by Rod Hughes
The message is clear behind biologist Ana Fonseca’s analyses of the effects of global warming on Costa Rica, one of the most diverse ecosystems in the world:
Come visit before most of it disappears.
The University of Costa Rica scientist calculates that over the next 90 years, 160,000 species of plants and animals will go extinct, including (divers take note) 50% to 82% of the coral reefs. The country has already experienced, since the 1980s, the disappearance of exotic species of frogs from the high mountains here, some of them to be found nowhere else in the world. That was even before projections by scientists that the temperature may rise 3 degrees Celsus in the next nine decades, raising the ocean levels three feet.
While amphibians such as frogs are notoriously temperature-sensitive, one does not think of reptiles as being so delicate. But some of them cannot reproduce if the temperature rises above a certain level, Fonseca reveals. And the reefs are home to certain algae that enable the little coral creatures to breathe and live. Without coral, whose colorful exoskeletons constitute havens for hundreds of fish species, valuable barriers to hurricanes disappear. If the present temperature of 28 degrees Celsus rises another degree, the seas turn acidic and those algae are gone and so are the reefs, says Fonseca.
Carlos Drews of the World Nature Fund’s marine program notes that the case of the reptiles is unique during global warming. If the nest temperature rises above 29.4 degrees turtles will produce only females and crocodiles only males, hardly a formula to propagate the species. Bit it is worse if the nest temperature rises to 30 degrees: the eggs grow hard and will not hatch.
In the cloud-shrouded mountains of Monteverde, a nature-lover’s paradise, the Golden Toad and Harlequin Frog have already succumbed to a fungus previously unknown because the plague could not previously survive the cool temperatures of the cloud forest. UCR scientists say 21 species of amphibians are already gone forever. And temperature increases will disrupt the natural cycle of flowers, trees and other plant life with untold damage to the 167 species of birds resident in the country.
On local Pacific beaches, the leatherback turtle population has already diminished 90% in the past 60 years.
Nor will human beings be unaffected. Tropical diseases such as dengue can be expected to rise.

by Rod Hughes
Mainland China will be holding a trade fair next week at Hotel Herradura to interest local retailers in buying products from that country but, from the Chinese point of view, timing could not have been worse.
Last week, the Ministry of Economy ordered retailers to withdraw Fisher Price and Mattel toys made in China because of potentially toxic paint, reported the daily paper La Nacion. Worse, yesterday Mattel announced the voluntary recall of toys because of paint content and because small magnets in some toys could break loose and be swallowed by children. This is a special blow to the Fisher Price trademark known for its carefully engineered and researched toys.
The toy recall also serves to remind the buying public of the frantic local search by Health Ministry officials for two brands of toothpaste exported from China and placed on sale here. The toothpaste was found to be laced with a toxic chemical used in the making of antifreeze, although no illness or deaths were reported in this country.
Today, La Nacion reported that the director of the toy manufacturing firm had committed suicide during the weekend, Two months ago, the government official responsible for authorizing export of the toothpaste was executed by the Chinese government following his conviction for accepting bribes from exporters.
China is a major export market for Costa Rica, which also imports many products, a factor that led the Arias Administration to establish relations with the mainland Asian nation in June and automarically sever long-standing diplomatic ties with Taiwan.
Some 30 Chinese companies will have booths at the Aug. 22-30 fair, reported the English-language weekly The Tico Times. Exhibiters will range from an automobile manufacturer to a maker of artificial Christmas trees.

by Rod Hughes
There is not much to write. The Costa Rican team nearly had a first time ever victory in the Trans-Canada mountain bike race Sunday.
They didn’t blow it—the rear tire on Ivan Amador’s bike did, a nasty double puncture.
The Canadian team of Tim Heemskesky and Roddi Lega won with 2:12:52 while Ramirez and teammate Federico Ramirez came in nearly four minutes later. Still, the effort was astounding for a team with little international competition under its belt.
Ramirez and Amador bear watching after this showing.

