Lapa Rios Ecolodge

Our Biogas Proyect

noreply@blogger.com (Lapa Rios) — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 15:43:00 +0000

A great example of applied sustainability at Lapa Rios Ecolodge in the Osa Peninsula of Costa Rica is the biogas project. This was the idea and initiative of one of our employees. We feed the leftovers from the kitchen to our pigs and their droppings produce biogas that we catch in a plastic structure (see picture with Juan above). We use this gas for cooking on the employee kitchen have reduced the use of propane gas by over 70%. Our goal is to go 100% biogas in the next weeks. Oh, and of course the pigs are very popular with the staff as we sell the meat to them at very low prices. You know that one of the favorite meals here is “chicharones”…

Lapa Rios Ecolodge Wildcat Research and Conservation Experience 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Lapa Rios) — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 20:04:00 +0000


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By playing a critical role in Lapa Rios’ Wildcat Research Experience 2010, we will reward you with a free night of accommodation and your meals for one day at Costa Rica’s award winning Lapa Rios, with a minimum of four night stay between May 2^nd and May 15^th, 2010.

Lapa Rios has been supporting a local team of wildcat researchers and conservationists for several years and we would like to further involve our guests in the Jaguar, Puma and Wildcat Conservation Efforts through this once in a lifetime experience.

During your four night stay at Lapa Rios in May 2010, you will be able to enjoy all of the regular tours and activities at the lodge, and we will also involve you in a variety of special activities revolving around Wildcat Conservation, such as:

Attending a briefing on the status of the wildcat research and conservation program on the Osa Peninsula with project directors Aida Bustamante and Ricardo Moreno.
Setting up and checking the heat sensor triggered cameras in the Lapa Rios Wildlife Reserve. These cameras are used to monitor the movement of jaguar, puma and other wildlife in the reserve and the Osa Peninsula.
Hiking into the rainforest and helping collect wildcat footprints in the rainforest.
Learning how to conduct an analysis of the wild cats’ diets in the rainforest.
Working along side locals who might have been hunters before and now are active in the conservation of the wildlife, flora and fauna of the Osa Peninsula.
Participating in talks given at local schools, community groups and hotels about the wildlife conservation program.
Setting up and testing the program that monitors the movement of peccaries (medium sized, wild piglike mammals) with the help of GPS collars, in the reserve and Osa Peninsula.

For further Information and reservations, please contact us at info@laparios.com. For more information on the Wildcat Research conducted on the Osa Peninsula, please visit here.

Lapa Rios Ecolodge in Costa Rica Fulfills the Promise of Ecotourism

noreply@blogger.com (Lapa Rios) — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 22:15:00 +0000

A scientific study published in February 2010 by the Journal of Ecotourism and conducted by Stanford University validates the conservation and community development work done by Lapa Rios. The study tested whether Lapa Rios delivers on the pledges to promote responsible travel to natural areas, to make a positive contribution to environmental conservation, and to enhance the wellbeing of local communities. The researchers from Stanford University that spent several months in the Osa come to the conclusion that Lapa Rios Ecolodge has made impressive contributions to local livelihoods since its beginnings in 1992. It has met this goal by a concerted effort to purchase local goods and services, by providing full-time positions and by supporting education, reforestation and other community projects within the Osa Peninsula.

Interested in more details of the study? Read more here.

Do you like Cilantro?

noreply@blogger.com (Lapa Rios) — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 01:04:00 +0000


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Our general manager Juan is showing off the cilantro plantation at Lapa Rios. We cook a lot of beans and the endemic “cilantro coyote” has to be in there to give it the right flavor. Hard to believe but all of the cilantro that you see in the picture is hardly enough to supply the hotel restaurant and the staff restaurant providing food for the 60 Lapa Rios employees. Oh, in case you did not know, we cook the beans on bio-gas generated by our pig’s manure that feed on leftovers. Nothing goes to waste.

