked on a long-term solution. And another shutdown of non-essential federal operations looms unless Congress appropriates funds for next year by the end of September. “This is about the dysfunction of Washington. It is what everybody detests,” said Rep. Donald Norcross, a Democrat. “This is our country. Do not shut it down.” At time of heightened global tensions and persistent terrorist threats, Republicans want to boost military spending while maintaining budget caps on domestic programs. Fiscal discipline in the form of automatic, across-the-board budget cuts, combined with a growing U.S. economy, have helped shrink the yearly U.S. budget deficit from more than $1 trillion to less than $500 billion. “I remain optimistic that this chamber can take up appropriations bills that are needed to fund our troops on the battlefield and care for our veterans upon their return,” said Cornyn. Democrats say domestic priorities should not be shortchanged, especially given America’s improved fiscal outlook. “It is time for Republicans to stop heading down this path that ends in gridlock and disaster for our federal budget, and to start getting serious about a budget deal that allows full funding of the federal government,” said Sen. Charles Schumer, a Democrat. But better deficit numbers will evaporate unless fiscal discipline is maintained, according to Republicans. “The greatest threat facing our country is the national debt that exceeds our entire economy,” said Rep. Tom McClintock, a Repubican. “Behold the chaos in Greece and consider that our nation is not far behind.” Democrats note that Republicans control both houses of Congress. “This is how Republicans are governing,” said Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid. “This is how they pretend to lead our country.” Any spending bills passed by Congress could be signed or vetoed by President Barack Obama, who is being urged by lawmakers to convene a budget summit in hopes of bridging partisan differences. Massachusetts now seeks its own trial of Tsarnaev By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
A Massachusetts district attorney says she wants to put convicted Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev on trial on state charges of killing a college police officer even though he already has been sentenced to death. The official, Marian Ryan, told The Boston Globe newspaper, in a story published Saturday, that "when you come into Middlesex County and execute a police officer in the performance of his duties ... it is appropriate you should come back to Middlesex County to stand trial for that offense." Ryan said she already had begun the process of getting Tsarnaev out of a federal penitentiary in Colorado to bring him back to Boston. A federal judge sentenced Tsarnaev to death for the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing that killed three people and wounded more than 260. Tsarnaev was also convicted on federal charges in connection with the shooting death of Officer Sean Collier of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Another trial would be expensive and possibly traumatic for the victims. But Ryan is considering the possibility that the death sentence could be overturned on appeal. Tsarnaev and his brother, Tamerlan, shot and killed Collier on the MIT campus when they tried to avoid capture. Authorities think they were trying to steal Collier's gun. Tamerlan was killed in a police shootout and the badly wounded Dzhokhar was found hiding in a boat parked in the backyard of a suburban Boston home.  NASA New Horizon photo
This is among the first
shots of PlutoSpace probe
is delivering
first close-up shots of Pluto By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
U.S. space researchers say it is amazing and fun to see the images sent back by the New Horizons probe as it gradually moves closer to Pluto. The probe will make its closest pass to Pluto Tuesday when it will be just about 12,500 kilometers (about 7,800 miles) from the surface. But scientists have been thrilled by what New Horizons has sent back so far, calling it a whole new view of Pluto. "It's just amazing what we are seeing now," NASA's John Spencer said Saturday. "We are seeing these crazy black-and-white patterns. We have no idea what those mean. We are seeing a lot of circular things that we are wondering are those craters or are they something else. . . . We are having a lot of fun just really speculating." The planets in the solar system travel in elliptical orbits, not perfect circles, so the distance between their paths changes. Right now, Pluto is about 4.8 billion kilometers, or almost 3 billion miles, from Earth. NASA launched New Horizons in 2006, just before the International Astronomical Union reclassified Pluto as a dwarf planet. The Union said Pluto lies in a region of the outer solar system beyond the other planets called the Kuiper Belt. Other astronomers still regard Pluto as a full planet. NASA scientists say this first close-up exploration of the Kuiper Belt will give them a look at what the solar system was like just after it was formed and possibly more information on how life on Earth developed. Serena Williams demonstrates why she is No. 1 in tennis By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
American Serena Williams won the women's singles title at the Wimbledon tennis tournament near London, overcoming a slow start to defeat Spain’s Garbine Muguruza in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4. Ms. Williams, rated No. 1 in the world, now has won the famed British tournament six times. And at 33, she is the oldest female player ever to hold the championship. With victories tracing back to last year, Williams now is the current holder of all four Grand Slam tennis titles. The Serena Slam is not a first for her, however; she had the same distinction in 2002-2003. But what has tennis fans on the edge of their seats is the prospect of yet another milestone for Williams – a true grand slam, by winning all four major championships in one calendar year. With Wimbledon and her earlier victories in the Australian Open and the French Open, she now has won three of the four this year. That leaves only the United States Open in New York, held in early September. If Williams wins in New York, she would be the first woman to capture the Grand Slam since Steffi Graf in 1988. Only two other women have ever completed a Grand Slam: Maureen Connolly in 1953 and Margaret Court in 1970. |
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A long time ago, when I was 4 or 5 years old, we used to go berry picking in a wild field near our home. The field is all houses now, but then it was heavy with strawberries, sweet, juicy and warm from the
Evidently, though, stepping in one is just as bad if the nest is fire ants. Understand, I don’t dislike fire ants…much. I mean, there they are, minding their own business (which does not involve chewing on my rose or hibiscus leaves), when a giant tromps on their home and flattens them. So they swarm up the giant and start biting. Who can blame them? Mostly, this giant can avoid fire ants. The mounds are usually easy to see – brown earth popping up in green lawn – but these ants were on freshly turned earth. Brown on brown is not quite as easy to see. Anyway, the giant started swatting (and swearing) and hopping around like a maniac, dropped everything and ran for the shower and the medicine cabinet. Relief. It just reminded me of how many times in our lives we have the opportunity to learn the same lesson or different forms of that lesson. Don’t plant shade plants in the sun and don’t plant shade plants in the shade and then cut down the shade tree are two of my favorites. Of course, there is nothing to stop your neighbor from cutting down the tree that provides your shade, so be flexible. But the biggest gardening lesson I have learned – and I learned in just once and it took – never ever plant running bamboo. Just don’t. Some unwise gardener planted it in the yard of the home we bought in Georgia. It was a great screen between our home and the neighboring home. Then it came up in the driveway. And the backyard. And the neighbor’s yard, and her neighbor’s yard. It appeared across the street (don’t ask me how). We all have lessons to be learned and we can learn from others. My big lesson? Don’t plant running bamboo. Although, if I had a small lake with an island in the middle…..nah.  La Garita Central Vivero
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Plant for the Week
Here is one of those wonderful begonias with variegated crinkled leaves that beg to be touched. I love them in light shade but many are very sun tolerant. Even when they aren’t blooming they are a great addition to the garden. If you would like to suggest a topic for this column, simply send a letter to the editor. And, for more garden tips, visit https://www.facebook.com/pages/Arenal-Gardeners/413220712106845 |
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| From Page 7: President signs anti-money laundering decree By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
President Luis Guillermo Solís signed a decree Friday setting up a committee to coordinate actions against money laundering. The president did so at the end of a regional meeting on the topic, the XXXI Reunión del Grupo de Acción Financiera de Lationeamérica. The new committee is to coordinate and plan actions of public and private entities to prevent and combat money laundering and financing of terrorism, according to Casa Presidencial. The Instituto Costarricense sobre Drogas has a key role along with the Consejo Nacional de Supervisión del Sistema Financiero, the Banco Central and relevant ministries. The decree also urges professional organization to participate in the efforts against money laundering. |
