Super gasoline goes from 627 colones (about $1.16) per litre to 593, a reduction of 34 colones or about 6.3 US cents.
Plus gasoline goes from 599 to 566 colones, a decrease of 33 colones.
Diesel drops from 534 to 493 colones, a reduction of 41 colon.

There are similar reductions for other types of petroleum products supplied by the national monopoly, Refinadora Costarricense de Petróleo, S.A.

The calculations were based on prices and exchange rates from Jan. 28 to Feb. 11, so the regulating agency is always behind the curve. The new prices are effective when published in the government's legal newspaper  next Thursday. 

The agency was responding to the strength of the colon against the U.S. dollar and world petroleum prices, it said.

The observatory said that the quakes were located a few kilometres northeast of the volcano crater and that they had no relationship with volcanic activity. The quakes took place in less than an hour from 7 pm to 8 pm.

Irazú volcano has been emitting acidic gas and steam for several months now and access to the Turrialba volcano has been closed completely.

The quake registered a devastating 8.8 magnitude. The earthquake struck 320 km southwest of Santiago at a depth of 59.4 km 3:34 a.m. (0634 GMT), according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The epicenter was only 115 km from Concepcion, Chile's second-largest city with a population of 200,000 people.

Tsunamis carrying waves as high as 1.5 meters have been generated by the quake.

Imminent danger has been issued for the entire coast of Chile and Peru and a less-urgent tsunami watch was issued for Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador and Antarctica.

The director explained that the current strain of the virus in Costa Rica is different than that of last year and that No NEW deaths have been attributed to the virus.

50 people lost their lives to the AH1N1 last year.

The agency said that Exports in January were $728 million, or about $133.5 million more.

The increase was due to the recovery of agricultural lands that were flooded a year ago in along the Caribbean coast. Also last year the province of Guanacaste lost most of it's rice crops due to severe drought.
 

Lobster harvesting is a $1.6 million-a-year business in Costa Rica. More than 900 persons are employed in the catching and preparing lobsters for the market. The annual catch is about 150 tons.

Other Central American nations (El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua) and Belize all have agreed to enforce the ban.

The majority of the construction is for commercial and residential projects.

Olman Vargas says that this is the third consecutive month of increases in terms of square metres. In 2009, the construction industry decreased by over 40%.

The Colegio indicates that Puntarenas is the province with the single largest increase in the first month of this year. The second is the province of Alajuela.

The bank, in an exclusive agreement with the Autopistas del Sol, can only put potential users on a waiting list, promising to supply the units by the middle of March at the earliest.

The situation, according to a bank official is due to the early opening the highway.

The highway had been scheduled to open in June, then moved up to March, however, on January 27, Costa Rican president Arias cut the ribbon, opening the new highway to the public.

In addition to the problems of supplying the units, complaints on the use of the Quick Pass has been that the Autopistas has been allowing "manual" paying customers to use the reserved toll lane.

And with that there have been numerous reports of the gate dropping on moving vehicles. It appears that the system cannot tell the difference between the manual opening of the gate by the attendant after taking a manual payment and the automated system. Thus, once the manual payment driver passes, the gate closes in front of the Quick Pass driver, who has to slam the brakes to avoid crashing the gate.

The Quick Pass allows drivers to cross the tolls without stopping. The HBSC charges $30 for non-bank customers, who have to manually add funds to the account and $15 for customers who can opt for the toll charges to be automatically deducted from their bank account.

The country's national mule festival will run both weekends until February 22 in the central pacific coast town of Parrita.

The festival involves more than mules. There is a queen contest, bullfighting, food booths, dances, parades and other typical events in local fiestas.

The Festival Nacional de las Mulas is organized by the Asociación para el Bienestar del Cantón de Parrita. Early residents of Parrita on the Pacific Coast used the mule as their primary work animal to plow fields and transport their crops to market, organizers have said, so the tradition still runs strong.

The festival is an unabashed effort to lure Central Valley residents to Parrita. The organization notes that the area is one of spectacular beauty and there is ample accommodations.

The mule festival began with a single farmer holding heated races between his mules, and it has since evolved into the biggest tourist draw of the year for Parrita, which is between Jacó to the north, and Quepos to the south.

Those who attend might have a chance to ride a mule, too.

If you're in the Parrita area this or next weekend, the festival might be worth checking out.

The epicenter of the latest quake was 20 km west of Laurel (south of Golfito, near the Panama border).

The U.S. Geological Survey only estimated the magnitude at 4.7. The 5.0 measurement comes from the Observatorio Vulcanológico y Sismológico de Costa Rica at Universidad Nacional in Heredia.

Three other quakes have been reported in that area since Jan. 23. No serious damage has been reported in the area.

The Obvservatorio Vulcanológico y Sismológico de Costa Rica said the epicenter was about 15 km (9 miles) northwest of Quepos.

The temblor was felt in the Central Valley as a sharp shock of short duration.

Quakes are common in the southern zone and in the Central Pacific where the Coco and Caribe plates periodically collide. There were some 31 quakes in January and most were in that area, according to the Red Sismológico Nacional of the Universidad de Costa Rica.

The most recent case was attributed to the interplay of the Coco and Caribe tectonic plates as well.

On Tuesday the town of Puntarenas witnessed the tide over 3 metres between 5:30am and 6:05am that flooded the port town. Traffic to and from Puntarenas was affected as part of the road leading to the port was flooded.

A similar tide is expected for Thursday.

The problems were attributed to an insufficient number of individuals working at toll booths and the desire of many Costa Ricans to check out the new highway, which was supposed to cut at least 45 minutes off the trip from San José to the Pacific coast.

Autopista del Sol S.A. (the contractor and the concession holder) has already been criticized for building a two-lane route with just a third passing lane in some uphill stretches. The project has been in the works for more than 30 years. The highway was opened for public use Thursday when a happy President did manage to reach Caldera in only 45 minutes.

According to the CNE report the tides are expected to reach 3.5 metres or more, the highest in the last five years.

It is believed that the rising tide could cause flooding in some beaches along the Pacific coast, with the tallest waves expected on Tuesday afternoon.

Many Ticos are taking advantage of the last week of vacation before back to school. Authorities are asking bathers to avoid the waters during the high tides to avoid accidents.

Main areas of concern are Caldera, Isla de Damas, Cuajiniquil, Sámara in Guanacaste, and Parrita.

The sticker, specially printed with a high degree of security features, will include the name of the person, the nationality, date of birth, sex, passport number, the type of permit and the expiry date of the permit.

The sticker will also include the person's signature and hopefully will be very difficult to falsify, unlike the current rubber stamp that is placed on passports.

Mario Zamora, the director of Migración said that cost of the system is greater than ¢100 million colones and it is a part of the immigration service systems of issuing passports and other documents.

Approximately 16.000 foreigners with the "special status" currently live in Costa Rica.