Rural Tourism - Central America

Twenty years ago the words Central America and tourism were not used too often in the same sentence. Now with the Cancun area of Mexico, Belize and its great diving attractions, and Costa Rica with its natural beauties there are places in Central America where travelers can have great vacations.

This did not come easy for many Central American countries. Tourism has helped much of Central American in an economic way but memories of it’s rough political past is still left behind. To Some Central America is associated with two things 1) corrupt government under which the native people suffer 2) cheap labor which benefits large foreign companies at the expense of the local people. These two situations have been a very bad combination and led to difficult economic times and even wars for Central America.

The history of Central America is absolutely fascinating. With what now many consider a treasure that must be preserved with its beautiful landscapes and rainforests, it was before, just an isthmus of profit and stomping ground for the large capitalist. The history is pre-Colombian which means in Mexico and Belize you have your traditional large Indian tribes who were the Mayan but from there on south to Panama there was only smaller tribes spread out by rough terrain and little influence on each other. The isthmus is one of the most bio-diverse places on the planet because while it was being formed it joined two great continents which made for a bridge of crossing for the animals. Although the Indians stayed separated the animals seemed to find their way through. This can only tell us that this land is some of the harshest around. So the next time you complain about the roads in Costa Rica just remember what the engineers are dealing with.

After the Spaniards arrived things started to change. Not only were thousands of Indians killed during the Crusades but the Spanish started to settle and take over these areas all ruled from their headquarters of Guatemala. Which each country in Central America with its own unique history it was from here that countries started to become independent. Costa Rica (Rich Coast) was one of those countries that was somewhat forgotten about. It originally got its name when the Spanish settled Costa Rica and noticed all the Indians had a lot of gold. After looking for gold the Spanish realized that there really was not that much and they sort of left Costa Rica without much interest. A few stayed behind and settled the area of Cartago and began new lives working in agriculture. Costa Rica’s big economic days started with the coffee boom.

Central America was not forgotten as a whole and many countries have taken interest in what it can offer. It is the smallest area that connects the two great oceans which means for trade it got a lot of attention. This is where the idea for the Panama Canal started. The United Fruit Company was also a major part of history on the isthmus. Its history here is filled with good and bad. It was referred to as the Octopus of Central America since it had its hands in every government there was.

Central America is an area with somewhat of a rough past or what I like to think just a rough start to what can be a very prosperous future. Central America has the natural beauties and some of the nicest people on Earth. We can only hope that politics play a positive roll in this area and tourism gets the safe opportunity to give the economic boost that is needed.

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