Lapa Rios Ecolodge

5 Leaves Award from CST!

noreply@blogger.com (Lapa Rios Ecolodge) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 22:23:00 +0000

In the past ten years, the concept of “ecotourism”, going “green” and building “sustainably” in the tourism industry has exploded; especially in places such as Costa Rica, where a number of rich natural sites are still in place, these terms are common place, appearing in practically every hotel, restaurant, tour operator’s office and street corner. While there are a number of definitions for these terms, they all basically boil down to one thing: finding ways in which to satisfy the requirements of today’s society without making it impossible for future generations to satisfy their own.

Finding truly “sustainable” tourism operations, however, has proven to be extremely difficult for consumers with the advent of “green washing”: the practice of using terms such as "ecotourism” or “green” simply as a marketing ploy to attract a more socially and environmentally conscious customers—and not necessarily as an operational plan or commitment. How, then, are customers supposed to know the difference between a hotel that is truly sustainable, making substantial contributions to the environment and surrounding community, and one that is simply says that it is “green” for the sake of attracting customers?

Luckily, environmentally and socially conscious customers who visit Costa Rica have a great tool for assuring that their money is spent in a way that will truly make a positive contribution: the Certificate for Sustainable Tourism (CST) administered by the Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT). This complete, and rigorous, certification system, which is the only certification endorsed by the Costa Rican government, and recognized by the World Tourism Organization, awards hotels “leaves” on a scale of one to five based on their sustainability achievements (much like the Mobile star rating which evaluate hotel services). The CST bases its judgments on four factors:

· Biological-physical: How does a property impact and/or protect its surrounding environment?

· Services and Infrastructure: How does the property’s operations (including product use and disposal, water and energy management, etc.) affect the environment?

· Social-Economic environment: What impact does the property have on nearby communities to promote/provide education to its staff and community and to work with community service providers.

· External client: How does the property promote and teach responsible tourism with guests who visit?

Lapa Rios just received our 5^th CST certification. We've received the 5 Leaves classification since 2003.

Currently, the CST is not mandatory for all properties in Costa Rica but the country now boasts 240 companies that are certified by the CST program, including 178 hotels, 58 tour operators and four car rental companies. This represents close to 26 percent of the total number of companies in these sectors.

Celebrating 19 Years!

noreply@blogger.com (Lapa Rios Ecolodge) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 19:05:00 +0000

YEAH, Lapa Rios! Now 19 years old. Did you know that 19 years ago last night we turned on the electricity, for the first time! Nothing like finishing 'just in time'. I drove the 5 guests from town, near sunset (they had to come by boat, on noon flight to Golfito). I saw the lights in the main lodge as we drove up the hill. Amazing!

Thank you, everyone!!! For helping Lapa Rios be such an amazing place. With incredible people. Excellent service only getting better. Not even to mention the improving food :-)

Big hugs of celebration for Be Different, Be Excellent! Karen

School Dining Hall Update!

noreply@blogger.com (Lapa Rios Ecolodge) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 22:55:00 +0000

Finally the project "Lapathon 2011" is finished.
On Tuesday December 13^th, Lapa Rios's General Manager Marijke Mulder, along with our Sustainability Manager Andres Soley visited the school to make the official inauguration of its new dining hall.

Members of the Board of Parents of the school, the Principal, teachers and smiling children were part of the ceremony.

We are confident that this dining hall will benefit many children who are forging their future in this humble but beautiful school.

We want to remember with great pride that the Lapathon Jungle Run is a project that was created and organized by the staff of Lapa Rios Ecolodge so, a big applause for each and every one of these beautiful people, but with more joy and pride we can say that this initiative now is a project of each and every one of the residents of La Osa. In this latest edition the huge success was mainly due to the collaboration, work and effort of many people and local companies from the area.

Special thanks to: Cayuga Sustainable Hospitality, Materiales La Costa, Almacén La Palma, Tranquility, Henry Almengor, Diego Chavarría, Bomba Osa, El Remanso Rainforest Wildlife Lodge, Bosque Mar Canopy Tour, Yaguará, Sansa, Supermercado BM, Ferretería Cerro de Oro, Scouts de Puerto Jiménez y La Palma y Asesoria en Salud Ocupacional ASO.

You are cordially invited to participate in the Lapathon Jungle Run on May 6, 2012...we're sure it will be bigger, thanks to all your contributions!

Crested Owl

noreply@blogger.com (Lapa Rios Ecolodge) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 16:20:00 +0000

The Crested Owl is a medium size owl (15-17 in. in length). Its size is similar to the other medium sized owls like Barn, Long and Short-eared. Very little is known about this birds behavior or habits although it is fairly common in some parts of Mexico and Costa Rica, including around the Lapa Rios Reserve.

It inhabits humid evergreen forests and generally roosts by day in thickets, often very low. It can be found from sea level to the cloud forests at 6300 ft. (1950 m) in elevation. The Crested Owl is strictly nocturnal (active only at night) and feeds mainly on large insects like caterpillars or beetles although probably will take some small vertebrates too. It can mostly be seen perched along streams and forest gaps although probably hunts mostly in the forest.

Nesting season begins in February and extends through May. The Crested Owl is a cavity nester that normally nests in a tree hole although it has been reported as even nesting in the loft of a house. The young are thought to stay with the adults at least through September.

The most apparent characteristic of the Crested Owl is its striking bold white eyebrows that continue into very long mostly white ear tufts. The Central American species, stricklandi, has mostly yellow-orange iris (eyes) although the other two races have dark brown iris (eyes). The stricklandi race has a blackish face and forehead with dark rufous around the eyes. On the front side, the owl is darker above and lighter below.

