Tamarindo: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

In 1999 I visited Tamarindo for a few days on a family vacation, and we all enjoyed it immensely.  Tamarindo is a beach town on the Pacific coast in the northwest part of Costa Rica, and is a popular surfing destination.  At that time it was a fairly quiet, surfing town that had a relaxed, close-knit community that encouraged a fair amount of tourism.  The beach was long and pristine, the people were friendly and talkative, and the town had a charming vibe.  With these fond memories in mind, we chose Tamarindo for our two-month stay in Costa Rica.

However, almost immediately upon arrival in Tamarindo, I could tell that it had changed a great deal.  For one, the town is now much bigger than it was before, and has lost essentially all of its charming small-town vibe.  We had not done much research, mistakenly trusting that little would have changed over the 11 years while I had been away.  We have since learned that it experienced a big boom in the early 2000s and grew up quickly.  While it is easy to focus on the negatives of Tamarindo, it has served us well in a lot of ways.  Here is my attempt to summarize the many aspects of life in Tamarindo.

The Good:

Tamarindo beach itself is very long and spacious, and allows us to find fairly quiet areas away from the more densely populated areas in front of the main hotels.  The surfing here is reliable and good for beginners, so we have been able to learn and practice.  Being in a developed town has also enabled us to have access to a lot of luxuries that we would not have otherwise, such as our gym membership, a nice, modern apartment, and a lot of restaurants, bars, and other stores.  The time Siobhan has spent working at the local pottery studio has been well-spent and enjoyable too, and would not have been possible in most other places.  Tamarindo also operates as a good base for renting a car and exploring a lot of the nearby attractions.

The Bad:

Without a doubt, the most disheartening (to us anyway) and all-encompassing feature of Tamarindo is its unyielding and uncompromising focus on tourism, particularly to Americans.  It no longer offers a traditional, authentic Costa Rican environment.  Examples of this include:  the numerous fast food chains and American-style restaurants, the fact that dollars are as common as colones (the Costa Rican currency), seeing NFL games in multiple bars, and hearing more English than Spanish.  Furthermore, we are constantly treated as outsiders and tourists.  It is impossible to walk down the main road without hearing "Taxi, Taxi" and we are repeatedly being offered souvenirs on the streets and on the beach.  It often feels that we are viewed by many of the locals as unending sources of money.

The Ugly:

Yes, I am sad to say that there is an ugly side to Tamarindo too, which goes beyond the bad.  To be fair, the ugly side is a product of tourism, money, and foreign visitors looking to party to the max.  This reality has attracted a lot of shady characters, including an ample supply of drug dealers and sexual predators.  Even so, it has not been too hard to separate ourselves from this sleazy underbelly when going out at night, we just have to use a little common sense.  The ugly side struck us personally in our last week in Tamarindo, when someone stole several of our things off of our balcony in the middle of the night.  The thieves took both of our hiking shoes, which was particularly painful, as well as both of my bathing suits, and some of my workout clothes.  It was an infuriating occurrence, and we will have to be more careful in the future.

In conclusion, it is hard to say whether or not we wish we had chosen a different location in Costa Rica.  Tamarindo has been a good home to us in a lot of ways, and we have certainly enjoyed our time here, but we feel as though we have only gotten to know the real Costa Rica on our trips outside of town.  We think that the perfect scenario may have been for us to have spent one month in Tamarindo, and our second month in a smaller, authentic town.  However, that would have been hard to juggle with my work, apartment rentals, and the moving and transportation.  In the end we have perfect weather on a daily basis, a beautiful beach, and plenty of fun things to occupy our time, so there is not too much to regret.

Montezuma's Revenge

After doing some research, Siobhan and I decided to take an overnight, weekend road trip to the beach town of Montezuma in the southern part of the Nicoya peninsula.  The distance according to Google Maps is a mere 112 miles (!) and is projected to take just under 2 1/2 hours.  Lies!  We rented a compact SUV with 4-wheel drive and set out on a Saturday morning with a fairly early start.  We did not know it at the time, but our choice to pay a little extra for an SUV over a car would turn out to be critically important.

About halfway to Montezuma we arrived at a small town called Jicaral, where we had a choice of a couple different roads that could ultimately lead us to our destination.  Foolishly ignoring the advice of a police officer, we went for the "more direct" inland route as opposed to traversing the coastal roads.  After a short time on the bumpy, partially-paved, pothole-ridden road, it quickly became apparent that we were in for a long journey.  This realization was compounded by the fact that the map we had was inaccurate, and that there were almost no road signs and a lot of unmarked forks in the road.  We finally got our bearings when we arrived at a beautiful, secluded beach, but simultaneously realized we still had a tough path to cross to reach our destination.

