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Costa Rica’s Puerto Caldera Modernization Moves Ahead After Appeal Rejected

Costa Rica’s long-delayed plan to modernize Puerto Caldera cleared a major hurdle this week after two appeals against the contract award were rejected, allowing officials to move toward signing the new concession contract for the country’s main Pacific cargo port. The decision confirms the award to Consorcio Sunset, the group selected for the concession to modernize Puerto Caldera’s infrastructure and equipment. The project is one of Costa Rica’s most important logistics upgrades and is expected to require an investment of more than $600 million. Puerto Caldera handles a large share of the cargo moving through Costa Rica’s Pacific coast, including imports, exports, grains, vehicles and other goods tied directly to the national economy. Business groups have warned for years that the port’s limited capacity and aging infrastructure add delays and costs to trade. The appeals were filed by International Container Terminal Services, Inc., known as ICTSI, which had challenged it...
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Costa Rica Announces Route 27 Traffic Plan for Pacific Beach Return

Costa Rica will apply reversible lanes on Route 27 on Sunday, July 12, and Sunday, July 19, as thousands of drivers return to the Central Valley from the Pacific during the midyear school vacation period. The temporary traffic plan will convert all available lanes between Pozón and the Ciudad Colón toll crossing toward San José, a stretch of about 47 kilometers. The lane reversal itself will run from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., while the full operation will take place from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. to allow crews to prepare, close and reopen the highway safely. During that window, traffic heading toward the Pacific will be suspended through the affected section. The measure is intended to reduce congestion for drivers returning from Puntarenas, Guanacaste and other Pacific beach destinations after the school break and the collective public-sector vacation week.The maximum speed during the reversible-lane operation will be 60 km/h. Temporary signs will be placed along the route, while Traffic Pol...
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João Fonseca Leaves Wimbledon With More Proof Brazil Has a Tennis Star

João Fonseca’s Wimbledon run ended earlier than Brazil wanted, but not before the 19-year-old gave Latin American tennis another clear sign that its next major star has arrived. Fonseca, the 24th seed, lost 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 to Russian qualifier Roman Safiullin in the third round Friday on Court Two. The scoreline was blunt. Safiullin, a former Wimbledon quarterfinalist, played with the calm of a man who knows the surface, while Fonseca never found enough rhythm to turn the match into the kind of storm Brazilian fans have started to expect from him. Still, this was not a failed Wimbledon. It was another step in a season that has pushed Fonseca from promising teenager to one of the most watched young players in the sport. The Brazilian reached the third round at the All England Club for the second straight year, beating Jesper de Jong 6-1, 7-5, 6-4 in the second round with the kind of clean, aggressive tennis that has made him such an easy player to follow. He struck 38 winners i...
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Costa Rica Pushes Vape Regulation Back One Year

Costa Rica has delayed new restrictions on flavored vape products for one year, pushing enforcement back to August 6, 2027, while health authorities prepare the technical capacity needed to police the market. The rule, known as RTCR 519-2025, was published in February and had been scheduled to take effect on August 6, 2026. A later decree moved that date back by 12 months. The regulation itself was not changed. The delay means flavored vape liquids and related products that were expected to face tighter controls next month will remain under the current framework for another year. Once the regulation takes effect, Costa Rica will restrict vape liquids to a limited list of permitted compounds, all tied to tobacco flavor, and ban flavorings or aromas designed to make the products more attractive. The regulation applies to vape liquids with and without nicotine, whether imported or manufactured in Costa Rica. It also covers companies and people involved in manufacturing, repackagi...
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Visiting El Salvador During the August Holiday Week

Anyone planning to visit El Salvador in early August should be ready for one of the busiest holiday periods, when San Salvador’s patron saint celebrations spill into beaches, mountain towns, volcano routes and popular tourist areas across the country. The holiday period, known as Vacaciones Agostinas or Fiestas Agostinas, runs from August 1 to August 6 in San Salvador. It is tied to the capital’s patron saint festivities honoring the Divine Savior of the World, with August 6 marking the main holiday. While the celebration begins in the capital, its travel impact is felt well beyond the city. For foreign visitors, that is the main point. Early August can still be a good time to visit El Salvador, but it should not be treated like an ordinary low-season week. Hotels can fill faster, beach towns can get busier, roads out of San Salvador can slow down, and major attractions may draw more local visitors than usual. The upside is that travelers get to see El Salvador during a li...
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The View’s Ana Navarro Shares Warm Tribute to Costa Rica

Ana Navarro, the Nicaraguan-born political commentator known for her work on ABC’s The View and CNN, recently shared a warm public tribute to Costa Rica after spending several days here. Navarro posted photos and comments from her trip on Instagram , thanking Costa Rica for “magical days” and saying the country felt like the closest she could get, for now, to Nicaragua and the memories of her childhood. Her comments struck a personal note, given her background as a Nicaraguan exile and her long public identity as a Central American voice in U.S. media. The trip appears to have included time in Guanacaste, where Navarro said she rented a place at Reserva Conchal, one of the province’s best-known beach communities. Her posts also referenced time near the coast, swimming, walking on the beach, spending time with friends, and disconnecting from the pace of U.S. political media. Navarro’s Costa Rica posts were not political. They were more about rest, memory, nature, and the ap...
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U.S. Flags Costa Rica Overfishing Monitoring Failures

Costa Rica’s reputation as a green leader is facing new pressure after a 2026 U.S. fisheries report identified the country for failing to properly monitor part of its longline fishing fleet in the eastern Pacific. The report points to Costa Rican longline vessels operating in the area managed by the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission, known as IATTC. It says Costa Rica failed to meet observer coverage requirements in 2022, 2023 and 2024. Those rules require countries to ensure that at least 5% of fishing activity by longline boats larger than 20 meters (66 feet) includes a scientific observer. These observers collect information on catch, fishing activity and interactions with non-target species such as sea turtles, seabirds and sharks. The U.S. report says Costa Rica did not ensure that level of coverage. It also says it had no national onboard observer program in place by the end of 2024 and had not provided required observer reports or operational data to IATTC f...
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