Rico’s TICO BULL – “March forward” is a term used to remind people about the Daylight Savings Time (DST) start date in the Northern Hemisphere, like the United States, Canada, and Europe, where it starts in March.
But not in Costa Rica, where DST is not observed.
The shifting forth and back in the spring and fall has never really made sense in Costa Rica.
I still remember the one year (though I don’t remember the actual year) that the country announced it would the time shift. The date came and nothing. It was, to the best of my knowlege, ever brought up again.
Doing a Google search on DST, I did learn that the last time Costa Rica did observe it was on January 18, 1992, when at 00:00:00 clocks were turned forward 1 hour, ending on March 15, 1992.
According to Timeanddate.com, DST in Costa Rica was also observed in 1991, starting on Janauary 19 and ending on July 1. Previous to that, DST was observed in 1980. And previous to that, in 1954.
In Latin America, most countries in the north of the continent near the equator do not observe DST, that includes Nicaragua, Panama, Colombia, and Venezuela.
For most, the change does not affect them. For expats, however, it does if keeping up with family, friend and business up north. And there is the US television schedule, like CBS, CNN, Fox News, as the programming is now two hours ahead instead of one given that most of the programming originates from Eastern US.
Shows like NCIS on Tuesdays on CBS will now be on at 6 instead of 7 in Costa Rica. Watching the 11 pm U.S. news at 9 seems odd.
Thus, starting today cities like Toronto, New York, and Miami are two hours ahead, Chicago one hour. Los Angeles and San Francisco one hour behind instead of two. Denver continues to be the same.
Want to know what time it is any city in the world? Type in “what time is it in (city name)” in your Google search. What time is it where you are? Just look at the clock on your computer, smartphone or tablet.
