In his Chronicles of Peru, Spanish conquistador Pedro Cieza de León marveled,” And to think that God should have permitted something so great to remain hidden from the world for so long in history, unknown to men, and then let it be found, discovered and won all in our own time!”

Latin America continues to inspire shock and awe in voyagers, though now they’re more of the backpacking than the stake-in-the-ground variety. Whether it’s rocky mountains, brilliant beaches, charming colonial towns, or rugged cowboys you’re after, you’re likely to find it in the countries of Central and South America.

(above) Volcan Arenal, Costa Rica

Valles Calchaquíes, Argentina

Soriano, Uruguay

Cartagena, Colombia

Salvador de Bahía, Brazil

Goff’s Caye, Belize

Pacific Coast, Costa Rica

Volcán Mombacho, Nicaragua

Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil

Ruta 40, Chile

Armero, Colombia

Machu Picchu, Peru

Lago Suchitlan, El Salvador

Antigua, Guatemala

Sao Paulo, Brazil

Cordillera Province, Chile

Camino al Monte Roraima, Venezuela

Rio de la Plata, Argentina

Montevideo, Uruguay

Ica, Peru

La Paz, Bolivia

Galapagos Islands, Ecuador

Los Altares, Chubut, Argentina

Perito Moreno, El Calafate, Argentina

Laguna Hedionda, Bolivia

Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, Chile

Mt. Humboldt, Venezuela

Concón, Chile

Amazonas, Brazil

Tenorio National Park, Costa Rica

Gamboa, Panama

La Colmena, Paraguay

Caye Caulker, Belize

Canchis, Peru

Montevideo, Uruguay

Curitiba, Brazil

Lake Atitlan, Guatemala

Roatan, Honduras

Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia

SEE ALSO:

40 Gorgeous Photos of Europe

40 Gorgeous Photos of North America

25 Photos of Islands Threatened By Climate Change

40 Gorgeous Photos of Asia

Costa Verde offers Costa Rica’s most original eco-suite: a vintage airplane in the rainforest.

Costa Verde nestles in the rainforest above the Pacific Ocean, next to Manuel Antonio National Park. Like many hotels in Costa Rica, it is low-rise with impressive green credentials. The owner, an ex-Peace Corps volunteer and an environmental activist left a 30-acre biological corridor around the property with the rainforest grounds sustainably maintained.

Wildlife is literally on your doorstep, as ridiculously cute squirrel monkeys perform acrobatics in the trees. The hotel’s motto is actually “still more monkeys than people.” You can’t get closer to nature than the open-air studios with no AC, no TV and no glass windows but with breezes that will keep you cool, and wild forest sights and sounds will keep you entertained (think iguanas, sloths and toucans co-starring with mini-primates).

What could be more environmentally responsible than a recycled accommodation? Here you can stay in an old passenger airplane – still in mid-air (kind of). The “727 Fuselage Home” is a suite 50 feet up in the jungle, with two beds and two baths, accessed by a private staircase with balcony views of the sea.

The hotel’s other aviation-themed talking point is a C-123 cargo airplane used in Nicaragua in the 1980s, which now serves as a restaurant and bar. El Avion, which was a CIA-funded Contra transport, sits cliff-side in peaceful retirement – if only those walls could talk…

Rates for the 727 suite start at $400/night plus tax; open-air studios $127/night plus tax; views, U.S. political scandal ghosts and wildlife shows included.

Places & Spaces is a travel guide that will inspire you to carve out a vacation on your calendar. All of the gorgeous locations and accommodations in our guide share our concern for the environment. From tent glamping to lavish built environments, fair warning, you’ll feel compelled to pack your suitcase.

The Gaia Hotel & Preserve is a Costa Rican getaway guaranteed to bring you back to nature.

This is the first installment in a new round of Places & Spaces here on EcoSalon. Look for writer Kara DiCamillo’s travel series here every Saturday.

Situated next to the Pacific Ocean in Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica is the Gaia Hotel & Reserve, an adult only luxury boutique hotel and resort. Perhaps what we love most about this tropical getaway – aside from its modern amenities, lush views, and more conveniences than one could possibly need on vacation – is that it’s smack in the middle of a lowland coastal forest. The Gaia Hotel & Reserve is committed to preserving this natural land, and with their eco-friendly and socially responsible values it shows.

The preserve was originally a center for native orchid and endangered wildlife conservation, called Jardín Gaia and today the land is still home to many native species.

