|

Lapa Rios Signs 900-Acre Conservation Easement

At the southernmost coast of that ecotourism hub, Costa Rica, a 1040-acre rainforest called the Lapa Rios preserve perches over the Pacific Ocean, offering the best of both worlds. You can spend the morning hiking along the Carbonera River to a pristine waterfall, accompanied by four types of monkeys, macaws, and those rainbow-colored toucans. In the afternoon, sea kayak in the ocean around Matapalo Point or surf the Golfo Dulce. The 16 open-air bungalows and main lodge of the Lapa Rios Ecolodge are no tent-in-the-woods accommodation. Hardwood floors, bamboo walls, and a vaulted thatched roof ceiling provide plenty of space and privacy. Other luxuries include soft mosquito netting over the queen-sized bed and a secluded garden shower.  
 
Former Peace Corp volunteers Karen and John Lewis built the retreat in 1990 as a way to save hundreds of acres of rainforest from farming. The owners have just signed a conservation easement that protects over 900 acres of land surrounding Lapa Rios in perpetuity. It prohibits all extractive activities, such as mining, forestry and hunting, as well as further building expansion, even putting a cap on trail construction. At the same time the easement encourages both scientific and educational activities on the reserve. All those monkeys and birds that wake you up in the morning are a tribute to their brilliant success. 
 

Similar Posts

|

Adventure Cruises, No Longer an Oxymoron

I’m in the midst of writing a story for The Boston Globe on how cruise lines are adding more and more active shore excursions for their clientele. For years, cruise lines were the antithesis of an active lifestyle, catering to a sedentary clientele who were far more fixated on the buffet tables. That’s changed dramatically in the past 3 to 5 years. Cruise brokers like Todd Smith, owner of AdventureSmithExplorations, feature small cruise lines whose specialty is getting people off the ship for a dose of adventure. Next spring, they’re unveiling two ships in Alaska, the M/V Wilderness Adventurer and M/V Wilderness Discoverer, that will feature overnight hiking and sea kayaking jaunts, white water rafting, and fishing charters that pick you up right from the boat. Each ship only carries 49 passengers, which helps them cater to your every whim.

 

|

Backroads Family Breakaway to Switzerland, First Stop Kandersteg

Having just returned from Switzerland last night, I have to admit that the Backroads trip my family was just on was as close to perfection as it gets in the world of travel. It wasn’t merely the stunning Alps scenery around every bend or the two exceptional group leaders, Agata and Gosia, who led the 6-day jaunt seamlessly with a confident dose of professionalism and buoyant personalities. The families on this trip were wonderful, all yearning for a dose of adventure to celebrate a momentous occasion like a son or daughter soon leaving for their first year of college. After a week of hiking, biking, and kayaking together, swapping anecdotes about our lives, I consider them all friends. But the real reason I think this trip excelled was the itinerary. I’ve been on two other Backroads trips, biking around the Big Island and a multisport trip to Costa Rica, and spent far too much time in shuttles or transfers to the next destination. Switzerland, especially the Swiss Alps, is blessed with an intricate network of trains, gondolas, and ferries that can connect with endless opportunities for high adventure right outside your hotel doorstep. You never have to travel far.

Our first gondola ride took us from the small mountain resort town of Kandersteg up 5,500 feet to Oeschinensee, a glacially carved lake filled with cobalt blue waters. We hiked along the shoreline, passing under countless waterfalls, as we rose some 1,000 feet to a mountain hut. We peered up in awe at 12,000-feet Blümlisalp and its fresh coating of sparkling white snow atop its jagged-edged peak. A worthy introduction to these majestic mountains and their lofty altitudes. I would spend the rest of the week looking up at the staggering beauty every chance I had. 
 
|

Tiny House Resort Debuts in the Catskills

Bob Malkin, owner of the SoHo retail store, Think Big! is now thinking small. He has just created a resort in South Cairo, New York, that features 7 Tiny Houses, created by ESCAPE Home Design. Inspired by the Prairie-style cottages found at Canoe Bay in northwestern Wisconsin, each ESCAPE Home offers a panorama of windows, queen size bed, full-size appliances and luxury bathrooms, as well as a private patio complete with outdoor dining table and seating, Weber grill and fire pit. Think Big! Tiny House Resort is situated on 28 acres with over half a mile of water frontage and perched on a cliff overlooking the Catskill Creek, a year-round wonder of waterfalls and pristine swimming holes. Saturday morning yoga and kayaking are offered as well as the services of a personal raw food chef who can prepare meals for guests using produce from the resort garden. 

