Celebrating Leynor's 15 Years at Lapa Rios!

February 26, 1997 was the day Leynor Ortiz, a 20-year old boy, set foot in Lapa Rios for the first time. He had just come back after working 3 years on banana plantations on the Caribbean coast. He went by the Puerto Jimenez office to see if they had work and met don John. Completely unexpected, John Lewis offered him a job that was available in the kitchen. Leynor answered he wouldn´t know what to do there except for washing dishes and maybe prepare some burnt rice. Don John answered “We´ll teach you all of that, the only ingredient you need is interest in learning how to do things differently."

Now 15 years later, Leynor is a wonderful cook who prepares fabulous delicious meals. He says his biggest challenge has been to be consistently good at what is asked from him and never guessed he would be with us for such a long time. But now that he´s here, he hopes to be here another 15 years more! So do we!! As a celebration, he had lunch at our breezy restaurant and our staff prepared a cake and sang to him.

Felicidades Leynor!

Meet Our Team: Estíbaliz Hidalgo Castro

Back to basics

Author: Estíbaliz Hidalgo Castro
Date: February 12, 2012

Last year I reached my boiling point. The life I had back home was beautiful but unfulfilling. You see, I´m from San José and as much I love the city where I was born and raised, it is impossible to hide the fact that as small as it may seem, San José has all the social madness and paranoid feelings of any big city… I needed a change.

Eventually the chance came; the opportunity of a lifetime was knocking at my door and I was ready to invite it in. I was offered a job, a “steady – 8 hours long – deal with work partners” kind of job, but it has a condition: I had to move and live by the beach (WHERE DO I SIGN?!).

And so I packed my things, said goodbye to my family and friends and took a 50 minute plane ride (because it is a ten hours long drive) and came to live at Matapalo, Puntarenas. A place where I have never visited before, where I knew no one and that is many, many kilometers away from what I know as my home (and I didn´t brought my red shiny shoes).

The first week I was exited, everything was so new! The sounds of the monkeys climbing up and down the trees, the different animals I saw walking to the hotel, the beach –OMG the beach! – it was perfect, I changed the cars and the “bad city elements” for exotic animals and sandy afternoons.

Then, loneliness came; the nights were long, especially when I had to eat alone, I missed my family, my friends and my hugs before sleeping time… Inevitably, I suffered a meltdown, something really small and insignificant that happened hit me like a thousands punches, and as the tears and the screaming came, I couldn´t calm myself, I just needed to cry my feelings out and the worst part, the thing that made my cried even harder, was that I thought I had no one to rely on.

But I was so blind. I didn’t allow myself to see that in between the sand and the waves, there were people surrounding me, human beings made of bone and flesh, that from day one always offered me their smile and support.

Most of the people in here didntt finish school, they didn’t had the same access to education and health that I had growing up in San José, in a household where money wasn´t a real problem. From afar, it may seem like we don’t have much in common…

In San José, people often are aggressive and have too many emotional issues, but in here everything is simpler, the persons are real, they are humble and honest. They respect you for what you are and not for what you have; so they test you, they want to see the real you.

And I´m also like that, back home I felt asphyxiated because all the fakeness that surrounds me, but here everything turns back to basics: “show me who you are, and I´ll show you my respect”.  It’s simple, its easier and it’s beautiful.

So I recommend to you, if you decide to come to Lapa Ríos, to enjoy the wildlife and the adventures, but also talk to the staff, learn about them, listen to their amazing stories of how they overcome obstacles and achieve more of what they could ever dream of.  Especially, take a mental photograph of their smile and always try to remember that even in the hardest time a smile can change your life and the life of the person that is next to you.

They know that, they do that…why don't we?

Another Puma Sighting!

Two of our recent guests, Julia and Janet, took this photo while on our self-guided trail at Lapa Rios! 

To quote Julia, "We're back in the U.S. and missing Lapa Rios. We had a fabulous time! Here is the photo of the puma Janice and I saw on the self-guided trail.  I am still very excited that I was able to get one photo before he turned and walked away. It was definitely a sighting of a lifetime."

Thank you Julia for sharing your incredible experience with us!

Waterfall Rappelling Tour

Our last post from Teresa, our intern...On one of my last days at Lapa Rios, I went on the waterfall rappelling tour .  It was very close to the Ecolodge and the guides quickly outfitted us in harnesses.  There were four waterfalls total.  The first three were definitely shorter while the last one was seemed crazy long.  (But then again, I have a fear of heights and having the guide yell at you to lean back while gallons of water is crashing down next to you can take things out of proportion…just a bit.)  It was crazy watching the guides as they seem to just jump down in two seconds, but when it was your turn, the idea that a rope was holding your weight and that you were in control of that rope was terrifying.  I tried not to look down, but somehow I would always turn my head and see which rocks I could possibly fall to my death on.  But it was definitely very exciting and fun overall.  It was a warm day and getting wet in the waterfall and some pools were definitely a plus. 

The last waterfall was definitely the highlight though.  There were two options: the wet option or the “get soaked” option!  You first started down the side of the waterfall and at midpoint, the guides would hold onto the rope for you so you could let go completely and jump directly into the waterfall and get a great “Look Ma!  No hands!” picture.  One of the highlights was also the fact that you ended at the beach.  It was one of the most gorgeous beaches ever with the most beautiful shades of blue and turquoise and very fine sand.  Overall, this tour was a lot of fun and excitement and I’m glad I got to go on it before I left Lapa Rios!

Three Toed Sloth

The three toed sloth is one of the few animals that never rush anything they do, not even crossing the road. We observed this sloth slowly moving across the road just before the entrance of the waterfall trail.  This mammal, even though it´s fairly common, is seen only occasionally in the forest because of his stunning ability to hide and blend in with their surroundings.  But when we find one, many people get to see it since it will sometimes sit in the same perch for several days in a row. This is a male three toed sloth but on several other occasions lately we have been observing female three toed sloths with baby´s in trees surrounding the Lapa Rios property.

Dental Health Campaign at Lapa Rios

With great joy, we want to share with you that last September we held, with great success, the Dental Health Campaign Carbonera - Carate.

This is the first campaign of its kind organized by Lapa Rios Ecolodge and we are proud to tell you that its impact was greater than we expected. 

This campaign directly impacted the children in all three schools in the area: La Carbonera, Río Oro and Río Piro and people in general from neighboring communities from Carbonera (where Lapa Rios Ecolodge is located) to Carate (one of the Corcovado National Park boundaries).

The operation was carried out by professionals in the area from ​​the University of Costa Rica who for three days donated their talents and time, working nonstop to try to take care as many people as possible. Thank you very much, Dr. Sonia Stradi, Dr. Jorge Soto and students Carolina, Itzel and Jose David.

We setup a mobile clinic near the Staff Area at Lapa Rios for the services.  A total of 67 people, children and adults, were attended to and who underwent a total of 221 different dental services.

Undoubtedly, this was possible thanks to the union and support of various companies in the area to whom we send a special thanks: El Remanso Rainforest Wildlife Lodge, Bosque del Cabo Rainforest Lodge, Nature Air and SANSA.

5 Leaves Award from CST!

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.