 

Leaving the beach, we headed inland again and were starting to feel like we were making good progress.  Next thing we knew, the SUV in front of us plunged into a two and a half foot deep, quickly flowing river and slowly made its way across to the other bank, a good 30 yards away!  We stood on the bank, stunned with mouths open, and began to process our predicament.  After watching another truck make it through (which offered to help tow us across for $20), and a moped, we decided to try it ourselves, despite the fact that doing so was not covered by our insurance.  Just before doing so, an English-speaking couple warned us not to get out of the car if we got stuck, because the river is home to a number of crocodiles (which we later learned have eaten their fill of dogs, pigs, and small cows over the years).  Fortunately we made it across and did not have to deal with that scenario.  (See the video for an in-the-car experience.)

 

On the other side of the river we encountered a small soda (a little restaurant) and talked to the people there in Spanish to get some directions.  They told us that all three of the roads (including the one we had just used) leading away from the restaurant had river crossings, and that we still had a decent distance to travel.  We were encouraged to take the coastal route, so set off in that direction.  Within a matter of minutes we had to do two more river crossings, one of which was particularly fast-moving and dicey, but yet again our SUV made it through.  After narrowly escaping a couple of muddy patches, our car suddenly emerged from the jungle and shot right out onto a nearly-deserted beach.  We started driving down the beach to try to find another way out, but soon came across another SUV that was parked in front of a small river that was flowing into the ocean.  Testing the waters on foot, we found them to be waist-deep and impossible to cross as the tide was rising.  Not wanting to backtrack with waning daylight, we (and the other group of people who were American tourists) decided to park our SUVs back in the jungle and walk along the beach in search of a town.  The tide had come in even further at the river crossing, and was now up to my chest, requiring us to carry our bags over our heads.  After an hour walk we arrived at a very small coastal town, which fortunately had a restaurant and hotel rooms just off the beach.  We made the decision to head back to our car around midnight to drive it along the beach to the town; it would be low tide at that time.  With nothing else that could be done at the moment, we enjoyed the ocean sunset, had some dinner and got some sleep before our retrieval mission.  Around midnight we awoke and did the long walk down the beach to retrieve our car.  It was a clear, beautiful night with a lot of stars, but it was also quite nerve-wracking to be alone on the remote beach in the dark.  In the end we found our car unscathed, and were able to easily ford the rivers at low tide and bring our car back to the hotel.  We went back to sleep for a few more hours, planning to make it to Montezuma early in the morning.

 

 

 

The drive to Montezuma was not without a couple of directional concerns, but with the help of some local advice we arrived at our destination in mid-morning.  We parked our car in town, explored the beach for a little while, and then set off to hike up a river to a jungle waterfall.  It was quite a high and powerful waterfall, with a nice swimming pool, and we made it there early enough to avoid the crowds we passed on our way out.  Getting back onto the main road, I saw a sign for a butterfly conservancy, which I knew would appeal greatly to Siobhan, so we hiked up a scenic road overlooking the coast and found the conservancy.  The tour of the butterfly conservancy was fun and informative, and Siobhan managed to get a lot of quality, close-up pictures.  The rest of our afternoon was spent having a good, Costa Rican meal, and relaxing on the beach with a Litro of Imperial.  Overall Montezuma was a very nice, laid-back town with a respectable mix of local culture and tourism, and we wondered if it would have been a preferable place to stay over comparatively-busy and tourism-dominated Tamarindo.

 

 

 

On the ride home we never dared to stray from the coastal roads, and the drive definitely worked out much better.  That being said, the roads were still in horrendous condition in many places, featuring two-foot deep potholes, winding mountaintop passes, and the traditional lack of road signs.  Despite these obstacles we made pretty good time on the return trip, and did not take any wrong turns.  Considering that our successful drive home still took well over four hours, we can safely conclude the 2 1/2 hour projection offered by Google Maps is a joke.

Pottery Volunteering

After the rains subsided and we were finally able to emerge from our compound, we took a walk through Tamarindo to check out the sights.  About five minutes from our house we came upon the Guaitil Pottery Studio and I went in to see if they could use a volunteer.  Lucky for me they said sure! For the past few weeks now I have been going there frequently and have learned a tremendous amount from Arbin (who makes colorful Chorotega pots) and his wife Tricia (who makes amazing wire jewelry), who are both incredibly talented artists.

