The Rainforest Blog
Dinning
May 8th, 2013
What is it like to work at Nicuesa?
April 18th, 2013
Being a yoga instructor and a massage therapist at Playa Nicuesa
is one in a life time experience… One of our Costarican yoga instructors, Nati Soto, shared with
us her side of the story…
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| Snorkeling |
Living and working at Nicuesa Lodge changed
my perspective on life. My expectations for this opportunity were really high,
and no doubt I had the time of my life. The knowledge and the fun that I experienced there is owed to the awesome people I was so lucky to spend the time with; guests,
co-workers, and the coolest managers you could ask for.
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| Melo, boat captain |
It
has been seven weeks since a captain with a beautiful smile, Melo, picked me
up for a wonderful 30 minute boat ride from Puerto Jimenez to Playa Nicuesa. A ride that I was able to take many other
times, and to Golfito and around the gulf as well; sometimes to pick up new guests,
to help with errands, to represent the lodge on recycling campaigns,
or just for the fun and pleasure of being there. Those boat rides made me realize all the amazing secrets that this water holds, and the different
sensations that you get just by staring at it.
Looking calm and still like if the surface of
the water was a mirror, it can suddenly be disturbed by a jump of a dolphin -or
many dolphins-, the bright yellow skin of a sea snake only seen in the Golfo Dulce, or
by a turtle trying to swim unnoticed beside your boat.
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| Sea Snake (Pelamis platurus) |
pier you get involved in the magical feeling of becoming part of the rainforest
and the mountain. The lodge and cabins are very
beautiful and cozy structures, but my favourite place of all with no doubt is
the yoga deck. It is placed in between the beach and the lagoon, so that on one side
you have a very strong energy from the waves striking on the shore, and on the
other side you have the peaceful water moving very slowly and very wisely from the lagoon, to the river and finally into the sea.
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| Sunset at Yoga Deck |
The yoga deck was my every day sanctuary,
the place where we practice yoga and massage. Every day at least twice a day I did the most
beautiful walk from the lodge to the deck on a wooden path over the lagoon,
always taking the time to see all the humming birds flying around the flowers, animals walking on the side or swimming
underneath the bridge. Nature fills up the
platform with the purest energy.
The only problems I had to deal with, while I was there, was the fact that you needed to speak a louder during the
yoga class because the macaws are being louder than you; being distracted on
meditation by an ant eater sliding down of a palm tree next to you; the
strength you needed to hold your body into an Asana (posture) while the rain got you; to
get astonished by a big cruise ship going by while practicing balancing postures; getting lost during a massage distracted by a group of dolphins doing
360 jumps in front of you; or get your breath stolen every time a lightning strike illuminating the dark platform during a evening massage. All of these moments made me feel so small in
front of that big infinity that is the
ocean, but made me feel one of the pieces that completes the puzzle.
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| Dancing with the staff |
Working here you really get to relate to the guests, we share every meal with them but you actually end up sharing more
than that, lots of good talking, music, laughs, drinks and even some dancing.
People come here from all over the world and for that reason I got the chance
to hear stories from very different situations and very diverse points of
view. I
learned a lot from everybody that I spent time with. I learned
a lot from Verónica, our Sustainability Coordinator. Sustainability is very strong in Nicuesa, and from her I learned the importance of it. I also learned from her and the
rest of the staff a lot about the flora and fauna of the Golfo Dulce and the Osa region.
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| Hiking in the trails |
refreshing experience, but LIVING at Playa Nicuesa… that’s a life time
experience. There are so many things to do in your free time: running in the trails, swimming in the calm sea, and discovering the incredible biodiversity of the area. The food
is awesome, healthy and fresh, both of the cooks are excellent!! But, the greatest of all is the people that you
live with, the regular staff of the lodge, people that showed me their hearts,
taught me to see live from an angle I never saw before, they laughed with me
all the time and got to my very soul.
snorkeling with Joe, Vero and Sandra; and ended it hiking very
early in the morning with Vero, one hour before leaving Nicuesa. But, in between I did so many amazing things in this magical place… I went running on the trails with
Amelia, started practicing acroyoga with Sandra and Kattia, fishing with the
boys, hiking to the waterfall with Cuy, tracking puma with Felipe,
dancing lessons with the staff -different types of dancing: cumbia, salsa, bachata, reggaeton, and even belly dancing!
