Imagine a riverside eco-lodge deep in the Costa Rican rainforest, it’s remote but you do not have to sacrifice comforts such as daily housekeeping, 5-star food, and world-class service. What’s more, the only way to reach this remote lodge is white water rafting or traveling on an un-maintained gravel road and finally crossing a river in a suspension basket. The guide told me while rafting on the way into the lodge, “it is a class 3 river, but a 5 class road”
Now imagine this lodge also offers all meals included, mainly sourced from their own farm. This barefoot luxury paradise is Pacuare Lodge, one of five Böëna Wilderness Lodges in Costa Rica.
Sustainability and Conservation
- Costa Rica is known globally for its dense wildlife but also its conservation efforts. While it is only the size of West Virginia, it holds 5% of the ENTIRE WORLD’s biodiversity. Thankfully, the Costa Rican government has chosen to protect much of these densely populated wildlife parks, sanctuaries, and refuges. They are still encouraging land owners to pivot to eco-tourism to protect this gem.
- The country is about 50% tropical rainforest, and is home to more than 100 volcanoes, which creates extremely rich volcanic soil. This leads to great farmland especially for cacao trees along with an array of exotic flora. Böëna Wilderness Lodges support and participate in sustainable tourism and conservation. All these wilderness lodges create their own clean energy on-site. This focus on clean energy and sustainability ensures a carbon-neutral footprint for hosting guests. Specifically, Pacuare Lodge generates all its electricity from a hydro-electric plant powered by the Pacuare River, as well as solar panels. Böëna is also sustaining their own business practice by training and hiring local residents and making genuine connections with members of local indigenous populations.
- Now, Pacuare’s future plans are to purchase solar panels for the village school house and they are doing this by putting $25 per guest away into a savings account. They will use this money to fund projects or new equipment for the Cabaca village or its people.
Indigenous Population
- After staying at Pacuare, I don’t just love the property; I love the company. Böëna Wilderness Lodges deeply cares about the local people and specifically works alongside the nearby indigenous community of Cabaca. For example, they employ seven full-time indigenous tribe members at the lodge. We had the pleasure of having one young male as our guide to a village site of Cabaca. The village does have a school that is government funded where they learn Spanish along with their indigenous language of Cabaca. If they didnt learn Spanish, they would not be able to work at the lodge, or communicate with other Ticos (Costa Ricans) when they make the trek to a nearby town for supplies.
- We were lucky enough to have a small snippet into the lives of the Cabaca during a guided hike to one of their homes. When we arrived, four young children ran into view greeting our guide, Luis, who grew up visiting the village to play soccer. They happily ran out to greet him and then to a replica of their home that they built to share with visitors so they can maintain privacy of their living space.
Food
- Despite being deep within the southeast rainforest of Costa Rica, Pacuare’s food does not disappoint. You might think, “how can this place have enough variety for multiple days?” And that is a great question! Pacuare offers a standard breakfast menu, but has two alternating lunch and dinner menus. In addition, each lunch and dinner also includes an appetizer and desert for each guest so you don’t have to choose just one plate! I was blown away by the flavor of the fish tartare with cucumber gazpacho and a Costa Rican favorite, chifrijo!
- As a pescatarian, I understand it can be difficult to have multiple options to choose from, especially in a different country, but I never felt that way at Pacuare Lodge. The kitchen offers a specific plant based menu for both lunch and dinner so everyone has options! Their menu also specifies which meals include gluten, dairy, nuts, and even what meals are spicy so you aren’t caught off guard! Want some lamb? They have it. Vegetarian coconut curry? They have you covered. Allergic to nuts? You can confidently choose a meal that is both safe and delicious!
- We stayed for three days and didn’t even get to try everything on the menu between the two of us!
Amenities and Activities
- The guided hike to the local village is included in the complimentary activities, along with various other hikes, canyoneering, ziplining, night walks to see wildlife, and of course river rafting. Activities are generally chosen the day before or the day of- and the manager will let you know what is available that day, depending on staffing and how busy it is. Guests can choose up to two activities a day, and all activities are guided. Due to the location in the jungle and the various poisonous snakes and other wildlife, they do not want guests wandering around alone.
- All villas at Pacuare are equipped with both an indoor and outdoor shower, a deck and hammock, and lounge chairs. Pacuare Lodge also offers a small spa, an infinity shared pool, ‘the nest’ for private meals, and a sustainability tour to learn about how Pacuare creates their energy to operate the entire hotel.
