Green Postcards

Solar-powered in Saba: Ecolodge Rendez-Vous, Part 2

For more details on the eco-efforts of Ecolodge Rendez-Vous and the small Caribbean island of Saba, see yesterday’s post.

Ecolodge Rendez-Vous
Windwardside, Saba, Netherlands Antilles
Phone: (from the US) 1-305-720-2578
E-mail: info@ecolodge-saba.com

Ecolodge Rendez-Vous has 12 cottages, all with their own private bathrooms, porches, and hammocks. Each has been individually decorated by Heleen Cornet, who owns the resort with her husband, son, and daughter-in-law. The high season runs from December 16 through April 15. Low season begins April 16 and goes through December 15. Prices listed below are for double occupancy. Extra guests are $10 each per night. (Many cabins accommodate up to four adults.) Heleen’s son, Bernt, is the chef at the eco-resorts’ Rainforest Restaurant. Entrees are around $13 to $15 and starters are $6 to$8. 

Regular Cottages: (Anolis, Dolphin, Herb Garden, Heliconia,  Tropic Bird, and Tree Fern) $85 per night for two, high season; $65 per night for two, low season.

Kitchenette Cottages: (Blue Tang, Tree Frog, and The Turtle) $95 per night for two, high season; $75 per night for two, low season.

Hot Tub Cottages:  (Bird of Paradise and Humming Bird)  $89 per night for two, high season; $69 per night for two, low season.

Mt. Scenery Cottage:  Includes both a kitchenette and a private hot tub. $99 per night for two, high season; $79 per night for two, low season.

Volunteer Vacation: If you are a student looking for an eco-tourism internship or a Dutch citizen, you can apply to be a volunteer at Ecolodge Rendez-Vous. (Saba will only grant work permits to Dutch citizens or students for this type of program.)  You can stay from six weeks to three months and receive free room and board in return for 6 days of work per week. 

As you’re planning your Saba vacation, Heleen suggests listening to Tony O’Connor’s Rainforest Magic or reading J.R.R Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy. (The cloud forest on top of Mount Scenery, misty and very green, is called the “Elfin Forest” by locals.)

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Chal Tun Ha Lodge offers buget cabins on the shores of Lake Peten Itza, Part 2

For more details on Chal Tun Ha Lodge and its lakeside activities, see yesterday’s post.

Chal Tun Ha Lodge
Lake Petén Itzå, Petén, Guatemala
Phone: 00 (502) 7867-5499
     00-502-4195-2377 or
     00 (502) 5429-5789
Contact Form

Chal Tun Ha Lodge is a true budget option for exploring the Lake Petén Itzå area. It has six cabins, some with private baths, some shared (hot water, regardless). The lodge has a pool and hammocks for enjoying the rainforest surroundings. Chal Tun Ha’s managers can help you make arrangements for visiting the local Mayan ruins and other attractions. They also offer transportation to the lodge: just meet the managers at Uka – the internet café they own in neighboring Flores (ask for directions when you make your reservations).

Low season is April 1 through September 30. High season is October 1 through March 30.

Single room, shared bathroom: $8, low season. $12, high season.
Single room, private bathroom: $10, low. $15, high.

Double room, shared bathroom: $18, low. $25, high.
Double room, private bathroom: $20, low. $30, high.

Triple room, shared bathroom: $25, low. $25, high.
Triple room, private bathroom: $30, low. $40, high.

Chal Tun Hal Lodge owners Neil Simmons and Beatriz de Simmons say the music of Costa Rican artist Manuel Obregon reminds them of Chal Tun Ha Lodge, especially “Belizean Medley” from Manuel Obregon y la Orquesta de la Papaya. Load it into your ipod before you go!

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Chal Tun Ha Lodge offers buget cabins on the shores of Lake Peten Itza, Part 1

If you want to explore Guatemala on the cheap, this Green Postcards feature is for you! Chal Tun Ha Lodge sits on the shores of Lake Petén Itzå and has six cabins that rent for $15 per person per night or less. Visitors can use the cabins as a base when visiting the impressive Mayan ruins at Tikal, bird watching at Tikal National Park, or hiking to the popular La Playita for some lakeside beach time.