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| Jumping from a palm tree during high tide |
I had so much fun jumping off the dock on low tide with everybody
and jumping off the fallen palm tree at high tide, took couple of cooking lessons, swam to see the bioluminiscent planckton at night, visited the Old farm house, went kayaking the river, did
the loop trail, visited the wild life refuge and botanical garden
with guests, went to cheer for my Nicuesa boys at the soccer games, watched a
movie at the neighbour’s, watched the stars laying at the dock, relaxed at the hammocks. I loved to hear the
stories from the local staff, incredible people that have been living in this jungle since they were little.
This morning Juan Pablo brought me to Puerto
Jiménez to take my flight back home. I already know that I’m going back being a
more open person, willing to become a better human being and to give my best to
the world.
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| Flying back home |
SUSTAINABILITY END OF THE YEAR REPORT 2012
March 6th, 2013
Since the moment the idea of Playa Nicuesa Rainforest Lodge was conceived, sustainability has always been one of our primary goals. This wilderness lodge was sensitively designed with the environment in mind, and constructed from naturally fallen trees, recycled materials and harnesses the natural energy from the sun to provide electricity. Since the hotel opened in 2003, our strong efforts dedicated to operate in peace with nature and the local communities have been constant. Our daily operations focus on environmental education to guests, employees and communities, as well as improving our every day practices through experimentation of new sustainable techniques. In conjunction with the community outreach projects that Playa Nicuesa promotes continuously, we know that year after year the sustainability experience in our hotel is exceptional and inspiring.
2012 Achievements
2012 has proven to be an outstanding year with regard to sustainability at Playa Nicuesa!
Certificate of Sustainability Highest Level
We are VERY proud to share our biggest achievement of this year: Playa Nicuesa has been awarded the highest level of the Certificate of Sustainable Tourism (CST) – five out of five leafs! The Costa Rica Tourism Board has recognized all of our hard work on, and dedication to sustainability. This certificate is given to businesses of the tourism sector, based on the degree to which they comply with a sustainable model of natural, cultural and social resource management. CST consists of a scale of 5 “levels” of sustainable tourism achievement and is regulated by the Costa Rican National Accreditation Commission. Up until 2011, Playa Nicuesa had been awarded 4 levels of sustainability. And, last year, after an exhaustive evaluation performed by members of the Costa Rica Tourism Board, we were honored to receive the 5th and highest level! Learn more about the Certification for Sustainable Tourism (CST) Program.
Ecological Blue Flag
Award
Another award which we are also proud to announce that we have been awarded each year since 2009 is the Ecological Blue Flag for our beach front. This National award recognizes Nicuesa’s efforts towards environmental education of our Nicuesa employee family and communities nearby, as well for maintaining our beach clean and safe for visitors.
Organic Agriculture
This past year we experimented with organic agriculture. Thanks to our improved composting system, and organic supplements, the fruit garden surrounding the solar drying room is thriving and providing Nicuesa guests organically homegrown, cassava, star fruit, sour guava, lime, sugar cane, pineapples, Brazilian guava, passion fruit and papaya! In addition to our regular compost, we now have worm-compost, also known as the ‘gourmet’ of composting. In this very unique composting system, the worms eat the organic waste and transform it into very rich and nutritious fertilizer. Learn more about our Sustainability Programs.
Donations and Social Programs
Every year Playa Nicuesa feels grateful for our guests that kindly make donations towards the conservation and social programs that Nicuesa supports. As a result of donations received and matching of funds by Nicuesa, in 2012 we contributed to several different NGO’s and community programs as such as PRETOMA, MarViva, ASCONA, Osa Conservación, Yaguara, and Ministry of Environment. Click here for more information about these NGO’s.
Thank YOU for all your past and continued support of Playa Nicuesa’s Sustainability efforts!! We wish you a very sustainable 2013!!!
Costa Rican mammals love our gardens…
March 3rd, 2013
In the gardens of Playa Nicuesa
we get a lot of visitors every day. Birds, reptiles, butterflies, spiders,
frogs and mammals are attracted to our gardens due to the great amount of
native plants with nectar and fruits they can find in here. Even though we do
not support artificial feeding, animals stop by our place looking for food and
shelter. Nicuesa’s garden is part of their natural habitat.
we get a lot of visitors every day. Birds, reptiles, butterflies, spiders,
frogs and mammals are attracted to our gardens due to the great amount of
native plants with nectar and fruits they can find in here. Even though we do
not support artificial feeding, animals stop by our place looking for food and
shelter. Nicuesa’s garden is part of their natural habitat.
When you stay at Nicuesa, you
will see a lot of animals walking around your cabin. One of the most common one
is the White Nosed Coati (Nasua narica).
You could find White Nosed Coatis (or Pizotes as we call them in Spanish) in
the ground or in a tree during the day looking for food. They forage by keeping
their nose close to the floor and sniffing around to find beetles, spiders,
scorpions, ants, termites, worms, centipedes, and even land crabs.
