Define "Tourism" Please
She says: “Honey, where should we go this year?”
He says: “Oh, I don’t know, the South of France was sure nice last year”
She says: “Yeah, and the year before that the kids got a real kick out of Disney world.”
He says: “Whattaya think about maybe Cancun, or Rio? Some place tropical?”
She says: “Yeah, that sounds good. What was the name of that little place on the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica that the Wellingfordbreaths went to last year? They loved it… Dominican… no.. that’s that island. Oh, I remember, Dominical. How ’bout there?”
He says: “Huh?”
That Dominical Costa Rica, and its surrounding areas, Uvita, Ojochal, Matapalo etc… would even be mentioned in such a conversation, is a huge indicator of the change that is going on in the Southern Pacific Zone of Costa Rica. The word is out: Its pretty darn cool there… well “here” from this writer’s perspective. This is an extraordinary part of the world and tourism is kicking in with a vengeance. But, it isn’t “tourism” as one might think.
Dominical features beaches, and perfect tropical weather. The mountains come right down to the ocean from just north of Dominical to Uvita. The country itself is so tiny that there are spots in the center of the country where a really good spitter can hit both oceans by simply turning 180 degrees (hyperbolic authoric license), meaning that there is all kinds of ocean breezy climate going on here. It is a wonder to be so close to the equator and be able to live without air conditioning.
So what is “tourism” like in Dominical? Well as much as it seems to want to be, and with as much pressure as the developers are putting on to it to be your normal fare tourism, it isn’t. Whats normal? Well, normal is defined by what so many people arrive here looking for. Chaise lounges on the beach with waiters in attendance. A golf course. A big hotel that offers all of the amenities, including child care.
Dominical just isn’t so.
I remember when I first visited Costa Rica in ‘98, I was amazed at how far off the beaten path one could get and still find some kind of little business. We got lost one time, consequently I have no idea where we were. But there we were and we stumbled upon a lone Tico shack that was painted in an amazing fashion. Reds, yellows, blues and greens. We found it most appealing. Come to find out that it was a little Bed & Breakfast that wasn’t cheap. It was right on the water though and to stay there would have been therapy at its finest.
Anywhere else in the world that I have been the big 3 prevailing factors for a successful commercial endeavor were, as we all know: location, location location. Costa Rica seems to defy this. When you make a reservation on the web for your accommodations here in the coastal region around Dominical/Uvita, you may be making plans to 4 wheel drive up to a screaming ocean view vacation rental where you just might decide you don’t need to go anywhere for the duration of your visit. The activity here is the place where you are staying. If you get up and sit on the deck looking out over the Pacific, and you enjoy a cup of coffee with your family and friends, the conversation oftentimes goes until lunch time. This was our experience as a family when we first arrived. No TV, no nearby mall, so whadaya do? Converse. We noticed that our time conversing went way up. Some say that this is good for a family, couple, or even friends. I don’t know about these things but I know that some people say that.
Anyway, it seems that there is an awful lot of interest in quieting down. The Ticos say “tranquilo” when someone appears concerned about something. They are the masters of being “tranquil”. This quality is truly important to the people that live in this country, and it seems to pervade the air, resulting in an agreeable affect on us when we get here.
I have written about how the changed perspective of living here in Costa Rica makes it interesting to visit the States. The article about “The Wall” details an exercise that I like to do when first entering the US. Life in the US is media saturated. To get out of that is, well, therapeutic. It seems like right at about day 4 of being in Costa Rica, the mind stops considering what the left is doing to the right, and if Tom Cruise is really going to get married and if Brittaney’s boobs are real, and we start to think purely about what we want to think about. This too, is an agreeable experience. I think that this is what “tourism” is all about in our area of Costa Rica.
There are an awful lot of creative minds moving into the Domincal / Uvita area. The creativity is seen mainly in
how to move here and live here. Setting up a B & B or some villas is a common strategy, and it is frequently accompanied by: massage, meditation, yoga, and exercise of some sort. Selva Y Mar is an example of this. This is a far cry from a chaise lounge on the beach.
We are hoping that “tourism” can be effectively defined here, a la Dominical / Uvita / Ojochal before the typical definitions of the word are able to take hold. So far there are no big hotels and the beaches are wide open for a quiet walk and talk with a friend. The topography of the area helps quite a bit. As much pressure as there is to put a golf course in, and Lord knows this would help “tourism” sooo much here, it is nearly impossible, thanks to the radical rise and fall of the terrain.
Tourism in Dominical is a time to quiet the soul, to see how one feels about one’s own company, to quiet that internal dialogue that has, in many cases, been augmented artificially by intelligent marketing efforts of big money making concerns on Planet Earth. Of course, there are those of us who simply have a blaring internal chatter going on naturally, no matter what. But to stand on a beautiful beach, with maybe 5 other people visible as far as the eye can see, and to watch a stunning sunset, and to consider what is all about; this is tourism. Or to sit alongside a waterfall tucked back and up in the jungles along the mountains of this pacific coast, we can see how we do with quiet.
Tourism re-defined. Give it a try.
