Jun
26
Recession? says Who?
Posted by Editor | June 26, 2009 | Tags: Economic Development, Local Business News | 4 Comments
You would never know there was a recession in Puerto Viejo with the number of projects currently underway. And on top of all the building, they are finally making progress in fixing the roads. Rumor has it that they are hoping to complete the pavment between Hone Creek and Puerto Viejo with final black top in September and October, as that is when there is the least chance of rain.
 New Palí store in Hone Creek on opening day.  Local artisan David at Muebles Rustico across the street from the new Palí  The new Banco Naciónal bank building |
Today was the opening of the new Palí in Hone Creek. They are known throughout Central America as the discount grocer. Controlling interest of Palí along with 4 other Central American supermarket chains were bought by Walmart a few years back. If today’s line ups and traffic jam to get in are any indication, it will be a huge success.
David, local furniture builder and wood artist who works right across the street, seemed happy with the opening. It seemed more important to him that there would be more women to watch than the opportunity to sell more furniture.
Hone Creek was also just graced with a new office for the local water company. It seems that Hone creek will be the central town for most supporting services to the area. Large construction material provider, Colono is located right in the center and opened just over 1 year ago.
The new Banco National Building which is right next door to the Bank of Costa Rica has just been completed and is ready for occupancy. In addition to the bank there will be some offices and retail also in the buillding.
As if one new Supermarket was not enough, developers are wasting no time in constructing a new Mega-Super right in downtown Puerto Viejo. Prices will not be as low as discounter Palí, but will provide some competition for the current markets in town whose prices often seem aimed at tourists, making living and shopping in the community difficult for locals. This can be a real hardship for the locals, when typical salaries run $400- $500 month.
And finally, a gas station. Just down from the new Palí is a new gas station just going in. It should be ready in a couple months. Right now, the closest one is in Penshurt, 22 kms away, so advance planning and wasted fuel is required for a fill-up. Local sources say it will have the same owner as the station in Penshurt.
Not all are thrilled by all these displays of capitalism, as the lively debate on the Talamanca News on previous development news has proven.
 New gas station building site, Hone Creek. |
 New Mega Super site, Puerto Viejo. |
Jun
25
Police apprehend five undocumented African migrants in Manzanillo
Posted by Editor | June 25, 2009 | Tags: Crime & Punishment | Leave a Comment
Police arrested five migrants of African origin who had been abandoned by smugglers on the beach in Manzanillo, reported an official today.
The Security Ministry said in a statement that the incident took place last Wednesday, when police discovered five foreigners, allegedly from Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea, who were walking in an unknown direction and with no identification documents.
Apparently, the five foreigners were abandoned on Manzanillo beach, near Puerto Viejo, and made to believe they were in Canada, presumably the final destination of the trip, the ministry explained.
The five were identified as Glemeskel Berivan, 26 years, Golden Assefa, 25, both from Ethiopia, Allen Negash, 24, from Eritrea, and Almeda Ali, 26, and an unidentified minor under 16, both from Somalia.
The Costa Rican authorities believe that 28 other Africans may have been abandoned in the coastal area near Panama by the same smugglers.
In November 2008 officers seized in Costa Rica four Eritreans, who also entered the country without documents.
The authorities indicated that there are at least two ways in which African immigrants illegally enter Costa Rica: both start in Europe.
Some of them enter Italy illegally, where they get a permit to travel in the European Union. Then they go to Spain and from there are flown to Costa Rica, to cross Central America and Mexico by land to reach the United States.
Africans also have taken flights from Malta, an island located near southern Italy, to Venezuela, then moved by sea or land, mostly with a final destination of the United States.
Source: Univision: Policía de Costa Rica aprehende a cinco inmigrantes africanos sin documentos
Jun
23
CATCAS General Meeting on July 20
Posted by Editor | June 23, 2009 | Tags: Community Calendar, Local Business News | Leave a Comment
| July 20, 2009 | ||
| 2:45 pm | to | 4:45 pm |
CATCAS, the South Caribbean Tourism and Business Board, is announcing a general meeting for all members on Monday July 20. The meeting will begin at 2:45pm at the Casa de la Cultura in Puerto Viejo.
