Talk about going into the Lion’s den! The atmosphere in Iran is more charged than ever as yesterday a German newspaper published a caricature of the Iranian players warming up in suicide bomber jackets.  The situation was already hot with the US and UN threatening sanctions and rattling sabres.  Which of course meant religious leaders stirring up emotions for a holy war and nationalistic hardliners stirring up emotions for the people to do their patriotic duty. Now all of those motions will be added to the fan’s support of their soccer team which was ridiculed in the cartoon.  And everything in that cauldron should be nice and bubbly when the Costa Rican national team visits Tehran on March 1st. 

Al Dia interviewed players and officials about the situation.

"We have gone to other countries in similar situations and we have never had any problem", pointed out José Joaquín Aguilar, of the Selections Commitee.  He did not want to admit that the Federation was in it for the money, only saying that , " The friendly has favorable economic and athletic conditions".  He said that currently there was no reason to suspend the trip, although they were monitoring the situation.

Aguilar, speaking on behalf of the Costa Rican Football Federation said that they follow FIFA’s principle of leaving aside cultural and political differences on the pitch  " Football is a way to look for peace.", he said.

Labor Minister Fernando Trejos is filing a complaint over the plans of representative José Francisco Salas, and his twin brother Carlos, both of the Authentic Heredian Party.  José Francisco Salas is giving up his post as of Wednesday and will allow his twin brother to take over.  This is possible because Carlos was in second place on the party’s ballot in the 2002 elections.  José Francisco made the announcement last week saying it was a gesture of fraternal love, allowing his brother to live his dream of being in the legistlature. 

However Trejos is denouncing that this is an abuse of public funds. In the first place, this means that José Francisco is giving 3.2 million colones to his brother, which is what Carlos will earn in the 2 months remaining of the term.  Although on the other hand the state would have to pay that money no matter which brother is in office.  The real kicker is that Carlos Salas Ramos is a pensioner of the Magisterio Nacional (the teacher pension fund) under the regulation of law 2248. This law permits the person to retire with a pension equal to the highest salary of their last 5 years.

According to Trejos, Carlos Salas retired in June 1996 and suspended his retirement to become a political adviser to his brother reporting a salary of 279,538 colones.  In August of 2005, Carlos asked the labor ministry to review his pension, taking into account his salary as legislative consultant - 999,000 colones.  Which will be his new pension when he leaves office in May of this year.  A hefty tripling of his pension in just 4 years of "work".

However, if he becomes a legislator, he will earn a monthly salary of 1,647,671 colones. And he can immediately ask for his pension to be reviewed again.  Trejos clarified that the legislator has not necessarily asked for the review or may not intend to ask for it.  However since it is a possibility it was his duty to make public the potential for an abuse of public funds to occur.

As of Wednesday, the ICE will make available 5,000 TDMA lines.  "Many clients prefer the TDMA phones, because it is a mature network with excellent coverage ", claimed Orlando Cascante, Mobile Services Manager for ICE.  He estimated that the lines would only last fo 2 weeks.  GSM lines are still plentiful. 

In order to get a line, you must take a copy of your identification, your identification, and a current bill for a public service to verify your address. You also must take a copy of your receipt for the purchase of the device (and the original).  The deposit is 12,500 colones. Also you will need the identification number of the beneficiary of the line.

Note: currently only legal residents and costa ricans may purchase a cell line - some expats form corporations - which of course are costa ricans - that own the line to get around this.  Soon ICE will be offering prepaid SIM chips, which will be sold to foreigners and will work with an unlocked GSM phone compatible with the network.

Multinationals like Hewlett Packard, Intel, Procter & Gamble, Baxter, IBM, Credomatic, Coca Cola, Pepsi, TACA and Sykes will have stands from Wednesday through Saturday at the Universidad Latina, in San Pedro, during a job fair. Local companies like OTEC, Dos Pinos and Grupo Nación will also be present, the fair starts at 8 a.m. and ends at 6 p.m.

Although Costa Rica abolished its army over 50 years ago, hawks can still get a fix every year in Sarchí during the Tomato War.  The war yesterday kicked off a week of festivities that include an exhibition of orchids, concerts and handicrafts. 

Yesterday 3000 kilos of "armament" were used in the battle, where the rule is that there are no rules and it’s every man for himself (or woman or kid). About 100 warriors battled it out yesterday.  If you want to get in on the action, don’t worry, you can go next Sunday at 3 pm for the final "battle royale".

While both presidential candidates talk confidently of victory and continue to "touch base" with supporters as they polish their plans for governing, the recount goes on.  PAC has presented over 70 complaints with the TSE. They contend that the recount is going "very fast" and that some rulings are inconsistent.

According to Rodrigo Alberto Carazo, PAC representative in the count "we have decided to present motions to anull, because in our opinion the vote count has not been of high enough quality. "

The cumulative count  has Arias with 200,123 votes and Solís with 194,774. 

Maybe Hermes Navarro, Costa Rica’s national team boss, is a lot smarter than we give him credit for.  Despite a home crowd advantage in Oakland, an organized preparation schedule (this was their ninth friendly), and a higher finish in the last world cup, the South Korean team fell to a Costa Rica "B"  squad on Saturday at the "Black Hole" in Oakland, California.

The Koreans dominated play, but were unable to convert this dominance into actual goals. Some shots were just of the mark and the Costa Rican goal keepers Jose Francisco Porras and Wardy Alfaro made a few excellent saves too.  Porras made a diving deflection off a shot from South Korea midfielder Lee Chun-soo less than a minute after Saborio’s penalty kick, while Alfaro knocked away two shots late in the second half.