Guests at Gaia Hotel & Reserve are able to experience Costa Rica’s tican hospitality and natural beauty, be it taking in vistas of the volcanic mountain range and Pacific coastline while sitting by the pool, or interacting with nature first hand snorkeling, sea kayaking, surfing and river rafting or surrendering completely to your inner romantic with a horseback ride along the shore.

Places & Spaces is a travel guide that will inspire you to carve out a vacation on your calendar. All of the gorgeous locations and accommodations in our guide share our concern for the environment. From tent glamping to lavish built environments, fair warning, you’ll feel compelled to pack your suitcase.

Bungle in the jungle during the rain season and save on a Costa Rican getaway. Rates drop dramatically since many travelers are skittish about venturing anywhere near Nicaragua this time of year. Risky, perhaps, but for those who seek showers (thunder makes my hubby’s heart pound) then try the Corcovado Adventures Tent Camp resort in the Osa Peninsula of Costa Rica.

A ten minute boat ride southwest of Drake Bay on the western side and conveniently located near the Corcovado National Park and Biological Reserve, the natural setting of tropical beaches and wilderness has been called “one of the most biologically intense places on Earth.” Commune with the white face congo and spider monkeys on the beaches and enjoy sitings of the Blue Morpho Butterflies along with 350 species of birds.

The full-sized tents are shielded from the elements by a large tarp and furnished with wood-frame beds and feature a front deck with chairs providing a vantage spot for Pacific Ocean views. The meals are Tico and International cuisine and available activities include horseback riding, scuba diving, whale watching, surfing, snorkeling, hiking and kayaking. A six-night package is $765 ($70 saved per person) and covers the taxi and boat ride from Drake Bay or Palmar airport, three full meals per day, a tour of the park with a guide, lunch, a boat ride and a tour of Cano Island with a guide. Rates by the night are around $80 per person, if you prefer that route. This is my kind of camping, since I don’t love sleeping on the ground, even with the best air mattress.

For even more luxurious lodgings in a tent (above), check out the Rafiki safari Lodge, which was started by the Boshoff family in 1999 in hopes of using tourism to build a wildlife refuge to help tapirs and other species. It is nestled in the 822 acres of pristine jungle along the Savegre River, 30km south of Quepos and Manuel Antonio. Enjoy white water rafting and exploring waterfalls. Several multi-day packages are available from $480 to $780 per person during the dry season (now through Dec. 15).

Looking for a great green getaway offering an affordable way to commune with nature? Look no further. This is the first installment in a series by EcoSalon’s Senior Editor, Luanne Bradley.

Anyone who has been to Costa Rica can understand why the people are happy. The natural surroundings are beautiful and well maintained and there is a commitment to peace (the country abolished its armed forces in 1949).

Because of these and other reasons, an op-ed article in the New York Times reports the Dutch sociologists who run the World Database of Happiness lists Costa Rica as the leader in happiness out of 148 nations. On a 10-point scale, ticos earned 8.5, followed by Denmark at 8.3. The report says the U.S. ranked 7th at 7.4, while Togo and Tanzania trail at 2.6.

Apparently a focus on sustainability in preserving its natural landscape and the choice to dissolve the army and invest instead in education has lifted the spirits of the Central American nation’s people. Such heartening prioritizing has allowed the country to score at the top in other happy indicators, such as one that calculates “happy life years” (the U.S. comes in at 19th and Zimbabwe is last) as well as the “happy planet index” operated by the  New Economics Foundation.

According to columnist Nicholas Kristof, “Rising education levels also led the country to preserve its lush environment as an economic asset,” and the country is “an ecological pioneer, introducing a carbon tax in 1997.”

He points out that this commitment to the environment has bolstered rather than threatened the Costa Rican economy, adding that it is one of the few tourist countries seeing migration from the United States. In fact, it has seen such an influx, it has had to take steps to keep its parks and rainforests from feeling the strain of too much impact.

Image: Thombo 2

]]> http://ecosalon.com/costa-ricans-blow-their-horn-considered-happiest-people/feed/ 1 http://ecosalon.com/happy-planet-index/ http://ecosalon.com/happy-planet-index/#comments Wed, 08 Jul 2009 13:00:37 +0000 Liz Lewis http://www.ecosalon.com/?p=20052

If you’re looking for happy (and green), skip Disneyland and head straight for Costa Rica. That’s the word according to the New Economic Foundation, a British NGO that just released their latest Happy Planet Index.

