Do You Know The Way To San Jose?

Back in Costa Rica with the first round of pics posted ~ http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=128550&id=724695545&l=2ed9715988

Good to be back here after a jaunt through the southern part of the country. Good to reasses my plans (I’m two days ahead of schedule yee-haw!), do some laundry, have a lazy TV night and a leisurely morning doing nothing - although I’m sad to say bye to Stephanie. The girl is funny and we’ve had some great laughs. Maybe we’re just pretty similar all together. She’s a writer, works for Habitat, spent three years living in Guatemala, one year in Costa Rica, tells the best stories and despises Keanu Reeves as much as I do.

I leave for La Fortuna around 2pm today. Decided to take a shuttle instead of public transport on this one – partly because I won’t arrive until after dark and partly because I now realize I brought too much stuff. I lived out of a day pack for the past five days and now wish I could do that for the rest of the time I’m here. Ironically all my clothes stacked up in pile are only about 1 square foot in size and my bag is half empty, but it’s still too much. I think I went overboard on the vanity stuff. Why I decide I needed to bring body scrub or cotton balls is beyond me. I never use them at home, why would I suddenly start in the middle of the jungle? Do I really need post-it notes and scissors? I guess what they say is true: pack your bags, take out half, leave home.

Overall, for the trip? So far, so good. I’ve met with two different non-profits so far – one focused on environmental conservation and the other on organic farming. Both have great facilities and capable staff, even if the bug situation is a little worrisome. One place put me up in volunteer quarters with a bathroom full of mosquitoes. I felt the need to wear bug spray in the shower.

I'm most excited for the place I visit tomorrow. It’s an animal rehabilitation center – and I’m a huge animal lover. Most of their ‘guests’ are animals that have been harmed by poachers or loggers, or were recovered from smugglers trying to take them out of the country. I don’t know too much more at this point, but that’s why I’m visiting.

I'm still excited about the business plan, but think it's funny that before I left I felt really confident about finding clients and my big uncertainty was finding decent organizations to work with in-country. Now after seeing the resources and projects, getting a sense of their needs and how much they would benefit from the groups I send them, my fear is that I won’t be able to find clients. It’s a little twisted, but if you know me, you know I always have to have something to worry about…. although I probably don't need to. Voluntourism is the fastest growing segment of the travel industry, despite an overall decline in the market. Volunteer travel had increased by 25-30% in the past few years and a recent study by CNBC and Conde Nast found that out of 1600 people polled 62% of them were interested in volunteer vacation, 20% had been on one and 95% of these people wanted to do it again. Okay, boring statistical interlude completed.

I’ve also visited a bunch of eco-hotels. Unfortunately, there's no universal governing body that dictates standards or maintains quality control. I’ve done some homework though and most places measure up. The best was one on the Osa Peninsula. They definitely cover the basics using solar powered energy, bio-degradable soaps, linen napkins and produce their materials on banana leaf paper, but they also go way beyond. Out of 62 employees 58 are from the local area…. A very remote area where farming is the most common profession and university educations are rarer than quetzals. They provide food and lodging for their staff, have them rotate job responsibilities to diversify their skill sets and educate them on environmental science so they can share it with their family and local community members. My personal favorite technique is the pigs. They have about six that get fed all the scraps and leftovers. They then collect the pig crap in a big room and pipe the gas it emits back up to the lodge to use for heating the water. Who comes up with this stuff??