by Rod Hughes
Poor Cartago! After a respectable season last year, they have lost three games in a row, this time Sunday to Liberia, 2-1. And the Guanacaste team did it with one less man on the field for 84 minutes!
As the sportwriter for the newspaper Al Dia, Alexander Aguilar, said, it couldn’t have been worse for Cartago, especially in front of a home town crowd at “Fello” Meza Stadium. When Liberia’s Barry Saviy did a dirty at minute six and got tossed out of the game, the home team failed to make the penalty kick.
Liberia’s Kenneth Garcia drew first blood at minute 18. Cartago returned the compliment with a tying goal by Alexander Castro in the final minute of the first half.
At minute 71 of the second half, Jacques Remy turned a pass from Mauricio Alpizar into gold for Liberia. The last gasp for Cartago came in overtime but Liberia’s goaltender Michael Tommy saved the victory, duplicating his block of Minor Diaz’s penalty kick in the opening minutes of the game.
So bad was Cartago’s day that coach Roland Mora refused to talk to the press. When a Tico won’t talk to the press, it’s ba-a-ad!
Meanwhile, Puntarenas and Brujas of Escazu met Sunday in a 90-minute shootout that, ultimately, Puntarenas won 4-3. Talk about the OK Corral!
And Perez Zeledon dumped Santos 2-0. Previously winless Carmelita broke into the win column over San Carlos 2-1.

8/14/7

The house is going along fine, although it is 1pm here and no-one has showed up. There aren’t a lot of obvious changes, so no new pictures. I will try to post one of my new dog, though. I obtained a two year old female boxer from some owners who are moving to Panama. I got her last Thursday, and she is more fun than Raz. She chased the vultures on the beach, she chased the water from the hose to get a drink while I washed the deck, she chases cats, and barks at people going by on the road. Raz would chase a cat, or maybe a monkey, but mostly he laid around. Peaches, as she was already named, is patrolling the yard regularly, getting to know the territory, not going on the road. She seems pretty smart, so far.
The other news is that it was cold in Punta Morales. Yesterday, it only reached 20c. or 70f. And it was windy and raining. That’s happened a couple of times, but it is pretty rare. I guess that’s what they mean by climatization. I wouldn’t have called that cold in Canada.

by Rod Hughes
The incoming flight Saturday to Liberia’s Daniel Oduber International Airport was not your average tourist flight. The Boeing 747 belonged to a Saudi Arabian prince and contained his 48-member enterage plus some luggage—245 trunks and suitcases crammed with not only clothing but also food, water and plasma TV sets.
Traveling light, you understand. Only the necessities.
Naturally one would not expect Al-Waleed bin Talal al-Saud, not only royalty but one of the richest men on the planet, to stand in line for Immigration processing and he did not. An official raced aboard the aircraft to process 49 passports on board.
Then the crowd passed magestically down the ramp to a caravan of one luxury bus and 18 brand new Toyota Prados (were you expecting camels?) while 13 airport maintenance crewmen scrambled to load the mountain of luggage into the transport. Then off they went to the local Four Seasons Hotel, part of a chain of hotels in which the prince is the major stockholder, reported the newspaper La Nacion.
Not all the passports were Saudi, by the way. The prince is an international sort of guy and carried with him Syrians, Lebanese and even a few New Zealanders. Then, there were the South African crewmen of the smaller jet that landed ahead of the 747 to prepare the way. Security was tight with Al-Waleed the last to leave the plane.
The visiters were mostly dressed in jeans, sports shirts and sandals, prepared for the sun. But one thing the red carpet official treatment could not control. It rained until early afternoon.
This afternoon Al-Waleed will meet with President Oscar Arias at the latter’s home in Rohrmoser. The prince will journey on tomorrow to Guatemala.

