Celebrating 19 Years!

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!

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

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

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!

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!