Costa Rica is the birth place of Eco Tourism. It has long spread across the globe but Costa Rica still manages to be the associated face when it comes to people wanting to connect with nature on their vacations.

The Eco Preservation Society’s ideology about Eco Tourism is that we are a global community that shares natural resources, so it is in our best interests to preserve and respect our habitats. If this can be achieved through mankind’s persistent interest in wildlife and nature, not only will nature remain but it will remain for our enjoyment as well.

Another mission that the Eco Preservation Society tries to accomplish is to spread environmental education via Eco Tourism and encourages family vacations. I recently had the pleasure of Eco Vacationing with my parents on their visit to Costa Rica.

My mother and father had never been to Costa Rica before but the combination of hearing about its beauty over the years and their son moving there right out of college was enough of a reason for them to come for their first visit.

I live in a small mountain town called Santa Barbara de Heredia. It is overgrown with coffee and banana plantations. Here, life is simple. We have a central park, grocery stores, pharmacies, bakeries, restaurants, bars, churches and every other little store that suits your everyday needs. The best part about living here is that everything is walking distance from my apartment.  

When my parents arrived it was only for a brief time of five days. I knew that I wanted them to experience my daily life in the Central Valley of Costa Rica where over 70% of the population resides but I wanted them to have a nature experience as well.  So, they spent the first two nights at a place called Finca Rosa Blanca (White Rose Farm). Ironically this marvelous hotel was situated on an extensive coffee plantation that was no more than a fifteen minute walk from my apartment. It is one of a kind in all of the Central Valley. With thirteen rooms that are all uniquely crafted and designed, my parents were lucky enough to experience two of them. One each night.

The bases of this hotel is the view of the entire Central Valley from almost any point on the property, along with the myriad of flora that cascades the walkways, restaurant, terraces, pools and rooms. Not to mention the fruit trees that overrun the property that the staff encourages their guests to pick.

My mother fell in love when she would walk the grounds and without a struggle come across hummingbirds, Heliconia flowers or nature sounds that you only can here when you buy one of those Yoga records. She did not want to leave. Personally, my father and I enjoyed the nature and the views but the coffee that is freshly produced on the grounds is what captured our hearts.

Two nights goes quickly when you are in paradise and it was not any different for my family vacation. Before we knew it, Finca Rosa Blanca was another fantastic memory that could not be forgotten and it was off to our next adventure outside of the Central Valley. We were off to Arenal Volcano.

With the three and half hour drive to Arenal, my parents and I were tired upon our arrival at our hotel Los Lagos. Known for its hot springs that are heated by the Arenal Volcano that is merely 2,000 yards away, it was a no brainer that it would not be long before we were soaking in hot mineral water.

As we were checking-in, we asked the reception what the weather forecast would be due to the fact that it was raining and foggy. I did not have a good initial comprehension of the idea that Arenal is considered rainforest area and more technically considered cloud forest area. The front desk said it has been like this for the past few days but it should clear up tomorrow. Long story short, the two nights that we were there it never fully cleared, it rained every day, and was constantly oscillating between heavy and lighter fog. The good part about this weather was that we learned a lot about the area and also came to appreciate it even more than if it had been perfectly clear. But, it still would have been nice to see the full view of the Arenal Volcano at least once. Maybe next time.

Getting back to the check-in. We went for lunch at their fine restaurant and I encouraged my parents to order the Casado (literally translated as marriage) dish. It is the famous dish for the whole country because it is the typical food for the natives. Comprised of your choice of meat or fish, beans, rice, plantains, salad, and potatoes, you get a little taste of everything and never walk away hungry. This dish is good in the Sodas (native restaurants) and even better and fancier in establishments within hotels.  

Eating Casdo con Pollo with my parents at a table that was on the perimeter of the restaurant’s wooden patio that backed right up to a view of cloud forest and exotic birds, I could not have been happier. With the sounds of rain lightly hitting the oversized leaves of the nourished flora and the chirping and singing of over ten different species of birds, I definitely knew I was out of the hustle and bustle of the Central Valley City life.

