Why The New Key to Costa Rica leaves out the northern Guanacaste beaches

I came across a review of The New Key to Costa Rica at amazon, by a reader named M Seeley. He starts out saying "Be forewarned: this author - a seriously left-wing Socialist Greenie treehugger - has an agenda." and goes on to say:
"If you want to go to Central America and volunteer to dig ditches for the poor, this book is right up your alley. However, if you're looking to go on vacation and relax or see the country instead of seeking some kind of redemption, well you've got your nerve! (LOL). And the author has the gall (in this newest version) to eliminate EVERY hotel (green or not) in the ENTIRE province of Guanacaste because the infrastructure doesn't satisfy her eco requirements. Wow. I guess we won't be helping any poor folks in that area. So... if you looking for info on Flamingo Beach, Playa Hermosa, Coco, or Tamarindo, you're out of luck there." He further states "The author does know Costa Rica well, but It's too bad she couldn't be more objective. Yes, I'm environmentally minded and surely do want to go to eco places, but pretending other places don't exist is just silly."

M Seeley is misinformed. I have good reasons for leaving out the beaches of northern Guanacaste. Here is my reply:

Dear M Seeley,
I'd like to respond to several points in your review of my book, The New Key to Costa Rica, 19th edition.
First of all, Costa Rica's ruling party, Liberación Nacional, is a social democratic party. Why was Costa Rica not at war during the 70's and 80's like the rest of Central America? Because Liberación Nacional nationalized the banks, the telecommunications and electricity systems, insurance, and health care in 1949-50, all as a way of benefiting the population. Thus there were less poverty, better education, and better safety nets in Costa Rica, and a rising middle class. The socialized institutions have now become overly bureaucratic, but they served during the 50's, 60's and 70's to create prosperity and well-being for the Costa Rican people.
Costa Rica's reputation in tourism is built on its "treehugging" policies, with over 25% of the country in some kind of protection. So being green and understanding the value of democratic socialism are consistent with understanding why Costa Rica is what it is today.
Nowhere in my book do I mention volunteering to "dig ditches for poor people". I do try to draw the reader's attention to the network of 30 Costa Rican communities that own their own ecolodges. So rather than the Costa Ricans digging ditches and being gardeners and maids at foreign-owned ecolodges, they have the chance to build and own their own ecotourism businesses. These places are not only stunningly beautiful, but provide the experience of getting to know the people who live in the place you are visiting. Relaxation and adventure are easy to find at these and all destinations mentioned in my book.  Owning their own lodges helps people stay on their land, creates jobs for their families, and helps them preserve their forests, rivers, and traditional culture.
It is erroneous for you to say "And the author has the gall (in this newest version) to eliminate EVERY hotel (green or not) in the ENTIRE province of Guanacaste because the infrastructure doesn't satisfy her eco requirements."
My book has a 44-page chapter on Guanacaste Province, including the southern beaches. I do not include the beaches of northern Guanacaste because there is widespread agreement that the amount of tourism there has outstripped the capacity of the local infrastructure. Local communities have sued Guanacaste hotels because there is not enought water left for residents. Many beaches that formerly received the government's ecological Blue Flag rating have lost it because of high levels of contamination in the water. While this edition was being researched the government had to shut down two hotels in Guanacaste for dumping raw sewage in the sea! If anyone is pretending, it is those who trust that when they take a long luxurious shower or flush a toilet on their relaxing beach vacation, that there exists a water and sewer system that is handling it all in a responsible way. Most successful hotels in Costa Rica have their own septic systems, but there are very few sewage treatment plants. Tourism has developed rapidly, and the infrastructure has not caught up.

My main point is that tourism has a direct effect on the communities you visit. Communities can choose to take responsibility for their relationship with tourism. They can choose to maintain it at a sustainable level, but if they let it get beyond that, they have to pay for appropriate infrastructure.

After 28 years of writing and updating this book, I am saddened to see village after village lose its soul to the monster of mass tourism. I support community tourism because I hope that it can give pristine villages a fighting chance to determine what they want from tourism rather than being overwhelmed by it. The beaches of northern Guanacaste long ago lost any pretense of being Costa Rican. My book is for people who would like to experience Costa Rica while they are there. If they would prefer to relax in an atmosphere that is more like Florida or California, then there are plenty of Costa Rica guidebooks and glossy brochures to meet their needs.
Learn more about my travel planning services at www.keytocostarica.com

Preserving Costa Rican indigenous culture at BriBri Pa Kaneblo

After we took a turn at using the heavy rock to grind corn, the elders at BriBri Pa Kaneblo took us to a beautiful spot in the forest that has been traditionally used for purification ceremonies, especially for mothers and newborn babies.

Introduction
I've been writing and updating The New Key to Costa Rica since 1982, when I inherited it from my mother, Jean Wallace. When the book became a best seller in 1989, I was afraid that it might be aiding and abetting the destruction of the natural wonders it was extolling. So, with co-author Anne Becher, and the help of many other people, we developed a system that rated lodgings on their commitment to conservation, to preserving local cultures and fostering local economies. As far as I know, it was the first “green rating” to be published in a guidebook.
A rating system similar to ours was adopted by the Costa Rican government in 1998 and has developed over the years. It is called the Certificación de Sostenibilidad Turística (CST). After the CST became established, I stopped including our Sustainable Ecotourism Survey in the book, because the government system was making people and businesses more aware of sustainable practices and they had a lot more resources than I did.
In the last ten years, the Small Grants Program of the Global Environmental Facility has funded campesino and indigenous conservation organizations all over the world to build their own ecolodges and create trails and other nature tourism attractions within their forest reserves. These destinations represent what I had always wanted to see in Costa Rican tourism: locally-owned lodges that preserve natural resources, provide great adventures, and give visitors a chance to meet real Costa Rican campesino conservationists. Now I feature these lodges in my book. In addition to practicing conservation and sustainable practices, they are owned by community organizations. The lodges that have made the highest ratings on the CST are often owned by non-Costa Ricans. Since the issue of land tenure is crucial all over Latin America, I felt it was important to bring travelers' awareness of this new phenomenon which offers the possibility of supplementing farm income, while providing authentic ecotourism experiences.
The community ecolodges that had been funded by the Small Grants Program banded together in 2001 to form ACTUAR, the Costa Rican Association for Rural Tourism. I have formed an alliance with ACTUAR in which I use the knowledge and reader trust that I have developed over the 26 years that I have written and updated The New Key to Costa Rica, to familiarize tourists with the benefits of community-based tourism. In addition to featuring ACTUAR member destinations in The New Key, ACTUAR and I have collaborated to make this unique form of travel more accessible to visitors.
The first idea was for me to lead groups to visit ACTUAR destinations. I gathered the first “pilot” group together in 2003 and led two other tours in 2004. By the end of 2004, ACTUAR started hiring excellent bilingual naturalist guide/drivers, and I started planning customized itineraries for the many readers and web browsers who contact me for travel planning advice. I am now the North American sales representative for ACTUAR and I answer their 800 number in the US. People who contacted me for travel planning advice have generated over $250,000 in income for ACTUAR over the last year and a half. That income allows ACTUAR to serve as an interface between the communities and tourists, and provides income for ACTUAR members and their families.
I am currently working on the 19th edition of The New Key to Costa Rica, published by Ulysses Press in Berkeley, California. Information from my latest research trip to Costa Rica will appear on this blog.