COSTA RICA

With the election of a pro-gay marriage president, Costa Rica just became one of the hottest LGBT travel destinations. Just beware the occasional earthquake.

With the election of a pro-gay marriage president, Costa Rica has just became one of the hottest LGBTIQ travel destinations.

SAME-SEX MARRIAGE FOR COSTA RICA

In April this year, Costa Rica voted overwhelmingly for same-sex marriage by electing Carlos Alvarado as its new president.

In a nail-biting election that became almost exclusively about the one burning topic, he conclusively beat the polls’ frontrunner, evangelical preacher and Christian pop singer Fabricio Alvarado, who ran on a platform defending “traditional values” (and was widely derided as a homophobe).

The election came after the Inter-American Human Rights Court ruled in January that same-sex marriages should be recognised. Carlos Alvarado (unrelated to opponent Fabricio Alvarado despite having the same surname) was not only pro-same-sex marriage, he campaigned with the slogan Elijo el future (“I choose the future”).

This new-age, straight advocate for equality is also something of a rock singer and novelist in his spare time. Move over, Justin Trudeau!

Historically, gay sex has been legal in Costa Rica since 1971. Civil partnerships have long been recognised, but same-sex marriages never became legal, or even potentially legal, until now in this fervently Catholic country with its lingering machismo.

As recently as the 1990s, the Costa Rican Catholic Church protested about LGBTIQ visitors to the country on the basis it was “sex tourism”. Shortly afterwards, a gay sauna in San José was shut down by local authorities, though the country’s Supreme Court ruled the closure invalid.

This millennium things improved considerably in Costa Rica with a National Day Against Homophobia initiated in 2008 and the first openly LGBTIQ parliamentarian elected in 2013. Another year later, in 2014, the country’s then-president raised a rainbow flag at the Presidential House to support the newly updated annual National Day of Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia.

This is a country with a long history of political stability and one of the few countries in the world proudly without an army. Thanks to the election of President Carlos Alvarado, Costa Rica has virtually overnight become the hottest new gay travel destination in the world.

LGBT TRAVEL IN COSTA RICA

You know you’ve arrived somewhere special when the Earth moves under your feet on your first night, as it did in Costa Rica at 2am. Initially I assumed the noticeable rumble in the hotel room was my husband snoring heavily after our 11-hour flight from London.

Only in the morning did we learn an earthquake with a magnitude of 4.8 caused tremors across the capital, San José. The city got a minor shake up – thankfully without any

loss of life or damage.

San José boasts just 300,000 inhabitants and while it’s not the prettiest city, it is populated by plenty of suave locals.

For gay nightlife head to La Avispa, one of the first “out” bars in Costa Rica, which the police targetted many times in years gone by, only to be outwitted by the local LGBT population. They had a nifty trick to bamboozle the cops. Whenever the police arrived to raid the premises a horn would sound and same-sex couples on the dancefloor would switch to a partner of the opposite sex and the police would leave empty-handed.

Also worth a vista these days is El 13 Café

Bar, which opened as a hangout for hipsters and is now an important LGBTIQ space.

This is the place to go if you’re mad for Latin pop, or musica plancha, the Spanglish sound that’s captivated the rest of the world. Think of the Luis Fonsi hit Despacito – now the most viewed YouTube music video ever.

For something more salacious try Puchos, a gay strip club. Bring plenty of dollar bills if watching muscle-bound go-gos shake their money-makers is your thang.

Some 2 per cent of the population (80,000 people) came out to fly their rainbow flags at last year’s San José Pride, which takes place on July 1 this year. The Marcha y Festival de la Diversidad has evolved hugely since it started in 2004 to become one of Central America’s biggest gay events.

About a fortnight after San José Pride this year (July 14 to be exact), Gay Pride On The Beach kicks off for the second time in the second Costa Rican city of interest to gay travellers, Manuel Antonio.

Manuel Antonio boasts a swish gay venue, Club Karma, full of thirsty locals keen to practise their English (if not more) on foreigners. The seaside town is also (in)famous for racy pool parties held at the gay-owned Hotel Villa Roca – probably the only locale in this region hosting such homosexy events.

Besides gorgeous Pacific Ocean beaches, Manuel Antonio is renowned for its national park, where you’ll likely spy a snoozing sloth curled up in a tree, raucous racoons trying to steal your lunch and cheeky monkeys chattering among themselves.

Yet Manuel Antonio and San José are mere starting points. While there are plenty of turquoise-tinged beaches on both the Caribbean coast and the Pacific Ocean side of Costa Rica, the rugged jungle interior deserves the most of your vacation time here.

Costa Rica has been voted the greenest country in the world and is one of the top five most environmentally sustainable. Little wonder ecotourism has become such a huge industry for this small Spanish-speaking country. It’s also supergrande when it comes to butch activities like abseiling, whitewater rafting, zip lining, water skiing, kite surfing, wake boarding and scuba diving.

Pacuare, two hours’ drive from San José, is famous for its white-water rafting and the surrounding scenery is so stunning you’ll want to Instagram it from every angle, including above and below. Luckily most tours offer their own paparazzi to snap pix of you and for you!

Further afield is Arenal, a town and a volcano located about five hours drive north-west of San José. It was there we not only abseiled down spectacular rainforest waterfalls, but also experienced therapeutic hot thermal waters, a nifty gift from Mother Nature.

Not to be missed is Monteverde, a cosy town hiding high up in the top of the mountains where visitors can revel in the exotic natural flora and fauna, including Costa Rica’s glamorous national bird – the quetzal.

In this LGBT-friendly, green-powered country of endless natural wonders, offering a multitude of thrill-seeking ways to enjoy them all, the Earth is likely to move for you, too.