There is only one item on the agenda for this special meeting: discussion of a project to construct facilities for the association and authorization to seek financing for this.
Questions should be directed to Rolando Soto at turismocaribesur@yahoo.com.
Jun
21
Murder Suspect Released
Posted by Editor | June 21, 2009 | Tags: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
On Wednesday, the court in Limon released the suspect who has accused of the murder of Carlos Navarro, known locally as Rulos.
The suspect, identified in the latest La Nación article by last name Lewis (but previously referred to by last name Mitchell) was initially ordered held in preventative detention for three months by a Bribri judge. He had been held since June 3. The prosecutor had said there was sufficient proof to hold him while the investigation proceeded but the Limon judge has taken a different view.
Source: La Nación: Tribunal de Limón libera a tres asaltantes y a acusado de crimen
Jun
18
Find Restaurant Menus Online!
Posted by Editor | June 18, 2009 | Tags: Site news | 1 Comment
Trying to find a place to eat? You can now explore restaurant menus online on Puerto Viejo Satellite.
Head to the Restaurants page and look for listings which have a View Menu shown.
Some menus you can see which we have so far are:
If you’re a restaurant owner or manager, email us a clear photo, PDF or Word document of your menu and we’ll get it posted.
Jun
15
What happened to the forum?
Posted by Editor | June 15, 2009 | Tags: Site news | 2 Comments
 Don’t all look so glum. There’s still a place online to talk about Puerto Viejo. Photo courtesy Tropical Adventures. |
A number of people have commented that the forum has disappeared from Puerto Viejo Satellite and they missed it. Sorry to all you fans but I had to remove it.
The forum unfortunately kept getting attacked by spammers and the forum software made it very laborious to delete these spammers. I tried making it harder to register and then people had trouble getting registered but the spammers still found their way through. So with all the hassles…that was the end of it.
But you may have noticed I recently added the ability to comment on any place listed on the site, for example here’s the page for Cocles Beach. For other places and businesses: go to the map page, open the listing you’re interested in from the links on the left or below the map and then click view full listing. So that’s a great place to rave (or rant) about a good meal you’ve had for example.
And of course, you’ve always been able to post comments about our news stories here on the Talamanca News as the lively discussions about the marina, Le Cameleon and the jailed rapist has shown.
But what if you need a place to post your car for sale, to look for a good electrician or to find people interested in starting a ukulele trio?
Don’t despair. You can use the discussion threads on our facebook page.
The link to go directly to the discussion area is here and I’ve also added it to the Discuss menu from the main site. Don’t forget to “become a fan” of Puerto Viejo while you’re there if you’re a facebook user and share photos etc.
Jun
4
Late Night Party on Beach Ends in Murder
Posted by Editor | June 4, 2009 | Tags: Crime & Punishment, Uncategorized | 1 Comment
 The crime happened at the beach downtown where the craft vendors setup. Photo by Martin Carvajal, courtesy of La Nación |
A party on the beach in the early hours of Wednesday morning ended in one man dead.
Deciding to get the last word in an argument which had been ongoing, a man identified by last name Mitchel went home for a firearm and shot his rival.
The victim is 20 year old Carlos Navarro, known locally as Rulos. He was shot six times at close range, twice in the head, twice in the chest and twice in the arms. The authorities arrested Mitchell several hours later.
The victim and suspect were seen at about 3 am yesterday along with other men on the beach.
“It is common here in the middle of the night when the bars close, people come to this sector of the beach where they sell crafts,” said Harold Brooks, chief of police for Puerto Viejo.
According to the report of the Judicial Investigation Agency (OIJ), the suspect in the crime was inebriated.
