The Eco Lodge has
become very popular in the past years. It has an intimate family ambiance
surrounding the whole area. With the volcano Arenal only a few miles away, this
hotel attracts many tourists from all ages and countries. This hotel brings
together comfortable living, sustainable tourism, and adventure tours. Catarata
is so close to Arenal that it offers tourists a great view right from the
hotel. What brings the most tourists here is all the nature surrounding the
hotel. It is practically within the rainforest with all sorts of animals right
next door. Along with all the animals people can see, Catarata offers many
tours all around the area of La Fortuna. In addition to other natural features,
the eco lodge is a quiet, peaceful, elegant hotel. Catarata is also engaged in
the conservation of natural resources for future generations to come. This
hotel offers tourists a stay in cabins that are very beautiful and developed.
Tourists get to stay in cabins inside the rainforest. Catarata is attracting
more and more tourists as the years pass because of everything they offer and
how close beautiful waterfalls are, the volcano Arenal, and geothermal waters
are in proximity to the hotel.
.jpg)
Here at this site, they offer in
house facilities that contain a mixture of comfort, relaxation, and
convenience. The entire property contains a medium sized pool with a Jacuzzi,
multiple walking trails, laundry service, a delicious restaurant, Wi-Fi
Internet access, and 24-hour security all around the place to ensure safety.
Catarata started between 22-23 years ago. It only contained two cabins with
four bedrooms. It grew and grew as years passed. Catarata was getting a lot of
attention from all over the world from tourists. To ensure tourists a place to
stay, Catarata had to develop more cabins and bedrooms to fit the necessary
amount of tourists coming each year. The Eco Lodge obtained a loan from the
Funde Company in order to make more cabins. Also the Costa Rican Agency was
able to help out Catarata with tourism that was coming at a rapid rate. The
rate that agricultural was going in the past; Catarata wanted more tourism
because it would produce more money than agricultural. The Eco Lodge decided to
put television in almost every single bedroom to attract more locals and people
from out of the country. Catarata has not raised a single rate of staying in
order to attract more tourists. They also offer many package deals to tourists.
Catarata offers a beautiful
restaurant within the middle of the Eco Lodge. It is family run business and
has very good food. The service is excellent and every one of the workers is
sweet. A couple of the workers speak English and they can be used as a
translator to the other works. All the workers are local to the area and there are
a total of 7 workers. This is the spot for tourists to eat breakfast, lunch,
and dinner. Luckily breakfast is free and is very good. Lunch and dinner you
have to pay but its well worth it. They offer a great variety of food to meet
the needs of the tourists. It is an open area and contains seating for small or
large groups. When asked, the workers said they get a lot of North American and
European tourists. This restaurant brings a great source of income for the Eco
Lodge. They use this money in order to better things already in the hotel. The restaurant provides tourists great food
and great atmosphere to mingle with their friends or meet other people that are
staying there. It attracts much tourism from all around the globe.
The Eco Lodge
has a long list of activities for all ages that are designed to introduce
tourists to the natural beauty of La Fortuna. One of the most sought out things
to do by the tourists is to go on hanging bridges tour. These tours allow the
people to walk across bridges within the rainforest and allow them to gain
first hand insight on native plants, different species of animals, and
different types of trees that grow in the rainforest. Also they offer trips to
the popular Arenal Volcano, a boat ride on a river, a kayak trip down the
Arenal Lake, and a scenic horseback ride to the La Fortuna Waterfall. The Eco
Lodge offers way more attractions than those listed. All these tourist
attractions bring a great deal of money into the organization. Luckily with all
this wealth, the surrounding area around the lodge is becoming economically
stable for the most part. It allows the workers to earn a living while showing
the tourists a great time. All these attractions create sustainable tourism for
the Catarata Eco Lodge because they are having a lot of tourists while making a
profit for their project, and having little to no impact on the environment and
culture of La Fortuna.
Here they grow many
different species of plants around the Eco Lodge. They have been growing plants
for years now. It wasn’t very popular in the past because of the volcano crops
were destroyed and made it difficult for plants to grow. They had a hard time
making a profit out of selling their products to people around the area. The
Eco Lodge continues to grow species of plants. They are doing their best to try
and support local farms by offering assistance to them. Also Catarata workers
go to the local farmer markets to buy fruits and vegetables there. This allows
the community to grow as a whole. With money given to the farmers, this lets the
economy slowly increase and get better. The Eco Lodge has had some economic
crises during the past. If no tourists want to come to the hotel, they have no
source of income. Having a beautiful garden right inside the hotel, allows more
tourists to travel here and see some beautiful plants and learn how they
started to grow. Farming in Catarata also attracts different animals that live
within the rainforest. This allows tourists to see animals they may never get a
chance to see.
Recycling in La Fortuna is a great economic benefit
for the society. Catarata collects and stores their recyclables in containers
near the front entrance. There are three bins to put recycle in. Once they are
full they take them to the Recycle Warehouse down the road a ways for it to be
stored. With the help of Catarata the Warehouses in San Jose and La Fortuna are
able to turn the recyclables into many useful items. One thing that is very
popular in San Jose is roofing shingles. With the help of Catarata, La Fortuna
and San Jose are able to produce roofing shingles for housing within the area.
It wasn’t always like this. Catarata started recycling in the past. It was
difficult for them to find a place to store all the trash. Luckily the
warehouse opened up next to the soccer field close by the Eco Lodge. The
workers at Catarata then decided to buy a truck for them to fill with
recyclables. The truck would go around collecting people’s recycles all around
the area. With this truck, Catarata was able to drive to San Jose and store all
the recyclable material. This was a great way to keep the environment clean and
not filled with garbage. They are making an economic profit for recycling and
turning material into useful things that can be sold to customers. Catarata
also goes around the community to do talks about recycling. One goal of theirs
is to try and motivate kids to become eco-friendly and learn how to take care
of the environment.
Author: Jordan Kalebaugh