The Rubber Tree

noreply@blogger.com (Lapa Rios) — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 03:10:00 +0000

In Costa Rica the family Moraceae has two species of rubber trees. The (Castilla tunu) and the (Castilla elastica) in the Peninsula de Osa. This tree is one of the most common trees in the Lapa Rios Reserve located between the Golfo Dulce and Corcovado National Park. You can find it both in the primary and the secondary rainforest.

In the past this tree was used to manufacture al kind of rubber products. Nowadays most of the rubber used is sintethic rubber. The saps of this tree witch is called latex, is extracted by making an zigzag incision in the bark of the tree, this latex is boiled and mixed with sulphur. The tree itself also attracts a lot of birds and animals in times when it produces fruits.

Special Lapa Rios Cooking Lesson

noreply@blogger.com (Lapa Rios) — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 20:55:00 +0000


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Starting this year, upon many requests and suggestions of former guests, we decided to share a bit of our culinary skill with our guests. Staying at Lapa Rios is a unique experience, not only because of the amazing views and the different creatures you will see while you’re here, but also the different tastes you will be treated to and specially because of the people you will get to know. To connect some more with these ingredients, last night we had a special Lapa Rios cooking lesson in our restaurant area. Two of our kitchen members, Olger and Diego, who normally do not speak that much with our guests took this opportunity to practice their English, while 6 of our guests combined learning Spanish vocabulary with typical cuisine. Together they prepared two very Costa Rican dishes, ceviche and picadillo de papa. It was a great success to see our staff teaching their daily tasks to some of our guests who truly enjoyed this exchange, finishing with, of course, a tasty bite!

a Tayra?

noreply@blogger.com (Lapa Rios) — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 03:04:00 +0000


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What a great wildlife picture from Lapa Rios! This is a Tayra (Eira barbara) or Tolomuco in Spanish. This mustelid (weasel family) is sometimes confused by guests with a yaguarundi or even a panther, but in fact is much smaller growing to a size of about 60 cm, not including a 45 cm long tail and reaching a maximum weight of 16 pounds. The Tolomuco is not that common but every so often our guest have the treat to see one, especially on the Osa Trail where this picture was taken. This beautiful animal both diurnal and nocturnal is a great climber that feeds on pretty much anything from fruit to rodents, invertebrates, eggs and honey.

Pig-like Rodent on the Ridge Trail

noreply@blogger.com (Lapa Rios) — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 18:11:00 +0000

This Pig-like rodent is Costa Rica’s largest rodent. It measuring up to 75 cm in length and can weigh up to 12 kg. It feeds on seeds, roots, fruits and tubers. The Paca or "Tepezcuintle" as we call it here has traditionally been one of the favorite game meat for its excellent taste but the excessive hunting and loss of habitat threatens its survival as a species. The Osa Peninsula and Lapa Rios Reserve is one of the few places where it is still common. The fact that they are nocturnal and hides in borrows during the day makes it difficult for our guests to see, unless they go on the Night Walk. This picture was taken on the Ridge Trail showing a mother and its little one.

A Puma on our Medicine Trail!

noreply@blogger.com (Lapa Rios) — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 13:37:00 +0000


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A few months ago, we have started to install camera traps in the Lapa Rios reserve to support the ongoing research on large cats in the Osa Peninsula. The picture below was taken on the medicine trail a few days ago of a Puma. This is a female in the picture, but we have also recorded a very big male around. It’s almost impossible to spot this animals in the wild, but the constant presence of their tracks in the mud and the pictures like this from the camera traps show us that this guys might be more abundant than we had previously thought throw out Osa peninsula.

noreply@blogger.com (Lapa Rios) — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 17:00:00 +0000

During her recent visit at Lapa Rios, Karen Lewis, the co-owner of the lodge met up with Alfredo Rosales again. Alfredo was the mastermind behind the construction of the suita palm roofs at Lapa Rios during its construction in 1993. During this encounter, old stories were shared and remembered. Alfredo, despite being well over 80 years old, still is involved in the repair work of the Lapa Rios Suita roofs. Thanks for your support and we hope to have you with us for many more years!

