Travels of the Bay family and the Yoda Van

Julian is now almost 2½ years old.  This morning sitting at the breakfast table he proudly announced “Happy New You!”  This wasn’t a reference to anyone’s New Year’s resolutions.  It is just the wonderful way in which kids learn to use language and occasionally get things a little mixed up.  I think it is a cross between “Happy Birthday to You” and “Happy New Year”. 

I started thinking about “Happy New You”.  Is there a new me these days?  Am I different from when we left Seattle?  I definitely speak a little more Spanish than I did.  I’m a lot tanner and also a bit thinner.  I’ve seen a whole lot of new things over the last 5 months that has made my world much larger. 

I think the major thing that is different in me now is what I think I’m capable of in my life.  The career goals I have, or really any feat I’ve encountered, is just a matter of solving obstacles.  We threw away our lives, got in our car and drove off towards the Panama Canal.  So far it couldn’t have gone better and when I look at how simple it can be, it makes me think I can conquer the world, or (for sure) tackle a few smaller obstacles such as change my profession or get my life on a track that leads to more satisfaction.  If only I can figure out what that path was.

New Years was a little different than I expected here.  We figured that there would be a great party in the center of town.  About 10:00 PM we headed out for the center of town only to find absolutely nothing.  In fact it was ominously deserted and we headed straight back home.  But the ‘hood we are staying in was chillin’ and there were at least a hundred Ticos (Costa Ricans) on the street, blasting music, shooting off their own private firework shows.  William and Julian woke up just before midnight and we all rang in the New Year on the streets in nice Costa Rican fashion. 

Tomorrow we’re off to Monteverde, one of the cloud forest reserves in Costa Rica.  Happy New You to everyone.

Tamales are a typical Christmas dish in Costa Rica.  When we were in Guatemala, the Spanish school we were attending had a cooking class every week.  Both times we made tamales.  Ever since we went to Mexico in April last year I had wanted to try and make my own tamales.  Now that we are living in a place with a kitchen I decided to give it a try.

We did some shopping for Christmas dinner and I picked up a few things for tamales: tomatoes, chicken, onions, masa (some sort of corn flour used for making tamales).  I found a recipe on the internet for a filling and made it on the evening of the 23^rd.  It ended out tasting good.  Cooking this simple mixture was more fun than you could imagine for me, since we’ve hardly done any cooking in the last 5 months.  We’ve done really simple cooking, but nothing that is even the slightest bit labor intensive.  To be able to spread out and just cook like at home is fun by itself.

Where it really became interesting was working with the banana leaves.  In some parts of Latin America people make tamales with corn husks.  In others they make them with banana leaves.  I guess that the deciding factor in which one they use is what crop is near and more readily abundant.  We’ve driven through numerous banana plantations in Costa Rica, so I figure it is just a matter of convenience that they wrap their tamales in banana leaves instead of corn husks.

Matthias and I went out for an hour and a half to do our Christmas shopping in the center of town.  The streets were bustling with activity, people selling their wares on every corner, lots of people shouting announcing what they are selling and what a good deal it is, cars passing and honking.  The market place is nestled on the inside of one street block.  It is a series of dark, narrow, isles lined with stalls of people selling everything imaginable.  Near the meat and fish vendors the smell is quite distinct.  We wound our way through this maze and left with two and a half kilos of banana leaves. 

At home I began to unfold and inspect the leaves.  Each leaf is around 5 feet long.  The tips tend to be sliced into small narrow strips, and the larger sections, big enough for steaming tamales, are at the other end.  I sorted through each leaf, saving sections large enough for tamales and discarding the narrow strands.  The smell of the leaves is earthy and a bit unpleasant.  I wondered if the smell would transfer to my tamales.  After sorting through this pile, I washed each section and hung them out to dry like laundry. 

Working with the leaves was such a great experience.  They are fibrous and thick like a piece of canvas with a thick center stem.  But they are also smooth and fibrous.  In one direction the leaves are sturdy and impermeable.  In the other direction they rip without effort.  The ease with which the leaves split is fulfilling and fun.   (Matthias put some pictures of me working with the tamales on our flickr site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thebays)

I figured my parents must really wonder about me.  They raised a good girl in Woodinville, Washington and here they see me quitting my good job at Microsoft, taking off in an old van, and here they meet us where I bring home a bag of unknown.  I explore them unfolding these massive leaves, not native to the Northwest, and take over the kitchen with these long wide leaves.  I’m not sure they know what to make of all this, but at least they are open as I am their daughter. 