It has a deep almost frog-like croak (or "emphatic growl") that it repeats every 5-10 seconds. The stricklandi(Central American race) also has a shorter "gurrr" or "ohrrr" than the other two types that have a little longer "g,g,g,g,ggrrrrrrr"

Dolphin and Animal Sanctuary Tour

noreply@blogger.com (Lapa Rios Ecolodge) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 18:00:00 +0000

When I had heard about the tour, I was told it was a “Dolphin Sanctuary Tour” and somehow I had some idea that it would be something like Marine World where we would kneel by the pool and touch dolphins. Although that would have been a lot of fun as well, that was definitely not what the tour was like.

We went into Puerto Jimenez and caught a boat at the pier. Our guides took us around the Golfo Dulce and we found a school of spotted dolphins and followed them around for a while. I think watching a school of dolphins jump through the water together is one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. It naturally just brings a smile to your face at seeing something so incredible. And having dolphins swim all around your boat, underneath, behind. Just amazing.

Then we headed to the animal sanctuary which was run by a woman named Carol. She’s doing a lot of great work with helping animals that have been wounded or need to be taken care of. We got to see a lot of animals such as sloths, toucans, macaws, monkeys, and turkeys. It was really inspiring to hear about how Carol didn’t give up on animals when veterinarians thought they had no hope and should be euthanized.

Then the adventure really began when we went to back to our boat. Everything was fine while we ate our packed lunches from the hotel, but then suddenly, the motors starts sputtering. Our guides assured us everything was fine and we went on for a bit at a slower speed. We found some bottled-nose dolphins at this point and followed them around as well. Again, it was just so fun watching them swim all around us. The guide told us that we would be headed back at slow pace just because our motors seemed to having some trouble. Everything seemed okay until the motor suddenly gave out. Uh-oh. But no problem, our guides were completely professional and had another boat out to us in ten minutes. We simply transferred boats and were on our way again. We met a gust of rain and going at the fast we were, it felt like we were being pummeled even though it was only a shower, but it was a lot of fun and a great sense of adventure! We finally got back to Puerto Jimenez and transferred back to Lapa Rios.

Overall, seeing the dolphins was a completely amazing experience. Although I have seen dolphins in other parts of Costa Rica, there weren’t this many and it was so beautiful and graceful watching them jump out together.

Surfing Lessons!

noreply@blogger.com (Lapa Rios Ecolodge) — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 18:00:00 +0000

Learning to surf is one of the top three things I want to accomplish before I die, so I jumped at the chance to take surfing lessons. We all gathered on the beach, approximately a ten minute walk from Lapa Rios, in the afternoon and our instructor, Pollo (yes, meaning chicken. I’m not quite sure how he got that nickname, but I really want to know now) first showed us the steps of standing up on the board. If you stand with your left foot forward, you’re a regular. If you stand with your right foot forwards, you’re a goofy. I was a regular. We did a couple of practice rounds on a board on the sand. It seemed easy enough…on the sand.

Then it was time to do the real thing and we took our own surfboard into the water. I now understand why surfers are all naturally in such great shape. Paddling out into the water was so tiring on the arms. It made kayaking yesterday seem like nothing! But it was all worth it when I was able to stand on my first wave. To be fair, the act of standing isn’t that hard considering how gentle the waves were and the fact that Pollo was telling us when to go, when to stand, and gave us a head start by giving us a push, but still, I was quite proud of myself. When I did fall off my board, it slammed into my face in the water. So, now I have a lovely bruise on my left cheek, but no matter, all I care about is that I stood up on most of my tries! Pollo was very helpful and definitely none of us could have stood up without his help. I asked him and he said that he’s been surfing for 20 years and been teaching for 8 years. Wow! Overall, I definitely want to take more lessons and learn to catch my own wave and stand and actually say I can surf, but this was definitely a good introduction and a lot of fun!

Mangrove Kayaking Adventure

noreply@blogger.com (Lapa Rios Ecolodge) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 18:00:00 +0000

Teresa's experiences while kayaking...

Thinking I had experience kayaking in both rivers and oceans, I thought I would be an expert at this and was not worried about my skill level or sore arms when I got the chance to go on the mangrove kayaking tour here at Lapa Rios. We started out with just some general guidelines and we were off!
We started off going upriver so it was definitely more tiring than I thought it would be, but probably more so because I’ve been so out of shape and haven’t gone to a gym in a while! Our guide was very knowledgeable and we would stop occasionally (which my arms were definitely thankful for!) and she would point out different birds and even crocodiles to us.

The first part is going from shore to the “entrance” of the river, but the farther up we got, the skinnier it got and soon we were completely surrounded by black and red mangrove plants. This part of the river was considered snake’s territories since there were so many there. We spotted quite a few boa constrictors sleeping in the trees! I was still doing okay in the open-water areas, but once we got to the really skinny parts of the river, we had to go through single-file and boy, I think I hit just about everybody on the tour’s kayak. The water currents would be pushing you in one direction and then you had to try to avoid the log in the middle. And then you would over compensate the paddling on one side and then have to hurry and switch sides…and all I can say is I swear that I’m a better driver than I am a kayaker! Either way, it was still so beautiful kayaking through the mangroves. I felt like I was living in a National Geographic pictures editorial.

