Lapa Rios is even wilder … in the Green Season

Can you see yourself in the middle of the rainforest, curling up with your favorite book or taking a nap while the rain pours on the roof of your cozy eco-bungalow?

Lapa Rios Ecolodge is world renowned for its remote wilderness luxury. But you haven’t experienced the true wild until you’ve been on the Osa Peninsula during the rainy season.

When you book an eco-getaway at Lapa Rios from May until October, you get the benefits of the Green Season, including lower flight costs and room rates, less crowds and better wildlife viewing opportunities. Check here special promotions at Lapa Rios.

They call it the rainforest for a reason; the forest gets rejuvenated by rain for six months out of the year. But, it doesn’t rain all day. Usually mornings are clear so you can head for the beach or outside tours. The temperature never drops, so even if it rains you wont be cold; tours always run regardless of rain, and you can return to your awesome room and a rewarding hot shower.

Most of the signature species in this area are almost impossible to see, like the magnificent jaguar. But during the rainy season, it’s easier to find them, as all animals leave their tracks in the mud. It’s amazing to walk a trail and recognize the tracks of all the animals that have recently passed by with help form your guide. And, this is the time of year when you might be able to see whales from the deck of your bungalow!

Fewer people on the beach and on tours translates to more personalized attention and service from staff. You’ll have that “we have this place all to ourselves” feeling every day, which means more privacy and quality time with your partner or family.

Green is sexy. Green is in. Come to the Osa Peninsula for a Green Season experience you’ll never forget at Lapa Rios!

KIDS LOVE LOCAL CRAFTS

Jocksan is one of the local artisans, a craftsman who comes up once a week to show and sell his handiwork to our guests. Making his living out of selling his handcrafts in Lapa Rios and other lodges, Jocksan creates beautiful jewelry with materials like local seeds, mud, pearls, shells, bamboo and macramé. For our younger guests, it’s a treat because they have the opportunity to learn how to make simple but very nice bracelets. These kids were with us last week and each of them made about four bracelets for themselves and to take home to their friends as well. They learned, had a nice evening activity and ended up with a souvenir too, quite a successful night! As our future guest, you can have the opportunity to buy a very authentic handmade souvenir from Jocksan.

MOTHER'S DAY CELEBRATION

Last Sunday, August 15th, everyone in Costa Rica celebrated Mother's day, including our female (and male) staff. Our nine very speical “mothers on staff” at Lapa Rios were in for a treat that day. They all enjoyed an incredible lunch out on our restaurant's deck, prepared by our kitchen staff (all men!) and were then surprised with a live serenade by some very talented singers or “mariachi” as we call them, who dedicated special mother-themed songs to the ladies. Each receiving a personal note from their children at the end made for a great surprise event for them, and as some of our staff said: it was great to see them happy and to thank them because all of them are “mothers” to our staff as well, nurturing and encouraging us in all our endeavors. Congratulations to Hellen, Lea, Vanesa, Vilma, Josefa, Zeneida, Olga, Doris and Teresa!

MATAPALO: THE STRANGLER FIG

Perhaps the best known tree in this area is the towering strangler fig tree, so well known that the area close to the beach here and actually the entire ridge Lapa Rios is situated on is named after this tree, but in Spanish: Matapalo. This impressive tree, a type of epiphyte, starts life as a tiny seed high up in the canopy on another kind of tree. The roots grow down to the forest floor where they dig in and begin to take nutrients from the soil. Gradually the roots wrap around the host tree, widen, and slowly form a lattice-work that surrounds the host's trunk. The fig's crown grows foliage which soon overshadows the tree. Eventually, the host tree dies, leaving the fig with a hollow trunk, which is easily climbed thanks to the many openings in the trunk. Figs are often the only tree species remaining after forest clearing since their knotted and twisted wood is shunned by loggers.
Ironically, this agent of death provides an important niche and food source to many rainforest creatures. Its hollow trunk, with an abundance of nooks and crannies, provides an important home to thousands of invertebrates, rodents, bats, reptiles, amphibians, and birds. Many other species are attracted to the fig tree because of its production of large amounts of good-tasting fig fruits. These fruits are packed with seeds, many of which are not destroyed when they are consumed, and are passed out in the dung of animals far from the mother tree. In many forests the fig tree is considered a keystone species since during parts of the year it is virtually the only tree producing fruit. During these lean times, many primates and birds feed almost exclusively on fig fruit.

Photos by Frances Figart

A SURPRISE TOUR!

Thanks to their dedication and effort to always provide an exceptional service to our guests, three of our staff members went with our Operations Manager on a surprise tour. Greivin (friendly receptionist), Gabriel (excellent waiter) and Olger (cook who gives the Lapa Rios cooking lessons) never expected to be rappelling from a waterfall when they started at work that day at 6 a.m. One of the nearby lodges, Remanso, offers a waterfall rapelling tour and invited us to check it out. None of the four had ever done this before and it was a team building experience and reward for hard work that they will never forget!

ODE TO HUMMINGBIRDS

The hummingbird family (trochilidae) is one of the largest bird families in the world with about 330 species, ranging over south, central and north America. Although they are found from Alaska to Tiera del Fuego, hummingbirds are far more numerous in the tropics. In Costa Rica we have 57 species of hummingbirds distributed over the whole country. Following are a set of interesting facts that you maybe didn’t know about these gorgeous little acrobats of the sky.

● The hummingbirds’ flight involves rapid wingbeats and a unique rotation of the entire wing at the shoulder joint; changing the angle of their wingbeat permits flight in any direction including backward or hovering in place.

●Depending the species, hummingbirds beat their wings 22-79 times per second.

● Because of its size, in relation to other birds the hummingbird has the highest metabolic rate and energy needs.

● One of their most important mechanisms of saving energy is their ability to enter into a state of torpor on cold nights, regulating their body temperature 30-50⁰F (17-28⁰C) below active level.

● About eighty percent of a hummingbird’s day is spent perched in trees and bushes.

● Their bills range in size from 4 inches to ½ inch in length.

● Half a hummingbird’s weight is in chest muscles, which are used to power their flight.

●Often a hummingbird’s tongue measures two times the length of their bill.

●The smallest hummingbird, the bumblebee, is two inches long with half the length in its beak and tail. The largest hummingbird is the giant hummingbird and can reach eight inches in length.

Hummingbirds are undoubtedly the best known New World avian family - and one of those things in nature that are so fascinating to see, you just have to stand still for a while. During a stay at Lapa Rios, you are sure to see them every single day if you are watching.

Photos by Frances Figart

LAPATHON FUNDS MATERIALS FOR SPEECH THERAPY

On June 30, the Lapa Rios staff went to hand over the materials and equipment which was bought with the donations of our latest Lapathon Jungle Run on May 1. This 18 km race - with a total of 143 participants and many more supporters - was able to raise funds for a total amount of 1,016,000 colones (about $1,900) to buy the equipment for the only classroom on the Osa Peninsula that serves children with communication difficulties who require speech pathology. Materials bought with this money included furniture such as chairs and tables, big mirrors, archive equipment, a computer, a CD player, desks and educational materials, all of which are necessary to provide better care for the 60 students of this speech therapy room. Everything was received by the teachers, school administration, parents, and community members with great appreciation and a lot of smiles from the students. A big thank you for everyone who helped with this educational project!