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A.M. Costa Rica's Second news page |
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José, Costa Rica, Monday, Jan. 26, 2015, Vol. 15, No. 17
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 Instituto Costarricense de Turismo
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Costa Rica was one of 500 exhibited from 150 countries thatparticipated in the New York Times Travel Show, which ended Sunday. The Instituto Costarricense de Turismo erected this display at the three-day show. Ambassador loses position over posting By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
An ambassador-designate has been fired because she posted unflattering comments on a Facebook page about the procuradora general de la República. The woman, Patricia Gómez Pereira, had been named ambassador to Bolivia but had not yet presented her credentials to that government. The procuradora, Ana Lorena Brenes. is involved in a dispute with President Luis Guillermo Solís and his ministers. Ms. Brenes says that she was offered an ambassadorship herself if she quit her job before the term expires in a year. The dispute and conflicting allegations have been the topic of a legislative hearing, but lawmakers adjourned a special session Friday without making a decision. Ms. Gómez was called before foreign ministry officials but did not present a reasonable explanation for her Internet posting, said a release from the ministry. The Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores y Culto said that diplomats must act responsibly at all times and with good judgment. Young teen held as armed robber By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
A 13 year old in Guácimo has been detained as the robber who held up at least two pedestrians in that area. The armed robberies happened in December and again in January, said the Judicial Investigating Organization. Investigators said that the youngster rode as the second person on a motorcycle and got off the vehicle to threaten robbery victims with a firearm. Miss Colombia is Miss Universe By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Miss Colombia, Paulina Vega, is the new Miss Universe, after winning the crown at a glitzy pageant Sunday night outside of Miami. The 22-year-old Vega beat out runner-up Nia Sanchez of the United States and third place Diana Harkusha from Ukraine. A total of 88 contestants took part in the contest, which is open to women between 18 and 27 years old who have not been married or had a child. Miss Vega, who studies business administration at a Bogota university, is the first contestant from Colombia to win since 1958. Warning extended for Pacific coast By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Emergency officials have extended the warning for choppy seas on the Pacific coast to Thursday. The agency said that high winds will continue until at least that day. The original warning came Thursday from the Centro de Investigación en Ciencias del Mar y Limnología at the Universidad de Costa Rica. The highest seas were expected to be today about 5 p.m. in the Puntarenas area. There also are warnings for the Gulf of Nicoya where similar winds and waves caused the sinking of a large tourist catamaran with the loss of three lives and with 106 persons dumped in the water earlier this month. The emergency commission predicted winds of up to 25 knots. Winds have been strong throughout the country over the weekend. The Instituto Meteorológico Nacional said that there were gusts up to 75 kph in the mountains around the Central Valley and in the north Pacific Sunday. That's about 47 mph. The weather institute also predicted a continuation of chilly temperatures at night. Motorcycle driver dies in cow mishap By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Hitting a cow or a horse with an automobile creates a major accident. When the vehicle is a motorcycle, the result is a fatality. That is what happened over the weekend when a motorcycle operated by an 18 year old with the last name of Sánchez collided with a cow on the highway near Filadelfia. He died and a passenger suffered serious injuries.
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A.M. Costa Rica Third News Page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Monday, Jan. 26, 2015, Vol. 15, No. 17 | |
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Technical staffers from the 33 countries began meeting Saturday to outline the areas of agreement on various international topics. This photo was Sunday in Belén. |
 Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores y Culto
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| Staffers begin to outline areas of agreement for Latin summit |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Costa Rican officials are making major efforts to host the summit of the Estados Latinoamericanos y Caribeños. The meeting of 33 countries already has begun with sessions by technicians from the participating countries. The national emergency commission has declared an alert for the Belén area where the major sessions are to be held. The gathering is described as a dialogue among governments. The technical staff has been divided to consider 22 topics where positions on topics are being prepared for the heads of state who meet Wednesday and Thursday. The bulk of the topics do not appear to be those that the visiting heads of state can do much about. They have been listed as disarmament, governing of the Internet, development after the year 2015, climate change, finances, conventional arms, smaller states and development, the fight against terrorism and the strengthening of the Interamerican system of human rights. The organization is the creation of former Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez and Cuban leader Raúl Castor. The organization seeks to counter the influence of the U.S.-backed Organization of American States in the hemisphere. |
Consequently,
the sessions are expected to emit declarations that are counter to U.S.
