Carbonera School Opens!

Three weeks have passed since school has started. We have the same teacher and nine children. From Lapa Rios we are offering classes (Biology and English) twice a week. If you would like to know how the school is running check out the “Carbonera School Journal” posted on our website. Pura vida!

The Sangrillo colorado story.

The Osa Peninsula inhabits a enormous amount of flora and fauna. Known to be one of the most biodiverse places on the planet, and though, having one of the most interesting and unique animals and plants. Just to mention a few: the Golfo Dulce Poisonous Dart Frog, Turquoise cotinga, Black cheak antanager, Mangrove hummingbird, Orange collared manakin, Apelandra golfodulcensis, Acacia allenii and of course the most unique and important specimen for the Lapa Rios reserve, the Sangrillo Colorado tree, or Paramachaerium gurberi.
It was first reported in 1988, at the Lapa Rios reserve, and is one of the 37 different species of trees that are in critical state of extinction. In Costa Rica, it has an extension of 22.3 km², and the available habitat has reduced in 10.76%. It can be found from 50 to 350 meters above seal level and only along the Carbonera Ridge.Now with the help of a program that aims to rescue this endangered species, we will have some researcher visiting our reserve to extract the seeds (by climbing the trees) and plant them for conservation. We hope that with this new project we can learn more about the natural history of the Sangrillo Colorado and help preserve them till the end of times

Volunteers visited Lapa Rios!!!

Last Saturday, sixteen volunteers (eight from Sweden and eight ticos) who are working in Puerto Jimenez came to visit us at Lapa Rios. They arrived in the early morning and did a sustainability tour and a medicine walk. In the late afternoon, they did a presentation for our guests on their program and projects in Puerto Jimenez. It was excellent to hear about their experiences and their expectations. Thanks volunteers for all your work and for visiting us at Lapa Rios!

BIRDS NEWS

“Ding dong ding dong”, the bell bird is singing!!

Uncommon, unusual, atypical, bizarre, rare: all of this terms describe our surprising visit of the Three- wattled Bellbird (Procnias tricarunculatus).
Weeks ago, at the private reserve of Lapa Rios, must of the guides were intrigue with the sound herd nearby the medicine walk. We all thought that it could be, but no one had yet seen it to, affirm the truth. Today, we know, and we are still curious about this migration of the bellbird to the lowlands tropical rainforest of the Osa Peninsula. Some people state that this is the first time to hear them and see them on the last 5 years. Bellbirds disperse to lower elevations after breeding, probably following regular annual routes; it forages at middle and upper levels of mature wet forest, humid forest, and advanced second growth.
By the way, this bird is endemic from eastern Honduras to western Panama.

Go ladies!

In the last month we have had a few women´s soccer matches against Bosque del Cabo (another lodge in the area). Yesterday we had the second girls match and we won.! Not only are we leaders in sustainability, but also leaders on the soccer field as well.! Vamos Chicas!

BIRDS NEWS

The coquette is showing off!!!

Since a week or so, we’ve being having the visit of the spectacular white-crested Coquette, (Lophornis adorabilis), that for sure, as the Latin name states, is adorable. This very small hummingbird of almost 7cm, wanders widely when the small flowers of Inga, Vochysia, Lonchocarpus are abundant, then disappearing for long intervals; in forest keeps high in canopy, coming down to shrub level at edges, and in second growth; hovers slowly through foliage gleaning small spiders and insects. It’s uncommon in the southern Pacific and rare in the Central Valley, also found east of Turrialba; up to 1400m. By the way, this beautiful coquette is endemic to Costa Rica and western Panama.

The Road We Didn't Build

Here is a poem by the architect that built Lapa Rios Ecolodge. This poem was inspired by one of his stays here on the Lapa Rios property. We loved it and thought we would share it…check it out:


The Road We Didn’t Build

By David L. Andersen

The road we didn’t build
Lies deep in the forest
It winds past the shaman’s hut
Where worlds merge into darkness and light

The river we didn’t cross
With our cancerous bridge of civilization
Runs swift and clear
With the perpetual rains that cleanse this earthly place

The language we didn’t lose
Is of a gentle people
Who do not know of us
And our wasted lives in an artificial world

The people we left alone
Didn’t hear our missionaries
Or wear our cast off clothing
In place of their rich past

The tree we didn’t cut
Did not become our coffee tables
Or concrete forms
They remain as guardians of this special refuge

And so they continue to be lost to us
Even as we speak
Our words die in the vastness of green
Where life continues
Near the road we didn’t build

Green ibis lost in the southern lowlands

It was almost one week, when Carlos our assistant manager, argued about a green ibis found in his backyard at Palo Seco, Osa Peninsula. At that moment we all said “it can t be, green ibis are only found in the Carribean slope!! The Mesembrinibis cayennensis, is resident locally throughout Caribbean lowlands, most common in Rio Frio area and coastal swamps north and south of Limon. Since I doubt about it, I decided to take the scope, binoculars, guide, and camara to the place and verify if this was for real. In the moment I got there, Carlos screamed, “come fast it is still here”. We took as much as 50 pictures and now can share them with you. At this moment, we are still uncertain about specific reasons why it came down here, some of our theories rely on it crossing from the Atlantic to the Pacific of Panama, and then flying up to southern Costa Rica.

Volunteers in Puerto Jimenez

Puerto Jimenez is hosting fourteen volunteers from VIDA group; we have seven Costa Ricans and seven from Sweden. They will be working for three months in Puerto Jimenez on various important projects for the community; cleaning the mangroves, the beaches, working in the recycling center and in the local school. Two of them will be dedicated to the Blue Flag Project in Puerto Jimenez. This project is an effort for cleaner beaches in Costa Rica. We are working toward obtaining the Blue Flag for our area.
We feel very lucky in Puerto Jimenez to have so much help!! Thanks volunteers!!