On the evening of the 24^th I started to make the tamales.  The dough is just a mixture of corn flour, oil and water.  I mixed it with my hands and once I had the right consistency I started to spread the dough on the squares of banana leaves.  The filling is smeared on top of the dough, and then you fold them up like a small package.  I read on the internet that it is a good idea to wrap each tamale in a second piece of banana leaf and then tie them with a piece of twine.  When I had used up the tomato-chicken filling I added sugar to the rest of the mass and continue making sweet tamales for dessert. 

To cook them I took some forks and spoons and put them in the bottom of a pot with about an inch of water.  This was to keep the tamales above the boiling water since we didn’t have room for a tamale steamer in the Yoda Van.  I lined the pot with banana leaves and put the tamales in the pot on their side.  They were steamed for about 45 minutes and they actually turned out wonderful.  Even my Dad and Matthias (who both admitted to not really liking tamales) said they were good.  Knowing Matthias, he’s pretty straight up about what he thinks.  I’d know he’d tell me if he didn’t like it, so they must have been alright.

It was nice to spend Christmas a different way, in a different place than usual, with different food.  However, for me, and I think for all of us, it makes us look forward to spending Christmas next year the way we always do, in Woodinville with our good friends the Richards.  We’ve spent Christmas with them for so many years and this was the first time in a long time that I’ve missed it.  Spending time away from what you know is the best way to find out what is important and reminds me what to appreciate.

Matthias came up with the idea to occasionally have some guest entries on our blogs. This entry is the first guest entry. Our good friend Kim Thomas is the author. Anyone interested in submitting a guest entry should e-mail us at lotzbay@msn.com.

Christmas music has taken a turn for the worse lately, but there is definitely an antidote out there and it is called Bartell Drugs. Not for the drugs, but for the music. I go to Bartell’s a lot just to look around when I think I might need something, like a new toothbrush or canned tuna. When I am between tutoring appointments I feel a pull. I just need to get out of the house, I say to myself. Then I walk outside my building and know where I’m headed.

In Providence CVS Pharmacy had the same pull. Only I never knew why until this afternoon. Today, they were playing Fleetwood Mac in the store when I realized I didn’t need anything. I say “they” like Bartell’s has a purposeful DJ mixing it up in that room behind the milk case. Stevie Nick’s voice was quivering away about a woman who was, I think, flying just like a woman. The drama touched me while I surveyed the Neutrogena products for something that might be suitable for a low cost Christmas present. Then Steely Dan came on, and you know I was hooked. I made every effort to find something that I needed just so that I could see what might be next – just to prolong the groove. Dude, Elton John. Singing “Daniel.”

Nordstrom and Banana Republic and just about every other store on the planet – except for 7-Eleven – issues their own holiday music samplers. I know this is part of a hideously overdeveloped marketing culture. You can’t buy the feeling of the song (“Celebrate good times come on”), but you can buy (well, I did) a headband from the Gap, pale blue suede, that looked like it might hold the key to a funky time. Probably it reminded me of something I wore when the song first came out. If only Bartell’s could issue a lifestyle CD then I could buy it and bring it home and feel great all the time. We who shop regularly, compulsively even, would buy it to keep the sweet sweet feeling of clean rows of boxed Q-tips alive in the home. I wish my bathroom could look handsome and stocked. I don’t have a counter top around my sink, so I keep Q-tips in a ziploc bag and sometimes water gets in and I need to throw them away. See, even though I don’t travel I live like I travel. Think about Billy Joel piano intros and I think you’ll get an image of fresh full bottles of shampoo. The Bee-Gees conjure non-crusty toothbrushes. These are things it sounds like the The Bay family could use.

I don’t spend a lot of money there – maybe I do. It’s just a good time taking it aisle by aisle.

Say Bartell’s went along with me on this one. (They won’t. I asked already. When I asked the woman about an album, “all the greats together at last,” she looked at me like I was playing a Borat stunt. Then she said, Dude, remember K-Tel tapes? Find one.) If they did go along with the concept and produce an album would I become a shut in playing the thing into the ground, possibly tying a scarf around my forehead? Or, would I dump the CD on the crap heap of the rest of the stuff I own and love but ignore? The mystery of this simmers with possibility and remains unknowable. Best of all is the group shot of my favorite cashiers on the imaginary cover – red vests blazing, smartly knotted ties. Efficient yet personable. In control. In the house.

