Civil Marriages Double That of
Catholic Marriages
According to
figures released by the Registro
Civil, there were 16.059 civil
marriages registered in the year
2004, slightly more than double
those by Catholics: 6.843.
And, in addition to more than
double catholic marriages, civil
marriages increased 5% over each
of the last three years. In
2001, 2002 and 2003, civil
marriages represented only 64%
of all marriages, while in 2004
it was 69%.
In contrast, marriages performed
in a catholic church was down to
29% from 34% in 2002 and 2003.
The increase in civil marriages
is mainly by those divorced and
marrying for a second time, who
may have had their first
marriage in a church by cannot
do so now.
The Registro Civil also informs
that while marriages are up, so
are divorces. In 2003 there
9.442 couples registering a
divorce and in 2004 that number
increase by 25 more.
The most significant number
released by the Registro is that
in their last report, they
reported that 1 in 4 marriages
ended in divorce, while now 1 in
2.5.
The Price of Coffee Going Up
One of most
consumed products in Costa Rica
- coffee - is going up in price.
Blaming the rising cost of
international prices for coffee
and reduced crop levels for the
past years, a kilo of coffee
could cost as much as 400
colones (us$0.85) more.
Costa Rica is per capita second
in the world for coffee export.
Visits to National
Parks Increased
The number of foreign tourists who
visited the Costa Rican national parks last year increased by 27.13 percent,
from 526, 975 tourists in 2003 to 669,980 in 2004.
Also, official and
private sources agree that these numbers reflect an increase in the overall
number of tourists visiting Costa Rica, which was from 16 percent to 20
percent larger in 2004 than in 2003.
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Costa Rican Kids Give Up Summer
for Plains Winter
The Omaha World-Herald/AP
Twelve Costa Rican students saw
snow for the first time when
their English teacher, Holdrege
native Spencer McClymont,
brought them to Nebraska.
Irinia Molina, 14, said she
thought the state was beautiful
covered with the white stuff.
"Cold, but beautiful," she said.
The students are accustomed to
78 degree weather year-round in
Costa Rica, so they had fun
having snowball fights. But they
also learned about American
schools, food and sports.
McClymont, a 1998 graduate of
Holdrege High School, studied
Spanish at the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln and went to
Costa Rica to study for two
semesters.
After graduating, he stayed to
teach conversational English to
sixth- through 11th-graders at a
private school in Palmares.
McClymont arranged the trip for
the Costa Rican kids, who are on
the equivalent of summer
vacation from their schools in
their homeland. They arrived
Jan. 9.
McClymont's parents, Richard and
Sherry McClymont, and others
helped find host families for
the five girls and seven boys
who are visiting the state until
Feb. 4.
The students attend schools in
Axtell, Wilcox and Holdrege.
After school, the Costa Ricans
have gone to wrestling meets,
high school and college
basketball games, bowling
excursions and a movie.
"They are giving up going to the
beach to come to the cold and go
to school," McClymont said.
Molina and classmate Andrea
Vargas said their favorite
subject in their Nebraska school
is physical education, but they
try to follow along in all
classes and do the same as their
American classmates.
Each of the Costa Rican students
has seven or eight years of
English instruction.
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