interests. There also is an expectation that some initiatives backed by China will find consensus here. One of these might be on governing the Internet. China wants the United Nations to take on the job. The United States wants some control to remain with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. Some free speech advocates think that China wants to reduce criticism for its internal censorship of the Internet, mainly over human rights violations. Many Muslim states want regulations that would prohibit criticism of religion. Costa Rica is holding the gathering because it is the acting president of the organization for a term ending with the end of the summit. Ecuador will take on the role for the next year. Some of the island country members have a major concern in sea-level rise. Others, like founder Venezuela, are broke and face unrest at home. Presidents Dilma Rousseff of Brazil and Michelle Bachelet of Chile has confirmed that they will attend, said the Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores y Culto. They are expected to arrive Tuesday. Enrique Peña Nieto of México and Horacio Cartes Jara of Paraguay already said they would not attend. |
| Investigators seek evidence on allegation of newborn theft
at hospital |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Dismissing the allegations as the product of an hysterical new mother would be easy. But if she is correct, the crime has frightening ramifications. The woman, identified by the last names of Ureña López, gave birth last week by caesarian section. She was expecting twins, but when there was just one infant, she wants to know the location of the other. The surgery took place at Hospital San Juan de Dios. Physicians denied that there was another baby. But the |
woman and
her companion had seen a series of ultrasound graphics that showed the
woman was having twins, they said. Judicial investigators are taking the case seriously after a formal complaint was registered. Agents are taking the names and interviewing all who were present at the procedure. The woman's file has been taken by investigators. A judge and a prosecutor are involved, too, said the Poder Judicial. Hospital officials insist that security is tight and no baby napping could take place. |
| 72 of nation's private schools reported deeply in debt to
Caja |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Government officials say that 72 of the nation's 397 registered private educational institutions are behind on the mandatory payments to the Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social. That amount is 682.8 million colons or about $1.3 million. The Caja has begun 34 processes to close institutions and 69 |
judicial
actions to collect money. Just 10 educational centers owe 322.5 million colons, about $608,500, said the Caja. That is 74.4 percent of all the money that is owed, it added. The Caja said it also was starting 21 criminal cases against educational centers. That happens when Caja subscribers fail to remit the money that has been deducted from employee paychecks. |
| You need to see Costa Rican tourism information HERE! |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Monday, Jan. 26, 2015, Vol. 15, No. 17 | |||||
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| Scientists correlate sea temperatures with sun bathing green
turtles |
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By the Duke University news service
Green sea turtles may stop basking on beaches around the world within a century due to rising sea temperatures, a new study suggests. Basking on sun-warmed beaches helps the threatened turtles regulate their body temperatures and may aid their immune systems and digestion. By analyzing six years of turtle surveys and 24 years of satellite data, researchers from Duke University, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have found the turtles bask more often each year when sea surface temperatures drop. If global warming trends continue, this behavior may cease globally by 2102, the study projects. In Hawaii, where the study was primarily focused, green turtles might stop basking much earlier, by 2039. The scientists published their peer-reviewed findings last week in the journal Biology Letters. “By comparing turtle basking counts with sea surface temperatures, we found that green turtles tend not to bask when local winter sea surface temperatures stay above 23 degrees Celsius,” said lead researcher Kyle Van Houtan, adjunct associate professor at Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment. To conduct the study, Van Houtan and his colleagues used six years of turtle count data collected daily by the Hawaiian nonprofit Mālama na Honu on Laniakea Beach in Oahu. The counts showed regular, seasonal fluctuations in the number of turtles basking on the beach. These fluctuations correlated with sea temperatures at Laniakea, indicating that sea turtles bask more when waters are cooler. The scientists then compared these fluctuations in temperature and basking to growth marks in the humerus bone of several green turtles. They found that the growth lines occurred at the same time of year when turtles bask more, between February and April. The turtles’ growth lines are similar to tree rings in that they indicate periods of stress for the organism, said Van Houtan. In trees, growth rings can indicate winter, dry seasons, or |