We turned around at one point in the river and went back down river. It was definitely a lot easier on my arms coming down, but my steering definitely became even worse because the currents would keep pushing you right into the mangroves and bushes with no way of stopping. You know when you have to choose between your foot or your face to stop yourself when you hit the bush, you’re in some trouble (especially considering I was in a kayak. Who sticks their foot up to stop themselves when they’re in a kayak?!?) But eventually we finally were back in the open-waters and I got my groove back. We stopped on the side for some rest and walked to the beach. Our guide cut up a pineapple and then showed us the traditional way to open a coconut! We drank the coconut water and then she cut some pieces of the coconut for us as well. Then she even squeezed some coconut milk out of the rest of the coconut and squeezed the juice out of the pineapple rinds and we had a fresh virgin pina colada! Yummy! Then, she took us for a short hike and showed us some of the edible plants in the area, just in case we were ever stuck in a Tom Hanks Castaway situation, we at least wouldn’t die of starvation! Quite interesting. And then it was back to kayaking to shore. It was amazing to see how much the tide had receded in the couple of hours we were gone and we dragged our kayaks up the muddy shore. Overall, it was a lot of fun even if I did have to use my foot as a blocker for my face from mangroves!

Lapa Rios Night Walk Tour

noreply@blogger.com (Lapa Rios Ecolodge) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 16:29:00 +0000

Our intern decided to sign up for the Lapa Rios Night Hike and write about her experiences...

Since it gets dark here so early, the nightwalk started pretty early for the “night” at 6:00 pm. It was raining lightly when we started, but the guides told me to switch my Converse Chucks for a pair of rubber rain boots. Thank goodness I did because it was pretty muddy by the time we reached the rain forest.

We started out with walking through the property for a bit, then we broke off onto a trail in the rain forest. I was glad I took a walking stick as well because it wasn’t needed so much to stabilize yourself, but to test the depths and how muddy your next step was going to be. And it got really muddy considering there has been rain almost every day for the last few days! We saw quite a few frogs, spiders, scorpions, and a possum on our hike, but because it started raining very hard halfway through (I was completely soaked by the time the hike ended!) we didn’t spot any snakes like I heard they did a couple of nights ago.

Even though we ended up not seeing as many animals as I had hoped, it was still a lot of fun to get dripping wet and walk through the rain forest at night. At some points when the flashlights were all pointed in one direction, you realize just how dark and in the middle of the rain forest you are!

Bungalows at Lapa Rios

noreply@blogger.com (Lapa Rios Ecolodge) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 16:40:00 +0000

Here is our intern's perspective on the bungalows at Lapa Rios...

I was a bit confused when I read online that they have “open-air” bungalows here. What exactly does that mean?!? Basically, all the bungalows have huge screened windows on three sides of the rooms. There are heavy bamboo drapes you can roll down in case it starts raining or if you want some privacy from the monkeys! This open-air design is great because the wind and air circulate freely through the room keeping it cool and refreshed. That is why although there isn’t air-conditioning, it honestly isn’t necessary!

One of my childhood dreams was sleeping under one of those princess nets, but my parents said no. So, you bet I was excited to sleep under the white moth net that covered the bed here! I remember my first morning when I woke up to the sun shining through the white net and in my confusion, everything just looking bright and white. Very magical.

One of my favorite types of showerheads is a rain showerhead, which they have in the bathrooms along with a regular shower. If that wasn’t enough, there is also an outdoor shower. Don’t worry, there is complete privacy for each bungalow, so nobody can see you, but I can’t say for certain that a monkey might not catch a glimpse! But it’s amazing that you can be showering while looking out to the rain forest and the Pacific Ocean! Along with the outdoor shower, there are also lounge chairs so you can relax there and drink your morning coffee or watch the sunrise from your deck area.

It definitely is a very authentic feeling in a bungalow! At night, you feel like you’re sleeping in the middle of the rain forest with the sounds of the animals surrounding you. And in the morning, the cries of monkeys will wake you up just in time to watch the sun rise!

The Story of the Sangrillo Colorado

noreply@blogger.com (Lapa Rios Ecolodge) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 16:09:00 +0000

It is no secret about the great biodiversity of the Osa Peninsula and Lapa Rios with National Geographic proclaiming it “the most biologically intense place on Earth.” But a little known fact about the 1,000 acres of the Lapa Rios nature reserve is that 80% of the sangrillo colorado tree is found here. The sangrillo colorado, or also known by its scientific name, Paramachaerium gruberi, is one of the 37 different species of trees that are currently in a critical state of extinction. First reported in 1988 on the Lapa Rios reserve, the sangrillo colorado tree has an extension of 22.3 km² in Costa Rica and the available habitat has reduced by 10.76%. It can be found 50 to 350 meters above sea level and only along the Carbonera Ridge.

Due to its scarcity, Lapa Rios has been working to produce and grow as many sangrillo colorado trees as possible not only on its own nature reserve, but also around the Osa Peninsula. Researchers are trying to discover if the Lapa Rios reserve is a special microclimate that is particularly conducive for growing the sangrillo colorado trees or if the other trees in the peninsula are simply gone due to logging in the past. As the sangrillo colorado is a hardwood and great for making furniture, it was targeted in the 1960’s when loggers came to the Osa region. A project spearheaded by Lapa Rios’s sustainability manager, Andres Soley, is working to spread the population of these trees in the Osa Peninsula by working with local schools. Lapa Rios is distributing approximately 50 small trees out to different schools in the area and letting the children plant them around their community and approximately 1,000 trees to conservationists to plant around the peninsula in general.

Andres hopes that this project will not only help the sangrillo colorado tree population, but also be a learning opportunity for the children. When asked about why he decided to send the trees to the local schools, Andres replies, “What we do here at Lapa Rios is so much more than about sustainability and conservation; it is also about contributing and giving back to the local community that we’re a part of.” This was shown when Lapa Rios led the campaign against Coca-Cola several years ago when Coca-Cola switched all beverage bottles from glass to plastic and aluminum. Lapa Rios contacted all the local eco-lodges and businesses around the Osa and together they all boycotted Coca-Cola products and switched to Pepsi in protest against the bottle change. They argued that the Osa Peninsula did not have the facilities and ability to recycle all of those bottles and that reusing glass bottles was much more sustainable. In a David-versus-Goliath situation, Coca-Cola eventually conceded and switched back to glass bottles and as promised, all the eco-lodges switched back to Coca-Cola products.

Regardless of the findings of the researchers, Lapa Rios will continue to produce the sangrillo colorado trees as they are hoping that the trees will grow successfully around the Osa and eventually bring it out of endangerment of extinction. With their mission statement being, “A forest left standing is more valuable than one cut down,” Lapa Rios will definitely be adding to the value of the Osa Peninsula by planting all these new trees and teaching the future generation about the value of conservation.

School Dining Hall Update

noreply@blogger.com (Lapa Rios Ecolodge) — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 02:44:00 +0000

We are almost there! The rains have finally let down a bit so we have been able to paint the school that is receiving the funds from our Lapathon event. Electric installation is almost complete. The children of the Amapola school are sure to enjoy their new dining hall when school starts again in February.

Also, in this post you can see a video about Lapa Rios´s staff and one of our guests (his name is Loris, he is from Italy) painting the dining hall of the La Amapola School.

Watch the video here.

noreply@blogger.com (Lapa Rios Ecolodge) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 18:00:00 +0000

On Friday, November 4th the Specialist Committee of the Zeitz Foundation met and discussed the Lapa Rios Ecolodge and the decision was made to award GER (Global Ecosphere Retreats) certification based on the commitments made in the Lapa Rios plan to achieve sustainability through a holistic balance of the 4C's (Conservation, Community, Culture and Commerce). The Zeitz Foundation commented that Lapa Rios has "obviously put in a great deal of time, effort and thoughtful planning to ensure that the Ecolodge becomes a global leader in sustainable development practices".

We are proud to have been awarded this certification and to be partnering with the Zeitz Foundation to create a better, more sustainable world!

Food Blog Wrap Up!

noreply@blogger.com (Lapa Rios Ecolodge) — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 16:00:00 +0000

Some of you may be thinking, “She’s already written about everything she’s eaten in the past week, what else is there to say?” Well, just a bit more!

First off, one of the cool aspects of being sustainable means Lapa Rios only sources a major order of food once a week to keep the distance the food travels down. This means that your dinner order is actually taken at breakfast, so that any last-minute ingredients can be bought in town. It’s quite interesting to be picking your dinner selection out at breakfast, but personally, I like it. If I knew I had ordered the pork tenderloin for dinner, I would pick something less “meaty” during lunch to keep things lighter.

Another great aspect I like about Lapa Rios is the different types of juices they had. No, no, they don’t just serve your normal orange or apple juice, but fruits like blackberry, passion fruit, guava, mango, and soursop. I didn’t even know what soursop was, but I tried it and it was good! (I definitely Googled it later and found it was a spiky looking green fruit.)

And another one of my favorites was the daily chip served at lunch. It could be plantains, yucca, tisquisque, or some other kind of chip, but they were definitely all good! There would always be a chip plate with really good dips that you could help yourself to in the dining lodge at lunch time and it also came with the soup or your sandwich.

Lastly, the bread at dinner changes every night. I honestly couldn’t pick a favorite, but it ranges from dinner rolls with caramelized onion, corn bread, braided bread, corn muffin with sweet peppers, and many others. Eating the bread and butter always made me very hungry while I waited for my appetizer or if I had soup, I would sometimes save it to put in my soup. Either way, it was always good!

Lapa Rios Food Blog - Day 7

noreply@blogger.com (Lapa Rios Ecolodge) — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 17:35:00 +0000

Last day of this crazy amount of eating at Lapa Rios! As much fun as this has been, my stomach definitely needs a good break. I started off my last day with a Gringo Special – scrambled eggs, ham, and toast. I really like their turrialba cheese as it is kind of similar to halloumi with a high melting rate, so I asked for some fried cheese as well. I stacked everything between the slices of toast and made myself a breakfast sandwich!

Then I had a craving for some pasta at lunch today. Sometimes a girl just needs her carbs! I added some fish to it and of course topped it off with lots and lots of cheese. It was a simple pasta, the best kind, just some tossed with sun dried tomatoes, basil, and garlic. The fish added some needed protein and of course the parmesan cheese was necessary! Then I decided to switch back to the caramel flan for my last day since I had the chocolate brownie the previous day. I’m going to miss all these desserts!

I started dinner off with the tropical fish cakes, which I think were one of my favorite appetizers yet. It was lightly fried and served with lemongrass-chili sauce which was what really made this dish so superb. It had a slightly tangy taste, but just a little bit spicy to give it an extra kick. So delicious! Then I was feeling pretty full from lunch, so I just asked for a half portion of the gnocchi with pumpkin and macadamia. I think I was in a pasta mood the whole day! The potato gnocchi was just the right consistency, not too chewy, but not too hard and the pumpkin puree that came with it was really smooth. To finish off the whole week of eating was an interesting dessert of basil crème brulee. There’s nothing quite as fun as cracking the top of a crème brulee and the basil gave it an interesting flavor. I definitely wouldn’t have thought to pair the two together, but it worked!