I stole some of this from a handout in the store, but here goes:

At the Guaitil Pottery Studio in downtown Tamarinido, potter Arbin creates one of a kind Chorotega pieces, an indigenous craft taught to him as a child by his mother.  In this fashion, the same traditional and ancestral techniques of the Chorotega indigenous art lives on from generation to generation as it has done for over 800 years.

 In spending time at the studio I have had the opportunity to learn a lot about this process from Arbin and by helping with each step along the way, and I have even created a few pieces of my own.  In this style of pottery, each piece is created using coil building techniques and a completely manual hand wheel, which is very difficult to get used to. The clay is made of materials found in Guaitil, a famous Costa Rican potting town (where Arbin is from) about 45 minutes from Tamarindo.  To make the clay one adds water to fine sand and clay dust, then stomps around on it as if crushing grapes for wine.  On my first day volunteering I helped to make a batch!  I knew I would like it there immediately; there is nothing better than really getting into it and making a mess..  There are no glazes in this process, so after each layer of paint is added separately, and the piece needs to be polished using small pieces of smooth plastic.  This technique gives each piece a glossy appearance in the end.  Each piece will also undergo a series of paintings and etchings.  They are then fired in a hand built kiln (made from stone and manure), using a specific wood that fires them at an extremely high temperature (this process also cooks chickens quite nicely I might add).  Each piece requires hours of work and detailing, and as with pottery in general, if something goes wrong in the last phase all is lost.  Arbin is a great teacher and offers lessons to anyone who is interested, so if you are ever in Tamarindo and want to bring a souvenir back that will last longer and contain more memories than a rain stick, then stop by his studio and check it out.  It is located in Tamarindo circle, and you can check out his website @ www.Tamarindo Pottery.com.

My second piece..

Tricia has a store right next to the pottery studio called Urban Eclectic, and features amazing wire-wrapped jewelry.  She is originally from Los Angeles, but for the past few years has been living the dream with a beachside jewelry store featuring all her unique necklaces, bracelets, earrings, etc.  I have had the opportunity to see some of her creations come together and I must say they are truly works of art!  If you’re interested in checking some out…  In addition to her shop in Tamarindo, she has a website (http://www.urbaneclectic.etsy.com/) where you can go to check out her latest creations, or even request whatever design or style you are thinking of.

I have been very lucky to have been able to spend so much time in beautiful place learning from two talented artists, not to mention two really great people.  I have learned a lot from them and I look forward to calling upon what I have learned for inspiration in the future!

Endless Summer III

The gang arrived late one night after a five hour drive in a party van, carrying with them the greater contents of the duty free liquor department. Needless to say, it did not take long before Doody was using a Doritos bag as a pillow and Ashley was passed out in the hammock.

 
The next two days we hung out around Tamarindo, and everyone displayed their greatest effort at surfing, especially Geiger, who had dubbed himself "The Great White Surfer." Although I think the ladies showed the greatest natural talent, with Ashley and Abby standing up on their first waves, we were certain that within a few days we would be getting shot out of tubes! We also spent time cultivating our skin cancer, in addition to checking out the local stores, restaurants and mixed drinks. They were also treated to the fine, cultured nightlife here in Tamarindo. While ladies often drink for free, there is always a price to pay, whether it's being hit on by sleazy locals or that hangover the next day from that strange jungle juice. We grilled and played cards and were treated to an evening of Abby’s finest jokes!

After a few days on the beach we all headed out into the wilderness to see some of what the real Costa Rica has to offer. We decided to do a combination road trip to see the Arenal Volcano and the Monteverde cloud forest. The first stop was Arenal, where a long morning of bumpy travel, put us at the base of an active volcano, which we had a nice view of from our hotel. Along the way we stopped for photos, got up close and personal with some couti mundis (who have been robbed of their wild ways by ignorant tourists!), and some of us saw a sloth for 0.5 seconds going by the car window at 70 mph. Since light was fading fast we headed to the Arenal national park and did a hike around the area, stopping to admire the massive trees and fun hanging vines, then watched the sunset over the lake. We unfortunately did not witness any spewing lava or visit that infamous German bakery, but I’m sure Derek and Luke’s tears were absorbed by their massive pancakes that morning on our way to Monteverde.

