A Brief History of Monteverde, Costa Rica

One of the first and best ecotourism destinations in the world was founded in the early 1950's by 44 Friends from the U.S.A who were seeking a place to live and worship without any requirement to support militaristic activities contrary to their long-held religious beliefs. Marvin Rockwell tells the story of the journey from Fairhope, Alabama to a mountain shelf in Costa Rica that they would name Monteverde, green mountain, and he tells about how the area grew and prospered and became protected.

Note that Marvin, was aged 95 at the time of this presentation. He served on a Liberty Ship in World War-II.

I first learned about Costa Rica in 1973 from an enthusiastic high school classmate who was son of the Costa Rican Consul. After many hours of "Spanglish" discussions, he convinced me it was a wonderful place. I visited Monteverde for several days in 1993 where I first heard Marvin tell this story.

Costa Rica is known for beaches, volcanoes, and biodiversity. Almost a quarter of its area is made up of protected jungle. Even with limited resources, the nation of nearly 5 million has free public health-care and education systems. Life expectancy is longer than in the U.S. and Costa Rica hopes to "de-carbonize" means of transportation in the country by their 2021 bicentennial.
Marvin was interviewed an episode of "Richard Bangs' Adventures with Purpose Costa Rica: Quest For Pura Vida" which has aired on the Create Channel.

Видео A Brief History of Monteverde, Costa Rica канала Stuart Grant