by Rod Hughes

A free music festival of baroque music will feature international musicians and be held in Santa Ana, Cartago and Sarapiqui in north-central Costa Rica. The Tico Times staffer Elizabeth Goodwin, writing in the Weekend section, secinctly describes this kind of music as “different voices and instruments echoing each other in various pitches.”

Even if you have a nodding aquaintance with classical music, you may have heard only a few baroque pieces, unless you were living between 1600 and 1750 when it was the dominant style. You may be somewhat conversant with Johann Sebastian Bach and Antonio Vivaldi but less so with G. F. Handel’s work. These concerts are funded by Santa Ana’s Municipal School of Integrated Arts (EMAI), Alliance Francaise with some private businesses.

It will feature two young attractive sopranos, Alejandra Ulate and Susana Velasco as well as U.S. trumpeter Fred Sautter and Venezuelan violinist Anthony Vivas of the Simon Bolivar Symphony. For a complete schedule, consult: festivalbarroco.blogspot.com or pages W14 or W15 in the current edition of The Tico Times on sale as this is written.

Warning: Some intellectuals have found baroque music addictive and wind up buying many CDs of the Brandenburg Suites and such. Don’t worry, many people have been listening to it all their lives without suffering any harm.

by Rod Hughes

The now abandoned Botica Solera, once a respectable store, stands in Barrio Mexico of San Jose in the acute angle of two converging streets, like the old Flariron Building in New York City. But, although it is still a landmark despite its sign being long-gone, the charming two-story structure had become a haunt of the homeless whose improvised cooking fires were a fire hazard.

This week, the municipality, acting on its own in the absence of any interest by the owners, swept the garbage and the indigents out and boarded up the structure. Residents had objected for years about the terrible odor emanating from the building and the fact that it had also become a refuge of drug addicts and criminals.

This little jewel of a building is actually more attractive than its many-times-larger counterpart in New York, a simpler design painted a light blue accented in darker blue. It is a national patrimony and may not be torn down without special dispensation and the municipality has expressed interest in acquiring it. But that may be difficult. Neither the Patrimony Center of the Culture Ministry or the city officials are clear about who exactly owns the building.

Constructed in the late 1930s, the charming structure has had 24 owners, some of whom have been dead for decades. It is located on 11th avenue at the convergence of 8th and 10th streets.

by Rod Hughes

The town of Barva, nestled on the flanks of the volcano of the same name above the university city of Heredia, is an art center well worth visiting, revealed a story in the Weekend section of The Tico Times recently. The sculptures in the parks alone are worth the trip to this home of artists.

As reporter Nicholas Ruggia wrote, no one knows why certain communities become centers of creativity. The town of Sarchi is another one, but it is known for crafts, not pure art. But Barva has its own sculptors’ association, which has hosted an international symposium three times since 2004. The first one used wood, the 2005 edition worked in stone and the 2007 symposium in both.

The unique thing about these symposiums is that the artists work for as long as two weeks in the open air with the public looking on as the sculptures taked shape. Another thing that marks these events is that many of the works in stone remain in the central square while the more perishable wooden works adorn the lobbies of several buildings surrounding it.

The small town, even without the art, would be worth visiting just for its typical charm. Nicely set in the wooded area on the mountainside, it has a friendly air and one gets a feeling of how Costa Rica lived until rapid development hit in the 1980s. But the town produces more than sculpture, having been the home of national prizewinners in arts ranging from painting to music.

Another symposium is being tentatively planned for February but don’t wait until then.

by Rod Hughes

Ministry of Culture engineers have discovered structural defects in one of the country’s most historical landmarks and the Ministry of Education has closed it, giving 1,300 schoolkids an unexpected vacation. The building is the Edificio Metalico, or “metal building,” constructed in the center of San Jose in 1896.

The edifice is a relic of an era when cast iron was the “wonder material” from which everything from monuments to toys were fabricated. The building was shipped from Europe in the form of sheets and girders and assembled, rather than erected, on the site not far from the National Theater (which is built in the more traditional stone.) In non-tropical climates, cast iron is considered nearly indestructible but here the irresistible force met the seemingly immovable object and the former has won, at least temporarily.