 Duke University
photo
Basking sea turtleperiods of drought. In green turtles, the lines seem to reflect periods when seas are colder and body temperatures are consequently lower, prompting the turtles to haul out on beaches to warm in the sun. More research is needed to fully understand the importance of basking and the effect climate change will have on basking behaviors of green turtle populations around the world, said Van Houtan. Not all green turtles bask on land, he noted. Though the turtles are found in tropical and subtropical oceans around the world, beach basking has only been observed in Hawaii, the Galapagos Islands and Australia. Sea surface temperatures at these sites have been observed to be warming at three times the global average rate. It is not yet clear whether populations that currently bask on land during cooler months will adapt to warming sea temperatures and begin to bask exclusively in the water, as do some other populations around the world. “When looking at climate change, which is this vast geopolitical issue, you have to drill down to specific climate variables impacting specific aspects of an organism’s life,” said Van Houtan. “The next step for us is to look at how turtles are storing climate data in their bodies -- in their tissues, shells, and bones, and how we can tease that out.” |
Here's reasonable medical care
Costa Rica's world class medical specialists are at your command. Get the top care for much less than U.S. prices. It is really a great way to spend a vacation. See our list of recommended professionals HERE!amcr-prom
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2015 and may
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A.M. Costa Rica's Fifth
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| U.S. Northeast bracing for a major snow storm By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The U.S. National Weather Service has issued a blizzard warning for many of the large metropolitan areas of the country’s Northeast, with heavy snow and high winds expected to impact the region today and Tuesday. More than 60 centimeters of snow could fall in cities and towns from New York to Boston and into eastern Canada. The storm system driving out of the nation's midsection also is expected to bring snow as far south as Washington, D.C. But the nation's capital largely will likely be spared the white out conditions that are forecast for points farther north. Travel in the Northeast by car, train and air is expected to be severely disrupted as the storm makes its way up the Eastern Seaboard. Strong winds blowing off the Atlantic Ocean also may cause coastal flooding. The expected snowfall follows a pre-blizzard mini-storm that dumped several centimeters of snow on some of the same areas that are expected to be affected in the next days. Officials expect widespread power outages to result from the new storm, which will affect the lives of tens of millions of people. In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio told a news conference Sunday that this "could be one of the top two or three largest storms in the history of this city and we need to plan accordingly." He urged New Yorkers to stay off the roads and to "prepare for something worse than we have seen before." Venezuelans take to streets seeking end to food shortage By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Thousands of Venezuelan opposition supporters protesting inflation and sharp shortages of food and goods took to the streets in the capital, Caracas, Saturday to demand an end to the presidency of Nicolas Maduro. The latest protest, billed "The March of Empty Pots and Pans," was called to highlight shortages of goods and commodities ranging from milk, sugar and meat to toilet paper and corn meal. Witnesses reported scuffles between police and marchers, but there were no reports of significant violence. Ex-opposition lawmaker María Corina Machado, who was jailed last year after rioting left more than 40 people dead, called on socialist President Maduro to step down, so her country can unite in a national reconstruction process. Maduro, who assumed the presidency in 2013 as the successor to the late Hugo Chávez, is facing a dismal 22 percent approval rating. Venezuela's state-controlled economy was already in crisis before the recent collapse of global oil prices. The sharp oil revenue downturn has further devastated the country, which relies on oil exports for more than 90 percent of its foreign currency. The Maduro government and its supporters blame political opponents for damaging the country's economy. Honduran president lauds reduction in murder rate By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández says the deployment of special military police has cut the country's murder rate, one of the world's highest. In a speech marking his first year in office Sunday, Hernández said the murder rate last year fell 23 percent, from 86 to 66 per 100,000 people. He said the government is having success in battling international drug gangs and organized crime that have infested the country. President Hernández thanked police and security officials for what he calls their courage and sacrifice, and said all Hondurans appreciate their efforts. Honduras is one of the world's most impoverished countries. Its large cities, Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula, are at the mercy of street gangs