Costa Rica

A coworker of mine really wants to start a Starbucks in Costa Rica or other business like a Panda Express there or maybe another country. Does anyone know where i may be able to find some information for him? Please and Thank you.

Yeah, Starbucks doesnt franchise:
http://investor.starbucks.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=99518&p=irol-IRHome
I’m pretty sure Panda Express franchises:
http://www.pandaexpress.com/building/
I suggest Dunkin’ Donuts. They’re easy to franchise and they’re popular cuz they’re joined with Baskin Robbins (ice cream shop). Here’s some info:
http://www.dunkinfranchising.com/aboutus/franchise/franchise-home.html :]

Successful ecotourism on the Osa peninsula raises new challenges.

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Technorati Tags: America, Central, conservation, Costa, Eco, endangered, green, Rica, Tourism, travel

Does anyone know a good city in Costa Rica to build a theme park in? It has to have low crime rate, good tourism, sights and such. Good weather. Can anyone tell me one and perhaps list reasons if possible or sites?

san antonio, belen next to the hwy, marriott hotel, firestone, coca cola… area. its in the middle of the central valley… not including cartago. people from san jose, heredia, alajuela, santa ana can travel easilly, its close to the airport, would be next to the busiest hwy. buses pass by in all directions… the weather is great. any one will see it cuz is on the way to the pacific beaches

I am traveling to Costa Rica from Central Europe next month and I would like to know more about Costa Ricans, their family lives, habits, behavior.
Everything which is unusual for a European and could seem like to be a challenge to get used to in the beginning.

Thank you for your time and help!

They will make everything they can to make you feel like part of the family. Costa Ricans are very simple. They like to eat good, they love entertainment like going to the movies or watching movies at home, they like to dance, they like karaoke and they like going to the beach. Most of them are Catholic or Christian so they are strong believers of Jesus. They beleive in good and bad karma. One thing you will have to get used to is eating rice with black beans almost everyday. You will see fruits juices that youve never seen before like Fresco de Cas. You will enjoy it.

http://TravelCostaRicaNOW.com Hey Everyone! Most Costa Rican kids have a shot at receiving an education here. The government does supply a little ‘funding’, but NOT nearly enough to go around… and it’s spread VERY thin to say the least. The financial responsibility typically falls on the communities ‘themselves’, putting a LOT of pressure on families and teachers to supply the most basic of needs (like toilet paper for instance). Many families have the money but just as MANY, don’t. Do the math on this one and you can quickly see it becomes a HUGE financial BURDEN. Getting basic supplies like paper and pencils is tough enough, but bigger ticket items, like much needed copiers, computers and such are nearly impossible. We were talking to our good friend, Steve about this problem and he was on board immediately. We want to thank him BIG TIME for sending the funds and would also like to thank our Tico friends, Walter and Alejandra for pointing us in the right direction and also taking the time out from their busy school schedules to help us buy supplies. Check out this video and maybe you’ll have a better understanding of how it works here in Costa Rica and what can happen when just a few people get together in order to try and make a difference, little or otherwise…it’s ALL good and EVERYTHING helps. Interested in helping? Contact US. The kids would appreciate it.

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Technorati Tags: Costa Rica Schools, education, funding, poverty, primary schools, school children

im planning on going to costa rica to tach english as an ESL teacher for 6 months to 1 year. I also really want to learn the spanish language to the point that I become fluent. what is the best way to become fluent in the spanish language?

Read the local newspapers. Not books, not the opinion pages, not even most magazines, just the news stories. You will quickly see that Spanish and ENglish have a lot in common. Get the U of CHicago English SPanish dictionary, not an idiotic electronic translator that is so appealing but inconvenient- everybody buys them, nobody uses them.

Avoid contact with English speakers which is now close to impossible in C.R.

Take a class in any subject you like that is given in Spanish. You may flunk the course but you will learn a lot of Spanish quickly. THere are lots of private schools teaching everything imaginable, hair cutting, car repair, electronics and air conditioning maintenance. Doesn’t really matter what you take but try to pick something you like.

Avoid taking any private language lessons, all the ones I’ve seen are rip-offs.

Watch television, again, especially the news.

If you drink, have a drink or two- it eases the inhibition of making an ass of yourself publicly, which is necessary for a few months as you start to babble in a foreign language.( I suppose I could have phrased that more gracefully.)

Good luck.

Costa Rica’s new and sweeping traffic reform laws or “Nueva Ley de Tránsito” (reformas) go into effect March 1, 2010. Enforcement will be the key to success for these badly needed changes that will hopefully result in much improved mind-sets for Costa Rica drivers.

full story: http://www.costaricafrog.com/2010/02/26/costa-rica-reformas-nueva-ley-transito-new-traffic-laws-reform-march-2010/

The Costa Rica Frog | Costa Rica news, information, travel, articles, resources, pictures, videos, blogs, commentary and Pura Vida: http://www.CostaRicaFrog.com

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My sister and I would like to visit Costa Rica sometime in 2008. Does anybody know what the best month is to visit in terms of avoiding a lot of rain? I know it’s tropical and varied, but I heard some parts of the year are best avoided. What are those times to avoid? Thanks!

For most of Costa Rica, I would go with the early dry season starting in mid- December or so, its still very green but it won’t rain on you and it’ll be sunny. Late dry season (up to March/April) ain’t bad either but in NW Costa Rica (Guanacaste, Nicoya) many trees have lost their leaves and its not as lush. May to Sept. is wet season but not too bad, it’ll rain once a day for maybe 2-3 hours but will be nice the rest of the day. In NW CR this is quite nice, the rain is short and just enough to cut the heat. The late wet season is very very wet and I would avoid it.

The Caribbean coast has a different climate, my impression is that its pretty rainy there year-round.

Investments in education and development have made Costa Rica a hotspot for high-tech companies, software developers, medical device manufacturers, service providers and suppliers.

full article: http://www.costaricafrog.com/2010/02/22/why-how-do-business-in-costa-rica/

The Costa Rica Frog | Costa Rica news, information, business, travel, articles, resources, pictures, videos, blogs and commentary: http://www.CostaRicaFrog.com

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Technorati Tags: business, companies, costa rica, education, english, free, global, high-tech, International, manufacturing, medical, services, Spanish, technology, trade, treaties, workforce, zone

We are planning to go to Costa Rica for our honeymoon and have been looking into Cosat Rica. I was just wondering how safe the country is in terms of violence and other areas of concern.

Costa Rica is the safest country of Latin America.

For honeymoon I advice you to not even consider San Jose. If you want to see how the city it’s like anyway in just one morning or afternoon you’ll get the idea. The American tourists usually hang out around National Theater-Plaza de la Cultura-Grand Hotel Costa Rica area. You can check this area out in the next link: http://www.teatronacional.go.cr/tour.html.

This particular area it’s not dangerous, I see crowds of tourists walking with expensive photo cameras and I’ve never seen one getting assaulted or anything. (I walk through this area every day on my way back from work). Don’t get too far from this area, cause you may end up on streets that I would never walk on my self. Using common sense yo’ll do fine.

Stay away from the Caribbean Cost, this area has (by far) the more serious problems of violent crime.

The Pacific Coast it’s my reccomendation for you. You can’t go wrong with Guanacaste. This is a beautiful area and as safe as you can get. This part of the country offers a wide range of options.

In Puntarenas (also Pacific Coast) you can go to the Marriot Los Sueños in Playa Herradura (link: http://www.lsrm.com/).

I hope this was of any help.