Bellies full and jet-leg from the car ride were the right part of the equation to equal time to go into the hot springs and relax. That is exactly what we did. Once we put our luggage into our room, which was on the top of the property that overlooked the lush mountains, we put on our bathing suits and wobbled down to the hot springs.

There is something about knowing that you are sitting in naturally heated mineral water that does something to your psychology. You just feel clean and healthier. In accented English, my parents were complimented on how young they look before they went in and were encouraged by the staff to spend as much time in the springs as possible because they believe it to be the fountain of youth. After a couple of local beers in the underwater bar and a couple hours soaking in hot mineral water, when it was time to return to dinner our waiter, Marvin, from lunch comically remarked that he did not recognize my parents. He said that maybe they really do have the fountain of youth on the grounds of Los Lagos, and commented that maybe when he is off of work he will sneak in there and see if he can drop a couple decades.

The next morning I was woken up by the shrill that came from my mother as she was standing in the door way starring at the mountainside that was about 150 meters away. I had to rub my eyes as I starred at her because the clouds that were pouring into the room via the open door made my mother look like she was walking in a rainforest heaven. I thought I was dreaming. I finally snapped out of it and started to pay attention to the original reason of why I woke up, her shrill! She screamed, “Get up, get up! Come and see them!” As I walked over to the door and was handed my father’s heavy-duty binoculars, I saw a family of Javali (wild boar) climbing the mountain and grazing for fruits and grass. Beyond that, there was an Orange tree to the left of them that was producing loud screeching sounds. I moved my binoculars over and watched six large green loras (parrots) rip open orange after orange and screech after their orange fell to the ground. I figured I am still in my boxers and standing in my hotel room doorway and I already saw this kind of wildlife, I am looking forward to the next hour let alone the full day adventure in Arenal.  

My parents are not the type to lounge around all day. They do it once and a while after not having a break for a year or more, but putting it lightly, my parents cannot sit still. We had a full day ahead of us in Arenal and another night, it was not about to be wasted by gorging on food and watching television.

After our breakfast, we signed up for a safari-river tour of the wildlife of Arenal. Walking out of the restaurant and into the van we had no time to regroup. We were off on the next Lauricella adventure. My father and I comically joking about taking my mother on a white water rafting adventure made her uneasy and several times she snapped back by saying, “You think you are getting me to go white water rafting, you’re nuts! Uh uh, no way!” We calmed her down by saying that this boat ride down the river that we are driving to is meant for people like you. It’s calm and relaxing and you are in a boat.

Well, my father and I still laugh at the fact the we neglected to ever look behind the van to notice that we were towing a rubber rafting boat and upon our arrival at the launch site of the river the heavy rains forced the guide, William, to say, “Well, the rain has made the river a little bit more fast than usual so we are going to have to stick to the sides as to not get caught up in the fast current.” I thought my mother was going to have a heart attack. We had to do some heavy convincing to get her to agree to get in the boat. She did not have much of an option though. Either she came with us or she was going to be waiting at the launch site for a couple hours next to the plantain plantation. A 5’2” blonde does not do well with rain, mosquitoes, and the invisibly unknown. She was in the boat without too much of a struggle.

It was no more than 2 minutes after we launched that my mother’s oo’s and ah’s of amazement were competing with the sounds of the roars of the Congos (Howler monkeys). As we drifted and paddled down the river our guide, William, gave us insights to the magnificent and brightly colored flowers and trees that we passed. Stopping at places along the bank of the river with pin point accuracy, we were shown bats, sleeping nocturnal birds that were tucked away into the trees, families of Howler Monkeys playing in the canopies, and plants and flowers that had herbal healing powers according to Costa Rican tradition.

As our river expedition came to an end, the last part of our journey was regaining some of the energy that we lost by paddling and tasting some local cuisine of a native family who’s house was right on the edge of the river. Fried plantains, yucca, banana bread, homemade cheese, and fresh brewed coffee were on the menu. It does not matter where you are in the world. Home cooked food is supreme to restaurant cuisine across the board. It was spectacular. The tastes and flavors cannot be described in words. The day was bliss in the middle of nature. God’s country.