and Mexican drug cartels. Colorado woman sentenced for her assistance to terrorists By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The U.S. Justice Department says a woman accused of conspiring to provide material support to al Qaida and the Islamic State has been sentenced to four years in prison. The woman, Shannon Conley, 19, of Colorado was charged last April. The Justice Department said Ms. Conley and a co-conspirator worked with other individuals to aid the designated foreign terrorist organizations. The department said Ms. Conley met her co-conspirator on the Internet, and he told her he was an active Islamic State member. It said the two became engaged, and Ms. Conley made plans to travel to Syria. The department said Ms. Conley joined the U.S. Army Explorers to be trained in U.S. military tactics and in firearms as part of the conspiracy. She also obtained first aid/nursing certification. Federal Bureau of Investigation agents met with Ms. Conley several times to try to dissuade her from traveling overseas to support a foreign terrorist organization and engage in jihad, the Justice Department said. Agents arrested her when she tried to board a flight from Denver International Airport to Turkey. A later search of her home reportedly produced DVDs, books and articles about al Qaida and other terror groups and jihad. U.S. Attorney John Walsh said Ms. Conley was lucky that she was arrested before leaving the United States. "Had she succeeded in her plan to get to Syria, she would likely have been brutalized, killed or sent back to the United States to commit other crimes," he said. "This sentencing highlights the rapidly changing, shrinking nature of the world and the implications for law enforcement and public safety," said Special Agent in Charge Thomas Ravenelle. He added that terrorist groups now have the ability to recruit U.S. residents to commit violence or provide other support on their behalf. World Health's director admits response was slow By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The World Health Organization has admitted it was too slow in tackling the ebola crisis in West Africa, leading to the epidemic spiraling out of control. Health experts from around the world are debating measures to reform the agency’s response to global public health emergencies in a special one-day session on ebola. World Health continues to be criticized for slow response and ignoring warnings from organizations such as Doctors Without Borders about the magnitude of the ebola outbreak in West Africa. Margaret Chan, World Health director general, admitted to delegates attending the special ebola session her agency did not respond as vigorously as it should have. “The world, including WHO, was too slow to see what was unfolding before us. Ebola is a tragedy that has taught the world, including WHO, many lessons also about how to prevent similar events in the future. ... Never again should the world be caught by surprise, unprepared,” Dr. Chan said. World Health said ebola has claimed more than 8,600 lives and infected more than 21,700 people, mainly in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. This deadly virus circulated for three months before it was diagnosed in late March 2014 in Guinea. By then, West Africa was being ravaged by the worst, most complex ebola outbreak in history. Sierra Leone nurse Rebecca Johnson, an ebola survivor, understands the horrors inflicted by the disease. She said early treatment saved her life, and after three weeks she was given a certificate noting she was ebola-free. “However, many people do treat me as if I have ebola. I was stigmatized and still stigmatized by people in my community. I sometimes seek out quiet places and cry," Ms. Johnson said. "My final message for people out there is this, 'Even though there is no certain cure for ebola, early treatment is your best chance at survival,' " she said. David Nabarro, U.N. special envoy on ebola, said the U.N. system must be prepared to respond quickly and basic public health techniques must be adopted. “My experience to date tells me that for responses to have the greatest chance of success, they must be strategic, strong and speedy. They must be based on pre-arranged roles and responsibilities and they must use already established systems," Nabarro said. "It is really difficult to establish new ways of working from scratch in the middle of an emergency and we found that to our cost, I think, in this latest outbreak,” he said. Nabarro said local communities must be at the center of response to a health emergency, national authorities in charge of this response and coordination is vital to international efforts to get on top of a pandemic. World Health said the ebola outbreak highlights the need to rebuild and strengthen national and international emergency preparedness and response. Leftist, anti-austerity party leads the voting in Greece By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Greece's anti-austerity Syriza party and its leader, Alexis Tsipras, appear headed to a decisive national election victory, in a vote lodged against repeated European demands for fiscal restraint in Athens. Early vote counting Sunday night showed Syriza with about 35 percent of the vote, outdistancing the 29 percent recorded by the conservative New Democracy party led by incumbent Prime Minister Antonis Samaras. Official projections say the