The road into the mountains on our way to Monteverde was paved primarily with potholes, but the views along the way were amazing. There were lots of beautiful trees, cows, coffee plantations, and stunning scenery of the valley bellow. As usual it took us longer than expected to get there thanks to the roads. As soon as we arrived we signed up for a cloud forest hike across hanging bridges, then set out to do an impressive zip line course. Soon enough we were harnessed and flying through and above the canopy at speeds which can make your eyes water. It was especially fun to get a unique perspective of the surrounding landscape, which made for a truly fun experience that we will not soon forget.

All that sitting in the air can really work up an appetite, and in one of our more “American” moments, we all rushed to the car afterwards to shovel down the breakfast leftovers that had been baking in the sun all day. And yes, I literally mean shovel (we used potato chips as the mechanism). In mid-gorge we looked up to see a van full of locals looking at us in horror; we probably looked like zoo animals at feeding time, that you would think were on the verge of starving to death. The fact that Ashley was loudly inquiring about the safety of eating car-baked meats did not help our cause much either I suppose.

On the way back we found ourselves driving through a small lively town at the base of the mountains called Juntas, where locals were walking through the streets, with music playing and a soccer match being played on the town's central field. Wanting to stay a bit longer, we decided to watch the end of the game and then stop for dinner and drinks to refuel. We later found out that all the liveliness was due to local elections that were being held. I also witnessed my new favorite means of advertisement, where a guy on a little motorized bike was carting HUGE speakers behind him that were blasting out political messages mixed with music. That combination is deafening and impossible to ignore!

In our last few days together we hung out around Tamarindo, enjoying more of the beach and sunsets. Abby spent some quality time drinking her new favorite soft drink, Squirt, and Ashley spent some quality time on the bathroom floor with the squirts!

But being the trooper that she is, she rallied for a sunset catamaran cruise filled with snorkeling and as much food and drink as you can put in your face, just in time to take sunset photos in a bathing suit. Sadly all journeys must come to an end, but I hope that they will take comfort in knowing that in the coldest depths of winter, while scraping ice off their windshields, I will be laying in the sun and having a siesta in a hammock ;-) and that they came come back and visit anytime!

Everyone loves a 4 a.m. wake up call!

And you thought roosters were bad!  For the first week in Costa Rica I was convinced that our neighbors were harboring some sort of hell pig, which was on the verge of death.  From the noises that that thing was making I pictured it to be pushing at least 300 pounds.  Then to my shock and amazement I discovered the noise was coming from howler monkeys that frequently swing by to forage in the trees surrounding our house.  The howler monkey is one of the loudest animals in the world, and their calls can be heard from up to three miles away.  The males are the only ones capable of producing the calls, and do so to warn other groups of monkeys that their territory is occupied.  They also issue these verbal assaults on barking dogs and lawnmowers, and probably just for fun at 4 a.m.

I particularly like how National Geographic describes them in this you tube clip:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REPoVfN-Ij4

I was able to get up close and personal with one outside of our house:

Visitors, Thanksgiving, and Dengue Fever

At the beginning of our third week in Tamarindo, Costa Rica, Siobhan left for a week to volunteer with a project to help sea turtles (see her blog about this topic for more information).  I continued onward with my normal routine, until later in that week when my friend Justin arrived.  His visit came as a sudden, pleasant surprise, as I got an email from him the day after Siobhan left, and greeted him at our apartment just three days later.  He had been poised to start a new job, but when the start date was pushed back two weeks, he decided to take advantage of the down time.  Having traveled throughout Europe together with our mutual friend Mark in January of 2008, we had already had a lot of adventures together.  During his time here, we spent a good bit of time surfing, eating and cooking great meals, made a successful trip to the casino in the neighboring town, and saw an epic moonbow.  We also had some visitors in the form of a couple neighborhood cats (which we named "Paloma" and "The Grey One"), and had an interesting time hanging out with them on the balcony.  Unfortunately he had to leave before Siobhan returned, so they still have not met.

 

Soon after Siobhan's return I developed a fever, but it passed for the time being and we were able to have a healthy Thanksgiving.  After a jog on the beach, we made a point to go for a quick swim, basically so that we could say we had swam in the ocean on Thanksgiving.  I had never been out of the country on Thanksgiving before, so it was a strange and somewhat sad holiday.  Fortunately we discovered that a restaurant in town was serving a traditional Thanksgiving dinner.  For $20 per person, we got a full plate of food (turkey, potatoes, green beans, beets, and stuffing) in addition to a glass of wine and a slice of pumpkin pie.  The food was quite good and helped lessen the sting of our foreign holiday, but a second helping would have been nice... after all, it was Thanksgiving!

