In 2009, a 6.2 magnitude earthquake destroyed more than 90% of the infrastructure of the town of Cinchona, in Alajuela. The government then created a commission that led a project to resettle the community, which consisted of just over ninety families, to a site called Nueva Cinchona.
As part of the Nueva Cinchona project, the community was involved in participatory workshops to learn about their history and preserve the community model they had before the earthquake. Thus, the design of this new space considered the original characteristics of the houses and common areas, the location of services and the integration of native species.
Despite these workshops, Nelson Villanea, an inhabitant of Nueva Cinchona commented in a report on the commemoration of the twelfth anniversary of the resettlement, that one of the main challenges faced by the inhabitants of Nueva Cinchona was learning to live together in a town where the separation between houses was very short. Since there was less spatial availability in Nueva Cinchona, those families living on large plots of land were forced to live closer to each other. Evidently, this changed their community dynamics.
Signs of a disappearance
More than 200 kilometers from Nueva Cinchona, Sharon Urbina also describes the past with nostalgia. That nostalgia does not arise because of a natural disaster, as in the case of Nelson, but because of the real estate bubble that burst in Brasilito: a Guanacaste town located between the tourist developments of Playa Conchal and Playa Flamingo.
Urbina states that there are signs that point to the disappearance of Brasilito: the EBAIS was relocated, the police were removed, and no help has been given to build a school. In this case, public policy seeks the opposite of the resettlement plan in Nueva Cinchona: an eviction plan. The coordinator of the Tourism Observatory in Guanacaste of the National University of Costa Rica, Esteban Barboza, describes the real estate development in this province as “uncontrolled, where speculation is the norm”.
According to a newspaper article in La Voz de Guanacaste, in the district of Nacascolo, in Liberia, the construction intention had a 983% growth in the last eight years. In the town of Santa Marta, more than 120 kilometers from Nacascolo, it is estimated that the number of water meters will increase by 85% in the next three years. Of these, 33% will go to luxury housing developments.
Displacements
In one of his most famous songs, the Mexican José José sang: “Ya lo pasado, pasado, no me interesa el ayer / Ya olvidé, ya olvidé” (“Let bygones be bygones, I’m not interested in yesterday/ I’ve already forgotten, I’ve already forgotten”). However, everything indicates that when it comes to the cities or towns in which we grew up, nostalgia arises, and we appreciate the past more and more.
The biologist Teresa Franquesa describes this feeling through the term solastalgia, which refers to the action of returning to the town where you grew up and seeing that you have lost the environment to which you belonged.
Avoiding solastalgia is difficult. Longing for the past is part of us and reminds us of where we come from. This is why we should not allow the inhabitants of neighborhoods and towns to be displaced by the pressure of economic interests. This has happened for example in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in Mexico City or in Harlem, New York.
There is an urgent need for a tourism policy that integrates the community and considers the inhabitants of the sites, integrating them into the economic dynamics. Costa Ricans will probably continue to face situations such as the need to relocate a town due to the expansion of tourist areas or a disaster. This is why it is necessary to ensure that these displacements are carried out under a sustainable development model that integrates the sense of community that we have created in Costa Rica and that allows us to imagine ourselves as an egalitarian country. We cannot say, like José José, ¡ya olvidé! (I’ve already forgotten!)