Paradise is NOT for Sale
July 13, 2010 by Mike Harrelson
On a recent surf trip to Costa Rica I was reminded of an important lesson… if you really want a feral experience you’re going to have to travel a bit further than most. Perhaps not a further distance, simply a different compass bearing. When the guidebook says, “go right” I’ve learned I’m better off going left… or, perhaps, splitting the difference.
Just north of Malpais, Costa Rica, the coastal town of Santa Teresa smells of ripe mangos. It’s a clean little beach community with a dank, jungly rainforest backing up to la playa. And yet, it’s a bit too discovered for my taste. Just a few too many dudes strutting in their skull & crossbones trunks, stylee-branded sunglasses and rooster attitudes. Santa Teresa’s once dusty thoroughfare is now paved.
But, despite my quips, this zone on the southern Nicoya peninsula catches a spectrum of swell angles and the sandbars are known to produce hollow waves when the wind blows offshore. Sure I wanted culture, but I really wanted surf.
Doing our best to settle into an “insta-local” groove, we ‘d gotten word of a farmer’s market held every Saturday afternoon under a sprawling banyan tree. Rolling in search of fresh veggies on my rusty rental cruiser bike, I came upon a real estate sign that distilled my conflicted thoughts. “Want to own a piece of paradise?” it read in a bold, sales-guy font. Below, the spray-painted tag — El paraiso no se vende!!
Travel serves up those aha moments.
Great sign! Unless you’re the real estate company selling a piece of paradise… The sign reminds me of the bumper stickers that were all over a few years ago: “Visit but don’t stay.” Travelers seem to be welcome almost everywhere, but new residents, not so much.
much gratitude for taking me to vivid tropical locale as i sit in doors pining for my next adventure. the best finds are to the left.
“....their skull & crossbones trunks, stylee-branded sunglasses and rooster attitudes…”
Leave the rooster at home! Yeah , yeah, and anotha thing: Do we need to OWN every farkin’ square inch of the entire planet?Terrific!
What about renting from an owner, in an existing building- ideally owned by a local, native/ national, NOT a foreign national who is plotting his or her ex-pat retirement dream?! Take only pictures, leave only memories…maybe a few pesos, too
Yep even the ferl zones are becoming tamed and Vegasized and it’s up to us to say no to this cancer with our dollars. We can go to these places but do we need to be waited on like Pharoah’s or have a 7-11 experience at every turn? Simple, clean and sometimes challenging travel and becoming one with the land and ocean are what I yearn for on my trips. You can go to a 7-11 365 here at home…and even then why?
What is it that makes us feel the need to own what we love? I think many of us have “conflicted thoughts” when we travel and you have done what every good adventurer should do…reflect on those internal reactions. Great lesson Miguel, hopefully more people can start traveling with a humble spirit! Where to next???
Leave it to Harrelson to seek out those bits of wisdom near a great surf break. Being a gringo in Central America comes complete with its own brand of conflict. Brilliant!
Nicaragua… El Salvador… All starting to get that way too… I think you have to go to West Africa now to get away from it.
Friends, Thanks for the various perspectives and related ramblings. Think it’s time we all plan our next reconnaissance. Who’s got a plane ticket burning a hole in their pocket?