COMO EN CASA is Alajuela’s newest chic restaurant  “parrillada Argentina.”

The owners are Ezequiel Ruiz and Cristina Gutierrez Sori. Ezequiel was born in Argentina and immigrated to Costa Rica where he met Cristina.   She was born in Columbia and also immigrated to Costa Rica.    They fell in love, married, and opened a small cafe  [...]

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Ann on July 29th, 2009

“Costa Rica’s Tuna is some of the best in the world.”
Just want to share with you one of Costa Rica’s best kept secrets.  It’s the Sardimar canned tuna found in all of Costa Rica’s grocery stores .  The yellow fin tuna and black fin tuna  is caught in the Pacific waters from the northern Pacific [...]

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“Since 1989 not a single golden toad has been found anywhere in the world.”
A small, shiny bright orange colored toad, about two inches in diameter was once abundant in a 3.9 square mile radius  (1o square km) in the high altitudes of the wet Monteverde Cloud Forests of Costa Rica, thus given the name the [...]

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If you are planning to travel to Costa Rica and plan to drive to the Arenal Volcano, here are some detailed  driving directions from San Jose  international airport to the Arenal Volcano and La Fortuna, going through  San Ramon, the shortest route,  and the roads are in good condition all the way.
I wrote this because [...]

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Ann on July 16th, 2009

“Amparo” by Maria Fonseca

“The wood is transformed in my hands and it absorbs my emotions, my joy.”  Maria Fonseca,   July 2009
Maria Fonseca began her work in wood sculpture at the School of Fine Arts at the University of Costa Rica.  Today she works from her  outdoor studio located on a coffee farm, near the small  [...]

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Ann on July 16th, 2009

This  series on Women Artist  is designed to give recognition to the enormous amount of talent among women who are working artist  here in Costa Rica.
Maria Fonseca was born in Costa Rica on a coffee farm near the town of Naranjo.  Today  she still lives there with her husband and children.  As a child she [...]

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small transparent green frog with baby

Costa Rica Spotlight:  Yes, the La Paz Waterfall Gardens is open for visitors!   A few days ago I was lucky to be able to spend a few hours. One of the exhibits which impressed me most was the frog exhibit.  The colorful tropical frogs climbing  freely in a natural [...]

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carnivoras plant, eats insects

rare orchid “species stamnopea wardi”

Costa Rica Spotlight: The La Paz Waterfall Gardens, now open, is not only about waterfalls.  It is about exotic and unusual flowering plants.
Lets start with the orchid species stamnopea wardi or “torito” .  This orchid pictured above is rare orchid species and  blooms only once a year in [...]

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Costa Rica Spotlight:It has  been six months since the January 8th earthquake which caused damage in and around La Paz Waterfall Gardens and Peace Lodge.   Major restorations have been under way and the La Paz Waterfall Gardens and Peace Lodge are now open!
And I had the pleasure to visit the Gardens a few days [...]

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Guanabana

Our small group of tourist were in the Central Valley of Costa Rica and wanted to have a unique cultural experience so our guide said, “Let’s go into Alajuela’s farmers market better know in Spanish as the “feria.”  It was a wonderful sunny Saturday morning in July.
When we arrived we were amazed at the dozens [...]

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