by Rod Hughes
The collapse of a bridge in Minneapolis, Minn., last week has the whole world thinking of their own country, but to hear the Ministry of Public Works (MOPT) tell it, don’t sweat it. According to Pedro Castro, MOPT’s deputy minister, those bridges are safe but need “updating,” which sounds chillingly like what they said about the Minneapolis bridge before it fell, costing at least five lives.
In today’s edition, the English-language weekly Tico Times goes into the subject deeply, as is that paper’s custom, but the upshot is clear: most of the nation’s bridges are 50 to 80 years old and they are nearing the end of their lifespan.
Despite MOPT’s whistling in the dark, a recent study of bridges by the Japanese International Cooperation Agency paints a different, darker picture. The two-year JICA study revealed that most of the 1,330 bridges in the country suffer from deterioration caused by frequent earth tremors, flooding rivers and traffic for which they were never designed.
The three-volume report takes 29 national highway bridges as examples, citing a litany of problems, ranging from lack of rigidity of floor structure through damaged joints to caveins around abuttments.
The National Emergency Committee director Daniel Gallardo is not buying the “safe but old” MOPT theme, either. “The number of cars on the road has increased five times, but our infrastructure hasn’t kept up,” he told the newspaper.
This reporter is reminded of and experience with the typical Tico attitude of “if it hasn’t fallen yet, it never will.” He was driving a Ford van filled with some local friends in Guanacaste province a couple of decades ago when they came to the wooden bridge over a river near the rural village of Ortega. He got out, walked to the middle of it and found he could make the structure sway just by flexing his knees. His friends, not relishing a walk in the hot sun into Ortega, urged him to drive on. “Even big trucks go over it. Esta bien,” they assured him. “Until the last one,” muttered this reporter.
They walked. But who knows? The same bridge may be still there.
Or maybe not.

by Rod Hughes
Some 13 foreign companies, most specializing in high tech services, have announced plans to set up shop in Costa Rica by the end of this year, creating 2,500 new jobs, reports the Costa Rican Investment promotion Agency (CINDE).
These jobs will include systems engineers, electricians, computer experts, technical support workers, finance and administration specialists and customer support workers. The companies included Formalized, TechData, Global Insurance Technology, Teletech, Jaco Oil Company, Design Space, DHL Service Center, Future Power Industries, Deshler and Alta Nova.
The news agency ACAN-EFE reported that Global Insurance (GIT) plans to invest $250,000 in a software development center. Deshler will invest $5 million for the country’s first auto parts plant scheduled to begin operation in the last months of this year.
CINDE general director Gabriela Llobet told the news agency that this country “continues to position itself as an attractive destination for foreign direct investment, thanks to its strategic positioning, human capital political stability and economy,” Llobet recognized that the country must remain competitive and could not resist getting in a plug for passage of the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) in October’s referendum.

by Rod Hughes
A way to make cell phone service better and cheaper came from a surprising source last week. The Public Services Regulatory Authority (ARESEP) is normally associated with rate hikes on utilities, buses and other public services but last week the agency suggested that pre-paid cell phone service is the way to get the country out of its telecommunications stone age.
The current cell phone system operated by the government monopoly ICE now bills at the end of the month for the number of minutes talked. The pre-paid system would allow them to buy a card for a set number of minutes on a 30, 45 or 60-day basis, reported The Tico Times reporter Amanda Roberson last week.
The latter plan could turn out cheaper for the user, depending on how talkative the customer is. ARESEP estimates that the average client pays about 8,150 colones ($15.67 U.S.) per month. The agency suggest that the user could talk the same number of minutes for only 2,500 colones ($4.80 at 8 U.S. centrs per minute.) They would pay less than one U.S. cent per text message.
Especially benefitted would be those with limited budgets and tourists who would not have to set up an account, ARESEP’s Carolina Mora points out.
Currently, those who want cell phones have to wait months for lines. ICE is studying the proposal and will hold public hearings starting Sept. 11. Special GSM lines would be needed for the service and ICE intends to include some in the next batch of 300,000 lines it will make available. The pre-paid system is used elsewhere in the world, including some Latin American countries.

by Rod Hughes
The Ministry of Energy and the Environment, along with Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) technicians are studying the use of biomass digesters to produce electricity. The country, they point out, produces agricultural waste from sugar refining and the processing of pineapple for export.
The generators would use decomposing plant material to produce inflammable methane gas that could be used instead of fossil fuel-powered generators in use now, a drain on the economy. Technicians theorize that such biomass generators could produce double the electricity currently generated by the 372-megawatt Arenal hydroelectric dam, revealed the daily newspaper La Nación..
But the Guanacaste province sugar refineries currently burn sugar cane after the juice has been crushed out and the thick stems dried, in order to produce power for their own needs. As it is, ICE currently buys seven megawatts from those refineries.
Pineapple is another story, 40,000 hectares produce the fruit for export, leaving behind tons of biodegradeable material after the produce is boxed for export. None of this pineapple byproduct is among the 29% of agricultural waste being used.
No mention was made in the study for use of cattle and chicken dung, an even more efficient source of methane.