final margin could be wider. If the result is confirmed by the final count, the 40-year-old Tsipras could become Greece's youngest premier in 150 years. It also is likely to lead to a confrontation with the country's international lenders over their continuing call for Greek austerity in exchange for release of more bailout money to help the debt-ridden nation. But it was unclear whether Syriza would win a decisive enough vote to control a minimum 151 of parliament's 300 seats to be able to govern on its own, or whether it will be faced with forming a coalition government. Tsipras has vowed to renegotiate the country's bailout loans, which totaled nearly $300 billion when the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund approved them in recent years. Tsipras also pledged to reverse many of the austerity demands of the lenders, including pension and wage cutbacks. The creditors have insisted that Greece live up to the austerity pledges it made in winning approval for the bailouts. After voting in Athens, Tsipras said the future of Greece does not lie with more austerity demands from its lenders. "The message is that our common future in Europe is not the future of austerity, it is the future of democracy, solidarity and cooperation," said Tsipras. Aside from renegotiating the bailouts, Tsipras said he wants creditors to write off some of the country’s heavy debt. Samaras warned that Greece could be forced out of the 19-nation euro currency bloc if Syriza assumes control of the Greek government. Syriza attracted many voters infuriated by the deterioration in their standard of living and ever-increasing tax bills. The prospect of a Syriza-led government has made international creditors nervous and has affected financial markets. The International Monetary Fund says it will not release another $8 billion in bailout money for Athens until a new government is in place. Jailed outspoken blogger gets more time in Russia By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Rights groups and free-press monitors in Russia and around the world are calling for the release of an investigative journalist and blogger in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don. The blogger, Sergei Reznik, was found guilty Thursday of insulting a public official and making false statements and was sentenced to three years in prison in addition to an 18-month prison term he is already serving. The court also banned Reznik from practicing journalism for two years after his eventual release. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said in a statement that “Punishing and sending journalists to prison for doing their job is unacceptable. Instead of ensuring protection and independence of members of the media, the authorities are effectively limiting the space for public debate and the citizens’ right to freedom of information.” Reporters Without Borders condemned Reznik’s sentencing and called for a fair appeal hearing in another jurisdiction. It said this outspoken journalist has been subjected to judicial persecution, with the apparent aim of silencing him. The Committee to Protect Journalists also condemned the conviction and sentence and called on authorities to overturn the verdict. "We call on authorities," the committee said, "to overturn this bizarre conviction on appeal and stop persecuting Reznik for his critical writing." The International Federation of Journalists, the European Federation of Journalists and the Russian Union of Journalists have strongly denounced Reznik's conviction and sentence and also called for his immediate release. Reznik was due to have been released in May. He has been in prison since November 2013. The Russian journalists' group said Reznik's fate is clearly a new form of pressure on independent journalists, and warned this could result in journalists censoring themselves. The union says censorship in the mainstream Russian press has already forced many journalists to limit publication of their investigations to blogs alone. Bulk of Latin immigrants reported living in U.S. Special to A.M. Costa Rica
About 28.5 million Latin American and Caribbean people live outside the countries where they were born, 70 percent of them in the United States, according to a study by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean. The document Trends and Patterns in Latin American and Caribbean Migration in 2010 and Challenges for a Regional Agenda concludes that emigration to destinations outside the region declined between 2000 and 2010 while intraregional migration flows have grown. The 28.5 million Latin American and Caribbean emigrants represent 4 percent of the region’s total population, exceeding the 26 million emigrants registered in censuses from the year 2000. With regard to their native countries, 11.8 million come from Mexico (40 percent of the total), with Colombia lagging far behind with 2 million emigrants and El Salvador with 1.3 million. In terms of destination countries, the United States ranks first as home to 20.8 million Latin American and Caribbean emigrants (70 percent of the total), which includes nearly all of the 12 million Mexicans who live outside their country. Spain is the second most-common destination with 2.4 million people (8 percent of the total). Meanwhile, the immigrant population living in Latin America and the Caribbean is estimated at 7.6 million people, which is the equivalent