Explore Costa Rica - Softcover

Harry-s-pariser

3.71

7 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1893643506 ISBN 13: 9781893643505

Publisher: Manatee Press, 2000

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Travel with award-winning travel guide and author Harry S. Pariser around Costa Rica, and experience its wonders: *

Dive and snorkel off the coast of the remote Osa Peninsula *

Visit the intimate hotels of the Nicoya Peninsula *

Ascend by rope and pulley into the

rain forest canopy *

Surf, kayak, canoe, bungee jump,

mountain bike, spelunk and trek *

Or just lie back on a beach, relax and watch the monkeys at play. Everything's in this humorous, informative, educational, detailed guide. There's no other book quite like it! It covers *

Internal flights, ferry schedules and bus travel *

Sustainable tourism, including volunteer opportunities *

Studying Spanish *

Maps, photos, websites and lots more useful tips. For travelers who don't want to be called tourists, Explore Costa Rica is the book!

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About the Author:

Harry S. Pariser graduated from Boston University with a B.S. in Public Communications. He has traveled extensively throughout the world, and speaks Spanish, Japanese, Indonesian. In 1995 he was awarded The Society of American Travel Writers' Lowell Thomas Award for "Best Guide Book." His other books include The Adventure Guide to Barbados, Jamaica: A Visitors Guide, The Adventure Guide to Belize, and many more travel books. He lives in San Francisco.

Sample excerpts from Explore Costa Rica:

Costa Rica's capital city of San Jos was once a sleepy backwater. Today, it is today a mixture of boldly intruding billboards advertising Kentucky Fried and Coke, shanty houses on hillside tugurios, and ten-speed bicyclists in spandex, who roam the streets in the company of BMWs and Volvos. Within a single generation San Jos has been transformed from a quiet town into a crowded, bustling metropolis, one which has already engulfed neighboring suburbs and threatens to swallow the nearby cities of Cartago, Alajuela, and Heredia, in the process creating one giant megapolis. Forecasts are that the greater San Jos metropolitan area will have over two million inhabitants by the end of this century. With some 660-700,000 people, 30% of the nation lives here. MUSEO DE JADE: Misleadingly named, this small jewel of a museum is really a full-fledged introduction to the cultures of Costa Ricas indigenous peoples. There are musical instruments, bows and arrows, an aerial photo of the Guayabo archaeological site, ceramic ocarinas, flints, anthropomorphic metales (grinding stones) and others with elaborately carved undersides, a disk with Maya inscriptions, fantastic female ceramic figurines (from AD 700-1100), and a large two-piece incense burner with a marvelous lagarto (lizard) carved on the lid. The quality of both the imagery and the technique puts most contemporary art to shame. After some finely crafted carved jade pieces showing South American influences, theres a sitting room with a great view to the north. Give your feet, brain, and eyes a brief rest here because youll need it for whats to come. Next is a room displaying ceramic and gold objects. Then, the displays change with room after room of anthropomorphically-shaped jade scrapers and other objects from the Pacific coast, many of which show a Mayan influence. Works from the central and Atlantic areas are also on display. These jade pieces did not come from archaeological sites but rather were purchased from private collectors who bought them from looters. The last room shows some enormous clay phalluses along with phallic ocarinas, masturbating clay men, ceramic hermaphrodite and female fertility figures, and a group of wild-eyed, frantically clutching, copulating clay couples. Finally, out in the hall theres a replica of a 14th C. Tang Dynasty ceramic horse, a gift from the Chinese Embassy. Do you wonder where all of the objects in the museum came from? They were purchased from private collectors who bought them from looters. Very few items were excavated. The museum (% 223-5800) is located on the 11th floor of the INS (Instituto Nacional de Seguros; Institute for National Security), C. 11, Av. 7. Its open Mon.-Fri., 8-4:30. Admission is US$2 for adults; children are free. After visiting the museum, head for Caf Mundo at Av. 9, C. 15 (to the E) to dine or get caffeinated. Be sure to check out the views before you leave; to the south is the Edificio Metlico (Metal Building), an incongrous green prefab building designed by French architect Victor

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