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Tamarindo surfer wins
charity classic there


Isaac Vega of Villareal, the current Costa Rican national surf champion, won the Century 21 Coastal Estates Charity Surf Classic in Tamarindo Monday.

In addition, organizers said that the three-day fundraiser had brought in $30,000 in sponsored cash, $20,000 in donated services and $15,000 in prizes. In addition, the surf contest fees, donations, T-shirt and food sales,
raffles and other contest income, less production costs, will go to Tamarindo’s Ecological Blue Flag Program, the Tamarindo Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation and the Tamarindo Lifeguards.

Lou Maresca, the 2005-06 Costa Rican National masters champion, is also the head of the Tamarindo Surfrider Foundation. He said that the money his organization will receive will go toward water-testing kits that will be used in Tamarindo and Langosta on a regular basis.
 
The Tamarindo Blue Flag Committee, headed by Juanita Hayman, will use its funds to retain the ecological award that the beach recovered from the Costa Rican government in 2005. The group will continue to maintain the quality necessary for that reward via improvements such as water quality and environmental management, she said.

“I wanted to enter this contest, and do well in it because I want to do something for Tamarindo, since this is my home," said Vega after receiving his award. "Of course, I’m happy I won, and in doing that I helped my beach too,”

Nataly Bernold won both the womens category and the junior womens category. Jason Torres won the mens junior. Leonard Calvo won in grommet and William Aguero was first in masters category.


Kudos for Deputy Arguedas

Dear A.M. Costa Rica:

Kudos to assemblywoman Evita Arguedas Maklouf for her demonstrating integrity, courage and compassion in her choice to participate in the demonstration against the indiscriminate killing of civilians in Lebanon.
  
In re: the grey matter-challenged individuals who thought the demonstration to be anti- Israel, might wanna take a little closer look at the New Testament - about the Jewish carpenter. If you're more comfortable with the eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth stuff, I would guess that both the IDF and Hezbollah are currently looking for new recruits.

A.M. Costa Rica users guide This is a brief users guide to A.M. Costa Rica. Old pages Each day someone complains via e-mail that the newspages are from yesterday or the day before. A.M. Costa Rica staffers check every page and every link when the newspaper is made available at 2 a.m. each weekend. So the problem is with the browser in each reader's computer. Particularly when the connection with the  server is slow, a computer will look to the latest page in its internal memory and serve up that page. Readers should refresh the page and, if necessary, dump the cache of their computer, if this problem persists. Readers in Costa Rica have this problem frequently because the local Internet provider has continual problems. Searching The A.M. Costa Rica search page has a list of all previous editions by date and a space to search for specific words and phrases. The search will return links to archived pages. Newspages A typical edition will consist of a front page and three other newspages. Sometimes there will be four additional newspages. Each of these pages can be reached by links near the top and bottom of the pages. Classifieds Five classified pages are updated daily. Employment listings are free, as are listings for accommodations wanted, articles for sale and articles wanted. The tourism page and the real estate sales and real estate rentals are updated daily. Advertising information A summary of advertising rates and sizes are available for display and classifieds. Statistics A.M. Costa Rica makes its monthly statistics available to advertisers and readers. It is HERE!  The statistics page also shows where A.M. Costa Rica ranks in visitors among all the Web pages in the world. Contacting us Both the main telephone number and the editor's e-mail address are listed on the front page near the date. Visiting us Directions to our office and other data, like bank account numbers are on the about us page.

By tonight the basilica plaza will be crowded to capacity

It is an uphill grind as pilgrims near the city

Smart pilgrims stick with friends

Tránsito officer spots barriers
along interamerican highway.

Two 911 workers await duty shift
while Cruz Roja staff unload gear.

On knees
only

By tradition, visitors to the basilica of the Virgen de los Ángeles must approach the altar on their knees The small statue of the Virgin is atop the altar in a secure container.

By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff