Monkey Quads ATV Tours

Monkey Quads is a professional, reputable company that has been providing ATV tours in Nosara for years. Each ATV tour departs at 7:30 am from the Monkey Quad office in Playa Pelada. Over the next four to five hours, enjoy taking in spectacular views of the Costa Rica jungles, waterfalls, rivers and beaches from atop a brand new fleet of Honda 250’s Quads with electric shift. Since the ATV does all the work and is much faster than hiking, it’s an ideal way to explore all the natural beauty that Nosara has to offer.

For a 360 degree Costa Rica adventure we recommend taking the Grand Tour, which includes an ATV excursion through the monkey forest, Rio Nosara, the turtle nesting grounds, Ostional Beach and a blissful snorkel at San Juanillo with lunch. Surf fanatics can also enjoy an ATV tour that takes them to all the best hidden surf spots near Nosara for an unforgettable surfing experience in the Pacific Ocean. Every Monkey Quad ATV tour also includes a professional tour guide with fifteen years experience, helmets, eye protection and dust masks. It’s the perfect way to indulge in your inner adventurer without sacrificing safety, and is one of the best ways to see Nosara.

The Nosara Yoga & Wellness Center

Formerly known as the Costa Rica Yoga Spa, the Nosara Yoga & Wellness Center is founded with the belief that the good life begins with a balanced life. To achieve that ultimate inner balance, the Nosara Yoga & Wellness Center offers retreats, classes, spa treatments and wildlife explorations that enable guests to get in touch with their inner self. The location alone is enough to relax the body and spirit, the Center is set on a private ranch atop a peaceful mountain that overlooks the beautiful Pacific Ocean on Costa Rica’s gold coast.

Visitors to the Nosara Yoga & Wellness Center can enjoy both the Yoga Pavilion and the Wellness Center during their stay. At the Yoga Pavilion, crafted from native Costa Rica teak and pachote wood, practitioners can hone their flexibility and relax while watching the sun rise and set over the Pacific Ocean. The Wellness Center offers private spa rooms for exclusive massages and signature body treatments that will rejuvenate even the weariest traveler. After your mind, body and spirit are in sync and light as a feather, guests can continue their enjoyment of the Center at the private beach, the infinity pool, the Center’s gourmet organic eatery, or by exploring the nearby Ostional National Park.

Demonstrators in Sydney at the Opera House

Last month on October 24^th, over 5,000 events around the world occurred, creating the most widespread day of environmental action in history.  One hundred and eighty one countries were involved and nearly 25,000 photos were submitted of people calling on the global leaders to make a commitment to the environment.

Why ‘350’?

350 is the name of the worldwide campaign dedicated to finding solutions to the climate crisis. The number 350 stands for the level of CO2 in the earth’s atmosphere, which is the safe upper limit that scientists have identified for the environment. Global leaders are meeting at the end of this year in Copenhagen to create a new worldwide treaty on cutting CO2 emissions, but the current treaty in these discussions does not meet the 350 limit.

The goal for the 350 movement is to unite the people of the world in a grassroots movement to let global leaders know that we care about environmental change. 350 aims to hold these leaders accountable to the latest discoveries in climate science so we ensure that our world stays safe and healthy for future generations.

How To Get Involved

There is still time to make an impact with the 350 foundation before the global leaders meet to sign the new treaty. The 350.org website is set up with a plethora of great grassroots tools to help spread the word about their mission. You can use the ‘Tell-A-Friend Tool’, get ideas for how to build buzz in your own community, promote the cause through your social networks, put 350 multimedia on your own website or blog, or shop for 350 branded products in their online store. Making a difference in the world is up to each and every one of us, and every person’s efforts count with 350.

Solio Magnesium Edition Solar Powered Battery

Solio Magnesium Edition Solar Powered Battery

This handy travel gadget not only saves energy, it’s also super convenient when traveling to foreign countries. Kiss your bulky converters and charger wires goodbye and simply place your cell phone, digital camera, iPod and other portable devices on the Solio’s fan-shaped solar panels for a quick recharge that’s good for the environment. The solar panel charger can be purchased from Better Energy Systems (www.solio.com ) for $170.

EMotion Solar Powered Media Player

EMotion Solar Powered Media Player

Trade in your Sony PSP, Kindle and iPod for this all-in-one solar powered media player. Light, pocket-sized and energy efficient, the eMotion enables users to enjoy music, movies, photos, video games and ebook reading. What’s more, it can even act as a portable charger for your digital camera, cell phone, PDA, DVD player, and other lithum battery operated devices – is there anything this fabulous travel gadget can’t do? The eMotion can be purchased from Media Street (www.mediastreet.com) for $169.

