Environmental Talk

You can’t get there from here….

Part One of Welcome to the Jungle can be found here.

So, if you’re keeping score at home, we drove to the airport in New York, took two U.S. Airways flights to get to San Jose, Costa Rica, hopped a taxi from the Juan Santamaria Airport to the Pavas Airport where we boarded a single-engine plane to get to Tambor, and then clambered aboard an SUV that took us to the place we were staying on the Pacific.

According to the green rules as I understand them, if you’re traveling for a good cause like Live Earth or logging thousands of frequent-flier miles jetting around the country giving a Power Point presentation on global warming, no one can lay any smack on you about your carbon footprint.

Since our ultimate destination was an environmentally-friendly resort in one of the most eco-friendly countries in the world, I didn’t worry too much about offsetting my Sasquatch-like carbon footprint on this trip.

As a matter of fact, I gave the same attention to balancing the greenhouse gas scales on this trip as I do when I regularly travel to New York City.

All I’m saying, people, is I feel uncomfortable when folks refer to me as some kind of eco-hero. I’m just a regular guy trying to live my life and have fun just like the rest of you.

As a city kid who has never been camping, I usually get nervous when I’m more than six blocks from a subway station or an ethnic deli. You can imagine my concern when the last half-hour leg of our trip was at 15 mph over dirt roads that looked like they could be washed away in the first monsoon.

Did I mention that June through August is the rainy season in Costa Rica?

As it turns out, the trip was entirely worth it. Florblanca is about as close to paradise as you’re liable to find here on Earth. As described on their website:

Florblanca has eight very private one bedroom villas and three 2-bedroom units nestled in natural greenery and colorful flora. Each villa peeks out at the Pacific from our winding floral property. King-sized bedrooms are air conditioned while the common areas and baths are open to ocean breezes and the nighttime sky … enchantingly designed for comfort with a Balinese flair, all villas are only steps away from the surf … reading porches, small dining areas and lazy hammocks adorn the common area and every villa seems as if it is the only one around … only our birds, squirrels, monkeys and the occasional iguana, peek in to watch you nap if a rain appears.

Add to this magnificent setting a staff that is warm, happy and friendly; an owner who is constantly about and quick to share 25 years worth of charm, stories and advice culled from living in Costa Rica; and an open-air restaurant less than 30 yards from the Pacific Ocean headed by a world-renowned chef and you’ve got the makings of a pretty good extended weekend vacation.

Breakfasts start off with a plate of fresh fruit and a smoothie made from local produce. Among the breakfast entrees you can choose from are banana bread French toast and omelets featuring traditional as well as regional ingredients. As a card carrying urbanite, even I have to admit that seeing hummingbirds flit about bright red tropical flowers a few scant feet from my table was way cooler than reading the NY Post in a crowded Starbucks.

Costa Rica is known for its coffee. The brew on tap is strong, robust and richly flavorful. As is customary in many Latin countries, it is served with a small pitcher of steamed milk.

If you finish breakfast before 9:00 a.m., you can take advantage of an amazing yoga class taught by one of two yoga masters who have a combined experience of over 25 years between them. The day we took class, our teacher was playing what looked like some kind of Hindu accordion as we entered the open-air studio. In the background, the sounds of the inexorable waves of the Pacific surf served to accompany the welcoming song of our teacher.

As someone who had never taken yoga, I was amazed at the physicality and strength exhibited by the other participants. I was also amazed at the patience and level of acceptance shown to this rank beginner who stumbled into the day’s upper level class.

Almost as exciting to me as the food and the raised level of consciousness I experienced (I didn’t even notice the pain from yoga until the following day), was the fact that both the breakfast and yoga class were free if you were a guest at Florblanca. Sweet!

…to be continued

global warming, climate change, environmentalism, eco-friendly, Costa Rica, yoga, hummingbirds, flora, fauna, Florblanca