Travel Blog Costa Rica

Costa Rica situated on the Central American isthmus between Nicaragua in the north and Panama in the south is a very remarkable country. The overwhelming rainforests, its sustainable development, astounding biodiversity and friendly people make it a very attractive holiday destination that has many attractions to offer. The friendly nature of its people is crafted by the intriguing pre-Colombian and more recent history. Starting off in pre-Colombian times the entire people of Costa Rica consisted of a wide range of interacting Indigenous tribes. After Columbus (Colon in Spanish) landed on the Caribbean beaches of Limon, things started to change gradually. The Indigenous tribes were pacified after their surrender and today Indians form only a meagre one percent of the entire population. When you compare the people of Costa Rica to those of other countries in Latin America it is very homogeneous. More than ninety-seven percent of the people is a mixture of native Indians and Spanish, the colonists and conquerors of Costa Rica. People with this mixture of blood are called ‘Mestizos’. Since the balance of the mixture tilts towards the European side, most people have a relatively white skin colour. After a contract was given away by the Costa Rican government in 1871 to construct the railroad from San Jose to Limon, they needed more people to work on it than there were available in Costa Rica. In the last three decades of the 19th century Afro-Caribbean people were recruited off the Caribbean islands such as Jamaica. Mostly settling in the Province of Limon, these people give the towns of Limon, Cahuita, Puerto Viejo and Manzanillo its famous Caribbean flavour. Afro-Caribbean people add up to two percent of the entire population. The indigenous people have taken the biggest hits during the economic development and only in 1977 a bill was signed to establish indigenous reserves. They had to wait till 1994 to get the right to vote. Today six Indigenous tribes survived living in twenty-two reserves distributed all over Costa Rica. How many people in total live in Costa Rica is not certain. Probably there are over three million people, but the flow of illegal immigrants, mainly from Nicaragua, cloud the statistics. The people of Costa Rica are peaceful, there hardly have been conflicts that needed to be settled by armed forces, so Costa Rica could afford the luxury to abolish the army in 1948. Compared to other Central American countries Costa Rica has a progressive social program, upholding minimum wages and a social security system, that created a huge middle class. Since education is free, illiteracy is low. With reason the people of Costa Rica are proud of their achievements which reflects in a enthusiastic form of patriotism, showing the Costa Rican flag, from bumper stickers to buildings and homes.

In the Central Valley in the Province of Cartago, no more than 20 kilometres from the town of Turrialba you find one of Costa Rica’s most impressive pre-Colombian archaeological sites: the National Monument of Guayabo. The 218 hectares of the site of Guayabo became a national protected area in 1973 and is one of the most important and largest site in Costa Rica where you can see historic remains of the once dominant Indigenous culture that inhabited the region from the Province of Alajuela in the North all the way to Colombia, Venezuela and parts of Ecuador. The site of Guayabo has been populated for more than 2,400 years during the period of 1,000 before Christ to 1,400 AD. During those 24 centuries a number of constructions has been built in Guayabo; roads, aqueducts, water basins, statues, monoliths and stairs. The area of the archaeological site measures around 20 hectares and only a small part of it has been excavated. You will be in for some amazing discoveries. There are stone hills, with a circular foundation with a diameter between 10 and 30 metres and a height up to four and a half metre. Roads were built out of stone and also containe drainage channels used to collect and redirect rainwater. The network of roads in Guayabo stretches out for miles in different directions. Covered aqueducts would carry the water where needed and storage was provided by building rectangular storage tanks. Stone terraces with steps were constructed to overcome the distances in height of the site. On various stones you can find beautiful engravings. All the archaeological findings in Guayabo point in the direction of a highly developed Indigenous society like the Maya’s, Inca’s and Aztecs. It’s a pity that there is little known of the people who lived in the ancient city of Guayabo, because the site was abandoned for unknown reasons before the arrival of the Spanish conquerors in the 16th century. Although the most attractive aspect of visiting the National Monument of Guayabo are the historic reminders of an ancient culture, there is more to explore. The area around the site is an evergreen pre-mountain rainforest with a dense lush vegetation. Not only a perfect spot for bird watching, but it also contains a multitude of special botanic marvels. The artefacts that were found in Guayabo are now on display in the National Museum of Costa Rica in San Jose, 85 kilometres from the place were they were found. The small town of Santa Cruz, just outside the protected area of the National Monument of Guayabo is a perfect place to make stop. Not only on the visit to Guayabo, but also the close by National Park of Turrialba with the impressive volcano.

Resides the excellent coffee that is cultivated in the hills of the Central Valley around Heredia, Grecia, Atenas, Alajuela, Cartago, Sarchi and San Jose, there is another product considered to be black gold: cacao. Cacao is made from the seeds of the cacao tree with the scientific name of Theobroma cacao. This tree has a long history going back to pre-Colombian times. The cacao tree is native to Central America and the northern part of the continent of South America and the use of it seeds were known to the ancient Maya culture, who connected the ‘Ka kaw’ seeds with fertility. It is said that the word chocolate comes from the Indigenous Nahuatl word xoclatl, which is believed to be a combination of xocolli (bitter) and atl (water). Other scientists prefer the theory that it derives from a combination of the Mayan word chocol and the Aztec word atl (water) that was made up by the Spanish conquerors. Since most of these ancient sources have disappeared or are incomplete the controversy will go in scientific circles.It is said that the Mayans and Aztecs brewed a drink of cacao, mixed with vanilla, chili and pepper. The beans were so precious that they were used as a currency by the Aztecs. The Spanish conqueror Fernando Cortez was the first to bring a large quantity of cacao beans to Europe. From there the cacao trees were introduced to the east in Ceylon, Indonesia and Malaysia. On the American continent the cultivation of cacao spread to Brazil. Also in the horn of Africa cacao plantations were developed. The cacao seeds ripen inside the fruit, where fungus starts a fermentation process that raises the temperature in the fruit up to 50 degrees centigrade. The color of the bean changes from purple to brown and is ready to be harvested after five days and are sun dried to be ready to process or exported. It took centuries to refine the techniques of producing chocolate from cacao beans. Only in 1825 the Dutch cacao merchant Van Houten discovered the process to extract the grease from the beans and laid the foundation for the high quality chocolate we enjoy today. Nowadays in Costa Rica most cacao can be found on the planes of the Caribbean in the Province of Limon. Especially the Talamanca region has a high density of cacao cultivation. In the culture of the Bribri Indians cacao plays an important role, because a ceremonial drink is brewed from the beans. Coffee and chocolate have always been a very good combination and since Costa Rica produces both, there are many specialties for sale and to be savored. In the neighborhood of the little towns of Cahuita, Puerto Viejo and Manzanillo there are some organic chocolate producers who sell different flavored kinds of chocolate and show the process how it is made. Close to Bribri the original cacao taste can be experienced, because the Indigenous families have discovered that processing cacao on a small traditional and organic scale can generate a small income. It’s there that you can come close at it gets to the ancient tradition of cacao as it started with the Mayans and Aztecs.