Costa Rica: 50 Years Ago, A Photo Changed a Cartographer's Life

 

Source: La Prensa Gráfica (Costa Rica)

Date: 13.11.2021

Article by Kimberly Herrera

 Costa Rica: 50 Years Ago, A Photo Changed a Cartographer's Life

 Half a century ago, a cartographer took a photo that remains captivating and intriguing in equal measure. In his estimation, contact with beings from space began during his childhood and have remained a constant throughout his 77 years.

 Sergio Loiza Vargas holds in his hand a black and white photocopy from a news item nearly four decades old. The headline is stunning: "UFO Allegedly Photographed in Costa Rica."

 The newspaper item, showing an arrow pointing at an unidentified flying object (UFO) was published on page 4C of the La Nación newspaper on Thursday, November 1st, 1979, causing a stir within the country and beyond.

 The image had certain distinctions, as it was not only a photo of an alleged alien spaceship, but it had also been taken from an airplane. As expected, the photograph became known worldwide and only a few days elapsed before it became a subject of study for many institutes and organizations. To date, the photo remains a matter of investigation and debate.

 Mrs. Sonia Chaves was no stranger to the much discussed news item of November 1st. As soon as she saw the photo, she took the page and sent it to her husband Sergio, who was working on an aerial photography project with an Italo-Venezuelan company in the desert region between Ecuador and Perú.

 When the news reached his hands, the Palmares resident wondered how the disclosure had reached the media, since the orders of the Interamerican Geodesic Institute years ago had been strict: "This is top secret information."

 It was Sergio Loiza who photographed that UFO over Lake Cote, in the Guatoso canton, eight years earlier. The image he took remains a source of curiosity among experts.

 "Discussion of the subject was forbidden, as it was taboo," admits Sergio, now age 77.

 Many were startled to see the craft in the photo. Others were frightened; Sergio's reaction was different: he felt thankful for having had the opportunity to capture the moment, as he professes having had several experiences with UFOs and with beings from outer space since the age of five.

 Today, at age 77, analyzing his frequent UFO sightings in a more leisurely manner, as well as other experiences he has had over the years, his question is nonetheless hard to answer: "Why me? Why did it happen to me?"

 Sitting comfortably at home in an armchair, facing the framed photo of the UFO on the wall, Sergio remembers that it all began 50 years ago, specifically on 4 September 1971. At that time, the then Costa Rican Electric Institute (Instituto Constarricente de Electricidad (ICE) asked the National Geographical Institute (Instituto Geográfico Nacional) to draft a map of Lake Arenal and its environs.

 At around 8:00 a.m., pilot Omar Arias, navigator Francisco Reyes and photographers Juan Bravo and Sergio Loiza, boarded the twin-engine Aerocommander 680F to kick off the aerial photography project. As a rule, Reyes, Bravo and Loiza took turns with the camera, and that day it was Sergio's turn to take the photos.

 "Doing this conventionally costs a lot of money and takes up a lot of time, and time was valuable then. The flight plan wasn't easy at the moment, and since we didn't have cellphones, we needed to have someone reporting on weather conditions. In fact, it wasn't until our thirteenth mission that we were able to find everything sufficiently clear to carry out the photograph survey," explains Sergio.

 To carry out the Lake Arenal mission, involving a flyover of San Carlos and Tilarán, they employed a professional quality German RMKA-15/23 camera weighing 100 pounds and set on the airplane's floor on a special reticulated structure, enabling to move the degrees.

 The cartographer and aerial photography expert explains that they were flying at 10,000 feet that day to achieve the 1:10,000 scale male with five meter contour lines as requested by ICE.

 Once the map was finalized, Loiza explains that the project was delivered to ICE and they continued their work. However, two or three years later, the agency sought the National Geographical Institute's aid again, since some of the data was incorrect, and a new study was required. "By sheer chance, it fell to me to carry out the initial field work, which was photo interpretation to mark the points. When we were studying the photos during desk work, using some large tables to see which images we would need, one co-worker said jokingly: "Look, what the hell is this? It resembles a flying saucer."

 "Then we went to the lab, made an enlargement, and took it to the Geographical Institute's director. He immediately phoned the head engineer of the Geodesic Institute, which was the sister agency paralleling the project. He told us right then and there - in the office - that we couldn't tell anyone about the photo.

 "In those days, such things were respected, mainly because we had an upbringing different from that of the Costa Rican common denominator. We were taught respect at the Geographical Institute, perhaps due to the military quotient and the influence of the U.S. Army, which provided airplanes, helicopters, vehicles and even the funds, because these were very costly projects," he added.

 They did not notice the UFO initially, as they had taken a flight route that was ultimately discarded from the project. It was precisely this discarded one which showed the flying saucer.

 The Institute managed to keep the photo a secret for nearly a decade. However, it was the brothers Ricardo and Carlos Vilchez, representatives of the Scientific and Exobiological Investigation Institute (ICI-CE) who found the photograph - which originally measured 23 x 23 cm - and disseminated it.

 How did they find it? Sergio does not know.

 What he does know is that the black and white image, taken at 8:15 a.m. on 4 September 1971, is still considered by international UFO institutions as one of the best photographs ever taken of a UFO.

 After many years of working in and out of the country as a cartographer specializing in aerial photography and photo interpretation, Sergio now spends his days at home, in Palmares de Alajuela, where he keeps photographs and news items that have been published over the years about the UFO over Lake Cote, and there have been many.