The building has housed many activities. It was the original home of the English-language Country Day School established in the late 1960s by the legendary educator Marian Baker. Later, Baker moved the school to a spacious campus in Escazu and sold it. (Despite fierce competition by a proliferation of private schools, Country Day is planning a larger campus farther west in the Central Vally. Baker herself went on to establish the school bearing her name in the eastern suburbs of San Jose.) After Country Day vacated the building, the Ministry of Education moved in with the Buenaventura Corrales School.

According to Education Deputy Minister Sylvia Viquez, portions of the building still could be used but other sections are too dangerous to children and their teachers. Engineers inspecting the structure found serious corrosion and, in some cases, plastic cable holding components together, reported the daily paper Al Dia. The building is largely riveted together like an early ironclad ship hull.

Only one other building in the country using similar construction exists, a provincial iron church dating from the same era. Both have been declared part of the national historic patrimony of Costa Rica. The Ministry of Culture is now studying what can be done to save the venerable structure.

by Rod Hughes

The Orquesta Filarmonica (Philharmonic Orchestra) will kick off its concert season July 11 with the presentation of its album in conjunction with the pop music group, Gaviota. The orchestra should not be confused with the remarkably good National Symphony Orchestra which plays classical music. One might liken the Philharmonic to the Boston Pops Orchestra of the old days in U.S. music.

Gaviota is a popular music group that was a favorite in the 1970s and 80s and has recently reinvented themselves, even getting back its fine vocalist Rogelio Cisneros who left the group to go solo 15 years ago. The album has a clever title, remembering that Gaviota is Spanish for seagull: La Orquesta Filarmonica en Alas de Gaviota. This translates to “The Philharmonic Orchestra on the Wings of the Seagull.”

This reporter is not familiar with the Philharmonic but can attest to the sheer talent of Gaviota and is sure that the concert will be worth attending or, if you can’t make it, the album worth buying at any music store in the country. This concert will be presented twice, at 9 p.m. July 11 and 12, at Melico Salazar Theater on Av. 2 in the heart of San Jose. Prices will range from 12,000 colones for choice seats to a mere six thousand way up there in the third balcony. (If you have vertigo, the latter is not adviseable and, besides, the tops of the heads of musicians are not their most photogenic side. On the other hand, Melico’s acoustics are excellent.)

But that’s just the beginning. The second concert in the same theater is La Orquesta Filarmonica y la Sonora Santanera on Aug. 13 and 14, also starting a 8 .\p.m. sharp. Then there is a spcial treat with program music from your favorite movies beginning on Aug. 30 at 9 p.m. and repeated Aug. 31 with a 10:30 a.m. matinee and an early 6 p.m. concert for those of us who arise with the birds. All these concerts will be in the National Theater two blocks down Av. 2

The orchestra returns to Melico Salazar Sept. 12 and 13 at 8 p.m. for a concert with the popular singer Dyango. If you have caught any of the above, you will probably be hooked by then and won’t want to miss another concert. A repeat concert will be Aug. 16 when the orchestra and Gaviota on tour will be the fairgrounds in the community of Palmares north of San Jose. This would be an excellent time for residents of such lovely towns as Grecia to catch them.

This underscores the advantage of living in a small country: You are never far from cultural events. Expatriates living here were able to see the final tour of Pavarotti, for example, but if they had been living in the United States might have had to travel hundreds of miles at great expense to catch the great tenor.

by Rod Hughes

Among the many places worth a visit here is the Juan Santamaria Historical Museum, named in honor of the country’s only war hero. (As this is written, the museum is closed for expansion and will not open until May. Ironically it was closed April 11, the holiday honoring the hero.)

Recently, The Tico Times star columnist, Mitzi Stark, did a profile on Santamaria, for whom the capital’s airport is named. The hero gave his life in 1856 to blunt the invasion of Costa Rica by U.S. soldier of fortune, William Walkers, in one of the few military battles fought by this country.

The political background to Walker’s ultimately ill-fated quest to create a slavery-oriented United States of Central America involves several of the great names of Wall Street. A southerner during the tumultuous days when slavery was a burning issue in the U.S., Walker and a small band of followers called “filibusterers” managed to take over large sections of the region but when he threatened Costa Rica, it was the beginning of the end for him.

On paper, Costa Rica appeared an easy conquest, even then with no army worth mentioning. But the country’s President Mora mobilized a ragtag army of sorts, without uniforms but with castoff muskets and even a cannon or two. Walker’s force had landed in Nicaragua and was met in northwestern Costa Rica and pushed back into Nicaragua.