Lapa Rios Food Blog - Day 6

noreply@blogger.com (Lapa Rios Ecolodge) — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 17:00:00 +0000

I can’t believe the week of culinary delights at Lapa Rios is almost over! I started the day off with the French Toast which is made with the whole wheat toast so I didn’t order it on the side. I also added a fruit platter in an effort to be healthy considering everything I’ve eaten this week! It came again with the same three syrups as the pancakes from two days ago: coconut-orange, maple, and guava. Again, I just stuck with the more traditional maple since it was my favorite last time.

Lunch was started off with the squash soup I liked a couple of days ago followed by a half salad – half sandwich with a half Volcano Salad with fish and a half Portobello mushroom sandwich. Instead of the usual white Costa Rican turrialba cheese, the sandwich was filled with mozzarella cheese. Yummy! Also, there were sautéed onions and peppers, one of my favorite things, in there. To top it all off, I had a chocolate brownie as well, of course!

Dinner was tuna tartar, raw tuna in soy sauce and sesame oil on top of avocado and fruit. The sesame oil is what really makes this dish as it makes it much more aromatic. The avocado and fruit give it some good contrast. I though the sweetness from the fruit might be a bit weird, but it actually worked out really well. This was followed by a grilled pork tenderloin that came some yucca cubes and peppers filled with cheese. I’m usually not a huge fan of pork, but the tenderloin was really tender and went well with the sauce. I finished the meal with an upside-down pineapple cake. The caramel sauce it came with was just enough to make it perfect!

Lapa Rios Food Blog - Day 5

noreply@blogger.com (Lapa Rios Ecolodge) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 17:00:00 +0000

After being completely stuffed at breakfast yesterday and being unable to finish my pancakes and my toast, I didn’t order a side of the wheat toast for the first time. I got the Central America Corn Cakes which were small cakes that were about the size of a normal pancake that was filled with whole corn kernels, peppers, and onions. This was topped with a chili yogurt sauce that wasn’t what I expected, but was good nonetheless since I like spicy food. There were also scrambled eggs and pico de gallo on the side. I topped it all with two very common sauces here in Costa Rica, Salsa Lizano and Chilero. These two sauces are on the table and are quite tasty! I’m not quite sure what’s in Salsa Lizano, but it has a sort of curry and tangy taste that’s really good. Chilero is what you’d probably think more of a chunky chili hot sauce. I’ve honestly really started liking both of these sauces and will definitely be buying a couple of bottles home!

For lunch, I decided to try and be healthy (-er) and started with a Lapa Rios favorite, the Volcano Salad with fish since I liked it a lot on the first day. Following that, I had the three gallos. Gallos are small soft tacos and each of them had a different meat inside – beef, chicken, and fish. I must have been in a fish-mood since the fish gallos was my favorite as well although it was definitely hard to pick just one. But then again, just some simple grilled fish with some lemon on top is one of my favorite foods! And going back to one of my favorite desserts while I was here, I decided to go with the caramel flan since I had the chocolate brownie yesterday.

Dinner was started off with a tomato cream soup that was very good. I put little pieces of my dinner roll into it and it was just what I needed since it was raining hard outside! Nothing quite like soup to warm you up. Then I had the shrimp curry that came with jasmine rice. I love all types of curry – Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Malaysian, etc. – so I enjoyed this. It wasn’t quite like any curry I’ve had before as there was a tropical twist with some fruits inside. Since I didn’t order the chocolate brownie at lunch, I decided to go with the chocolate cake with roasted macadamia nuts for dinner and it was simply divine. Seriously, what isn’t good when there’s chocolate involved?!?

Lapa Rios Food Blog - Day 4

noreply@blogger.com (Lapa Rios Ecolodge) — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 17:00:00 +0000

Another day of gastronomical eating! I decided to go “All-American” as my theme today as you’ll see with the items I chose. I started off with a breakfast of the Lapa Rios Pancakes, a HUGE pancake that filled the whole plate! I definitely didn’t know it was going to be so big and couldn’t even finish it! Trust me, even a stack of pancakes at IHOP don’t fill me up as much as this one pancake did. It was absolutely amazing though as it was thick and fluffy with some bananas on top. It also came with three different syrups: coconut-orange, maple, and guava. Although I did like the different fruity syrups, my favorite was still the more traditional maple.

For lunch, I started with the chilled lime-cucumber soup, which was not American, but sounded interesting, so I wanted to try it. It seemed a bit weird when it first came as it was a green soup, but was actually really refreshing! I went about as American as you could get with my entree, the cheeseburger! I really like the Costa Rican turrialba cheese, but since I was going all-American, I decided to stay with it by getting cheddar cheese. Although it didn’t come with fries, it did come with some delicious yucca chips. These were different from previous days’ daily chips because it had a bit of a sweet tinge to it naturally, which I really liked. For dessert, I had the brownie again with vanilla ice cream on top. You really can’t beat that!

For dinner, I started off again with a non-American appetizer of Costa Rican ceviche. I asked around to find out how this was different from the Peruvian ceviche I had a couple of days ago and apparently the Costa Rican ceviche is “cooked” for a longer time in the lime juice than the Peruvian ceviche and there are also some different ingredients such as cilantro and red onion. As always, I loved the ceviche.

