Costa Rica continues to protect its ecological beauty

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Costa Rica continues to protect its ecological beauty

Posted by Souley 1058 days ago (http://www.sanmarcosrecord.com)

I got my first glimpse of ecology-minded Costa Rica as my plane descended toward San Jose International Airport.

The Central American nation, whose name is Spanish for “rich coast,” has protected about 27 percent of its territory in the form of 24 national parks or nature reserves. In 2008 it ranked first in the Americas and fifth in the world on the Environmental Performance Index, a gauge for quantifying a nation’s environmental policies.

As an ecological tie-in, the purpose of my visit was to explore Selva Verde (Spanish for “green jungle”), one of Costa Rica’s first rain forest resorts with an ecology educational component.

After touching down at the airport, I boarded the lodge’s van for the 42-mile, two-hour ride over an excellent road that ran through the steep, lush, rain-forested mountains. During that time, I caught a glimpse of sprawling San Jose and an up-close look at Braulio Carrillo National Park to the northeast. Then, after passing through Puerto Viejo, a small town in the Atlantic Coastal lowlands, we turned left for the five-minute drive to Selva Verde.

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