Wednesday, May 9th, 2012
There are 6 different venomous snakes in the Osa Peninsula. One of which, the Eyelash Pitviper (bothriechis schlegelii) is a medium size, venomous snake with mostly arboreal habits, which makes this a far less frequently spotted snake than other ones. One of the most striking features of this pitviper is the presence of two, eyelash like pointed scales above each eye. This snake has several different dimorphism (a wide array of color variations): there is the green one (the most common) but they can also be brown, gray and the most spectacular one is golden! Actually the golden one is called Oropel in spanish… “Oro” means gold.
The eyelash pitviper from the picture above was spotted at El Remanso by our guests Troy and Jessica on a hike with Gerardo, one of our naturalist guides.
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Tuesday, May 8th, 2012
It’s running time down here in the Osa Peninsula!
This year’s Lapathon fundraiser race took place yesterday, Sunday 5th of May, with the objective of raising funds for the recreational sport center in Puerto Jiménez.
El Remanso participated in the organization and a good part of our team run the race! The race started at the local carbonera school, about 5km away from the lodge and ended in Puerto Jiménez. The runners had to cover a distance of 17km on the gravel road. Fortunately the weather was “good to everyone” and it did not rain at all during the race!
Congratulations to all the runners because everybody made it to the finish line!
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Friday, April 27th, 2012
And we are not talking about our wonderful cabin! A part from giving its name to one of our Deluxe Cabins, we have several vanilla plants flowering right now at El Remanso Lodge.
The Vanilla plants are members of the orquidaceae family and are mostly epiphytes: aerial plants which get just support from the host tree. There are close to 1.500 orquids species in Costa Rica and over 40 species of native vanilla plants have been identified in the country, several of which can be found in the Osa Peninsula.
All of the members of the genus vanilla are native to Mesoamerica and the bean is used worldwide as a flavor, here in Costa Rica it is used to prepare diferent local delicious dishes like cakes, the “flan” and of course the typical rice pudding (“arroz con leche”).
Interestingly enough, most of the Vanilla that we consume on the planet is grown elsewhere, mainly on the Indian Ocean islands such as Madagascar. It was the Spanish who took the native vanilla beans back home on their firsts expeditions to the Americas.
Because of its rather difficult polinization process (without pollination, the blossom wilts and falls, and no vanilla bean can grow) which is very labor intensive, the vanilla spice is the second most expensive spice in the world!
With the beginning of the rains in the Osa Peninsula we have seen an increasing number of these beautiful (and tasteful) plants flowering!
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Tuesday, April 24th, 2012
Last Sunday we had a pediatrician from San José here at El Remanso to visit the children of our staff and kids from the local community. We transformed one of the cabins to an improvised “visiting practice” for the day. Costa Rica is well known for it’s good healthcare system but the remote area of the Osa Peninsula does not count with a specialist pediatrician. The kids enjoyed the day with some games and a lunch after the doctor’s visit!
The improvised "private practice" in Casa Osa!
Some of the kids having a good time with Lola!
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Monday, April 23rd, 2012
El Remanso’s staff, together with their families participated in the annual Earth Day celebration yesterday, April 22nd, in the local community town of Puerto Jiménez.
The events started at 9 o’clock with a “Earth Day parade” of local conservation organizations and students from the local schools.
There were also several activities including educational activities for children, local artists presenting “recycling-related” crafts, local dances and a mini-soccer tournament! The importance of reducing waste and recycle was encouraged with fun games and activities for young children who do represent the future of the Osa Peninsula.
One of the activities was a tournament to create a a recycling related collage with used materials:
Earth Day is an annual day on which events are held worldwide to increase awareness and appreciation of the Earth’s natural environment.
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