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| Toño: Nicuesa’s Coati |
Coati that is always hanging around in Nicuesa’s garden. He is called ‘Toño’.
We know it is a HE because usually male Coatis are solitary, while females
travel in bands with other females and their babies. More than once we have
found groups up to 25 coatis in our trails. They make this big groups as
precaution against predators. Whenever the female Coatis come across ‘Toño’, he
follows them, disappearing for a couple of days from our garden… It is not
only human nature to lose their mind for the ladies!
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| Agouti eating seeds |
probably find not too far from your cabin is the Central American Agouti (Dasyprocta punctata). Agoutis are the
biggest rodent from Costa Rica. Cherengas or Guatuzas, as known by the locals,
feed on fruits and seeds mostly, but occasionally they will try fungi, insects
and crabs. Agoutis are very cute when they eat. They feed sitting on their back
legs, holding their food on their forepaws. Once they are full, they bury their
food, which makes them an extremely important animal for regeneration of the
forest, because they often forget where they hide their food, allowing the
seeds to germinate and grow as trees.
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| Tamandua |
visit our property is the Northern Tamandua or Anteater (Tamandua mexicana). Tamanduas
are very intelligent. They are specialized to eat termites and ants. They know
how to identify different castes in the termite society, so they will not eat
soldiers of certain noxious termites, but will only eat the defenseless
workers. Tamanduas have developed an aversion to leaf-cutter ants, army ants,
and other ants that produce chemical defenses. They don’t have any teeth but their tongue is
coated with sticky saliva that catch the ants and termites.
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| Kinkajou |
Tamanduas go to bed, but the Kinkajou (Potos
flavus), also known as the honey bear, wakes up. The Kinkajou is nocturnal,
arboreal and solitary. The Kinkajou, or Martilla as Costa Ricans call them, live
in the canopy of the jungle, which makes them difficult (but not impossible) to
spot during a night walk. They have an exceptionally long and narrow tongue
that helps them to get their food: flowers, nectar, insects, and bird eggs. If
you are ever sleeping at night in your cabin at Nicuesa and you hear a series high
pitch short sounds, don’t be scared, is just a Kinkajou calling.
All of these animals and more you can find here in Playa Nicuesa. Don’t worry if you hear steps or strange noises at night or during the day outside your cabin. The fauna that lives in here is always minding their own business: looking for food, for a partner, taking care of their offspring or just enjoying life in the Golfo Dulce jungle. Thanks to our lush and biodiverse gardens, you may be lucky enough to see them all just sitting from your cabin’s balcony.
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| Cabin’s balcony |
Golfo Dulce: a unique ecosystem in the world
February 25th, 2013Everyday at Nicuesa we are grateful for being living in such a wonderful paradise. Just by being in the Osa Peninsula and Golfo Dulce, you can tell that you are in a very special place. The breathtaking scenery of the Osa Region is more than enough to feel Mother Earth’s power.
But… What is it about this place that makes it so extraordinary?
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| Sunset in the Golfo Dulce |
The Osa
region of Costa Rica is a true biological treasure. It is the healthiest
primary rainforest on the whole pacific coast in Central America, in this
entire region this is the forest which contains the tallest trees and supports
some of the biggest populations of endangered fauna. There is an exceptionally
high number of endemic species, meaning that they occur only in this place in
the world.
Within ACOSA,
or the Osa Conservation Area, there is a cluster of protected areas, 17 in
total, including the Corcovado National Park and Piedras Blancas National Park.
This patch of protected area, which represents only 3% of the country’s
territory, is home to half of Costarican plant and animal species. That is an
extremely high level of density of species, considering that Costa Rica
contains 4% of the world’s biodiversity.
Its uniqueness lies in the junction of several
factors. A very wide variety of ecosystems can be found here, due to
variability in conditions of elevation, rainfall, temperature and morphology of
territory. There is abundant rain (5-6 meters per year) and sunlight, and like
the rest of the country, it is the very bridge between North America and South
America, thus it harbors flora and fauna from both land masses.
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| Big Morray in the corals of the Gulf |
The “Golfo
Dulce” (literally, “Sweet Gulf”) is the marine equivalent of the lush, pristine
jungles in the area. Commonly called a gulf, it is actually a fjord, one of the
only four tropical fjords in the world. With a maximum depth of 700 feet, it
contains very different habitats that range from warm, shallow marine coral
formations where little fish abound, to the cold depths that only cetaceans can
explore.