The Bay family travels the world watching the sun set in new colors in different countries. Monkeys may scramble atop their camper. Lizards may flick their tongues in refreshingly foreign languages while the kids play in the sunlight and waves. Mojitos refill themselves in the glass. The ghost of Frieda Kahlo appears in the background of every south-of-the-border family photo. Meanwhile, I walk the familiar roads, checking the environment for potential small discrepancies – signs of change, signs of stasis – and wonder if I am not overly attached to my block, my language, my Bartell Drugs.

We all knew the in-laws would (literally) still be here. My mother has been suffering since shortly after she arrived: diarrhea, vomiting, sun burns, bug bites, and even a blister on her foot from her new flip-flops. To top it all off, (and the reason for our blog title) is that we even had a family blow out. My Mom is a pleaser by nature. She avoids confrontations like the plague, so family fights are even more unpleasant for her. I guess a fight is to be expected when we were all living in a 2 bedroom apartment and spending every waking moment together. Luckily it seemed to blow over fairly fast and we’re all back in vacation mode. The sun burns, bug bites and blisters still persist, however.

We still had a great time at the coast. Our apartment was so close to the beach and we went swimming in the ocean almost every morning, while my Mom played with the kids in the sand. There were several swimming pools at the place we stayed and we went swimming every evening (after the sun went down as to not aggravate my mother’s sunburns). You really can’t complain about 8 lazy days on the beach.

After 8 days at Playa Hermosa we headed back to Alajuela. We rented this apartment in a sort of hotel/gated community/complex sort of thing. We’re not exactly in the middle of Costa Rican life. Actually the heart of Costa Rican life is playing outside the big 15 foot gate that surrounds the facility. However, for us, right now, it serves our purpose – to spend time with our family. We have a soccer field, a small playground, swimming pools and secure parking. We can cook, do laundry and watch TV while lying on the sofa. Honestly, Matthias and I have both missed being in a place where you can just lie on a sofa and watch TV.

We are a half-German, half-American family and we also have to alter our regular Christmas routines of childhood to accommodate both of us. That works out great for William and Julian because they get to celebrate both. The “Christkind” comes on the evening of the 24th and Santa comes on the morning of the 25th. Each of those guys brings presents. For the first time my parents will be a part of the German half of our celebrations.

We’ve also had our 3rd official visit to the hospital in Costa Rica. Julian fractured a bone in his foot and is not supposed to walk for the next 2 weeks. None of us saw what happened, but he just started crying and was obviously in pain on Saturday morning. After his foot started to swell and turn purple we took him to the hospital. They immobilized his foot and he is not supposed to walk for 2 weeks. I’m not sure that is even possible for a 2 year old. At least for now his foot hurts enough so he doesn’t want to walk. We will be doing a lot of carrying in the next 2 weeks.

Matthias has had a nasty ear infection that weren’t cured by two courses of antibiotics. We went back to the doctor that removed William’s stitches and he prescribed 3 shots in the ass, an infusion of who knows what, drops in his ears, and 2 different pills he is supposed to take a different intervals. The good thing is that this aggressive course of action has knocked out all pain in his body and his ear infection seems to be cleared up. Keep your fingers crossed that the six of us survive this Christmas.

I know a lot of our blog readers are from the Seattle area and Seattle has just been hit by the worst storm in 90 years. Over one million people were without power and therefore not able to read our blog. Don’t worry about us. We are doing great, despite a near death experience Allison had today when she was caught in some humongous waves. Well she survived it and is ready to hit the waves again tomorrow. Also it does get a little hot in the late afternoons, but we are able to manage temperatures in the lower 90’s sipping a drink in the shade at the pool. So really you don’t have to worry about us.

The other new thing happening is that Allison’s parents (THE IN-LAWS!!) finally arrived. Prior to this our main concern was to find a good apartment for all of us to stay at and I am sure Dan and Joyce (THE IN-LAWS!!) were also afraid of where they were going to end up living. I know they are a lot more at ease after being here with us in an apartment at Playa Hermosa (Guanacaste). It’s a very nice, child-friendly, beautiful beach with perfect waves (except the ones Allison got caught up in), but what’s even better is that there are hardly any tourists and that’s hard to find in Costa Rica. Dan seemed to like it here so much that after only 2 days he wanted to extend for one more day. Joyce is very glad to be with William again and they are inseparable. Life is good, despite Dan and Joyce still thinking that our trip is the most irresponsible, stupid thing we could ever had done, even after meeting 2 very healthy and happy grandchildren, a very happy and healthy daughter and most importantly a healthy and happy son-in-law. I am sure that future discussion with them will make an interesting blog entry by itself and I hope this blog title wont be “Yes, the in-laws are still here!”.