In the 40th minute of the first half, Victor "El Mambo" Nuñez beat 2 defenders and was tripped in desperation by Kim Sang-sik.  Alvaro Saborio - "Sabo" - took the penalty shot.  His high hard strike to the upper left corner of the goal, where the Korean goalkeeper Lee Woon-jae had no chance to make any play on the shot.

South Korea will head to Los Angeles to take on Mexico on next Thursday, while Costa Rica will take things easy until their second, and at this point final, warm up scheduled for March 1st in Tehran, Iran.  Yes, this is the same Iran that being pressured by the international community to stop manufacturing weapons grade uranium.

Local analysts where happy with the victory, while criticizing the team as conservative and lacking options to create goal scoring opportunities. 

2/9/6

Yesterday was very exciting. I got an email from ARCR giving me the papers I need from the Costa Rican government to stay in the country while I wait for my residency application to be approved. I went to ARCR on the 19^th of January thinking I would be okay from that date. I entered the country on the 15^th of November and had 3 months to stay without papers, but, I found out I don’t get my papers until Interpol has cleared my record. I was worried I might have to leave for 3 days to remain legal. ARCR said it usually takes one month, so 3 weeks was very good and I breathed a sigh of relief. I went into Judas to have the papers printed up from the email, one for me and one for Linda. We really feel like Ticos now.

We are having shutters mounted on our windows today. Everyone assures us that it is necessary to discourage the few dishonest people who live in the neighbourhood if we go away for a few days at a time. Everything is going well.

My friends arrived from Canada on Monday, and while they were here he bought a small boat to use to build a cabin on his lot on Damas Island, near Quepos. Yesterday I put it on my roof racks and we took it down for him. Nice to see our friends from Quepos, but it was a long trip. There and

in one day. The roads were better than expected, and the return trip took only 2 ½ hr.

2/5/6

Life goes on. Nothing really exciting to write about for a couple of weeks now, and we have been real busy. We used the dirt from the drainage trench to landscape a bit, and took a big tree out of the driveway ( a very big job). Some nice afternoons on the beach. My friend Larry from Posada Aeropuerto brought his family to visit for a couple of days. Russ asked us to check out a real estate development on the beach in Manzinilla, a small town near here, so we drove up to see the Amistad Bridge over Rio Tempisque and came back down the back roads through Colorado and Manzanilla. At the bridge, we met a nice couple from Florida who were touring around and invited them to visit. They continued on to Arenal and showed up a couple of days later. We showed them around the neighbourhood, went swimming at the river, and our neighbours came over and met them in the morning. They really enjoyed experiencing the real ( non-touristy) Costa Rica. By the way, there is only a tiny beach in Manzanilla with no real estate development.

It never rains here in the dry season, so the past three days of hard rain have been very unusual. Good for the trees, but bad for the melon farms and salineras which, like all farmers all over the world depend greatly on the weather. This will put a real dent in the economy of this area. We went to a nice little party in El Roble last night, and the driving was very difficult in the hard rain. Today it looks like we’re back to normal with lot’s of sunshine already, it’s 7 am, birds singing, monkeys going through the yard, and the squirrel eating the fruit off my trees before they are ripe enough for me to eat. Big election today, but I don’t care. We’ll probably go to the beach again, and if the yard dries up, we’ll clean the mud off the floor in the house.

1/22/6

It has been an interesting week. On Monday, we went to a lawyer in El Roble to begin the incorporation process. There are a few advantages to this. I will be able to work if I can find some, my property can go in the corporation name, I can start a business, and a few other things I don’t completely understand. We had met a fellow at a restaurant in El Roble who assured me it was a good idea and he had an interpreter who would help, and a lawyer who would do it for a reasonable price. I had been considering this move, so we went ahead and started the process. It should take 3 weeks. The lawyer checked the registry, and my property is still registered in the previous owner’s name. Russ assured me my lawyer at the purchase of the house said it would be registered in my name even though I would still have to obtain a title through another court process. I phoned my lawyer and he now says this is not the way it works. I need to obtain title ownership to be the registered owner. I will find out more about that when I return to El Roble.

Thursday we went to San Jose with our papers to apply for residency. The ARCR office is on the west side of the city, and we had little trouble finding it. They are expensive, but reliable, and they handle everything. Their lawyer even drove us to the police station to be fingerprinted. That in itself was a big advantage. Now, we have to wait for our residency papers, but we are legal to stay here until they arrive. I had read that there was no Canadian Embassy in Costa Rica, but they assured us there was, and gave me the phone number. It was a very productive morning, and everything went well. We were done by 1 pm and returned to the tranquility of Punta Morales. It is like a different world here.

Last night we saw our first live band at the local bar. It was a big event, as it doesn’t happen too often. The band was excellent. They played for 2 hours, took a 15 minute break, and came back for the rest of the night. The name of the band is Calle 8, and the quality and energy was just amazing.

Apparently the other bar was full too. There are many weekenders in town from San Jose here. They have summer homes, or rent cabinas, and come down regularly for the beach and relaxed atmosphere. The phone rang while I was writing this, and a family we met last night called from the Huevo to find out where we lived. We had given them our phone number and invited them over. I went out to the main road where they could see me, and they came down. Last night we met the father, daughter, and her friend last night, and today we met the mother, 2 grandchildren and their dog. What nice people. They are from San Jose and spent a pleasant half hour here before heading home. We are off to the beach now. We succeeded in avoiding any work today