The ride back to the hotel was spent keeping our eyes peeled to the tops of the trees in hopes of spotting a sloth because they were sighted earlier in the day on this particular route. We were unlucky in this regard and we were unable to see any sloths. William, our guide, quickly made it up to us by stopping the vehicle and telling us to get out of the car to come and see the Tucans that were perched in the trees. I instantly forgot about the one disappointment of not seeing a sloth and my mind was diverted as I gazed at this gorgeously colored Tucan.

With our eyes and brains filled with new sights and information of the wildlife of Costa Rica and our tummies stuffed with local food made with love it was time for the hot springs once again.

After our last soaking of healing mineral water we went to our last dinner and enjoyed each other’s company in the midst of the comical waiters that bent over backwards to make our experience wonderful.

The next morning it was the last time to fill up on the great buffet breakfast that consisted of fresh fruits, juices, cheeses, eggs, breads, and meats. Not to mention the phenomenal dark, bold coffee. Arenal was over and we said good-bye without ever seeing more than half of the volcano. But, after what we did and what we accomplished it was the least of our worries. We had a blast and experienced enough that you could write a series of books on. Besides, Arenal is not going anywhere anytime soon. We had a fantastic time. Good enough to have an excuse to go back and just maybe see the entire volcano.

We drove back to the Central Valley for my parents’ last night. With a great dinner and some warming conversation about their next visit, the last night was ended with the return to my apartment and their return to their hotel in Alajuela, Hotel Villa Dolce.

With a hug and kiss good-bye the next morning at the airport my parents rolled their luggage into the terminal as they looked back at me and simultaneously shouted, “We’ll be back!”

Click here for my blog about my introduction into the Eco Preservation Society

Turtles Are Casualties of Warming in Costa Rica

By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL

PLAYA GRANDE, Costa Rica — This resort town was long known for Leatherback Sea Turtle National Park, nightly turtle beach tours and even a sea turtle museum. So Kaja Michelson, a Swedish tourist, arrived with high expectations. “Of course we’re hoping to see turtles — that is part of the appeal,” she said.

In Playa Junquillal, Costa Rica, so-called leatherback boys carry newly hatched turtles in baskets to the ocean, where the freed turtles make a dash for the water.

But haphazard development, in tandem with warmer temperatures and rising seas that many scientists link to global warming, have vastly diminished the Pacific turtle population.

On a beach where dozens of turtles used to nest on a given night, scientists spied only 32 leatherbacks all of last year. With leatherbacks threatened with extinction, Playa Grande’s expansive turtle museum was abandoned three years ago and now sits amid a sea of weeds. And the beachside ticket booth for turtle tours was washed away by a high tide in September.

“We do not promote this as a turtle tourism destination anymore because we realize there are far too few turtles to please,” said Álvaro Fonseca, a park ranger.

Even before scientists found temperatures creeping upward over the past decade, sea turtles were threatened by beach development, drift net fishing and Costa Ricans’ penchant for eating turtle eggs, considered a delicacy here. But climate change may deal the fatal blow to an animal that has dwelled in the Pacific for 150 million years.

Sea turtles are sensitive to numerous effects of warming. They feed on reefs, which are dying in hotter, more acidic seas. They lay eggs on beaches that are being inundated by rising seas and more violent storm surges.

More uniquely, their gender is determined not by genes but by the egg’s temperature during development. Small rises in beach temperatures can result in all-female populations, obviously problematic for survival.

“The turtles are very good storytellers about the effect of climate change on coastal habitats,” said Carlos Drews, the regional marine species coordinator for the conservation group W.W.F. “The climate is changing so much faster than before, and these animals depend on so much for temperature.”

If the sand around the eggs hits 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit), the gender balance shifts to females, Mr. Drews said, and at about 32 degrees (89.6 Fahrenheit) they are all female. Above 34 (93), “you get boiled eggs,” he said.

