After 2 months of abnormally heavy rains nationwide, meteorologists are predicting a week of sunshine. Since yesterday, no tropical fronts threaten either coast, which will let the sun come out, so head to the beach this weekend, if you trust the weatherman.

5 high school students were selected as winners in the National Science Fair and will represent Costa Rica in an international fair to take place next May in Indianapolis.  Their travel expenses will be donated by Intel. The winning projects:

José Pablo Jiménez (17), Olga Yuts (18) and Diego Ulate (17) won with their project  "Decomposition of Compact Discs with Molds", which is an ecologically friendly way to dispose of useless CDs.  

Josue Murillo (16) won with his project  "Bricklam", which consists of recycling tetra brik juice and milk containers into stiff sheets, which can then be used to craft school desks.

José Andrés Morales won a trip with his project "Alekhine", which is a restructured computer operating system based on Unix. 

Playa Iguanita in the "tourism magnet" Papagayo will be set aside for public use and access.  The cities of Liberia and Carillo may not authorize concessions in the 40 hectares of dry forest next to the beach.  The agreement was penned by the cities and the director of the Papagayo Tourism Project supported the desicion fully, since Iguanito is a beautiful 1 kilometer stretch.

The recreational area will be managed by a joint commission and the budget for improvements will come from ICT funds and the two governments along with donations from the private sector.  Although all beaches in Costa Rica are public, concessions and private land owners can effectively block public access if no easements exist.