LENDING A HELPING HAND THROUGH TOURISM

Felipe Lopez is one of the owners of Autentico Tourism, the company that arranged the majority of the exciting adventures that we engaged in while we were “Trekking Hidden Costa Rica”. Felipe is the oldest of the 18 children of the Lopez family, whose house we stayed in on our first jungle homestay in Piedras Blancas. Felipe ran the whitewater river rafting program for Outward Bound for nine years until he went into business for himself and he was the captain of the whitewater raft that I found myself in as we soared and plummeted our way over the Class III rapids of the Savegre River. He guided us through the steering of the raft with commands of “Forward”, “Back Paddle” and “Hold” and when he wasn’t issuing commands on the handling of the raft, he entertained us with a lot of anecdotal information about Costa Rica, the rivers, the rain forest and how ecotourism benefits his family and his country.

Felipe told us that his family used to be farmers and now all 18 members of the family (and their children) are involved in tourism, which affords them a much better living.  He shared with us that because we stayed with his family on two of our jungle homestays, his family then has an independent income which keeps them from having to sell their land to the power companies and logging companies that want to dam the Savegre River and deforest the land along the river.

I really perked up when I heard this because it made me realize that some of the money that I paid for my tour went directly to helping these families continue to live off of and protect the land that they have lived on for generations. It made me feel good about being a tourist trekking through jungle rather than feeling that I was intruding on the natural beauty of the Piedras Blancas, one of the least disturbed tropical primary rainforests in Central America.

This is a fine example of Ecotourism as defined by the International Ecotourism Society, “responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well-being of the local people”. During our visit to Costa Rica, we were asked by our guides to tread lightly as we trekked through the jungle, the rainforest and walked the beaches. To observe everything with respect to its place in nature and take nothing, be it a stone, shell or flower. We were asked to try our rusty Spanish so that we could communicate with the jungle families in their native language, to respect any cultural differences and to do our best to be helpful guests in their homes and lodges. I did this with great pleasure and it truly enhanced the wonderful time my daughter and I had on our special vacation. –Claire, January 2015