Home » Costa Rica » San Jose, La Fortuna, Playa Tamarindo, Tortuguero National Park

Latin America - part IV

San Jose, La Fortuna, Playa Tamarindo, Tortuguero National Park

Hector Yague
2005-10-11 11:01:10

Displayed times (last time: )

San Jose

On the 15th of January 2005 I arrived late night at San Jose, capital of Costa Rica. San Jose is geographically placed in the center of the country and is by far the best connected city by the less-than-perfect road network, so I pretty much used it as a hub during my two weeks here in Costa Rica. Besides, I wanted to buy my flight ticket to Peru as soon as possible so I could forget about it and explore Costa Rica stress-free, so I decided to come straight to the main city.

San Jose clearly stands out if compared to the rest of Central America's capitals I had visited: it's safer, cleaner, saner, etc. You can tell right away that Costa Rica is definitely better off than its neighbors up north. You see, Costa Rica has benefited from a cunning long-term tourism program based on the so-called eco-tourism, which means they are protecting, funding and baby-sitting their natural parks in order to allure tourists into the area (and charge them up with dear entrance fees!). I heard that Costa Rica is the world's leading country as far as protected land per square meter. Indeed, a high percentage of the national territory has been declared a biosphere reserve and thus no construction activity can take place within the boundaries. This has allowed Costa Rica to remain as one of the uttermost eco-diverse countries in the world and legions of tourists, biologists and nature-nerds come in droves all year round. Of course, the incipient tourism industry pouring and beating the land on daily basis is reflecting its negative impact upon the beloved environment, but Costa Rica government is trying to re-act by capping the number of visitors per day, banning tent-camping, etc. Good for them.

Alright, San Jose. Yeah well, I spent just a couple of days in San Jose. There's not much to see here despite of what I said above: it's just a functional city lacking on highlights. ...