Longo Mai

The small village is called Longo Mai or Finca Sonador. It is located about 150 km south of the capital, San Jose. It is a rural and multicultural community of about 400 inhabitants.

Longo Mai is a unique village in the sense that socialism and capitalism have been interacting here for 22 years. This fact is creating a new lifestyle that could be interesting to be observed and discussed by other peoples of the world. The land belongs to the Cooperative Longo Mai. We believe in the social use of the land and the protection of the forests, soil and pre-columbian remains are the best options for a sustainable development instead of an economical speculation of the land; therefore, Longo Mai will never sell the land.
Of course, when a new local family is formed, it has the chance to get a piece of land to build its own house. The families that live here are owners of their houses and cultivate the land for their own profit. There are Costa Ricans, Salvadorans, Nicaraguans and Europeans living together in the community. They mainly live on growing coffee, sugar cane and the traditional agriculture of subsistence like corn, bean, bananas, plantain, pumpkin, yuca, cacao and a little livestock.

The Europeans that live here are involved in the activities of the village. They work with the farmers and insist in implementing organic agriculture. They themselves have their own bio-gardens and make strong efforts to protect the forest in the mountain in front of Longo Mai in order to continue having a good quality of water in the rivers and creeks that flow through Longo Mai. Besides, these Europeans do a lot to develop the sustainable tourism in this place. During their free time, they write books, make great paintings or meet together with Medardo and Don Julio to sing and play the guitars. When in Longo Mai ask for Ernesto from Bern, Switzerland, Suzanna and Christoph from Basel, Switzerland, Roland from Austria (general coordinator of Longo Mai) or for Eduardo Rivera (one of the first intelectuals who came back to Longo Mai after his studies to found the language institute and to work with the farmers). They are wonderful people from the modern world that now live here humbly.

Definitely, since 1995, the language institute has been a new and welcome income in Longo Mai. The school motivates and involves the students in cultural events in the village. Also students help with the coffee and sugar cane harvest. Students have lots of possibilities to speak and practice their Spanish with the friendly and humble community members. Many of them are youths and children, who like to get in touch with the students. Due to the close contact with the people you get a deep insight into the authentic life of the countryside - a chance that most tourists don't have!

Also, the school is creating opportunities for more jobs for local people, especially for women who, in the past left Longo Mai, because there were very little options of work. On the other hand, having a language school that offers jobs in this rural village means more protection of the forests of Longo Mai.
Still, some people are cutting secondary forest for agriculture. They are growing coffee mainly. If we carefully analyze what a farmer gets for a hectare of coffee plus all the agrochemicals used, we could conclude that it is better to save the hectare of forest and think about other economical options.

Until now, we have only just approached the initial idea of having Longo Mai as an open classroom. Parts of this classroom is the language school, the sustainable agroecotouristic project and the research program with foreign students organized and leaded by UNAPROA (Asociacion Union de Amigos para la Proteccion del Ambiente). This conservation organization, consisting of several farmer's unions and private members, is working towards a sustainable development, protecting the environment and the culture. Thanks to UNAPROA, the community has its own spring water of excellent quality and there is a splendid bathing place in a river nearby. It is also defending the rights of the farmers of the zone against the multinational companies. Moreover, UNAPROA leads and accompanies research projects about nature (medicinal plants for exaple and/or the population). See for more informations: www.sonador.org/html/de/unaproa

There are some bars and a disco in the villages nearby. Also, the next town, called San Isidro del General, (about 40'000 inhabitants) is located 34 km from Longo Mai has got the posibilities of entertainment, there are several buses during the day. In San Isidro, there are facilities like the post office, internet, restaurants, the cathedral, banks, etc.