Owners Neil Simmons and Beatriz de Simmons are working toward getting the lodge eco-certified and have made some great progress so far. They use efficient appliances and light bulbs. The cabins are built from eco-friendly wood with thatched roofs, and they serve organic and local food. The lodge has been working to educate others about how to preserve and clean Lake Petén Itzå. Their biggest current challenge is working with the community to improve garbage disposal. Currently, the lodge helps transport garbage away from the lake for free. In the future, the Simmons say they want to” implement and manage conservation procedures for Lake Petén Itzå” and keep on working toward eco-certification!

Come back tomorrow for details on Chal Tun Ha Lodge’s low, low rates!

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Affordable eco-luxury in Ecuador's cloud forest, Part 2

See yesterday’s post for more on  Casa Divina owners Efrain Toapanta and Molly Brown and their long history of community and environmental work in Mindo, Ecuador.

Casa Divina
Address: Casa Divina – Guest House – Cloud Forest Retreat
1.2km Vía a la Cascada Nambillo
Mindo, Ecuador
Telephone: 011-593-2-3900-457
Cell: 011-593-91725874
         011-593-9462112
E-mail: info@mindocasadivina.com

Each room in Casa Divina’s three two-story cabins can sleep one to four people and has its own private bathroom (with tub and hot water) and porch (with hammock). Rates include breakfast and dinner, plus coffee, tea, and water all day long.

Casa Divina Room: $75 for one; $130 for two; $175 for three; $200 for four.

One of Molly’s favorite way to spend time at Casa Divina is to go on walks with their two little girls . She also likes to get her feet off the ground: “My husband has just opened a new business: canopy and ropes course tours. So we spend a lot of time up there in the trees, flying through the canopy, enjoying the outdoors.”  And of course you shouldn’t miss out on a bird-watching session with Efrain, who is quite the ornithology expert. She especially recommends observing a cock-of-the-rock lek, or courting ritual.

Before you go to Ecuador, you might want to Download Lonely Planet South America Chapters on Ecuador. And Molly says if you mix up Madeleine Peyroux, Ozomatli, and the Puppini Sisters, you might just get something that sounds kind of like Casa Divina. Load up your ipod for your journey to Ecuador!

  Madeleine      Ozomatli      Puppini Sisters

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Affordable eco-luxury in Ecuador's cloud forest, Part 1

If you make it down/over/up (depending on where you are) to Ecuador’s Casa Divina (and I think you will after reading this), and you’re blown away by the  wildness of the cloud forest there – the birds! the orchids! the butterflies! – then make sure you give your hosts, Efrain Toapanta and Molly Brown a big hug before you go. They’ve played a large part in preserving the land around their three-year-old eco-resort.

The Ecuadorian/American couple met while Molly was a college kid on a study trip to Mindo. Efrain grew up there and helped Amigos de la Naturaleza and his country’s government officially protect 51,840 acres of the area’s virgin cloud forest in the late ‘80s. In the ‘90s, Efrain founded Pacaso & Pacaso to help the Mindo community find new and sustainable ways of supporting itself, now that the land they lived off of was protected. Since then, Mindo has become famous for its wildlife, especially for its wealth of birds, and as a growing eco-tourism hub.

Casa Divina is an extension of the community and environmental work Efrain and Molly have been doing for years. “We support community tourism,” Molly explains. “We work with local families to conserve their farms and develop natural, non-invasive tourist attractions like hiking trails, canopy [tours], bike riding, horseback riding, [and] training local bird and naturalist guides.” From the local fruit they feed their visitors to the local history and cultural guides they encourage their guests to learn from, Efrain and Molly’s resort is intertwined with the Mindo community.  In fact, Molly says the achievement she is most proud of was being a part of the Mindo movement to stop the international oil company OCP from building a pipeline through Ecuador’s cloud forest in 2001.