Walker made his stand at Rivas in that country’s southern region. His headquarters was an adobe building with thick walls but with a vulnerable thatch roof. The Costa Rican commander gave the order to torch the roof but at least two of his soldiers lost their lives to sharpshooters attempting it. Juan Santamaria volunteered and managed the task, losing his life as he did it. The resulting fire drove Walker out and, encouraged by Costa Rica’s victory, Central Americans began to resist. Walker died in front of a firing squad in Hondruas.

Photography was in its infancy and no images were made of the humble hero, the French invention, the daguerrotype, not having made its way to this country. In fact, it would be another 50 years before studio photography made its way here, producing walls full of ancestors, usually in oval frames, of couples, she sitting in ruffled dress, he in stiff collar, both looking severely constipated.

So, it is understandable that famous French sculptor Aristide Croizy’s bronze statue of the hero in Alajuela has him in a uniform when he actually wore rough peon garb. The statue at the international airports is more accurate. But the authenicity of the hero’s body produced an international incident more than 100 years later.

In a gesture of friendship from the newly installed Sandinista government in Nicaragua in the early 1980s, what Ticos assumed were the remains of the hero were exhumed in Rivas and transported back to his native land with great ceremony. For the Nicaraguans it was symbolic but curious historians here opened the coffin to find what may have been assorted human bones but some that were definately bovine. An irreverent caption writer for The Tico Times termed the hero’s final resting place, the “tomb of the unknown cow,” but the Costa Rican government was not amused…

Another spot of historical interest from the same war is La Casona, a large hacienda mansion at Santa Rosa National Park near Liberia in Guanacaste Province. It was there that the Costa Rican army mustered to march north in 1856. The building itself is a replica, having been burned by vandals in late years of the 20th century. Two hunters, disgruntled at having been chased out of the park, torched the national relic in revenge. Thousands of school children contributed lunch money to rebuild it.

by Rod Hughes

Time was when Costa Rican tourist accommodations were almost 100% aimed at the low end of the industry cost spectrum—definitely for middle class or backpacker oriented nature seekers. But, The Tico Times recently pointed out, the top end .is being filled in with rooms and suites costing as high as $10,000 per night, if you’d like to stay in the suite that Saudi Prince Alweed Bin Talal Alsaud occupied last August.

Most rooms today are $100 per night and up, but some are way up. At Papagayo Peninsula’s Four Seasons, the most plain jane place to lay your head will set you back $850. (By the way, Tico Times writer Peter Krupa points out that the Prince probably got an owner’s discount, since he’s a shareholder in the chain. Even at that, his entourage probably took up a lot of space, even though the suite is larger than some of the nation’s older supermarkets.)

“A couple of years ago we had maybe one luxury resort,” Terra Nova travel agency manager Marianela Herera told Krupa. Now about 20 exist, including Paradisus Playa Conchal where the most modest place to park your baggage is the “Regal Junior Suite” at a not-so-modest $818 per night. (Oh, yes, we forgot to mention that these are prices without the 16% hotel tax and some “resort” extras.) The high end is the master suite: $1,258.

Jaco’s Los Suenos Marriot Ocean and Golf Resort’s high end suite is $1,600, but that includes three balconies, whirlpool and king-size bed. It may be big enough to house a driving range but it only has one bedroom. (Roughing it, Royal Family style.) More is on the way with the Mandarin Oriental, a Hong Kong chain, planning a hotel for 2009 and Intenet mogul Steve Case planning an $800 million resort at Punta Caicique in Guanacaste.

Nor are all the hotels new. Hilton is investing millions in buying a refurbishing extant hotels and inns here. Melia Cariari near Juan Santmaria International Airport was renamed the Doubletree Cariari where rooms start at $199, inclduing Doubletree’s signature chocolate chip cookie. Hilton renovated 36 of the 174 rooms and 48 suites at a “considerable” cost. Two other properties that were under the Fiesta brand are now by Hilton, one at Puntarenas the other at Papagayo. The famous chain also will manage two resorts on behalf of the New York-based Caribbean Property Group.

