Central America has been stereotyped as a region of corrupt and dangerous countries ruled by greedy and ruthless tyrants; an image which is gradually beginning to change as the countries within it have settled down to relative peace in recent times.  Costa Rica has always liked to consider itself apart from its neighbors and free [...]

By John Holtz* It is difficult to bring the holiday season to an end in Costa Rica and it does not go away slowly either. Although officially we have had months of festivities from a remarkable December 11th parade of lights to the Zapote bull riding event. And, to a lesser extent there will be [...]

For nearly twenty years, Costa Rica’s colon depreciated against the dollar in a slow and steady process carefully controlled and monitored by the Central Bank.  In 2006, the decision was taken to replace this regime of mini-devaluation with a fixed band system.  This new method of defining the rate of currency exchange is still controlled [...]