Is Eco-friendly Hospitality Really Green?

Do you like to work out in your hotel’s gym when you’re away? If you happen to be staying in Denmark’s Crowne Plaza Copenhagen Towers, keeping fit while traveling will help generate the hotel’s electricity and earn you meal vouchers in their restaurant. The flagship eco-hotel is the first hotel in Denmark to generate all of its power from renewable sources – solar panels, geothermal heating and cooling pumps, and stationary bicycles connected to generators which provide the hotel’s electricity. Guests can pedal for only 15 minutes or so and “earn” enough electricity wattage to score a free meal voucher, plus personally contribute to the planet.
This novel idea is the latest twist in the eco-friendly hospitality movement that not only benefits the hotel, but gets guests involved in a real-time personal way.
Eco-consciousness as a buzzword has turned into a billion-dollar business ranging from everything from the hospitality and tourism industries to clothing, cosmetics, cars, cleaning products, and corporate philosophies.In technology, you’ve got solar-powered laptops, bamboo iPhone cases, and now a new eco-friendly light bulb called LIFX LED that you can manipulate its color and brightness from your smartphone via WIFi. You can even match the light’s settings to the songs on your playlist. How geeky is that?
Earth-conscientious travelers are more frequently seeking out eco-friendly lodging. Boutique hotels are at the forefront of this trend. The most common environmental practices include: Guest towel & linen re-use LED and compact fluorescent lighting to save energy Water-efficient toilets and showerheads Reduce waste output Reduce energy & water use Reduce carbon footprint Eliminate pollution No pesticides in the gardens Window films (like Huper Optik films) that reduce energy usage and protect furniture, carpets, paint, etc. against fading Costa Rica is a hot ecotourism destinationIn ecotourism hotspot Costa Rica, Pranamar Villas is a leading boutique hotel for planet-conscious places to stay.

The oceanfront holistic yoga-surf hotel on the Nicoya Peninsula's top-rated Santa Teresa Beach isn’t just “greenwashed” (eco-friendly in advertising only). Owners and staff are committed to following a long list of environmental practices every day. Pranamar’s lush tropical gardens are completely organic; they use no herbicides or pesticides on the property. Much of the vegetation is “edible” – fruits, vegetables and Pranamar's organic restaurant uses fruits, vegetables and herbs grown at the hotelherbs that supply the open-air restaurant with fresh, healthy cuisine. They grow mango, papaya, banana, starfruit, guanabana, passion fruit and Suriname cherries. During the dry season, melons and squashes underneath ornamental and fruit trees provide ground cover to help hold moisture.

The herb and vegetable garden flourishes with mint, basil, oregano, rosemary, thyme, tarragon, turmeric, arugula, mustard greens, tomatoes, chili peppers, okra, cucumber and eggplant. The hotel’s composting system completes the food cycle by turning the restaurant’s organic waste into natural fertilizer. All soaps, laundry detergent, cleaning supplies, and even guests’ amenity shampoos, conditioners and bath soaps are biodegradable. Energy-saving light bulbs and appliances reduce electricity usage. Even the free-form swimming pool is eco-conscious: it’s filled with salt-water, meanPranamar's salt water pool is chlorine freeing less chlorine and other chemicals.

If you want to live for along time, live in Nicoya Peninsula!

What is a “Blue Zone,” It is a place where people live happily and healthily for a very long time. The term was popularized by author-educator-explorer Dan Buettner in his 2008 book, “The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer from People Who’ve Lived the Longest.” Published by the National Geographic Society, Buettner identified places in the world there is a high concentration of persons over age 100, and there is a substantial disability-free and disease-free life expectancy.