A curious visitor: a three toed sloth!

noreply@blogger.com (Lapa Rios) — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 19:12:00 +0000


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Sitting on the deck at Lapa Rios, we had a curious and quite active visitor this morning: a three toed sloth. In the 1000 acre rainforest reserve around Lapa Rios our guests can observe both the three and the two toed sloths. It is also not uncommon for guests during a 4 night stay to see all four species of monkeys that live in Costa Rica. Howler monkeys (if you don’t see them, you will hear them for sure), Squirrel monkeys, Spider monkeys and Whiteface monkeys. The other day a guest told us that he has seen more wildlife sitting on our deck at Lapa Rios than during the rest of his two week stay in all of Costa Rica.

More pictures of the sloth here.

Christmas at Lapa Rios.

noreply@blogger.com (Lapa Rios) — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 14:23:00 +0000

Most of the staff at Lapa Rios spend Christmas working as this is super high season. However, there was time for a few presents and a turkey for the staff on the 24th. Feliz Navidad and Happy New Year!

New Restaurant Deck

noreply@blogger.com (Lapa Rios) — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 02:47:00 +0000


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In the month of September, we did some remodeling of the restaurant deck that looks out over the Golfo Dulce and Tropical Rainforest. Nothing like a leisurely lunch on the deck observing the flora and fauna. Very common to see Scarlet Macaws fly by or a troop of squirrel monkeys nearby.

noreply@blogger.com (Lapa Rios) — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 14:30:00 +0000


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Lapa Rios supports local artisans and allows them to offer their work to its guests during different nights of the week. Wednesday is Esteban’s turn. He and his wife Chris are true multitalents. They work with local materials such as bamboo, wood and rainforest seeds to create jewelry and other souvenirs. Esteban’s passion is to work with resin (wood sap) and his wife specializes in macramé jewelry.

noreply@blogger.com (Lapa Rios) — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 13:27:00 +0000

Once a week, the dance group from the local Puerto Jimenez school comes up to Lapa Rios to delight our guests with a presentation of typical dances. The group is lead by Vanessa who works in our Reservations Department. We have found that this is a great way to boost the kid’s self esteem and their favorite part is when they get to bring the guests to the dance floor and get them involved. Of course, after every successful presentation, there are ice cream and cookies waiting in the kitchen…

Check it out on YouTube!

Lapa Rios at the Latin America Travel Mart in Chile

noreply@blogger.com (Lapa Rios) — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 15:29:00 +0000

In September, Lapa Rios (along with the Cayuga properties) takes part in the Latin American Travel Mart that is held in different locations in South and Central America each year. We consider this the only Trade show worth attending other than Expotur in Costa Rica. This year the event was held in Frutillar (south of Chile). Maria Jose Castro represents Cayuga Sustainable Hospitality and has been meeting with companies such as Kings & Cox, Pagona Travel, and more. Listing to the wholesalers attending Travel Mart Latin America, we expect next year to be a good year for tourism although, we will not get back to pre crisis levels of 2008. The Latin American Travel Mart 2010 will be held in Peru.

Making your trip green - The Boston Globe

noreply@blogger.com (Lapa Rios) — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 21:15:00 +0000

Making your trip green - The Boston Globe

Posted using ShareThis

Carbonera School children making a Sustainability Tour!

noreply@blogger.com (Lapa Rios) — Sat, 23 May 2009 16:26:00 +0000

Few weeks ago, Lapa Rios hosted the children from the Carbonera School. They did a Sustainability Tour around the lodge and learned some interesting and fun things.
One of them was to prepare their own tortilla! In the picture, you can see Lance learning from doña Flor.

They also saw our small hydroponic project that we have behind Lapa Rios kitchen. Actually one of the school´s goals for this year is to have a nice orchard and learn from the hydroponic technique.

The tour ended in “La Chanchera” or the pigs place. Keilor was amazed about the pigs size!