The Happy Planet Index is determined by calculating the life expectancy and people’s happiness against their environmental impact in 143 countries that are home to 99 percent of the world’s population.

Costa Rica, a nation without an army, scored best with an average life expectancy of 78.5 years, a very “small ecological footprint” and 85% of the country’s population saying they were happy and satisfied with their lives.

In fact, the Latin American countries topped the list. This region occupied the nine of the top 10 spots (Australia was third). Britain came in at 74th and the United States lagged way behind at 114th. Interestingly, the report said that the United States was actually greener and happier 20 years ago than it is today.

Maybe there’s something to the old saying “money doesn’t buy happiness” after all.

Read the full Happy Planet Index report.

Image: j/f/

A tourism paradox plagues beautiful Costa Rica, the must-see destination for every family I know. Its highly visited parks, like Manuel Antonio, depend on visitors to keep the bulldozers and loggers out, yet the growing crowds pose an obvious threat to the protected birds, iguanas and sloths, not to mention the monkeys in the trees people aren’t suppose to feed.

As a result, this original capitol of eco-tourism is taking steps to reduce the impact, capping the number of daily visitors to Manuel at 600 during the week and 800 on weekends and holidays to give the animals a break. According to a travel report in the Vancouver Sun, park officials are even closing down to the pubic on Mondays, just another way to tame the traffic jams along the narrow trails. “Costa Rica’s most popular sites are at risk of being overrun by tourists tripping over each other in their search for solitude and unspoiled beauty,” says the report.

Part of slowing down the traffic is literally to slow down the traffic. In this regard, you could say Costa Rica has come full circle from 20 years ago when I first traveled there.

Just two weeks after my met my now husband, Edwin, he invited me join him on his own planned excursion to the region. It seemed sooo remote and exotic to me back then – I kept the trip a secret from my family. Political unrest was plaguing Central America at the time and I didn’t want my mother making a fuss and raining on my cloud forest fantasy. Little did I realize my biggest problem wouldn’t be an intervening Jewish mother or angry junta, but traveling with a virtual stranger in a crude rented Jeep down unpaved mountain roads for an eternity to reach our destinations.

I recall breaking down and crying en route to a hidden-away beach town called Montezuma, as the 5th hour of winding roads approached with no soda (roadside cafe) in site. “Are we ever gonna get there?” I bemoaned to the handsome Jeep driver whom I had grown to detest on the road trip.

“Montezuma looked so close on the map, but it ended up taking all day to basically travel the distance from Berkeley to San Francisco,” recalls Edwin, a noted skeptic who also was worn down by the time we pulled into the Ylang Ylang Beach Resort. If anything depicted the “old Costa Rica” it was this funky haven of surf bums and German tourists. We were convinced a few ex-cons were among the mysterious hammock potatoes lounging between trees. I coped with water on the floor of our shabby chic bungalow and dining at the El Nano Banano cafe which showed movies on a large outdoor screen at night. We watched Goodfellas. Yes, all of this fine romance and I marred Edwin, anyway.

In the years since our rugged adventure, Costa Rica became the “it” spot – and travel became manageable. A posh, 153-room Four Seasons sprang up along with other four-star resorts, and nearly two million people booked trips annually to Monteverde, Manuel Antonio, and the other attractions on both the Pacific and Caribbean coasts. The country took dynamite to the hilly terrain to make it easier to travel in those ubiquitous Jeeps, adhering to the notion if you blast it they will come.

But according to the Sun, eco-tourism has halted the road smoothing projects, so it’s back to four hours to cover 30 miles. Costa Rica remains a leader in eco innovations, such as the zip-line rides through the rainforest and its commitment to protecting 25 percent of its land from development. The tourists bring in twice the revenue Costa Rica can make exporting coffee and bananas. It needs us, and we can do our part by opting for sustainable travel.

According to eco travel consultants, we can shun the big corporate route and stay at inns that grow their own fruits and vegetables and hire local workers. And try to spread the wealth by opting for small-scale tours and visiting sites off the usual tourist path so large crowds don’t spoil your commune with nature.

I have to say I was pleased to learn that Montezuma hasn’t lost its quirky charm. The resort still has those little bungalows and plays nighttime movies. Best yet, it donates a dollar a day per person to the Asepaleco Foundation toward conservation efforts.

Images: baxterclaws, law_keven