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| Bottlenose Dolphins |
The order
Cetacea comprises whales, dolphins and porpoises. Surprisingly, their closest
terrestrial relatives are ungulate mammals, which include horses, cows, tapirs
and deer among others. It was a long evolutionary way to adjust a terrestrial
mammal for life in the ocean. Some of the most obvious adaptations are the
transformation of hind limbs into a flattened tail, the fusing of cervical
vertebrae that allows no neck movement whatsoever, and the shift from front
nostrils to blowholes at the upper part of the head.
marine mammals, cetaceans and manatees are the only ones that spend their whole
life in the ocean. These are truly amazing animals, it is a very remarkable
fact that terrestrial mammals evolved to go back into the ocean, from which
their ancestors had emerged many millions of years ago.
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| Humpback Whale blowing through the blowhole |
There are
two suborders within the Cetacea order, Mysticeti and Odontoceti. Mysticeti, or
baleen whales (also called toothless whales) have mouth plates instead of teeth
and have two blowholes. All members of the Odontoceti suborder (which includes
all dolphins and toothed whales) have teeth and only one blowhole.
that surround the Osa region, biologists have reported as much as 23 species of
cetaceans, including the Sperm Whale, Orcas, Bryde’s whale, and several species
of dolphins.
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| Humpback Whale |
Among the
more commonly seen cetaceans around the Golfo Dulce, are the spinner dolphins,
spotted dolphins, bottle nose dolphins. All these are resident and can be seen
year round. Humpback whales on the other hand, seasonally come to breed and
nurse the calves.
Populations from the south arrive from August through November,
and populations from the north arrive from November through June. This overlap
in breeding seasons makes the Golfo Dulce an extremely rare spot where
different populations meet, promoting genetic variety of this species.
To visit this paradise is one in a life experience, especially for those who love water, rainforest and wildlife!
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The Mango Guest House is a 2 story accommodation that has 4 private rooms. Set in a beautiful jungle garden area with mango trees on all sides and open views of the surrounding rainforest. Each room has private entrance, beautiful hardwood floors, private bathroom, private terrace, louver doors and windows that wrap around the room to afford panoramic views. Rooms have queen beds (or twin beds upon request) with mosquito netting and ceiling fans. The Mango Guest House is separate from the Main Lodge. 
The mango house is great for all types of travelers. Especially a good choice for friends or families that want to be close, but also have the privacy of your own room with private bathroom. Also great for single travelers or those who are a bit nervous about staying in the jungle, as the mango rooms are more in an open area then the private cabins that are tucked into the rainforest. 
Also great for parties of approximately 6-10 that want to rent all 4 rooms at once.
These cabins are very private and set apart from all other accommodations. Tucked into the rainforest affording you a unique feeling of being in an amazing natural setting, yet with design and comfort details that has been described as simple yet jungle chic. Each cabin has a private entrance, beautiful hardwood floors, private open air shower-bathroom, private terrace, louver doors and windows that wrap around the room to afford panoramic views. Cabins have queen beds (or twin beds upon request) with mosquito netting and ceiling fans. The garden open air shower is within the cabin's bathroom, yet allows you to look at nature all around. Look out for the peeping monkeys! 
The new Cabin Suite is also very private and set apart from all other accommodations. Tucked into the rainforest affording you a unique feeling of being in an amazing natural setting, yet with design and comfort details that have been described as simple, yet jungle-chic. 
The cabin has a private entrance, beautiful hardwood floors, private open air shower-bathroom, private terrace,mosquito netting over the beds, ceiling fans, louver doors and windows that wrap around the room to afford panoramic views of the surrounding jungle. The Cabin Suite is similar in size to the two bedroom cabin, but set in a large loft like room with a removable 
partition wall to add flexible space for families and groups. With the partition in place it creates two large bedrooms that can accommodate 4 to 5 guests in a variety of bedding options. The Cabin Suite is also great for couples seeking more space, as well as the luxury of a comfortable sitting area, set up with a couch and chairs. 
This is a private cabin much like the single cabins but larger with two bedrooms and a common den that can also be converted for another bedroom. This is a great choice for families, especially with younger children. The cabin is set at the edge of the jungle but only a few steps from the main lodge building. Each cabin has a private entrance, beautiful hardwood floors, private open air shower-bathroom, private terrace, mosquito netting over the beds, ceiling fans, louver doors and windows that wrap around the room to afford panoramic views of the jungle. 
The cabin has one large bathroom complete with our signature garden open air shower that is designed to allow you to look at nature all around. The cabin can accommodate up to 5 people. 
However, we recommend that families with older children or groups of adults that want to be near each other also consider two rooms in the mango guest house. Two rooms in mango guest house will give you more privacy amongst your group and an additional bathroom.