 
|

A Perfect Night in Portland, Maine in the Heart of Winter

To celebrate my wife’s birthday, we just spent a blissful night at Portland, Maine’s Pomegranate Inn and a sublime dinner at Fore Street. While the weather outside was frightful, we were cozy inside the Pomegranate Inn, warm near the fireplace. Few innkeepers can juggle modern art with 200-year-old antiques as skillfully as the Pomegranate Inn’s original owner, Isabel Smiles. Her eclectic tastes runs the gamut from faux marble columns and colorful mosaics in the living room to brightly painted walls created by local artists in the bedrooms. In fact, works of art cover the entire staircase and walls of the house, and remarkably, they all seem to fit together. It was hard to leave our room and face the blustery cold, but we didn’t want to miss Fore Street, the James Beard-award winning restaurant housed in a former wartime storage area. In the open-air kitchen, chefs busily sauté dishes on three long tables. Wood grilling local meats and seafood is Fore Street’s forte. We start with roasted Blue Hill bay mussels with chunks of pistachios. For our entrées, we shared Maine scallops, just off the boat, and tender arctic char. Happy birthday, Lis! 

 
 
|

Greece Week with Heritage Tours: A Stop in Spetses

The ferry ride from Piraeus to Spetses island is a little under 3 hours or you can take the long drive we did through the Peloponnese peninsula to reach the town of Kosta, then take a 10-minute boat ride over to the island. Either way, it’s worth your effort. On Spetses, time stands still, especially when we ran into a large group of bikers circling the island in Victorian garb for the annual Tweed Day celebration. A 26-kilometer loop circles the island past beaches and the rugged shoreline, ideal for bikers since Spetses is a car-free island. Soon we were back at the main square in town, dominated by the classic façade of the Poseidonion Grand Hotel. Kids were running while parents were buying fresh baked bread for a picnic. We dined on Greek salad, octopus, fish, and lamb, as the owner of the hotel explained why this low-key island is a favorite for folks looking for an authentic Greek experience that cherishes community and family. I would have happily spent the next 3 days here, but we were on a day tour of the Peloponnese and were off to the charming town of Nafplion next. 

 
|

Nova Scotia Week, Visiting Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Park

One of my favorite reads this past summer, Destiny of the Republic by Candace Millard, detailed the assassination of President James Garfield. As with Millard’s first book, River of Doubt, a spellbinding account of Theodore Roosevelt’s deadly descent down a river in the Amazon, the finest characters in the books are not the presidents. Garfield has a buffoon of a doctor who does everything wrong according to modern day standards, like plunging his none-too-sterile hands into Garfield’s wound. Most striking however, was the work of Alexander Graham Bell in trying to save the president’s life. Already famous for his invention of the telephone, Graham Bell worked feverishly night and day to invent a device that could magnetically detect where the bullet was lodged in Garfield’s body. Millard’s conclusion was that the device did indeed work in the end, but Graham Bell was looking at the wrong side of Garfield’s body, thanks once again to that buffoon doctor. 

 
So when I heard that the small town of Baddeck on the shores of Bras d’Or Lakes in Cape Breton was home to the Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Park, I was there when the doors opened in the morning. Graham Bell and his wife Mabel, a former student of his at Boston School for the Deaf, first built their summer home in Baddeck in 1886, a decade after he stated those first fateful words on the telephone to his assistant, “Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you.” I really wasn’t expecting much, since this was Graham Bell’s summer home, the one that reminded him of his Scottish youth. Wrong! In 1955, Graham Bell’s two daughters donated thousands of original artifacts to the museum, including all of the models that consumed him during his lifetime. There’s a metal box he created to distill salt water into drinkable water, a bicycle that he hoped one could pedal on water, the first air conditioning blowers. He created only to satiate his curiosity, which only ceased when he died. And his experimentation was successful countless times. His invention of the gramophone improved Edison’s phonograph, the metal detector he used on Garfield was the precursor to X-rays. A hydrofoil he helped build later in life, called HD-4, reached a speed of 70 miles per hour on water, a record that wouldn’t be broken for another decade. 
 
Also on display is a portrait his wife made of Graham Bell when they were first dating. At least that’s what she told him. It’s actually a painting of an owl. She painted the bird not because it symbolized wisdom, but because Graham Bell stayed up all night obsessed with finding answers. Throw in his work with the deaf, especially giving voice to Helen Keller, and you realize why his compassion and intellect are still an inspiration. 
 
This has been a terrific week for me in Nova Scotia! I hope to return with the family some time soon. It’s an auspicious start to a big month of travel that will send me on a bike trip to Zion National Park next Sunday . I’ll try to keep you posted as much as possible, but please be patient. In the meantime, stay active!
 

Leave a Reply