Blogs
I made a guess some years ago that turned out to be true - the Dominical Costa Rica area was bound for big changes.
I was swimming in a pool at the base of a waterfall talking with a gentleman that I met there about his plans to develop the area. I wasn't sure what my personal feelings were about the plans I heard about that day, but I recognized that changes were in the wind.
I had built a number of successful websites at that point for some of the area merchants: Hacienda Baru a shining example of eco-tourism and reforestation featuring rain forest zip line tours, among other jungle related activities. Also, Green Iguana Surf Camp which went on to become the most successful surf related business in Dominical for years. Green Iguana enjoyed being not only top dog on the surf camp scene but the only surf camp on the scene for years. It has been joined by numerous other surf camps and learn-to-surf efforts over the recent years.
How to get your page on Uvita.biz:
-
Check out the rates table below. Ok, just kidding, currently there is no charge.
-
Register and send us your user name.
-
Send us about 8 photos that you would like to post.
-
Send us the content describing your product or service.
-
If you are a lodgings provider, send your prices. If you have different prices for different times of the year, send them organized as such. Restaurants can post their menu to the site.
Once we've received your info, we'll send you the e-mail address where you can send the photos and information.
We'll take care of the rest.
Thanks for reading.
Ben & Adriana - The Uvita Dot Biz Team
I just stumbled on an article over at CNN's Money section that says that Costa Rica is the place to go right now. The dollar goes a long way. Check it out. Its hard to say what the effect is going to be on Costa Rica, but the global economic conditions might actually stimulate things around here a little bit. I'm not making any projections. In fact, I'd like to defer to the response that I see the TV commentator using quite a lot: "we'll see". The dollar is currently worth about 560 colones here. The expats in the country are feeling some relief from this exchange rate.
I found a recent article in the Costa Rican national newspaper that discussed the current state of the “Bumpy Road” north of Dominical. It was so detailed and specific with date projections that I thought it might be a benefit to readers of my blog to translate and paraphrase it here. My analysis should be unique enough that I haven’t asked permission from La Nacion, but the attribution is inherent in the above disclosure. Their website is www.nacion.com. (Click here for the smaller English version.)
The article was dated Wednesday October 19, 2008: “The minister of Public Works and Transportation, Karla Gonzales, declared before neighbors of Quepos ‘In October of 2009, the Southern Coastal Highway (la Costanera Sur) will be ready’”
It was interesting to find this article when I did because I was sitting in my favorite Sushi restaurant in San José, when I found the article. I had to come up the coast since the Pan American route had been experiencing periodic shut downs due to landslides. I don’t like driving up the coast primarily due to the 25 mile stretch between Dominical and Quepos. It is hard on the car and my temperament.
Pretty catchy title, right?. We all know that it doesn’t snow in Costa Rica. But remember that movie about the Jamaican bobsled team? This is exactly the same kind of thing, well in a remote sort of way it's almost the same thing.
I am sitting in my house in San Isidro. I came up here on Tuesday, it is presently Friday. I had intended to go back home to the coast on Wednesday. I have been unable to return home. The reason? Well, now therein lies the crux of this article. The impediments to me getting back home have been every bit as diverse and non-negotiable as though I were snowed in, just like the good ole days, back in my pre-Costa Rican life in Colorado.
My trip to San Isidro was motivated by my need to get my car’s technical revision (Riteve) made current, as well as some documents that I needed to sign at the lawyers for a new corporation for my Internet company. No problem. I figured I’d take care of those items and then get out to my house, which is just on the Dominical side of San Isidro. There is a screaming broadband Internet connection there that isn’t satellite based, so it seems to work all the time, well… almost.
Uvita Costa Rica, where my office is located, is exploding. In the last year we have seen changes in this little coastal town that now has a smooth, pot hole-less highway running through it. Huge changes - nay, massive… what would the word be – revolutionary? One year ago we had no banks in Uvita: we now have two with a third on the way. One year ago we had two small neighborhood groceries; we now have three major ones, fluorescent lights, grocery carts and all. I went to a PDGD (pretty darn good dentist) here in Uvita the other day. I guess I should say PPDGD since she is pretty to boot. I needed a front tooth fixed cosmetically and she did a PDGJ. I used to think that I would have to travel to San Jose for such service, and in fact I/we have made numerous trips to San Jose when my kids had braces.
There is a golf course going in down the way, there are new hotels, cabinas, restaurants, tour companies, storage facilities, car washes and businesses of all types going in all around. In real estate companies we’ve got six in Uvita that I can think of off hand.
Part I of III
Part II || Part III
Actually, I’d just as soon not talk about it. It's a bit embarrassing. There may be a catharsis in the telling, and perhaps a description of the journey that preceded the "Dumb Thing" will be useful to those interested in Costa Rica as a vacation spot, or as a place to live. So, I'll tell the tale, but you, dear reader, are going to have to get to the end to discover the really dumb thing.
My daughter recently graduated from the highly acclaimed school of massage up in Samara, Guanacaste Province, Costa Rica. 4 months of super-intensive schooling in anatomy and the various techniques for massaging that anatomy, all of which culminated in a graduation ceremony in a very remote, seaside resort just south of Samara called Punta Islita. I set off from Uvita, which is south of Dominical by about 12 minutes, and south of Manuel Antonio by about an hour and forty five minutes, and south of Samara by about 6 hours, just so you can get your orientation.
Part III of III
If you are just finding these articles, this is Part III of III. You might want to start the series by clicking the following links: Part I || Part II
After sitting there for awhile in that post-terror state, I decided to walk around. Opening the door I stepped down into the water and found that it came up to just above my knee. My cell phone has a flash light in it, so I put that on and began to walk upstream. The night was gorgeous. Now that I was away from the lights of the car, the blackness seemed to lift slightly and there was a glow from the sliver moon, and the countless stars. Then I had my second scariest moment, but this one was entirely from the contents of my mind.
Part II of III
If you're starting here, you might want to read Part I first . Click here for Part I :: Click here for Part III
The next pause in my trip was to drive through Jaco.I wanted just to see it. We used to vacation in Jaco as a family, years ago, when it was a sleepy surf town. There was a bit of a buzz there that certainly was not felt in San Isidro de Perez Zeledon, where we lived, so it was a nice change of pace for us.I had heard that I wouldn’t recognize it. And this proved to be true. There are high rise hotels going in on the beach, and there are various malls and shops of every type. If what we experienced in the good ole days of Jaco was a buzz of activity, then what we’ve got there now is a full blown brass band on crack. The main drag was awash in tourists meandering about, shopping, and enjoying the hot weather that Jaco is famous for.And here is where we start about the dumb thing.
2/21/07
As I fly out of the San Jose airport, headed for the States again for another visit to Mom, I find myself in those rare and exciting moments sitting in my row on my flight as the passengers are getting on board. Its a full flight, or nearly so, and I'm sitting in a row, window seat, with no one sitting next to me. I've got the whole row to myself! People are still loading, and so I'm just not sure if maybe, just maybe, I am going to get the whole row to myself. But then... they come along and there goes that.
I think sometimes about the dread travel experience that is so characterized in movies and how it is when the guy (or gal) that gets assigned the seat next to you turns out to be a horrible bore, or they just want to talk talk the whole way and all you wanted to do was get some uncommitted quiet time on the plane. I think that I have narrowly missed a couple such encounters but was saved by a movie or iPod or some other thing that I could use as a distraction. Sometimes I get to thinking though that maybe I'm one of those people. It can happen on occasion that do I get to talking a bit. I know, for those of you that know me that is hard to believe. But, it's true, it can happen.
