Beach Hotel in Dominical, Costa Rica. With high-speed WiFi.

The Nicoya Peninsula, a hook-shaped, beach-fringed and sun-drenched strip of land, has always figured prominently in the history of Costa Rica. Following the independence of Central America from Spain, the peninsula comprised the bulk of Guanacaste, a province of the newly formed country of Nicaragua. However, on July 25, 1824, Guanacastecos voted to secede and join Costa Rica, creating yet another grievance between Nicas and Ticos.

Today, the region still holds on to its dream of independence, and it’s not uncommon to see the Guanacaste flag flying high (sometimes higher than the national one). However, like most Ticos, Guanacastecos are fierce adherents to the philosophy of pura vida, and their separatist plans usually play second fiddle to something much more important, namely enjoying a coastal sunset.

Much of the Nicoya Peninsula is the domain of the sabanero, Guanacaste’s equivalent of the American cowboy. However, in true Tico fashion, sabaneros are peaceful and honorable, and most carry themselves with an air that will remind you as much of a samurai or knight as of a cowboy.

In the past, poor roads and slow ferries kept development in check, though the recently constructed Friendship Bridge and new international airport in Liberia have made the region easier to access than ever. Today, record numbers of foreigners are flocking to Nicoya, and the government’s ‘ambitious’ Papagayo Project will ensure that they keep coming.

Like most of Guanacaste the dry forests have been cut down over the generations and transformed into farms and pastureland. Lifestyles here have always revolved around the harvest and the herd, though today Ticos are adapting to a different cycle – the tourist season. Each year from December to April, when the snows falls on Europe and North America (which is coincidently when Guanacaste experiences its dry season), tourists descend en masse to soak up a little sun, catch a little surf and buy a little property.

Today, the northern peninsula is one of the most rapidly changing areas in Costa Rica. The Gulf of Papagayo is slowly earning its place on glossy leaflets in travel agencies throughout the world, while the coastline, which was once the domain of the leatherback turtle, is increasingly occupied by the leather handbag.

Highway 21 runs from Liberia southwards, with coastal access roads branching out from the small towns of Comunidad, Belen and Santa Cruz.