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| A.M. Costa Rica Third
News Page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Friday, Feb. 3, 2012, Vol. 12, No. 25 | |
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Food |
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Jo Stuart |
| Page One is HERE! Page 2 is HERE! Page 4 is HERE! | NEXT PAGE |
| Main street will be closed this weekend
for two city events |
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By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Closed streets will cause changes in bus routes and taxi stands in downtown San José this weekend from Saturday until Monday for two different events sponsored by the Ministerio de Cultura y Juventud. Alternate routes will go into affect Saturday at 4 a.m. until 5 a.m. Monday. All buses that enter San José through Avenida 3 will have to use the alternate routes, as the avenue between calles 17 and 23 will be closed, said the Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transportes. This is the street that runs south of the Estación al Atlántico and the Biblioteca Nacional and north of Parque Nacional. |
The closure on Saturday is for the
city's cultural festival, Enamorate
de Tu Ciudad. There will be dancing, theater, art, music, and workshops
for children and adults. The events will take place in Parque Nacional, Parque España and Parque Morazán. This is for families to enjoy, said a representative for the ministry of culture. Sunday is Un Domingo de Febrero en la Estación where there will be music and art for the people and tourists of San José. The concerts will run from 1 p.m. to 11 p.m. The ministry of culture expects approximately 5,000 visitors. The events will take place around popular tourist spots such as the Asamblea Legislativa and Biblioteca Nacional. |
| Networking site exclusively for expats is
seeking members |
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By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
An online community exclusively for expats already has 400 members in Costa Rica, and is seeking more. The organization is InterNations, and membership is by invitation only. The organization describes itself as the online community exclusively for expatriates and global minds based on over 250 cities worldwide. A get-together for those who may be interested in becoming members is scheduled for Thursday in Escazú. The local contact, which InterNations calls an ambassador, is Monique van Hussen. She is an independent consultant with more than 24 years working experience in trade, development cooperation, press and cultural activities in Costa Rica, Honduras, El Salvador and Panamá in the private and public sector. She worked for the Netherlands Embassy for 24 years, and in her position as Trade, Cultural and Press Officer gained much knowledge in foreign and domestic affairs, networking, trade fairs, and cultural matters, InterNations said. She said that those who would like to attend the Escazú event can contact her at monmar@ice.co.cr. InterNations maintains a Web site. The organization said that global minds are welcome to join the network of like-minded people within a community of trust and confidence, connecting expatriates with other expats in Costa Rica. The Web site notes that unlike some social |
 networking communities, fake names are forbidden and that the initial signup is free. The site also contains a listing of businesses geared to expats. Ms. van Hussen said in an announcement of the Thursday meeting: The members of InterNations are diplomats, managers and employees of multinational companies, IGO's and NGO's, foreign correspondents as well as their families. They are well-educated, career-oriented, dynamic and internationally mobile — true global minds. We are present in more than 250 local expatriate communities around the world uniting members of 180 nationalities; we recently hit the 400,000 members mark. On the InterNations Web site, expatriates can find advice on expat life and local support all over the world. Our guide and the local forums offer helpful tips on places to see and things to know for expats. InterNations provides a unique platform for expatriates to network and interact within a cosmopolitan community geared towards the special needs of expatriates, said the Web site. Ms. van Hussen notes that she was born in the Netherlands, crossed the Atlantic in the early 80’s and has made Costa Rica her home for the past 30 years. |
| Steady
light in the city sky has to be the Planet Venus |
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| Monday,
unable to sleep, I was lying in bed looking out the window at the night
sky. There were no stars to be seen, save one. A very
large, unblinking bright ball was high above the volcano
Poás. Obviously it was not a star; it had to be the planet
Venus. And the following morning, I read that the next transit of
Venus will be occurring this year in June. Except for the book, “Transit of Venus,” by Australian writer Shirley Hazzard, I had no idea what that meant. It seems that Venus will be crossing between the sun and the earth, and it will be visible in Costa Rica, as well as the U.S. and Europe. There is also an asteroid or other heavenly body with the name Venus attached to it that will be zooming through the skies. And there is the book, “Women are from Venus, Men are from Mars.” I agree with that. One simplification: women tend to use their seductive powers to persuade and men tend to use their strength and threat of force to persuade. Put another way, women talk too much, men fight too much. Venus and Mars personify these differences. Tuesday night I began looking for my new friend, Venus. She was nowhere to be seen until again around 9:30 when she appeared light years away in the middle of my window. I was unable to detect any movement, but it was not long before the planet was at the top of my window, just barely in view. This time there seemed to be a circle of darker sky surrounding the bright orb. I have learned that there is a morning Venus and an evening Venus, the same planet, seen at different times. I have never been a stargazer but now I can see how people who are, can spend hours looking through their telescopes at all of the activity out there. I am sure they know why stars and planets glow in the dark and can tell me if the earth does, too. Obviously, humans have been looking at the skies for thousands of years and have been inspired to create many |
myths, especially about the Planet Venus, including that the earth was first settled by an inhabitant of Venus who chose a site in South America at the edge of Peru. I cannot help but continue to think that history is written by the victors and myth by the vanquished. Or put another way, people of the past write myths, today we have historians. In short, it is just what you choose to believe. In my recent research on the ancient, past I learned that the Old Testament of the Bible has many similarities to the earlier Sumerian religious writings. But my friend Señor Ardilla (Mr. Squirrel) keeps bringing me back to the present by running along my fifth floor window sill looking at me quizzically and then running the length of it. At first I thought he was casing my joint, looking for an entry and something he may have missed during his last visit. Now I think it may be Mrs. Squirrel, after all. The last time he went by, he had a mouthful of straw. She is building a nest somewhere! I have no idea which sex builds the nest, and realize how little I know, not just about the occupants of the universe, but about the fauna and flora other than human on this planet. But I do recommend that you look for Venus. It seems amazing that not a star is visible over the city lights but she is making her presence known. If I am wrong and that is not Venus in the sky, then someone up there is watching us. |
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Food |
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Jo
Stuart |
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