Hotel La Rosa's Climb for Charity

Yay, we did it!  For two days in December,  three climbers and a local guide hiked over 40 km to achieve the summit of Cerro Chirripo, the tallest point in Costa Rica and return.  This climb was done to support the Rainsong Wildlife Sanctuary in the Nicoya Peninsula, an organization working to draw attention to illegal poaching in the many National Parks of Costa Rica. 
Alongside the Owner of Hotel La Rosa de America, two Canadians and a Costa Rican Guide climbed for charity.  Raising a total of $225.00 USD for Rainsong the climb was a success.  We are hoping to repeat this success again in February as our donation goal is $500.00.  Our secondary goal is to educate interested people in the importance of wildlife preservation in the Old Growth Rainforest such as that found in the Chirripo area. 

We arrived about three hours late in to San Gerardo de Rivas, after a rather torturous climb over the Cerro de Muerte where there was a large landslide that caused significant detour into the steep hills to the south (where our Toyota fell into an enormous hole...).  We met our guide on the night of the 4th Dec and went over trip plans.  After a supper at the Hotel Uran in San Gerardo, we retired for the night.  Morning came at 0430 hours and we rose for an early breakfast.  We entered the trail head at about 0530 hrs and began our climb through ankle deep mud!  Fortunately this lasted only until the Kilometre One Signpost.  After that the trail became drier and easier to hike. 
After about two hours of steady climbing, we reached the actual National Park Gates at Kilometre Four.  Though this area was pretty, it was about to get much more spectacular as we entered the area of original growth forest.  Huge ceiba tees, dense moss, "Old Man's Beard" and hanging vines were everywhere.  To add to the mystery, a mist clung to the canopy giving a very surreal feeling to the landscape.  We continued until reaching Llano Bonito (Beautiful Plain) just past Kilometre Seven where we stopped for a quick lunch at the shelter located there.  In four hours we had already climbed three thousand feet above our starting point. 

The middle third of the climb saw the rainforest give way to cloud forest, which in turn gave way to a bamboo forest before dying out altogether as forest gave way to alpine meadows, flowers and bushes.  During this middle third, the tired remark from one hiker became the quote of the trip... "agg..  it hurts to chew" !!!  This comment was expressed during a particularly challenging area of switchbacks and steady climbing.  Around the Kilometre Eleven area we entered the portion of the climb called "The Burns", an area devastated by forest fire some twenty years ago.  Due to the high elevation (around 9,500 feet) the flora is much slower to recover then it would be if located in the lowland rainforest.  We continued for some time through the Burns, followed by the rather not motivating sign entitled "Monte Sin Fe"  or Mountain Without Faith.  Past this point, the original inhabitants of the area would not go due to religious beliefs.  Prior to reaching the Base Crestones area where we planned to rest for the night, we had to first hike over the final hill before the camp.  Aptly named "Repentant" we made it to the top and saw our Base Camp located just past Kilometre Fifteen nestled in a valley under the striking peaks of Los Crestones.  To this point Cerro Chirripo was nowhere to be found.  We had hiked for approximately 8 hours.  Clouds began to roll in and though we had excellent weather for the climb, sunset was not be in the cards for us.

After spending the night at Base Crestones, and enjoying a hot supper, "bird bath" and a sleep in a bunk bed, we set off at 0400 hours for the peak five kilometres distant.  After a two hour climb in the darkness with only the millions of stars for light, we achieved the summit of Cerro Chirripo.  Almost until the last moment did Chirripo remain out of sight.  Just before sunrise, we crested a saddle between two peaks thinking we were almost there.  Only then, in the distance looking like a black cloud did Chirripo reveal itself - complete with frigid forty knot winds and frost on the rocks.  We achieved the summit about ten minutes before sunrise and as a result, had time to enjoy both the view and our accomplishment!  Returning to Base Crestones, we first passed through the moraines of ancient glaciers enroute to the Valley of Rabbits (Valle de los Conejos).  After a short breakfast, we then continued down the mountain arriving at our Hotel before supper.

