APERO NEWSPAPER
APERO NEWSPAPER.
News every day!
AperoNews. Costa Rica's best coffee was grown by a newbie farmer.
LOURDES DE CIRRÍ, Alajuela — It looked like rain when Francisco Mena got into his truck with one of his two daughters, 12-year-old Alessia, to go look for a coffee roaster from the U.S. and his family who were visiting Finca Sumava. The sudden rush of clouds brought a chill to the coffee farm, which is draped over the steep hills of Lourdes de Cirrí, Naranjo, some 50 kilometers northwest of San José. Even as the clouds rolled in, Poás Volcano was still visible in the distance. “It looks like a European postcard, right?” said Mena, who had managed Finca Sumava for just under two years when he won Costa Rica’s Cup of Excellence prize last month. The prestigious award crowned his coffee the best in the country. The coffee trees growing on either side of the farm’s gravel road have already flowered and it will be several months before the clusters of red cherries are ready for picking. But there’s still plenty of work to do at the farm.
Fernando Cardenal, Nicaraguan priest sanctioned by Vatican, dies at age 82.
MANAGUA, Nicaragua — Fernando Cardenal, a Jesuit priest who was among six Nicaraguan clergy sanctioned by the Vatican in 1984 for their leftist politics, died on Saturday at age 82, sources at his religious order said. A liberation theologist, Cardenal was minister of education and led a literacy campaign under Nicaragua‘s leftist Sandinista government in the 1980s. His brother Ernesto Cardenal, a Trappist priest and poet, also served in the revolutionary Sandinista government as minister of culture. In 1984, Fernando Cardenal was expelled from the Jesuit order for defying Vatican orders to resign from the government. In all, six Nicaraguan members of religious orders were sanctioned by the Vatican, including Ernesto Cardenal, who was publicly scolded by Pope John Paul II as he knelt before him on the tarmac at Managua’s airport. Pope Francis lifted the sanction in August 2014.
Dengue, chikungunya cases in Costa Rica up by over 600 percent.
Although most of the interest these days is focused on the arrival in the country of the Zika virus, there’s been a staggering rise in other — and in many cases more serious — mosquito-borne diseases in the first months of the year. The Health Ministry reported last week that the number of people in Costa Rica who have tested positive for dengue or chikungunya during the first five weeks of 2016 jumped more than 600 percent for both viruses compared to the same period last year. A total of 3,253 people here have been diagnosed with dengue since January, while another 850 have tested positive for chikungunya. Both viruses cause fever, headaches, joint pain, extreme fatigue and rashes. Chikungunya can also lead to encephalitis, a potentially fatal brain inflammation.
CHEPEPOP: the clothing collection inspired by San José.
The recent Mercedes Benz Fashion Week may have taken place at the luxurious Real Intercontinental in the Escazú, but the streets of Chepe were the star of the runway. Graphic designer Oliver Skinner, creator of the clothing brand Plivertees, showcased a collection inspired by the pop culture of San José. The collection, CHEPEPOP – “Chepe” is the affectionate nickname given to the city, being a common apodo for “José” – merged music, art, audiovisual production, writing, dance and design.
Costa Rica pummeled by U.S. 4-0 in Copa America rout
CHICAGO, Ill. — The customary chant from United States fans of “I believe that we will win” was quickly made too redundant for the home crowd to keep echoing in Costa Rica’s nightmarish 4-0 loss in Copa América group play Tuesday. “La Sele” was beat down from the beginning of the Group A match against the U.S. once Clint Dempsey converted on an early penalty kick in the ninth minute. The Ecuadorian referees booked Tico defender Cristian Gamboa for shoving Bobby Wood in the box. Wood did a good job of selling the penalty, but it wasn’t an atrocious call by any means. It wouldn’t matter anyways, as the U.S. quickly became the aggressor and scored two more goals in the half when Wood and Jermaine Jones connected on open shots near the end of the period.
5 questions by a Costa Rican fashion designer.
When Andrea Baltodano sets out to capture the landscape of Costa Rica, she turns to lycra, macramé and crochet: she is a fashion designer who focuses on swimwear for women. Baltodano, 26, studied fashion design at the Universidad Creativa, and two years ago launched her own swimwear line produced entirely in Costa Rica, Maracao. The Tico Times sat down with Baltodano to discuss her life and work at her store in Curridabat near Plaza del Sol. Excerpts follow.