Serendipity Adventures, "True Experts in Costa Rica Since 1991"

Welcome to Serendipity Adventures [X] , your premier “tool for an amazing Costa Rica vacation”! These “true experts in Costa Rica since 1991” offer a variety of individualized vacation designs for people looking for a Central American destination-vacation “away from massive tourist enclaves.” Due to an increasing interest in Ecotourism, Serendipity has found a way to ensure the “best of Costa Rica” from what “[Serendipity staff] “natives” have discovered.”

One of Serendipity Adventures’ most popular honeymoon vacation packages is the Costa Rica Tarzan and Jane adventure. This package includes many exciting itinerary items including “horseback, volcano and hot springs, tree climbing, and mountain biking, interesting hiking and swimming, along with beautiful beaches, and some luxury and pampering.” Day One of the trip is dedicated to checking-in and unwinding at their “luxury hotel” in San Jose, Costa Rica where while “Manuel gets your things into your room and arranges for dinner, you can wander off down the pathway on the side of the cliff to a giant waterfall.” Make sure you soak up all the four-star amenities offered through the “high standards” of the hotel because they stand in “stark contrast to the ruggedness of the rest of the trip” [Meaning the actual outdoors activities provided as part of the Tarzan and Jane experience]. Both the hiking through the rainforest (Day Two) and the zip lining through the canopy followed by flinging yourself off a rope line into a private swimming-hole (Day Three) “bring on thoughts of Tarzan and Jane.” Of course, all the Serendipity Adventures’ vacationers are familiar with the charming Disney tale of peaceful life of a gorilla troop off the coast of Africa that was interrupted by a team of human explorers from England who seek to capture the gorillas and return home with them. [This is an extremely concerning image to attach to your self-proclaimed environmentally conscious tourist destination, Serendipity Adventures.]  By the end of Day Five, you “say goodbye to your Serendipity adventure leader, now your friend (because why wouldn’t you become life-long friends after five days of your tour guide waiting in the “a private 4WD vehicle” while you soak your troubles away in the hot spring)” and stay one last night before catching your international flight back home. Serendipity Adventures prides itself on providing a vacation experience in which you have the opportunity to “learn about the ecology, the economy, the society, the way of life here in Costa Rica.”

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Ecotourism is a late 20^th-century trend in which tourists seek out international trips that involve visiting “fragile, pristine, and relatively undisturbed natural areas [X].” While a removed glance at this type of tourist experience may seem like an innocuous, and even environmentally conscious, way to experience the globe, looking at travel companies like Serendipity Adventures reveals these aims to be oxymoronic in nature. Staying at a four-star resort, having your favorite breakfast cereal flown in, getting a massage from a “trained local” while looking through a glass-window at a waterfall does not scream eco-friendly (it doesn’t even whisper it). Who built the hotel? What “locals” were consulted in the “legal” purchase of the sections of the rainforest which compose the backdrop for your thrilling hikes into the uninhabited wilderness? Who owned/lived on that land that your honeymoon dream vacation is now taking place? Is taking a guided tour to private swimming-holes really the way you’re going to learn about the “way of life in Costa Rica”? How does this special “eco”-form of tourism remove you from the responsibility of thinking critically about who gets screwed over in this exchange?