Costa Rica Limon

Lingering Disbelief

Andrés Shum León sat back in his chair and looked out at the waves rolling in on the shoreline.
He shook his head and said, “I like to think that it's something, but I am not sure it's enough.”
“What about the airport? Or the cell phones? Or the roads?” he asked, not expecting an answer. “I'm not sure if it can really make a difference.”
Shum, the grandson of a Chinese immigrant, grew up in Limón. He left for a time but returned to open a 25-room hotel and restaurant on a cove between Moín and Limón.
“It's not that people here don't want to see change,” Ferguson explained, “It's just that they can't believe it will happen. They've gone for so long without seeing anything improve.”
Shum's hotel, the Cocorí Hotel Bar and Restaurant, which is perched above Playa Bonita, a pristine pocket of coastline just minutes from downtown, caters mainly to traveling businessmen. Although he'd like to attract more tourists, he's not letting his hopes get too high.
“(With the improvements), it's not like everything is going to be OK,” Shum said. “But it's a start.”