Archive for December, 2007

Raabe Takes Lead in Tour of Costa Rica

Monday, December 17th, 2007

by Rod Hughes
Costa Rican Henry Raabe of the BCR-Pizza Hut bicycle racing team grabbed the lead away from Cuban Ardonis Cardozo yesterday in the fourth phase of the Vuelta de Costa Rica (Tour of Costa Rica). Raabe leads the individual competition by two minutes.
This phase […]

Saprissa Wins by Tying Alajuela, 1-1

Monday, December 17th, 2007

by Rod Hughes
Saprissa stretched to 16 its string of “classics” (games with Alajuela) without losing but was only able to tie Sunday 1-1. But this was enough to send the “purple monster” to the final with Heredia in the Opening Tournament, which is actually the first half of the regular […]

Timelines

Monday, December 17th, 2007

December 17, 2007
Estimated times for beginning or ending projects are at best, an estimate. I think that my mechanic and my builder depend on everything going perfectly to calculate times. Friday, Carlos said it would take one more week to finish the house. […]

Woodbridge Hopes to Cut Red Tape Barriers

Friday, December 14th, 2007

by Rod Hughes
(The following is a news analysis and reflects the opinion of the writer but not necessarily of American-European or any of its brokers.)
If anyone needs the divine intervention of the saint of lost causes, it is Jorge Woodbridge. He has been named […]

Education Ministry Sets Next Year Sched

Friday, December 14th, 2007

by Rod Hughes
The Ministry of Education has set next year’s grade and high school schedule. (This year’s classes will end Dec. 17.) Classes will begin again Feb. 11.
The mid-term vacation will come betwen July 7 and 18 and no classes will be held Easter Week. […]

Saprissa Stretches Streak to 15 Classics

Friday, December 14th, 2007

by Rod Hughes
Alajuela fans are beginning to forget the last time their soccer side beat Saprissa in the national championship league. The younger ones probably never saw the last victory. And you can add the notches Saprissa has carved in its gunbutt in the UNCAF regional tourney.
[…]

Brujas vs. Heredia: Scoreless

Friday, December 14th, 2007

by Rod Hughes
While Saprissa was putting another step on its ladder to the so-called “opening tourney” of the regular season, Brujas of Escazu and Heredia were tying 0-0 Wednesday. For Brujas, clearly the dominant side, it was complete frustration, partly due to their having to oplay with 10 men for […]

Chang’s Ad Astra, NASA Ink Pact

Wednesday, December 12th, 2007

by Rod Hughes
Dr. Franklin Chang’s Ad Astra rocket lab in Guanacaste and NASA formally signed a cooperative agreement (reported last week in The Tico Times), giving NASA first grabs on discoveries from Astra’s experiments with the plasma rocket engine.
When reported by the English-language weekly last […]

Education Ministry Paying Dead Personnel

Wednesday, December 12th, 2007

by Rod Hughes
Despite the year old Administration that has vowed to set the country to rights, the Ministry of Education doesn’t seem to have things sorted out yet. The Comptroller General’s office reported this week that the ministry has been paying 235 dead people, at least one of which just […]

ICE Petitions Strong Rate Hikes for 2008

Tuesday, December 11th, 2007

by Rod Hughes
The Costa Rican power monopoly, ICE, has petitioned the utility watchdog agency, ARESEP, strong rate hikes for March 2008. ICE wants to charge half a million residences 20% more and asks of electrical companies a 32% increase.
At one time, ARESEP had the […]