“We live in an area where tourism is just recently developing,” Molly says. “We are working with the local government and the community to make sure that the boom that we are experiencing goes the right direction: really preserving the area as opposed to selling the natural state of the cloud forest in an unlimited way until is useless. … I am proud to say that I am part of a community that is trying as best it can to secure the future preservation of the area and is committed to educating people that come through, not just taking their money.”

For their resort, Molly and Efrain have built three two-story wood cabins, using carefully harvested local timber, and outfitted them with bamboo furniture.. They save energy with compact fluorescent bulbs and energy efficient appliances. They also keep their carbon footprint low by walking or taking public transportation (they don’t even own a car). To protect the land’s water sources, grey water is filtered through gravel, sand, and bamboo. Detergents and soaps are biodegradable and their cleaning supplies are eucalyptus. For the resort’s meals (breakfast and dinner are included in room rates), they raise their own chickens (and, consequently, eggs) and serve a wide variety of organic produce (yucca, bananas, plantains, arasa, sugar cane, naranjilla) grown on their land. In the future, Molly wants to set up a hydraulic energy system and expand organic farming at the lodge.

Come back tomorrow for rates and Molly’s suggestions for what Casa Divina guests absolutely shouldn’t miss!

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Corcovado Adventures Tent Camps offers low-maintenance luxury on the beach, Part 1

If your kind of luxury is secluded ocean views and horse rides on the beach … if you award stars to destinations based on the number of species found on the grounds … if you love “all-inclusive” but hate swim-up bars … Corcovado Adventures Tent Camp, on the Osa Peninsula of Costa Rica, is your next green vacation. Southwest of Drake Bay,  the ten-year-old tent camp delivers pared-down luxury  (beach-front lodging, included meals, activities galore) without all the distractions (cruise ships, souvenir shops, bad-mannered tourists).

Of course, it’s easy to lose the distractions when the only way to get to the camps’s Las Caletas beach is by sea or foot. Hoof it or hire a boat – either way you’ll be trading modern hassles for a stretch of golden sand. Corcovado is road-less, car-less, and aims for stress-less.  Summer Dawn Carney, the camp’s reservation manager, says her favorite ways to spend time here are swimming, hiking, kayaking, and birding. The camp offers plenty of free equipment (kayaks, canoes, surfboards, snorkeling gear, etc.) to explore the surrounding water and rainforest. They also offer a wide variety of tours, from diving at Isla del Cano ($125/person for guide, boat, lunch, and gear) to a day of wildlife hiking in the nearby Corcovado National Park ($85/person for transportation, guide, lunch, and park fees).

Accommodations at the tent camp are simple. Large tents have wood-frame beds and decks and are covered by big tarps to keep out the heat and rain. Bathrooms are shared, with a separate shower area. (Be prepared; there's no hot water). The camp uses solar and hydro power as well as well as a diesel generator for limited electricity at night. Only one room of the resort uses electricity, so the camp’s carbon footprint is super-low.  To protect the insane amount of biological diversity surrounding the resort (150 mammal species, 400 different kinds of birds, a heck of a lot of fish), all cleaning supplies are non-toxic. The camp uses local fish and organic produce (as available) to create Costa Rican and international dishes. The resort’s tours are all run by native Costa Ricans, which keeps tourism dollars in the community and helps educate visitors on local culture and history. That guest education is a main goal for the camp, reports Summer, along with continued rainforest conservation.   

Come back tomorrow for Corcovado Adventures Tent Camp rates and Summer’s suggestions for trip preparations.

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Traditional thatched-roof cabanas keep it cool in Belize, Part 2

See yesterday’s post on the Lodge at Big Falls’s self-cooling cabanas and real-life lazy river.

The Lodge at Big Falls
Address: The Lodge at Big Falls, P.O. Box 103, Punta Gorda, Toledo District, Belize
Phone: +(501) 671-7172
E-mail: info@thelodgeatbigfalls.com
Skype: "lodgeatbigfalls"

These rates are good through October, 2008. High season is November through April. Green season is May through October.

