Not So Zero Waste Travel to Costa Rica

Let’s be honest, travel is not a zero waste activity.   But as committed as I am to the cause, I still need to have fun.

Our first foray into zero waste travel was during the recent March school break.  Our family of four headed to beautiful Costa Rica, which is nestled between Nicaragua and Panama, to escape the harsh Montreal winter.  Costa Rica is home to over 900 species of birds, as well as a wide variety of other fauna and flora.

With all the good intentions in the world, I left with my zero waste travel essentials:

• Reusable water bottle
• Reusable coffee mug
• Reusable napkin
• Fabric bag (for carrying food that we would buy)
• Utensils (to avoid the dreaded plastic ones)
• Prefilled toiletries (soap, deodorant, shampoo, moisturizer and sunscreen)

My first test was on the plane.  I asked the hostess to fill my mug with hot water.  She left and came back with two cups of hot water.  Sigh. My heart sunk.   Note to self: crystal clear communication is needed to avoid this kind of situation.

We arrived in Costa Rica to 25 deg C and a hot sun.  After a mostly smooth ride (our last km was on an unpaved, very bumpy road), we made our way to our beautiful accommodations at the Chachagua Rainforest Ecolodge( Link to Rainforest Hotel) in Northern Costa Rica, near La Fortuna/Volcano Arenal.

Our little wooden bungalow was snuggled between large palm trees and a wide variety of colorful flowers and other greenery.

After arrival at the lodge, we headed to the main restaurant for our first cocktail.  I ordered mine “sin pajilla” (no straw).  Unfortunately, it arrived with one anyways.

Buy hey, who am I to waste a good drink!

I became more successful as the trip went on.  Even in my broken spanish,  I was able to explain that I was doing a zero waste project and Costa Ricans were happy to support us.    No more straws!  When we stopped at a café near Manuel Antonia,  I saw a notice on the bathroom door:

Straw Free February!  What a great initiative!  We need to adopt this here as well.

We loved getting up early to sit and quietly listen to nature, my favorite form of meditation.  The only sounds that we heard were those of nature, a variety of birds.  Our favorite was the gray-necked wood rail.  Listen to its unusual sound here:

Very funny, but not so funny at 6 AM!

When we were eating breakfast, we also saw toucans called collared acaris:

I am not a great photographer but check out this Costa Rican blogger’s website for better toucan pictures:

Where to See Toucans in Costa Rica

Our main reason for staying in this area was the famous Volcano Arenal.  Arenal is active volcano (most recent eruption was in 1968) and we were fortunate enough to see it on a clear day:

If time had allowed, I would have wanted to visit the nearby Rancho Margot (Link here:  Rancho Margot).  It is a fully sustainable working ranch.  They produce their own food, soap, furniture, raise livestock and even use the animal waste to produce methane for the stoves used to cook food for guests and workers.

While there was recycling at the Ecolodge, I did not see much of it later on in the trip.  We rented an apartment between Quepos and Manual Antonia, near the Pacific coast.  It felt awful to have to put basically everything in the garbage.  Reuse is alive and well in Costa Rica because (1) things are very costly to replace and (2) stores are not easily accessible.   We got a flat tire the day before we were planning to leave but this was no problem for a local garage.  It was repaired in 30 minutes for 4000 coronas (about $7 USD!).

We were robbed while we were on the beach in Manuel Antonia:

 

 

Fortunately, I got a photo of the thief:

and some of his friends:

He (she?) stole a banana from us.   Strangely, the police were unresponsive to our request for further investigation of the matter.  For a reason I cannot explain, a monkey also tried to steal my shirt :

He pulled on it and since it was tied on the line, he couldn’t take it with him.  It wasn’t his size anyway.

Our family agreed that the trip was an enriching experience.   We love the monos (Spanish for monkeys)!   From a zero waste perspective, there were learnings, successes and failures:

Learnings and Successes

• Before you ask for anything, clearly state that you are doing a zero waste project.  This raises people’s awareness and prevents the automatic giving of plastic bags, straws or other things that we don’t need or want.
• Filtered water was readily available at both our Ecolodge and our apartment, so I was able to fill up my reusable water bottle and not buy bottled water.  Hooray!
• Costa Rica has an eco-sensitive culture: animals are allowed to run free and they try to run their businesses sustainably.
• People were open to using less packaging.  We got our fish in a single bag and avoided multiple packaging.

Failures

• There is little recycling in Costa Rica and most things end up in the garbage.  So sad.  Costa Rica would be a great place for composting!

Our family agreed that the trip was an enriching experience.  We love the monos!  We hope to visit again and maybe next time, we can stay/work at Rancho Margot.  My husband told that maybe I would have to do that on my own.