All in all, it was a successful trip.  Though we had planned for five climbers plus a guide, two were unable to make it at the last minute.  Still, the climb was a great experience, and made better though the satisfaction of raising money for a worthy cause.  For anyone interested in taking part in our second planned climb in the third week of February, please contact Hotel La Rosa de America at info@larosadeamerica.com  or visit us on Facebook!

Happy Trails and Merry Christmas!

La Rosa Benefit Climb - Cerro Chirripo 2011

 

"Place of Enchanted Waters"

 

Welcome to the blog home of Hotel La Rosa de America's charity climb! On Dec 5th and 6th we will be climbing Cerro Chirripo in Costa Rica to raise money and awareness to support the efforts of the Rainsong Wildlife Sanctuary in the Southern Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica. This organization is striving to protect animals within the National Parks of Costa Rica from poaching and degredation of habitat. To find out more about this worthy cause, please check out their website and associated news releases, blogs etc...

Also for future climbs, you can help by spreading the word and letting people know about this opportunity to blend a great holiday experience with some hard work, and a great payoff through supporting our environment.

Basic Facts about the Mountain:

 

• Cerro Chirripo is 3,820 metres or 12,533 feet in hight.
• The second tallest mountain in Central America and the tallest in Costa Rica.
• Trailhead elevation is 1,520 metres
• Overall hiking distance is 40 km over two days
• Non technical climb - great for fit adventurers!
   

Our Guide:

Integral to our climb is a strong desire to learn about the various environments that we will pass through. That, coupled with the extra safety of a guide, led us to search out one of the best! Ameila Garita, daughter of Jose - the man with the World Record for Chirripo ascents, has agreed to be our guide. Amelia holds a degree in tourism from the Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica, is bi-lingual and has extensive experience in the Chirripo region. We are very happy to have her join us!

The Itineray:

 

Day 1: Enroute from the Central Valley, we will cross over the famous Cerro de Muerte and see our first glimpse of the Cerro Chirripo rising over the omnipresent Talamanca Mists. Arriving in San Gerardo de Rivas on the afternoon of 04 December, we will enjoy a dip in the Thermal Springs prior to supper.

Day 2: Rising early, we will enter the Chirripo National Park and begin our hike, passing through many distinct climatic regions as we climb. After about 7 hours, we will enter the "La Cuesta del Agua" which will prove a challenge to our endurance! We will then enter the Paramo Valley and then stop at Base Crestones for the night.

Day 3: Rising early, we will have a quick breakfast, and then begin our climb to the Summit in time for a "continent spanning" sunrise. After an hour at the top, we will commence our descent down into the Valle de los Conejos (Rabbit Valley) and through the Paramo high altitude equitorial vegetation. If time and energy allows, we will take a look at the Cerro Terbi and Los Crestones features as well. Coontinuing our descent past Base Crestones, we will arrive back at the Hotel Uran before nightfall.

Day 4: After breakfast, and the inevitable swapping of stories and maybe a few aches and pains we will say goodbye and continue on with our holidays - until meeting up again at Hotel La Rosa prior to departing Costa Rica.

We are very excited about this chance to climb the highest point in Costa Rica and hopefully have the chance to see the Pacific AND Atlantic Ocean at the same time! Thank you for your participation and for your willingness to support our wildlife charity cause! See you at the top in a month!

Hotel La Rosa Book Donations Update

BOOK DONATIONS UPDATE:

Reading at the Coligio del Carmen

         Through the generosity of hundreds of our guests from all over the World, our Costa Rica Airport Hotel is nearing our initial goal of 5,000 books donated to local schools.  Thank you for your support of our program.  To have this kind of success in only three years has been a humbling experience for us and has left many local school Principals amazed at the generosity of people from countries they have only seen on a map!  

Ambiente Liste El Roble Readers

         Though clearly difficult to put a monetary value on these donations, we estimate that the resale value alone in Costa Rica would be in the area of $50,000.00 USD.  Of course, the new book purchase value would be much greater.  The great cost of books for Costa Rican Schools means that only the most important books for learning can be purchased.  Novels, picture books etc are very much a secondary concern to having sufficient pens and paper, rulers etc.  Sadly this is resulting in a culture-wide loss of the love for reading. 