Prices are listed $High/$Green. Kids under 12 stay for free with their parents; 12- to 18-year-olds are $25 per night with their parents. At the restaurant, the breakfast buffet is $12, a packed lunch is $10, and dinner is $27. Children under five eat for free; kids six through 11 eat for half price.

Suggestion for all you chocolate lovers out there: Score green-season prices while taking in the Toledo Cacao Festival, May 23-25, 2008.

Cabanas: Thatched-cottage style. All cabanas have a queen bed, plus a single or family-friendly bunks. Each cabana has a bathroom with showers and its own screened garden outside. $125/$95 for one; $155/$125 for two; $180/$140 for three. (If you travel in a trio, that’s $60/$47 per person!)

Splurge Option: If you want to go all out, try one of the lodge’s packages. These three- to seven-night themed packages (Mayan culture, Toledo adventures, bird-watching, etc.) average more than $225 per person, per night, but include accommodation, all meals, guided tours, equipment rentals (kayaks, tubes, mountain bikes), airport transfers, and taxes.

Lodge owner/manager Rob Hirons recommends you pick up Insight Guide Belize and Birds of Belize by H. Lee Jones to get ready for your trip. Also make sure to load Wátina by Andy Palacio into your ipod.   Palacio was a beloved Belizean music maker, who sadly passed away this January 19. The lodge features albums from Stonetree Records, a label that promotes Belizean artists such as Palacio, in their gift shop. Try it here first, then discover like artists when you get to Big Falls!

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Traditional thatched-roof cabanas keep it cool in Belize, Part 1

Get a head start on the eco-luxe crowd that will descend on Belize when Leonardo DeCaprio finally builds his rumored Four Seasons green luxury hotel.  There’s no need to wait for Hollywood. Here’s one green destination that will put you in the heart of Belize, no red-carpet salary needed. The Lodge at Big Falls hosts six traditionally built cabanas twenty-five minutes inland of the coastal city Punta Gorda, in the Toledo region of Belize.  The Rio Grande River runs through the property for a mile, providing lots of opportunity for  kayaking and bird watching – the favorite Big Falls activities of Marta and Rob Hirons, who own and manage the lodge. Rob also suggests tubing, which gives guests a second vantage point to spy the other wildlife the river hosts: iguanas, deer, otters, and turtles. (Note: tubers need not be afraid of rapids or waterfalls; despite the name, there are no “big falls” at Big Falls. It’s simply what the village is called.)

The lodge has an extensive offering of tours (a la carte and packaged) to introduce you to the real Belize. Experience true Mayan culture with a visit to a Mayan home, a Mayan harpist and instrument-maker, a nursery that grows traditional medicinal plants, or an organic cocoa farm. The lodge’s guides can take you on nature walks both near (bird and butterfly watching on the lodge’s grounds) and kinda near (offshore cayes, the Port Honduras Marine Reserve, and the protected wetlands of the Aguacaliente Wildlife Sanctuary).

After all that cultural immersion, you’ll be hungry. The lodge’s restaurant menu pivots around local, organic produce like cho cho,  kalaloo, yam, pumpkin, and cilantro. Kitchen clean-up is as eco as the food – they only use biodegradable cleaners for the entire facility.

The lodge’s cabanas have traditional, vaulted, thatched roofs and are designed to stay cool without air conditioning. The Lodge uses both low voltage and solar powered path markers for outdoor use. Rob says he is proud of the lodge’s low energy load, credited to thoughtful design and construction of the cabanas. He wants to keep dropping their energy use by educating their guests and staff about conservation. Ultimately, he’d like to go off the grid by generating the lodge’s power through solar or hydro systems.

The lodge’s green influence extends to their neighboring community. They are supporters of the Aguacaliente Wildlife Sanctuary’s management team and have helped them open up the sanctuary to sustainable tourism efforts. They also serve on the advisory board of the Ya’axche Conservation Trust, which oversees the Golden Stream Corridor Preserve. They’ve developed a unique scholarship program with YTC to help the poorest families send their children to high school: Lodge guests who want to invest in the community can sponsor a child’s education for a year (for around $500). In addition to the relationships such a gift helps develop -- and the big buzz that comes from doing some real good -- sponsors get discounts on return visits to the Lodge.

