Costa Rica has new ecotours: Segways in the Park

As urban parks go, San José's Parque La Sabana is unsung. This huge woodsy retreat replete with lake offers a bucolic escape from the hubbub of Costa Rica's capital city.

Intriguing statues, monuments, and works of art are sprinkled throughout the 72-hectare park, which is also venue for an Olympic swimming pool, tennis courts, and various sports arenas. You can fish in the lake or fly a kite from a hill. And an urban canopy tour lets you whiz through the treetops of Japanese maples, eucalyptus, bamboos, cypress, pines, and blazing red African tulip. Meanwhile INBIO, the nation's biodiversity institute, has been reintroducing native wildlife species. more >>

Costa Rica's Plaza de la Democracía Controversy

During my most recent visit to Costa Rica in January, I was delighted to see work had started on remodeling the unkempt and ugly Plaza de la Democracía. Laid out in 1989 to receive presidents attending the Hemispheric Summit, the tree-shaded plaza beneath the crenelated Bellavista Fortress gradually became a neglected eyesore.

Meanwhile, in 1995 the artesans' market formerly occupying the Plaza de la Cultura was relocated here, where is has since occupied Calle 13 bis, on the western side of 'Democracy Square.'

Recently, the Óscar Arias administration announced that the market would be shut down. The vendors, who sell primarily to tourists, then initiated a protest outside the Casa Presidencial–Costa Rica's 'White House.' Lawmakers prepared a bill that would have granted tenure to the vendors. But last week word got out that Arias has vetoed the bill. more >>