The Sustainability Tour also included a visit to the reception, restaurant and bar, kitchen, gardens, rooms, housekeeping area, some part of the rain forest reserve and the Ranchito (staff cafeteria).
The kids that attended the activity were: Joselito, Alejandra, Merlin, Jonathan, Florentino, Keilor, Frankiln, Lance, Cassandra, Heiner, Garnet and teacher Grace. The only one absent was Maralla…

First Aid trainning

noreply@blogger.com (Lapa Rios) — Wed, 06 May 2009 03:04:00 +0000

The Lapa Rios Emergency Brigade had their "First Aid" training couple of weeks ago. There was a very good opportunity for all of us to learn how to act when there is an emergency. Actually, one of the Maintenance Team members, Greddy, used the skills that he learned to help a lady in a motorcycle accident in town! This is an example of how this kind of trainings makes the staff grow in different ways.

This is Elicer checking doña Zeneida´s blood preassure:

Here we are trying to carry our tiny cook, Leinor:

Even Zuka, one of the Lapa Rios' pets, participated in the practice!

Growing our own lettuce!

noreply@blogger.com (Lapa Rios) — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 19:31:00 +0000

In an effort to green our restaurant at Lapa Rios, we´ve started a small-scale project in which we grow our own hydroponic lettuce. Here´s a picture of Adolfo, our sustainability coordinator, working:

Lapathon Jungle Run 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Lapa Rios) — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 18:05:00 +0000

Come and participate in the

"Lapathon Jungle Run 2009"

May 31st

18 km race from Lapa Rios to Puerto Jiménez

For more information please contact us at: info@laparios.com

Lapa Rios celebrated the Earth Hour

noreply@blogger.com (Lapa Rios) — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 16:46:00 +0000

Earth Hour has been transformed into the world’s first global election, between Earth and global warming, and Lapa Rios was part of it last March 28th.
It was a very simple action of switching off the lights for 1 hour (in Costa Rica was from 8:30 pm to 9:30 pm). Many parts of the country participated in 2009´s Earth Hour and actually from Lapa Rios´ main deck we could even seen Golfito (the town across the Gulf) in a complete darkness.
Our guests liked the activity and some of them finished their dinner just with the lights of the candles as you can see in the picture

Making handicrafts at Lapa Rios!

noreply@blogger.com (Lapa Rios) — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 00:32:00 +0000

Last week we had so many of our guests interested in the crafts that the artisans bring on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays to Lapa Rios restaurant.
On March 20th, the local artisan Joksan taught young Wolfy Neukomm how to weave. He was really excited because he did his own bracelet! You can see him in the picture learning from Joksan.
That same day we also had with us Emily Savage. She is a very interesting lady that learnes how to weave in Chile. She also shared with Joksan some of her abilities. It was very nice to see how many people got involved with the activity that night; learning and teaching each others.
We encourage our guests to learn more about the local culture through this kind of activities!

Goodbye Nito

noreply@blogger.com (Lapa Rios) — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 15:25:00 +0000

Goodbye Nito!

Dionisio (Nito) has been a guide in Lapa Rios for 6 years.
Last Wednesday was Nito´s last day as member of our staff.
We will always remember Nito for his passion for ants and birds.
Now he will be dedicating in full time in his family tourism company in his hometown San Vito, southern Costa Rica.
Currently he is in Venezuela studying and learning more about birds.
His company “Surcos” will be offering different kind of tours along National Parks and tropical forests of the Pacific side of Costa Rica.
He also wants to encourage children and young to conserve the environment; to achieve this, he is planning to bring students from his town to Corcovado National Park.
All our staff in Lapa Rios will miss Nito and we hope him good luck and success in his new life!

Lapa Rios´ regular guest is visiting us now: the White-Crested Coquette

noreply@blogger.com (Lapa Rios) — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 18:26:00 +0000

It is usual that during this part of the year, the White-Crested Coquette (Lophornis adorabilis) always amazed our guests that come to the main deck of Lapa Rios. Thanks to our very special special tree (Macrocnemum reseum) of the Rubiaceae family, is how we can look at this bird mainly during the early day late in the afternoon.
This tiny hummingbird from the Trochilidae family is endemic to Costa Rica and Panama and is very rare to see it. It´s natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and heavily degraded former forest.
Here is the best picture of the White-Crested Coquette that one of our guests took and shared with us.