of just 1.1 percent of the region’s total. Of those, a majority were born in other countries of the region. The study emphasizes that migratory flows within the region rose at an annual rate of nearly 3.5 percent between 2000 and 2010, marking an acceleration from the previous 20 years when they grew at a pace of roughly 1 percent. Argentina, Venezuela, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic concentrated the greatest number of these people. The number of immigrants who were born outside the region fell between 2000 and 2010 in Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador and Uruguay, which indicates that in those cases the arrival of immigrants did not compensate for the mortality rate or that group’s re-emigration. In contrast, in other countries the presence of this group of immigrants increased, such as in the Dominican Republic (11.3 percent), Bolivia (7.4 percent), Mexico (7.1 percent) and Panama (6.2 percent). The document indicates that immigration from overseas, especially on the part of Spaniards, would have intensified during recent years due to the global economic crisis, but it was still a far cry from the high rate of Latin American and Caribbean emigration to Europe. With regard to returning migrants, the document cites 2010 census figures from six countries with available data. The greatest flows were seen in Mexico (860,000 people, a number that could possibly include forced repatriations), while only about 100,000 people returned to their places of origin in the other nations being studied. This report analyzes a sample of 10 countries in the region whose 2010 census data was available by early 2014. In some cases, these statistics are complemented by others from the United Nations Population Division and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. |
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2015 and may
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| A.M. Costa Rica's sixth news page |
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Time to
prepare for those downpours
Someone sent me a link to an article: “6 Steps to Make a Rain Garden”. Make one? How do I avoid it? Wait, do they mean make a rain garden on purpose? What a concept. Okay, I shouldn’t scoff. Rain gardens control runoff, and they can be
If, like me, you have a fairly large property, you will have a number of different natural channels. See if you can get them to merge downhill in an area where there is a natural depression. [No natural depression on your property? Go back inside, get a nice cup of tea, and let your neighbor worry about the runoff.] Found the depression? Excellent. Clean out the weeds and check the soil. With luck, you will have dirt and clay. At this point, I like to make sure the depression is 4-6 inches (10-15 cm) deep and line it with landscaper’s fabric. Over the fabric, I like gravel and then some nice looking river rocks, but the choice is yours. (In Georgia, my runoff channel was lined with rock and ended in a koi pond, but that was Georgia, and we didn’t get torrential rains.) Now you can edge the rain garden with your choice of plants and even grow some right on top of the rocks if you like. Papyrus is nice for a tall accent, local iris are a good choice and so is cardinal flower. You might want to shade part of the area with a hibiscus, angel trumpet or red spurge to keep the rocks from heating up when sunny weather arrives. When all the work is done, sit back and admire it. Remember, you don’t have much time before the weeding starts……  A.M. Costa Rica/Victoria Torley
Plant of the Day
The vine of the cushaw squash is as exceptional as the
vegetable it produces. The squash itself is very mild in flavor
but the vine is anything but mild in its growth habits. Here you
see it dominating a flower bed – no, I did not plant it there, but
there it is. Notice the roses and heliconia? You
don’t? Neither do I – the vine has them buried. I would
tear it out, but it’s still producing. Anybody want a squash?? |
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| From Page 7: Newest resort is in canton of La Cruz By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The country's newest tourist resort is Dreams Las Mareas, some 50 miles from Liberia on Playa El Jobo on Salinas Bay in La Cruz. Casa Presidencial said that the facility in extreme northwestern Costa Rica represented a $125 million investment. There are 12 other Dream locations in México and the Caribbean operating under the name of AMResorts, an Apple Leisure Group subsidiary. Vice President Ana Helena Chacón Echeverría and other officials marked the opening of the 447- suite hotel last week at an inauguration ceremony. Officials praised the hotel for its 600 jobs in an economically challenged canton. The hotel has eight restaurants. “AMResorts is focused on expanding into highly-desirable destinations that offer our guests something distinct, and Costa Rica has been on the top of our list,” said AMResorts President Gonzalo del Peon in a release. Resort amenities also include a 44,000-square foot pool, the largest in the Guanacaste resort region, a water slide, kids pool and steaming whirlpool. The resort contains a wedding gazebo and numerous reception spaces, said the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based firm. Expedia, the online booking service offered a daily rate of $565 for a junior suite. |
