From crystalline Caribbean waters to unexplored islands, tropical volcanoes, fishing islands and colonial-style towns, here are some of Costa Rica's most promising shooting locations
By Rafa Sales Ross, Anna Marie de la Fuente
San Lucas Island Prison, courtesy of Lyall Gardiner: Supervising Location Manager The same crystalline waters swooshing the pebbled coast of San Lucas Island were once murked by the crimson red of blood. From 1873 to 1991, the island served as Costa Rica’s principal penitentiary, where some of the country’s worst criminals were sent to serve often short and torturous sentences. Due to its offshore location, the prison is regularly referred to as Costa Rica’s Alcatraz.
Despite a still-recent history, the island looks much different today than it did at the apex of its haunting days. Turned into a national park and painstakingly cared for and maintained, the entrance to San Lucas features a quaint white bridge with cobalt blue poles, whose walkway leads straight into a tourist sign with the first of many poignant messages: “Ocean and forest protecting history.”
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