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Comment by Kat Morgenstern on February 23, 2010 at 10:09am

I don't know about Playa Grande but I just read recently that there was a massive arribada, I think in Nicoya peninsula - I forgot the exact location, but probably still have the reference somewhere if I start digging. Maybe the turtles just went somewhere else? I know supposedly they return exactly to the beach where they hatched, but, maybe evolution is not that fixed? Galapagos sea-lions hithero only found in the Galapagos islands recently emigrated to northern Peru as waters have become warmer there - mostly likely also due to global warming.

Comment by David Paul Appell on November 14, 2009 at 7:24pm

A sad note re Guanacaste's Playa Grande in today's NY Times:

"...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...

Comment by David Paul Appell on November 4, 2009 at 9:02am

I just came across a fascinating item in Americas Quarterly about the resignation of Costa Rica's Transportation and Public Works Minister because of a bridge collapse over the Central Pacific zone's Tarcoles River that killed 5 people. I have long said -- and pointed out in my book Pauline Frommer's Costa Rica -- that the country's roads and bridges are a disgrace due to blatant negligence and for all I know pocket-lining of highway funds. The last time I crossed the bridge into Quepos -- also in the Central Pacific zone and part of one of the country's foremost and best-known tourist resort areas, for god's sake -- it was a white-knuckle experience. Hopefully this may be a wake up call. As this piece points out:

"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."

Comment by EnLinea Media on October 15, 2009 at 10:21am

Costa Rica again make's Tripatini's home page, with our Spotlight on Finca Luna Nueva eco-lodge in the rainforested highlands near Arenal and La Fortuna. After this week, you can find it in our Spotlight Archive, and for latest developments you may want to also check member Robin Jones' dedicated Finca Luna Nueva group.

Comment by EnLinea Media on October 9, 2009 at 7:06pm

For those Tequicia fans who haven't already caught it, check out this week's "Top Tune from Around the Planet": the mellow, melodic "Boceto para Esperanza" from the Costa Rican group Malpaís; after this week, you can still enjoy it in our music archive.

Comment by Lise Tyrrell on September 24, 2009 at 6:49pm

I'm not surprised to hear that about Costa Rica but it's nice to get it confirmed! I run http://www.eco-tropicalresorts.com and have many lodges in Costa Rica and think at some point I may relocate therre.

Comment by David Paul Appell on September 24, 2009 at 4:57pm

Ever heard of the "Happy Planet Index"? It's an international organization backed by Friends of the Earth and the World Development Movement, that tracks 143 countries according to environmental health and resource use for the benefit of both their citizens and the earth. It doesn't purport to identify the world's happiest nationalities per se (that would currently be the Danes, from what I hear), but the balance between the well-being of a country's people and their environment.

That said, this year's winner: Costa Rica! And I quote: "Costa Ricans report the highest life satisfaction in the world, have the second-highest average life expectancy of the Americas (second only to Canada) and have an ecological footprint that means that the country only narrowly fails to achieve the goal of ‘one-planet living’: consuming its fair share of the Earth’s natural resources."

My connection to Costa Rica goes back to elementary school, and I've long known that this is a very special country -- far from perfect, of course, but according to some measures it even puts the U.S. to shame. I'm looking forward to sharing more (and learning more from others) about this remarkable little country on go-lo.

Comment by David Paul Appell on July 24, 2009 at 2:10pm

Check out my blog talk radio interview on Costa Rica, just posted today at www.walletpop.com/blog/2009/07/23/go-for-less-costa-rica!

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