If these prices are high enough to give you a nosebleed, take heart. Camping places at the beach exist and many fine locally-owned small hotels and bed and breakfasts exist. Indeed, many who can afford much pricier diggings actually prefer them for their personalized service and the down to earth company other economy travelers provide.

by Rod Hughes

By long-cherished custom, the Christmas-New Year holidays are a signal for the natives to charge off to the beaches on both coasts, which usually means that there is no room at the inn there. But the tourist who did not know that or forgot and finds himself stuck in a Central Valley hotel still has alternatives.

After Christmas, usually Dec. 27, (tomorrow, as this is written) the streets of San Jose fill with horses instead of cars. This is the annual tope, the horse parade. Usually 2-3,000 horses are brought in from all over the country and a word of warning: If your taste does not run to horseflesh, you will be mightily bored after the first 10 minutes. Unfortunately, very few riders are attired in colorful costumes, but a few are.

Worse, if you find yourself isolated from your car or hotel by the parade, you will be out of luck because the police are strict about crossing the street lest you be trampled. On the other hand, horse lovers will be enchanted and almost all the horses are well-behaved and in better physical shape than their riders.

Another alternative is the carnival at Zapote, a suburb of the capital. It begins in the afternoon and is held through Christmas and finishes usually New Year’s Day. There are rides on various machines and stalls where one can buy (usually) typical food. Although we do not recommend buying food from street vendors, Zapote is an exception, carefully supervised by the Health Ministry. Infractions of sanitary regulations result in immediate closure of the stall.

An evening event is the bullfighting (really, bull-baiting) at the temporary stadium (Redondel in Spanish) where young sports playing tag with bulls the size of Caterpilar tractors. The are a few demonstrations of traditional bullfighting but, unlike in Spain and Mexico, the bulls are not harmed. Main event is a bloodless sport where men race around a single bull in the ring, trying to pull his tail or do some other indignity to the fierce animal.

This reporter is an animal lover who cannot abide cruelty but the bulls seem to enjoy the whole affair and are not left in the ring for more than about 15 minutes. Some are not even breathing heavily when they are finally roped by men on horseback and dragged off. Unlike the running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain, no deaths of man nor beast as been recorded in the Redondel although some broken bones are suffered by the more intrepid–or slower–celebrants.

Rodeo clowns stand by to help distract the bull in case someone trips for the animal succeeds in running down a young man. Police try to keep out of the ring anyone who has over-consumed “liquid courage” enough to be coordination- or judgment-impared.

The downtown restaurant Balcon de Europa has historic photos on its walls, including one of a last-century reveler suffering the removal of his trousers by a bull’s horn. In Costa Rica, the bull sometimes has the last word.

by Rod Hughes

Costa Rica was saddened this week by news that tourism pioneer Andy Gingold had died of renal cancer last Sunday at his Ciudad Colon home at age 60. During his 33 years in this country, he and wife Avie established several companies that, in various ways, acted to promote Costa Rica as a tourism destination.

After a successful career in England as a clothing designer, Gingold came to this country and established a small factory of boutique wood products. But he was best known for the horseback riding tour Finca Ob-la-di Ob-la-da, a contemporary of other early tourism companies such as Calypso Cruises and Rios Tropicales, companies that placed Costa Rica high on the list of must-see destinations when few North Americans were certain where this country was located.

The tour was discontinued in 1990 but by that time the Gingolds had other projects going: Bandana Republic (sports wear and bandannas depicting Costa Rican wildlife) and a bilingual children’s coloring book promoting the country. At the time of his death, Gingold was managing a distribution firm for local crafts, begun at a time when local artisans were nearly swamped by cheap imports from countries ranging from Guatemala to Singapour. (More details will be available in The Tico Times this Friday.)

His remains will be cremated. An open house is planned in his honor for later.

by Rod Hughes

Despite the domination of electronic mail, people still send what the computer-literate call disparagingly “snail mail.” So philatelists (stamp collectors, that is) still are in business, reports Tico Times star columnist Mitzi Stark. Recent Costa Rican stamp issues prove both colorful and a fine showcase for the country’s attractions.

Commemorative stamps are a staple of many countries and constitute a sort of export item, besides being an attractive souvenir purchase for tourists. Each year, seven new issues are printed here to celebrate anniversaries and special events. They will not drive a collector to bankruptcy, either, most being between 22 U.S. cents to $1.55 each. Of course, some issues are available only by the whole sheet, but even then will not cause a collector to take out a mortgage.

The stamp office at San Jose’s downtown Central Post Office (to the right of the door on the main floor) has glass cases displaying their offerings.