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Travel Tip

Here is a practical travel tip for your visit to Costa Rica.  To calculate the conversion rate from Colones (Costa Rican currency) to Dollars: multiply the price in colones X 2 and drop three zeros.  Example: If an order of gallo pinto (see below for illustration) cost $ 5,000 colones then 5,000 x 2 = 10,000 - 3 zeros = $5 USD.  **This conversion formula will only work if the exchange rate for the colon does not change**

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Over the weekend I jumped on a bus in San Jose that drove three hours west to the beautiful rain forest park in the town of Manuel Antonio. 

Yes, I saw monkeys!

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The Unicameral Legislative Assembly or Asamblea Legislativa holds fifty-seven seats. Members are elected by direct popular vote to serve four-year terms.

Thanks to Olman Rodriguez Loaiza (my supervisor at the Constitutional Court) and Luis Paulino Mora (son of the former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court) I was lucky enough to get a pass to sit on the floor of the General Assembly.

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Today I met Justice Gilbert Armijo Sancho -the new Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court. 

Awesome man!  He gave me a copy of his newest book.  

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Today I met two of the Justices on Costa Rica's Constitutional Court (Sala IV)

From left to right: Don Paul Rueda Leal, Don Fernando Castillo Visquez, me. 

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Costa Rican General Assembly & Supreme Court 

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I attended a private dinner to celebrate Justice Fernando Cruz's reelection.  Every eight years Justices of Costa Rica's Constitutional Court must be reelected by the General Assembly.  

Do you know a judge who can play the accordion?

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Costa Rica 2011 #tbt #manuelantonio

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BREAD - STAPLE FOOD OF COSTA RICA

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GALLO PINTO -TRADITIONAL COSTA RICAN BREAKFAST. 

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Paradise.  My wife Katie and I were the only ones on the beach in the rain forest park of Manuel Antonio. 

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Update -Elections in Costa Rica-

Dr. Rodolfo Hernandez won his party's nomination for the presidency with 77% of the votes cast, compared to his opponent, Rodolfo Piza, who claimed just 23%.

For more information on the election please refer to my prior post. 

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#Duquesnelaw #duqlaw #Costarica #salaconstitucional #salaIV #justice #lawschool

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#costarica #salaiv #salaconstitutional #judiciary #gardens

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Sunset in Costa Rica

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Elections in Costa Rica

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Elections in Costa Rica

Today thousands of Costa Ricans voted in the primary elections for the United Social Christian Party or Partido Unidad Social Cristiano (“PUSC”), a resurgent political party in the Costa Rica, to selected its presidential candidate.  Costa Rica’s presidential elections will be in February of 2014.

The two presidential candidates for the PUSC are: Rodolfo Piza and Rodolfo Hernandez.  Don Piza is a lawyer, noted academic, and former substitute justice on Costa Rica’s Constitutional Court.  On the other hand, Don Hernandez, commonly known as “el Dr.” is a doctor, noted academic in his field, and current director of the national children’s hospital.

Here’s the scoop.  I personally visited several voting stations in the province of Escazú, an area in the province of San José, Costa Rica, and heard people throughout the day describe this primary election as “ground-breaking” and “historic.”  Why can a primary election be so important?  I will try to answer this question in the shortest way possible and to the best of my knowledge.

First, after being one of the country's dominant parties from 1983 - 2002, the PUSC lost numerous local and national elections and was considered by many to be “a dying party.”  PUSC’s oust from power was due in part to scandals of corruption that surrounded several of the party leaders.  The party that benefited most from the PUSC’s decline was the National Liberation Party or Partido Liberación Nacional (“PLN”).  Costa Rica’s current president, Laura Chinchilla belongs to the PLN.

Second, the big news in Costa Rica last week was a news story revealing that two weeks ago President Chinchilla, used a private jet made available by a Colombian drug dealer to visit Peru for a wedding.  Apparently this was not the first time President Chinchilla used the plane.  In March, President Chinchilla also used the private plane to fly to Venezuela for Hugo Chávez’s funeral. 

Following this news story, Rep. Patricia Perez, a member of PUSC, filed a complaint accusing President Chinchilla of violating the Act Against Corruption and Illicit Enrichment. Attorney General, Jorge Chavarria, announced earlier this week that his office was in a “preliminary investigation process of the events that occurred last weekend.”

Because President Chinchilla is engulf in a scandal that has angered the general population, loyal members of the PUSC see this dissatisfaction as an opportunity for their party to regain power after being relegated to the sidelines for over ten years.  As I walked by the lines of people gathering to vote at one of the precincts I heard a party organizer chanting in Spanish: “the PUSC is not dead anymore.”