AKURA Issue No.85, Oct2009
Published by the Okayama City
International Friendship Association
Feature: Costa Rica Travel Journal
【LEFT】A civic exchange through dance
【RIGHT】a mysterious stone monument
【LEFT】Recycling in the environmentally aware nation of Costa Rica
【RIGHT】An ancient Mayan sacred bird, the quetzal
It has been 40 years since Okayama and Costa Rica's San Jose established a sister city relationship. As a member of the visiting group formed to memorialize the anniversary, I visited Costa Rica from the 31st of January until the 8th of February.
There has been a worldwide boom in ecotourism and a great number of tourists have been visiting Costa Rica's natural reserves and nature parks.
Costa Rica which has been called Eden and the flower garden of Central America is said to be a nation involved in environmental protection.
Costa Rica's natural reserves and national parks make up more than 10% of the country's area. San Jose, the capital city, is in a highland basin 1150 meters above sea level. Despite being a tropical area, the average temperature is 20 degrees Celsius, so it is a breezy comfortable city all year round.
The tourism industry generated by the national parks, as well as agricultural industry with crops such as bananas and coffee, are the main contributors to the economy.
Costa Rica's main attraction is its rich nature. The country is getting behind strict environmental protection in order to save its ecosystem.
In Okayama Park, which was constructed to memorialize the 30th Anniversary of the sister city relationship, a festival called the San Jose Okayama Sister City 40th Anniversary Festival was underway. The visiting group joined a memorial planting and cooperative events, and were warmly welcomed.
On our visit to pay respects to the mayor of San Jose in the San Jose City Hall, there was a somber ceremony. That night there was a welcome ceremony at the Japanese ambassador's official residence, at which a sum of 620 thousand yen which had been raised through donations to support victims of the earthquake, was handed to a local volunteer group.
We had lunch with Mary Alice Lesco and Maryam de Montiel, two representatives of the Okayama San Jose Friendship Association, and on another day we were welcomed warmly at a large party thrown by the Giselle family who had lived in Okayama for a year. It was a few days in which we were able to feel the warmth of the people there.
We went sightseeing at the National Museum, the Gold Museum and the Institute of Biodiversity (INBIO) park, where we saw the morpho butterfly, sloths, and other rare animals. At the Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve which is where ecotourism began, we walked in a jungle called the tropical cloud forest and were able to see the quetzal, an ancient Mayan sacred bird, and a hummingbird. With 5 percent of the world's animals in Costa Rica it is a place that bird lovers aspire to go to.
The Tabacon Grand Spa Thermal Resort is a large resort which makes use of a hot spring at the foot of the Arenal Volcano, and the river surrounded by a jungle is used as the hot spring. Nature lovers from around the world come here to rest their bodies.
During this visit, the beauty of San Jose city and theCosta Rican adoption of environmental protection policies made a deep impression.
I was able to broaden my knowledge and strengthen the links between our cities through the exchanges with the mayor at the time, Maureen Clarke as well as the townspeople and through the sightseeing. I was able to recognize again the importance of interpersonal exchanges.
(Keiko Wakasa - Okayama City International Friendship Association Member)
が意味するのは、、、「携帯バージョン