Fashionation Eco-Friendly Speakers

Eco-friendly Speakers by Fashionation

Made entirely from recycled materials, the lightweight mini speakers are ultra portable. Even better, they require no batteries and fold completely flat and take up virtually no room in your suitcase. Just hook them up to your iPod or other MP3 player and you have the perfect soundtrack to your travels. Perfect for relaxing on the beach or getting the party started in your suite before venturing out into town. At only $14.95 at Fashionation (www.fashionationstyle.com) these speakers are a travel gadget that eco-savvy travelers can’t afford not to have.

MERIDIIST Automobili Lamborghini Phone

The latest luxury buzz on our radar this week involves finding the perfect present. With the holidays just around the corner, it’s time to start thinking about choosing that special gift for your loved ones.  This week’s interesting reading has two unique picks that are sure to satisfy the picky luxury-lover in your life: TAG Heuer’s Lamborghini-inspired mobile phone and Sony’s new PRS-600 Reader Edition.

TAG Heuer Lamborghini-Inspired Phone

Sleek styling and a 60 carat scratch-resistant sapphire display make the TAG Heuer limited edition MERIDIIST Automobili Lamborghini phone a sight for sore eyes. The phone not only looks impressive, but also boasts a battery that is good for seven hours of talk time and twenty eight days of standby power. Top if off with a media player and 2 mega pixel camera, and you can see why the MERIDIIST would make the perfect luxury gift for the guy who has it all.

Sony PRS-600 Reader

Sony PRS-600 Reader

For a stylish holiday present that is both luxurious and eco-friendly, consider Sony’s new reader, the PRS-600. Download and carry around over 300 books, all in the small, lightweight reader that can be taken anywhere. It’s perfect for all those long trips around the world, and allows quick book downloading on-the-go just like the Amazon Kindle. It also has access to over 1 million free public-domain books available online, which lets you download and read all the classics for free. Imagine the paper you can save with this hot little gadget, all while satisfying your thirst for literature.

Horseback Riding in Costa Rica – Beach Tours and Jungle

Beate and Hans of Boca Nosara Tours

Riding a horse through crystal clear surf is a dream for many people – and understandably so. The allure of sitting astride a powerful animal while experiencing the best that nature has to offer is the perfect way to let all the stress of everyday life roll off you while you embrace the moment. Nosara’s gorgeous beaches along Costa Rica’s Pacific Coast are dotted with a number of different horseback riding tour companies who let you experience just that.

For guided beach horseback riding tours, try Boca Nosara. Each guided tour is provided by company owners Beate and Hans, who are fluent in English, Spanish and German. Typical beach rides last from two and a half to three and a half hours, though private tours and custom tours are also available. Importantly, all horses are healthy, well taken care of and very easy to ride; making their beach rides a great experience for novice and riding pro alike.

Horse Riding Tours Are Also Available Through Costa Rica Travel

Another company offering well-organized horseback riding tours through Nosara’s jungles and beaches is Costa Rica Travel. Costa Rica Travel offers horseback riding tours throughout Costa Rica with a few different tour options within Nosara. Adventurers can choose from a jungle tour, sunset and beach tour or a Mala Noche waterfall tour, each guided by a professional naturalist for three to four hours.

Lush Model in Kalia's Emerald Woods Village

For a gorgeously appointed, luxurious yet ecological home in Costa Rica, look no further than Kalia. Nestled against the Costa Rica jungle with views of the Pacific Ocean, Kalia is comprised of four villages with nine different model homes to choose from. Each home is chosen specifically for each residential lot to minimize the development’s impact on Costa Rica’s natural terrain. We have already shared details about the Breeze and Mist model homes, and this time we would like to introduce you to the Lush.

The Lush

The aptly named Lush is enclosed by floor to ceiling glass windows for 360 degree views of the surrounding natural beauty. The Lush boasts nearly 5,500 square feet of living space with over 2,500 square feet of indoor living space and nearly 2,900 square feet of outdoor living space. The home has three spacious bedrooms with the option of a fourth bedroom from the current family room. Water mirrors surround the home, giving each bedroom a serene aquatic view. A large pool just off the living room and dining room is the perfect spot to take an afternoon dip in the pool, or the ideal place for hosting weekend barbeques and pool parties.

