southern (23)
Everyone knows Costa Rica is a beautiful and amazing place to vacation, but do you know about the lesser-traveled southern Costa Rica and its breathtaking secrets?
Wild, breathtakingly beautiful and incredibly biodiverse, southern Costa Rica is not on most tourists’ itineraries. Least-explored and less-traveled than other parts of Costa Rica, the southern Pacific region is a wondrous, untouched paradise to discover. Best loved by adventurers and nature-lovers, this is the place to go to for rugge
Whether or not you can name the constellations or planets, it is always fascinating to look up at a clear night sky and get lost among the stars.
Anyone can enjoy stargazing. The best places to go, of course, are where the sky is wide open and very dark, with no distracting city lights. Up in the mountains, or in the desert, or out on the open ocean; it is breathtaking to stare upwards at night at millions and millions of twinkling stars and planets in a blue black sky.
Costa Rica is one of the
Downtown Eugene, Oregon is decidedly more laid back and outdoorsy than much larger and more renowned Portland to the north. The University of Oregon's extensive in-town footprint and streets packed with local non-chain shopping make it a pedestrian haven. Strolling here especially on weekends during the warmer months envelops you in the city's music scene like a sax player belting out tunes under a cavernous overpass enhancing the acoustics and gritty blues guitarists busking on street corners.
If you are lucky, you will be spending your Christmas vacation in Costa Rica on an amazing tropical beach alongside the incredible Costa Rica rainforest at Playa Nicuesa Rainforest Lodge.
To help get you in the holiday spirit, here are some of the fun activities the Nicuesa Lodge staff has planned for you.
There will be special dinners on Dec. 24 for Christmas Eve and Dec. 31 for New Year’s Eve. The gala feasts will include roast pork, grilled whole fresh fish caught by Nicuesa staff, and other
Come January 2016, schoolchildren in the southern Nicoya Peninsula of Costa Rica will hopefully breathe easy with cleaner air.
Roads in front of seven elementary schools in the region, that are now unpaved dustbowls, will be the first in Costa Rica to be made of recyclable plastic, thanks to the Pave the Road initiative.
The southern Nicoya Peninsula is one of those iconic Costa Rica tourism spots, where you can find paradise beaches, world-class surf breaks, forested coastline, and charming towns
There is a magic in peacefully gliding along in a kayak, especially when it is on calm, smooth water along picturesque coastline.
Kayaking in Costa Rica in the “sweet gulf” of Golfo Dulce by the Osa Peninsula – one of only four tropical fjords in the world – it is like paddling across a giant mirror to the sky. Close to shore, the clear water’s blues and grays turn to liquid jade, reflecting endless shades of green palm trees and jungle that crowd the water’s edge. Look down and you’ll probably s
Chocolate lovers pay attention!
Get your fill of chocolate at Costa Rica’s fourth annual Chocolate Festival in Puerto Viejo on the Southern Caribbean Coast of Costa Rica. Sample chocolate from local artisan producers and top Costa Rica chocolate makers, try pairing chocolate with single malt whiskey or red wine, and attend workshops and fun events all starring chocolate.
Better than trick-or-treating, the Puerto Viejo Chocolate Festival 2015 will be held Halloween weekend, Oct. 30 through Nov. 1,
If eco-friendly travel and staying at sustainable tourism eco-hotels is a priority when you go on vacation, you’ll want to pay attention to Playa Nicuesa Rainforest Lodge in Costa Rica.
The Costa Rica eco-hotel was awarded the highest level rating of the Certification for Sustainable Tourism (CST) program last month for the second consecutive year. Playa Nicuesa Lodge is one of only 41 hotels in Costa Rica that have received the highest rating of 5 Leaves in the CST Program by the Costa Rican Tou
Travelers can be environmentally conscious when going on vacation, and it doesn’t take much effort or time. Little things add up, and if everyone followed these sustainable travel tips, communities and the planet would benefit in amazing ways.
10 Easy & Simple Sustainable Travel Tips
- Re-use your hotel towels and sheets; don’t ask for new ones every day (you don’t at home!).
- Turn off the lights and air conditioner when leaving your hotel room.
- Don’t leave the sink tap or shower running water unnece
Vacation … we dream about it when we’re working. Time to relax, to unwind, to stop the “fast-paced rat race” and just enjoy.
