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| Costa Rican tastes and customs
have been enriched by Caribbean and Mexican
cultures. |
| Courtesy ICT |
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| The Tortuguero region is
an oasis of flora, fauna and opportunity. |
| Courtesy ICT |
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| With Costa Rica Treasures
tours, the Tortuguero region is explored by
boat. |
| Courtesy Sergio Pucci
Photos |
“If you want to do business in tourism in Costa
Rica, the way to go forward is to find new ideas,
which often means new destinations,” says Sonia
Rojas, owner of a new travel agency Costa Rica Treasures.
Although based in San José, Costa Rica Treasures
is not limited by geographical boundaries.
Rojas goes on to say that Costa Rica is one of the
most biologically diverse countries in the world –
a treasure of flora and fauna, a natural wonderland
of tropical forests, scenic rivers, exotic animals,
secluded beaches, picturesque mountains and awesome
volcanoes. However, what has not been exploited, according
to her, is the richness of culture and togetherness
in Central America.
This is why her offer to anyone, wanting to explore
a bit more of the history and culture of Central America
is to combine the Costa Rican Caribbean with the Panamanian
archipelago, Bocas del Toro.
What Ms. Rojas does is to organize everything from
the beginning to the end. If necessary she picks you
up at the airport, where your journey begins. There
are two types of packages: five-day and nine-day.
In the nine-day package, the first two nights are
spent at the beautiful Pachira Lodge in Tortuguero,
where, depending on the season, a night’s turtle-
watching can be organized. This is also an area where
dozens of multiple canals form a small Costa Rican
Amazon, to be experienced by boat.
From Tortuguero, in the northern part of Costa Rica,
the package continues south to the Puerto Viejo area,
which is the other very popular destination for those
longing for Caribbean music, dancing and fine food.
A night is spent at Cariblue hotel, whose créme
caramel is to die for!
Day five, one of the most interesting and beautiful
borders in the world is crossed: Sixaola is a Costa
Rican border town, which is separated from Panama
only by a bridge. However, no hassle is to be feared
as Costa Rica Treasures has taken care of all the
paperwork before reaching this point.
On the other side of the border the journey continues
by private taxi and boat, which finally takes you
to the hotel. There are a multitude of choices. The
Hotel Bahia is a historic building and one of the
oldest in the town. It used to serve as the headquarters
of the United Fruit Company. In the hotel’s reception
room one can still see a huge safe that once belonged
to the UFC. The Bahia offers the lowest cost, but
the richest cultural experience. For those looking
for total privacy and luxury, an option is Punta Caracol
Hotel. Here you can book one of five villas built
along the water’s edge.
Bocas del Toro is considered historic for many reasons:
The UFC had its headquarters, as well as its banana
plantations, in Bocas del Toro. Moreover, long before
the banana became a commercial product, Columbus discovered
the region and called it Bocas del Toro. If you look
at a map, there are two Bocas (mouths) – one
of a Dragon and one of a Bull. The Dragon is the one
through which he first attempted to enter this beautiful,
white beached, palm treed archipelago, and the Toro
is the one where he actually managed to sail on in.
Once in the Bocas del Toro, a visitor can dive, snorkel,
visit national as well as marine parks, a turtle nesting
beach, and a mangrove forest, or simply enjoy Caribbean
relaxation under hundreds of palm trees.
The journey finishes in San José either by
car or, once the flight path from San José
to Bocas del Toros is opened, by plane.
As a pioneer in this type of combination package,
Rojas is looking forward to combining Costa Rica with
Nicaragua in the north. The options are endless, and
certainly as the transportation infrastructure improves
it will become easier and cheaper for tour operators
and agencies to offer most anything. Moreover, in
this time of globalization, tourism can also become
a major stabilizer in countries since it provides
income and opportunity to areas that have not necessarily
always been the first priority of governments. At
least the reception of this kind of tourism in the
Costa Rican Caribbean has been very positive. |
