Local News for Playa Potrero, Surfside and Flamingo

The sanitary vehicle restriction changes once again and the new rules apply as of tomorrow, Monday, February 8. 

Starting Monday, the restriction during the day, that is, from 5 am to 10 pm, will apply only in the central area of ​​San José, as it happened before the pandemic.

In this area, the following plates may not circulate from 5 am to 10 pm, depending on the day:

Monday: 1 and 2

Tuesday: 3 and 4

Wednesday: 5 and 6

Thursday: 7 and 8

Friday: 9 and 0

In the rest of the country you can circulate freely at this same time. 

Night time restrictions remain the same. They start at 10 pm and end at 5 am everyday. No car can circulate anywhere in the country. There is no explanation as why this rule remains in effect.

For the weekends there are no changes. On Saturdays, the plates ending in 0 - 2 - 4- 6 and 8 may circulate. On Sundays those ending in 1 - 3 - 5 - 7 and 9 can dri from 5 am to 10:00 pm. Again there is no explanatttttttn as to why this rule would remain in effect.

The president of the National Emergency Commission (CNE), Alexander Solís, indicated that authorized exceptions remain for both the daytime and nighttime restrictions. Those who have a letter of authorization may use it to circulate.

As the world looks to the covid vaccine to provide immunity from a corona virus outbreak that is believed to be responsible for over 2 million deaths worldwide as of January 17 2021, (worldometers.info), access to the approved vaccines has been slow.

Costa Rica has confirmed 127,012 cases of COVID-19 since March 2, 2020.  U.S. citizens from all 50 U.S. States and Washington, D.C. are allowed to enter Costa Rica via flights from the United States or other countries. 

The Casa Presidencial has announced some restrictions will be reduced beginnining February 1st 2021 and will continue for the month.

New restrictions were announced Wednesday afternoon just in time for Christmas. Luckily the new restrictions do not take place until December 31st, so enjoy the sunsets on the beach while you can.

According to the legal team at Outlier Legal Services, the use of foreign drivers licenses that were due to expire today has been extended.

According to Rafael Valverde at Outlier:

"Considering the uncertainty generated around the driver’s license issue, we reached the Department of Transportation (MOPT) to obtain clarification regarding the driver’s licenses.

We thus received today (dated November 13th) a response from the Vice Minister of Transportation Mr. Eduardo Brenes Mata who under advice by their legal department confirmed that foreign nationals who arrived to Costa Rica between December 17th 2019 and November 30th 2020 will have their driver licenses extended until March 2nd 2021."

Considering that this information was provided by the Vice Minister in charge, there is still a possibilty of being stopped by Transitos who do not yet have this information. Outlier Legal recommends that those affected should print and carry a copy of this 2 page document to present to them in the event you are stopped and questioned.

This information is only relevant to those non-residents driving on a foreign driver's license who arrived in the country after Dec 17th, 2019 and before November 30th 2020.