The RIU Resort Guanacaste Costa Rica

Image by colros via FlickrI happen to be not a huge fan of all-inclusive resorts. After moving down to Costa Rica and becoming a bit more involved with the environment and the simplicity of how many of the families live in the rural areas I have a little different view on all-inclusive resorts. Although I can't say the same for everyone.

There is a new large all-inclusive resort in Guanacaste and the one good thing about it is that it is about 6 hours from San Jose. It is called RIU Resort which means I dont have to drive by it on my daily commute. I happen to feel Costa Rica is not a country that really needs all inclusive resorts. It just doesnt make sense for the vibe of the country.

I was reading this one honeymooners blog on his visit to the RIU resort which you can read here and I love the part where he says it is a cruise ship that never leaves port. Well that is good to know considering cruise ships are the single most largest polluting peices of junk to our oceans we have (except for BP I guess). So I guess if you absolutely have to stuff your face for 24 hours then an all-inclusive is better than a cruise. 

My point is if you are coming to Costa Rica there is so much to do and you are missing so much. I always here the excuse its our first time, we dont know Spanish,  drinks and food is whats really important to us. Well if that is whats important they save yourself a few hundred bucks and drive down the street to the  Waffle House with a bottle of Whiskey in your coat because they run 24 hours. But if you want to experience Costa Rica for what it really is get out and meat the people and the places. Pump your smiles and dollars into the part of the country it should be going!

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2,000 Trash Cans

Image via Wikipedia Costa Rica is doing the best it can to clean up litter in the country. San Jose, the capital, is installing 2,000 new trash recepticals in the city. They wil be near parks and bus stops. City Hall says that there is no excuse for litter.

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No, Not my Address!

Image via Wikipedia The one thing you do not want to hear in Costa Rica is the question: “What’s your address?”

Addresses in Costa Rica are basically the directions to your house. Giving someone your address is like writing an essay. For example, my address is San Jose de la Montana, the main road out of Barva, 200 meters before the church, on the right, with the wooden gate. That is what you write on the envelope of you letter, in Spanish. Other addresses are even more involved than that. A couple that Mary and I met at immigration started to give us their address on the back of an envelope. They ran out of paper. We settled for their phone number.

We moved recently, and I do not even know my new address. It has something to do with so many meters passed the two bars and around the bend, the first right. That’s why I got a P.O. Box.

However, this address system, as convoluted as it sounds, is amazingly efficient. I have had to find several people using this address method, and I always found them without a problem. If you can’t find them, then all you have to do is ask once you have gone as far as the address will take you. It seems like all the people in Costa Rica know one another. They even know me, and I do not speak the language very well. An American friend of mine could not quite get to my house using my address. So after he got to my village, he stopped in the grocery store, which also serves as a welcome center, and asked if anyone knew me.

“Si, he is the gringo hombre,” the clerk replied. “He lives back there.”

San Jose, the capitol, is going to spend over a million dollars to put numbers on streets and houses. Taxi drivers love the idea, but will it work for the general public? I’m not so sure. I still think people are going to say, “I live a hundred meters past the Shell station on the right, next to the Dairy Queen.”

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Ticos Don't Want a Gold Mine !

Image via Wikipedia Up by the Nicaraguan border in Costa Rica, a Canadian company works the Crucitas gold mine. The problem is that 80% of the Costa Rican people are against the gold mine. Why? It is an open mining project, and it is wreaking havoc on the environment, and don’t forget this is a very ecologically conscious country. They are proud of their natural beauty. The gold mine is destroying trees, scattering wildlife and making a general mess. The previous president Oscar Arias permitted the mining. Now people want the sitting president, Laura Chinchilla, to stop it.

Opponents of the gold mine are pushing the president to close the mine. Protesters walked from San Jose, the capitol, to the gold mine by the Nicaraguan border. In good conditions this is a five hour drive. To walk it is quite a feat. In mid-July the group handed Chinchilla a written request to close the mine. Chinchilla said in a press conference that she would “analyze” the decree. It was later decided to leave the future of the mine in the hands of the Judicial branch of government. They will decide on the legality of the decree issued by former president Arias, permitting the mine.

This shows three things about Costa Rica. One, they are really serious about the environment. Two, this is a true democracy, where people can disagree, protest and demand. Three, Costa Rica is truly a land of peace. Everything is done without fighting, mayhem and most of the time without raised voices.