 There are also several framed works, one of them showing the iconic 1971 photo, gifted to him by his daughter Alejandra; beside it hangs a nocturnal landscape that also shows a UFO. "It's a photo that never loses it currency. I often get phone calls. Sometimes they write, but it's interesting because there are as many people in favor of the subject as there are against, although this is winding down. UFOs are accepted as a reality and several governments have done so as well," states Loiza.

 He further explains that for many years, he has received letters or phone calls from countries such as Mexico, Colombia and Perú requesting information on the subject. He has also been able to visit Brazil, Ecuador and Switzerland to visit with people interested in the UFO phenomenon.

 Over the years, Sergio has become a specialist in the UFO phenomenon - not because he reads much about the subject, because he says that his experiences have enabled him to know more than what is found in news items, books and movies.

 In fact, his passion for the UFO phenomenon emerged before he realized that he had photographed one during that mission over Lake Cote.

 It all began when he was five years old, resting with his father on a pasture belonging to their farm in San Carlos, learning about astronomy on starry nights. "I am grateful for these experiences, as they have changed my perspectives, my horizons and effected a 180 degree turn in my life. Even my own experiences, and what I have seen, changed my way of thinking, my way of perceiving things, and my inner self, completely.

 While he doesn't speak much of these experiences, preferring to keep them to himself and his family, Sergio remembers that he was 15 years old, around 1959, he saw a UFO approach him. A red-letter day in his life.

 "I had a major sighting of what they called a mothership. It was an enormous UFO that left me paralyzed I walked toward the device because it was perhaps some 50 meters distant, and I walked, because it didn't frighten me. The craft was beautifully, brilliant, but there came a time in which I did feel a disturbance, it left me paralyzed, and I also lost awareness for a while," he remembers.

 This, however, has not been his only experience. Sergio claims having seen the faces of the occupants of these craft in one instance. This encounter took place one evening near Cerro de la Muerte, when he saw another large luminous vehicle. "It was only a few meters away from me; I mean two or three meters. It was 11 p.m. and I was sitting on the car's hood, because it warm from the engine's heat. I got out of the car and sat three because I saw a sphere coming along the power lines, floating above the hedges. There were three creatures inside - a man, a woman and a child, beings standing approximately 1.8 meters, blue eyed, and I had them in front of me. These beings were Nordic, not Grey like the ones they show us. They're not like us either.

 "The man raised his hand (as in greeting). They were there for a few seconds and then left," he says.

 Nevertheless, this is not an isolated experience in his family. On one occasion, his parents told him that one night, driving in their Land Rover, they witnessed a craft over their vehicle that killed the engine and turned off the lights. "At this stage of my life I still wonder why me, because there are millions of people who have shared my experiences, but I'm from this tiny country," he observes.

 Sergio is not hesitant to share his experiences, being well aware of what he's lived through. However, he prefers not to go into detail, since there is always someone ready to discredit him.

 He takes solace in the satisfaction that Doña Sonia and her children—Sergio and Alejandra—as well as other people he has met who have witnessed similar things, understand and believe him.

 “I have had other types of experiences, but this world is very ungrateful; and although I have been told that I ought to share what I have lived through and my experiences, I am not sure if it is worth revealing certain things.

 “At my age, it doesn’t bother me; however, there are indeed certain things that touch the soul, and it is saddening when people behave in that manner,” he asserts.

 In fact, the resident of Palmares believes that human beings are “light-years away” from understanding and accepting the existence of extraterrestrial life.

 “As human beings, I don’t think we are ready [for beings from another planet]; I believe we still have a long way to go, and perhaps that is the reason they do not manifest themselves on a massive scale. We have placed great importance on technological development, but in this realm, it has remained merely theoretical knowledge.”

 And although for the majority of human beings the subject remains a taboo, Don Sergio believes that the world’s major powers possess extensive information regarding the UFO phenomenon—information they keep hidden, just as happened with the photograph of the craft at Lake Cote.

 He even points out that there are those who “actually have dealings with them in the technological and scientific spheres,” yet do not dare to speak of it.

 “UFOs have been classified as ‘unidentified flying objects’—and in reality, that is what the international powers would have us believe—but they have them very well identified and fully documented. The truth is, they have led the world to believe that they are merely unidentified flying objects; yet, they are indeed extraterrestrial spacecraft visiting us from outer space,” he adds.

 Furthermore—contrary to popular belief— Sergio is convinced that these beings, whom he had the opportunity to see on more than one occasion, are benevolent. “I have had many experiences, and I can tell you quite clearly that I have never had a negative one. I believe that those who do have negative experiences do so, perhaps, because they are actually seeking them out,” he asserts.

 He adds: “We look for God where He does not dwell; God does not dwell in altars—He dwells in our fellow human beings: in the person standing right beside us, in the hungry child, and in every living creature.”

 Ever since that photograph taken on September 4, 1971, Don Sergio Loiza developed a special fondness for Lake Cote and visited it frequently. However, the pandemic—along with a few health setbacks—has prevented him from returning to the site in recent years. Nevertheless, he has not lost hope of going back to stroll once more through a place so rich in memories.

  [Translation (c) 2026 S. Corrales, IHU with thanks to La Prensa Gráfica]