But how many of us find ourselves finally on vacation and not really relaxing out of our frenetic pace until mid-way through or nearly the end of our holiday?
There is no better quick entry into that unstressed relaxation mode on vacation than getting a massage or spa treatment. It really is amazing how 60 or 90 minutes of making your muscles and body relax can instantly pro
One moment you’re walking along a rainforest trail enjoying the incredible sounds and sights, when suddenly you spot monkeys hopping from tree to tree. You definitely want to get pictures of that, so you go off the trail following the monkeys. Before long, you’ve been so busy looking up and chasing the monkeys that now you have no idea where you are, and more importantly, where the trail is.
You are lost in the jungle.
It can happen as easy as that. It’s happened to me. Would you know how to survi
No one really knows how Nicuesa Beach in Costa Rica got its unusual name.
One thing is for certain, the picturesque little cove in the Pacific gulf of Golfo Dulce in southern Costa Rica takes its name auspiciously from the Spanish conquistador and explorer, Diego de Nicuesa (1464 – 1511). His name further lives on in Playa Nicuesa Rainforest Lodge, a beautiful ecotourism and nature lodge located on Nicuesa beach.
But who was Diego de Nicuesa, and how did a little Costa Rican beach receive his name
What’s better than being in the rainforest?
Being in the rainforest with expert scientists who can tell you fascinating stories about the animals and plants that live there.
Playa Nicuesa Rainforest Lodge in Costa Rica has invited celebrated U.S. scientists Howard Topoff, Ph.D. and Carol Simon, Ph.D. – both professors’ emeriti of The City University of New York and former Research Associates at the American Museum of Natural History – to be special guest lecturers at the award-winning Costa Rica e
Planning to come to the Costa Rica Caribbean Coast on vacation? While the drive from San Jose to Puerto Viejo is pretty, there is a much easier way to get to Costa Rica’s Caribbean Coast. Fly!
It takes about four hours to drive the 217 kilometers to Puerto Viejo from San Jose. The stretch on Route 32 through the Braulio Carrillo National Park is certainly very beautiful, but can also be treacherous when raining, foggy, or after dark – a good portion of the time.
Save yourself the headache and stre
The start of Caribbean Summer in Costa Rica is the time for special deals. The climate on the Caribbean Coast varies from the rest of Costa Rica. Most of the year, the Caribbean Coast maintains its forever green landscape from regular tropical rain showers. Then, when the rest of Costa Rica enters peak rainy season in September and October, the sun comes out over the Caribbean.
Costa Rica's southern Caribbean Coast has everything you're looking for in a beach vacation – adventure, romance, decad
When naturalist guides Erick Camacho and Jose Garro found the dead toucan below a tree near their staff housing at the Costa Rica eco-lodge where they work, it was an interesting discovery but just another day in the jungle.
However, the deceased toucan – or more importantly, its beak – has given a big boost of hope to saving “Grecia” the injured toucan in Costa Rica that had its beak mutilated by teenagers late last year and has become an international sensation as engineers and veterinarians tr
Costa Rica's Southern Caribbean Coast has everything could want for a destination wedding and honeymoon.
Imagine your dream wedding exchanging vows with your beloved in a stunning beachside ceremony overlooking the turquoise Caribbean Sea, or under the canopy of a tropical garden with the ocean close by. Picture a romantic honeymoon walking on pristine beaches at sunset, torch-lit tropical gardens and balmy evenings, days full of adventure, personalized service, and Caribbean culture and warmth.
Costa Rica is a small country with a big success story in reforestation.
The Central American nation was nearly devastated by deforestation by the early 1980s. Now more than 30 years later, over 52 percent of Costa Rica’s land is covered with forest between national parks, private reserves and wildlife refuges.
Costa Rica’s progressive reforestation and environmental protection earned the country the accolade of being named the third best Green Country in the World in the 2014 Global Green Econom
Out on the calm, clear, jade green-blue water of the Golfo Dulce (“Sweet Gulf”) in southern Costa Rica, it is easy to think this must be one of the most pristine, beautiful places on Earth. And it is. This inner sea is a critical habitat for endangered migrating southern Pacific humpback whales, dolphins and sharks, among other marine life.
Then our boat passes a small patch of floating plastic bottles, chips bags and other random flotsam. Trash. Human trash. And we are reminded that if anything