Come back tomorrow for rates, contact information, and a special music recommendation from Rob!

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Glasshouse Mountains Eco-Lodge re-invents old church, railcar, Part 2

See yesterday’s post to read about how Glasshouse Mountains Eco-Lodge created a green oasis from an old church and railway carriage.

Glasshouse Mountains Eco-Lodge
Address: 198 Barrs Road, Glass House Mountains, Queensland, Australia 4518
Phone: 61 7 5493 0008
E-mail: info@glasshouseecolodge.com

Manager Paul Vicary reports that they received really great rainfall in the past few months, so the gounds are super green right now -- plan your trip soon! The lodge can pick you up for free from the Glass House Mountains train station or the Australia Zoo bus stop. Just make sure to ask.

Double Room: Private bathroom. $85 for two.

Triple Room: Private bathroom with shower. One queen and one single bed. $95 for three.

Family Suite: Private bathroom with tub and shower. One bedroom (queen) and a loft with two single beds. $140 for four.

Family Forest Room: Private bathroom with shower. One queen and two single bunks. $105 for four.

Bunk Room: Budget option! One double and one single bunks. Shared bathroom nearby. $25 per person.

Paul suggests you pick up Eckhart Tolle’s The Power of Now to get you in a present state of mind to enjoy the eco-lodge. You could also check out Lonely Planet’s Australia guide or pick up ultra-runner Pam Reed’s The Extra Mile for inspiration if you’re planning on entering one of the Glasshouse Mountains trail runs.

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Sarinbuana Eco-Lodge Gives Guests Their Own "Eat, Pray, Love" Experience, Part 2

See yesterday's post for the green-skinny on Sarinbuana Eco-Lodge's extensive environmental and community work!

Address: Mountain Retreat, Mount Batukaru
Tabanan, Bali, Indonesia
Telephone: +62 817 471 5916
E-mail: ecolodgebali@yahoo.com
E-mail is the best way to contact the lodge.

Jungle House (for up to 5 people): Includes breakfast, drinking water, and natural soaps. Three bedrooms (one double, three single beds, all with mosquito nets), one bathroom (with hot shower), dining verandah, small fridge, wireless internet. Prices depend on season. $90 - $101 for one or two people; $101 - $106 for three to four; $117 - $125 for five.

Orchid House (for two): Includes breakfast, drinking water, and natural soaps. One bathroom (queen with mosquito net), outside garden bathroom with hot shower, verandah, garden exercise area, lounge and dining room, wireless internet. Prices depend on season. $83-$94 for one; $88-$105 for two.

Rumah Manis (Sweet House, for two): Includes breakfast, drinking water, and natural soaps. One bedroom (queen with mosquito net), outside garden bathroom with hot shower, sun verandah, and lounge room. Prices depend on season. $83-$94 for one; $88-$105 for two; extra bed, $19.

All bungalows have either mountain or costal views.

Village Homestay: For those of you on a tight budget or simply wanting to have an ultra-authentic Bali experience, stay in this two-room (both with single beds) homestay above a village warung (supply shop). The  mountain views and local buzz will make up for lack of hot water. $7.50 per night -- includes breakfast!!

Volunteer Opportunity: If you've got mad teaching skills, an interest in Bali, and three months to spare, the lodge is looking for a volunteer tutor for the lodge owners' two children and local Balinese youngsters. February-April and April -June positions available. In return for your tutoring genius, you'll get free room and board and an up-close-and-personal exposure to eco-tourism. Go here for more details. 

To get ready for your Bali trip, Linda suggests picking up the aforementioned Eat, Pray, Love; Collapse by Jared Diamond; and The Natural Guide to Bali by Anne Gouyon. And don’t forget to load up your ipod with the sounds of Bali before you go!
 

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