We have 2 more days at Playa Hermosa and then head up to Alajuela in the mountains and will probably not have to deal with temperatures in the 90’s anymore. They should be in the lower 80’s. So, really, no need to worry about us.

So to all the Seattleites, if this is the first blog entry you were able to read after getting power again, I hope you had a nice Christmas and that you get to read this before the New Year.

We’ve put some recent pictures up on our flickr site. Click here to go straight to the site. Or you can use the URL http://www.flickr.com/photos/thebays/

We uploaded some pictures of Nicaragua and Costa Rica.

Last week in Tortuguero was one of these moments again where Allison and I just shook our heads and wondered: “What the hell were we thinking?” We were going to the rain forest and were surprised that we were rained on. We learned that it’s a bad idea to go to the rain forest without at least an umbrella. Even if you are from Seattle and are somewhat used to rain, I don’t think Seattle has ever had rain like we had in Tortuguero. Another not so bright moment was when we were stopped at a blockade near Oaxaca, Mexico and decided to follow a local guy who told us he knew a way around the road block. He led us to a group of guys with machetes and shovels who turned out to create some sort of road in the woods for us, but when we first saw them we weren’t really sure what their intentions were. In 95 degree weather I ended up driving the Yodavan through terrain that most SUVs would struggle with, including a river. This definitely wasn’t one of our brightest moments.

I also didn’t feel too intelligent at the Mexican – Guatemalan border. For some reason I was under the impression that if I needed Guatemalan money (Quetzals) I would probably find an ATM of at least a bank at the border. The only opportunity to change money was with some con-artists with big bundles of money who offered to change our left over pesos. I never trusted these guys, but at this border we were so unprepared that we barely even knew the name of the currency and the exchange rate and we didn’t even have a clue what the bills looked like. That’s bad!! We needed some Quetzals for the border crossing and we just had to take a chance and have some guy change money for us. I exchanged 200 Pesos (US $20) and had absolutely no idea what I would get in return. It turned out that we just got enough for the border crossing and 2 beers before we found an ATM.

I am sure there were more moments of limited intelligence on our trip and I will make sure to continue to share them in our blog, because in retrospect the things that didn’t go as planned are the most memorable ones and also the funniest. Overall I think we are doing pretty well. Most people would have to agree with that too, unless you are one of the people who think that our trip itself was a bad idea. But if you know me, even if we had all stayed at home, I’d still be constantly running into situations in which afterwards all I can do is shake my head and wonder “what the hell was I thinking”. At least these stories from the road are a little more interesting.

My parents are arriving from Seattle today and after out fiasco to Tortuguero we still had a few days to kill.  Matthias had found a place that had a huge pool with water slides, was near the beach and we were able to camp.  We headed out there because it sounded like a great place for the kids and we thought it would be nice to camp again. 

It took us a couple of hours to get out there and it was really perfect for us all.  Both kids are so happy in the water and William loved the water slides.  We’ve gone swimming quite a lot on our trip and William can almost swim all by himself.  He’s so comfortable in the water and loves it.  Camping worked pretty well, too.  It was still a little humid, and there were a lot of bugs at night.  We just kept the doors on the van shut and kept the bugs out.

The next day we went swimming in the morning and then decided to do a little spring cleaning in the car.  We had room to spread out and were able to empty and re-organized a lot of the cupboards.  We swept the floors, cleaned the windows, the dash and took everything off the roof.  We’ve been carrying around a gas canister around with us since we left Seattle and it has been kind of a pain.  We always have to worry about someone stealing it, releasing hot air since it often sits in the direct sun and expands.  It’s still full of gas, so back up onto the roof it went.

