Costa Rica Guide
The Central Pacific and southern Nicoya
Isla de Chira
Shaped like a dinosaur skull and surrounded by crocodile-infested mangrove swamps, untouristed ISLA DE CHIRA is like stepping back in time to Costa Rica three decades ago. At 42 square kilometres, it is the largest island in the Gulf of Nicoya, home to 3000 Ticos who eke out a simple existence through small-scale fishing and subsistence farming. Inhabited since pre-Columbian times, more than a third of the island is mangroves, the remainder essentially farmland and tropical dry forest. Running water and the first car didn't arrive until the early 1990s and you can still count on one hand the number of vehicles that pass daily along the island's rough main road.
On the surface it seems there would be little to entice visitors, but one of Costa Rica's most inspiring rural ecotourism projects is underway here. In 2000, with over-fishing impacting on the island's traditional economy, a group of local women resolved to generate an alternative income based on promoting the responsible use of Isla de Chira's natural resources. Their decision to establish the island's first proper tourism initiative – consisting of a small hotel, restaurant and nature tours – was met with skepticism by the community. Many feared tourism would bring prostitution, and some of the husbands felt threatened by their wives' entrepreneurship, accusing them of visiting San José to find new boyfriends rather than attend business meetings. But with international funding, the Asociación de Damas de la Isla de Chira soldiered on, buying a small plot of forested land and the materials to build a lodge, restaurant and small fibreglass boat. Albergue La Amistad ( 
661-3261 or 248-9470 for English, 
www.actuarcostarica.com or www.eco-indextourism.org/es/amistad_en ; Price: $31-50) is the fruits of their labour, sleeping up to 24 people and consisting of three basic bungalows with private cold-water bathrooms. Overnight packages cost $68, including three delicious home-cooked meals and the services of a local guide; be sure to bring a mosquito net as rooms are partially open to the elements. Hiking trails lead form the lodge to lookout points, and bicycles can be borrowed to explore the island. Boat tours are offered to mangrove swamps and to Isla Paloma, a tiny aquatic bird sanctuary that is an important nesting site for pelicans, frigates, great egret and cormorant. About 2km east of the lodge an association of female artisans have a shop where they make and sell locally produced jewellery and crafts.
English-speaking guides and transport can be arranged through ACTUAR ( 248-9470, www.actuarcostarica.com ). The easiest way to reach the island is from Puntarenas. A lancha leaves daily from the dock near the mercado in the town centre at 12.30pm (45min, $7 one way) and returns from Isla de Chira at 6.30pm; it's a rough and sometimes wet ride that is not ideal for people with back problems. The lancha docks in La Bocana and is met by a public bus which can stop on request at Albergue La Amistad, 10km east. Ferries for Isla de Chira also leave daily from Costa de Pájoros (north of Puntarenas) at 7.30am and 2.30pm and return at 5.50am, noon & 2.10pm (45min, $6 one way). Boat times change frequently so check with ACTUAR before leaving. To get to Costa de Pájoros by public transport, take any bus towards Cañas and transfer in Chomes. If you're driving to Costa de Pájoros from San José, take the Interamericana northwest until you reach Punta Morales, 40km north of Puntarenas; turn southwest and drive seven kilometres to Costa de Pájoros. From Isla de Chira, direct transfers can also be arranged through ACTUAR to the Karen Mogensen Reserve on the southern Nicoya Peninsula.