Selva Bananito Ecolodge &
Preserve
History: Selva Bananito Ecolodge & Preserve is located at the foot of the Muchilla Mountain in the Province of Limón on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica. The ecolodge is situated on the Stein family farm, part of which the family declared a private, biological reserve of 2,000 acres in 1994; the lodge was subsequently built as an alternative source of income. This was a moral, not economic decision, since the income from the lodge will never approximate the commercial value of the protected wood. Today, the remaining part of the Stein farm is home to a reforestation project, a cattle breeding program and a moderate-sized oil palm plantation. The Stein family further supports environmentalism in the area through the Fundación Cuencas de Limón (Limón Watershed Foundation), an NGO established in 1996 which works to protect the purity of the Bananito River, which flows through the preserve and farm and serves as a primary water source for Limón, Costa Rica’s third largest city.
…
Week 6
Arriving at
Selva Bananito in late afternoon, I was immediately greeted by four large dogs:
a mutt, two German shepherds and an Irish wolfhound. In a flurry, I was introduced to many of the ecolodge’s
employees and shown around the Selva Bananito complex, which contained
eleven cabins on stilts, a large rancho
for meals and gatherings, an office, a stable (where the
lodge’s 15 horses were tended) and the original farm house, built when the original finca had been established.
The
following day, I learned about the various environmental
methods implemented by Selva Bananito, including everyday composting and
recycling, a system of solar panels used for all electricity and heated water, cabinas made from eighty percent salvaged
wood, and a water treatment process that involved filtering dirty water through
a series of lily beds, rocks and native plants (when this process was completed, the previously dirty water was as clean as the river water coming down from the nearby mountains).
I spent the
rest of the week helping to wash the
cabins’ patios, learning how to prepare
the rooms for guests (there were no tourists at the time) and exploring the preserve and the banks of
the Bananito River.
I also did
some reforestation work, clearing
grass and weeds back from an entire field of seedlings with a machete, untangling
the fledging plants from the death grips of some pernicious vines.
Towards the end of the week, I went on my
first cabalgata (horse ride) through the preserve and finca, munching on sugar cane and
espying a languid and happy sloth from the back of amiable Guerrero. On another outing, we rode the horses along
(and through) the Bananito River, wending through tall stands of white cane and along
the white pebble shore line, stopping at an area where the river deepened and we could swim (“watch out for the caimans,” I
was told). We rode back to the lodge at dusk, the fireflies popping into color
all around us as the warm night sounded.
Fotos: 1. On the way to Selva Bananito 2. Ceiba! 3. One of the cabinas
Week 7
Still with
no tourists at the lodge, I helped three
of the lodge workers—Jonathan, Gato and José—to ferry manú wood in from the
jungle, where it was to be used to repair the small puentes (bridges) that led to up to the cabins. Jonathan had
discovered a fallen manú tree earlier that month, and while he and Gato cut it
into sizeable planks with the Husqvarna chainsaw, José and I had the job of
moving it, which involved wading waist deep through a small river. After we’d
gotten the wood slabs through the deepest section of water, we tied it (very
carefully) to two of the lodge horses, and then led the horses across the
fields and back to the cabins.
After
completing this task, I was given some small chunks of manú wood, into which I began
to chisel informative signs that
were to be displayed around the lodge. I wasn’t exactly a master chiseler, but
after some false starts, I learned how to wield the hammer delicately enough to
carve letters and forcefully enough to make an impression on the wood.
It was also during this week that Gato, Jonathan and José took me to the part of the finca where the farm workers lived. Out front of their small plaster homes was a field they kept well cut, and after shooing away some wandering cows, we all played bol (soccer) until it became too dark to see the ball properly. Over the next few weeks, these pick-up games were to become one of our small traditions.
Tourists
arrived just as the week wound down, and I was able to accompany a group from
Virginia on a cabalgata and river
swim, as well as a six-hour hike which
involved rappelling down two water falls. As someone who had no prior experience rappelling (and was given all instruction in rapid-fire Spanish), it was quite the way to start!
Fotos: 4. The manú route 5. On the water fall hike 6. José helping me rappel
Fotos: 4. The manú route 5. On the water fall hike 6. José helping me rappel
Week 8
A great
number of tourists arrived during my final week, and I was cast into more of a managerial role, responsible for making sure
rooms were clean and ready on time, that pick-ups and transfers went off
without a hitch (it was a forty-five minute drive through the jungle to reach
the lodge, with two river crossings and no cell service, which made things tricky)
and that tourists were informed about their schedules and their cabins (water is solar heated so it may take a second to kick in, only use the provided soap, don't throw toilet paper in the toilet, etc.).
I was
further responsible for helping at lodge
dinners, which were family style, in the position of both server and lodge
representative, which involved a lot of hasty eating around discussions before I
was hurrying off to help carry food from the kitchen downstairs to the dining
room upstairs.
For Christmas dinner, everyone—employees and
tourists—ate traditional tamales
(meat and vegetables in cornmeal dough and wrapped in corn husks) upstairs,
many people sharing their favorite carols.
Just a few
days before leaving Selva Bananito, I got to try my hand at the climbing tree. Using
a system of levers, I was able to ascend a twenty-six foot tree, where I got a
marvelous view of the surrounding selva:
the long stretch of canopy, the rising of the mountain, the break where the
river ran, the sky, blue with twists of white neblina. Dangling upside down and joking with José, both of us
anchored high up in the branches, it felt like a pretty good place to be.
Fotos: 7. The dining room in el rancho 8. Bananito River
Fotos: 7. The dining room in el rancho 8. Bananito River
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