Stratovolcano: Arenal Volcano Costa Rica

Image via WikipediaArenal Volcano is the youngest volcano in all of Costa Rica. It also happens to be one of the top 10 most active volcanos on the planet. This is also a place of extreme natural beauties that tourist from all over the world come and want to see and do some of the adventures in the area. For those of them who decide not to get a guide and if they get the chance to read this tweet from their Spa while looking at the volcano then I hope you find it useful and if not I hope there are some Science classes out there that will:

ARENAL VOLCANO COSTA RICA STRATOVOLCANO

• Stratovolcanos are common in subduction zones - a subduction zone is part of plate tectonics where oceanic crust is drawn under continental crust
• Arenal is considered an Andesitic Stratovolcano which is given the name after the Ande mountains and describes the composition of minerals that are released from the Arenal Volcano
• The tourist come to see the Pyroclastic flows which is solid to semi-solid fragments and hot, expanding gases that flows down the flank of the volcano make for a spectacular show. 
• Arenal is a result of the Subduction of the Coco & Carib Tectonic plates.
• The Pacific Ring of Fire is the most common place for Stratovolcano.
• Stratovolcano make for some of the best booms on the planet and not just tourist booms...

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Costa Rica Bailouts: Arenal Hotels in La Fortuna...

Don't even get me started on bailouts. I did not think my Costa Rican Travel blog would take me here but apparently it has. Just last week hotel owners in La Fortuna area (I will not mention Hotel names I would rather not get in a fist fight next time Im in the Arenal area) went to the government asking for bailout money to payback their loans. I thought this was hilarious and if the Costa Rican government thinks for a second to bail these hotels out I think its ridiculous. Not only because I've seen a few of these owners hanging out in the Disco and scooting around in their Jetskis on weekends (I can say this about some of the hotel owners not all)  but we are talking about hotels people. These are big business's but my gosh they are not that big where the government and tax payers money needs to step in. There are also some simple living hotel owners I'm sure that just decided to take a gamble and they lost and thats life. But others just dont want to let go of the lifestyle of luxury they have started living.

It turns out that a number of hotels in Arenal got GREEDY. There is no other way to put it. Things were going good and they wanted more. What happened is they over extended themselves, started living lifestyles they shouldnt, and got dealt a bad card (which the whole world gets everyonce in awhile).  Do I feel bad for them? Honestly? Yes,  I do. It sucks to lose money. I dont want to throw my sob story out there but I lost all my money in my first business which I did very well for myself and what had to happen as a result of losing it all: A LIFESTYLE CHANGE!

I feel like the Dali Llama's next book should be the secret to the recovery of a world recession which apparently nobody is getting it: A LIFESTYEL CHANGE! The USA didnt get it because they went ahead and bailed most of those companies out that showed up in their private jets to ask for their bailout money. Its funny from what I heard the hotel owners in La Fortuna are still driving around in their fancy SUV's which is no private jet but you get the picture.

Even after President Obama fired the CEO Wagoner of GM he still made out with millions. Thats what bailouts are. Put government money where it should be and not in the haImage by Jean-Sien Kin via Flickrnds of risk takers that have lost. Put the money into education, healthcare (we are going to need the money in healthcare with all the new fast food chains in Costa Rica in about 15 years, 29 new fast food chains in 2010), and whatever else you want but paying a hotel so a tourist can enjoy their hot-tub and massage and not paying a school so kids can not be crowded in a classroom and learn under adequate conditions is just craziness (keep inmind the tourist in hot tubs is what pays my bills so  I want the best for them but lets think level headed on this).  

Somebody asked me if the banks take the hotels what are they going to do with it. Our reservations office just spent 3 days last week trying to find space in Fortuna for two different groups next March and April. This is a good indication that things will be improving next year an estimated 2 million or more tourist will be arriving in Costa Rica. My advice for the bank would be to flip it or even better work something out with INA where they operate the hotel (the government educates locals in tourism) and they pay back the loan. Just a thought.

As for the hotel owners, shit happens and sometimes you have to walk right through it before you smell it. Maybe its time for a little lifestyle change in La Fortuna. There is a freakin Burger King in La Fortuna you cant tell me you didnt see this coming. If you have thoughts on this we would love to hear?

The gap between rich and poor in Costa Rica is spreading FAST. I dont want to talk negative but I do feel there needs to be some voices. Just drive through San Jose: Its RICH or POOR for now where in years to come it could be SUPER RICH or SUPER POOR. Again, I feel bad for these hotel owners but I dont think bailouts for society as a whole is going to fix the big picture which is learning a lesson and living a little bit more simply. Let me be clear. If you have the money and you want to live it up a little its fine. But understand if you dont have the money it is also fine to not have to live it up. I just feel if people gamble and they lose they lose. Thats why you shouldnt gamble with money that isnt yours.

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OIL IN COSTA RICA

Hold up cowboys. Before every direct flight from the state of Texas to Costa Rica is filled (well atleast the first class seats I dont know if big oil Texan boys will sit in coach) let me explain what Oil in Costa Rica means? Yes, It means energy but ufortunately for all you money sucking capatlist idiots this is a little something we call White Oil. By now I probably lost 90% of my readers that I attracted by the title of this blog. Costa Rica does not have oil and no random blogger like myself would be the first to blurt to the world that a country of 5 million with no army just struck oil.

If you didnt already know Costa Rica lends itself to a number of different sources of generating energy. Costa Rica is a narrow country with two coast,  high mountains, and a lot of rain. If you use your imagination with what I just said you should be able to see that rivers go racing down from these high mountains at a very high speed because the country is narrow and full of water because of the rains. Costa Rica also has some areas where they have generated energy through wind. Well this blog is not about either of those. This blog is about $White-Oil$.