Then for the “American” part of dinner, I got the ribs, although there was definitely a Costa Rican twist with a blackberry tamarind sauce. It definitely was not as sweet as a normal barbeque sauce, but it did give it an interesting, more tart, kick. For dinner, I tried the coconut chocolate pudding. Coconut personally isn’t my favorite, but chocolate is, so I still enjoyed the pudding.

Lapa Rios Food Blog - Day 3

noreply@blogger.com (Lapa Rios Ecolodge) — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 17:00:00 +0000

I started the morning off with delivered coffee to my bungalow. Always a good way to start the morning. I honestly didn’t open my door and retrieve my drink until 7 am (it’s delivered at 6 am) and the thermos kept it steaming hot when I drank it.

But in all honestly, my stomach wasn’t feeling that great this morning (probably from eating 3x the normal amount I usually eat.) It wasn’t hurting or anything (don’t worry, of course it’s not food poisoning!), it just didn’t feel quite right, so I decided to go light this morning for breakfast.

Apparently, by “going light,” I meant order four things off the “light” side of the menu. I thought I’d take it easy with a parfait so I ordered a half portion of the fruit yogurt and a half portion of the granola. But then I also really wanted the whole wheat toast I liked and decided I should be healthy and order the fruit plate. So, it came out to four items. Not exactly my definition of “light” especially considering I usually have no breakfast other than coffee. Right.

And if that weren’t enough food already, they had a person making fresh tortillas in the restaurant and you could go up and add your own condiments. Obviously, I had to try that as well, so I had a tortilla with turrialba cheese and avocado on top of all the food I ordered. I know, I know, this is why my stomach hurts. The “half” orders of yogurt and granola were huge and I could only wonder how much a full order had. Well, you guys all know how much I like the wheat toast. And I was really excited by the fresh fruit since it had the white pineapple they only have here in Central America and I haven’t had it since I was in Nicaragua over a year ago! Yum.

(For proof, I took a picture of my empty plates after I had finished everything. Notice how stealthily I try to hide how many places and bowls I have by stacking the plates on the right?)

Although I had eaten all of that food at breakfast, considering its lack of protein, I was actually still quite hungry when lunch time rolled around. I was going to order the burger, but I had the pleasure of joining some of the Lapa Rios and Cayuga Sustainable Hospitality staff for lunch. They suggested I try a pork sandwich that isn’t on the menu yet, but probably will be in the next couple of weeks. So, I opted for that in the half salad-half sandwich thing along with a half Chicken Caesar Salad. The sandwich was pretty good. It wasn’t quite pulled pork and the sauce wasn’t quite barbeque sauce, but it was kind of similar to both. I’m not sure the name of the sandwich, but in my head, I’m calling it a Costa Rican pulled pork sandwich. The salad was good as well with the homemade dressing having a little more of a kick than the normal Caesar dressing. Then I had the flan for dessert where there was the choice of coconut or caramel, since I’m not a huge fan of coconut anything (other than just poking a straw into one and drinking the juice!) I tried the caramel flan and it is goooood! Now that I’ve tried all the lunch desserts, I’m definitely going to be switching between the brownie and the caramel flan for the rest of the week!

Again, I had dinner with the group from lunch so it was fun to be able to see a lot of the different foods instead of just what I usually order. I started dinner off with the Black Bean Shrimp-Calamari Fritters which were quite a surprise. I wasn’t sure what it was, but I thought it would be more like normal fried calamari. Instead, it was larger clusters of a mix of black bean, shrimp, AND calamari which made it a lot more interesting and while it was crispy on the outside, it was soft on the inside. Quite a good combination of textures! Then I decided to go with the Costa Rican Portobello and Spinach Risotto which was very delicious with the parmesan cheese and thick slices of Portobello mushrooms. I finished the meal with the Tres Leches Cake which was something I had never had before. It’s not like the normal cake you usually have as its drenched and soaked in three different types of milk (hence its name) so it’s a “wet” cake as the cake acts like a sponge and collects a lot of liquid in it. Yummy!

Lapa Rios Food Blog - Day 2

noreply@blogger.com (Lapa Rios Ecolodge) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 18:15:00 +0000

A great feature at Lapa Rios is that they have coffee, tea, or hot chocolate delivery to your room at 6 am if you sign up for it the night before. I’m definitely one of those people who have woken up and thought I needed coffee right this instant and have been almost too tired to brew it myself so you bet I definitely love this feature! Even if you don’t want to wake up right at 6 am, you can still take advantage of this feature since they just put the hot beverage in a thermos outside of your door and you can retrieve it whenever you choose. Perfect way to start a morning!

I tried a Costa Rican pastry called the panuelos for breakfast this morning. A panuelos is a type of Danish that butter cookie consistency filled with cream cheese and guava jelly. It was warm and crumbled in my mouth! I also got a side of the whole wheat toast I loved so much!

Lunch followed starting with their daily chilled soup: Sunny Squash Soup. Unlike yesterday’s gazpacho that was chilled, this was not so much chilled, but more like room temperature and even slightly warm, which I liked. One of my favorite soups in the whole world is butternut squash soup, so it was no surprise that I loved this soup! Definitely one of my favorite things here so far! The velvety texture was complimented by some almond slices on top. Then came my entrée of another half salad-half sandwich, but this time I tried the Garden Tica Salad with housemade Papaya Seed Dressing (so good!) and a fish sandwich that was served on a ciabatta bread instead of the whole wheat I liked. But I definitely think the ciabatta worked out better since the sandwich came with a heavier mayonnaise that needed a thicker bread to be matched with. I decided to try dessert (it’s always a good decision to say yes to dessert!) and tried the ginger cookies. Although it’s not one of my favorites (mostly because there wasn’t chocolate involved probably!), I ordered a glass of milk to go along with them and definitely acted like a five year-old and dunked my cookies into my milk. Fun, if not very “grown up”, of me. HA!

