It's truly remarkable how much this small Central American country packs in, from shimmering beaches to live volcanoes to mysterious cloud forests. Despite pockets of overdevelopment, it's still an eco-tourism wonder. As they say in CR, "pura vida!"
12 Terrific Eco/Adventure Experiences in Costa Rica
Matthew Paulsen Beginning in the 1990s, this small Central American country essentially pioneered the ecotourism boom that has spread across the globe. Besides its vaunted Pacific and Caribbean beaches, packed into just 19,730 square miles - a good bit smaller than West Virginia and a bit over twice the size of Wales - Costa Rica boasts 29 national parks, 19 wildlife refuges, eight biological reserves, and an additional slew of protected areas. And here are a dozen of its most prized eco…
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"...haphazard development, in tandem with warmer temperatures and rising seas that many scientists link to global warming, have vastly diminished the Pacific turtle population.
On a beach where dozens of turtles used to nest on a given night, scientists spied only 32 leatherbacks all of last year. With leatherbacks threatened with extinction, Playa Grande’s expansive turtle museum was abandoned three years ago and now sits amid a sea of weeds. And the beachside ticket booth for turtle tours was washed away by a high tide in September.
'We do not promote this as a turtle tourism destination anymore because we realize there are far too few turtles to please' said Álvaro Fonseca, a park ranger."
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/14/science/earth/14turtles.html?_r=1...
"The World Economic Forum recently cited shoddy infrastructure as one of the few wrenches in the system that has softened Costa Rica’s competitive edge. In the bridge collapse, roadway officials had heard experts’ warnings years ago and might even have had funds set aside to prevent the bridge's inevitable collapse. The problem: slow-paced bureaucracy—another notorious wrench in Costa Rica—got in the way."
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