The next morning I awoke feeling ill, and found that the fever I had briefly experienced on Tuesday morning had returned with a vengeance.  As it grew worse, my temperature began to fluctuate in the 101-103 degree range, and I alternated between waves of feeling very hot and very cold.  Being in a tropical location, where a dengue fever outbreak had occurred the summer before, and where malaria is never entirely out of the realm of possibility, I was concerned about getting treatment if needed.  Adding to my distress was simply being away from home, in an unfamiliar place with unknown (to me anyway) health care services.  I spent several days mostly laid up on the couch, but fortunately I was able to fight off the illness, and did not have to go to a doctor or hospital.  As best we can figure, I probably had the flu.

Another reason for concern over my illness, was that my friend Ryan was coming to visit the following week.  I did not want to be a vegetable during his visit, and luckily I was recovered enough that I was able to do most everything, though not always with my typical level of energy.  We spent his first day relaxing and catching up, but on the second day of his visit I felt well enough that we were able to take a trip outside of town for a zip-lining expedition in the canopy.  When we arrived at the facility, we ascended to a platform in a tree, strapped into our harnesses and then the cable, and proceeded to ride the cables from tree-top platform to platform.  Some of the lines moved pretty fast and they were all high above the ground, so it made for a fun experience.  Most of the time we rode the cables lying on our backs in the harness, but we each tried the "Superman" method as well, where with the help of the guide, we flew face first on our stomachs.

 

 During Ryan's trip we also celebrated my 29th birthday for a second time and did some surfing.  Halfway through his time here, three of Siobhan's friends arrived (Ashley, Abby, and Luke), so we all had fun hanging out together (see her blog for more information about their visit).  It has been great having so many visitors, and I continue to be thankful that my illness occurred at the best possible time.

A Turtle Eclipse of the Heart

Costa Rica is only the size of West Virginia, containing just 0.25% of the worlds land mass, yet has the distinction of containing 5% of the world’s biodiversity.  Around 25% of Costa Rica’s land area is protected by national parks, making it the country with the greatest percentage of protected areas in the world.  That being said, Costa Rica faces enormous challenges as it continues to develop.  In coming to Costa Rica, I wanted to experience first-hand some of the diversity that I have always associated with this country.  After doing some research I chose to volunteer with Pretoma, a non-profit organization.  Pretoma has projects throughout Costa Rica, working within communities, thereby  employing locals and enlisting anyone who wants to donate some time to work in the field.  The program seeks to increase environmental awareness by educating people locally and internationally about the impacts of human development on coastal regions in Costa Rica (primarily focusing on sea turtles and sharks).

                                                                                                                                                                                            There are seven kinds of sea turtles in the world, four of which frequent Costa Rican beaches:  the Olive Ridley, Leatherback, Green, and Hawksbill.   All four are endangered, two critically.  The threats to nesting sea turtles are abundant, and entirely linked to human impact, including:  long line fishing/nets with no escape enclosures, habitat destruction due to light pollution (they will not return to nest on a beach where there is too much light because the hatchlings will be confused), and poachers on the beach.

To get to the volunteering site I had a long day featuring multiple bus transfers, travelling partially washed out roads, and traversing large mountains, all paired with my fledgling Spanish.  But the trip was well worth it!  I arrived at Playa San Miguel (located on the south western coast of the Nicoya peninsula) late at night and awoke the next day to find that my backyard was the ocean.  Playa San Miguel has a population of about 300 people and about two and a half restaurants.  The beach is long with cliffs and sea slug filled tidal pools at one end, and an estuary at the other, and is almost entirely deserted at all times.   My daily routine consisted of running on the beach, eating meals at the local soda which served delicious typical home cooked Tico food (rice and beans were present for all three J), and working on the project.  Most of our work occurred at night, and involved monitoring the hatchery and patrolling the beaches looking for turtles.  The predominant type of sea turtle nesting at this site is the Olive Ridley turtle.  They are unique in that they have a shell that is wider than it is long, and are rarely known to nest in arribadas, which occurs when hundreds of turtles emerge from the sea at the same time to nest.   Each night we patrolled the beach in groups (using no lights) looking for the turtle tracks, which are about 2.5-3 feet wide, and can be found above the high tide mark.  Sometimes we would see a turtle nesting, or just follow the tracks to where the eggs were laid.

