And can I tell one Costa Rican story with a kitchen element to it: I was travelling in Guanacaste with my husband, he was driving and hit a large iguana. I had heard they were good to eat, so I told him to stop, turn around, and go back for it. At first he didn't believe, me, so it took some persuading. But by the time we returned to the site, we saw a kid running off into the brush, carrying the iguana. The stories that they are good to eat must be true!
Wow, this brings back memories. I lived in CR from 1985-1988 supervising a group of Peace Corps Volunteers working on "tourism development" ( I had previously been a Peace Corps Volunteer myself in Ecuador). This group was doing things like trying to get cruise ships to visit Limon, and creating infrastructure to support tourism. Since then, I have harbored many doubts about the sustainability of our work, as suggested by the questions in your article. And as documented, eg. in this article https://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/Wildlife/2008/0417/costa-rica-sees-tourisms-environmental-dark-side but overall, seems significantly "cleaner" than extractive (oil, gas, mining) or exploitative (sugar, banana plantations) industry in Central America. Back when I lived there, Costa Rica advertised itself as "the Switzerland of Central America"; we attributed their good luck in escaping the dictatorial horrors of Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala to the lack of any specific minerals and relatively low native population numbers and for sure they didn't spend a lot on military because the US had their back (and illegal political/ military operations, see: Iran-Contra). Anyway, I appreciate your thoughtful approach and willingness to gain a larger perspective as you travel. Good practice for all of us.
And can I tell one Costa Rican story with a kitchen element to it: I was travelling in Guanacaste with my husband, he was driving and hit a large iguana. I had heard they were good to eat, so I told him to stop, turn around, and go back for it. At first he didn't believe, me, so it took some persuading. But by the time we returned to the site, we saw a kid running off into the brush, carrying the iguana. The stories that they are good to eat must be true!
Wow, this brings back memories. I lived in CR from 1985-1988 supervising a group of Peace Corps Volunteers working on "tourism development" ( I had previously been a Peace Corps Volunteer myself in Ecuador). This group was doing things like trying to get cruise ships to visit Limon, and creating infrastructure to support tourism. Since then, I have harbored many doubts about the sustainability of our work, as suggested by the questions in your article. And as documented, eg. in this article https://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/Wildlife/2008/0417/costa-rica-sees-tourisms-environmental-dark-side but overall, seems significantly "cleaner" than extractive (oil, gas, mining) or exploitative (sugar, banana plantations) industry in Central America. Back when I lived there, Costa Rica advertised itself as "the Switzerland of Central America"; we attributed their good luck in escaping the dictatorial horrors of Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala to the lack of any specific minerals and relatively low native population numbers and for sure they didn't spend a lot on military because the US had their back (and illegal political/ military operations, see: Iran-Contra). Anyway, I appreciate your thoughtful approach and willingness to gain a larger perspective as you travel. Good practice for all of us.