The authorities collected shells from a 9-mm gun at the site of the shooting.
Marcela Oviedo, owner of the restaurant Francini, worried about the harm that such acts cause to tourism. “It has lowered the number of tourists who visit us, because there are problems with drugs and assaults. We need more police presence”, said Oviedo.
More: La Nación: Discusión termina con hombre acribillado
May
23
Rapist Jailed
Posted by Editor | May 23, 2009 | Tags: Crime & Punishment | 12 Comments
The much talked about sexual offender in Playa Chiquita area has been arrested and is in jail. He was identified with bite marks and scratch marks after an attempted assault late at night along main road leading south of town. The victim managed to escape her attacker, but did require multiple stitches.
She remained in the area after the attack to identify the suspect. The suspect has been given 6 months preventative prison while awaiting trial. During that time, investigators will also attempt to get evidence linking him to previous assaults.
The recent arrest comes as a result of very active members in the business community who worked relentlessly and would not give up on making sure this person was apprehended. Local community members hope that this latest arrest results in a guilty verdict and this chapter is closed.
May
3
Benefit Concert for The Bridge
Posted by Editor | May 3, 2009 | Tags: Community Calendar, Helping Out | Leave a Comment
| May 9, 2009 | ||
| 7:00 pm | to | 10:00 pm |
Jim MacDougall and the funky 6-piece Los Rayos del Sol Band are presenting a Benefit Dance and Concert for
El Puente—The Bridge on Saturday May 9th from 7 – 10pm.
The Bridge provides education, food, and micro loan assistance for the indigenous of Puerto Viejo. You can reach The Bridge at 2750 0524
The night will feature high energy dance music: rhythm & blues, zydeco, and funk. Entrance fee: 3000 Colones or $6—plus CASH BAR at the Goddess Garden in Cahuita, tel. 2755 0055.
Apr
28
Oscar Arias inaugurates new water system for area
Posted by Editor | April 28, 2009 | Tags: Government and Politics, Health | Leave a Comment
Oscar Arias and Roberto Sancho unveil a plaque for the new water system
Oscar Arias, the president of Costa Rica, was among the dignitaries in Hone Creek (just outside Puerto Viejo) on the weekend to open a new water system. The new system will also service the communities of Puerto Viejo, Carbón Uno, Comadre and Catarata. The executive chairman of Costa Rica’s water company AyA, Ricardo Sancho, said that the new service would benefit approximately 5,000 residents.
Sancho said that the project was to “install chlorination systems, construct new PVC and polyethylene pipes and distribution lines for each of the communities; also pressure valves to homes.”
The project involves pumping water from a well located near the community of Sand Box, to a storage tank located near Hone Creek. From here the water is gravity fed to the communities benefiting.
The old system often ran out of water during dry periods.
The new system was built with the financial help of the Institute for Agriculture (IDA) which contributed 25 million colones (approximately $44,000 US), and the Joint Social Welfare Institute (IMAS) which contributed ¢100 million (approximately $175,000 US).
Sancho said the residents may apply starting this week to connect to the new project.
However, comments from readers regarding the announcement indicate that the project isn’t really complete yet, but that the inauguration went ahead anyway as Arías was scheduled to attend and so they didn’t want to move the opening ceremony even though the completion of the work is “at least 2 weeks away”.
Source: Costa Rica Hoy: Hone Creek inaugura nuevo acueducto
Apr
21
Le Caméléon Opens – Adding a New Class of Accomodation to Puerto Viejo
Posted by Editor | April 21, 2009 | Tags: Local Business News, Tourism | 35 Comments
The new Le Caméléon Hotel has opened at Playa Cocles offering something that the laid-back, backpacker-haven of Puerto Viejo has never seen before – 5 star luxury accommodations.
With average $250 a night rates, its also in a price class by itself.
A member of the Small Luxury Hotels of the World association, they offer a pool, spa, rooms with lighting which can change with your mood, restaurant and bar.
