Mother's Day Next Sunday
Mother's Day in Costa
Rica is quickly approaching -
Sunday 15 August - and the sale
of household appliances has gone
through the roof. Rica.
Typically, in the Costa Rican male dominated "machista" society,
mothers are seen as working in the kitchen, while Father's day is
seen as a day of comfort and relaxation.
Father's Day gifts include sporting equipment, cameras, games,
slippers, and other items to relax the time away.
However, Mother's Day gifts include household appliances as the big
ticket item. Mothers are seen as working in the kitchen, caring for
the family, and a kitchen appliance can make her life easier.
Gifts include microwave ovens, refrigerators, stoves, coffe makers,
washing machines, irons and other electrical goods that can be used
around the house.
However, is mother has left the kitchen and embarked on a career,
gift giving becomes problematic on what will "mami" really want.
Reconstructed Cell Phones Sold as "New"
The Asociación de Representantes de Vendedores de
Celulares is charging that the market is full of 'reconstructed'
cellular telephones that are being sold as "new".
As Mother's Day approaches, many will give the gift of
communications to their mother, however, consumers have to be
careful, as the 'reconstructed' look and feel like new.
The Asociación de Representantes Autorizados de Fabricantes de
Celulares (ASOFAC) complaints of buying 'reconstruced' cell phones
for new is their major complaint received. They recommend buy
equipment that has their seal of approval.
One way to spot a 'reconstructed' cell phone from a new one is that
the internal serial number of the telephone does not match that of
the packaging and the sticker inside the cell phone itself. Another
clue is that the instruction manual is not in Spanish.
Reconstructed phones can and often work well without problems,
however, if they fail there is no guarantee provided by the
manufacturer. Also, consumers feel cheated paying the price of new
for used.
In Costa Rica cellular telephone service is only available to Costa
Ricans and foreigners who possess residency. ICE - the Instituto
Costarricense de Electriciad - the state owne telecommunications
monopoly requires a copy of the cedula or residency, two copies of
the purchase receipt for the equipment and payment of ¢12.500 as a
guarantee.
At present only TDMA service is available and the
ICE website should be
checked for the list of approved equipment that ICE will permit
connected to it's network.
27,500
Aliens
Rejected
During the
first six months this year, immigration authorities
rejected 27,500 aliens who tried to enter Costa Rica
illegally.
The general director of the Immigration Service,
Marco Badilla, disclosed the data and pointed out
that, as an average, 152 aliens were rejected daily
at the different ports of entry.
According to Badilla, the number of rejections is
likely to reach 55,000 by the end of the year,
surpassing by far the 45,300 rejected in 2003. As to
the nationalities of the rejected aliens, he said
that a majority -more than 26,000 - were Nicaraguans,
but there were also people from all over the world,
including 152 Colombians, 246 Panamanians, 78 from
the U.S., 10 Canadians, 5 South Africans, and so
forth.
Exports Slow
Down
The overall
exports of Costa Rica amounted to $3,205 million the
first six months this year.
This figure is only $27
million larger than the one that sales abroad
reached the first semester in 2003, therefore it is
taken as stagnation of the sector.
According to
analysts, the high-technology sector -which
decreased by 30 percent- and the textile one - which
dropped 13 percent - account for the reduction, while
all of the other sectors show an upward trend.
Less Fuel Used
The consumption of fuels decreased by 10 percent in
June, as compared to May, the Costa Rican Petroleum
Refinery (RECOPE in Spanish) reported.
While 1,273,494 barrels were burned in May, the
amount for June was 1,142,194 barrels. Recope
chairman Littleton Bolton asserted that the trend
towards saving is fueled by the high prices of oil
in the international market, which evidently reflect
on what you have to pay at gas stations.
New
Synagogue for the "New Year"
This Rosh Hashanah, the Israeli-Zionist Center, Costa Rica’s most
prominent synagogue, will welcome the new year in a new, spacious
and — according to some observers — ostentatious new synagogue.
Rosh Hashanah this year begins on 15 September, marking the
beginning of the year 5765 and the month of Tishri. Rosh Hashanah is
one of the most important holiday on the Jewish calendar, as it
remembers the creation of the world.
The building, complete with bomb-safe walls and bulletproof windows,
will greatly increase the visibility of Orthodox Jewry in this
predominately Catholic country and, some say, may prove to bolster
Jewish practice here.
And, although Costa Rica has thus far been exempt from the terrorist
attacks that have affected Jewish communities worldwide — including
neighboring Panama — it is also one of the few synagogues built with
terrorism in mind.
But the synagogue complex, located on the western fringe of the city
at a congested intersection that already is a source of rush hour
angst, has also found critics both within and outside of the
community.
“There already is a rebirth of Judaism in Costa Rica,” says Gustavo
Prifer, president of the 2,500-member congregation, as he surveys
construction crews scurrying to put the finishing touches on the
17,000-square-meter complex. “We have always had the faith but when
one is given better facilities, it grows.”
Critics within the membership of the center, which serves 90 percent
of the country’s 3,000 Jews, refused to comment on the record,
citing a fear of reprisal. But it is clear that the issue has
strained internal relations and led the center to devote sizable
portions of its bulletin, Hayom, to promoting the new site.
The new synagogue will hold 1,000 people without any obstructed
views, a marked improvement over the 50-year-old facility currently
in use, which holds 600 worshipers and is poorly equipped for
emergency evacuations and people with mobility difficulties.
Because it is an Orthodox synagogue, women will be seated on the
second tier, but will find themselves much closer to the rabbi than
they are at the current location, where the women’s balcony rings
the synagogue’s outer extremes.
Olympic
Soccer: "Sele" Game to be Broadcast Live
The Summer Olympics is all set to get under way next week
and Costa Ricans will fixed to their television sets to watch their
"sele" play.
The first game is scheduled for Thursday, August 12, as the men's
soccer events sees, Costa Rica vs. Morocco. The game will be aired
live on Telemundo and on local channel 7 - Teletica.
Although Nigeria won the Olympic gold medal in 1996 at Atlanta and
Cameroon triumphed in Sydney four years ago, the 2004 tournament
looks like being a showdown between two traditional soccer
powerhouse nations: Argentina and Italy.
Of other soccer powerhouse teams, Brazil, Germany and 2000 runner up
Spain didn't qualify. England can't take part because it is not
recognized alone by the International Olympic Committee. Britain is
recognized by the IOC but can't, in itself, be a member of FIFA
because England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are separately
affiliated.
Because soccer's world governing body, FIFA, doesn't want the
Olympic soccer championship to take the spotlight away from its
World Cup, the rules are that teams must field players age 23 or
under. But they can field three stars above that age threshold.
The men's and women's championships kick off Aug. 11 two days ahead
of the Games' opening ceremony. Organizers say close to 1 million
tickets have been sold for the soccer games, more than for any other
sport.
The Costa Rican "Selección Sub 23" left
Costa Rica on Monday for Athens.
 News
Briefs
-
In Ciudad Cortés (Osa, Puntarenas), a man sexually abused his 17 year old
stepdaughter, then beat her and thinking she was dead, buried her alive. The
young girl was able to dig herself out of the shallow and makeshift grave
and walked to a nearby house to ask for help. Hours later, police were able
to arrest the stepfather in the house were he lived with the girl's mother.
-
The Minister
of Foreign Trade Alberto Trejos displayed caution
regarding the participation of Costa Rica in the
Central American customs integration project, even
though he admitted the importance that process has
for this country. Trejos pointed out that the
process must develop in a well organized,
systematic, and responsible fashion.
|