About 45 minutes away was Manuel Antonio, the most-visited national park in Costa Rica.  The description in our guide book sounded really good, so we decided to head out there and check it out.  The road from the camping spot out to the main highway is a dirt road and some sections were pretty rough.  We heard two strange noises that sounded like something breaking, but we didn’t see anything obviously wrong so we continued.  About 15 minutes into the drive Matthias shuts off the radio and says “There something wrong with the car.”  It was sputtering, he pulled over to the side of the road and the car died.  My first thought was that it was out of gas, but the gas gauge was not showing totally empty.  First we opened up the engine cover and started checking hoses.  Everything looked connected so we got the gas canister down and Matthias emptied about 3 liters of gas into the gas tank.  That didn’t help.  We thought maybe it was the gas pump since it just seemed like the engine wasn’t getting any gas and we knew there was some in there.  It was about 90 degrees outside and ever hotter in the sun.  We were surrounded by African palm plantations, but that doesn’t mean we ended up in a shady spot on the side of the road.  There were also no stores in sight.  We didn’t have any idea what was wrong, so Matthias decided to empty the rest of the gas into the gas tank.  A nice man pulled over and asked us if we needed any help.  Matthias tried one more time to start it and it worked.  We had run out of gas after all. 

With a new found appreciation for our gas canister we continued on to the next gas station.  We found that was enough adventure for the day and decided to bag the trip out to Manuel Antonio.  So who would have thought our gas gauge would stop working just like that?  At the beginning of the trip Matthias measured our gas mileage with every full tank of gas.  We know that we get about 16-17 miles per gallon and that we can drive about 250 miles with a full tank.  But ever since Semuc Champey in Guatemala, the gas tank leaks and we can only fill it up part way.  We did some quick calculations and now we are always going to get 37 liters, which would be 10 gallons.  That is not enough to overflow the tank, and it should guarantee us at least 150 miles on the road.  And we all agree that we won’t drive anywhere without our gas tank up on the roof.

We decided to go out to Tortuguero, a national park on the northern Caribbean coast of Costa Rica.  It’s a national park that is home to 4 different species of turtles, and the area is supposedly full of wildlife.  There are a lot of tours packages that take you out to Tortuguero.  They are expensive and we were not willing to spend a lot of money to get out there.  I had done a lot of reading on how get to Tortuguero independently.  It isn’t all that far, but it is relatively hard to get there since the park is actually only accessible by dirt roads and then a boat.  In the end it took us a 2 hour drive, an hour bus ride and then another hour long boat ride to get to Tortuguero and cost us only $10.00/person.  When we got there we wanted to line up a boat trip to go look at the wildlife: monkeys, sloths, birds, manatees, etc and spend a few days exploring the area.

In the reading I did about Tortuguero I also heard it is one of the worst malaria regions.  I was the master packer for this trip and picked the perfect clothes for us all.  William and Matthias have pants with zipper legs, so they would be cool during the day and covered up in the night.  For Julian and myself I packed light cotton clothing so we could cover up in the evenings.  We all had one pair of shoes that would be perfect for small hikes in the turtle reserve and stable enough for traveling by boat and bus.  We were totally informed and prepared for a couple of days in Tortuguero.  Or so I though.

What I didn’t prepare for was torrential rains.  We didn’t see a single mosquito in Tortuguero – probably because they were all hiding in their homes from the torrential rains.  I first started to realize I was unprepared when we got on the boat and everyone had rain ponchos, long pants and coats on.  We were all in shorts, tank tops and sandals.  Once we got off in Tortuguero Village we walked to a hotel, got settled and decided to start exploring the town.  At that point it was lightly sprinkling.  We went for a walk on the beach and were hoping to see some turtles.  It’s sort of the “off-season” for turtles but some people had told us we might see a few baby turtles on the beach.  Well, we didn’t see any turtles.  Suddenly it started pouring, and was showing no signs of letting up.  We sat in a restaurant and all had something to drink, but after a while we decided to just run back to the hotel as fast as we could.  By the time we ran the 50 meters back to our hotel room we were all soaked down to our underwear.

One thing we’ve learned about humid climates is that wet clothes in high humidity don’t dry quickly, and they start to smell fast.  There is a really rank smell that creeps in after about 24 hours and (luckily) we’re accustomed to it.  All my clothes were wet and stank, and the humidity in our room was making all our dry clothes slightly moist as well.  That’s when Matthias said “One night in this place and we’re out of here.”  It was kind of heartbreaking because it was such an ordeal to get out there, and I still had so much promise of it being really amazing.  But the rains were so heavy, it was impossible to do anything but sit in our hotel room and complain about how much it was raining.  There was a 2 km loop through the reserve where you are nearly guaranteed to see monkey and birds.  It would have been perfect for us with the kids.  2km is a great distance because even if they refuse to walk, Matthias and I can each take a kid on our shoulders and carry them the entire way.  But the trails were so flooded and muddy that they wouldn’t let anyone out unless they were wearing rubber boots.  So much for packing the perfect shoes.  Disappointed that this outing didn’t turn out like I had hoped, I gave in and we decided to take the 11:30 boat back. 