        With the kind assistance of an expat Canadian with close ties to the Women's Club of Costa Rica, and a local teacher, as well as the employees of Hotel La Rosa de America, we have been able to organize, sort into appropriate age groups, source deserving schools, and deliver over 3,500 books so far in English, French and Spanish as well as large numbers of school supplies.  Some of the benefit schools, statistics and pictures can be found on our website page devoted to the project: BOOK DONATIONS
         Many of the schools we have donated to now have large numbers of books in English.  To ensure that these donations are best used and distributed, we have volunteered to host the Women's Club at Hotel La Rosa and to potentially team up with this organization in order to expand the current scope of the program. 

The WOMEN'S CLUB of COSTA RICA:

         The Women's Club of Costa Rica has deep roots throughout Costa Rica, especially in the local schools and we believe that their experience with Costa Rican schools combined with books from Hotel La Rosa's Donation Program will lead to targeted donations that will provide the greatest benefit for Costa Rican children. The Mission Statement of the WCCR is "a philanthropic organization supporting education, primarily through scholarships and development of school libraries for children in Costa Rica."  
         To this end, our San Jose Airport Hotel will be hosting the next planning meeting of the Woman's Club of Costa Rica on the 26th of October 2011.  For Hotel La Rosa, this will be a charity event with all Hotel services donated for the event.  During this meeting, Hotel Staff will introduce the "La Rosa" book donation project.  We hope to continue our donation project and develop our new link with the Women's Club.

         Again, thank you all for your great support of our book donation program, and lets keep the books coming!!

Hotel Owner, Teacher and Principal

Focusing on our Customer Feedback!

Once again, as the summer period draws rapidly to a close, we are faced with yet another transition into the wettest of the wet season.  This is typically a time for consolidation among the various tourism businesses within Costa Rica and can sadly often lead to significant layoffs of employees.  At our Costa Rica airport hotel, we prefer to cross train our existing employees to do "other" functions in the times we have few guests.  This way, our employees can retain their jobs, and the hotel benefits by ensuring all our intensive training of staff is not wasted every year through layoffs. 

Some of La Rosa's Staff showing off our New Artwork!

During the Sept-Dec timeframe, we have traditionally focused on significant capaital improvements to enhance the hotel, and to renew it's 15 year old services and presentation.  However, this year, we are going to focus on customer feedback generated over the past year.  This feedback is invaluable to us as it allows us to maintain what works and conversely to eliminate any problems that may come up over the course of hosting thousands of guests per year.  This year we have received some guest concerns over hot water reliability.  We are currently addressing these concerns and we expect to complete the change over from gas to an electric system by the end of August.  It is disappointing to us that the carefully picked gas water on demand system failed to deliver what it promised to do.  We had hopes of eventually removing ourselves from the power grid, by first converting all major energy users to gas and then utilizing solar for the remainder.  However, this plan has proven ineffective therefore we are adapting to a new electrical energy saving on demand system.   When it is complete, guests will not be able to tell the difference between the systems they use at home and the much more powersmart on demand system being put in place.  Complete installation throughout the cabins is taking some time due to the need to rewire many areas of the hotel to 220 Volts, complete with heavier guage wiring and breakers. 

New High Output Electric System on the Left

Other upgrades will include improvements to our existing WIFI system, finishing up of the exterior painting of the entire hotel, resurfacing and repainting of the walkways, and replacement and painting of the roof over the restaurant area.  Significant upgrades to Cabin 12 and our handicapped certified cabin will also be done.  Inside, we will be upgrading all our computer systems, installing wireless music and speakers in the common areas, and introducing a brand new reservation system for better guest management.    Gone will be the hand-draulic paper based system complete with it's mountain of colour coded sticky notes!!!!  :-)    Of course continued maintenance and minor improvements will continue apace! 

As always, there is lots to be done.  We want to ensure that Hotel La Rosa is 100% ready for the 2012 High Season so as to ensure maximum guest satisfaction!   Shortly we will be making a blog comparing and contrasting some of the "then" and "now" differences at La Rosa as we will shortly be celebrating our fourth anniversary of hotel ownership in Costa Rica!