You can make reservations inquiries here.
Pictures, as they say, are worth a thousand words, so here are a few:
Reception and Lobby
Room
Pool
Apr
12
Puerto Viejo Unwired
Posted by Editor | April 12, 2009 | Tags: Local Business News, Site news | Leave a Comment
There’s a new page on Puerto Viejo Satellite that shows you where you can stay connected in paradise — check out the new WiFi page listing area hotspots with wireless internet connectivity for your laptop.
The page is new so if you know of others in the area, please just email us at info@puertoviejosatellite.com. If the business isn’t listed yet, you can add them on the add listing page.
Apr
3
Interest in Puerto Viejo Continues to Grow
Posted by Editor | April 3, 2009 | Tags: Accidents and Natural Disasters, Crime & Punishment, Site news, Tourism | 2 Comments
In these challenging economic times, many local businesses seen a drop in business. But there is some good news too: interest in Puerto Viejo and the South Caribbean coast of Costa Rica remains very high. You can see this by looking at the growth of visitors to Puerto Viejo Satellite. In the quarter just finished, there were over 40,000 unique visitors to the website!
Traffic has grown at a very fast rate ever since the website has launched and the website is bigger and better than ever with:
• More listings than ever
• More features than ever like the recently added restaurant page or the listing detail pages (see this one for example)
• More complete information than ever – additional transport options for example added to the transport page as we find out about them
The area has also benefited from the marketing savvy of the owner one of the newer hotels in town, Banana Azul. Banana Azul was recently even mentioned on the Today show as a affordable vacation spot in these recessionary times. As more people find Banana Azul, they also discover the whole area as they discover the place that is a good fit for them or visit local restaurants and tour providers.
The growing tour company Gecko Trail Adventures has also contributed. Their Costa Rica tour packages have a strong emphasis on the Caribbean coast and so many people discover this area even if they don’t know Manzanillo from Montezuma.
All in all, we see great things ahead!
Apr
2
Hotel Taxes Down, Airline Taxes Up
Posted by Editor | April 2, 2009 | Tags: Government and Politics, Tourism | Leave a Comment
Costa Rica has eliminated the 3% ICT tax from hotel stays. ICT is the agency charged with promoting tourism in Costa Rica and the tax funded their operations. The tax has been replaced by a $15 tax on airline tickets into Costa Rica.
With this change, the nightly room tax for a room in Costa Rica will now be 13% instead of 16.39% so for most visitors the savings from the hotel tax should offset the $15 additional paid for their tickets.
The government is also hoping that the new airline tax will be easier to collect and less subject to evasion as well.
The airline ticket tax took effect on April 1st. The hotel tax change was effective as of Friday March 27 but many hotels are just now hearing about the change and making it effective. For those hotels which include taxes in their rates, it will be up to them whether to decrease their rates accordingly or just take a little extra profit.
More: La Nación: Aerolíneas advierten que cobro de $15 más en boletos afectará turismo
Update Apr 4: The new tax rate in this article was initially erroneously reported as 13.39%. It should be 13.00%. The old tax was 16.39% since the 13% sales tax was also applied to the 3% ICT tax.
Mar
28
New Jazz Band Debuts Tonight
Posted by Editor | March 28, 2009 | Tags: Community Calendar, Entertainment | 1 Comment
| March 28, 2009 | ||
| 6:30 pm | to | 8:30 pm |
Tonight, a new band makes its mark on Puerto Viejo.
The new configuration of Belladonna and the Shamans debuts this evening at EZ Times from 6:30 till 8:30. The band plays a variety of cool jazz leaning on the Latin side, including samba, basa nova and swing. You will fall in love with Cristiana’s beautiful voice, Marco’s magical sax and Maestro Jim’s inspirational keyboards. Add Martha and John’s experimental rhythm section and EZ Times relaxing atmosphere, and you have the formula for a Jazzy cool, cocktail-sipping evening.
EZ Times is located here.
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