waterkeepers - Blogs - Tripatini2024-03-28T14:27:51Zhttps://tripatini.com/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/waterkeepersHow to give back while traveling? Follow the inspiration of these Santa Teresa, Costa Rica hotels.https://tripatini.com/profiles/blogs/how-to-give-back-while-traveling-follow-the-inspiration-of-these2016-02-20T22:22:40.000Z2016-02-20T22:22:40.000ZShannon Farleyhttps://tripatini.com/members/ShannonFarley<div><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}9009037660,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img width="500" class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9009037660,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9009037660?profile=original" /></a>More and more travelers want to feel they are contributing in some way to the place where they vacation. <b>Giving back while on vacation</b> has become a global movement sparking volunteerism and community outreach with tourists.</p><p>In <a href="http://www.enchanting-costarica.com/travel-tips/best-ways-get-santa-teresa-costa-rica/" target="_blank">Santa Teresa, Costa Rica</a>, two top hotels share a heartfelt program that lets their guests feel good about supporting the community there.</p><p><b><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}9008858655,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9008858655,original{{/staticFileLink}}" width="640" alt="9008858655?profile=original" /></a><a href="http://www.hoteltropicolatino.com/" target="_blank">Hotel Tropico Latino</a> </b>and <strong><a href="http://www.florblanca.com/" target="_blank">Florblanca Hotel</a></strong> implement the <b>“<a href="http://www.florblanca.com/sustainability/community/" target="_blank">$5 Check Out Program</a>”</b> that allows their guests to add an optional charge on their bill at the end of their stay to fund community and environmental programs in the Santa Teresa area. Created by Florblanca Hotel manager Cody Dillon in 2012, Hotel Tropico Latino manager Roberto de la Ossa quickly followed the lead of his friend. Both hotels have experienced such success, that De la Ossa wants to inspire others to get involved.</p><p>“We thought it was such a great initiative that we joined them. And we are inviting the rest of the Santa Teresa community and other areas of Costa Rica to do the same,” said De la Ossa. “If every business in town did this, the possibilities would be surprising.”</p><p>Hotel Tropico Latino adds an optional voluntary charge of $2 to each guest’s final bill, and is thinking to raise it to match Florblanca’s $5 charge. When you stay at these hotels, you can help <b><a href="http://www.enchanting-costarica.com/hot-news/ocean-pollution-kept-at-bay-on-santa-teresa-costa-rica/" target="_blank">keep the beaches clean</a>, <a href="http://www.enchanting-costarica.com/costa-rica-2/lifeguards-ocean-safety-beach-santa-teresa-costa-rica/" target="_blank">fund the local ocean lifeguards</a>, or </b><strong><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Aprendiendo-Unidos/1542192829333490" target="_blank">provide school kids with much needed supplies and programs</a></strong> – all for the price of a smoothie in Santa Teresa.</p><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}9009037293,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9009037293,original{{/staticFileLink}}" width="640" alt="9009037293?profile=original" /></a>“This is something so simple to do, so small and easy. Every year we were struggling with finding a budget to help out with community initiatives. And in the end we decided to include our guests in our commitment to giving back,” explained De la Ossa. “It’s about giving back. It’s conscious business. We don’t want to just take from the area. We want to give back so the area stays nice and beautiful and is a great place to live and visit.”</p><p>Hotel Tropico Latino so far has focused on environmental programs like keeping the region’s beaches clean<b>.</b> The <a href="http://www.hoteltropicolatino.com/hotel/santa-teresa-costa-rica-accommodations.html" target="_blank">Santa Teresa beachfront hotel</a> has donated $1,500 to the Santa Teresa Tourism Chamber to purchase and place trash and recycling bins at all of the main public beach access points. These Pacific beaches – Mal Pais, Playa Carmen, Playa Santa Teresa and Playa Hermosa – on the southern Nicoya Peninsula have been awarded <b>Costa Rica’s Ecological Blue Flag</b> for environmental purity.</p><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}9009037897,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img width="650" class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9009037897,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9009037897?profile=original" /></a>Florblanca Hotel aids three nonprofit programs, following the catchphrase “Think Globally, Act Locally.