Olive Ridley turtles can lay up to 120 eggs in one nest.  They dig a tube down into the sand, which has a wider mini-cavern at the bottom where the eggs to rest; this task is accomplished using only their back flippers.  The whole process is actually quite quick, I was surprised by how fast a full grown ~120 pound marine animal can move so quickly on land.  When we came upon nesting turtles it was important not to use any lights or stand in front of them, or else they would potentially head back to the water.  But once a turtle started laying the eggs, she would become totally oblivious to us and we could take measurements of the shell and track size, then tag the flippers, and collect the eggs as she was laying them.  All of the information collected from the turtle goes into a database, which helps to track turtle health and migration patterns.  The eggs were collected so that they could be brought to the hatchery, where they would be safe and the turtles only exposed to red light so as not to disturb the process.  Eggs are also brought to the hatchery to protect them from poachers on the beach (who would take them before the morning), as well as from dogs and other accidents.

During our patrols we occasionally ran into poachers, and even when we did not see them, we sometimes came across nests that had been dug up.  It seemed that there were no outright hostilities between the conflicting groups, and the system operated on a first-come first-served basis.  To combat this constant threat of poaching, Petroma has people monitoring the beach all night long in shifts.  The poachers take the eggs to sell them, and from what I was told they can make up to $20 per nest, which is a lot considering that the average wage in Costa Rica is $2 per hour.  When successful in collecting the eggs, we returned them to the hatchery to bury them (in the same type of nest).  The correct temperature is very important to their development, so the nests we created had to be similar to what the turtle would dig, with an incubation period of about 45-55 days.

 

I was lucky to be there when turtles were still nesting and the eggs were hatching.  So while we were patrolling at night we would check the hatchery frequently, since the eggs were likely to hatch in the dark (giving them an advantage over the tremendous obstacles that awaited them).  The reason that turtles lay so many eggs is that the likelihood of a baby turtle actually making it to adulthood is around .01%.  For the most part they all hatch simultaneously, which gives them an advantage, then they immediately start heading for the ocean based on sight and smell (another reason why light pollution can be harmful, as it can attract them inland).  Before even getting away from shore, they are picked off by birds, crabs, and fish, and can be baked in the sun quickly.  They have no defenses, and are just about bite-sized, so basically anything that wants to eat them can pretty much do it.  After escaping the nest, they have to survive to about 15 years of age before they will return to nest.  Surviving 15 years is a huge feat in itself, since the largest threat to turtles is not the poachers on the beach, but the fishermen offshore.  Turtles need to go to the surface to breathe, so if they are caught on long lines (used to catch swordfish and sharks), or in fishing nets (typically used for shrimp), they will suffocate and die before ever making it back to nest.  Long line fishing is a huge problem in Costa Rica, as it is all around the world.  In Costa Rica this technique is used to catch sharks, predominately for shark fining (which is illegal), and done on an industrial scale by international vessels (upwards of 100 million sharks are reportedly killed solely for their fins worldwide).  It seems that in Costa Rica the laws are in place to protect animals from poaching, overfishing, and shark-fining, but the enforcement is lacking.  When thinking about all the challenges the turtles face, it’s amazing that they survive at all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCUGLaHDujk

Successful and unsuccessful methods of protection:

Involving local communities and educating them on human impacts, such as over fishing and habitat destruction is critical.  Even simple things like shielding open-facing lights and installing exits in large nets for bigger marine animals can have a big impact.  Tourism is the biggest source of income in Costa Rica, and people come here to experience the biodiversity.  This source of income can be more lucrative and sustainable for communities than the poaching of eggs.  The latter is unsustainable, and as with all endangered populations, there is a critical number that can be reached at which point there is not enough genetic diversity for a species to survive.

(http://playagrandeinfo.org/docs/leatherbacknature.pdf)

An example of this may be found in Playa Tamarindo, where we have been staying for the past six weeks.  Tamarindo lies at the center of what was once a substantial nesting area for the Pacific leatherback.  However, light pollution and over-development has almost totally wiped out this nesting area.  So now the people who come here to see Leatherback turtles end up paying high prices for guides who may not even find any.  While there are still turtles nesting to the north and south of Tamarindo, there are concerns regarding the aforementioned point of no return, as Pacific Leatherback turtles are critically endangered.

To see what you can do to help:

http://www.pretoma.org/