Costa Rica

WHO: Grace Mattern, 50; Eric Schain, 52; and their children, Adrienne, 23, and Sam Mattern-Schain, 18, of Northwood, N.H. "We'd never been any place tropical; we're more cross-country skiers and snowshoers.

Just barely a movie, "Act of Valor" is more like a high-quality recruitment video with interstitial acting. Sissy things like plot and character development aren't worthy of the mission. It's as though they've been chased out of the theater by a barking drill sergeant. Instead of narrative and story, "Act of Valor" takes its propulsion from its verisimilitude. The film, directed by Mike "Mouse" McCoy and Scott Waugh, was made in collaboration with the Navy, and stars active duty SEALs in missions based on real ones.

Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning got to go to Disney World after dispensing with the Patriots. Where did losing QB Tom Brady go? Costa Rica, of course. The Pats signal caller and his supermodel spouse, Gisele Bundchen, are spending some quality time at the surfside compound where they got married in 2009. The couple was photographed over the weekend frolicking on the beach with their son, Benjamin.

Patriots receiver Wes Welker doesn't appear to be upset with Gisele Bundchen about her post-Super Bowl comments. ("My husband cannot [expletive] throw the ball and catch the ball at the same time. I can't believe they dropped the ball so many times. ") The receiver and his fiancee, Anna Burns, joined Bundchen and QB Tom Brady in Costa Rica on Tuesday. In case you're wondering, Welker is wearing a Sportiqe T-Shirt. We know that because Sportiqe told us so. We don't know what Brady is wearing.

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica — A 16-year-old US high school student was shot and killed at a Costa Rican hotel by a security guard who mistook him for a thief, authorities said yesterday. High school senior Justin Johnston of McLouth, Kansas, was shot in the chest before dawn yesterday at the La Cangreja Lodge hotel in the city of La Fortuna de San Carlos, Costa Rican police said in a statement. The security guard has been detained, police said. Police said the students had been sent to bed at 10 p.m. Wednesday but a group left their rooms and went to another building on the premises.

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica - Alvaro Saborio scored 79 seconds in, the second-fastest goal against the United States in a World Cup qualifier, and Costa Rica coasted to a 3-1 victory last night. Celso Borges added a goal in the 13th minute, and Pablo Herrera sealed the victory for 41st-ranked Costa Rica when he made it 3-0 in the 69th minute. Landon Donovan scored the US goal when he converted a penalty kick in the second minute of second-half stoppage time. It was a tough start to a difficult three-match stretch of qualifying for the No. 14 Americans, who dropped to 0-7-1...

Tax authorities in Costa Rica have searched the offices of the national soccer federation looking for allegedly withheld information about revenue from an exhibition game against Argentina in March. Tax authorities director Francisco Villalobos says there are suspicions that financial information provided by the federation about the match was "not authentic, not completely clear. " Villalobos says there are "sufficient elements to believe documentation was hidden. " Authorities obtained an order from a judge to carry out the search Tuesday...

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration reached an agreement with Costa Rica yesterday that will allow that nation to join four of its neighbors in creating a Central American Free Trade Area with the United States, officials of the two countries said. The deal must be approved by Congress. The agreement came after two weeks of intense negotiations aimed at overcoming differences in such areas as telecommunications and insurance that had prompted Costa Rica to back out at the last minute from completing the CAFTA talks last month with the four other nations, Guatemala, El Salvador,...

Carlos Costly scored twice and Carlos Pavon and Malvin Valladares added goals in Honduras’s 4-0 victory over Costa Rica at San Pedro Sula, Honduras, last night in a World Cup qualifier in the CONCACAF region. After six of 10 qualifying games, Costa Rica leads with 12 points followed by Honduras and the United States with 10 each. Mexico has 9, and El Salvador and Trinidad and Tobago have 5 each. The top three teams will advance automatically to the World Cup. The No. 4 team faces a playoff with South America’s No. 5 for another berth.

SEATTLE - A Washington state man with underlying heart conditions became the third person infected with swine flu to die in the United States, health officials said yesterday, while Costa Rica reported the first swine flu death outside North America. Japanese authorities, meanwhile, scrambled to limit contact with their country's first cases, and Australia and Norway joined the list of nations with confirmed cases of swine flu. A Snohomish County man in his 30s died Thursday from what appeared to be complications from swine flu, the state Department of Health said in a...

Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning got to go to Disney World after dispensing with the Patriots. Where did losing QB Tom Brady go? Costa Rica, of course. The Pats signal caller and his supermodel spouse, Gisele Bundchen, are spending some quality time at the surfside compound where they got married in 2009. The couple was photographed over the weekend frolicking on the beach with their son, Benjamin.

The U.S. Geological Survey says a magnitude 5.8 earthquake shook the central and Pacific coastal regions of Costa Rica early Monday morning. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage. The geological survey says the quake, which hit at about 5 a.m. local time (6 a.m. EST), was felt moderately in central and western parts of the Central American country. The epicenter was 46 miles (75 kilometers) south of the capital of San Jose at a depth of 17 miles (28 kilometers.)

By Jessica Bartlett, Town Correspondent Thousands of miles away, in three clinics tucked into Costa Rica's landscape, Duxbury summer resident Dr. George Whitelaw's vision of offering free healthcare services to hundreds of children continues to grow. Children Without Borders, a mission Whitelaw started in 2007, seeks to bring preventative medicine to the underprivileged sections of Costa Rica, where many of the homes are smaller than 500 square feet, have no windows or floors, and have as many as 12 people living in them.

Tax authorities in Costa Rica have searched the offices of the national soccer federation looking for allegedly withheld information about revenue from an exhibition game against Argentina in March. Tax authorities director Francisco Villalobos says there are suspicions that financial information provided by the federation about the match was "not authentic, not completely clear. " Villalobos says there are "sufficient elements to believe documentation was hidden. " Authorities obtained an order from a judge to carry out the...

The U.S. national team will take the field against Costa Rica at the Home Depot Center on Friday in the second match of new coach Jurgen Klinsmann's tenure, which has so far been met with enthusiasm because of his energetic and positive nature. Klinsmann's behavior represents a contrast to that of former coach Bob Bradley, who cut an imposing figure with his trademark grimace. In his first match against Mexico on Aug. 6, Klinsmann was constantly smiling and even gave a little shimmy when Robbie Rogers scored the equalizer in the 1-1 draw.

A Costa Rican is suspected of being behind the ambush last month that killed Argentine folk singer Facundo Cabral and wounded a Nicaraguan businessman who is believed to have been the target, authorities said Tuesday. Alejandro Jimenez Gonzalez is accused of leading an organized crime group involved in money laundering with operations around Central America, Costa Rican Attorney General Jorge Chavarria told reporters. Chavarria said authorities believe a rift over a theft of illegal drug money led to the July 9 attack that Guatemalan authorities think was aimed at Henry Farinas,...

Lauren Cheney scored in the 17th minute, Abby Wambach got goals in the 33d and 50th, and the United States stayed alive in qualifying for next year’s Women’s World Cup with a 3-0 victory over Costa Rica last night in Cancun, Mexico. Lori Lindsey set up the first two goals for the US, which had been 19-0 in qualifying before Friday’s stunning 2-1 defeat to Mexico in the semifinals of the North and Central American and Caribbean region. That defeat forced the two-time champions into a must-win third-place game against the No. 47 Ticas.

Randall Brenes’ right-footed shot in the closing seconds of stoppage time lifted Costa Rica to a 1-1 tie with El Salvador on Thursday night in the CONCACAF Gold Cup. Brenes took a header off a building attack and sent a low shot from inside the penalty box that beat Miguel Montes to the far post and left Costa Rica (1-0-1) unbeaten in Group A play. Rodolfo Zelaya scored off a free kick from 25 yards out in the 45th minute for El Salvador (0-2-0), which had withstood Costa Rica’s second-half surge until the final seconds after losing 5-0 to Mexico in its...

Facing a penalty kick with 15 minutes left in regulation and the game tied, Honduras’ Noel Valladares was willing to do anything to distract Alvaro Saborio of Costa Rica — so the goalkeeper argued about the placement of the ball. He argued so much, referee Roberto Moreno of Panama gave him a yellow card. The delay worked. Valladares made a diving stop on Saborio’s penalty kick in the 75th minute and Honduras advanced to the Gold Cup semifinals by making all four of its tiebreaker penalty kicks in a quarterfinal victory Saturday night.

Now that the knockout games are here, the United States is ready to put a disappointing CONCACAF Gold Cup group stage behind. The US lost to Panama and came out of Group C in second place, setting up a quarterfinal match with Jamaica at RFK Stadium in Washington today. Panama will take on El Salvador in the second match of the doubleheader. “I think the team is still doing well in the tournament,’’ US captain Carlos Bocanegra said. “Our original goal was to get to the knockout stages … and our ultimate goal is to win this tournament.’’ ...