Matthias agreed to watch the kids until the boat left so I could go on the 2km loop by myself.  I ran through town, rented some boots, bought a rain poncho ($1.60 for a glorified garbage bag) and raced out to the trail.  It was actually more frightening than fun.  The first 400 meters were fine and clearly marked.  I knew a section of the trail was along the beach and then went back into the jungle.  But of course, there was no sign anywhere, no people and there were a zillion trails leading off the beach.  I had to be back by 11:20 at the latest in order to make the boat.  I had seen one trail that was a little more developed than the others, so after walking for about 10 minutes past that trail I finally turned back and followed it back into the woods, hoping it was right.  The section of the trail was even muddier and more flooded.  My boots kept sticking in the mud and at times there was no more trail, just water.  I was alone and it was dark since the jungle can be really thick.  And guess how many monkeys I saw.  Zero.  Guess how many birds I saw.  Zero.  Do you want to know why?  Because they are all not even half a stupid as I am and they don’t go out in that weather either.  

Despite the rest of the trip being a bust, the boat ride out to Tortuguero was worth the entire trip.  The boats are narrow (2 seats wide) and long (15 seats long).  We drove along a narrow river surrounded by dense jungle.  The boats are very tipsy, and they sit so low on the water that at times you are sitting at a 45 degree angle just inches from the water.  Most of the river was brown from all the rain, but in the densest parts the water was black – not much light gets through and the rain doesn’t fall there and stir up the water.  Normally they scream down this river, but occasionally they slow down to avoid trees or other obstacles in the river.  Luckily they passed out rain ponchos so we were able to stay fairly dry. 

Ever heard of Ecotourism?  Did you know it has been around since 1980? In 2002 the United Nations even celebrated the “International Year of Ecotourism” and here in Costa Rica it’s everywhere!

They have Eco Diving Tours, Eco Trips to the Jungle, Eco hotels with Eco menus, Eco car rental places, eco gas stations (by the way, they are not selling bio diesel) and the list goes on and on. In Costa Rica even our Yodavan is an Eco van.

All the Eco-mania has left us a bit confused. What the hell is Ecotourism? The color “green” comes to mind. There is plenty of green in Costa Rica, but that can’t be all there is to Eco Tourism. The rivers in New Jersey are green (amongst many other colors) as well, but you wouldn’t go there for Eco Tourism.

Costa Rica is the world champion in Ecotourism. Like no other country on earth Costa Rica was able promote it’s tourism industry in an environmentally friendly and culturally responsible way and is able to attract over 1 millions tourists every year, despite all of civil unrests and wars going on in it’s neighbor countries.  Costa Rica has set aside about 25% of its land as national parks, never to be altered. Very impressive! But it seems to me that Costa Rica is becoming a victim of its own success. With that many tourists every year, coming on Eco Airplanes, driving Eco SUV’s on Eco friendly roads the environment takes a big beating. But all of those tourists bring another “Green” to the country. The Eco Dollar! And as long as long as there are a lot of green Eco Dollars in your wallet you can live with a little less of green forests. Unfortunately less and less of these Eco dollars end up with the local people (an important part of ecotourism), but with the Eco foreign investors. One group of Eco investors hired experts from Cancun to build a multi billion Eco Dollar mega resort on the northern peninsula. All it took was to bribe 2 or 3 Eco politicians and the project was under way. Luckily the project went bankrupt and the peninsula was spared a future like Cancun, but at least the Eco investors had business cards made from recycled paper.

I am a little disturbed by all of the Ecotourism hype, because of all of the greenwashing going on. The word Ecotourism is often simply used as a marketing tool to promote tourism that is related to nature, placing a hotel in a splendid landscape, to the promote the impression of being part of the ecosystem.
 

However of all the countries we have visited so far Costa Rica definitely is the most environmentally friendly, but that alone doesn’t qualify as Ecotourism. Part of Ecotourism is enhancing the cultural integrity of local people and creating economic opportunities for local communities. It seems to me that most local people don’t really benefit from it. First of all everything is getting more expensive and the salaries don’t raise at the same rate and second, a lot of the investors are foreigners who say that they provide the locals with jobs, but it can hardly be in the interest of the locals to be waiters and maids and see all the money leave the country. Costa Rica will have to make some big decisions which route to go with their tourism industry, the Ecotourism route, with the green forests or the Cancun route with the green wallets.