Travel Tips

Eco-Travel: Rainforest Foraging in Costa Rica

Rainforest foragingOutside of the jungle, eating a handful of squirming insects might not sound appealing, but inside the dense rainforest, it just feels right.

Protein-rich food can be hard to come by, and in an environment that saps minerals and nutrients from the body through sweat, it’s crucial to replenish by whatever means available.

Memo, the gardener, offers me a handful of fresh termites from a nearby mound. I pop a few squirming termites in my mouth. Crunchy, with a peanut-like taste.

Here in southern Costa Rica, travelers can not only get an up-close glimpse of organic farming techniques, but they can also embark on another foodie adventure: rainforest foraging.

Located on one of the last pieces of intact Pacific coastal rainforest on the Oso Peninsula, Playa Nicuesa is an eco-lodge that stands on a 165-acre former banana plantation, between dense rainforest and quiet coastline. Backyard trails lead into the adjacent Piedras Blancas National Park.

Snake in treeWith much of the world facing shrinking forests due to logging and human encroachment, Costa Rica has become a hotbed of sustainable development initiatives. Programs such as the Oso campaign program work to conserve properties in and around the Piedras Blancas National Park that are under threat of development, and help sponsor park guards to patrol and protect the area from illegal hunters and poachers.

A “wildlife corridor” between Piedras Blancas National Park and neighboring Corcovado National Park has been developed to encourage eco-diversity in the region, while other efforts include fighting a proposed tuna farm in the Golfo Dulce that could jeopardize the region’s ecology.

Check out another in-depth report on eco-travel in Costa Rica with Volunteer Vacations: Paying to Travel, Work and Save the Sea Turtles. For further information, check out Voluntourism Tips and Resources for a Hassle-Free Volunteer Vacation.

As a result of the protective initiatives around the National Park, visitors are treated daily to the sights of howler monkeys in the trees, and crocodiles and dolphins in the water, while rainforest crabs, thumb-sized turtles and geckos are frequent companions on nature walks.

Boating Costa RicaPlaya Nicuesca owners Donna and Michael Butler worked with a Costa Rican architect to create a sustainable design that is minimally invasive on the local environment; low impact, highly sustainable, and durable. Lodges and structures are situated around existing trees, and hills, not the other way around.

Under the efforts of local employees hired from nearby Puerto Jimenez and Golfito, the lodge features naturally fallen wood located on the property, rather than factories. The roof tiles on the lodge and cabins were made with recycled plastic banana bags which have a longer life in the tropics than traditional brick. The open-air design promotes natural airflow and views of the canopy. After the Butlers purchased the former plantation, they worked hard to plant native trees to help re-grow parts the forest, and counter the effects of man on the land.

With limited access to the outside world, Nicuesa lives and dies on the success of sustainability and conservation. The lodge runs on 20 solar panels, and even features a solar drying room consisting of a polycarbonate sheet capable of simultaneously drying 39 loads of laundry in less than three hours.

Don’t miss more adventures in our Eco-Travel section.

We walk past apple and avocado trees lined the walk way as drops of rain came and went. With a machete, Memo slices fresh sugar cane for chewing, followed by the arduous and messy task of pressing the cane into juice. A single pitcher of light-green juice requires the labor of three people and half a dozen pieces of sugar cane.

Memo uses machete to slice open coconutMemo then uses his machete to showcase coconuts in three stages:

When cut open, the young coconut gives us a sweet drink: coconut water, which is actually 95 percent water. It tastes like sugar water, and is full of electrolytes, minerals and vitamins. The meat is soft, gel-like in texture.

The second stage is characterized by the water drying up and changing to a cloudy, milky appearance that gives the coconut a slightly briny taste.

The final stage is the mature, brown-colored coconut, which is what most Americans are used to seeing in local supermarkets. This stage is actually the hardest to eat, with dry, bitter meat and little-to-no water.

Find more foodie adventures in our Culinary Travel section.

While most of the country employs pesticides in agriculture, the lodge’s farm is completely organic. Turns out, there are two key ingredients for producing good organic produce: good soil and patience. Fresh compost produced on the property, without fertilizers, pesticide or herbicides.

Onsite gardenEach meal served in the kitchen incorporates at least one ingredient from the garden: lettuce, sweet peppers, tomatoes, celery, hot peppers, yucca, sage, thyme, cucumber, papaya, tarragon, ginger, mint, turmeric, sweet potato, coconut, hibiscus, garlic vine, rosemary, oregano, cinnamon, cilantro, coriander, basil, garlic plant, vanilla.

The Playa Nicuesa philosophy on food: keep it simple, good and family-style with fresh ingredients and a Latin emphasis. In the kitchen, Chef Coco has already started the stock for coconut fish soup, using large snapper heads that have been caught that day by Thomas, the lodge’s resident fisherman. Coco makes the coconut sauce, scraping out the coconut meat, draining the milk, then liquefying the milk and meat in a blender, straining it and saving the remaining milk for the base of the soup.

Coco drains the stock as I chop homegrown garlic, bell peppers, celery, carrots, onions, sliding the vegetables in the pot with the fish broth. He seasons, and adds the coconut milk.

For more options, check out the Eco-Lodges of Belize.

Cooking in Costa RicaWhile the soup is getting started, Coco works on the avocado salad, cutting the fruits, while I mix water, egg, flour, salt and butter for the bread. Sweating under the humidity and labor, I knead the dough, add more flour, and knead some more until my arms are sore. Finally ready, I mold the dough into rolls.

Coco keeps the fragrant soup on a low flame, and adds chunks of barracuda, and re-seasons, adding more garlic and cilantro.

Two hours later I am served a meal incorporating fresh ingredients cultivated from the surrounding area. Even our juice is made from the sweet sugar cane and citrusy kos, while plates of star fruits and other exotic produce balance out the rich jungle stew.

Dipping fresh, buttered bread into the steaming broth, the flavors of the jungle come forth. The termites weren’t bad, but I have to admit I’d rather have this.

By Adam Popescu for PeterGreenberg.com.

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For the Coconut Fish Soup Recipe, go to the next page.