whyjuliarose: claudia

see claudia...

she has been investing alot of time as of lately (14+ hours/day) to this budding architectural project of hers. i obviously don't understand the nuts and bolts of the conceptualized idea, or of anything architecturally speaking for that matter, but the project is intriguing. so i'll skirt around the logistics and give you the basic idea.

tamarindo is a beach town on the nicoya peninsula here in costa rica. with only 2000 people, tamarindo boasts amazing beaches, surfing, fishing, spas, nature, sunsets, you name it. it is the notorious tourist destination, basically. with every tourist hotspot, comes development. tamarindo has been growing steadily with the influx of tourism. this typically wouldn't be seen as such a bad thing, seeings how underdeveloped countries thrive on outsider money. the clincher is that these business that are coming in and taking over tamarindo are internationally owned and operated, therefore receiving all profit. the hotels that are being developed offer all inclusive packages. food, adventures, lodging, etc. so you come in, do all things touristy, and don't need to look outside of the package deal for anything else. you can see how the locals would suffer. but the government benefits financially, of course. comes down to that longwinded mantra of...its all about the money. the big people win and the little people suffer. the locals are being forced to move out of tamarindo to make a living. the ever brewing tamarindo soup of culture and authenticity is slowly being thinned out by foreign prospectives. isnt as rich as it used to be, in other words. the government is selling out, both literally and figuratively.
nowadays, costa ricans actually refer to tamarindo as tamagringo...hmm....

so where claudia comes into the picture is...she is trying to construct a development to put the locals back in business. by developing a competive tourist facility. on a budget. there is much more to it than that, but you get the idea.

first sketch