Before the boom in Costa Rican tourism, deciphering the bus timetables and fighting your way through the crowds at Coca-Cola terminal in San José was a rite of passage for the uninitiated traveler. As little as three years ago, getting to the beaches on the Península de Nicoya took determination, patience and – depending on the state of the Costa Rica’s dreadful roads – a little luck. These days however, an increasing number of travelers are getting their first glimpse of pura vida Costa Rica at Liberia’s own Daniel Oduber Quirós International Airport, which is roughly the size of a Wal-Mart parking lot.
Previously, the sunny capital of Guanacaste served as a transportation hub connecting the capital with both borders, as well as the standard bearer of Costa Rica’s sabanero culture. Even today, a large part of the greater Liberia area is involved in ranching operations, and still much enamored of Clint Eastwood movies, cowboy hats and machetes. However, as more and more gringos are stumbling off their international flights and seeking out the nearest cerveza in broken Spanish, Guanacastecos are starting to realize how lucrative the tourism industry can be.
These days, the public schools in Liberia have expanded the number of English courses on offer, private clinics catering to moneyed foreigners are popping up all over, and some folks are even looking into renovating the 150-year-old downtown with a full facelift and expanded pedestrian mall. But, like most tourism projects in Costa Rica, development is a double-edged sword, and the nearby Papagayo Project is no exception.
Liberia has long been a base for visiting the nearby volcanoes, national parks and beaches, though the multinational corporations who’ve already invested heavily in the project have other ideas. Located only 50km away from Liberia, the Golfo de Papagayo is being tagged by hopeful tourist-industry magnates as ‘the new Cancún, ’ though the difference is that here you can actually drink the water. Liberia’s airport, which recently unveiled plans to build a second parking lot…er, runway, is slated to become the most important entry point for package tourists in search of tropical sun (without all that fuss of actually having to speak a foreign language). In this rapidly unfurling master plan, the city will redefine itself as a service community, providing much needed jobs in the daiquiri-mixing industry.
Clearly, this new development raises the stakes – grass-roots groups have been pressuring the government to enforce strict regulations on new resorts, though Liberia has already started ramping up its own infrastructure to make sure local talent stays put to guide the city’s transformation. Whistle-blowers are already rallying to the call of ‘overdevelopment’ and ‘sustainability, ’ though it’s difficult to know who’s actually listening. Regardless of how the drama unfolds, Liberia is a much safer and surprisingly pleasant alternative to San José, and it’s a great base for exploring destinations in both the northwest and the Península de Nicoya. And, though most of the historic buildings in the city center are a little rough around the edges and in desperate need of a paint job, Liberia is a fairly pleasant city (at least by Costa Rican standards), and there is a good range of accommodations and services aimed at travelers of all budgets.
Last updated: Feb 17, 2009
