The money generated by allowing foreign-flagged tuna-purse-seine boats to work in Costa Rican waters has some financial benefits to the country. Money from licensing fees is split…

Driving past the recibo where coffee growers were lined up to turn in their day’s picking and have it weighed, I noticed my neighbor Alfredo getting ready…

Multiply the unnerving sound of an aggravated rattlesnake by 1,000 times and you will know the sound of the rattling gills of a tarpon when it jumps.…

Last week, I told you about a friend of mine who had the unfortunate experience of being robbed in his apartment after living here for only two…

One of the wonderful things about having a hobby – bird-watching, in my case – is that it can take you places you would otherwise never go.…

When I first came to live in Costa Rica, I could only do my shopping in a pulpería, a small grocery store in which everything is behind…

The fire in the 100-year-old roaster is still burning as Roberto Montero scoops up a cupful of beans from the sack. The grinder roars to life, and…

The keys to Nicaragua’s full recovery from the 2000-2004 global coffee crisis are to focus on quality, not quantity, and to create new product demand by promoting…

Breadfruit is called fruta de pan, árbol de pan or pan de pobre in Spanish. The seeded variety is known as breadnut, or castaña or ramón in…

THE railroad runs through the middle of the town, but trains rarely pass through. The once-lively station that farmers, merchants and passengers crowded around is quiet now,…