Costa Rica at a Crossroads in Tourism Development

When you leave North America on a trip to Central America you leave the cold weather behind, and that’s always nice, but you have to leave many of your expectations there as well.

It’s a good idea to forget what you have come to expect at home, and to take life in stride here in small bites.

Life in North America is based on consumerism, speed, and efficiency. Working people rush from place to place every day in an effort to keep up. There’s a lot of pressure on people to meet the needs of others, so it becomes a vicious circle. Everyone goes flat out. The benefits of such an economic system are that deadlines are met and work is accomplished.

Here in Costa Rica the priorities of the local people are at odds with the expectations of the main industry, the tourism industry that is the largest contributor to GDP and brings millions of dollars of revenue into the country each year.

However, the tourism companies, especially the big ones, are having to build their own infrastructure such as roads, just so their clients can have access to their hotels and condominiums.

In Playa del Coco, for example, the ‘Pacifico’ chain paved a two-mile stretch of road from the downtown to their beachfront facility. This project also has a huge residual benefit since a large subdivision of condominiums; their owners, tenants and the local workmen use the newly paved road every day.

However, the abundant development in this area is not being controlled by the municipality and the locals, but by the developers, whose main purpose is to exploit an area and to produce profits. We’ve seen the Caribbean islands deal with unplanned tourism, and local people have watched hopelessly as most of the profits left the islands, with their environments have been irreparably destroyed. Now it’s happening here in Costa Rica.

Basically, you have a lot of local people living in dirt floor, shanty-type houses that are thrown together. Some are situated next to the tourism projects. These people have lived in Costa Rica for generations, but they have now been marginalized.

They are promised jobs in the tourism industry, and it’s true that many of them do benefit, but I think that the people of the country are, deep down, resisting the Americanization of their country.

Their resistance is passive in many ways. It’s not what they do or say, but it’s what they don’t do and they don’t say.

Costa Ricans, or Ticos, are known for their friendly manner and their distaste for disagreement or arguments. They are basically friendly people, easy to get along with and congenial.

As you walk the streets of “El Coco” and surroundings you see the contradictions and the shortcomings.

You see million dollar condos and hotels, some with a panoramic view of the ocean, complete with 24 hour security, elaborate gardens, fenced perimeters, swimming pools, casinos, fancy restaurants and much more.

However, in center town and along the beach, there is garbage everywhere, the storefronts are shabby and tacky, the sidewalks are poorly planned and inconsistently paved, and the shoulders of the road become a sea of mud in the rainy season. Yet the local people seem oblivious to the optics.

The banking system of a country is usually an indicator of the efficiencies you can expect. In the one and only bank in El Coco, the Bank of Costa Rica, the 1500 square foot building has routine lineups of 30 to 40 people waiting for service. There is a ticket machine and you pick a number. Plan on spending the better part of the morning if you need banking services.

As for the bank machine outside, even though it displays the PLUS sign on its booth, we find that neither of us can use our bankcard here. This is the same card I used in Phoenix, Arizona in 1987 to withdraw funds from my bank. It is now 2007 and I can’t withdraw money here. You have to ask, why not?

However, despite these differences between the Americas, it’s important to understand the Ticos’ resistance to change. Part of their psyche wants the change, because they have been brainwashed to think that everything that goes on in Europe and the U.S and Canada will lead to a better life, a richer life, one in which people spend most of their time chasing commodities, buying the latest cell phone or the latest SUV or large screen television set.

But I think another part of the Costa Rican psyche is resisting these changes, and prefers a simpler life, one with fresh food without preservatives and aspartame, clean, unpolluted air, and pleasant sunshine. The meat and fish are fresh, fruit and vegetables are locally grown and we eat better and healthier than in Canada.

So, as we approach Christmas there will be no Walmart, no McDonalds, no Costco, no Christmas tree and no presents for us.

We’ve decided to save the $1,000 per person that CBC says we would be spending on each other in Canada for Christmas, and use that money to experience and learn a little more about Central America.

Comments

[Leslie]

I love your blog. I detest blogs but yours is critical and full of experience. Keep talking, speaking, writing and living.

By the way, I found it via globalresearch.ca email newsletter that I now receive.

Love,
Leslie