Beautiful Panoramic Views From the Interior

The Lush is one of the few Kalia homes that is all on one level, making it easy to reside in for families with younger children or senior citizens. The single level also means that Lush is an entertainer’s dream vacation home, especially since the home is built around a courtyard for an intimate, welcoming feel. And of course, as with all Kalia homes, the Lush home has convenient access to all the planned amenities the Kalia community will offer including world class spas, workout centers, restaurants and walking trails. For more about the Lush home, please visit Kalia’s website.

Source: The Legal Guide to Costa Rica, by Roger Peterson

The beautiful vistas, lush jungles and soothing beaches draw many International tourists to Costa Rica each year. For those who visit and want to keep going back, buying a vacation home in Costa Rica is a great way to ensure enjoyment of the country’s riches for decades to come. Costa Rica is the ideal place to purchase a vacation home thanks to the country’s welcoming attitude toward foreigners, the laid-back, relaxing vibe and the endless adventure tours and opportunities one can experience. Additionally, the temperatures are warm and pleasant year round and Costa Rica is fairly convenient to get to, making it ideal for a spur of the moment, relaxing vacation at any time during the year.

Owning a Costa Rica Home as a Foreigner

Costa Rica real estate laws are similar to those in the United States, which makes them easy to navigate for foreign home buyers. Additionally, foreign home owners have the same rights to ownership that Costa Rica natives have, something that is not always true in other foreign countries. The most important thing to ensure when buying a vacation home in Costa Rica is that the title to the property is clear. The best way to do this is to look up the title registration number of the property known as the ‘folio real’, a records database that can be searched in Costa Rica’s National Registry.

The National Registry report (informe registrar) for the property provides detailed information including name of the title holder, boundary lines, tax appraisal, liens, mortgages, recorded easements and other items that would affect the property’s title. Once you have this detailed information on a property, you can move forward with the transfer of title and the sale of the property. You can read more about this process in our past article by clicking here.

If you do not speak Spanish already, the key to navigating Costa Rica home buying is an experienced attorney who knows the laws, regulations and the proper way to purchase a home as a foreigner. An easy way to buy the perfect Costa Rica vacation home is to work with an American-based company who sells homes in Costa Rica, such as Kalia. These reputable home builders already know all the laws and regulations, will make the process of buying a vacation home easy and safe for foreigners, and have your best interest at heart.

An interview with Costa Rica’s ministro de Turismo (Tourism Minister), Carlos Ricardo Benavides, who says that tourism in Costa Rica,  like the rest of the world, has dropped a little bit but sees recovery.

eTN: How is the current situation when it comes to tourism in Costa Rica?

Carlos Ricardo Benavides: Like the rest of the world, it has decreased a little bit, because our main market is the United States, and North America itself is almost 62 percent of our market, so when North America comes down, our tourism also goes down a lot. But we have maintained also a very high-class tourism, the one that goes for example to the Hyatt or to the Four Seasons, that still comes, it doesn’t matter what the crisis is at this point. We have been in a small recuperation in August and September, and we hope to maintain our progress, and probably help us a little bit with vacationers coming for December so we can have maybe a negative loss for the whole 2009 around -6 or -7 percent; that is what we are forecasting right now.

eTN: The air links from the United States, they decreased or they stayed the same?

Benavides: Well, some of them decreased, but not because of lack of people flying, but for example, in the case of Delta, it was because of the power of the fleet, and it was not very fuel efficient itself, so long trips, for example the ones from New York to San Jose, over a 5-hour trip, were very positive for them with all planes. Other airlines have decreased the size of the planes, trying to bring full planes and not at all require planes from different parts. But all of them are still flying. We have not lost any kind of carrier. As a matter of fact, we added two new carriers from the United States. We added JetBlue that initiated flights from Orlando direct to San Jose, and we added Spirit Airlines who also initiated flights from Ft. Lauderdale in the United States, and last year we initiated Frontier Airlines from Denver.

eTN: You mentioned 5-star tourism to Costa Rica is a big issue. Did you see the prices coming down for hotels?

Benavides: No, not much, not much. We have a philosophy – when you make your product very cheap, and people get accustomed to paying $1 for something that you know that is worth a hundred dollars, when you got back to charge them the $100, they will turn to you and say, but that was worth $1, and you will tell them, no there was a crisis, I’m sorry. If you will charge $1, it is probably because it was worth $1 not $100.

eTN: I love this philosophy, but is it realistic that the hotels follow your philosophy?

