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

Related articles by Zemanta

• Costa Rica's Generational and Gender Changes (time.com)
• Costa Rica Property Celebrates End of Summer with Newsletter that Shows Country's Growth and Diversity (prweb.com)
• Inside story: Hot rocks and high hopes (economist.com)
• geothermal energy developments in the eastern caribbean (greenantilles.com)
• Geothermal: Getting Energy from the Earth (sustainablog.org)
• Tapping Volcanoes for Energy (thedailygreen.com)

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?

Related articles by Zemanta

• A first for eco-luxury in Costa Rica (terracurve.com)
• Turtle Nesting Season in Costa Rica in Front of Beachfront Villa, Offering Eco-Tourism Discount (prweb.com)
• Best Places to Visit in Costa Rica (latinamcaribbeantravel.suite101.com)
• Largest Beatle in Costa Rica (crrtravel.com)
• Best Kept Secret in Costa Rica (crrtravel.com)
• Costa Rica Family Vacations (crrtravel.com)

Hotel Grano de Oro San Jose Costa Rica

Image by Costa Rican Resource via FlickrAfter visitng many hotels and dropping groups off almost on average 40 weeks out of the year at hotels in Costa Rica. The Grano de Oro has given our guest a 100% satisfaction rate. I think it is because they have kept it nice and small, kept the staff full, and excellent service. Hope you enjoy the blog and if you have comments on the Grano de Oro would love to hear them?

The Pozuelo cookie is one of the best cookies Costa Rica has to offer. The family Pozuelo in Costa Rica is a well-known family for generations having started the very successful Pozuelo cookie factory which still sits in the center of San Jose. The Pozuelo family wanted to be close to their cookie factory as most people do, the smell is amazing. The family lived in the center of San Jose in a beautiful home that has now been turned into what we consider the best hotel in San Jose, Grano de Oro. Here we will tell you why?

San Jose is filled with some nice hotels just like any capital city. You can find the big Marriots, Real Intercontinentals, and the list goes on which are all great places but if you stay in them chances are you have stayed in something similar before. The Grano de Oro offers something just a little bit different and almost reminds you of a unique place in Europe where so many times you find a great place to stay that is not one of the chains.

Grano de Oro is in the center of San Jose five blocks from the Central Park La Sabana. It is completely refurbished but the history behind the whole city is left on the walls through pictures, antiques, and even the people who come and eat in the restaurant. San Jose is not one of those capital cities that is a must-see for tourists. However, when you stay at Grano de Oro you really feel the history as you hear about the coffee boom and the different buildings and places of San Jose. You leave this hotel not only saying to yourself what wonderful rooms, food, and service but you also gain an interest for this capital city which if you look deep enough does have some interesting history. For tourists, San Jose is sort of over shadowed by the volcanoes, rivers, and rainforests of Costa Rica but hotel Grano de Oro lives up to its name as being just a little “Grain of Gold” tucked away in the capital city of San Jose.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Afternoon + evening in San Jose, Costa Rica (ask.metafilter.com)
• Grano De Oro Group : Bolivia (kiva.org)

Costa Rica's Best Kept Secret

When you plan your Costa Rica Family Vacation if your up for a 2 hour hike and a night in the jungle this would be one of the places we would suggest. If you like the video just click the link below:

Costa Rica Adventures

   
          
      I WANT TO SLEEP BEHIND A WATERFALL IN COSTA RICA!!!!!!

$$$$ Secrets of Costa Rican Tourism $$$$

Image by Jake Wasdin via FlickrI love how the system works and if you are a big company or a taxi driver working the airport exit you pretty much run on the same system. The right way to run is to charge the tourist for the service you offer and what it is worth, NOTHING MORE & NOTHING LESS. I'm writing this post for the travelers that come to Costa Rica on a budget and end up traveling on there own. If you decided to travel with us it might not be the cheapest trip you can find but we can promise you that you get what you pay for as far as guiding knowledge and service which you can tell by their testimonials.

Everything is run off commisions here. This is good and bad. It is good because it gives a chance that everyone gets a piece of the pie. It is bad because in some cases you see a tourist buying a cake when all they should be spending is for a piece of a pie.  (Although I have seen tourist take this a little too far. Ive seen taxi drivers charge a correct fee and tourist think it was too much just because they figured they were getting charged too much because they were a taxi. Yes, there are tourist who get ripped off but there are also honest people also and lets not forget that. Actually there is a lot more honest people than dishonest ALOT!) If you rent a car and go to a zipline dont be afraid to talk the price down a little bit the chances are you can save yourself a few bucks. Im not telling you to not book your tour from tour desk or hotel reception, these people need to make a living after all also.

There are a million places to do tours in Costa Rica from rafting to ziplining and it never hurts to ask to bargain down the price. If you feel you are paying too much it never hurts to ask someplace else either. This also goes for hotels also. You can always ask for a discount at hotels. Most places deal with a net rate and a rack rate.

There are many types of tour companies that just make their living off commisions which is fine its just like some of the more common sites you probably will buy your airplane ticket sites from. There are other companies like ours that charge for the complete package from reservation services, guide services, and a tone of extras, and just a whole pakcage from start to finish. Hope this blog helped give you a little understanding of how some of economics of Costa Rican tourism runs here.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Turtle Nesting Season in Costa Rica in Front of Beachfront Villa, Offering Eco-Tourism Discount (prweb.com)
• José Torrez Benitez : Costa Rica (kiva.org)
• Promising Costa Rica Tourism Figures Demonstrate Signs of Worldwide Economic Recovery (prweb.com)
• Tourism Up, But Tourist Spending Not So Much (sfist.com)