HARRY TRUMAN LIBRARY Papers of NATHANIEL DAVIS UNCLASSIFIED No. 159 San José, April 22, 1949 SUBJECT: Visit to Northeastern Section of Costa Rica.
THE HONORABLE THE SECRETARY OF STATE, WASHINGTON.
SIR: have the honor to report that, taking advantage of the Holy keek Holidays, accepted an invitation from Mrs.
Roger Stone to accompany an expedition she was organizing to visit the Guatuso Indian settlementa on the Rio Frio.
while an inspection of the Indian settlements was the primary purpose of Mrs. Stone and the Costa Rican officials in the party, the opportunity offered to see a little visited part of Costa Rica, and one difficult of access, was of even greater amportance.
Traveling variously by modern airplane, ancient dugout, on horseback, by gasoline launch and diesel tug, our route described a wide loop from San José to Las Cañias, Guanacaste; to Cuatuso, Alajuela; to Los Chilles on the Nicaraguan border; to Barro Colorado on the Caribbean; to Port Limon; and back to San José. From Los Chilles to a point on the San Juan river a few miles below El Castillo it was necessary to pass through Nicaraguan territory.
The entire journey consumed seven days.
There are enclosed extracts from my diary containing an informal running account of the jouwney, and a few photographs.
The area traversed 18 for the most part spargely inhabited woodland. The soil is fertile, there is ample water, and the climate is not unpleasant. Here it not for the total absence of communications other than narrow and often steep trails through the forest and shallow rivers navigable only by light draft canoes the district could contribute importantly to Costa Rica agricultural production. As it is, there is a significant production of cacao on small one family plantations adjacent to the rivers and bananas are grown for export along the lower reaches of the San Juan.
The extremely sparse population of the area consists principally of Nicaraguan squatters, a few of whom have filtered inland but most of whom live on or near the Costa Rican UNCLASSIFIED