On some nesting beaches, scientists are artificially cooling nests with shade or irrigation and trying to protect broader areas of coastal property from development to ensure that turtles have a place to nest as the seas rise.

In places like Playa Junquillal, an hour south of here, local youths are paid $2 a night to scoop up newly laid eggs and move them to a hatchery where they are shaded and irrigated to maintain a nest temperature of 29.7 degrees Celsius (85.4), which will yield both genders.

Collecting turtle eggs for the hatchery

On a recent night, Dennis Gómez Jiménez, a 22-year-old in a red baseball cap and jeans, deftly excavated the nest of a three-foot-wide Olive Ridley, one of the smaller sea turtle species. The turtle had just finished the hourlong task of burying 100-plus eggs and then lumbered back into the water.

One by one, Mr. Jiménez placed what looked like table tennis balls into a plastic bag and transferred them to an ersatz nest he had dug in a shaded, fenced-off portion of sand that serves as a hatchery. Sandbags are positioned to protect against tides that could rip nests apart.

When the turtles hatch, in 40 to 60 days depending on the species, they are carried in wicker baskets to the ocean’s edge and make a beeline for the water. Gabriel Francia, a biologist who oversees the youths, known locally as the “baula” or leatherback boys, likens their work to delivering an endangered infant by Caesarean section.

“In some ways we’re playing God — this is a big experiment,” he said. The long-term hope, he said, is to build a robust turtle population that will slowly adapt by shifting to cooler, more northern beaches or laying eggs at cooler times of the year.

Worldwide, there are seven sea turtle species, and all are considered threatened. (Turtle populations in the Atlantic have increased over the last 20 years because of measures like bans on trapping turtles and selling their parts.)

The leatherback is considered critically endangered on a global level. Populations are especially depleted in the Pacific, where only 2,000 to 3,000 are estimated to survive today, down from around 90,000 two decades ago. Cooler sands alone will not save them, given the scope of the threats they face. At Playa Junquillal, markers placed a decade ago to mark a point 55 yards above the high tide line are now frequently underwater.

“It’s happened really fast — we have no rain, but water pouring in from the ocean,” said Adriana Miranda, 30, the manager of a local hangout that serves beer and rice and beans.

Beachside tables have been removed because rising tides have destroyed the restaurant’s concrete terrace and uprooted shading trees there. In different circumstances, the beaches could gradually extend backward as the sea level rose. But along much of Costa Rica’s Pacific coast, the back of the beach is now filled with hotels, restaurants and planted trees, giving the sand no place to go. “The squeezing of the beaches where turtles nest is going to be a big problem,” said Carl Safina, head of the Blue Ocean Institute, a conservation group.

In Playa Grande, the turtle issue has pitted environmentalists against developers and the national government. To ensure a future for the leatherbacks and the national park, biologists wanted a large section of land extending about 140 yards back from the current high-tide line protected from development. Beachfront property owners, many of them foreigners with vacation homes, demanded hefty compensation.

Arguing that the government cannot afford the payouts, President Óscar Arias has instead proposed protecting the first 55 yards, and allowing about 80 yards of somewhat regulated mixed-use development to the rear. But Costa Rica’s leading scientists have protested that the new boundaries will lead to “certain extinction.”

Turtles will not nest if there are lights behind the beach, Mr. Drews said, and those first 55 yards will be underwater by midcentury.

“Turtles will have to find their way between the tennis courts and swimming pools,” he said dryly.

In a country where turtle eggs are traditionally slurped in bars from a shot glass, uncooked and mixed with salsa and lemon, biologists are also promoting cultural change.

“Of course 25 years ago, you went out with your friends or family and dug up the eggs,” said Héctor García, 42, shopping at the Junquillal market. “It was a tradition. They are delicious, cooked or raw.”

Today egg collecting is illegal in Costa Rica, but poaching is still common in many towns. It is frowned on at Playa Junquillal, where the five baula boys, with their piercings and baseball caps, patrol for poachers and are idolized by many younger children. Dr. Francia, the biologist, has also invited local families to watch the babies being released. “There were a lot of people who had eaten eggs but never seen a turtle,” he said.