<b>”</b> They are: the <strong><a href="http://aprendiendounidoscr.org/" target="_blank">Fundación Aprendiendo Unidos</a></strong> (Learning Together Foundation) that provides resources to public school children from Santa Teresa and neighboring communities; the <strong><a href="http://waterkeeper.org/waterkeeper/MDAxMWEwMDAwMEV2UU5iQUFO/nicoya-peninsula-waterkeeper/" target="_blank">Nicoya Peninsula Waterkeepers</a></strong>, which works to improve water quality in Santa Teresa; and the <strong><a href="http://santateresalifeguards.org/" target="_blank">Santa Teresa Lifeguards</a></strong>, a new organization dedicated to saving lives and preventing dangerous accidents along the Santa Teresa area beaches.</p><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}9009039253,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9009039253,original{{/staticFileLink}}" width="640" alt="9009039253?profile=original" /></a>Dillon said Florblanca gives a few thousand dollars a year, divided between these community organizations. She said their guest response over the years has only been positive.</p><p>“A lot of our guests would come to our hotel and read about our sustainability initiatives and would ask us how they could help. We really feel that travelers more and more really want to give back to the place that they journey to,” said Dillon. “We have never had anyone say to us, ‘Take this off of our bill.’ Every now and again, someone gets really inspired about one of our programs and leaves an extra $50 or $100, or more.”</p><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}9009033073,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img width="650" class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9009033073,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9009033073?profile=original" /></a>There are many community organizations that need assistance in Santa Teresa, noted De la Ossa, adding that the contribution could be tax deductible for businesses.</p><p>“Every restaurant could charge 50 cents or $1. Every hotel could charge $2 or $5, and think of how much we could raise. Think of how much good we could do, helping out schools, reforestation, and environmental initiatives. It will only work on a large scale if more people join together,” he said.</p><p>“I could not agree more with Roberto,” added Dillon. “Of course, what we do helps. But if everyone in town were to do this – from small bungalows to restaurants to surf shops – they could put $1 or $2 extra on their clients’ bills, and if everything is handled in a very transparent way, I think the success rate would be very high.”</p><p>For more information on the <b>$5 Check Out Program</b> <b>and</b> <b>how you can get involved</b>, contact Roberto de la Ossa at <a href="http://www.hoteltropicolatino.com/" target="_blank">Hotel Tropico Latino</a> or Cody Dillon at <a href="http://www.florblanca.com/" target="_blank">Florblanca</a>.</p><p><b><i>Article by Shannon Farley</i></b></p></div>Sustainable tourism and clean water take priority in Santa Teresa, Costa Ricahttps://tripatini.com/profiles/blogs/sustainable-tourism-and-clean-water-take-priority-in-santa-teresa2014-05-29T18:31:33.000Z2014-05-29T18:31:33.000ZShannon Farleyhttps://tripatini.com/members/ShannonFarley<div><p><i><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}9008846298,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img width="250" class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9008846298,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9008846298?profile=original" /></a>“Without water, there can be no life. Without clean water, there can be no healthy life.”</i></p><p> </p><p>This is the driving force behind the <strong>worldwide environmental organization</strong> <a href="http://waterkeeper.org/" target="_blank">Waterkeeper Alliance</a>. Based in the United States, the <strong>Waterkeeper Alliance aspires to protect every major watershed</strong> around the world, to advocate for <strong>every person’s right to clean water</strong> and the <strong>equitable use of water resources globally</strong>.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Water is at the center of the world’s most pressing issues today</strong>: security, scarcity, energy, climate change, and infectious diseases. Fresh water resources are declining in virtually every part of the world in quality and quantity. It is reported that more than 1 billion people on the planet live without access to safe drinking water.</p><p> </p><p><strong><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}9008846691,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img width="250" class="align-left" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9008846691,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9008846691?profile=original" /></a>More than 200 Waterkeeper grassroots organizations on six continents</strong> strive to defend clean water in their communities. In Central America, <strong>Costa Rica is the only nation with a Waterkeeper organization</strong>.