I was so full after lunch that I thought I wouldn’t be able to eat dinner, but somehow I still finished everything. I started with a pejibaye and camote cream soup. If you’re interested in what those are, I would recommend Googling them since I won’t even try to describe it in my completely unscientific ways, but the soup was delicious. It was especially adorable since it was presented with a little smiley face and sun drawn on top of the soup! Then for the main course, I ordered the beef tenderloin medium rare. Nothing quite like a huge cut of meat for dinner. Yes, I am a proud carnivore. And I finished the meal with a lemon pie. It was kind of similar to a lemon bar in the states, but the crust was a mix between a pie crust and the crumbly butter cookie “crust” of a bar. Very, very delicious nonetheless!

Lapa Rios Food Blog - Day 1

noreply@blogger.com (Lapa Rios Ecolodge) — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 23:12:00 +0000

We apologize if you received a blog about the food blog "wrap up". That was sent out earlier than it should have been as it's a part of our intern's weeklong culinary experience at Lapa Rios...Here are her first day notes. Buen provecho!

I started this morning off bright and early with an omelet for breakfast. I was feeling pretty hungry and wanted something hearty. While the omelet was great with the Costa Rican white turrialba cheese, bacon, ham, mushrooms, peppers, and onion, my favorite part was the whole wheat toast that came on the side. The bread is made on property and different from what you would usually expect with normal bread. It was thicker and more crumbly and completely delicious with the little bit of butter it was served with. I didn’t even need to add the guava jelly!

Breakfast was followed by a huge lunch by the pool. At first, I didn’t order the gazpacho, but at the waiter’s recommendation, I had to try it and I’m glad I did! I love the tangy taste of lime and lemon and the gazpacho just had enough balance of tomato, cilantro, onions, and lime. It also came with a side of tisquisque chips, which I personally think are not only delicious, but very beautiful with the root’s design. Next, I ordered the half Asian-inspired Volcano Salad and half Chicken-Mango-Cashew Salad Sandwich which was served on my favorite whole wheat bread. I really liked the texture the peanuts and rice added in the Volcano Salad and similarly with the cashews in the sandwich. I was stuffed, but I managed to somehow still also eat a chocolate brownie topped with macadamia nuts and berry sauce. Considering my love for chocolate, the brownie was perfect. Yum!

Finally, at the end of the day was a dinner that started with Peruvian-style ceviche, then the Papillote Costa Rican Pacific Sea Bass, and rounded out by the Natillas with Costa Rican Coffee Granita. Considering what I said about my love of tangy lemons, I obviously liked the ceviche. The sea bass’ presentation was very interesting with it coming completely wrapped in a plantain leaf. When you opened it, it was served on top of mashed tiquisque, the same root that the chips from lunch were made of. The mashed tiquisque tasted like a less smooth version of mashed potatoes. I liked pairing the sea bass with the tomatoes it came with. And dessert was definitely a treat - the natillas being like a thick pudding/custard and having it topped with granite – a kind of shaved coffee ice. It was an interesting pairing that worked really well together.

Overall, today was definitely a very fattening first day. I am dreading how much weight I’ll probably gain during this week, but can’t wait for all the delicious food!

Lapa Rios Sustainability Tour!

noreply@blogger.com (Lapa Rios Ecolodge) — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 19:21:00 +0000

We currently have an intern, Teresa, staying with us...here is her perspective on the sustainable actions we take at our Ecolodge!

I had the pleasure this afternoon of joining with Andres, the Sustainability Manager here at Lapa Rios on the Twigs, Pigs, and Garbage Sustainability Tour. Although the name may seem a bit unusual, after two hours, I completely understood and had a new understanding and appreciation for all their sustainable practices here in the Osa Peninsula.

We started the tour at the entrance of the property with Andres explaining about some practices throughout the ecolodge starting from the architecture (natural light = less electricity, open-air with no solid walls = natural air conditioning), to the lending of stainless steel water bottles to all guests if they didn’t bring their own (they haven’t bought a plastic bottle of water in the past six months!), to buying all of the furniture from local suppliers supporting the local community. Other than the more obvious sustainable practices such as having solar panels, bio diesel run generators, and obviously focusing first on reducing, then reusing, and finally recycling (the life cycle of recycling involves a lot more of a carbon foot print with the process including many more steps such as the transportation of the products whereas reusing them cuts that process out altogether), Lapa Rios also has some very special practices. One of these is using bamboo straws developed by one of the previous employees at a sister Cayuga property instead of using plastic ones. A more touching aspect with the local community is that the school nearby was actually also built by the founders of Lapa Rios, John and Karen Lewis. They pledged to help the community starting from the very first meeting and Lapa Rios has been working closely with the school (and all 14 in the peninsula) to get the most urgently needed supplies to them.

While Lapa Rios also has a garden growing various plants such as cilantro, which is used in the kitchen, the main focus here is actually not production, but teaching the employees the organic process so they can spread it within the community. Some other odder ones including selling the frying oil not just from Lapa Rios, but also around in Puerto Jimenez to be converted to bio diesel or pushing employees to “motocycle-pool” (their very special version of carpooling!).

