Costa Rica cultural festival held at Playa Nicuesa Rainforest Lodge

Guests lucky enough be staying at Playa Nicuesa Rainforest Lodge at the end of July were treated to a fun event celebrating the art and culture of Costa Rica.



In honor of the national holiday, Annexation of Guanacaste Day on July 25, Nicuesa Lodge invited local artisans and a folkloric dance group to entertain hotel guests. The Costa Rica eco-lodge holds cultural and art festivals at least twice a year to celebrate different events.

On this occasion, craft artisans and the Folkloric Dance Group Yuré from the town of Puerto Jimenez came across the Golfo Dulce by boat to the lodge. Joining them was Ana Iris, a woman from the regional indigenous Boruca community, who brought traditional masks to show and sell. Made from lightweight balsa wood, the colorful, hand-carved masks beautifully depict Boruca legends and rainforest wildlife of the Osa Peninsula.



Young dancers performed various Costa Rican folkloric dances, relating stories of coffee growers, fishermen, love, etc. “The dancers then invited our guests to dance the ‘Pavo’, or turkey dance. Everyone was very enthusiastic,” said Natalia Solis, Sustainability Coordinator at Playa Nicuesa Rainforest Lodge.



Lunch served by Nicuesa Lodge’s gourmet cooks was a typical Costa Rican meal of arroz con pollo (rice with chicken), salad and black beans. To drink, guests tried a traditional Caribbean beverage called Agua de Sapo, or “water of the frog.” Having nothing to do with its name, the beverage basically is a sweet ginger lemonade, made with water, lemon, ginger and raw cane sugar, called tapa dulce. For dessert, guests enjoyed Costa Rica’s famous “coconut caramel”, made fresh at the lodge with coconut grown on the property.

Meals are served in Nicuesa Lodge’s magnificent two-story tree house-style main building. The open-air dining area gives unobstructed views of the tree canopy (great for wildlife spotting), the forest, beach and ocean.



Visit Playa Nicuesa Rainforest Lodge in Costa Rica

Located in the pristine rainforest on a remote beach of the warm water gulf of Golfo Dulce, the award-winning sustainable tourism hotel in Costa Rica offers an extraordinary experience of the Costa Rica rainforest. Ideal for adventure sports, nature exploration and relaxing completely “unplugged,” Playa Nicuesa Rainforest Lodge is an oasis of comfortable, rustic luxury in the jungle.



Whale watching in Golfo Dulce, Costa Rica

Don’t miss the 2015 season for whale watching in Golfo Dulce, Costa Rica. Starting in August, the tranquil blue waters of this Pacific gulf, between the Piedras Blancas National Park and the Osa Peninsula in southern Costa Rica, welcome migrating southern Pacific humpback whales who come to breed and give birth. Enjoy daily whale watching tours at Playa Nicuesa Rainforest Lodge.

Article by Shannon Farley

 

Whale watching in Costa Rica: Humpback Whales in Golfo Dulce

In Costa Rica, there are as many wildlife tours as probably there are kinds of animals in the small Central American country. All of them are very worthwhile, but nearly nothing beats the thrill of whale watching!

There must be something about being in close proximity to a giant intelligent being that is fascinating, especially when we are in such a vulnerable position in a (by comparison) tiny little boat observing these gentle giants on their “turf” … or, rather, ocean.



A real-life encounter with whales is an unforgettable experience for anyone. Starting this month in August, it is time to see humpback whales in Golfo Dulce, Costa Rica.



The tranquil blue waters of this Pacific gulf, between the Piedras Blancas National Park and the Osa Peninsula in southern Costa Rica, will receive the astounding phenomenon of the thousands-of-miles-long migration of Pacific humpback whales. As southern winter turns the seas to ice in Antarctica, southern humpback whales swim north to the Great Barrier Reef of Australia and as far as Costa Rica to its warm tropical waters to breed and give birth.

Golfo Dulce is an important habitat for the endangered whales and is vital to the species’ survival, according to the Center for Cetacean Research of Costa Rica (CEIC). You can see the whales on whale watching tours in Golfo Dulce from August to October.



Whale watching in Golfo Dulce, Costa Rica

Don’t miss the 2015 season for whale watching in Costa Rica. Stay in a real Costa Rica eco-lodge and enjoy daily whale watching tours at Playa Nicuesa Rainforest Lodge. Located in the pristine rainforest on a remote beach of the warm water gulf, the award-winning sustainable tourism hotel in Costa Rica offers boat tours to see the whales, dolphins and other marine life. Rainforest tours in their 165-acre private preserve bordering the Piedras Blancas National Park let you explore the jungle and see amazing wildlife.



Facts about humpback whales

• 
  
  Humpback Whales are an endangered species with international government-protected status.
• Humpback whales are named for the prominent hump on their backs.
• The baleen whales can grow to be 56 feet long and weigh up to 40 tons
• They live a long life to about 45-50 years old.
• Babies (or “calves”) are born after an 11-12 month gestation period.
• Humpback whales are easy to spot since they live at the ocean’s surface.
• Humpbacks swim slowly and are known as the “acrobats of the sea” for their great displays of jumps and splashes (breaching).
• Male humpbacks are famous for singing long, complex mating “songs”.

Article by Shannon Farley