</p><p> </p><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}9008846501,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img width="350" class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9008846501,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9008846501?profile=original" /></a>The environmentally-friendly town of <b>Santa Teresa, Costa Rica</b>, on the southern <b>Nicoya Peninsula</b>, is the lucky home of <a href="http://waterkeeper.org/nicoya-peninsula-waterkeeper/" target="_blank">Costa Rica’s Waterkeeper Alliance</a>. Founded in October 2012, the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Nicoya-Peninsula-Waterkeeper/480834662009601" target="_blank">Nicoya Peninsula Waterkeeper group</a> is focused on <strong>improving the quality of water in the Santa Teresa</strong> <strong>area</strong>, and helping the community properly <strong>deal with its waste waters</strong>.</p><p> </p><p>“One of our primary priorities is the lack of water and quality of water in Santa Teresa,” said Carolina Chavarria, in charge of the Nicoya Peninsula Waterkeeper group. “Another priority is how residual waters are treated in Santa Teresa – from private residences to hotels and restaurants.”</p><p> </p><p>Like many coastal communities in Costa Rica, especially ones that have developed rapidly from tourism, <strong>Santa Teresa faces water shortages during the Costa Rican “summer” months</strong> of January to May. Residents and businesses in the area are forced to <strong>buy tanker-trucks of water</strong> almost weekly to meet their needs until the rains begin again.</p><p> </p><p>Waterkeeper is part of the local community’s Committee for Water and Health of Santa Teresa that is working with the Costa Rican Institute of Aqueducts and Sewers (AyA) to solve the area’s water issues.</p><p> </p><p><strong>The Santa Teresa Waterkeeper group is targeting two community campaigns</strong>: <strong>“One River at a Time”</strong> to clean each of the area’s 18 rivers, and <strong>helping people</strong> <strong>properly treat their waste waters</strong> with practical and affordable solutions such as <strong>bio-gardens</strong>. Waste water is treated to be used safely in landscape irrigation. “Besides being pretty, they are really practical and useful,” Chavarria said.</p><p> </p><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}9008847264,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img width="200" class="align-left" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9008847264,original{{/staticFileLink}}" height="151" alt="9008847264?profile=original" /></a>On <a href="http://www.pranamarvillas.com/en/santa-teresa-beach.html" target="_blank">Santa Teresa Beach</a>, <a href="http://www.pranamarvillas.com/" target="_blank">Pranamar Oceanfront Villas & Yoga Retreat</a> is creating a bio-garden for their restaurant kitchen’s gray water. “All of the water from the kitchen is going to be treated to get rid of the grease to be able to use for irrigation,” said Pranamar hotel manager, Mario Matarrita.</p><p> </p><p>The <a href="http://www.pranamarvillas.com/en/the-hotel/rooms.html" target="_blank">Costa Rica beach resort</a> already uses a completely independent <strong>septic system that recycles treated water to irrigate the hotel’s gardens</strong>. “We save water all year long this way,” noted Matarrita.</p><p> </p><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}9008847463,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img width="250" class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9008847463,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9008847463?profile=original" /></a>The Balinese-style <a href="http://www.pranamarvillas.com/en/packages/summer-getaways-packages.html" target="_blank">oceanfront villas</a> closely follow <a href="http://www.pranamarvillas.com/en/the-hotel/sustainability.html" target="_blank">sustainable tourism practices</a>. <strong>Two fresh water wells on the property</strong> reinforce the boutique hotel’s water supply. <strong>Water is filtered and purified in the restaurant and made available for guests.</strong> “The idea is for our guests to not buy so many plastic bottles of water, but rather to re-fill their bottles in our restaurant with our purified water,” Matarrita explained.</p><p> </p><p><a href="http://www.pranamarvillas.com/" target="_blank">Pranamar Oceanfront Villas and Yoga Retreat</a>is a top <b>beachfront hotel in Santa Teresa, Costa Rica</b>. The holistic resort specializes in <b><a href="http://www.pranamarvillas.com/en/packages/surf-a-yoga-packages.html" target="_blank">yoga and surfing holidays</a>,</b> daily <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pranamaroceanfrontvillas" target="_blank">yoga classes</a>, and <a href="http://www.pranamarvillas.com/en/yoga.html" target="_blank">yoga retreats</a></b>.</p><p> </p><p><b>Article by Shannon Farley</b></p></div>