But this still hasn’t answered the question of the odd tour name. How are pigs involved?!? Well, Lapa Rios actually has a pig farm. The pigs are fed the scraps reducing waste, then the pigs’ manure is transformed into methane and other gases, which is used in the employee staff kitchen. No, I swear, this is real. Apparently, an average 150-pound pig can produce approximately 4.1 cubic feet of gas per day!

If you’re like me, you have no idea what these numbers mean, but I saw firsthand how the huge “bag” collected the gas, then a pipe led to the kitchen, and lo and behold, when you turned on the stove, it was connected all the way to the pig farm. Quite amazing! But not only that, Lapa Rios allows employees to buy the pork from the pigs at half the market price of whatever it is selling in Puerto Jimenez. The thing is, not only is the pork from the pigs much cheaper, but it is actually of much better quality since the pork is organic and free-range. Although it could obviously be sold at a much higher profit in the market place, the idea is to allow employees to have access to a very high quality meat that they may not usually have the opportunity of trying.

I definitely thought this tour wouldn’t be as “fun” as the others, but I was completely wrong. Not only did it turn out to be a lot of fun, but I also learned so much more at Lapa Rios, the culture, and local community I never knew about and was truly touched.

Project Honeymoon...Final Update!

noreply@blogger.com (Lapa Rios Ecolodge) — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 18:45:00 +0000

Success! Juan has left for Mexico to get married to Cindy and then they are off to their well-deserved honeymoon. The new roof is completed and Lapa Rios looks and feels like new. We're so grateful for the amazing team who worked so hard on this big project. See the results for yourself…

The new entrance. No more getting wet when arriving at the lodge if it rains.

Like new. Completely new roof and structure of the main building at Lapa Rios.

The Dry Season as arrived. Blue skies. Great views from the mirador above the main lodge.

The new roof as seen from the deck.

We'll post more photos on our Facebook page later this week!

Lapa Rios Girls Soccer Team!!

noreply@blogger.com (Lapa Rios Ecolodge) — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 20:08:00 +0000

Just outside of Puerto Jiménez, the first synthetic soccer field was built about a month ago. Our staff has been looking forward to playing some ball and last weekend we finally went! Although we don´t have very many women at the hotel, we were able to get together a female team, with help from some of the wives from our male staff. It´s a smaller field so it´s mini soccer, but it was soooo fun! One of our cooks, Dayana, scored the winning goal.

In the picture you can also see Karla from reservations, Oly from housekeeping, Aida from the Wildcats Conservation program and Marijke the general manager. Of course, our Lapa Rios male team went as well and won 4-2 to another lodge close by. They just didn´t take a picture J We spent a great time altogether as a team, the non-players cheering and enjoying it as well. We hope to go again this weekend and will try to get some guests to join us.

Ready for Takeoff!

noreply@blogger.com (Lapa Rios Ecolodge) — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 20:46:00 +0000

Flying on small planes are often a new experience for most of our guests and we thought we'd tell you more about what the experience is like! Flying to Lapa Rios on either Nature Air or Sansa Regional takes less than 1 hour, unless stopping en route. Depending on the airlines’ schedule, you may land to drop off or pick up other passengers in Quepos, Palmar Sur, Drake’s Bay or Golfito.

When taking off in San José airport, you will see most of the Valle Central and its three main volcanoes on the northern horizon: Poas to the west, Barva and Irazu to the east. Within minutes you’ll fly south over stretches of rural areas dotted with coffee plantations along with primary-forested mountains and cascading streams and river valleys toward the Pacific.

Reaching the Pacific coast you fly past the Manuel Antonio-Quepos area where our sister hotel, Arenas del Mar is located, Dominical, Uvita and near the National Marine Park Ballena. At low tide the park’s unusual peninsular shape defines its name: whale. Be on the lookout for this unique phenomenon!

For 5 minutes you’ll fly over the huge national wetlands, the mouth of the Rio Grande de Terraba, Costa Rica’s largest river and fresh water delta. The small island on the horizon is Isla del Caño National Park, famous for diving and snorkeling. After passing Drake’s Bay, you’ll cross the Osa Peninsula isthmus and Central America’s deepest gulf: Golfo Dulce.

When you arrive in Puerto Jiménez, the Lapa Rios staff will be waiting to greet you at the airstrip and offer you a refreshing drink! Have any of you experienced this flight or another one within Costa Rica? What were your experiences?

Project Honeymoon Update #3

noreply@blogger.com (Lapa Rios Ecolodge) — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 18:45:00 +0000

Now, without a main Lodge, (temporarily) we went the extra mile for the small group of guests who have been joining us in September: we´ve had folkloric dances under the stars!

We had a group of local kids, from the bilingual school in Puerto Jimenez, Hoja de Osa, show our guests how people traditionally danced in Costa Rica.

And of course they joined us for a dance as well, on the yoga deck after sunset! Muchas gracias!

Most guests have received a prívate tour, in this group Ana and Bruce who came to Lapa Rios for the 4^th time! It was great to have you and your friends! (you can see the new main lodge in the background).

And with this great weather we also did a “carne asada” (costarican barbeque) at the pool. Our cook Olger showed how we do it the tico way. Delicioso!

Life is almost back to normal here at Lapa Rios. Project Honeymoon is almost complete and we'll be sure to send a final blog post in the next few weeks with photos of our new main lodge!