Santa Cruz Church

Of course you would expect to see a Catholic church in the center of any Costa Rican town, and Santa Cruz is no exception. The tower peeks through the trees in the park across the street from the the church.

Santa Cruz is know for being a commercial center for the cattle ranches of Guanacaste. It has rodeos and other festivals celebrating the ranching tradition. The second week of January is the time of the main fiesta and rodeo.

Lots of the workers in the hotels, restaurants and Sadly, three blocks of the center of town burned down in a fire in 1993.

I mentioned yesterday that there is an issue that the town government of Santa Cruz also governs Tamarindo and much more money is raised in taxes from the tourist industry in Tamarindo than amount that the Santa Cruz government spends for improvements in Tamarindo.

I think that is OK to a reasonable extent. After all, nearly every area with a tourist industry tries to make some money to lessen the taxes on the local population. Towns in Italy charge fees for tour busses to drive into the towns and drop of their tourists who spend money in the shops and restaurants. When you rent a car at the airport in Phoenix, Arizona, you are paying for the construction of the wonderful football stadium, as local voters would approve a tax on airport rental cars because locals don't rent cars at the airport, of course.

This week we are showing photos of Santa Fe, New Mexico on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site. Come take a look.