Benavides: They didn’t go so low as to make the destination extremely cheap. They went down a little bit, but what we made was another thing – we made special packages. For example, if you stay 3 nights, we will give you 2 nights free; if you stay 5 nights, we will give you a complimentary night or a complimentary free meal at the spa, and a complimentary tour. In other words, what we wanted to add was not a cheaper product, but add more product to what you are paying. In that way, your product will always have a normal price, but people will feel that they are getting more for what they are paying.

eTN: Besides North America, United States, Canada, what other targets are there for you?

Benavides: Our main targets are Spain, Germany, France, England, and then regional tourism from Central America, and United States, Canada, and Mexico. I would say from the big pie that would be like 75 percent of the graphics.

eTN: A lot of destinations have told me they see an enormous difference in the number of stays between Europe and North America. Have you experienced the same thing?

Benavides: Yes, because in all across the chart, the expenditure has always come down, so that means that the income from tourism will also come down – it’s inevitable. But I think we will recuperate that next year. I think we are seeing that – the numbers coming up.

eTN: What are your air links currently from Germany? Are there charter flights or is it based on commercial flights?

Benavides: We have Condor. Condor is making two weekly flights, and we were trying to make Lufthansa maybe try one flight directly to San Jose, because most of the people have to go to Madrid and get by way of Iberia or go to the United States by way of Continental and then come down. But the market is there. We are very aggressive in Germany; a lot of marketing going on in Germany, a lot of cooperative campaigns especially for tour operators like Tui, and we are very, very, very strong in Germany. It’s a good market for us.

eTN: Besides the classical idea, is there any niche market people should know about in Costa Rica?

Benavides: Especially, what we have promoted always eco-tourism – beaches, volcanoes, nature – that is our main goals. And I always tell people, we are not perfect in eco-tourism, but at least we give the fight. So to keep eco-tourism as our main market, we have 25 percent of our country protected. We have 4.5 percent of all the bio-diversity in the world are present in Costa Rica. So we are protecting that part that is nature. So, if you want to see nature, if you want to see hotels contracted with nature in mind, with a maximum high level, you go to Costa Rica.

eTN: When you compare the GDP to tourism, how important is tourism to Costa Rica?

Benavides: Excluding inter-continental, because there is no way to measure inter-continental, tourism is number one.

eTN: What does the government do? Yesterday, we heard Geoffrey Lipman talking about the Road of Recovery. Are these all interesting developments for you to cooperate?

Benavides: Yes, but, what we have done especially is to promote local tourism; try to keep the tourism that we already have.

eTN: Our readers are travel industry professionals – these are travel agent, tour operators, PR agencies, journalists. Is there anything you want them to know about Costa Rica?

Benavides: When you get in Costa Rica, you are getting a way of doing tourism, and in the end you are betting for the future – for your future and the future of your sons and granddaughters and grandsons, because we are trying to keep the message that you can do tourism by respecting nature, and in the future, if we don’t do that, then nothing else will matter than what we have done with nature. We know that in the future, as many have said, the big fight will be for water and for food, so when you get to come to our country, we believe in this form of doing things – that everything can be on a balance with nature and with progress and with tourism.

Kevan Hall Collection at the Universal Studios Backlot

Paris, New York and Milan get the lion’s share of Fashion Week designers, media and attention, but Los Angeles Fashion Week still shows off a great range of West Coast talent. This year, the Spring / Summer 2010 LA Fashion Week has oddly been turned into nearly a month of scattered fashion shows spanning the city’s urban sprawl. From Culver City’s Smashbox Studios (traditional home of LA Fashion Week) to mid-city’s Peterson Automotive Museum to the Universal Studios backlot, Los Angeles designers are showing off next year’s creations all over the city. Here are some from LA’s 2010 Spring Fashion Week so far:

Kevan Hall – 60s Inspired Silhouettes in a Bright Palette

Kevan Hall is traditionally one of the strongest LA Fashion Week shows, so it’s no surprise that he showed off another beautiful collection for Spring and Summer. Sherbert colored dresses were graceful, feminine and impeccably tailored, cutting striking silhouettes that flatter a woman’s curves.

Custo Barcelona – Vibrant Tropics

Custo Barcelona Collection

The Custo Barcelona label is known for their emphasis on wild color, and their Spring 2010 collection did not disappoint. Bold prints, beading, fringe and embellishments might be over the top for some, but Custo Barcelona’s die-hard fans came out in droves to support the brand at LA Fashion Week, making it one of the most packed events so far.

Lauren Elaine Black Collection -  Summer Goddess

Soft, flowing dresses dyed by hand are signature of the Lauren Elaine Black Collection. Peach and turquoise, two of Spring’s most in-demand hues, played a prevalent role in the collection, as did leopard print fabric, another key trend come Spring 2010.