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Good Evening from Costa Rica
If you’re flying to the United States after Tuesday, even just to change planes, you’ll have to sign a new health declaration before you board, and the airline won’t let you on without it. At home, getting around is about to cost more. The regulator approved a fuel increase that will push regular gasoline above premium.
Property owners who spend long stretches away got a warning too. Registry fraud complaints nearly doubled in three years, and a woman accused of using forged deeds to take an American’s property was sent back from the United States to face the case. Public hospitals are under strain, with some patients waiting up to eight days for a bed and the children’s hospital ICU full.
Also this week: the ruling party filed a bill that would let Rodrigo Chaves run again in 2030, Costa Rica dropped its bid to join a Pacific trade pact, the woman suspected in the Playas del Coco killing was arrested, high tides pushed seawater into homes in Puntarenas, and scarlet macaws started nesting on live camera.
High tides flooded homes in Puntarenas on Thursday.
This Week By the Numbers
₡808 — what a liter of regular gasoline will cost, ₡2 more than premium
122 — property registry fraud complaints in 2025, up from 65 in 2022
8 days — the longest some patients have waited in a public hospital emergency room for a bed
18 — children in critical condition on ventilators as the National Children’s Hospital ICU filled up
38 — votes the reelection reform needs in the 57-seat Assembly, where the ruling party holds 31
417 — students at TEC’s Limón campus, which the rector says a budget cut could close
The Top Story
The form applies whether the United States is your destination or just a connection. (Alejandro Zúñiga / The Tico Times)
If you’re flying to the United States after Tuesday night, even just to change planes, you’ll have to sign a short health declaration before you board. Skip it and the airline won’t let you on. Every passenger signs, including U.S. citizens and green card holders.
The CDC ordered the form in response to an Ebola outbreak in Africa, and it stays in place through the holiday travel rush. Here’s the one question it asks, who signs for children and how your airline will collect it.
More News
Regular and diesel will both cost ₡808 a liter once the new prices take effect.
Regular gasoline is about to cost more than premium. ARESEP approved an ₡89 jump that takes regular to ₡808 a liter, diesel also reaches ₡808, and cooking gas is going up too.
The new prices kick in the day after they’re published in La Gaceta. Here’s what a fill-up will cost you and why regular now tops premium.
A property that looks unattended is exactly what fraud rings look for.
Property registry fraud complaints nearly doubled between 2022 and 2025, and prosecutors say foreigners who spend long periods away are among the most frequent targets. The scheme starts with a property that looks empty.
The best protection is free and takes a few minutes online. Also this week, a woman accused of using forged deeds to take an American’s property was deported from the United States. She has not been convicted.
Signal jammers can stop your car from locking when you press the button.
A group of tourists left their rental cars for eight minutes at a coffee stop near Caldera and came back to find suitcases and passports gone. They believe the thieves jammed the key’s signal so the doors never locked.
The fix takes five seconds. Separately, four men were detained on suspicion of drugging people they offered rides to outside San José bars. They have not been charged.
Calderón Guardia Hospital’s emergency department has run at about twice its capacity. (Courtesy CCSS)
Patients at some of Costa Rica’s largest public hospitals are waiting up to eight days in emergency rooms for a bed, according to an internal CCSS audit. Calderón Guardia’s ER has run at about twice its capacity.
Children are feeling it too. The National Children’s Hospital ICU filled up last week, and doctors are asking parents to watch for a few warning signs.
Rodrigo Chaves governed from 2022 to 2026. (Patrick T. Fallon / AFP)
The ruling party filed a constitutional reform that would let presidents serve consecutive terms, and its backers say the goal is to put Rodrigo Chaves back on the ballot in 2030. It needs 38 votes, and the party has 31.
Chaves also drew criticism this week for calling the TEC rector a terrorist after she warned a budget cut could close the Limón campus.
Quick Hits
The woman suspected in the Playas del Coco killing will be held for a year. She was arrested Tuesday after a nearly two-week search.
Your 2027 marchamo opens Monday, with a sticker that lasts 10 years. Get one thing wrong and you’ll need a new one.
The Cambronero bridge on Route 1 reopens Tuesday at noon. That’s nearly two weeks ahead of schedule.
British Airways now flies nonstop from London Heathrow all year. Meanwhile, Lufthansa is dropping its Frankfurt route, though Costa Rica won’t lose the connection.
A missing pair of interpreters undid an American’s Costa Rica will. The ruling reopens an estate that includes a stake in a dairy farm.
Retiring under the Caja’s main pension could take 30 years of contributions instead of 25. It’s one of 20 proposals on the table.
Costa Rica dropped its bid to join the CPTPP and fired its trade minister. The president said almost no one knew what the deal contained.
The dollar is holding near ₡452, close to a 20-year low. Dollar supply just hit a record.
Spotlight
About 800 wild scarlet macaws now live on the Central Pacific coast.
Scarlet macaws on the Central Pacific coast are pairing off for a new breeding season, and 11 nest cameras near Tárcoles let you watch from inside the nest, around the clock.
The first eggs are due in December. Some of the people who build the nests used to poach macaw chicks, and the local population has nearly quadrupled since the early 1990s.
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