ATEC was founded in the 1980's when the road was coming into Puerto Viejo. A bunch of neighbors concerned with rapid and uncontroled development decided to get together and make some plans.

ATEC's Goals

• Promote the development of an ecologicaly and socially responsible tourism in Talamanca.
• Promote ethnic pride and cultural expression among the indigenous and Afro-Caribbean residents.
• Promote the initiation and management of locally owned and environmentally, socially, and culturally responsible businesses and tourist services in Talamanca.

These neighbors got some experts together and trained about 20 local folks on how to be naturalists guides so they could make a living from tourism and hold on to their land.

Among other orignal projects were working with ANAI on community greenhouses and getting garbage collection and recycling going in Talamanca.

Today, from ATEC's shop on main street in Puerto Viejo, we represent around 100 local guides. Our main thing at the shop is to promote these guides (we have wildlife, cultural, educational, and adventure excursions), but we also have an internet cafe, provide provide all kinds of services for visitors and locals--water bottle refilling, camara supplies, souvenirs, sunblock, information, fotocopies, phone calls and skype and fax, snacks, post cards--and even school supplies.

With the income from the shop we are able to participate in various NGO's in the area.

Here's some of the projects we've been working on 2008:

The Recycling Association of the South Caribbean--aka ReciCaribe--we're building a bottle wall out of recycled glass bottles at the collection center in Patiño, we do fund raisers for Reci, and we have a mini-collection center at the office.

The BioFuel Cooperative--CoopeTalamancaSostenible. We have put out an informational flyer this year and I gotta get a flyer out for the Coop now before February.

ADELA--the Anti-Petroleum group--ATEC and ADELA and the Coope together  made a 2008 calendar with weekly green tips.

The Community Ecotourism Network and the Biological Corridor--we're about to publish a big document (I call it a book, but it's more like a magazine) called "Cool, Cool; the Complete Green Resource Guide to the South Caribbean." It's a publication that gives some history of the zone and it's people, places, food, and language; talks about typical flora y fauna, the protected areas of Talamanca and our environmental challenges and successes; has great fotos of the nearly 50 cultural, educational, adventure, and wildlife views excursions; gives the bus schedule, security hints, recycling info, info on many of our NGO friends, and lots and lots of shameless begging for support of these NGO's.

AND with the Corridor, we're getting the Trees for Talamanca initiative going--this super duper program with help people who fly into Costa Rica buy trees to help reforest specific sites here in the wildlife forest corridors of Talamanca--reforestation to help compensate for the pollution generated by their air travel.

We work for sustainable development in general. This past year, we worked hard to share information about the mega-marina proposed for Puerto Viejo. At this time, the mega-marina project in Puerto Viejo is no longer being planned.

We have done various fund raisers: For the ProNiño building, for ReciCaribe, for the soccer teams, surf tournaments, ArteViva, the Farmer's Market, and our third annual school supply drive. Now after the serious flooding in Talamanca in November the community and friends of Talamanca have donated cash to help with the recovery efforts in Yorkin and to provide school supplies to a high school in Coroma in Upper Talamanca and a grade school in Lower Talamanca.

We work a bit with volunteers--all of our university groups (we had six university courses in 2008) do some kind of service work, things like reforesting, beach clean ups, helping out at a school, or the recycling center.

We're working to get more local and indigenous art for sale in our shop--recycled art especially.

We spent a lot of time this year helping over 80 gringos vote from abroad in the US presidential election.

and

we're not spending nearly enough time on "Green Surveys" for local hotels, to promote them for being environmentally responsible and help them be more so.

That's ATEC as I know it.