Going Eco


DAY 23: The big buzz word in Costa Rican tourism is “eco-tourism,” tourism that is not only preceded by the prefix “eco,” but is also environmentally-conscious.  According to Al Gore, it’s a pretty good thing, and you can trust that guy because he invented the internet.

Going “eco” was the goal of Johnny, the guide I had for a night tour I took in the Monteverde region.  Twenty-four-year-old brother to Danavo, he was the son of the Manakin family that ran my B&B, guiding tours in the preserved “Hidden Valley” park—a refuge for indigenous plants and animals to exist amidst the increasing tourism developments in the region.  The sanctuary wasn’t the only one of its kind in the area; Johnny told me that his family was also scrounging up money to buy more surrounding land—merely to keep it as is and shield it from ownership of land developers.  Johnny embodied a true love of nature, and it was evident in his words.  “I love it,” he told me.  “I go here even if I’m not doing a tour.  I love it.” He was an enthusiastic one, with plans to develop a mass water cleaning process, so that used water could be cleaned and recycled before being dumped out to the cloudforest—so far, all the liquid water being poured out into nature was tainted with chemicals and soap, and he wanted to prevent this; many plants have died because of it.

AFTER SUNSET (picture above), we entered the trails of the Hidden Valley, we were immediately fortunate to see wildlife.  “That’s a grey fox, man!” he raved.  “That’s one of the harder ones to find, and it’s there!” The grey fox, whose eyes glowed like other animals under the beams of flashlights, was on the hunt for little critters to munch on.  He was not disturbed by the family of quatis that ran right by us along the trail. 

The two hours walking in the dark was a lesson in the environment, as treehugging Johnny (not to be mistaken with treehoppers) spoke of the importance of nature.  “Where do people come from?” he posed.  “They don’t come from cities.  They come from here.  Nature.” He toured me around the reserve, showing me the waterfalls illuminated by moonlight, the baby porcupine sleeping up in a hollowed tree, the stars in the sky, and the plants around us—two of which he pointed out, were found to help Parkinson’s Disease and leukemia.

“Where does coffee come from?” he tried to stump me.

“Ethiopia,” I answered, retaining knowledge from the Antiguan coffee tour.

“Ah, yes.  Two more and you get a beer.”

However, I failed to correctly know that bananas, as dominant as they are in the “banana republics” of Central America, aren’t indigenous to the region.  Although tropical, they were introduced by the west (after discovering them in the tropical east), mainly as a food source for workers and cattle.

Johnny continued on, raving about the behavior of ants, and all the insects that have good sex lives.  The end of our night hike was spent trying to find tarantulas, curious spiders that don’t actually spin webs; they hide in holes or tree stumps and pounce on whatever comes their way.  We saw a few tarantulas camping out, but some were too smart or conditioned not to jump at sticks that tour guides shake in front of them for demonstration purposes.

We left the reserve that night, Johnny still preaching (but not in a preachy way) about saving more of the land in the Monteverde region to keep it the way it is.

“What about the government?” I asked.  “They’d rather just make money off the land from foreign developments?”

“Of course.”

What the fate of the region was I didn’t know for sure, although I did see a Century 21 office in town.  I hoped there would always be a balance between the “eco” and the “tourism”—more than the Treehouse Cafe in Santa Elena, built around a tree—but I’m sure things would be okay, if Johnny had anything to do about it. 


Next entry: EXTREMO!!!

Previous entry: From Jungle To Cloudforest


Like to share a comment for "Going Eco"? Please do so below:

Name:

Email (required for notification):

Your website or blog URL (if you care to share):

Check this box if you want your information stored so you don't have to enter it again.

Check this box if you want to be notified of additional comments via Email.

Help the fight against comment spam by submitting the word you see below.



Comments for "Going Eco"

back to top of page

Next entry:
EXTREMO!!!

Previous entry:
From Jungle To Cloudforest


This blog entry about the events of Friday, December 14, 2007 was originally posted on December 18, 2007 on the travel blog, "The Global Trip: The Central American Eviction Tour* (*with jaunt to Colombia)." It is a trip blog chronicling a six-week journey through Central America, with a jaunt to Bogota, Colombia.




SBRs? WHMMR? 1981ers? Confused at some of the jargon that’s developed with this blog and its readers?  Try looking them up on The Global Trip Wiki.

Spelling or grammar error? A picture not loading properly? Help keep this blog as good as it can be by reporting bugs.




SUBSCRIBE TO THE RSS FEED HERE






THE GLOBAL TRIP PLEDGE DRIVE

Show support and pledge a donation to Erik by buying official Global Trip gear and apparel! CLICK HERE!

All written and photographic content is copyright 2002-2008 by Erik R. Trinidad (unless otherwise noted).
"The Global Trip" and "swirl ball" logos are service marks of Erik R. Trinidad.
TheGlobalTrip.com v.3 is powered by Expression Engine