I had never heard the term white oil until an official from ICE (Costa Rican Institute for Electricity) used it when interviewed about Costa Rica's Geo-Thermal Energy. He was being interviewed because ICE can only tap into 23% of Costa Rica's Geo-Thermal energy and the rest of it is located in protected areas and national parks. The reported asked this ICE official what he thought of this restriction: "It is a shame we cant tap into the national parks for geothermal energy it is the white oil of this country". Now tapping into Natoinal Parks just sounds wrong but their is a nice little ring to white oil, so I will say he had me for about 3 seconds.

There are many benefits to Geo-Thermal Energy for Costa Rica which now runs 15% of its lights of this type of energy and can only tap into 23% of its resources. The "White Oil" is also a lot cheaper. It cost about 4 cents for each KW as compared to gas which is 46 cents for each KW.  So the cost is a no brainer. The second benefit which Im sure ICE plans to use on their side is that GeoThermal is much nicer to the environment. With gas each megavolt burns 1,000kilos of CO2 and with Geothermal it reduces to 59 kilos of CO2.

Image via WikipediaNow the question starts should the energy company be able to tap into the national parks. They had a deal in 2008 that said if they did the National Parks would get land that was 5% larger that the area used by the energy company to compensate for the area lost. So the final result would be that the National Park would be the same size even a bit larger. I know there are two sides to this story and I look forward to following it. This is just the basic info now that the energy company has used all 23% of the resources outside of the National Park we should start to see true colors fly with environmentalist and ICE officials as the debates begin. If you comments or thoughts on this we would love to hear. Also I dont know why but Jorge W. Bush the ExPresidenta of the USA uses GeoThermal energy to run his house in Texas according to this site click here.  We feel this is a very interesting subject area for tourist that will be visiting and we would love to inform them the best we possibly can?

Source: http://www.nacion.com/2010-09-12/ElPais/NotasSecundarias/ElPais2516365.aspx

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Costa Rica: Sit in Luxury and get Dwarfed by Nature

Image by Getty Images via @daylife I've got three hotels that TripAdvisor doesnt even have that much to say about. Yes, they have their comments because they are the almighty TripAdvisor and I better keep my mouth shut because their social network is doing a bit better than my blog. But if you want to visit some luxury hotels in Costa Rica that are completely dwarfed by nature then check these three places out. Two of the three places are brand new. These are three hotels spread out all over the country so it could make for a great vacation package, just an idea?

The first hotel I have in mind happens to be in Corcovado which is one of the most bio-diverse places on the planet. It use to be that if you wanted to visit Corcovado you had to wear rubber boots and get ready to rumble in the jungle. Well now it is a little different. If you are looking for luxury surrounded by 2.5% of our planets bio-diversity then check out Villas Corcovado. It is small which is what you want in this area. You want more monkeys than people. Yes, it is hard to get to. You dont get all this biodiversity in one area because there are 8 lane highways leading to the hotel entrance.  If you stay for a week the menu will start to repeat itself. Well, if you live in the jungle for a 24 hours you will probably find yourself eating the samething twice. Sort of look at it as super "luxury survival" and enjoy the adventure.

The second place is located in the center of the country which I have to say Im pushing a bit because I want to see tourism pick up in this area and start to pass through these small towns. The hotel is Costa Rican owned and is located in Bajos del Toro. This place is called El Silencio Lodge which means the Lodge of Silence. You can tell by the name this probably is not a good place for your college school kids to book their spring break trips this year. But it is an amazing place for a honeymoon or even a family vacation for just a night or two giving the chance for your kids to get a real feel for nature and its true essence.

The third hotel takes you almost to the Nicaraguan border. It is called the Rio Celeste HideAway Hotel. If you have heard me talk about Nayara in Arenal (voted by tripadvisor as the top hotel in the Arenal Volcano area) then you will like the Rio Celeste Hideway. First of all Rio Celeste is an absolutely beautiful hike which deserves a whole blog in itself. But this hotel is really something special. With no other hotel of its kind around it was a real pioneer to just decide to go out in the middle of this area surrounded by nature and go with the luxury. A place worth visiting if you love being surrounded by nature.

Well there you have it. Three places throughout Costa Rica that are completely surrounded by nature, away from it all, and in the comfort of sitting in luxury. I went ahead and linked the websites to the hotels but if your interested in us putting together a package with adventures and tours go ahead and contact us. Well as of now we have the best guides sitting here waiting to go on their next trip but if you wait to plan they you might get stuck with me. If anyone else has some hotels where you get dwarfed in nature and you want to share we would love to hear?

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Best place to Eat on Your Costa Rica Vacation

When you are on vacation one of the most important things is where it is to eat. It turns out that taking a vacation to Costa Rica not too many come for the cuisine. If you come to Costa Rica for the cuisine it is because you want to load your family up on rice and beans. Dont worry in all the student travel trips we run I can see the importance in the students trying the local food and in some cases even learning how to make it. But what I am talking about here is a vacation, a family vacation. In this case you have to do a little investigation to get hyped up about the Costa Rican food.

The area of San Carlos which is where the Arenal Volcano is comes from a long history of cattle farming and unfortunately this is the reason why years ago Costa Rica lost most of its rainforest. Well with the rainforest making a comeback and the tourist coming to visit there has been a need for some of that cattle still in the San Carlos area which is to offer good meat to eat at a nice place near the Arenal Volcano.

If you visit the Arenal Volcano on your family vacation make sure the restaurant Don Rufino's is on your list. There specialty is meat and coming from the San Carlos area they dont have to travel far. There are many five star hotels in the area but when it comes to some of the best food you will find in Costa Rica Don Rufino's is hard to beat.

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