Text : Dina Bauer
The Route of the Maize Cultures is a unique Central American Network of small tourism companies, whose goal is to offer and to promote sustainable tourism in the region, featuring community development. Actually there are organized around 50 small tourism companies and community based companies (mainly in rural and indigenous areas) which are receiving consultations, advising, technical assistance and trainings from a regional network of NGOs, concerning sustainable tourism aspects.
For the Central American cultures, maize was and still is an important element in the nutrition and in the culture of the ancestry and is still today very important in the indigenous myths. For the participants of the network, maize is a unifying element of all Central American cultures, and culture is the main element in their tourism offer - that’s the reason why they have chosen this name.
The Route of the Maize Cultures gives the possibility to the tourists to meet the local population, to get to know parts of their history, their culture, their traditions, their relation with the nature, the importance of the cultural landscape, and to get to know something about their way of life. The Route of the Maize Cultures wants to apply to tourists, that want to get to know a little more than only the usual tourist attractions of Central America, so the companies are offering something else and additional to the “usual tourism program”.
The Route of the Maize Cultures Tour Operators can arrange trips in one or through several Central American countries, where the guest for example will have the possibility to do special hiking or (fishing) boat tours to remote areas – respecting environmental aspects, to participate in community activities, as well as to get to know the cultural particularities and history of the Central American towns and of pre-Columbian sites, or just to relax in a nice place of the natural beauty of this region.
ACEPESA
Victoria Rudin Vega, Directora Ejecutiva
Diana Laura Jara, Coordinadora de Servicio al Cliente
Tel : (506) 280-6327, (506) 280-6291
Email : djara@acepesa.org
Internet : ACEPESA www.acepesa.org
Contact
Yorlenny Fontana
ACEPESA Apdo. : 1257-1002 San José, Costa Rica
Tel. : 00506/280-6327
Fax : 00506/280-6327-113
E-mail : yfontana@acepesa.org
Internet :
www.centroamerica-rutadelmaiz.com
Language : Spanish and English