The price of paradise in Costa Rica

Here's my last story as a staff writer and photographer at the Star Tribune. After 22 years, 50 countries, 45 states and most of the counties in Minnesota, I probably deserved the chance to say so long in a more formal way; but in the January round of buyouts, the managers didn't let reporters say goodbye to the readers. They didn't want any reminders of the paper's ongoing diminishment. No sour grapes though; this story was a fitting send-off. In my career, I was fortunate to have the freedom to write as I saw fit, to cover the dark side of travel as well as its joys. The over-developed, under-policed Costa Rican town of Tamarindo would be an excellent subject for a dissertation on what can go wrong when a tourist town doesn't plan carefully to protect its own soul.