Why are they called “Blue Zones”? The name comes from a 2004 demographic study called “Identification of a Geographic Area Characterized by Extreme Longevity in the Sardinia Island: the AKEA study” (Experimental Gerontology by Gianni Pes and Michel Poulain, among other authors). The study identified Sardinia’s Barbagia region as an area with a very high concentration of men over age 100. As the authors discovered more clusters of long longevity in the world, they began drawing blue circles around them on maps, referring to the areas as “Blue Zones.” To my delight, Costa Rica has its own Blue Zone – the Nicoya Peninsula! According to Buettner’s studies, the Nicoya Peninsula has the world’s lowest rates of middle-age mortality and the second highest convergence of male centenarians. Costa Rica indeed does celebrate its elderly citizens; every person who has a 100th birthday is featured on the national news. As of June 2012, our tiny country reported 417 citizens over the age of 100; the country’s official population is more or less 4.5 million. Costa Rican Photographer Mónica Quesada is creating a book and video documenting Ticos who have lived a century. More information at www.indiegogo.com/CRCentenarians. Buettner’s research with National Geographic also turned up longevity hotspots in Okinawa, Japan; the Aegean island of Ikaria, Greece; a Seventh Day Adventist community in Loma Linda, California; and we already know about the mountainous Barbagia region of inner Sardinia, off the western coast of Italy. So what’s the secret? Buettner’s team of researchers and specialists found interesting similarities among the Nicoyan centenarians that are common characteristics in all of the other Blue Zones:

• Have a “plan de vida,” or reason to live; it also can be called “why I get up in the morning”. Centenarians say they feel needed, with a sense of purpose that often centers on their family.
  
•  Focus on your family and friends. Having a good relationship with their family and maintaining a strong social network contributes greatly to centenarians’ sense of purpose and well-being. People of all ages are socially active and integrated into their communities.
  
• Have Faith. The Nicoyans’ strong belief in God and their “faith routines” help relieve stress and anxiety. Almost all of the centenarians interviewed around the world for Buettner’s book belonged to a faith-based community of some form.
  
• Work hard. Nicoyan centenarians maintain a strong work ethic, which keeps them active and healthy while contributing to their sense of purpose. Moderate physical activity is a normal part of daily life – walking, bicycling, gardening, cooking, keeping up the house, taking care of animals, etc.
  
• Drink hard water. High amounts of calcium and magnesium, essential for bone and muscle strength, abound in Nicoya’s water. By drinking and cooking with this water, people here get their daily intake of calcium throughout their entire lives.
  
• Healthy diet. Most of the various Blue Zone residents in the world eat a primarily plant-based diet, especially legumes (all kinds of beans, peas and lentils). They also eat rich, colorful fruits – in Nicoya, they eat marañon, the red-orange cashew tree fruit that has more vitamin C than oranges, and noni, a pear-like fruit rich in antioxidants. Nicoyans eat their biggest meal during the day and their smallest meal at night. Japanese centenarians have a rule to eat only until their stomachs are 80% full to avoid being “overstuffed.”

• Get some sun. Nicoyans enjoy healthy doses of daily sun, enriching their bodies with Vitamin D. Getting at least 15 minutes every day can decrease the risk for osteoporosis and heart disease, experts say.

• Get Sleep. Nicoyans sleep an average of 8 hours per day. They more or less go to sleep soon after nightfall and wake with the sun.

• No smoking. Smoking is not common in Blue Zone communities.

Surf Vacation Paradise Found at Costa Rica's Santa Teresa Beach

The buzz is true – Costa Rica is a surfer’s paradise. There are hundreds and hundreds of beach towns, from little villages to bustling cosmopolitan centers, and just as many surf breaks. The country counts more than 700 miles of coastline between both the Pacific and Caribbean coasts. With warm tropical water, long rolling waves, and sunshine most of the year, what more could you want?

A bit off of Costa Rica’s tourist “super highway” is the quiet and still-undisturbed beach of Santa Teresa. Near the tip of the Pacific’s Nicoya Peninsula, Santa Teresa is not completely off the radar – it won “Best Beach in Central America” for 2012 and “Top 10 in the World” for 2011 in Trip Advisor’s Traveler’s Choice Awards. Nonetheless, Santa Teresa retains its charm as a small fishing village and intimate collection of international boutique hotels and vacation homes. Also a 2012 Trip Advisor Traveler’s Choice Award winner is Pranamar Oceanfront Villas & Yoga Retreat.

At Santa Teresa, you’ll be star-struck by the beauty of nature and the jungle that hugs the coastline, pouring down from the mountains to light sand beaches and the clear aquamarine sea. Famous for year-round surf, its hallmarks are pristine beaches, both beach and point breaks, easy-to-ride waves in warm water, and picture-perfect sunsets. So, whether you are a beginner trying surfing for the first time or already have saltwater running through your veins, Pranamar Villas can set you up with the best beach and surfing holiday you can dream. Looking for a tropical beach holiday and maybe to check out what this surfing craze is all about?