...and when AC looks like riviera maya, i'll just go there instead - its cheaper. or back to eastern costa rica, where they understand what the golden goose is and actually try to avoid torturing it.

billybob, tease me that i;m just a visitor if it rings your bell, but we've (and i assume i can speak for some others like us) been coming to BZ for 15+ yrs because its is DIFFERENT than those other places. development is not a finite term, it is subjective and open to interpretation. development that benefits the people of SP: fantastic, big thumbs up. development that only benefits developers &/or changes the feel of AC or encourages the kinds of tourists we go out of our way to avoid: there you lost us - not interested.

so, restating what has already been stated, no one is arguing development - only arguing it should be well planned and executed properly (and of course in accordance with the law).

ps fyi to the rest of you - we recently tried to book a birding tour of the back cayes. we have been informed that birding tours are no longer being offered - developers have removed all of the nests and young, there is nothing to see there anymore.