then and now
COOL Buckduck! Thanks for sharing. The Costa Rica you describe is of the beauty everywhere and the really great people. You can count on that.
I lived there for a year, back in 90/91. I remember then thinking, "Wow, I'm seeing this place before it's gotten too Americanized". I took Elizabeth back there ten years later and lo and behold, it had gotten WAY more Americanized; a lot more paved roads (a good thing) a lot more vehicles on those roads (not so much a good thing). San Jose had a Lowe's and a LOT more Ticos (Costa Ricans) spoke better degrees of English. It helps to know some Spanish, but honestly, Spanish is truly unnecessary anymore.
After Costa Rica harvested most of the country's trees (60's 70's), the tree huggers came in by the hoards going "Save the Rainforests!" (this is good). There were still a lot of more remote areas where virgin rainforest still existed, and protection status got applied to all kinds of places. Now with no logging profits, they had to do something. EcoTourism was born. I think the Costa Rican govt. was surprised that people from around the world would come there just to hike in their woods, but tourists brought money, and the number of them kept increasing.
Through the 70's 80's and 90's there was a solid infrastructure put in place to accomodate ever-increasing numbers of touristas, everything from intercountry plane flights, more taxis, and of course, lodging and accomodations, better language skills and of course, fun stuff to do.
Now, there's LOTS of fun stuff to do and lots of places to stay and lots of ways to get around. Tourism saved Costa Rica. Today is the result of 30 years of 'shift' so the country can show themselves off in their best light. I think it's just remarkable. As long as you go there, smile a lot and have a true, authentic respect for the people, you will have the best time of your life.
And the beer is good.