La Rosa enters the 2011 Green Season after busiest Dry Season ever!

Hotel La Rosa de America continues to thrive thanks to our many guests who chose to include us as part of their holiday plans this past season. As we enter the quieter time of the year we are looking forward to the opportunity to make more positive changes and upgrades to improve our service.

Hello once again and thank you to all of our guests who have helped make our Costa Rica Airport Hotel a success! We have enjoyed hosting our many guests from around the world - we have experienced increased diversity. The hotel now accepts Canadian dollars for the convenience of our Canadian guests and we are working towards accepting Euros.

In response to our increasing popularity with families, we have created two new family suites that can accomodate the needs of larger families. The suites have a double bed and two adult-sized harwood bunk beds, thereby being able to host a maximum of 6 people. The suites have been very popular this year.

We have also done complete redecorating of our popular rooms, with new mattresses, bed linens, artwork, and nice touches that add to the tranquil ambience of the rooms.

Our dining room has been redecorated also, and our breakfast service has changed to buffet-style, with more choices such as eggs, cheese, and cold meats for those who prefer more protein in the morning! Also our guests enjoy being able to control their service time, in the event that they are in a rush to get to the airport or get on with their trip. We now provide coffee service before the dining room opens, for our coffee lovers who need that cup of locally grown Costa Rican coffee right away!

Staffing has been restructured so that there is always someone available 24 hours a day, for guest needs. Our reception staff speak Spanish and English, and are always very happy to help. Hotel La Rosa de America staff pride ourselves on our exceptional service, and we have been repeatedly complimented by guests for the friendly service.

Our parking lot entrance has been resurfaced, with a lovely rose design motif added. Our gardens are blooming well, and the mango trees are heavy with fruit. More plants have been added outside the breakfast area, adding to the beauty of sitting down to a nice first meal. These plants are favorites for attracting hummingbirds, butterflies and also as an extra benefit, many have a beautiful scent.

We continue to make changes and improvements, and we will be focused on marketing, training and customer service in the upcoming months.

The dry season is winding down and soon the beautiful green season will begin, to the relief of the plants! We hope that many people will choose to travel during this lush time of year, where the sun still shines just about every day.

Costa Rica Tourism Officially Upgrades Hotel La Rosa to Three Stars!

Recently, Hotel La Rosa de America underwent a periodic inspection performed by the Government controlled Instituto Costa Rica de Turismo (ICT). This inspection was designed to examine quality of service, safety standards, employee standards, cleanliness, and general maintenance of the property.

Having not been inspected formally for two years, this inspection was quite extensive. After all the work we have put into upgrading cabins, providing handicap accessibility, improving the gardens and stressing customer service, it was gratifying to find out that after the inspection, the ICT would without solicitation, be upgrading our Hotel Star rating from the current 2 Stars, to 3 Stars. We were very surprised by this as we did not formally request a review, nor did we expect to be raised two complete levels! (Hotels are rated in 0.5 increments to a maximum of 5 in Costa Rica).

Furthermore, it was strongly recommended that we petition for a Sustainable Tourism Level (CST) as the inspector indicated that we were already incorporating sufficient activities to rate a possible level 3 sustainability. Currently at the Hotel, we operate new, energy efficient gas appliances and hot water, we have an in depth recycling program, and we reintegrate the majority of waste water back into the garden and property via underground drainage fields invisible to guests! Also, of course, we maintain a low density cabins to garden ratio thus ensuring that guests never feel crowded or having to compete for hotel services. Rarely will you have to wait for anything!! Also, all the water we use to maintain both swimming pool and gardens originates from the Hotel property itself, thus reducing stress on the municipal water system. Guest drinking water however is municipal so as to guarantee it's quality.

All the staff here at Hotel La Rosa feel very proud to have met with such success over the past two economically challenging years. This acknowledgment of our efforts by the officials at the ICT have only served to re-enforce what we already hoped... that we are headed in the right direction to provide our guests whatever they need!