Costa Rica (Lonely Planet, 9th Edition) - Matthew Firestone [40]
The big question is whether future tourism developments should continue to focus on the traditional small-hotel, ecotourism approach, or turn to mass tourism, with planeloads of visitors accommodated in ‘megaresorts’ such as the ones in Cancún, Mexico. From the top levels of government down, the debate has been fierce. Local and international tour operators and travel agents, journalists, developers, airline operators, hotel owners, writers, environmentalists and politicians have all been vocal in their support of either ecotourism or mass tourism. Many believe that the country is too small to handle both forms of tourism properly. It remains to be seen which faction will win – or if both can coexist successfully.
It is worth noting, however, that many private lodges and reserves are also doing some of the best conservation work in the country, and it’s really inspiring to run across homespun efforts to protect Costa Rica’s environment spearheaded by hardworking families or small organizations tucked away in some forgotten corner of the country. These include projects to boost rural economies by raising butterflies or native flowers, efforts by villagers to document their local biodiversity, or amazingly resourceful campaigns to raise funds to purchase endangered lands.
Michael Crichton’s book Jurassic Park is set on Isla del Cocos. In it, he refers to Ticos as ‘Ticans.’
The Refugio Nacional de Vida Silvestre Curú, Tiskita Jungle Lodge in Pavones, La Amistad Lodge, and Rara Avis near Puerto Viejo de Sarapiquí are but a few examples. Costa Rica is full of wonderful tales about folks who are extremely passionate and generous in their efforts to protect the planet’s resources.
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San José
* * *
HISTORY
ORIENTATION
INFORMATION
DANGERS & ANNOYANCES
SIGHTS
ACTIVITIES
COURSES
SAN JOSÉ FOR CHILDREN
TOURS
FESTIVALS & EVENTS
SLEEPING
EATING
DRINKING
ENTERTAINMENT
SHOPPING
GETTING THERE & AWAY
GETTING AROUND
AROUND SAN JOSÉ
LOS YOSES & SAN PEDRO
ESCAZÚ
* * *
San José is not a pretty city. It’s studded with unremarkable concrete towers, clogged pedestrian arcades and fast-food outlets redolent of everything fried. On some days, it is sensory overload: walk its teeming streets and you’ll get jostled by businessmen grunting into cell phones and street vendors hawking fried bananas, all set to a soundtrack of tooting horns and roaring bus engines. But linger long enough and ‘Chepe’ – as San José is affectionately known – will begin to reveal its charms.
Duck into an anonymous-looking restaurant and you might find yourself in the middle of a garden, sipping wine beside a gushing fountain. A vintage house might conceal a cutting-edge contemporary art space. An unremarkable-looking hotel may have been the place where presidents once slept. It is a place rife with history. San José, after all, is where forward-thinking leaders once gathered to decide that this would be a country without an army.
Over the last century, the transformation from prewar agrarian coffee town to 21st-century urban sprawl has been unkind to the city’s physical form. But regardless of what it may look like, San José is the beating heart of Costa Rica – home to its most influential thinkers, its finest museums and its most sophisticated restaurants. In a country that has been culturally transformed by vast amounts of tourism, there’s nowhere better to begin to understand what it means to be Tico. For to truly love Costa Rica, you must first learn to love its capital.
HIGHLIGHTS
Admiring Costa Rica’s artistic traditions past and present at the Museo de Jade and Museo de Arte y Diseño Contemporáneo
Dancing until the break of dawn at one of San José’s hopping nightclubs
Ogling the rich marbled floors and beaux arts interiors of the graceful Teatro Nacional
Reveling in cold beer and country cooking at La